It is time to tackle another track from the ‘Coming Soon’ list. Today’s focus will be on Favorite, who returned the other week with Lie. Favorite, for those who may not remember, is a female group currently under Astory Entertainment. They debuted with Party Time in 2017 and have had a number of comebacks over the years. Most recently, the group returned with their Korean single, Loca, and their Japanese single, Catch Me.
The major issue with Lie is that it doesn’t offer anything new that we haven’t of. Nor does it take what we have heard previously and try to repackage it into something refreshing or bold. Right off the bat, the song opens up with guitars that are play into the Latin genre, an already heavily used and tiring genre nowadays. The song then adds a little more to the instrumental by incorporating a very neutral sounding dance beat. Together, I felt the instrumental to be extremely plain and helplessly dry. The vocals do add a level of sweetness to the song, which I can deem as helpful. But only to a certain extent. Like the instrumental, the vocals do not add much momentum to the song. The rapping is a little bit better, with it being the best part of the song for me. The chorus was weak, in my opinion. I did like the melodic and flowy nature of the chorus. But paired with the already neutral instrumental, it just isn’t enough.
The group opts for their most mature image yet. Dressed in red suits, the group performs in a cathedral or church like setting, with a red carpet running through the place. While red on red isn’t the greatest visual idea ever, both the red suits and carpet standout in the dark setting. The rest of the music video is closeup shots, which show off the beautiful faces of the members. And that’s all to the video. I’ll be honest, this is one of the few better looking ones. But the basic formula of closeup shots and choreography just makes it sound plain.
The choreography takes that mature path that I had mentioned as part of the music video review section. It definitely felt refined and pleasant to watch. But it just didn’t have anything memorable within it to really make me come back to continually view it.
Song – 5.5/10 Music Video – 6.5/10 Performance – 6/10 Overall Rating – 5.9/10
Ong Seong Wu was the only member of Wanna One to make his official solo debut in 2019 after the disbandment of the project group. He did release a special single, Heart Sign, in collaboration with Pepsi and Starship. But that wasn’t marketed a debut single. His official debut single was released earlier this year, We Belong, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Hence, this makes today’s release his very first solo comeback. GRAVITY is the title track off Ong Seong Wu’s first mini-album, LAYERS.
The way GRAVITY sounds reminds me of Western dance tracks, particularly it came to the chorus of this song. The instrumental is very typical for this style and it doesn’t really offer anything unique. But there are a few things within the song that stood out for me, which made me enjoy the song as well. First of all, the lyrics tell of the gravitational pull one would feel towards another and discovering one’s self along the way. I thought that was an interesting topic. With a topic like that, the mature vibes was the second aspect of the song that stood out to me. The serious tone is unforgettable, even though it is something we hear quite often. Thirdly, it has to be his amazing and powerful vocals. His voice pushes high up when he sings the word ‘gravity’, going in a completely different direction to ‘gravity’, which is an interesting concept to think about. The rest of the song feels rather weighted (I mean this in a good way) and adds that ‘gravity’ component to the song. I also liked the soft whispering of the song title as part of the bridge. It is like an echo that edges you towards the direction that you would be going in (in this case, the person he is being pulled to). Putting everything together, GRAVITY leaves a strong impression and I am definitely going to replay this song constantly while I stay at home for the foreseeable future.
The music video shows an aesthetically pleasing depiction of the lyrics. Ong Seong Wu’s life is relatively plain. He lives in a cabin made of wood in the forest. One day he wakes up and discovers an abandoned car nearby. Upon investigating the car, he is drawn towards a mysterious female character, whom we suspect is the owner of the car. He follows her and it is shown that everytime he follows her, he is becoming even more consumed with the idea of finding her (i.e. shown through the underwater scenes and how frantic he gets each time the story repeats) and that he unsuccessfully catches up to her. But yet the same thing happens everyday and he cannot avoid the gravitational pull that he experiences towards this mysterious figure. Even his dreams start replicating the same event and he gets even deeper. And deeper. Not exactly sure who this figure is, but it might be a past lover who may have drowned, which would explain why he would consistently go after her and why he would be shown to be underwater. I thought this was a well shot video and his acting in this video is far better than in some parts of the We Belong music video. I liked the grey and darkness of his video as well, adding to the aesthetics.
Song – 9/10 Music Video – 10/10 Overall Rating – 9.4/10
The next comeback to be reviewed is by Stray Kids, who just dropped their second installment in the Mixtape Project as a present for their second anniversary. The title of the new track is Mixtape:On Track and this follows their 2019 mixtape track, Gone Days. 2019 was also another big year for the group, with the release of Miroh, Side Effects, Double Knot, Astronaut and Levanter. This magnitude and high standard of comebacks in 2019 by Stray Kids lead to me picking them for Best Male Group in the KPOPREVIEWED Awards for 2019. Let’s see if Stray Kids can replicate the success of 2019 and possibly go further in 2020.
