#love the rappers & their verses/vocals but like...the songs themselves are no good to me...

[horangslay]

y'all ever want to like a group SO BAD but just cannot get into the music ┐⁠(⁠´⁠ー⁠｀⁠)⁠┌

[nerdyshy]

Album Review BE:1 BEFIRST By H.D

 BF is… (rating 10/10)

This song is a great way to start off the album as it showcases the group's vocal and rap talent to the world. It’s a fun song that I enjoyed listening to and it tells me that the group is determined and confident. 

Gifted (rating 10/10)

There is a music video for this song so I will talk about that. The theme of confidence is shown with lyrics like “We just gifted / Something you’ve never seen”. I agree with those lyrics as the song shows a softer side to the group which I don’t see these days from boy groups. The music video focuses on the performance of the group which is a strength of theirs. The sets are simple and visually pleasing. The cinematography of the music video for Gifted is simple but effective with brilliant reds and whites give it a unique vibe. The song is amazing and when I first listened to it I was shocked how fantastic the vocals were and I think that’s what makes the song memorable. 

Scream (rating 10/10)

This is another song that has a music video which is different from the previous song. I think this song is about their connection to their stage and the passion and enthusiasm they have to perform as much as possible. This is demonstrated through the lyrics “The stage is overwhelming / From your old cage to the next stage”. 

This song stands out because of the willingness to try new things and what I mean by this is that the instrumental, vocals/rap and choreography are unique and powerful. 

Moment (rating 10/10)

Moment is a nice song to listen to as the vocals are pleasant and gorgeous. I found myself listening to this after long busy days to relax and unwind. The rap fit well into the song as it didn’t overpower the vocals. Rapping on a song like this can be difficult as you have to match the vocalists and keep your individuality as a rapper too.

Be Free (rating 10/10)

BE:FIRST sings comfortably on this song. Their vocals are full of joy and happiness and I love that as it shows the passion the group has for singing. It’s an inspirational song and I can relate to this song. 

Softly // unit song (rating 10/10) 

This song is one of my favourites on the album as it shows the vocal talent of the members featured on it as it is a unit song. I think they challenged themselves vocally and it showed as the vocals are memorable and spectacular. I had this song on repeat for weeks when I first listened to it. I’m going to need more R&B songs like Softly in the future.

Betrayal Game (rating 10/10)

Here is a story of how I found BE:FIRST’s music. A couple months ago I was looking for more music to listen to and I found a youtube playlist that had Japanese male artists. The title Betrayal Game intrigued me so I clicked on the music video. The adjectives I would use to describe the song are seductive, groovy, passionate and unforgettable. 

The moment after I watched the music video I was taken aback that there were artists that valued storytelling in their lyrics. It's easy to write shallow surface level lyrics that don’t tell a story but with Betrayal Game it's the opposite. The lyrics ‘Your vague words muddy the waters/ There you go - running from your dreams’ and “Leave me alone, don’t leave me alone” / “I won’t play the closure game”. These lyrics invite the listener to interpret the meaning of the song and that’s what makes BE:FIRST lyrics so special as their vocals capture the seductiveness and passion of Betrayal Game so well.

Milli-Billi (Rating 10/10)

Milli-Billi is BE:First’s take on hip hop with everyone rapping on this song. Everyone’s rap verses were really great and the dance performance video was so good. The hip hop choreography suited the cool vibes of the song. The lyrics are the group at their most confident featuring lyrics like “Be jealous I'll aim until I get tired of it world famous” and “Stardom rising from zero”. Lyrics like these can sound like they’re boasting in a negative way but knowing their journey they took to get to being top artists it’s meaningful and authentic. 

Spin! // unit song (rating 8/10)

The first rap verse where Ryoki delivers an aggressive rap that was good until the scream at the end of his verse. It was unnecessary in my opinion to do that but overall I liked his verse. His slower rap style shown later in the song was so good and I hope I can hear that again. 

The raps from Shunto and Sota were good and they were confident in their delivery for the entire song. Shunto has a recognizable voice when he raps so it was easy for me to enjoy his verses. Sota has improved in his rapping and he doesn’t sound nervous in his delivery of his verses which is good. He needs to not overthink his delivery and he’ll be good. 

I appreciate the trio for trying different rap styles as the problem I have with recent boy group rap songs is that they tend to stick to one style of rap and it becomes repetitive and bland. Spin! Overall is a good start and they have room to grow as rappers. They have plenty of time to find what rap style/s works for them individually in their careers.

 Move On (rating 10/10)

Move on is one of those songs that is incredibly difficult to perform because of the challenging complex choreography and the cool stage presence that has to be shown throughout the performance. They pulled it off extremely well and I liked the performance that shows how confident they are and they immersed themselves in the message of the song which is to trust yourself. 

Brave Generation (rating 10/10)

There’s not that much to say about this song as it's a replayable delightful rock song. The lyrics seem to point towards a lost generation and trying to inspire them again which is very inspirational in my opinion. 

 Grateful Pain (rating 10/10)

First and foremost, the oxymoron in the title of this song is what makes it intriguing. This is the only song they wrote and composed so I paid close attention to the lyrics and production. After reading the lyrics it seems that they are describing a painful experience they’ve had and the renewal of a dream and finding hope in the end. It’s also personal and vulnerable which I don’t really see from boy group lyrics so it's refreshing to see them draw from their own life experiences to write these lyrics. The song itself is a ballad and it doesn’t have boring production which is a common critique I have of ballads. The vocals enhance the song especially when they sing their own individual verses which make it so much better knowing they wrote it. 

Shining One (Re-recorded) (rating 10/10)

Shining One is an upbeat cheerful song that I enjoy immensely. I liked the choreography, especially the dance break as it looked really dynamic on stage when it’s performed. It encouraged me to be motivated at a time in my life when I felt confused about the path I wanted to take in life. 

 Message (rating 10/10)

This is the sweetest love song that I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard my fair share of love songs with the most uninspiring boring lyrics ever but the lyrics of Message made my heart flutter in the best way possible. The vocals compliment the song so well and it makes me feel good inside every time I listen to it.

Bye-Good-Bye (rating 10/10)

This is the perfect way to end the album as it's a bubbly, bright song that interprets the meaning of a goodbye as positive. Usually saying goodbye to something or someone is viewed as sad but I liked that they did something different with the lyrics as it makes it memorable. What I adore about their song besides the lyrics is the vocals and rap. They sound wonderful here and when I watched the performances for this song, they do their best to convey the song through emoting the meaning of the song through their vocals. 

The music video matched the brightness of the song which is great. It was colourful and pretty to look at. The cinematography is stunning with bright colours and pretty sets that shows the dazzling side to their cinematography. 

Conclusion 

To conclude, this album is a cohesive, creative and enjoyable body of work that clearly shows BE:FIRST’s talent as a group and as artists. It’s not easy to put out something as great as this especially in the music industry which currently values instant fast music that is meant to be consumed quickly. It also isn’t appreciative of studio albums that have thought and effort put into it. If you’ve read my other music reviews you know that I'm harsh with my criticism when it comes to reviewing music but I’m truly impressed with this album. Please listen to it, it's so worth your time. 

[vitaminwaterreviews]

Isak N Jiyeon - Tell Me Baby

Average of 7.1, and that kind of speaks for itself. Definitely my favorite overall out of the groups so far. The vocals were genuinely so good, in other groups I felt like they were hiding behind the mixing a bit, definitely not in this one. Their sound did start to get predictable by the end, and I still have no idea who Mr. Unnamed Rapper is, but that aside, I liked them a lot. They even got me to enjoy some of their slow jams, and that doesn’t happen often. Plus, this group is actually on Spotify, which means I can save their songs to my playlist (and I think I’ll do that for a few of them!). Their music never felt quite as repetitive as the others, and I think that helped a lot. Even though it got a bit predictable, there was enough variance that I couldn’t predict everything. If you’re gonna listen to one of these 1st gen girl groups, I highly highly suggest this one.

Come Back to Me

Love this intro

I’ve been told this is an r&b duo, and so far we are definitely r&b

This “here we go” is cool

Did they just burp in my ear?

I guess they’re going to continue burping in my ear, that’s awkward

Tasteful autotune

Mixing in the chorus is maybe a bit odd

Oh look a random male rapper, how fitting

8/10, This could totally get stuck in my head

Tell Me Baby

Why does this feel like a Red Velvet song

A bit slower and slow jammy, and we know I don’t care much for that

The timbres themselves make it way better than Sinvi at least

Yeah, you can tell this is early kpop because of how ballady the title track feels

The bridge was super impressive vocally

7/10 purely because it’s better than Shinvi in like, every way

One

Prominent bass

Counting to four!

Omg we’re counting past four

I wonder how high we can go!

Eight! We can go up to eight!

Dude this bass Exists

Oh okay, the counting to eight is the chorus, I thought it might be just an intro thing

Ooh this bridge with the water droplets is super fun

And it bleeds into a rap verse! That was so neat I liked that

Or is this part the bridge? Really it’s like there are two types of verses

9/10, this was so fun, I wasn’t sure at first but it totally won be over

The Sign

Back to slow jam land I guess

Oh my god, there was a time when they used this type of electric piano unironically?

6/10

The Way I Love U

I guess it’s gonna alternate uptempo and downtempo songs

Opening with a random male rapper

But the vocals overtop his rap are super fun

Alternating male and female rap lines, that’s fun

Mmm people singing over a rap beat is totally my style

Dude this guy has so many lines?? He’s literally doing a third of the song!

8/10, I quite enjoyed the addition of Mr. Unnamed Rapper

Everything For You

That high note was SO good, fading into the guitar, mmm

This outro section with the ad libs is SO good too

7/10, the first half was meh but the last part totally made up for it

Easy Come Easy Go

This is totally jarring compared to what I just listened to lol

There’s a bit going on in this song but it’s just not that interesting to me?

It’s kinda dark and it has pretty vocals but yeah it’s just not the vibe

6/10

Bad, Good Thing

Why does this intro feel kinda Nmixxy to me?

