Tag: DKZ (formerly Dongkiz)

[Review] Cupid – DKZ

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Apologies once again for the break I took this week. Work took a lot of energy out of me again. But I am back this weekend with reviews for you all. Starting off this weekend of reviews (and more!) is DKZ’s Cupid, which was released on 12 April 2022. For those who might think DKZ is a new group, they are not! DKZ is actually DONGKIZ, originally a five member male group from Dongpyo Entertainment which debuted back in 2018. Earlier this year, it was announced the group would under go a rebranding from DONGKIZ to DKZ. It was also announced that member Wondae would depart from the group due to health reasons, and the group would be reformed into a seven member group with the addition of 3 new members. The release of Cupid also follows the success of Jaechan’s acting in Semantic Error. This is also my first review for the group since their 2020 comeback Beautiful.

The reason to why I picked up Cupid for my first review after almost a week’s absence is because I have been thoroughly enjoying Cupid this week. I remember upon its initial release that I found Cupid to be lively and upbeat. And while that still remains to be the case, Cupid has definitely snowballed for me since then. Cupid had grown into an exciting, fun and playful track that is super catchy and definitely worth every replay I have given it. The melodies and the song’s main hook (i.e. ‘Forget me, Want to me, Bounce on me‘) are definitely elements of Cupid that have been keyed into my mind (just ignore the poor of English in this song). The brassy pop instrumental has a nice punch to it when it gets to the chorus, which helps makes Cupid super energetic and gives the chorus a chance to really pop out from the standard verses. I also like how shouty the members get in the second half of the chorus, which undoubtedly complements the energy driven nature of the chorus. In addition to the shouty delivery, I liked the vocalists in choruses, as they give Cupid a really abrasive texture with their scratchy voices which contrasts with the rest of the song and also gives oomph to the song. My favourite bit has to be the ending, when Jaechan shouts ‘Encore‘ and the same instrumental that backs the choruses comes into play for a final round. There is just something about this section that just stands out even though it is just a repeat sequence. Overall, I can see why a lot more people are attracted to Cupid.

The music video is pretty standard, but it offers a fun and lighthearted story that works well with the song. (despite it also being cringy at the same time). Essentially, DKZ operates a business that searches for others’ loved ones (similar to how Cupid connect people together). They get a few random clients at the start, but nothing really interests them. However, when a mysterious female character steps in and asks the group to search for a person, they all jump on board and accept her as a client. She hands them a bunch of pictures of this person’s features, which the members start using as clues to find this person. Well, it turns out they weren’t searching for one person, but rather than seven persons (i.e. themselves), as each image corresponded to each member. In the end, the members were rounded up by the mysterious female character who actually is the police and the guys go to prison. A bit of a reach towards the end, but hey, the video is meant to be comical and not taken serious. Other than the plot, I really like colourfulness of the video, which help boosted the vibrancy of both the visuals and the song.

Like the song and music video, I would say this choreography is fun. My favourite bits was during the chorus, when the music was intense and their moves matched said intensity. I did wish the final sequence of instrumental (following ‘Encore‘) was more freestyle, as that would made the routine a bit more exciting. But overall, a fair effort.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7.5/10
Overall Rating – 8.2/10

[Review] Beautiful – DONGKIZ

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After weeks of empty promises, I am finally going on a review blitz. I have cancelled the album reviews for this weekend in hopes to get these reviews out. First up on the list is DONGKIZ’s Beautiful comeback, which was dropped this past 19th of August. This Beautiful comeback comes after the release of All I Need Is You and Lupin earlier in the year (which I really enjoyed), along with the debut of a Jae Chan and Min Ik subunit, DONGKIZ I:KAN (which debuted with the single Y.O.U).

As much as I want to say that I am digging this song, I can’t really bring myself to say it because of Beautiful‘s chorus. To me, Beautiful had everything but a smashing chorus. The main hook and supposedly catchiest section of the song ended up sounding like an intense groan (‘intense’ because of the instrumental, ‘groan’ because of the way they sang the title of the song). I honestly cannot think of a better description to summarise what I thought of that section than that. It just felt like the producers of the song placed unnecessary and prolonged emphasis on the Korean word of ‘Beautiful‘. If the execution of the chorus was a lot punchier and less draining, then the song could have been another great one from the group. But unfortunately, that isn’t the case. And that is such a pity, as the verses were really well done. On top of the usual dance instrumentation we hear so often in KPOP, Beautiful manages to infuse some South-Western flair into the music. Different, unique and oddly captivating. It sounds random, but it manages to work. I also enjoyed the vocals during the pre-chorus and the concurrent climb in this section, as it felt like Beautiful was approaching a really cool and dynamic drop. If only we knew what was around the corner…

I felt that this could have been an interesting video, if the video had some sort of introductory sequence or an epilogue at the end of the video. I felt that could have filled in some gaps and so it didn’t need to jam the plot line into a three minute long video. Based from my understanding (and a reminder – my interpretation could be very wrong. So I am happy if you want to correct me or point out some details that I may have missed), the video seems to revolve around Wondae, who seems to be struggling with the idea of inner beauty. The lyrics are all about unmasking and being ones self. The other members seem to try to stop him from doing so, as they seem to be a barrier of some kind (they seem to be doing a lot of haunting, and based on an earlier scene they were the ones masked not Wondae). That is my understanding of the video and I am unclear if he actually ‘unmasks’ at the end of not. I did like the darker atmosphere of the video, despite everyone else saying that the group is conforming to the norm. I personally don’t mind darker atmospheres, as I do prefer them over the brighter concepts. I just wished they were given more time to tell the story.