Gone Days is right up the alley of a mixtape, aligning itself with the genre in which a mixtape is usually strongly associated with. On Track is completely different path, opting to be more a traditional pop track and missing a heavy hip-hop influence. The instrumental that acts as the backdrop for this song is relatively plain and it does bore me. But thankfully, the vocals and limited rapping did help drive the song into a more appealing light. On Track is more vocally driven, as a result for its pop alignment. And I don’t mind this. Since Stray Kids commonly goes for a rough exterior with its sound, I wouldn’t mind any easygoing or melodic tracks from the group. When I am listening to the song, I find myself feeling a little heartbroken with the tone, for some odd reason. The song’s lyrics are a lot more brighter, mustering up courage to chase one’s dream (Source: Soompi). Not sure why I feel that way, but that was the initial impression I got from the song before looking up a translation or the source article.
For the music video, the group are film and acting students and are currently in production for some sort of love story short film (I assume short film). The main characters are Hyunjin (the cameraman), Lee Know (the main actor) and the female actress. Essentially, Hyunjin has this massive crush on the female actress but has never acted upon his feelings. While filming the various acting scenes, he becomes extremely jealous over the scenes that the female actress and Lee Know share. In the end, he makes his move on the female actress while filming. Poor timing, but it matches up with the meaning behind the lyrics of the song (i.e. gaining courage). It is a good plot line and was enjoyable to watch.
Song – 8/10 Music Video – 9/10 Overall Rating – 8.4/10
Kang Daniel was the biggest name from Wanna One and was expected to soar high in the industry upon making his solo debut with What Are You Up To. But certain events got in the way of that and his debut was fast forgotten due to a lack of promotions. He returned in late 2019 with Touchin’ but cut promotions short to focus on his mental health (good on him, though!). But it is 2020 now and it is time to turn over a new leaf. Kang Daniel kicks off 2020 with the release of his second mini-album, Cyan, which features the title track 2U.
The first that came to my mind upon my first listen to 2U was that everything was very easy on the ears. And this is a stylistic choice that I really am enjoying. With the amount of focus I am placing on current events, songs that are this easy on the ears are able to provide some brief but much needed relief to my mind before I need to refocus. The song’s main synth may sound pretty bland and plain at first, but the combination of the beat and the song’s melody really helps mitigate this. Together, I find the track to have a subtle groove, which I thoroughly enjoy. I do like his vocals, which feels fresh and gives the song a shot of vibrancy. There is a tad of smoothness that makes this song even more enjoyable when it comes to the melodic chorus. I do find it interesting that there was no rap-speak type of rap sequence, which I think would have suited the song perfectly. But what we got served in 2U is amazing already.
Kang Daniel works as the really fashionable and trendy janitor at a theater, which employs a pretty unfit security guard. No judgement here though, as I am equally as unfit as the guard. He seems to invite his friends to a night in at the theater. But after some time, he was caught by the security guard. Not sure if the whole thing was imagined by Kang Daniel, which may have been the case with that ending. Kang Daniel is still the janitor, didn’t lose his job but the security guard is very suspicious of him. I found the video to be lighthearted and not too heavy, like the song. It was enjoyable and matched the atmosphere of the song.
The choreography was pretty good. Everything was casual and easygoing, which is essentially the song (and entire comeback) described in two words. I like how the choreographers added more dancers as the performance progressed, seeming like a friendly and fun congregation was being formed. I particularly liked the ending of the choreography (onwards from 2:55 of the music video). I liked the interaction with the backup dancers and the casual vibes that literally came from this section of the performance.
Song – 9/10 Music Video – 9/10 Performance – 9/10 Overall Rating – 9/10
ONEUS received the honorable mentions in the KPOPREVIEWED Awards for 2019, after a massive debut year consisting of their debut track, Valkyrie, and comeback tracks, Twilight and Lit. Now, the group is back to tackle 2020 with their first single, A Song Written Easily. This comes after the group released their first original Japanese single (808), their Korean fanmeet and Japanese concerts. And just recently, the group has been confirmed to be participating in the TV show, Road to Kingdom (the male version of Queendom). Given how good Queendom was, I will be watching the male version for sure. But that isn’t until the end of April. So until then, lets break down ONEUS’s new song.
Described as a Moombahton dance track, A Song Written Easily seems to take a step back into typical dance music territory, particularly since their last comeback track (Lit) was slightly unique for its heavy usage of traditional Korean instruments in a dance track. But regardless of the direction in which the song steps in, ONEUS manages to do a pretty good job with A Song Written Easily. I found the song to be very refreshing, thanks to the wide reach that the synths employ. None of the synths feel tight or restricted, hence the revitalizing appeal of the song. The track also employs whistling in the instrumental. The melody that we hear the whistle in is reflected in the synths during the chorus and I thought that there was a beautiful feel to it. There is an easygoing vibe, despite the song being a dance track. I wouldn’t be surprised if I find myself humming to the melody after more replays. Both vocals and rapping were impressive in this track, in my opinion. The vocal work sounds pretty good, pairing well with the instrumental. The rapping is the more interesting front, providing the song with an added layer of texture.