Does this have choreo? Some choreo synchronized to those hits would go hard

The chanting chorus is nice and spooky

Actually, this group feels kind of Red Velvet in general. Obviously Velvet RV

This would be really fun to sing along to

7/10, kinda not sure what to make of this song, I feel like I should listen to it again

My Wish

This group loves to have sudden stops in melodic lines

Ugh, I want to dislike this song but the vocals are genuinely so pretty

I do take issue with just how much falsetto there is in general, could go for a bit less

Tasteful outro, very much like Everything For You

7/10

Double

This group uses silence really well. Like, they cut out the vocals or the background music or the bass or the drums or whatever with good effect

More Unnamed Male Rapper

Actually, this guy has appeared so much on this album I kinda wanna find him

Well he doesn’t appear on the Wikipedia, sooo I dunno

7/10

I Don’t Know How

Speaking of I dunno…

I like how urgent the bass and the drums are, contrast with vocals and guitar

The chorus is so standard for this group

Holy shit we got the “tick tock you don’t stop” sample I’m crying

6/10, this is the first song where I felt like I could predict the whole thing, not ideal

Pray For You

“What a friend we have in Jesus,” wow, this is Rather Christian

The only other Christian kpop song I know is Kingdom Come, I guess?

Still, it’s surprisingly catchy

7/10, kind of a weird end to the album but I’ll take it

[sanstropfremir]

the hotly anticipated kingdom episode 7 review is here!!

this episode was a lot less spectacle-y than the last one (the last episode with stages, i mean), and i think that was a good choice for all the groups on the whole to tone it down on the run up to the finale, because at the rate everyone was headed there would be no room to go any higher. i'm very glad that there was actually a collab stage and not just a song swap, especially because it gives a chance for the boys to work together and make friends when they otherwise arent going to be able to interact much. love love love to see them making friends and having fun doing these stages!

i'm not really sure why mnet didnt put the vocal stage this episode, because what on earth else are they going to put in the next episode with it??? i know it's a content stretch but still, it seems like a weird choice to me. anyways, there’s four stages for me to talk about this time and i'm going to try to not ramble out of control, but we’ll see. i did enjoy watching all of these, but we’ve all got favourites and i'm going to rank by which group i liked better out of the two for each stage, and then i put a few conclusions at the end. strap in folks this is another long one.

rap stages

skz + btob + atz

i was actually really surprised at how much i liked this stage. i would not classify myself as a rap fan and believe it or not i actually do not place a lot of importance on lyrics when enjoying music. although i have very high lyric retention and comprehension, i focus more on the sound than the literal words, so a fair amount of rap is swing-and-a-miss in my personal listening. plus when you add a language barrier on top of that, a lot of the nuance and technical skill of it just flies over my head. so i really dont have much to say about the sonic elements this time around, sorry. also.....i know i joked that nobody from the kingdom staff is reading my reviews.....but is someone from the kingdom staff reading my reviews????? i specifically mentioned that i think skz should do an art themed stage and then we got one????? i know i manifested the punk ateez stage but did i manifest this also??? am i just that powerful???

costume

obviously these are pretty basic rap/hiphop stage looks, but the white was a really good choice for visibility’s sake, and also thematically: it reflects the colours in the lighting really well.

i am DYING to know who the designer of minhyuks jacket is. if somebody knows please tell me i love it so much. it looks like some of the recent belted jackets that dior was putting out, but the drawing on the front armscythe piece reminds me of the superm/kim junggi collab for tiger inside. say whatever you want about superm, but you cannot deny that that is not some of the coolest merch on the kpop scene.

loved the traditional korean elements that came through in addition to the western references: the screens, hongjoong’s fan, minhyuk’s big fuckoff brush, the masks, and the sleeves on the dancers at minhyuk’s bit. those are a costume feature from a style of korean traditional masked dance called bongsan talchum. the masks themselves are versions of hahoetal masks, which are used in a very specific archetypal ritual dance in andong. i think these are imae masks, who is the servant/fool archetype that mocks the nobleman and the scholar. i suspect that was a deliberate choice, but i can only speculate.

another point about the masks which is not relevant but maybe a fun fact for people who don’t know. i actually thought at first that they were western theatre half masks, which are a very old style of mask that, like with hahoetal masks, represent a number of archetypes/stock characters. maskwork is a very common training practice in theatre schools, because it teaches body language and control, because half your face is covered and you cannot speak in your own voice (sometimes you cannot speak at all, this is one of the rules of full mask). the tradition of usings masks to portray emotion goes all the way back to the ancient greek chorus, but more commonly people in the west sometimes know it from the italian commedia dell’arte, of which you will have definitely seen some of the character archetypes before. i just find it neat that the same types of art pop up in different places seemingly independently of each other. humans are cool.

set

not much to say here, it's pretty bare with just some propwork. thought the screen use was fun and they used it smartly in a couple of transitions. 

thought changbin’s bit of ‘interrupting’ the artists was cute and fun. there’s obviously a picasso reference there, and the four technicolour paintings are a reference to andy warhol’s pop art silkscreen portraits, most famously of marilyn monroe, but he also did many other celebrities in the 70s and 80s.

lighting

i LOVED this lighting. super bright and fun, lots of use of colour, obviously. the projections were there to enhance the visuals and weren’t distracting in any way. i thought the transition to black and white/ink with minhyuk was smart and had good contrast, it gave a strong rhythm to build back up to for the climax.

sound

bang chan’s ‘spelling colour with a u’ bit had me SCREAMING with laughter. we spell colour with a u normally bang chan, the americans are the ones that are wrong. 

staging

i don’t really have a whole lot to say here, it was pretty straightforward and fun. like i’ve said in previous reviews, i wish they were more conscious of the steadicam direction and would stop showing extended bits of the production crew. at least everyone was wearing full blacks this time.

fun use of the upward angle combined with the groundwork/leg choreo during hongjoong’s verse, that was a highlight for me.

sf9 + tbz + ikon

nothing against this stage, the other one just hit harder for me. bobby is the best rapper on the show and he really carried this stage with his charisma. he’s a fun performer to watch and he knows how to command a space. i'm sure there’s technical notes that people have about the raps themselves, but i'm here looking at visuals as a priority, which i'm sure you’ve all grasped at this point.

costume

these were clearly extensions of these idol’s personal styles, with is a perfectly fine choice, especially for a rap stage where the emphasis is more on authorship. LOVED bobby’s 11yro girl at recess look.

amusing that both rap stages involved paint in some way? loved the backup dancers shooting supersoakers filled with paint at them, but i wish i knew the reason for it? i'm glad i saw this stage first because i would have been underwhelmed by the paint throwing if i had seen this after rainbow bonanza.

set

almost no set at all here, just a few props. i'm not judging as harshly on lack of set this round because these stages are meant to be more about skill than anything else. 

lighting

i loved the projections, i thought they were unobtrusive and i admit, i LOVE outer space themed anything.

i liked that they did more concert lighting and had no projections in the first half to put more focus on the performers, it really highlighted the fact that this stage was about them, and not about anything extraneous.

sound

it was indeed a song.

staging

i do wish there had been a bit more control of the space, because it did look very empty at some parts and they could have staved that off by keeping tighter camera shots. this stage is so fucking big, holy shit.

they really brought their onstage chemistry and they looked like they were having a blast, which FINALLY!! 

i actually really liked hwiyoung’s opening, i think there was a lot of potential there for some sharp contrast work that i wish had been played through a little more, especially with the cool white light overtop the black costumes. it actually reminded me a bit of the intro in the music video from a rapper i do actually listen to, bewhy’s gottasadae.

glad to see some more use of camera effects with the black and white, but why did they do it over the paint throwing? it just made the trajectory of the paint invisible because there was no colour contrast.

performance stages

sf9 + tbz + ikon

ok obviously im gonna have a lot more to say about the performance stages, nobody is surprised there. this one was the better constructed of the two and my personal pick for better stage, but i actually liked watching the both of them equally.

costume

king shit, literally. we love contemporary hanbok in this house. there was good colour and style distinction between the three of them without clashing. 

costume change was fun and neatly blocked, it's pretty common to see backup dancers and chorus hiding quickchanges but i liked how this was a more unusual formation.

taeyang rocking the organza skirt and the big purple eyeshadow, thank you for keeping it cunty as always.

i really liked juyeon’s underlayer look. finally we get a good tbz costume look thats thematically relevant!

set

like all the stages this round, pretty minimal. the setting was almost entirely established through the costumes and the projections, which is some really good designwork. it's pretty much just the litters (the lifted chairs they entered on), and some smaller props. they managed to not make the stage feel empty because there was a lot of projection visuals to compensate, which is difficult to do without being overbearing, but i think they mostly pulled it off.

i originally thought it was gonna be weird to try and mesh the traditional korean architectural aesthetic with the weird mnet deco, but i ended up not noticing it as much as i thought i would.

lighting

like i just said, projections very well done and do a fantastic job of conveying setting without being overly distracting. like with the atz/skz/btob rap stage there’s a really broad range of colour use here that they offset by brightening and properly fill lighting the faces so you can actually see what’s happening.

the use of the strobing lasers and more concert style lighting fit really well with the change in the music from traditional instrument sounds to electronica and the more hiphop/isolated movements.

sound

i liked it well enough! i think it had a good arc that we can see echoed through the rest of the piece, like previously stated in the lighting and movement style. 

staging

like i mentioned with the quickchange, there was some really interesting formations using the backup dancers here, especially as a lead toward/away from the camera

having the three of them enter on litters; again, literal king shit, love to see it.

this has a pretty clear narrative that doesnt really need an external explanation, which is good. i have to assume that the burning of the paper with 妃 (concubine) is intended to be a gesture of ‘burning’ the love out of their hearts, but that was the only thing i'm still confused on. this may very well turn out to be a reference to a specific story that i just have no idea what it is, but we’ll see once the subs are out!

i loved juyeons solo bit with the alcohol drinking and the table flip, that was the choreographic highlight for me. i just really wish he would use the other muscles in his face more often. we know youre pretty, you dont have to blue steel your way through all your performances!! take a page out of donghyuk’s book and make some ugly faces, it's good for you!!

i though taeyang’s swordwork was fine, but since i do actually have a decade of sword training i'm very judgemental. it's not bad, he obviously has practiced with the weapon and he knows how to control it, but he doesn’t have the same understanding as someone who has trained with a sword as a weapon and not just as a prop. if we hadn’t seen another stage with swordwork in it i probably wouldn’t have brought this up (that's a lie, i still would have brought it up, i have a third dan), but you can really see the difference between how minhyuk moves with his sword and how taeyang moves. a lot of this has to do with the proper weighting of the blade, which i mention briefly in my second episode review in btob’s section (and also this ask here, where i talk about properly weighted weapons in relation to the gun choreo in sf9’s and ateez’s previous stages); minhyuk is likely using a ‘real’ sword (it’s blunted but still made using proper methods and materials), and taeyang is using a cheaper-made replica (unless you’re doing full contact striking a LOT there’s no way a properly made blade breaks like that. also you would never tape it together hello??? respect the blade). if you know what you’re looking for, you can tell from the movements themselves when someone has training. minhyuk did a load of real training for a film where he was a swordsman, and you can tell; the sword is an extension of his arm, all the movements lead with the tip of the blade first, because that’s your first, your fastest, and your most dangerous point. you do 90% of your cutting with the first eight inches of blade, but it takes a lot of specific training to get your hands and arms to a place where that kind of movement is possible. taeyang’s movements are driven from his hands, which is unsurprising, because that’s where he’s used to his extensions stopping. the tip follows rather than leads. wow this got insanely sidetracked i hope you liked this crash course on swordwork.

