Finally getting around to finishing the undergrOund idOl project, where each member of OnlyOneOf releases a solo track and two music videos from the project come together to form a storyline. And since stepping over into the near year, the group has completed the series with the release of Nine’s beyOnd in early January of this year. beyOnd follows the release of Yoojung’s begin, KB’s be free, JunJi’s be mine, Rie’s because and Mill’s beat. Now that the project is over, OnlyOneOf refocused on group activities with a Japanese comeback (chrOme arts) and they also appear to be gearing up for a Korean comeback in early March.
beyOnd goes with more of an alternative R&B approach, toning down and easing us out of the project in a comfortable manner. I quite enjoyed the synths and electronic side of the instrumentation. While there is a fair amount of textural components, I did find the instrumental for beyOnd to be built in a way that brought forth an intriguing smooth-like effect that I find to be quite enjoyable. Emphasising this smoothness are Nine’s vocals, which can be characterised as being of a low tone, raspy and breathy. All of which helped made beyOnd appealing. I did appreciate the rise in tone and prominence of the vocals, whilst also keeping to a lower tone, raspiness and breathiness. when it came to the chorus, which ultimately helps make beyOnd less neutral and gives more bite to the song. My favourite bit of the song is the start of the second half of the chorus, with the repetition of the first few words of the two initial lines of this half. It felt quite dynamic and adds another layer of appeal to the song. Overall, beyOnd is fairly straightforward, but also serves as a neat addition to the solo works that came out of this project.
In beat‘s music video overview, we left off with a slight cliffhanger, where Nine appears in front of Mill bloodied and injured. I mentioned that we will definitely find out why in this video and we definitely do find out. It turns out that Nine was cornered and targeted by Mill’s bullies, who end up bashing Nine up. Mill ends up taking Nine back home to take care of him, and ends up lying down alongside Nine. In the final moment of the video, it looks like Nine ends up going in for a kiss and Mill possibly reciprocating. But we won’t know as the video finishes just before anything else happens. Elsewhere in the video, it is revealed that Nine takes an interest in Mill, further confirmation that Mill is shy and scared of his feelings, the pair ends up hanging out with each more (which is where their feelings for each other develops more). We also see all of the other members as either a teacher or students playing basketball.
Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Overall Rating – 8/10
KPOPREVIEWED 