The refreshing vibes that I mentioned in the song were translated into the music video. I love the breathtaking and stunning nature shots that featured in this music video. For those who are wondering where this video was shot, I am reading that it was shot in New Zealand. Despite the music video looking stunning, the song is actually a little heavy on the heart. The members sing about how easy a song came together when they thought of their former lover, after everything they had been through. Based on the interpretation of the music video by Soompi, the flowers depict new beginnings and the member’s interaction with the flowers (seen in the teasers) show how they faced hardships in their relationships and how they overcame them.
It seems like due to the ongoing health pandemic, many artists won’t be doing any live showcases for the time being, which is always my first look of the choreography. We do see bit in the music video and I like what I see. I find everything pairs well with the music. There is a bit of intensity and boldness in the choreography, which I haven’t picked up yet in the other components of this comeback.
Song – 8/10 Music Video – 9/10 Performance – 8/10 Overall Rating – 8.3/10
It is finally time for me to sit down and knock out some album reviews that has been sitting on my to-do list. First up is for a comeback that occurred in early February, which means this review is almost 2 months late (really sorry for this). For those who may not remember this comeback, iKON returned with Dive at the start of February, their first comeback since the departure of B.I from the group. It was reported that the group had to re-record the album again and hence the comeback delayed to earlier this year. Let’s have a closer (and belated) look at the album.
i DECIDE Album Cover
1. Ah Yeah – Ah Yeah kicks off with a rolling marching drumbeat. It gives the song an epic lift-off. While there was a bit of dramatic flair to it, the song moved into more of a rock sound, which makes complete sense. More unexpectedly was that there was a perky melody and tone to the song, which I don’t mind. But I would have loved for the rock sound to add onto the dramatic flair we got. The group handled the song well, despite it containing parts that we all know B.I once filled. There were two parts that I didn’t enjoy. First the trap-like breakdown for the bridge. We all know how overused this is now and it is becoming more and more obvious with each song. And second, iKON keeps on pulling out the anthem card. It is becoming slightly overused and this might ruin the appeal that card has. (8/10)
3. All The World(온 세상) – We get a blast of 90s energy in this song at the very start, before the song settles for a pop sound. Everything in All The World is very vibrant and lively, a side of iKON that we get to see from time to time. The group’s rapping and vocal delivery really made this song feel so much more energetic and appealing to fans. And based on the comments from other listeners on YouTube, the song’s lyrics add to that regard, as well. Once again, they pull out the anthem card for the end. Here, however, it did feel like it made more sense and helped create a wholesome profile for the song. (8.5/10)
4. Holding On(견딜만해) – Following the same tone and energy as the previous track, Holding On brings in the vibrancy with some brass. Within the instrumental seems to be also some orchestral and classical instruments, all built to form an upbeat and playful track. This is a vocal centric track, containing no rapping sequences. The raspy vocals brought to you by Ju-ne and Bobby was an amazing texture. The ad-libs at the end were pretty good and I loved how the instrumental moulded around them. The chorus was catchy and definitely got me in a good mood (especially since the lyrics give empowerment to those who recently broke up). The song also pulls the anthem card out towards the end, but it was more for a backing rather than straight up singing the final chorus (as previously done in the above songs). (9/10)
5. Flower (너란 바람 따라) – The album ends with a song that is almost like a ballad. When I look at the lyrics of the song, I can’t help but think that iKON is paying homage to their former leader. Lyrics like ‘Hope your way is not painful, Hope you just smile happily’ strongly suggests that mentioned meaning. And I am sure this provokes tears in loyal fans of the group. I really like how the instrumental takes a slightly heavier tone, suitable for the song’s message, as opposed to following the upbeat tone that preceded the track. I also find the instrumental to be rather soothing with the acoustic guitar and violins and in despite the drum beat we do get. Vocally, the group did amazing and Bobby’s rap gave it that little push. (9/10)
The next song on the ‘Coming Soon’ list that I wanted to look at is 3YE’s latest comeback. I recently reviewed first comeback track. OOMM (Out Of My Mind), which the trio released back in September of 2019. That track put them on the map for me and convinced me to give Queen a go. And that is where we find ourselves today. For those who may not be aware of the existence of 3YE, they are a three member female group (consisting of Yuji, Yurim, and Haeun) from GH Entertainment. They made their debut earlier in 2019 with DMT (Do My Thang).
As established in the OOMM review, the group dabbles into the hip-hop dance genre. And Queen is no exception. Many groups are now doing this, as we move to a more mature and darker sound of KPOP (as it seems like fans enjoy this more nowadays than the more cutesy stuff we saw many years back). To me, 3YE manages to make their song feel engaging which is definitely one strong foot forward in this current climate of similar sounds. I love the start of the song, when Yuji is rapping for the first verse. The lines were definitely punchy and there was a decent flow here. The momentum continued for the rest of first verse and the pre-chorus managed to incorporate a subtle buildup. The chorus manages to change the song up by going with a different beat and line delivery. It felt very stripped down and minimalist, despite there being a prominent fast tempo beat in the background. And this helps it become unique, as we don’t get to hear much of this trance-like sounds in KPOP. The sing-speak we heard also makes it memorable. The short dance break that we heard after the first and final chorus felt like the most typical part of the song and felt they could have forgone this if they couldn’t find something more unique to add to the appeal. The rest of the song follows a similar line of comments as I have made already and this all helps the song become engaging as I said before. The members put a lot of attitude into this as well, which is commonly expected from a hip-hop based track. But I felt they added heaps more, which really helped the rest of the comeback.