this is pretty much what i expected to see from this unit. these three groups all have standout soloists, so i wasn’t surprised to see these three boys as the picks. juyeon and taeyang especially, theyre both from groups that are more likely to do experimental stages and choreography that highlights them as soloists and skilled dancers.

skz + btob + atz

this was a letdown from ateez’s last two stages, because they knocked those out of the park, but it's only fair that they have a bit of a fall. that being said, i did really enjoy watching this for its sheer ridiculousness; i’m forgiving the wolf concept this time because well, it’s wolf. you can't cover wolf and not do a wolf concept, that’s against the law. also, like i’ve said before, i'm all for dark concepts IF you give them thematic weight. is it on the nose? yes. is it thematically relevant? also yes. is it dumb? also also yes, but that’s never stopped a single kpop group in the history of ever.

costume

friendship restored with ateez stylists, rivalry started with skz stylists. the fur shoulder fluffs??? stupid and i love them. perfect in every way. however i keep seeing the same fucking costumes on the skz boys and i will come directly for the stylists at jype if they dont get their shit together. be! more! creative!!!

i really really wish they had gone more 2013 kpop with it, we need more of that ugly ridiculous styling. peniel was actually pretty close, with the overly long tunic and those yellow lenses. very vixx on and on (yes i know they were vampires from outer space, let me live)

i actually thought the wolf gloves were fun? the small bits of uv paint actually worked instead of looking out of place, and i'm glad they put them on wooyoung because the uglier an outfit, the better he pulls it off. 

set

same dice, just the long table and the camo net at the beginning, which i thought was unnecessary. the table was useful for levels though, so happy to see they utilized that.

lighting

there is so much happening all the time. lots of lasers. it's definitely aiming for camp territory, and i dont actually hate it as much as i did on my first watch. it actually wasn’t as dark as i thought either, because its mostly lit with blue and amber. but it doesn’t really have that great of an arc and its not really that good on the whole.

the projections are a bit much for me, but that’s only when i'm actually looking at them. true to form, i didn’t even notice the excess of red slashes until like my fourth rewatch because i was too busy watching the performers.

sound

rookie exo my beloved. the original wolf goes so hard for absolutely no reason, so i’m not knocking this stage for being ridiculous. in fact it should have been more ridiculous. i think they did a fine job updating the song for a.....less 2013 sound. 

i like that they didn’t bother to live sing the stage even though they recorded vocals for it, it gave them all a chance to actually focus on just the dance.

that being said, i am kind of missing all the adlibs from the original. but even though there’s some strong vocalists in this unit, they aren’t made of the same stuff as baekhyun, luhan, chen, AND d.o.

i literally just realized that peniel had already debuted when this song came out AND is technically exo’s senior because btob debuted like two weeks before exo officially did.....oh no

staging

choreographically this feels a lot more like the skz stages that we’ve seen rather than the ateez ones, so i'm curious as to who the choreographer was. 

the tricking was definitely more ridiculous in this one, but i can't really say any of it was there for no reason because it all had elements of fighting in it. the scale of the tricks was quite large though and not very well blended with the rest of the choreo, which ending up making them look awkward. i thought it was a nice detail that they shone a green toplight on the dancers that made up the cliff wooyoung climbed up so that it looked like there was grass on it. cute.

the blocking is lacking a lot of fluidity, and i think that’s partially the scale of the tricking and also the editing, because this editing is TERRIBLE. there’s so much cutting, why is there so much cutting!! haven’t we already learned that longtakes are the best for this???

there’s a lot of stuff here that had good potential but could have been pushed a little farther. i feel like i say this for every mediocre stage, but what can i say, i'm good at constructive criticism. 

they should have given more showcase to the tree and the scratching arms; it's the most iconic move!! i also wish they had kept some kind of iteration of the different unit ‘leaping’ in over the exiting one, i always thought that part of the original choreo was really fun and did a lot for establishing them as wolves. 

i LOVED peniel entering with all those backup dancers in chains, thats some fucking iconic shit. very ‘im the alpha wolf,’ which is valid because he’s like at LEAST five years older than everyone else on the stage. i wish that instead of being the backup dancers it was the actual members, because THAT would have been an image. theyre all wearing harnesses and collars anyways, just clip em in! he’d be like one of those dogwalkers!

me last week: specifically talking about how krump is an uncommon style in kpop and it's very hard to get right kingdom, throwing the manifesting dodgeball at me for the third time: here would you like a KRUMP SOLO?

if you didnt believe me before that krump is hard to get right, i sure hope you do now. peniel did fine, but you can see how easily you can veer off into looking ridiculous.

some conclusions

i mentioned this really briefly in an ask i got earlier today, but i do think it's important to establish that the two performance units are doing two different types of performances. i can understand why people are underwhelmed by the atz/skz/btob stage and wanted it to be less of a traditional kpop dance stage and more like the experimental stages we’ve been seeing for the last few weeks. and i agree! i think they could have done more with it. but i also think that this kind of stage was a good choice for this particular subunit. unlike with the sf9/tbz/ikon unit, there are not really any standout technical soloists in ateez or skz. ateez has, in my opinion, the highest ratio of dancers with actual stage presence of any of the 4th gen groups ive seen. they’re at a solid 75% for any given performance, and occasionally they can bump that higher depending on the stage. that high of a stat is rare. it's extremely rare for a group to have all its members have good stage presence (i can think of like, maybe two or three?), and to get over 50% is pretty damn impressive. but ateez’s strength isn’t in how good they individually are as dancers, but it's in how well they work together. there’s a reason why they put FIVE of them in the performance unit. one of the first things i said about ateez to hanya is ‘i love wooyoung but he doesn’t stand out when he's not centre.’ which is for good reason!! he’s not supposed to! they all willingly give up centre and take it back when they need to, because they have that charisma. there’s a very cohesive push and pull to watching ateez that speaks to their strengths as performers. dancing in a group where you are all meant to be equal is a very different skill than just being a talented soloist. you have to understand what to prioritize in a different way. taemin dances differently with shinee that he does in his solo career, especially since they’ve been back. he understands when to step back; more often than not i find key to be the standout dancer in shinee choreo.

this is a very long winded way of saying that wolf was a good choice for them even though the stage didn’t turn out as well as it could have. also the fact that they made a cohesive performance at all, with a week of rehearsal and while working with essentially strangers is a feat and speaks to all of their skill at their job. performing in a group is a huge part of kpop, and they did call this the performance stage, and not the dance stage.

i'm not entirely sure on what the breakdown is on why each of the subunits were formed. i know the team sizes are extremely uneven, with sf9/tbz/ikon clocking in at 26 people and atz/skz/btob clocking in at 17 (i'm not counting changsub because he's not there and probably has a scheduling conflict), which is like, a whole extra group of difference. but atz/skz/btob utilizing their whole groups for each of the units (5/3/1 for performance, 1/3/1 for rap, and 1/1/1 for vocal, for 7/7/3 total), verses sf9/tbz/ikon only bringing out six people for these two stages and then six for the vocal stage is......weird? that's over half of their group number that’s not performing. i do think the groups brought out their standout performers and made smart choices with the stages but the balance still strikes me as odd. i do wish tbz had actually done some group choreo because they are very strong group performers and it would have been fun to watch.

ateez really played the long game here, good job boys. teaming up with the group who gets the highest fan votes AND the group with the strongest technical skills? i see you.

i think this is probably too wild of an assumption and is only based on circumstantial evidence but.....i think hongjoong might actually have a lot more creative sway than i previously thought. all the stages he’s been a part of have been very well designed, and i know he provided suggestions for the two ateez stages prior to this... i’m probably thinking too much. 

ok you know what i know there were some other points in my brain somewhere but this is already 4000 words so i’m going to stop. if i remember anything else its probably gonna end up in the answer to some of the asks i’m inevitably going to get because i think my opinions on these ones are a little bit more controversial, whoops!

not entirely sure if ill do an extensive review for next week’s stage, because i'm not really a ballad fan and i dont really do vocal reviews, but i could do a quick one. i guess it also depends on what else they put in the episode. we’ll see!!

[olderthannetfic]

Escapade Vid - The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty

Here’s my writeup of my vid, crossposted from DW.

This is one of my two vid premieres for Escapade Con 2021. It spoils all of The Sleuth of The Ming Dynasty, specifically anything involving Wang Zhi. The discussion below is similarly spoilery.

I fell hard for The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty, harder than for The Untamed or anything else for ages. (Okay, that's a lie, I fell that hard for Kingdom, but I don't ship anything there.) I knew I wanted to vid it for the con because it's so beautiful and because I knew a lot of people wouldn't be familiar with my favorite character via osmosis.

Sleuth is a historical mystery series (no magic/fantasy) based on a danmei novel. It has three leads: the two halves of the book ship and my fave. Facepalm.

I got into the series by knowing it was new-ish, some kind of buddy mystery series, and that fans liked it. That's it. I glanced at a poster, but I hadn't properly osmosed that there were three leads, not just two, so when Wang Zhi showed up, I naturally assumed he'd turn out to be a villain. His introduction is him driving a man to suicide. Practically the first thing we find out about him is that he's a palace eunuch with a high political position whom the politicians fear, look down on, and hate.

Could there be a more stereotypical villain for a historical drama?

So I went through a rapid progression from thinking he'd be the smiling pseudo-ally they have to defeat later to loving him and being like "They'd better not make him a villain!" to realizing I'd completely misosmosed this series.

I had a lot of feelings.

Picking a song / How I got into BTS:

Finding a vidsong for Sleuth was tricky. I had other vid ideas I could have made. I was tempted to make three vids, one for each lead (though not all for Escapade). I was tempted to make an OT3 pimping vid. My problem was that I also have had a lot of feelings about BTS this past year, and I knew I wanted to use them for an Escapade vid, but that presented a problem.

