Pop audiences love the autotune effect.

First used on the 1998 Cher hit "Believe" and resurrected by modern R&B artist T-Pain to the tune of millions of dollars, the digital effect can make anyone a singer because it transforms everyone's voice into that of a robot.

Although a sonic novelty at first, the popularity of the autotune effect has caused respected hip hop artists like Jay-Z and Kanye West to sabotage their own songs as they seek the sound that sells.

Unfortunately, the autotune bug has now bitten K-pop girl group 4minute with their new hit single "What's Your Name."

When 4minute's new song starts, there is a 20-second intro where it really seems like "What's Your Name" is going to be something special-- the kind of undeniably hot beat that could spell major crossover potential for the bands five members.

Then the autotune kicks in.

Perhaps it is this reviewer's experience on too many late night dance floors with half-rate DJs, but when that autotune effect enters a song at this point in history, it is dead on arrival.

However, the autotune then drops out and what the listener is left with is that undeniably fresh beat, and heavy and hard as anything else in the K-pop top 50. 

The song debuted at number six on Billboard's K-pop Hot 100 this week, and it is not hard to understand why. "What's Your Name" has the unbeatable combination of an infectious track by a band with a strong, loyal fan base.

It is exactly what makes the autotune portion of the song so disappointing.

In a more skilled producers hand (i.e. one that wouldn't have produced it like an American R&B track in 2005) this could have been a homerun for 4minute, instead it is more like a ground-rule double.

Even the non-autotune part of the hook (a chorus of lalalas) is inventive, in a Santiold-esque psychedelic sing-songy sort of way.

The verses with the call-and-response among the girls offer some of the song's most satisfying moments, but whenever the song threatens to really move you into an altered state of groove, the heavy-handed production pulls the listener back down to earth.

It would appear to be the problem of too many cooks in the kitchen, or perhaps too many voices (record label execs, management, artist representatives) in the producer's ear.

Whatever the cause, if 4minute found themselves collaborating with a producer who cared about nothing more then creating crushing grooves (Pharrell Williams is a name that comes to mind) instead of abiding by worn out moves from the pop playbook, there is no telling what they could accomplish.