There are some suspicious dealings happening in the music video, yet only one member triumphs in the end. The story line that I get from the video is that Yuji, the leader of the suit-wearing gang, is working with Yurim (the member wearing a hanbok) and pays her a hefty amount of money. But it seems like Yurim has been feeding Haeun (whom I believe is a no-nonsense cop) information to take Yuji down. Yuji finds out and decides to off Yurim (hence the burial scene at the end and all the suits wearing gang members are suddenly standing in Yurim’s room as opposed to sitting earlier in the video – i.e. they turned on her). Haeun is kidnapped and I presume is offed as well. This is a very dark yet awesome concept, taking girl crush to a much more powerful and scary level. Beware of 3YE. All other aspects of the music video look cool, as well.
There is a bit of everything in the choreography. There is some bounce to the routine, a lot of attitude and sass. It gives off the impression not to mess around with them, as their music video strongly hinted at. While no move was memorable, everything felt right for the song and that is another strong footing to the comeback.
Song – 9/10 Music Video – 9/10 Performance – 8/10 Overall Rating – 8.8/10
It is time to get back on the review grind. And hopefully, I can stay on the grind. Kicking things off is Yezi’s latest comeback. It has been a while since we heard from Yezi. For those who may not remember this artist, Yezi was formerly the rapper for Fiestar, up until their disbandment in 2018. Over the years since her debut in 2014, Yezi has released a number of solo tracks (some of which I have reviewed in the past) and participated in Unpretty Rapstar 2. Up until a few weeks ago, Yezi has been absent from the industry since Fiestar disbanded. Today, we review Yezi’s recent tracks, My Gravity and Home.
Seeing Yezi return to the industry, I jumped right to My Gravity as soon as it was released (even though my review is 4 weeks late). And I am glad that I did. I am astounded with such an amazing song. Yezi presents us with a power ballad, something you would not expect from a rapper. But she handles all the notes amazingly. The power ballad has this grand feel, starting off with orchestral-like instrumentation. It remains in this mode up until the final chorus where the synths become a little more up front. I do find the instrumental to be a little hazy. Not sure if it is its true intention, but the haziness holds me from giving the song a perfect rating, unfortunately. It just makes My Gravity feel a little unclear, in my opinion. But that is only a minor issue. Other than that, I would recommend putting this song on in the background, closing you eyes and getting lost in its sound.
Home is a very bold track. The song opens with a soothing instrumental and this stays pretty much consistent during the verses. Her vocals are very refined and polished in this track and everything feels extremely clear, unlike in the latter track. It makes the opening verses more interesting. She does a bit of rapping. But to match the delicate nature of verses, her rapping is quite melodic (rather than her harsh delivery in the past). To me, the verses are the calm before the storm. For the chorus, she blasts with an EDM-pop instrumental and the hooks help transform the song into an anthem-like song. Her hooks in Home are quite punchy and this makes the song super catchy for me.
I do find the My Gravity music video to be poorly processed. If you don’t watch the music video in high definition, you may think the video is very dull and hazy (same complaint as mentioned for the song review). But when you do watch the video in high definition, everything looks spectacular. The nature setting was very beautiful and a lot of the drone shots looked stunning. It is also very artistic and aesthetically pleasing to watch. The video did get boring as it progressed, with Yezi walking in solo motion away from the car one of the driest shots ever. Sorry that I feel that way. Home takes things back into the studio and combines it with some outside shots in a dark laneway (that looks blurry, but I assumed that this was a filter applied post-production). This video is also aesthetically pleasing. The choreography shots were all taken with cool lighting (making way for a pretty cool stormy transition for the bridge) and performed in a very shallow amount of water. But more on that later. You can appreciate Yezi’s beauty more in this music video, in my opinion.
Home is the only track that has a choreography routine associated with it. And it looks amazing. The umbrellas make everything look so elegant. I really like pretty everything felt at the start. The choreography picked up for the choruses. I also liked the mini duo moment Yezi and her male dance partner performed at the end during the final chorus, along when they separated the genders during the final chorus while they perform all at the same time.
My Gravity Song – 9.5/10 Music Video – 8.5/10 Overall Rating – 9.1/10
Home Song – 10/10 Music Video – 9/10 Performance – 9/10 Overall Rating – 9.5/10
The second comeback of the week belong to ITZY. This four member female group had a smashing 2019 debut year with two massive hits, Dalla Dalla and Icy. And we are all confident that ITZY will do it again in 2020. Kicking off their year is Wannabe, which is featured on the group’s 2nd mini-album, It’z Me. In other related news, ITZY took out all of the new female artist awards during the 2019/2020 awards season, including the 2019 KPOPREVIEWED Award for Best New Female Group. Congratulations ITZY!
