#genie music kpop exploration team

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Genie Music K-pop Exploration Team's listening session — O (Circle) PICK by Kim Yoon-ha, Kim Young-dae part i

source x

YOUNG: Who is it today?

YOON: Today, like Woojin, I brought the work of an artist who released a solo album. However, this artist has already released solo works

YOUNG: He did

YOON: He's the main vocal of a group we're really familiar with

YOUNG: Yes

YOON: Who is it?

YOUNG: ONEW. LEE JIN/KI LEE JIN/KI. Our Jinki.

YOON: We prepared ONEW's new album Circle. This is his first full lenght album in..?

YOUNG: He debuted in 2007 or 2008?

YOON: 2008

YOUNG: Then it's his first after 15 years?

YOON: In the meantime, he released two mini albums, the solo debut was a bit late. After releasing his first mini album in 2018, he only released a japanese album, another EP and now his first album.

YOUNG: As the main vocalist of one of the greatest groups in K-POP history there weren't many releases so it's pretty meaningful that it's first album in 15 years

[...]

YOUNG: A little curiosity. What is the difference from a mini album and a full lenght album?

YOON: I think it depends on the times, based on 2023 KPOP standards, 'mini' showcases chapters organized like 'this is me' and 'this is me'

YOUNG: That's right, a mini is a sampler menu in a restaurant: this restaraunt is good at this and that. If it's like this a regular [album] is a full course

YOON: Yeah, it's eating the main dish [...] Basically the ingredients are the same but it's inevitable that the point is what flavor and what kind of eye candy you show them. Onew released two mini albums called VOICE and DICE: VOICE is a calm album filled with ballad-like songs while DICE is very refreshing, it's onew's colorful side. What album would you think is the real ONEW? With that feeling, I think this album, 'Circle' , is an answer and a question.

[...]

YOUNG: Let's go with the general evaluation

YOON: How was it?

YOUNG: For me, this recent talk about SME incident. Hybe and Kakao...There are things like that, right? If you like SME music or your favorite artist is under their agency, what we're curious about is how SME music will change after lsm, will it change? Critics are flaggergasted about this, right? Opinions are divided, it'll be similiar, it'll change... I don't own this CD and I haven't seen it in person but lsm isn't in charge

YOON: Oh

YOUNG: So in a way this is the first album without LSM..? Kind of like that, I don't know exactly. [...] is this the grand post lsm era?

[note: lsm place as executive producer for this album was taken by onew himself he revealed it in hot tracks circle fansign event x]

YOON: I didn't feel much of change, compared to the existing sm sound [...] commenters are saying 'uh but it changed a bit'

YOUNG: We'll know when the number of cases increases!

YOON: I thought it was an album where I focused on the voice of the singer

YOUNG: Yes

YOON: While listening to it, we also check things like 'oh, this music is this kind of genre' and 'this kind of songwriter in this is essential' but the more i listen to this album, the more i think 'oh, this person wanted to express his voice like this' or 'this person can sing with this voice'. I think the most important part of this album is the fun of finding things like that

YOUNG: It's one of the two [things to find]. 'Which song penetraded through this voice and showed its presence' or 'or, did you really use it in that direction by collecting only the songs that are really optimized for this voice?' But i think it's both

[...] Of course, his voice is unique. to be honest, Onew's voice

YOON: If you hear the first note, you'll know that it's SHINee's Onew

YOUNG: Right. that's a very gentle voice

YOON: The more I listen to it, the more I think it's the result of Onew's obsession with his voice

O (Circle) PICK - O (Circle), Cough, Rain On Me, Caramel & Anywhere

YOON: In that sense, the song that really obsessed me was the first song, O (Circle)

YOUNG: To add a bit of exeggeration, the image of this album, should I say it's a sound effect? Should I call it tone? I think 70-80% of the colors that I feel when i think of the album are decided here

YOON: I think so too. As soon as I listened to this song, I got to listen the whole album

about O (Circle)

[...] YOON: You mentioned the first part and I think that the most of it was very anomalous and completely different. As soon you hear that sound, in a science fiction movie, you know? The feeling of trascending time and space

YOUNG: Like a warp

YOON:Yes, that kind of part. That part starts with Onew's voice, as soon as I hear the sound, it's like changing time and space

YOUNG: You're coming out strong from the start, a voice that changes time and space?