BTS… man… How to explain…

I grew up not really listening to music. My mom was a music teacher and only listened to Classical. When I eventually got into popular music, it was Enya and Alice Cooper. (Yes, syrupy Celtic crooning in various languages + shock rock is a pretty good summary of teenage me, why do you ask?) Also Cat Stevens, who was even more of the wrong generation for anyone else to care. The first time I really gave a shit about music was when I was living in NYC in my 20s absorbing the taste of someone with strong and specific music interests. I would by no means call myself knowledgeable about music.

A year ago, I tried to learn a little about BTS before Escapade so I could pick some shippy vid and stick it in the dance party. I want people to be able to go to the party and feel like they've got their finger on the pulse of fanfic-adjacent fandom even if they aren't into all of those fandoms themselves. I've never been into idol music, and it's not for lack of exposure: many successive waves of jpop and kpop idol-loving friends have tried, and I've been immune. It's the soppy ballads. I cannot. Some of the bouncy stuff is fun, but it wasn't enough.

Unfortunately for me, BTS is fucking confusing, so there was no easy 101. The only way to know anything about the fandom dynamics and which ships are popular was to know a lot. And once I'd bought in that far, I was up for some fic reading because huge RPF fandoms always have tons of AUs that are practically original fic, and hey, that sounded fun… I tried their reality shows a little bit, but my allergy to idol music is second only to my allergy to reality shows. I'm bad at getting things done if I don't sit down and commit properly, so I made myself a spreadsheet of all of their albums, guest appearances, and side projects and sat down to listen to the lot via Youtube…

They blew me away.

I didn't know. No one told me! I would never have predicted what they actually sounded like. It's not that they're good. Lots of idol groups are good. It's that they can rap. Korea has plenty of good rappers, but they're not in idol groups! I cannot properly convey the level of shock I experienced or even how and why BTS are so good. I like hip hop, but I don't know enough to describe anything properly.

When I made it to Hip Hop Lover, it all made sense. Imagine my reaction as a much more confused and incoherent version of this youtube video. Of course RM is into Talib Kweli and everyone else like that. Of course he's into conscious hip hop, a lot of it from NYC. Everything about their dense lyrics and their choice of subject matter made perfect sense after looking at their self-described list of influences. But in a way that Monq can articulate and I cannot.

I love shit that requires buy-in. All nerds do. I swear, hip hop is the nerdiest damn music there is because it's so into referencing its influences and responding very directly to other artists and to current culture, assuming the audience will keep up if it cares to. BTS know far more than I do about hip hop from here, plus they're Korean and like puns in a language I don't speak, so understanding what the actual fuck is going on in some of their songs is an adventure involving multiple youtube explainers. But they also have enough goofy dance music and rap that just sounds awesome to keep me interested even when I don't get it.

Daechwita dropped in May 2020, and holy shit, can we have a fandom just for that video? Historical architecture, hot dudes with swords, be still my beating heart. This is totally why I ended up watching Kingdom. I was dying to start learning some Korean, but then I got distracted by more Chinese media. Damnit. How do I choose?

So Escapade 2021 was rolling around, and I knew I wanted to make my Untamed vidbunny from last March, but I also wanted to vid Sleuth, and I wanted to vid it to BTS. I was now presented with my problem:

BTS is a 7-member group, and most songs prominently highlight 3-5 of them if not all 7. One might be able to do this as aspects of one character's personality, but it's very hard to make it work for a two- or three-person ship. I started looking at the rap line's songs, which have just the three of them, but even then, you're stuck saying that Character A is singer X and so on. How do I divide up the Sleuth leads? Do I make the angry one the angry one and the sunshine one the sunshine one? But the sunshine one is not the bookworm in BTS, unlike in Sleuth, and that just feels wrong!

That was when I decided to do a character vid rather than a ship one, to pick Wang Zhi, and to choose something off of one of the rap line's solo side projects. And what combination could be more obvious than tiny, angry, beautiful Yoongi paired with tiny, angry, beautiful Wang Zhi?

In the end, I did not pick Daechwita because, much as I love it, it has that kind of monotonous, hypnotic flow, and I feared I'd end up making a boring vid. I went back to Agust D's first mixtape, which is much angrier, and picked a song I felt had more obvious internal structure. I picked it mostly based on sound, as I always do. I needed vocals that I felt conveyed Wang Zhi's personality. Once I had a song in mind, I looked up the lyrics… And kept looking.

This would probably have been helped by not making the vid in like 3 days, mostly after the deadline because my other premiere dragged on way longer than I expected. Doh. Someone said that the vids were great this year because everyone had been stuck indoors with nothing else to do. I can assure you that I was my usual disaster self and was still trying to pick songs like a week before the deadline. There's always next year. Sigh.

So while vidding, I had a couple of okay but not great translations of the lyrics and at least one line I straight up did not understand. My process for all vids is to make a spreadsheet and put the lyrics down one side with clip ideas in another column. If the song isn't in English or isn't straightforward, I have other columns on the lyrics: original writing system, transliteration, translation, notes. I often have a column for song structure (verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus version A, chorus version B, etc.), or I might do that part by color coding chunks of the lyrics/translation. In this case, I had a lot of different columns of translation bits that moved around, and I also color coded column A based on whether there was a significant English language lyric. Here's a screencap of part of my planning spreadsheet with colors changing to show song section breaks and some clip concepts I was considering written in. (I usually end up abandoning most of my content notes once I get into actually editing a section.)

I finally found a good translation of it the morning after the vidshow. Sheesh. It wouldn't have radically affected how I vidded that part because the lyrics are so fast that you can't hit every little thing with a relevant clip and still have your audience visually parse anything at all. I still wish I'd had a better translation beforehand.

I foolishly thought it wouldn't be a problem vidding something in Korean, but it turns out I have such a hard time understanding Korean phonology that it's very hard for me to tell which bit is which even with a phonetic transcription. On top of that, most of the translations swap clause order for no good reason--"Your mother will be sad when you lose your last asset, health" instead of "When you lose your last asset, health, your mother will be sad"--despite both working perfectly well in English.

For the purposes of making the vid, I only needed to understand well enough to know how I was matching the lyrics or not, but for posting, I had to come up with something a little more polished. In the end, half before vidding and half after (oops), I have gone through with like 4 different translations, google translate, and an online Korean dictionary to cobble together something that I think is a fairly accurate translation, with clauses in the order they fall in the song, and some attempt at idiomaticness and correct tone and level of informality in English.

Lyrics translation:

The best of the translations I found in terms of being annotated and fairly easy to understand in English is this one by Muish.

Here's my version:

They call me new thang The new recruit is here: take my bags Whole world, concert Not bad, Asiana Asia You could be my new thang Different from the guys who neglect their duties Insubordination from a celebrity Damn, only the strong can fuck with me Some say I made it too easy Fuck you, I'm a thorn in the side of those guys So far from success Honestly, "SSaihanuwar" is embarrassing1 Now, we sell half a million copies a year The k-pop category Ain't big enough to hold me, whoo! Right, go ahead Try booking first class My seat is business You're economy, forever behind me kissing my ass Next goal is Billboard Brazil to New York My passport gets no rest A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with2 My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology I hunt down those who copy the copiers. Get 'em down no matter who the fuck they are. Doesn't matter if I'm a jerk or if I'm wack or fake, I'm the one who carves history across the field. Among boring rappers, I get the lion's share. I'm about to take your bread. Bros' jealousy making all this noise. Hey ho I don't give a fuck Keep shoveling shit I'll bury you alive in the grave You dug yourself Hey ho you can't handle me You wasted rappers should be grateful I'm an idol Cause I'm busy, I'm busy, 24/7, what rest? Latecomers, go play amongst yourselves. Jealous and childish you wail, Yet you don't know shit.3 Paris to New York, damn My non-stop schedule A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology I’m sorry. Honestly, I am. I'm sorry I took your daily bread, boy. I'm sorry. Don't be mad. When you lose your only asset, health, Your mom's going to be upset. I'm sorry. Change careers. Amazing how you keep digging, So change, boy. I’m sorry. Honestly, I am. That your rapping sucks compared to mine. A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD I'm d boy because I'm from D I'm crazy, a lunatic on a beat My rap will blow your mind with My tongue technology A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD A to the G to the U to the STD I'll blow your mind with My tongue technology

1. I straight up had no idea what the "SSaihanuwar" line is supposed to mean when I was making this vid. People said it was a pre-debut song, so I assumed he meant his skills had improved. What it actually refers to is that song bragging that they'd sold 30,000 copies, while as of this song, they were selling 500,000, so that childish bragging about a tiny past achievement is embarrassing now. Of course, as I type this, BTS sells like four million albums a year…

2. This is referencing a movie title, The Wailing, and then a famous line from the movie, which is said in dialect. I haven't seen the movie and nothing online explains the context in which "Important? You don't know what's important!" is used. If anybody's seen it, feel free to drop me a comment. Hopefully, it won't be something I'd radically change in the vid.

3. Literally 'take you to Hong Kong', which can be used like "blow your mind" in the regular sense, but is also used to mean "give you an orgasm", hence the italics on 'blow' above. Yes, it's an oral sex joke. Yes, he means it like that.

What the song means and what I did with it:

Okay, so now that we know the main lyric of this song is apparently "STD", what's it actually about?

Overall, this is a diss track. Like most BTS dis songs, the concept is: I may be an idol, but I'm still twice the man and twice the rapper you are.

I'm not the only one who was surprised to hear good rappers show up in an idol group: the underground rap scene that Suga comes out of thinks of idols as both inauthentic sellouts and as embarrassingly girly. They wear makeup and sparkly outfits. Laaaaaame.

This felt like an excellent parallel to the social position of eunuchs in The Sleuth of the Ming Dynasty: Wang Zhi is one of the most competent and ruthless, yet loyal and honorable administrators we see in the entire series. If he were running the government, all of them would be better off. He's like that version of Lex Luthor or Emhyr var Emreis that astolat likes to write.

Throughout the series, politicians and generals see Wang Zhi as less than a man and thus not a worthy enemy or not worthy of his high position, but he's twice as worthy as any of them. He's not only better at being a ruthless badass, but he's better at keeping the body count low. Sure, he's introduced forcing a guy to commit suicide… But Wang Zhi promises him his family will be spared the same fate, where normally a traitor's entire family would be wiped out. The only reason things go poorly later is that the guy's son is too stupid to realize what a favor WZ did them.

Even Tang Fan is a complete asshole to him repeatedly. In this case, he doesn't treat WZ as lesser, but he's so naive and fixated on fluffy feelings that he assumes WZ is cold and cruel when he's pragmatic or that he has no feelings when he's clearly devastated but trying to fix the situation instead of breaking down about it. TF is the worst sort of idiot who values superficial virtue over practical results. It's a good thing he's so endearing!