The first thing that grabs my attention with ITZY’s new song, Wannabe (like many other songs) is the energy. I said a similar thing in my ICY review, but Wannabe manages to take things to the next level. Paired with the energy is a set of shouting vocals from each of the member. I have mentioned in the past this isn’t a great tactic and can bring a song down. But ITZY manages to commit throughout the song and use this technique to their advantage (even though they sounded pretty strained again at some parts). I mean, they get right into it when the song starts and I think this is fantastic. Otherwise, they would have been lost in the instrumentation. Together, they make the song very bold and defined. When it comes to the instrumental, I think this trap based background is amazing. There are many textures that makes it so interesting to listen to. It doesn’t rely solely on the trap, however. There is a bit of guitar in the mix that really stands out in the sea of synths. Rock vibes and house influences as well. Heck, the start had a very intriguing and eerie music box sound to it, capturing our attention from the very beginning. The song’s hooks are also another strong aspect and it had me singing along as soon as I heard it the first time around.
One way to gauge a group’s popularity nowadays might to see the presence of fan theories (fans need to be invested and dedicated to their group to write lengthy and detailed theories). ITZY’s latest music video has all these fan theories in the comment section. And instead of me interpreting the video, I thought I pick one of those theories as they would explain it better than me. The following was written by the YouTube user mich (so props to them for the theory below).
But I thought the video was interesting even without a theory. You could see what the video was about with just the English lyrics and the visual cues in the music video. I liked the balance between colour and darkness in this video. It wasn’t overly colourful, yet it wasn’t dark like the serious concepts we see in KPOP.
The choreography has two amazing moments in my opinion. The first has to be that music box start. The second has to be the sassy dance break bridge. The routines for each of these sections looked so cool. The rest of the performance looked very intense and energetic, as well. I thought they paired well with the music, especially the bouncy moments of the music. The only minor issue is the lack of smiles throughout the performance. The smiles switched off as soon as the camera diverted away from the members and I thought this brought down the aesthetics of the performance.
Song – 9/10 Music Video – 9/10 Performance – 9/10 Overall Rating – 9/10
VICTON makes their long awaited return to the music industry yesterday. But what makes this a long awaited comeback? Well, it is the group’s first comeback with their full lineup since Time Of Sorrow in 2018. In 2019, Han Seung Woo placed 3rd in the Produce X 101 and debuted as part of the short-lived X1. With the disbandment of X1, this made way for a full group ‘Howling‘ comeback and this is where we find ourselves today. The rest of VICTON has been active since Produce X 101 and their made a comeback with Nostaglic Night in November last year and earned themselves their first music show win.
I find the way that Howling is styled follows nicely after Nostalgic Night and Time Of Sorrow. Both these tracks are very melodic despite their dance influences and synths that they use. Howling is almost the same but manages to sound a lot more refined. They also give off a modern flair, which I really think makes the track so appealing. The husky-whisper-singing-like vocal style that kicked off the song was really nice, and I liked how the chorus featured some of this as well. The vocal work is very smooth throughout and I think this aided in the refinement of the song. The rapping also follows quite nice and doesn’t overpower the song in any way, which I think was easily given how intense and deep the rapper sounded. The instrumental is pretty standard when you glance at it. But I really liked how subtle the change between the verse and chorus was. Despite it subtle nature, however, the chorus was its own section and you can tell them apart. I think the continuous mellow sound is starting to weigh down on them, however. With the return of Seungwoo, I would have expected there to be a change in direction for the group, especially since how this sound was never really a hit to begin win. For now, I think this is a fine song. But I would like to hear something a little more different from all their tracks so far (without falling into the generic trap, of course!).
The music video for this is one of the many that is made up of choreography shots and closeups. I don’t really see a concept within this 3 minute and a half video, other than dark and depressed. I did think their outfits, while were random, did allow them to shine a bit and stand out in all the darkness in the music video. In addition to that, I thought there were a number of good transitions which did grab my attention. But other than that, I don’t have much else to comment on.
I find it interesting that the choreographer didn’t put Han Seung Woo in the center position as much upon his return. If it was any other group, they would be capitalising on their most well known member by positioning them as the centre of the group. The choreography itself isn’t too bad. There really isn’t anything worth mentioning and memorable, unfortunately.
Song – 8.5/10 Music Video – 6/10 Performance – 7/10 Overall Rating – 7.5/10
Can you believe that I posted another album review on schedule? It sounds crazy. And another wish that has managed to come true is that Pentagon finally has their first studio album!!! It has been a wish that I (and many fans) have been look forward to ever since their early days and they have finally given us what we all wanted. The album is titled Universe: The Black Hall and this was released early February. The album features Dr. BeBe as the title track and also the Korean version of Happiness (a Japanese single they promoted last year) among other new songs.