YOON: I've told you that before and I think that feeling came straight to me, I thought 'Wow that's good'. But honestly it's not that easy to approach, right?

YOUNG: Some people might think 'it's not the sound I expected'

YOON: It's a song that's actually pitchy or contemplative rathar than pop

YOUNG: Yes, so I thought that the atmosphere of this song... its core is Onew's rich voice who floats on the mood and atmosphere rather than the melody or anything like that [...] There's no meeting, the lyrics are all floating around. The image itself. When time goes quickly, the seasons go like this, it's kind of like the clock goes backwards when the time goes back, Onew's voice feels like that. [...] If you think of the theme of this song, we think that time is going foward with renewal because we're crossing the calendar but there's a cyclical time structure where we can come back and find a common ground, right? I think we're moving foward while turning around? What he's [Onew] trying to say is tha we look alike and go against each other. It's exquisite that those parts are expressed in a floating sound unknown to us, like you mentioned earlier

YOON: It's very attractive, I found it very attractive. On the other hand, it's not easy to write lyrics for a song like this, it has all the sounds. I don't talk about lyrics that much but I really want to talk about it in this song. Kim Eana wrote them for this song! When the song starts, they give us words to the melody and the beat of 'nana-nana-nana-(sun cloud wind)', the words continue to throw nouns, and of course, there's a message afterwards but the words continue to contain the image of the sound we talked about, it plays a role in making it separate from the reality. So if there's a sentence, we keep thinking of the narrative but if we throw a word like this, we start to imagine it, right? The chemistry between them is really good

YOUNG: In terms of generation, Kim Eana is a lyricist who's both old and new school? These days, there's a way to make impact with your lyrics in k-pop, there's a new style but Kim Eana is not really that style, she stuck with, I think, a strange sound that we can't exactly say is a trendy k-pop song

YOON: It's not a song that can lead in terms of trend but Onew's voice is a actually a bit trendy in terms of sound. Since it's close to an alternative R&B sound, I think it's a song that creates a strange appreciation by adding lyrics that emphasizes the taste of korean words, it's a song with a high level of completion. Everytime I listen to it, I think about it. [...] It's one of my three favorite songs.

[...]

about 'Cough' and 'Rain On me'

YOON: Before we came in we talked about the album and said "1, 2 and 3 punches are the best"

YOUNG: I think the beginning [of the album] was done not until the end but it got the upper head and completed the big frame?

YOON: The songs after O (Circle) that created the atmosphere are 'Cough' and 'Rain On Me', they're slightly warm, aren't they? For me O (Circle) feels rich and dreamy but it makes me feel lonely emotionally, 'Cough' melts my heart. It's like when the snow melts in winter and it becomes spring? It's a perfect song to listen to this weather these days

YOUNG: To me, 'O (Circle)' is close to the sky. I mean, if it's more of a philosophical and contemplative thing in the world of metaphysics then 'Cough' and 'Rain On Me' feel like they're on the ground

YOON: 'Rain On Me' isn't a heavy rain either, it's a spring rain: it's like a sprout is going to come out after the rain stops. These two songs go really well with this spring vibe. 'Cough' has a moist feeling while 'Rain On me' has a rain theme but it feels a bit dry, I liked the twist

YOUNG: There are a lot of reasons for that dry feeling, the singing style... but also it's just Sam Kim's style [note: 'rain on me' composer & lyricist]. All the songs he made are like this, his style is kind of dry and the music itself has a lot of echo and there isn't much of dynamic in general. The music is stretching out? There's nothing cute about it.(YOON: Yes, it's very calm) I think 'Cough' is a bit cuter?