There's this heartwarming bit at the end of the series about how WZ learned humanity from TF and SZ or something, but it's complete nonsense: him adopting child orphans and pretty much all of the rest of his behavior for the whole series was already merciful within the bounds of their society and the demands of his position.

On to my vidding process: I laid the song out on the timeline and put markers for the sections, color coded by what type of section they were and also made the spreadsheet seen above. That helped me see the structure of the vid. One of the first parts I tackled was the opening, which is long and slow and samples another song. It feels like it should have establishing shots, and it's long enough they could get boring. I realized it was an excellent opportunity to have some text on screen. I love typography, but I normally don't do it because there's no space in the song I've chosen, and I'm making the vid on the day of the deadline and have no time to think about fonts. Poking through all the confusingly-named Chinese fonts I have installed took as long as all the editing in this section.

I then had to figure out what to do with the chorus.

Yoongi's normal rapper name as part of BTS is 'Suga'. He's from Daegu and proud of it. So his solo rapper name is 'Agust D', which is 'DT Suga' backwards. A to the G to the U to the STD is just him repeating his own name. Aside from saying Agust D = Wang Zhi, I didn't have a lot of specific ideas here. Wang Zhi has a really hot mouth, but there isn't that much in canon that's an obvious oral sex joke.

I knew I didn't want to make the vid strictly a linear retelling of canon since the point was more conceptual. I also love the emotional impact of the Yang Fu stuff, both the times it's funny and the times it's upsetting for characters, but it's hard to communicate it in a vid without spending some time, so I decided to use the choruses entirely for Yang Fu. At the very end of the vid I had more story that needed to go somewhere and no more Yang Fu (and I wouldn't have ended on Yang Fu anyway), so I had to vary that pattern.

The final verse is a 2-part one that is slow and even more sneering than the rest of the song, so I picked WZ's most idiotic enemy for that. WZ literally took away his job by killing his father, which caused him to come home from the military and his brother to be fired from his job as an official. His mother is ill because of grief, and everyone keeps telling him to go look after his family instead of chasing WZ around and trying to start shit, so the lyrics are quite apt. This guy is just not up to WZ's weight class, and that's what this verse is about.

The first two verses required more thought. They have a 3-part structure and are fast. I looked for individual Wang Zhi plotlines that matched the specific lyrics of each section thematically. There are shittons of speed effects all over this vid for obvious reasons, but I still needed to pick footage that was naturally more dynamic. The show has a fair amount of talking heads, slow scenes, and cute and fluffy stuff that didn't fit the tone here, not to mention WZ being the least important of the three leads, so selecting the correct bits of WZ plot was essential.

I originally planned to use verse 1 for the horse market case, but there just isn't enough great footage to do the whole thing, so I did the first two thirds. Section 1 has military-sounding lyrics about a new recruit taking over from "hyungs" (older guys) who neglect their duties. This idol (a celebrity) is going to show the underground rappers how it's done. I had wanted to use the 'new thang' lyric with flashbacks to WZ first getting his position at the emperor's side, but that footage makes him look too meek and doesn't connect well to anything. 'You could be my new thang' I wanted for Jia Kui, but again, there isn't good footage that communicates their relationship visually.

The general from this arc has a similar thematic role: He's a ~real man~ who cares only about duty and is rude to the effete, useless official from the capital, while the other local powers fawn on him… Except Wang Zhi responds to this by being amused, showing up the others, and approving of General Chen. (By the end of the arc, Chen is all offended on his behalf that other dudes think he's merely a eunuch instead of a total hottie capable and honorable servant of the empire.) The first section is WZ on 'new thang' and Chen on 'my new thang'. This third ends with 'only the strong can fuck with me' as Chen joins the welcome feast. Out of all of the people in charge of border security, he's the only one who's strong.

The next third of the verse is about people thinking Suga got to his position too easily, which is also something basically every official feels about powerful eunuchs in Sleuth (and also in every single other historical drama with eunuchs because holy shit is this a common trope, and also in actual history, which is why). In this plotline, WZ is there to deal with the incompetent border guards and sort things out in ways they haven't been able to. He is certainly a thorn in their sides. For this part, I showed one of the obsequious officials smiling, WZ toasting them, and Chen being unamused.

This section finishes up with Suga saying his past bragging is embarrassing because he's so much more badass now, and k-pop isn't big enough for him (which I think is less about wanting to break out of kpop and more about definitions having to be readjusted to accommodate his awesomeness). The scenes from Sleuth are WZ suddenly revealing he speaks the local languages flawlessly--something no normal official from the capital does and that he's been hiding up till now as people insult him--and then WZ resolving the case with murder and smart political maneuvering that puts one of the local chieftains in his debt. The category of eunuch is certainly not enough to encompass Wang Zhi's political ambitions or abilities.

The final section of verse 1 is using a plane/flying metaphor to talk about Suga being ahead of everyone. It also has a particularly awesome lyric in English that I wanted to emphasize. This was the last part of the timeline I filled in, and I used a scene that is not one of the major enemies WZ cares about but where he is wonderfully bossy and in charge. The guy tries to pull rank on him, and he throws away his supposed police informant badge, being like I am the police.

The second verse has the really fast part in this song, so I wanted to show a lot of different cool shit WZ does. Section one is about Suga hunting down poseurs, whether they're new or long-established and powerful. Suga says he's going to take the other rappers' "rice bowl" (livelihood).  WZ similarly goes after all kinds of people, including very highly-placed politicians. The serial killer duke was supposedly untouchable, but WZ tells him he's an insect. He'll do the low-level dirty work (running around at night in ninja outfits) and the high level supervision (commanding men at the depot). The line ends by talking about other rappers' jealousy making noise. For this, I used Wang Zhi's trial where all of the politicians team up to wrongly accuse him of a laundry list of crimes.

The next line is about how Suga will bury other rappers alive in the grave they dug themselves, and they should be grateful he's an idol (because if he were a fellow underground rapper, they'd be shown up even worse). There's a suggestion in Suga's lyrics that part of the "wasting time" (digging/shoveling used as a metaphor) these other rappers have done is talking shit about him. They hurt their own reputations by doing it, and he had no desire to take them on until they forced the issue. I used WZ's introduction. That politician doomed himself by talking shit about the emperor's consort. Before he goes to meet with WZ, he talks shit about how eunuchs aren't actually powerful or scary to his drinking buddies. WZ spends the whole scene outlining how his downfall is his own damn fault.

The last section of the verse is about how busy Suga is. Losers should go bother each other, not him, because he has real shit to do. They have no idea what's important, unlike him. I opened with a quick shot of WZ's trial and then the silver case. WZ continually waves off concerns about the trial, even while he's in prison for a few days, because he's concerned about the actual problems occurring at the same time, namely that the entire government is about to go bankrupt and collapse. He's fending off assassins and getting people executed. Wan Tong's embarrassing attempt to mindfuck him in prison is laughable. They're just not on WZ's level.

I capped it off by showing the end of the plot and WZ winning. The three shots of his enemies looking upset are all from times he fucked with them earlier in the series. The final shot of him looking smug is from very early on when he'd just informed his chief rival, Shang Ming, about the suicide he caused in his intro. At the end of the vid, we're back at the beginning of the plot: Wang Zhi was always better. He would have worked with his rivals, but they just had to make it a contest. From the very beginning, they should have known they couldn't win.

The vid I’ve already posted to tumblr, but here’s the AO3 link again:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29573175

[haveyouseenthis]

Ranking GO生 Tracklist | Stray Kids Special

GO生 Tracklist:

GO生 (Go Live) *intro

神메뉴 (God's Menu) *title track

Easy

Pacemaker

비행기 (Airplane) 

일상 (Daily Life/Another Day)

Phobia

청사진 (Blueprint) 

타 (TA) 

Haven

TOP *“Tower of God” OP

SLUMP *“Tower of God” ED

Mixtape : Gone Days *Pre-release 1

바보라도 알아 (Mixtape : On Track) *Pre-release 2

Since I’ve been so obsessed with this release recently, I thought it’d be fun to post a ranking for its tracklist the same as I did to hype up for its release.

Just as I did in my SKZ discography ranking, I’ll be commenting here and there on why I like certain songs, but I’ll try to keep it to a minimum as I’ll be talking about this album more soon. Also, just like last time, I will not be including the intro track in the final ranks.

Kasin’s final GO生 Tracklist Rankings: 

1.“神메뉴 (God’s Menu)”

This track is everything I didn’t know I needed from Stray Kids - from the kpop industry across the board. Most comebacks and debuts this season have felt pretty bland to me. None of them have really been bad, but none have been good either, you know, T? It’s like all of them just knew they needed to be eye catching, but then became nothing more than that. No real effort was put in on the producing side. Songs like NCT’s “Punch” or “Ridin’” feel like they were produced on an assembly line in the company. A cheap way to get max profit with minimal effort.

“God’s Menu” doesn’t feel like that. It’s not recycled. It wasn’t written on an assembly line or according to a formula. I’d bet money that that is because Stray Kids produces for themselves.

“God’s Menu” is shocking. It’s unique. It’s out there. It’s short and sweet for a title track but somehow it feels like it goes on forever. I never listen to it and go “Oh it’s over already”. I listen and find myself somehow feeling like the 2:47 song was actually 5:00. Somehow 3Racha wrote a song that, while being short, makes the listener think it’s longer. It sucks you in and makes you feel like it goes on forever. I mean, it literally only has two verses - two! So why do I feel like it has so many more?

Well, I’ve thought about it and I think it’s how they split up the parts. Verse one is done completely by Han. It also has consistent sound, changing only once halfway through. Verse two, however, is split up between Felix, Seungmin, I.N., Chan, and Hyunjin, and changes line to line, or part to part. This makes each line become its own verse, making the song seem longer. 

I don’t think it would’ve had the same effect if they hadn’t given Han all of verse one, or if they had split up each verse like they did verse two, or even if they had split up the first verse instead of the second. Giving an entire verse to one member right off the bat and then giving that verse a consistent sound, gives the listener’s brain the impression that that is how the rest of the song is going to go. Each verse will be sung by one member and have it’s own sound. So when that changed in verse two, and it gets split between five members and has four different sounds (I.N and Seungmin share a part), the single verse ends up sounding like 4 individual verses back to back.

I don’t want to get too sappy or anything, but the song truly feels like it’s its own little world.