2. Asteroid– The song opens up with this catchy squeaky disk-scratching-like synth that plays in my head even after the song finishes. The song, with a title about a large rock in space, does have this space-like vibe to it. What I really like is that the song isn’t that serious compared to Dr. BeBe, which means it isn’t as heavy as a result. The track has a decent dance backdrop and all these instrumental elements and characteristics make the song very appealing. The vocal work was also quite good, but I feel like the rap was the more dynamic out of the two. But either way, it made the song stand out. (9/10)
3. Shower of Rain – To me, Shower of Rain sounds like it is a title for a ballad. So, I was thoroughly surprised with how upbeat the pop track was. It started off with distorted sounds and slowly moved into a fulfilling and loaded instrumental. It peaks during the chorus and really helps give the song that bold effect. I love the way the song manages to strip itself down in the later parts and then return to the loaded sound right after. What also really surprised me was the vocals. I know Pentagon has good vocals, through some of their amazing works in the past. But Shower Of Rain has to contain of their best efforts yet. In additional to that, I liked the way they ended the song by getting everyone together to warn their partner to not leave them. (10/10)
4. Die For You – We get back into grungy and edgy side of Pentagon through Die For You. The instrumental takes on rocks, along with dance track synths. This sounds likes something we have heard before from other artists, but I feel like there is a sense of uniqueness to the song, based on how they layered the two sides of the instrumentation (i.e. the rock seems to come through and is not masked in any manner by the dance synths). The English in this track really stands out and really give off a sense of the dark side of the song. Vocally, the group stood out. But this time around, I thought the rapping was a little underwhelming, (8.5/10)
5. Talk – Pentagon brings out the acoustic guitar for Talk. They pair it with simple synths that give it a little more character that if they went just the guitar along. This keeps the song in line with the dance heavy tracks and ease us away with stripping the synths out completely. Vocally, the song was like a ballad and I thought there was a decent equilibrium that the group managed to strike between the raps and vocals. Both sounded good on their own and went well with the track. The track just didn’t feel like it up to par with the rest of the album. (8/10)
6. The Black Hall– I found The Black Hall to be a classy song when it first started. When the song’s main synths started to come in, I thought this classy vibe would be lost. But instead, the song manages keep the classy feel as it goes along. The vocal work is the main element that keeps this going, with its sensual styling. The way they dragged out ‘The Black’ felt so unique with their breathy voices. Going back to the instrumental, the synths ended up being very appealing. The bridge was also a standout part, as it built up quite fast and help give out a further rush of energy to the song. (9/10)
7. Worship U – While you could tell the song was going to be a dance track, the explosion of energy we got in the pre-chorus and chorus respectively caught me off guard as it just seems to come out of nowhere. And while that may be a recipe for disaster, that wasn’t the case of Worship U. The explosion of energy really helped make the song be addictive and bold. The delayed start to the final chorus made the ending feel so much more defined. I just wished the melodies and hooks were a lot stronger, which would definitely helped the song be more appealing. (8/10)
8. Zoom Up – The lyrics to Zoom Up seem to go in a sensual direction. I found that to be rather interesting. It is paired well with a very intense synth-heavy dance instrumental. It also used a traditional guitar of some sort at the start and end of the song, which I thought was a very peculiar highlight in the song. The vocal work and rapping sounded pretty good, though I felt like they had to compete in order to be heard. Furthermore, there wasn’t much of a separation to the chorus and pre-chorus, which I thought was odd. I was waiting for the chorus to come, but it never did. It wasn’t until I heard more of the song that I realized the Zoom Zoom Zoom Up part was the chorus. But it still works. (8/10)
9. Camellia – After so much upbeat tracks, we finally reach the ‘mandatory ballad’ zone of the album. First up is Camellia. It is a standard ballad in terms of instrumentation. It seems to incorporate a bit of slow rock in addition to the typical ballad nature of the song. But it is the type that makes you sway along to the music, which we know is my official criteria for a good ballad. What I think the group nails perfectly are their vocals. The melody and their delivery were very beautiful. The rapping as well was tweaked amazingly. Last time I felt strongly with a Pentagon ballad was Beautiful, which is still one of my favourite tracks from the group to this day. (8/10)
10. Someday – The second ballad on the album is Someday, which features the main vocalists of the group, Jinho and Hui. It is another beautiful track from the group. The duo relies on a typical orchestral sound for the ballad. But I like the way this wraps around the duo’s vocals in such a warm manner. While we are also mentioning vocals, both sounded spectacular. Each sounds so damn good on their own and their harmonies are really breathtaking. What makes this an even more special song is that the duo dedicated this song to their fellow members, making the meaning even more touching. (10/10)
I have been a little slow with the album reviews for the past few weeks. I apologise for this. Originally, I was planning on posting a series of album reviews this weekend. Bit I have dropped those plans due to another busy week which prevented me from drafting up multiple album reviews. However, I am sticking to the usual schedule of two album reviews, so keep your eyes peeled for them (this one being one of them). Today’s album review is for KARD’s latest album, Red Moon. The album features the title track of the same name and Dumb Litty, which was released last year.