YOON: It's lovely to me

YOUNG: Cuter and more lovely

YOON: That's right. The strings spread in the chorus and then he goes back to his voice and guitar. It just ends dryly and I realized that's where Sam Kim and Onew meet

YOUNG: First of all, a guitar should be dongdongdongdangdongdongdang, here is just dreungdreungdreung and Onew fills in the middle with a warm voice

YOON: It feels warm but a bit rough, that charm is really amazing

about Caramel

YOUNG: I'm dancing right now because of the next song. Isn't it something that anyone can dance to? (laughs) In a way track number one, two and three are too calm. 'Cough' is cute but slow, this is the first track to raise the groove

YOON: In terms of sound 'Caramel''s role is connecting the front part [of the album], it also raises the tempo slightly. Also, Giriboy featured and took part in the work

YOUNG: "More, more, more, more into space" ['Caramel' lyrics] This is the only part where you get excited while listening to it, it goes up at that moment. 'Rain On Me' remains stuck on the ground while, I really like the expression of walking, in 'Caramel' you start walking faster

YOON: Yeah and also it's a bit witty the, how do we call it? A mouth trumpet? Lip trumpet? Louis Armstrong did a great job!! I think you can listen to 'Caramel' while walking lightly in a spring day, it's a representative pop track

YOUNG: It's cozy, but it doesn't have that cozy feeling in slow songs. I'm sure people who will listen to it will relate to it. It feels like a breeze, like a blanket? It feels like a breeze and a blanket. I really like that feeling. I really like the voice Onew uses, he's so talented. I love his song with Lee Jin-ah, 'Starry Night' is always in my top playlist

YOON: I really like that feeling. [...] If you look at the album as a whole, this kind of song was necessary as bridge, the previous three songs we discussed before penetrate the album emotions but from the heavy part to the end [of the album], it goes more to pop and k-pop route. I think this song needed to play that role. It's also good to meet Onew's skilled vocals. The lip trumpet that we mentioned earlier is a small skill but it's an advantage of this song, you can meet Onew, a skilled vocalist who sings naturally to a beat, soul and rhytm that you haven't seen in k-pop tracks

YOUNG: His pronunciation is so good. 'Sweet like caramel' It melts...

YOON: That's right, that's right! It's like it's melting into something...

YOUNG: When I first heard it, I thought it stood out? I thought it might break the album's emotional line but when I heard it for the third time, I was happy the song came out and that's the advantage of a full-lenght album. I rarely change my mind when it comes to mini. (YOON: the songs are few...). Since there's no flow. That's the fun part of a full album.

YOON: Giriboy's feature helped

about 'Anywhere'

YOUNG: SO, where are we going? Let's go somwhere else? Are we going to 'Anywhere'?

YOON: 'Anywhere'!! Yes, that's right. I choose it as one of my top two songs in the album. I like it because it feels like the middle of the album, after 'Caramel', which brought some of the rhythm, this songs explodes with a slight change of temperature. I think it's a song that makes you feel comfortable, I like this album section. If it's a full lenght album, there are a lot of songs and of course we care a lot about the songs' flow. Tracks one, two and three, as we said before, came with a dark and luxurious vibe, with Giriboy's help we came into 'Caramel' rhythmically and then in 'Anywhere'... there was a lot of emphasis on things like rough but cozy acoustic sounds in the first part but here, it naturally leads rhytm and cools down [the album's vibe]? Do you know the pop-like feeling? I like that feeling

YOUNG: Uh, sure. It has a bit of city vibe. I feel like I'm staring straight at lights at night and I gradually lose focus without even realizing it or like if you keep looking at the surroudings reflectively while driving, there's a dreaminess that you feel when you pass a line and feel nothing.