There also isn’t a single break in the track. With many comebacks there will be lulls in the title track, normally two thirds of the way through. This is where raps are shoved into vocal songs for line distribution, or vice versa. It often ends up feeling forced, like the producers were trying to fit a square piece into a circle hole. 

My point is, this song is a masterpiece. Every line fits. The beat is gorgeous.

 2. “Easy”

This is the best song for them to follow up “God’s Menu” with. It has that same braggy style as “God’s Menu”. It’s like a brother to the title track. You can hear the smirk on their face in their voices as they sing - especially in the post chorus with Lee Know and Han. I.N’s voice also pleasantly surprised me this comeback. He has always had a gorgeous voice, but I’ve always been able to tell it's higher in pitch than the others. He sounds younger when he sings and it feels out of place in some of their previous releases. I think Young K said it best in Stray Kids when talking about how I.N’s stage presence disrupted the serious air the crew had with his cute-ness. Listening to “God’s Menu” there were many times I caught myself saying “wait… That’s Innie?”. “Easy” cemented his new vocals. Confirmed that, “yes, that’s I.N you heard,”. 

I think “Easy” could have easily been the title track for this comeback if “God’s Menu” wasn’t a part of the tracklist. It’s still powerful and, while I haven’t looked at the line distribution officially, it doesn’t sound so terrible. Seungmin and Chan probably got the most, being the main vocalists (err, official main vocalist and the honorary one…). It doesn’t seem like Changbin got too much time (his only parts are in verse 3) which is probably a reason they nixed it as the title track, if it was ever in the running. It’s probably doesn’t look too good if you don’t give your main rapper significant time in a title track (*cough* NCT 127 - yes I’m still bitter about Taeyong, shut up.).

3. “비행기 (Airplane)”

It’s so pretty and lighthearted at the same time. When I think of it, it’s with the same fond smile that I wear when I think of ballads, but then I listen to it and remember that it’s light and boppy. 

What I like most is that everyone’s vocals get to shine. Everyone in Stray Kids can sing. All of them. It was so nice to be able to listen to all of their beautiful voices.

Chan’s vocals at the beginning are everything I never knew I needed - jesus. Felix’s “Ay, ay, 기다려봐 / 잠깐만 진정해봐 / Ay, ay, 있잖아 나 / 네가 난 너무 좋아”, and Chan’s strong soulful vocal response with “처음부터 넌 / 내 심장을 흔들고 나를 미치게 해”. Lee Know, with his focus being dance, is never the first person I think of when I think of Stray Kid’s vocalists. Seugnmin, I.N, Bang Chan, and Han come to mind, but how dare I forget our main dancer. He may not have many parts in “God’s Menu”, but listening to the rest of the album I find myself not really minding it because he has a lot of vocal parts in the rest of the songs to compensate. 

I already mentioned how I feel like I.N’s voice has matured a lot, but now it’s time to talk about Seungmin. I wonder if he’s been training more since being appointed as the main vocal? I love his sound this song, especially during his alternating parts later in the song with I.N, namely “난 너의 피터 팬 나의 손 놓지 마 babe”.

4. “청사진  (Blueprint)”

So. Pretty. I’ll talk a little more about it in my GO生 review, but I don’t have terribly much to say. I just love it. 

(Also Chan kills his part around 1:57-2:02)

(And I.N’s vocals are lovely)

(K that’s it)

5. “일상 (Daily Life/Another Day)”

I’ll just save all my thoughts for the main review because I have a lot of them, thank you very much (this is already toooo long~).

6. “Pacemaker”

This almost made 3rd, and there really isn’t a concrete reason why it didn’t besides personal preference. It’s an amazing song, hard-hitting, and sounds like SKZ. That’s actually why I put it after songs like “Airplane” and “Another Day” - because those songs sound different from anything I’ve ever heard from SKZ, and they pleasantly surprised me.

That’s not to say “Pacemaker” is mundane, or sounds just like their previous tracks - it doesn’t. Nothing on this album sounds recycled. None of it sounds like they were uninspired while producing it. “Pacemaker” is a song that stays true to Stray Kid’s hard hip-hop sound, and they spared no expense because of that. There wasn’t less effort put into it because it was another hard track - it demands just as much attention as any other song on this album.

7. “SLUMP”

When “TOP” and “SLUMP” were first released I never really listened to SLUMP. For some reason it slipped my mind that the two were released as a pair, and all I paid attention to was TOP. Maybe it’s because, and forgive me for my sins, I thought “TOP” was “meh” upon release so I didn’t bother listening to “SLUMP”. Or maybe it’s just because “TOP” got most of the hype and I truly forgot about it’s brother track.

Months later, GO生’s release was upon us and I found myself repenting at the altar. How could I have ignored the blessing that is the Tower of God ED all those months ago? 

It only has a duration of 2:14, and I’ve seen a lot of STAYs cracking jokes about how the short length is the only bad thing about it. I disagree. I like it the way it is. Something about it being short and sweet makes it better in my opinion.

8. “타 (TA)”

This song feels like old SKZ. I’m not exactly sure why, but it does. This could have been released right after District 9. However, what separates it from their earlier releases is that it sounds more polished. It sounds like an evolved version of their debut sound.

I do like that, with SKZ being self-producing, you can hear their music getting better. Not that it was ever bad, but there is something a little “more” to their more recent songs. You can tell they’ve gained experience. Recently starting around the astronaut era, you can tell they’ve been getting more comfortable with playing around with their sound more, and I like that a lot.

9. “바보라도 알아 (Mixtape : On Track)”

ONE MORE STEP, I WILL NEVER STOP-

Prettyprettyprettypretty

Okay, I admit: I did not like this song when it came out. Like… kind of at all. But then I listened to it again. And then one more time. And then I looked at the lyrics. And then I watched the music video a few more times for good measure.

When I talk about vocals shining I- this. This is what I mean. The chorus, the verses, the everything.

Also, it brings this album’s love song counter up to 4~. 

10. “Phobia”

I was hoping to like this song more than I do, but I just don’t. It’s a good song, just not my favorite of the bunch. I had it as 8th, actually, for that reason, but I realised it just didn’t sit right with me. I was ranking it for what I wanted it to be, not what I felt it was.

It’s a solid song, don’t get me wrong. I just favour the above more.

11. “Mixtape : Gone Days”

I’m still not able to make up my mind about this one. It reminds me of the saturated hip-hop sound “Get Cool” and “Awkward Silence” enlist, but somehow it goes farther than either of its predecessors did. 

12. “TOP”

If anyone was wondering how close these rankings are, TOP was almost 4th.

Yeah.

I wasn’t sure quite what to think of TOP when it came out. The scythe-y electronic sounds caught me a little off guard. Like “Mixtape : On Track” the more I listened, the more I liked it.

13. “Haven”

I had high hopes for this song, what with its, at least unofficial, namesake being an alternate name for STAY. Meaning-wise it didn’t fall short. It was a song from Stray Kids to their STAY. Telling them this, the music, is STAY’s safe space. It was a message of encouragement and inspiration. 

It was a fun song, truly, just not my favorite. However, it still holds a place in my heart for it’s meaning.

Look out for my GO生 review, coming in two parts~, soon. (Pray for T, she had to proofread so much.)

Links:

GO生 on Spotify

GO生 on Youtube

“神메뉴” M/V

[youngboy-oldmind]

DISCOGRAPHY REVIEW: 1) THE INCREDIBLE TRUE STORY ft. My Girlfriend

“Tell me what I wouldn't wanna give for a life like this, arm and a leg quite like this/ Fuck around wanna fight like this, take a hike like this/ I might just, might just, I don't know/ Reinvention, that's my intention/ Want so much more than this third-dimension/ That's not to mention my true ascension is a bigger picture/ No metaphor, I’m being real with ya”

Overall Thoughts

After the success and impressive display Under Pressure, Logic follows up with his sophomore album The Incredible True Story: A perfect embodiment of Logic as a person, rapper, and artist. Here, he is at his most creative, telling an entire story through the lens of a futuristic fictional sci-fi story. Filled with narratives, skits that give insight to the crew’s personalities, and an overall message that resonates even after the album concludes, The Incredible True Story is the perfect reflection of Logic as an artist.

If someone asked me to introduce them to Logic, I’d start with this album. If you start with a deeper, more experimental album like Everybody or a project not quite as unique like Under Pressure, they may be left unsatisfied or unimpressed. But it’s near impossible to dislike his most rounded and well-constructed project.

I’ve said this with every project of his, but the production was excellent. The techy, spacey instrumentals perfectly parallel the theme and tone of the project. The vocal inflections on “Fade Away”, “Young Jesus”, “Run It” and the choir in the first half of “City of Stars” were all brilliantly executed. Also, Logic allowed collaborations on some tracks and they were some of the highlights on the album: Big Lenbo on “Young Jesus”, Lucy Rose on “Innermission”, and Jesse Boykins III on “Paradise”. Overall, the construction of each song on this album was near perfect. It can’t be overstated.

Logic branched out stylistically on this project. On Under Pressure, each song had a relatively similar tone, which made that project very consistent yet unspectacular. The fixed tone was good for the purpose of that project but restricted him from reaching a high peak. Here, his delivery, instrumentals, and lyrical style varied and was less consistent, allowing him to reach highs like “Fade Away” and “City of Stars” while also allowing him to reach lows like “I Am The Greatest”. Despite that flaw, the unique style of the album improves its overall ranking and separates him from the issue of his last project; the issue of being indistinct and being a carbon copy of his influences. 

That’s one of the biggest strengths of this album. While I can think of other artists that could do Under Pressure or No Pressure, I don’t think anyone can do The Incredible True Story. Logic has a niche combination of lyrical talent, production skills, and geekiness that shines profusely. 

The main theme of this project is doing what you love and finding life. This theme paired the fictional nature of the album’s structure loosens the restraint on Logic. Before, he was limited by discussing his experiences and thoughts in an autobiographical way, whereas now he’s allowed to discuss things from an outside perspective and speak more prophetically.

Album Breakdown

Side Note: I will be adding comments and thoughts from my girlfriend who also loves this album. Her comments will be bolded.

1. Contact

This was extremely creative. I was instantly drawn into the music. Sounded like a soundtrack I'd hear in a movie. And the introductory conversation between the two men established a very interesting and compelling start to the album and makes it feel like I'm getting ready to start a story book. Solid start, can't wait to see what happens.

2. Fade Away

Off the rip, this track had me excited. As I mentioned earlier, the composition and instrumental is excellent. He also comes through with an intense flex of delivery and rhyming and syllable scheme construction. This is the first song I’ve ever heard from Logic and it still gets my hype every time I hear it.