Red Moon Album Cover
1. GO BABY – Kicking off KARD’s mini-album is GO BABY. With KARD’s tracks so far, I enjoy the intensity and explosive nature of their instrumentals, which make their deliver of lines and rap sequences feel so much more impactful and powerful. GO BABY is a step in the opposite direction. The instrumental is very tame and hence it lacks that same reach as their title tracks or my favourite b-sides tracks. The song has a decent melody and hook, but it just isn’t as memorable as their previous tracks. Even the energy suffers and this bores me. (5/10)
3. Enemy – We venture into new territory with the next two songs. The group splits and pairs with the member of the same gender, which I don’t think KARD has ever done before. Enemy is performed by Jiwoo and Somin, the female members of the group. The song opens with a very strong melodic hook, paired with a slight rock influence in the instrumental. Given that KARD’s main sound is hip-hop house, the song takes a few multiple turns, dropping both hip-hop and house separately into the track. And I thought this was a very cool sound. Jiwoo’s rap is definitely slayed, while Somin’s vocals shined. (8/10)
4. Inferno– Inferno is performed by the male members of the group, BM and J.Seph. And like what the title suggest, Inferno is a very intense and powerful hip-hop track. Both J.Seph and BM do not hold back in this track and I definitely like this side of the duo. It contains a growling chorus, which I think is very unique in the KPOP context. I also liked how they had different forms of line delivery, with the help of some autotune. But this helps keeps the song interesting. (8/10)
I spent the start of the week revisiting tracks that I have yet to write reviews for. And this should continue into the rest of the weekend (with some album reviews). But I take a moment to review a new release from NCT 127. The group has returned with Kick It, 9 months after the release of Superhuman last year. Since their May 2019 comeback, the group went on to promote Superhuman, along with other tracks, in the US and achieved a worldwide reach. And we will probably see the same thing for NCT 127 in the near future. Kick It features on Neo Zone, the group’s second studio album. It also marks the return of Jungwoo, who sat out of NCT 127 promotions since August of last year for health reasons.
In my personal opinion, NCT 127 manages to Kick It up a notch with their new track. Pun was purely intended. There are two sides of the track. The first is the very shouting-heavy and noisy hook of the track. Part of me finds it pretty good and sees potential in it to become an addictive section of the part. And while I do enjoy the Bruce Lee homage and the ‘new thang‘ to be suitable for this hip-hop direction, the other part of me finds it annoying and ‘too loud’. It honestly could go either way depending on my mood when I am listening to the track. Thank god that the song has some relief moments, where the vocals are brought in. Part of them is glad for this, as a full 4 minutes of the shouting and noisy chorus would have been a little too much. At the same time, however, it causes a great mismatch in sound and (obviously) cuts whatever flow the song potentially had. At this stage however, I am looking more positively at the track and think it is pretty decent. It does remind me of some of their earlier works, which I didn’t enjoy at the time of review (but they have grown on me considerably). Going I had expected a little less shouting and something more refined, but this was pretty good as it is.
There is no doubt the music video is paying homage to Bruce Lee. For those who may not know who Bruce Lee is, he is actor who was very well known for the martial arts movies he starred in. The music video featured a fair amount of martial arts and the infamous yellow and black combo. Bruce Lee is well known for his yellow and black jumpsuit, an image of Bruce Lee that everyone probably knows of. The music video also has this Asian concept, which I thought was very cool. They managed to give it a modern twist and the members stand out accordingly.
Don’t think there is a live performance for this comeback yet. So we haven’t really seen all of it. From what I can see in the music video, the performance plays on textures to match the more melodic vocal moments and the intense hip-hop moments. I wouldn’t be surprise if it did feature some martial arts in it. The dance break already looks amazing and very powerful.
Song – 8/10 Music Video – 10/10 Performance – 9/10 Overall Rating – 8.8/10
The next review that I am catching up on is MCND’s debut track. For those who don’t know, MCND is a newly formed male group that hails from TOP Media (the home of Teen Top, 100% and UP10TION). MCND previously released a pre-debut single (TOP GANG) earlier in the year with just five members (Castle J, BIC, Minjae, Huijin and Win), with the supposed addition of a sixth member, Yechan, once he returns to the company from 1THE9 promotions. But it seems like that plan isn’t going ahead, as the group proceeded with the five member lineup for their debut. The group made their debut last week with Ice Age as the main title track.
One of the main comments I made about the group’s pre-debut single was that there was a strong bias towards the group’s rap line due to the hip-hop heavy nature of the song. This left very limited material for an introduction from the vocal line. Ice Age seems to step in the right direction for this comeback, with a more vocal moments. To be precise, it was more of a rap-sing type of delivery during the verses, while the pre-chorus handled the actual vocal work. But still a much larger teaser to that side of the group in this song. The rapping, once again, has good momentum and helped give the song a loaded sound, despite the instrumental being a lot more tame than compared to TOP GANG. I find the chorus to be okay. I can see that it might catch on, thanks to its rough exterior but catchy repetition. There was also a sense of attitude, which I liked. But what I definitely wanted was some sort of melody, which would have helped the song be more attractive and appealing.
If they were looking to portray the ice age in their music video, they I think they did a very good job. There seems to be a cold-like vibe coming from the visuals of the music video. They managed to warm it up through the music, but the presence of ice and snow in the video tells us otherwise. And talking about presence of ice and snow, look at how white the video was. It helped make the colours pop and I thought that this was interesting. I thought the post-production of the video was good and their closeups made them look very charismatic in my opinion. Overall, good music video.
