Kicking off this week’s exciting list of comebacks is GOT7 with Not By The Moon, which is the title track off the group’s 11th mini-album, Dye. This is the group’s first comeback since their highly successful You Calling My Name, which was released in November last year. I am still in love with that comeback and am hoping to see a leveled up comeback today. Let’s see if GOT7 can deliver!

Not By The Moon is a really good dance track, something that is very expected of GOT7. But I don’t think it had that same wow factor that You Calling My Name had delivered through its very aesthetic profile. However, it does wow me in its own way (more on that later). Not By The Moon felt like that really amped up and fulfilling dance track that you expect from many groups in the KPOP industry, but many just don’t deliver. There is a very dramatic and powerful flair in this song, which gives that ‘amped up’ description credibility. The ‘fulfilling’ description is also credible, given that the song feels whole and doesn’t lack anything, in my opinion. There are a lot of elements that really captivated (and wowed) me in this song. The first were the rappers. Mark had a long rap-speak like segment, which I thought was very different from his many limited sequences in the past. Jackson took up the role of vocalist for the entirety of this track, bringing a nice deep raspy sound to the song. The chorus had a particularly strong melody and the ‘Oh, Swear not by the moon‘ was quite catchy. I also liked how the chorus made the instrumental a little punchy. It is also one of the few instrumentals that just keeps on giving. Youngjae’s high note was amazing and the rest of the vocals were good. It is missing that dynamic touch to really make it go that extra step, but I am not sure what else to add as the song will become a little overwhelming. But other than that little dilemma, this is a very solid song.

One of my many concerns with JYP Entertainment’s video have been that the producers have become a little too reliant on the use of the green screen. We saw the company move away from that style for some of its videos in 2019. But it is still used (as seen in this video) and I am not exactly sure on what to think of it. This video does show good use of the green screen, as it is used to extend the fantastic built sets. But there is a that synthetic feel to it. The song itself seems to be taking pointers from the classical play, Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo swears by the moon. Juliet tells him not, due to the unpredictable nature of the moon (i.e. it just doesn’t stay one shape). There also seems to a dying element to the music, thanks to the presence of the coffin that the masked men (are they GOT7, based on the teasers?) are surrounding (and Youngjae was lying upon). Those masked men and the collapsing building around aren’t really shines of that classic Romeo and Juliet connection, so I am not sure what their story is. But overall, it was a good video.

The choreography itself looks quite good. I really liked how they took a few steps at the start and automatically fell into formation that kick started the entire performance. I also really enjoyed how the ending came together. The powerful dance routine, Youngjae’s high note (guess who my bias is) and the ending formation made to look like the phases of the moon.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.9/10