YOON: It has a bit of speed

YOUNG: With a sense of speed, the beat goes like this 'I'm not going anywhere', the sound is all around me

YOON: The notes are actually that low? [note: youngdae was singing]

YOUNG: No, it doesn't have a crescendo, it doesn't sound like it, but it feels like he's praising you. It's a city pop style, it has a good vibe

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Genie Music K-pop Exploration Team's listening session — O (Circle) PICK by Kim Yoon-ha, Kim Young-dae part ii

part i x | source x

about ‘Paradise’

YOON: [...] Anyway, ‘Anywhere’ is a song that you can listen to it more comfortably

YOUNG: And it feels more like a club, it’s more like that if we compare it to the next song

YOON: Oh! That’s right. Isn’t ‘Paradise’ more funky?

YOUNG: No, ‘Paradise’ is just funky while ‘Anywhere’ is more a club tune. [...] ‘Paradise’ starts with a guitar right? (YOON: Yeah, that’s right, the guitar comes out first) So, the guitar comes out first and the drum beat doesn’t feel club-like, does it?

YOON: It’s not the usual club vibe we think

YOUNG: The more I try to explain, the more I feel like I’m in a labyrinth... (pause) Okay, I’ll do it like this; ‘Anywhere’ is a car with a lid on it, I don’t care about the lid, ‘Paradise’ is little slow, a car with the lid open and the beach spread out next to it (YOON laughs), if I say it like this you’ll understand? There are two types of city pop: night city pop and beach city pop. ‘Paradise’ is beach city pop and ‘Anywhere’ is night city pop

YOON: No, no! I laughed because you were acting like me while explaining 

YOUNG: Lee Jinki. Jinki Myeongki [note: one of Onew’s nicknames which means skillful/fascinating Jinki], is a great voice. Some of his very natural aspects come out in his music, that’s why they call him like that

YOON: So taking everything that has been said, if we think about Onew’s voice best usage is (YOUNG: Paradise!) I think it’s between ‘Anywhere’ and ‘Paradise’

YOUNG: If it’s between them, it’s ‘Paradise’

YOON: No, it’s ‘Anywhere’

YOUNG: Oh, really. What did I just hear?

YOON: If you listen to this album as a whole, you’ll think “This artist can be moist and even dry”, and I think he’s a vocalist who can take any genre, who can go from urban to natural, but, also, you can find voices that suit your taste and, after I heard it all, this is the part. This is my favorite album section.

YOUNG: This part?

YOON: Yes. ‘Paradise’-’Anywhere’ have Onew’s slightly rich voice and... pureness? It’s hard to use that word for a male vocalist 

YOUNG: Oh, but with Onew you can, you can use it

YOON: Onew’s a unique vocal tone which has this young transparent feeling and is the most efficiently revived in these two songs

YOUNG: It’s different from boyishness

YOON: Subtly different. This is more fresh, as in natural? It feels like I’m immersed in nature [...] The most attractive texture of Lee Onew’s voice is in these songs, so please listen to this section.

‘Caramel’ ‘Anywhere’ ‘Paradise’ play

YOUNG: So good to hear it again.Because this is also the part where the ego as a critic and an evaluator and the ego who just likes Onew’s voice collide. I always think that this part, especially ‘Caramel’ ‘Anywhere’ ‘Paradise’, is kind of a good core for this album but it’s not easy?

When I listen to them I don’t have any kind of complaints about it (YOON:The quality is high); I think this is one of the strange points of a full album, if you listen to [the songs] individually, they’re good but they might or might not work with the overall album feeling. (YOON:  Oh?) Anyway this album section gives me a strange feeling. Well, most of the albums are like that, the more you go farther the more you’re closer to the essence of it. (YOON: You mean the front tracks?) Yes. There’s a little change in the middle part and then it ends with a totally different color. 