I thought the choreography for this comeback was definitely a strong one. The energy that they managed to pack into the chorus made it look very cool. There was also a smooth flow to the performance, which I liked. The first pre-chorus is evident of this, with the two members interacting with one another in dance in a way that I don’t remember seeing ever before in KPOP.
Song – 7/10 Music Video – 8/10 Performance – 8/10 Overall Rating – 7.5/10
Welcome to the Weekly Chart post for the 4th Week of February 2020. Sorry that this was a day late. BTS’s album review took a lot longer to format than expected even though I pre-wrote the post a few days before hand. I also went on to other album reviews instead, which I will posting later this week and over the weekend. But now, with a little time in my day, is the Weekly KPOP Chart post for the 4th Week of February 2020.
As expected from last week’s post, it is no surprise that BTS finds themselves in the top spot with On. Moonbyul’s Eclipse and IZ*ONE’s Fiesta remains steady in the second and third positions from last week. And both EVERGLOW’s Dun Dun and ATEEZ’s Answer rises back into the top 5 from their respective positions last week. For more of the charts, scroll down below.
23rd Feb – 29th Feb 2020
Title
Artist
Status
1
On
BTS
(▲ 4)
2
Eclipse
Moonbyul (Mamamoo)
(=)
3
Fiesta
IZ*ONE
(=)
4
Dun Dun
EVERGLOW
(▲ 13)
5
Answer
ATEEZ
(▲ 7)
6
Dr. BeBe
Pentagon
(▲ 5)
7
So What
LOONA
(▼ 3)
8
Red Moon
KARD
(▼ 1)
9
Dazzle Dazzle
Weki Meki
(▲ 9)
10
Bouncy
Rocket Punch
(▲ 27)
11
Dive
iKON
(▲ 19)
12
Crossroads
Gfriend
(▲ 8)
13
Interlude: Shadow
Suga (BTS)
(▲ 17)
14
Nun Nu Nan Na
cignature
(▲ 24)
15
More
Kim Dong Hyun (AB6IX)
(▲ 20)
16
Hands Up
Cherry Bullet
(▼ 6)
17
Queen
3YE
(▲ 10)
18
Good Guy
SF9
(▼ 12)
19
We Belong
Ong Seong Woo
(▲ 5)
20
Without You
Golden Child
(▼ 7)
21
Black Swan
BTS
(▼ 12)
22
Scream
Dream Catcher
(▼ 21)
23
Lay Back
VERIVERY
(▲ 5)
24
Reveal
The Boyz
(▼ 10)
25
Winter Flower
Younha ft. RM
(▲ 1)
26
The Day
IZ
(▲ 19)
27
My First Hero
2Z
(▲ 13)
28
Goodbye
Kim Jae Hwan
(▲ 17)
29
Moondance
Jeon Woong (AB6IX(
(▲ 13)
30
Any Song
Zico
(▲ 15)
Songs leaving the charts this week are:
Thumbs Up – Momoland
Countdown – TST
Say My Name – ANS
TOP GANG – MCND
Thank you very much for revisiting the blog and I will see in the next review!
Now, since I have taken multiple breaks over the last few weeks, I have fallen behind in the reviews on this blog. And so, starting today, I aim to start reviewing these missed reviews (before I leave them to brew on a list for a couple of months). The first review will go to ELRIS, who recently made their comeback with their fourth mini-album and the title track, Jackpot. It has been a while since I have heard from this group. My last review for the group was back in 2018 for Summer Dream. Since then, the group returned with Miss U and added two members to their lineup just this year.
Jackpot attempts to be a playful tune that suits the group’s youthful charms. I thought it was very vibrant (notice the past tense here) and there is a slight quirkiness in the instrumental to give it that playful tone. It isn’t until I started digging into my thoughts about the song’s element that I started to realize that my intiial impressions may not be as strong as I hoped. The music was relatively plain for the pop genre and I felt the song could have been a lot more dynamic in this regard to give the song some oomph. What did give the song some dynamism were the vocals, particularly around the chorus. I liked how they provided the song with a blast of energy through their voices and melody. And as any song, the chorus was by far the strongest part of the song. The verses was hugely forgettable. I didn’t like how they relied on the rapping for the verses. Some songs/groups can execute this well. But sadly for ELRIS, it feels repetitive and this disappoints me. When the group does switch to vocals, it consistently followed up with a repetitive sounding rap sequence, and this bores me as a result. Honestly, it seems like the weaker aspects of the song outweigh the strong in this case, as opposed to what I had in mind originally.
The music video is very typical. I am trying very hard to find different things to say about the music video. But I find everything just standard. The members try to give off a cute impression while doing some everyday stuff like acting bored or speaking on the phone. This is in no way a new idea and basically every female group who have attempted the cutesy concept has done this already. The lip syncing in this video was pretty poor for current standards. Throw in pastel colours that ended up dulling the video and choreography scenes shot with ordinary camera work, I think you might understand where I am getting with this section of the review.
The opening move when they all pulled each other up looked impressive. The rest of the choreography was very ordinary as well, a definite recurring theme in this review. Nothing else is worth mentioning.
Song – 6/10 Music Video – 5/10 Performance – 6/10 Overall Rating – 5.7/10
KPOPREVIEWED 