The flow in this song just hit me like a truck. The lyrics were pretty good and not necessarily a brag, but more of a showcase of pride. The music was also very catchy and had my bobbing my head before he started rapping. But the flow! Absolutely loved it. Def a hype song for me.

3. Upgrade

This track transitions well from the previous song discussing kai upgrading his system. Logic discusses “upgrading” from his old life and mindset. The space background with a simple drum pattern is satisfying.

Loved how the intro music played off of the space theme established by the intro. The music was already banging, and the countdown had me anticipating what's to come. Liked how the lyrics also incorporated space elements. Somewhat simple song with somewhat basic lyrics, but overall still quite enjoyable.

4. White People (Scene)

This was super fun to listen to and I was laughing when the black guy made fun of the white-man-horror-movie stereotype. I was almost wishing for them to investigate. I am really liking this album so far. Who knew Logic was such a innovative storyteller.

5. Like Woah

Although this song doesn’t say much content wise, the vocals were pretty slick and the instrumental was constructed well. Verses were average and I found the chorus a little iffy. But overall, it’s one of the more mid tracks.

The others definitely fit the theme of the space, but this song felt more of a Top 100 hits song. The flow was not as stellar as the songs so far, definitely no Fade Away, but still steady and impressive nonetheless. Nerdy comment, but the music reminded me of something I'd hear in a video game with the female singing--maybe Zelda or Fire Emblem.

6. Young Jesus

Although this song isn’t in my top 3, it’s still one of my favorite on the album. The boom bap 90s throwback mixes well with the modern, techy sound of the album. Logic and Big Lenbo both flow perfectly; this some of the best chemistry Logic has had with another rapper, the only other contender being Big Sean. Instrumentally this song stands out the most because its composition derives so much from the rest of the track list.

This throwback to the 90s flow with a slight modern twist was fresh as hell and a very fun listen. I actually very much enjoyed Logic's flow in this song. "See I'm a self diagnosed hypochrondria/ Either at the crib, or on the tour bus, is where you'll find me at" was a fun, funky flow that had me smiling as I listened to it. Would have definitely enjoyed if he did this flow and slight drawl in words a bit more. Big Lenbo was perfect for this song. His voice has that 90s feel and his lyrics fit the bragging feel seen in old hip hop songs.

7. Innermission

Another top track on this project, “Innermission” features Logic discussing his life’s purpose and “inner mission”. Lucy Rose on the chorus is beautiful. The mellow beat allows Logic to truly dive into his thoughts without being overwhelmed by the instrumental. And I loved the skit at the end.

Not gonna lie, the music initially reminds me of elevator music, but the lyrics hit hard. Hearing his story of his home life and his friend in prison was...heartfelt? It made me introspective of my role in my friend's lives and my own background. This song has a nostalgia to it as Logic retrospects his life before reaching fame, yet an almost hopeful undertone as he contemplates why he wanted this lifestyle and how he managed to actually accomplish it. And, of course, ending the song with a child continuing the space them fully establishes the air of wistfulness as I hear the kid's innocent tone reminiscing about his home. Genius move.

8. I Am The Greatest

There are few songs that make me rush to the skip button. “I Am The Greatest” is one of them. I hate this song. The different voice clips have no rhythm or syncopation, seemingly haphazardly tossed together. The beat is underwhelming and the yelling is obnoxious. And logics lyrics and delivery are really bad. I strongly believe this should’ve been cut or put on a project like Bobby Tarantino.

9. The Cube (Scene)

As someone who can rap and solve a Rubiks cube, I found this very funny. But also ironic, since I pulled exactly 0 girls from solving it. But, Logic is a nerd and this skit fits his personality well.

So this didn't make much sense until I looked up "logic the cube" and saw some videos of him solving a Rubik’s cube. Cute that he inserted a past time into this.

10. Lord Willin’

Logic has a very distinct flow throughout this album. It's very similar in each song with similar rhythm--I find myself bobbing my head at the same speed as his other songs. Not a bad thing, but just an interesting note. I actually quite like it, though. It makes the songs in this album more harmonious and makes it feel like one long story, rather than several songs thrown together onto one album. The lyrics themselves were actually quite inspirational. I felt a sense of pride in myself swell as I listened to him overcoming and living a full life and encouraging me to do the same. 

11. City of Stars

Arguably one of the best on the album, “City of Stars” features Logic discusses his negative/toxic relationship with the hip hop industry. The spacey beat and echoey chorus vocals area AWESOME. The echo on the snare paints a visual of singing in a wide open space. Logic’s singing is above average, his use of auto-tune isn’t bad either. The beat switch to an intense boom bap and going in sent shivers down my spine. Although this has been done before, its definitely an excellently put together concept.

Also, only hip hop fans will notice but Logic incorporates patterns and lyrics from other songs: Drake’s “Forever”, Kanye West’s “Last Call” & “Two Words” of The College Dropout, and Talib Kewli’s “Get By”. Logic isn’t one to shy away from nodding to his influences, but here it feels like paying homage instead of stealing. Top 3 track.

12. Stainless

This song is 100% dope. From the vocals on the chorus, complex background in the instrumental, Logic’s intense flow and delivery, along with the content. Another top 3 on the album.

Bruuuh, this song slapped from the moment it started. The music had a flow different from the other songs, and his energy from the first few lyrics was solid as hell. I was hype and smiling not even 20 seconds in. This is a riding-with-the-windows-down-with-the-volume-blarring-on-the-highway-as-you-flaunt-your-youth-and-just-jam-hard kind of song. I would have def played this before a basketball game to get myself hype.

13. Babel (Scene)

“Babel” was the best skit by far. I think this plays well into the theme of the album: The concept of doing what you love and finding life. This skit mentions how “paradise” may not be something you find, but something you make and maintain. And on the flip side, you can also turn paradise into “purgatory”. So this journey is about creating the best and making your own incredible life instead of trying to find it. It also transitions well into the next song both musically and thematically.

14. Paradise

This was an interesting song. When he described Paradise initially, he spoke of it as a land of racial equality. I had not expected race to play a major role in this story, but it makes sense, given his background, why he would consider this Paradise. As a fellow biracial person born without a silver spoon, I can relate to his struggle. So hearing him describe this planet called Paradise, I can see why it earned that name. But the beat change. I find it interesting that he switched the message behind his lyrics up. It changed to perseverance and strength to overcome haters and obstacles and doubt. It gives me this feeling of self-worth as I push through the negativity to achieve Paradise. Interesting that he decided to include this message after describing what Paradise looks like. Did he do this to highlight the struggle it would take to get there? The challenge? Saying how "Of those around me that down and pray on my demise/But it only makes it that much better when I rise" definitely encapsulates his ability to attain Paradise. I'm not sure, maybe he did so as proof that he finally reached the top.

15. Never Been

Years ago, I used to be a hater of Logic. I used to despise when people complimented or praised him. So this song about remaining positive and persevering while blocking out negative hits even harder. He battles with fears of being inadequate while projecting a message of not letting those fears control your life and potential success. Amazing message. Musically, the track is very solid. The sped up, high pitched vocals on the chorus and outro remind me of Kanye’s style, and the simple beat isn’t distracting emphasizes the introspective nature of the song.

"Talk all you want about me homie, I'mma let it live/Hater this, hater that, say I sound repetitive/ Hatin' in your blood, you was born to be negative" now THAT is how you diss someone. If someone said this to me, I'd just walk away because what do you say to that? I appreciate that he is able to both dis and praise in a song, yet not come off as cocky and arrogant and braggy. Listening to him, it truly sounds like he worked his ass off to achieve his fame, so hearing him brush off haters and telling me I can do it too actually makes me feel like he's right. This songs has an introspective vibe as he recounts his insecurities of failing, yet how he can't afford to "let the devil in."

16. Run It

“Run It” is another very good track on the album. The flow and beat were dope and simple yet effective and pleasing. I think this song’s placement was strange. After hard hitters like “Stainless”, “Paradise”, and “Never Been”, “Run it” feels underwhelming by comparison. I could see this after between “Like Woah” and the White People Skit. But this late into the album, this song’s tone sit right. Ultimately a great song though.

17. Lucidity

“Lucidity” gives good insight on the theme of the album. Thomas describes taking for granted people on Earth having dreams and wants instead of living to find paradise. I like the concept of one’s life and story being defined by pursuing what you want. Mostly a set up for the final song, it’s still a solid scene.

18. The Incredible True Story

This track can be defined by one word: epic. From the first half with Logic’s vocals and singing, encapsulating the whole question in this album “Who Am I?”. The instrumentation is beautiful. Then the second half with the crew landing on Paradise is so powerful and well constructed. As a listener, I feel like I’m there with the crew. You can feel everyone’s fear, nervousness, excitement, anticipation, and hope.

What. An. Ending. I had no idea how Logic was going to end this and he did not disappoint. His lyrics in the beginning. The sub-sequential inspirational message of following your desires. The 2 men as they get ready to land on Paradise. All of that was flawless. My favorite part was the music change as the female finished her countdown of the landing and it changed to this soft, exploring sound full of hope. Hearing the 2 men talk in wonder as the sounds of nature slowly encompassed the music before hearing the woman say "Life" literally made me so fucking emotional, I'm tearing up thinking about it.

Final Thoughts

The Incredible True Story is the embodiment of Logic as an artist. It is strengthened by being unsafe. Under Pressure felt like bowling with the rails up. You’re definitely gonna score, and you may hit a strike on your own, but it’s just not as good as bowling without safety rails. And yes, you may hit gutters (”I Am The Greatest”), but putting everything on the table and living/creating unrestrictedly allows you to reach highs in life/art you wouldn’t otherwise reach. And I think by allowing himself to create riskily and unhindered, he fulfilled his own theme.

As an avid bibliophile, I will tell you that most sequels are shit. But damn, this album was fucking amazing. I have been sleeping on Logic. Honestly, 12/10 ending. Logic wanted to leave a statement that he could still be one of the best even after his debut album and, trust me, he proved it. This ending alone proved that he knows how to do this shit. I feel like I just finished reading a great book. Who knew rap could be like this?

Top 3 Tracks:

1) City of Stars                      1) Stainless

2) Paradise                            2) Paradise

3) Innermission                      3) Incredible True Story

Overall Grade: A+

Album Link:

https://open.spotify.com/album/5dOpbgAmJeyoakKQ0QLWkR?si=bAQ0FEA4RMupkUEspycH1Q

[spookyspemilyreid]

Happy Anniversary “One More Light”!❤️ (May 19, 2017)

One More Light is the seventh studio album by American rock band Linkin Park. It was released on May 19, 2017, through Warner Records and Machine Shop. It is the last Linkin Park album to feature lead vocalist Chester Bennington before his death on July 20, 2017.