YOON: But the music flow works, in the end we’re talking about a full album

about ‘No Parachute’ ‘Expectactions’

YOUNG: It’s a perfect match. Reunited? In the first part I was feeling a bit depressed (YOON: The second part is kind of the caramelization?) and the third part is filled with songs that are suited for people who like k-pop, the sophisticated SHINee and SM music. (pause) Then, it’s like this, the front tracks [tracks 1,2 & 3] are what Onew wanted to show through this album (YOON: Jinki rather than Onew!) Isn’t “Jinki” a little later? The middle part [tracks 4 5 & 6] is SHINee, the “Familiar Onew”, here lays ‘Jinki’, tied to SHINee and Onew. It’s like a perfect match between the new Onew and the Onew we knew musically, the familiar one.

YOON: If we look it like that, you’re discussing all aspects of Onew, right?

YOUNG: Yes, he has many aspects, the last bunch of songs are SM color. I think people who listen to SHINee and Onew’s songs found them familiar 

YOON: I think ‘Expectations’ and ‘No Parachute’ are representive

YOUNG: It’s an approach we listen a lot in SM music

YOON: Right, for example, the way Onew uses his voice in the chorus part to create tension while in the background there’s a flap sound. ‘No Parachute’ is a chic and sophisticated and it’s a bit retro

YOUNG: Retro tendecies that SM showed a lot 

YOON: When I listen to Onew’s voice in this song, I think “Oh, this is the voice of a veteran who’s being through all the k-pop prenatal training”. I think I heard this song the most between these two

YOUNG: Strangely, I like ‘Expectations’, it feels like I’m winding people up.

YOON: This song is totally Kim Youngdae’s taste. There’s no part where you get excited? The song goes on calmly and persuades you through its sound 

YOUNG: That’s right, that’s right

about ‘Walk With You’

YOON: We’re going to continue with other two tracks. The 9th track is ‘Walk With You’

YOUNG: ‘Walking on Memories’ [’Walk With You’ korean title] title is a bit different from the previous songs (YOON: It was all english) All of them were just one word: ‘Anywhere’ ‘Paradise’ ‘Caramel’ ‘Circle’ ‘Cough’ and, here, ‘Walking on Memories’. [note: since he’s discussing the korean title, I kept the literal translation of the title!], it suddenly goes to a literary and essayist approach. There’s a bit of an indie vibe.

YOON: The flow between ‘No Parachute’ and ‘Walk with you’ is a bit of like memory stimulation, that feeling made me talk about these two songs together on the same line. Should I say their retro feeling leads to a story?

YOUNG: I think ‘Always’ and ‘Walk With You’ are in line

YOON: But in my opinion ‘Always’ has a completely different sentiment 

YOUNG: It actually feels like a completely different song, considering the flow of the album

YOON: ‘Walk With You’ is a pop number that can be heard in general and the lyrics stimulate some kind of memory you can’t grasp. 

YOUNG: ‘Walk With You’ is a song about a 20 year old genius and his guitar, you know what I mean, right? Don’t you think it’s a song that’s going to become a hit and be quoted indefinitely on social media?

YOON: I got what you mean, it’s a song by a singer-songwriter who has a fresh feeling that will end up in playlists

YOUNG: That’s right. The rhythm itself is trendy these days. DOOm DOOM Doom Doom. It’s a latin vibe, right? (YOON: Very refreshing!) It has  refreshing latin vibes. I think you can listen to this comfortably without getting in the way of the album

YOON:That’s right. These days we talked about instagramable, tiktok-cable, (YOUNG: Social Media pop, yeah): this song is instagramable and tiktok-cable, I hate that word but I keep using it. We’re gonna listen to these three songs right now, I really like the songs in this part , too. While listening to this album, I wanted to listen to every song in a very good sound system, I’d like to recommend you to listen to it with the best device you have

‘Expectations’ ‘No Parachute’ ‘Walk With You’ play

YOUNG: What I was going to say was, as expected, a quaint voice. Yes, it’s a masterpiece