There is a lot of good footwork and arm-work throughout the performance that makes it a complex routine. Otherwise, at first glance, it looks like the usual stuff we see with most male groups in the industry. They just need some of sort of wow factor in the performance to make this routine memorable. I particularly like the first pre-chorus section of the choreography, which looked really cool on stage.

Song – 6.5/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7/10

[Review] Y.O.U – DONGKIZ I:KAN

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Making their subunit debut on Tuesday was DONGKIZ I:KAN. I personally wasn’t aware that DONGKIZ was debuting a subunit (I thought it was a group comeback when I say it on the list), so this was a surprise for me. The subunit consists of Jae Chan and Mun Ik and this follows the group’s Lupin comeback earlier in the year (a comeback that I really enjoyed). Subunits usually offer listeners a different sound to what their main group usually offers, so it will be interesting to see what DONGKIZ I:KAN will delve into, given that DONGKIZ doesn’t really have a strong association to any genre.

The one thing I do remember as a common theme in DONGKIZ’s track is its funky and retro vibes. And in a sense, Y.O.U (the title of the subunit’s title track) conforms to that common string in their main group’s release. At the same time, the subunit brings forward the new jack swing genre from the early 90s. And this music direction is great! It is full of energy and there are some fun vibes to it. There is also a refreshing appeal to the song, given that I don’t think the group has ever delved into this particular genre yet. The most exciting part of the song was the dance break that brought me a strong sense of nostalgia. While I do like the sound they had gone with, the main flaw of Y.O.U was how lacking their vocals and rapping were. I wanted more oomph to their delivery of both elements to add some depth to the song. What we got was good, but it is another situation where I wanted them to go further. If they had somehow defined their vocals and raps, this would help make the hooks more catchy and addictive.

The duo is singing about a girl they see passing by and that is exactly what the music video is showing. The two members are competing against each other to get her attention. I liked that it showed the two’s facial expression while they are on a mission to get her attention. That is a little different from similar music videos. However, it was revealed at the end that the girl already had an interest in a guy named Kirin, which shocks the guys. I thought that was a fun little twist, despite it being a card played multiple times in the past. Aside from the generic storyline, I really liked how simple the video was, yet how retro the video ended looking. From the outfits to the post-production editing of the dance break, everything looked like it would have fitted into the 90s.

The bright atmosphere which they show on stage is very fitting for both the members and the song. I do like the twisty moves they pull off. It looked weird at first, but it soon became interesting as I tried to work out what they were doing. The dance break was fun, though it wasn’t as intense as I hoped it would be.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 7.3/10

[Review] Lupin – Dongkiz

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With no major release today, it is a great opportunity to pull another song from the ‘Coming Soon’ list to review. A lucky dip yielded Lupin by Dongkiz, which was released exactly one month ago on the 15th of March 2020. Interesting fact, I haven’t actually reviewed any songs from Dongkiz yet, even though I was planning to for their a release earlier this year. For those who may be unfamilar with Dongkiz, they are a five member male group under Dongyo Entertainment. Previous releases include Nom, Blockbuster, Fever and All I Need Is You.

From my understanding and limited exposure to Dongkiz’s past releases, the group has on delved into funky but bright sounds. Lupin follows the funky sound that the group has maintained, but gave it an edgy feel. And that funky description might be a little understatement. There is some funky guitar work in the song during the verses, along with some groovy and squeaky saxophone synths for the chorus. All coming together to create a really high energy and loaded song. The bit in between the verse and chorus was very interesting. Usually songs would buildup to the chorus, so that they can build up suspense for the drop. Lupin, does things a little differently. It still applies the same rules but this is very minor in comparison to the complete slow down that they went with. This, I found to be very unique and made the song rather cool in my books. Not only did this make the song sound memorable for me, but I thought the vocal melodies and instrumental hook were pretty addictive. I really like rough texture the rappers brought through their one-liners in the chorus. The vocals were very smooth and sounded very nice. Overall, Lupin attracts my attention to the group and I will definitely keep my eye out for them in the future.

I think the music video shows two sides of the group. The first is the more darker and badder versions of the group. They steal the jewelry in the art gallery. The second side is the investigative team that is tracking down the thieves. Moving away from the plot line, the music video actually looked good visually. I was concerned that since they were from a lesser known company, they would have a low budget style music video. But this actually had a fair amount of cool post-production work done on it. I mean the digital picture frames looked cool and the choreography shots were done in very stunning locations. The video was quite dark, so it was hard to focus on it at times. But overall, pretty decent.

The choreography was awesome. At first I thought they were actual walking canes that we would all associate with a much older generation. But they were actual magic sticks that could go back to be a simple piece of cloth. The members performed magic twice in one stage and I thought that was awesome. I also liked how they had to revert the cane back to the cloth, but incorporating it into the choreography.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.7/10