YOON: We listened to Onew’s O (Circle) today. This album, like all the other albums we covered in our listening session, is filled with good songs so we talked about it. I think it’s an album you can approach easily, it’s something recommendable to k-pop listeners [...] Maybe it’s not something we’re used to but it’s still good, the music quality is very high and the most surprising thing about it is if you listen to it carefully, Jinki actually uses a wide rage of vocal techniques

YOUNG: Interestingly, it doesn’t feel that wide (YOON: He makes it simple); if the high and medium low ranges are too dramatically divided, I’m singing the high notes right now. If you intentionally emphasize it, it’s a bit tiring? But the sound, if you think about it it’s ‘atmospheric’. The voice itself doesn’t feel like the vocalist is forcing you to sing 

YOON: I think it’s general review for this album. Overall, I felt it after hearing it; an artist that wants to work on his solo album in a variety of ways. I like it. And when I listen to this album, I think it’s natural that I need to love that voice to really cherish this album

YOUNG: His voice is a very good instrument

YOON: Yes, and the composers, lyricists and A&R who participated in this album did their best to make this voice stand out the most naturally. That’s why I recommend it. “Enjoy the unique voice of the vocalist Onew” and “Listen to the efforts of many people to make it stand out like this”

YOUNG: I think it was worth waiting for (YOON: You’ll enjoy listen to this), it’s goos as background music and each song has its own charm

about ‘Always’

YOON: Normally, ballads are just ballads, and if you think about it the fact this song is the last track... [...] in an idol album there are times when we go into the last track with the feeling that there should be a ballad like this

YOUNG: That’s not it, that’s not it! Rather is a shining moment in this album

YOON: I think so too (YOUNG: What is that?) I think it’s really the highlight. I have a lot of thoughts. In the end, we always talk about k-pop albums... It’s a unique combination called love but it’s love within k-pop 

YOUNG: What is love? I don’t think it’s basically the love area that ordinary people can feel, but only in k-pop. Only those who do k-pop can know the area of love in this song. The love we’re talking about could be between two people [who know each other], but also between a fan and an artist

YOON: It’s one-sided, but it’s both sides. It’s actually a complicated song and in a way it’s a serenade for me to sing to a loved one but it also felt like praying in a quiet night. It’s basically a very calm piano performance and a contemplation of the night

YOUNG: Yes, I think it’s a sincere moment. In terms of message, too. And if you go into the technical aspect, there’s a way to end it. A ballad... It could’ve ended in a cute way, social media pop, but he didn’t choose to end it like that,. He ended it with a lot of weight? In fact, he emphasized it one more time and ended it

YOON: And it’s an album that ended with a lot of things that were slightly ignord by other songs, so in a way, this full-lenght album is aimed to general public and it’s an album about fans who have been watching over him for a long time. And it’s a good track to end with a heavy message.

YOUNG: Our movies are like that too, right? If you make a good ending you’ll have a strong impact, it doesn’t matter if it’s a happy or a sad one

YOON: It lingers

YOUNG: It does. After listening to ‘Always’, the last piano note disappears and then it turns off, right? But it feels like the melody and story are continuing in my head? It gives you that illusion

YOON: It’s a feeling that only a full lenght album can give you and it can’t be found in a 5-6 song album [...] Don’t you like these lyrics? “When love sometimes doesn’t seem to be the answer / I’ll give you an unshakable  answer that you’re right” It’s a song bound to touch your heart, and for those who have loved like this, it’s a song that will make your heart cry. I’ll play the song and wrap it up. Last words?

YOUNG: Through this album, I really got to listen Lee Jinki, a great vocalist, amazing vocals 

YOON: In my case, I’d suggest you to, (pause) this album is a little longer than what we usually listen but (YOUNG: Little longer. It’s less than 40 minutes), but the feeling of listening to the first song O (Circle) again after ‘Always’ is also charming

YOUNG: It feels like a reincarnation 

YOON: Kind of like that? So I recommend it

YOUNG: I hope you listen to it continuously

‘Always’ plays