The band recorded the album between September 2015 and February 2017 in multiple studios. Band members Brad Delson and Mike Shinoda served as the album's primary producers. The sound of One More Light has been described as being more pop-focused, departing from the alternative rock and alternative metal sounds of their previous albums. The album features guest vocal appearances from Pusha T, Stormzy, and Kiiara, and production and songwriting collaborations with JR Rotem, Julia Michaels, Justin Tranter, Ross Golan, Andrew Goldstein, blackbear, and Eg White. The album is also the band's first to feature a title track, as they felt that the song "One More Light" was the heart of the album.

The album's lead single, "Heavy", featuring Kiiara, was released on February 16, 2017. "Battle Symphony", "Good Goodbye", and "Invisible" were released as promotional singles prior to the album's release. "Talking to Myself" and "One More Light" were released as radio singles later on. The album performed well commercially, debuting at number one in several countries; it also became the band's fifth number-one album on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold in five countries. Despite a positive commercial performance, it received mixed reviews from music critics. This, along with accusations of selling out, prompted an angry response from Bennington.

The pre-production of One More Light began in mid-2015 during The Hunting Party Tour by Shinoda on his phone. The main production began as soon as the tour ended. In the process, the band decided to write songs with some external help. They worked with Zayed Hassan, which resulted in his song "Sailing Through the Clouds", Martin Garrix, Hot Karl, Mike Baczor of the band Her0, The Lonely Island, which resulted in "Things in My Jeep", and One Ok Rock. None of these collaborations, however, made the final version of the album. The album marks the second to be self-produced following The Hunting Party.

As a new concept to the band, all the songs featured on the album began with vocals being recorded first. They worked on the story first, then the hook, and finally the music. The albums features collaborations with songwriters and other artists. "Heavy" features vocals by pop singer Kiiara, and "Good Goodbye" features verses by rappers Pusha T and Stormzy. Genre-wise, the album has been described as pop, pop rock and electropop.

The band had been writing and recording mostly in Los Angeles but also had a few sessions in London and Canada where they worked with a few songwriters. In Los Angeles, the band started working at the Larrabee Studios where they had worked for their previous album. After noticing the band needed a bit more space they shifted to Sphere Studios. Starting in the early 2016 the band decided, for the first time, to open up their process to fans through social media by doing live streams, posting pictures and videos of their day by day in the studio, and sending studio updates to their mailing list. 

While working with Justin Parker in London, Mike also learned a different approach to songwriting: to write without any sound in mind and, instead, write with meaning in mind. Instead of writing tracks piece by piece, the band wouldn't leave a session without having a song. It would all start as a conversation, and out of those the songs would build progressively from a chord progression to lyrics. Among the collaborators are Justin Parker, Conner Youngblood, Jon Green, blackbear, Andrew Goldstein, Eg White, Emily Wright, Andrew Bolooki, Andrew Dawson, RAC, Corrin Roddick, and Ross Golan. American singer Kiiara also had a seven-hour session with Linkin Park to record her vocals for "Heavy", and rappers Stormzy and Pusha T contributed to the album with original verses. In the past the band had a different approach to collaborations, as explained by Mike: "Usually it means we’ve finished the song but we'll ask somebody to add something to the top of it." He added: "Generally, here's how it would work: we'd get in the room with someone, and start on something from scratch with them. We worked mostly in the same way we always write songs, but with extra firepower in the room."

Bennington had also reached out to Billy Howerdel of A Perfect Circle to collaborate on a song for the album. The two collaborated on a track titled "Eat the Elephant", but it was ultimately left off the album, not really matching the direction One More Light's sound. Howerdel completely reworked the song musically and lyrically, and recorded it with Maynard James Keenan on vocals for their April 2018 album Eat the Elephant.

In an interview with Kerrang! magazine, Shinoda explained that the children seen on the album cover are those of a friend of the band and represent what the band members feel when their respective families get together. The photo was shot at Venice Beach by Frank Maddocks, who has previously contributed to artworks for Deftones and Green Day's Revolution Radio.

The band, specifically frontman Chester Bennington, lashed out in response to the negative reception of One More Light's material. As documented through Spin magazine, in an interview with Music Week, Bennington, at the accusations that the band had "sold out", suggested that those people should "stab [themselves] in the face" and "move the fuck on" from the band's past sound. Similarly, in a separate interview with Kerrang, Bennington, in response to claims of selling out with the album, said "If you're gonna be the person who says like 'they made a marketing decision to make this kind of record to make money' you can fucking meet me outside and I will punch you in your fucking mouth." In the same interview, Mike Shinoda also rejected the claims that they had made the album "for monetary reasons", responding, "that's not how I operate." Bennington explained that the accusation of "selling out" angered him because he saw it as a personal attack, concluding that "when you make it personal, like a personal attack against who we are as people, like, dude, shut up. That means that I can actually have feelings about it and most of the time my feelings are 'I want to kill you.'" 

In response to the comments, Slipknot and Stone Sour frontman Corey Taylor stated that he understood Bennington's frustrations, but advised him to "be fortunate for what you have, be fortunate for the fact that people are still coming to see you to hear the music. Give it a little time, you have to give it a little time." Bennington later responded that he agreed with Taylor's statements saying:"...I agree with him. I do appreciate our fans... I'm human and sometimes take things too personally. Most of our fans have been very positive lately. Some... not so much. Either way... there is a lot of passion on both sides and I am grateful to all of our fans. Corey is a good dude and I appreciate him too... Time to recalibrate my perspective. So I say to all of our fans... Thank you and I love you all. Peace, love and happiness."

[chenoehi]

I have read your rant and I agree with most of them, but there is one thing I disagree with. As we know, Jin will go to the military next year. This means Big Hit can start release duet singles. Just like the artists of other companies do.(eyeing EXO) I think pairs must at least be popular to do that. Before Kookmin became popular, they only had TK, but since last year they've been promoting KM, make them get more fans. So they will have more pairs, more money. It's just buisness.

Hello 💜

Thank you for the ask. I don't want to harp/rant on this subject, but I'll answer some asks about it if that can help clarify my point of view (and hopefully this will be a healthy discussion). I don't get many asks anyway so I have fewer opportunities to air my opinions. That's probably why these rants are turning into dissertations. Sorry anon 🤷‍♀️🤐

If you don't want to suffer through all of this, just skip to SALIENT POINTS down below. I have no idea how to use the read more on mobile.

I have a different perspective on a few things you mentioned, but first, I agree that in a business sense BH have recently and will continue to promote subunits (with exceptions, more on this). They have to prepare for the next stages of the boys' careers as an incomplete Bangtan once Seokjin and Yoongi go into the military. I don't think that the company hasn't been doing what any business does which is capitalize on what's popular and give fans what they want (BTS World game anyone? It gave the y/n people what they wanted, and everyone else got a fun little game out of it).

What I don't think is that BH has necessarily pushed KM in front of people's faces to *make* them popular any more than they've done with other pairings. At some point in time, all of the boys have each had photoshoots with one or two members. All have been paired up visually or for a game or for hotel rooms or whatever rooms they're on for the Run! episodes and what the fans get is to see the different members interact with each other. It's not always the rapline and the vocal line hanging out together, or the hyung line and the maknae line hanging out together.

I didn't agree that some things lately have been done to bait KM fans. That's not the same as me saying I don't think that BH is a business that acts like a business and capitalizes on what they can. I'm also not a blind defender of BH. I've been disappointed with some things, mostly with the lack of control over antis and the lack of defense for their artists (I'm thinking of Jimin's two t-shirt *scandals*). But all of that is off topic and not related to KM in the slightest.

Is BH responsible for KM's popularity?

You mentioned that you feel like BH has helped make KM popular (paraphrasing). I don't see it that way. I think people of all types are seeing how close they are and reacting accordingly. If anything, KM have made themselves popular (loudness on tour, GCFs, vlives, spending time together, etc.). Or at least that's how I see it.

With how obvious they've made their affection for each other (platonic or romantic), Jimin and Jungkook themselves have, over the years, inadvertently alerted everyone to how close they are and they naturally make a good pairing. They spend a lot of time together and so the documentaries, docuseries, Bangtan Bombs, and variety shows just reflect their bond. The fans get a ton of moments and some begin to notice this pairing whereas they may not have before. I think this process has been natural. More and more people 'see' them each day and it's mostly because of how they act around each other. When you're in love, people notice.

I don't think KM's popularity has been fabricated; what I mean by that is, I don't think they've become popular because of BH. Let's not forget about what happened with the Black and White performance video, or how long it took to get a Bangtan Bomb of behind the scenes. People began to think we'd never get it and it was obvious that KM was being isolated for whatever reason. Who knows why it took so long or what went on behind the scenes. Did they acquiesce to the fans' demands for the video when they published it or was it always planned but just delayed? We'll never know. But if BH really wanted to play up the pairing to help it gain popularity I'm not sure they handled it the best way; all they really did was irritate fans, and only the people who attended muster and filmed it really got to enjoy it.

Would BH or have BH promoted shipworthy subunits? Does this make total sense, considering both a business and artistic perspective? Bangtan's creative agency (past, present, future)?

Putting aside rapline and vocal line units and any songs released on SoundCloud, Jamais Vu and the OST are really the first times we've got an official series of Bangtan subunits to listen to (Jungkook, Jimin, Namjoon, Taehyung, and Seokjin have collaborated with various arrangements but only on songs they've released on SoundCloud, done for Festa, for dramas, etc.).

These subunits were a surprise to most people, especially the Jamais Vu and Brand New Day subunits. So far we've gotten subunits that a lot of us probably weren't thinking of or asking for. I know a lot of people want to see Yoongi and Jimin do something or Jimin and Namjoon (minjoon is gaining popularity real fast, but more on ships in a minute) and people have been asking for a Taehyung and Jungkook subunit for who knows how long. <- these observations are based on what I've seen people say since I became a fan. I haven't even touched on Sope and Otsukare because frankly, that is a very popular pairing, ship, and both Yoongi and Hoseok know it and they have fun with it. Ships aside, pretty much everyone agrees that Otsukare is hype and it's a travesty it's not on SoundCloud. (It just makes me smile, ilovethemsomuch).

I said all that ^^^ to say this:

I have no idea how SM decided on their subunit pairings for EXO (insert other applicable idol group and agency).

I have no idea if other companies pair their artists for subunits based solely on their popularity in the fandom.

^ This seems unrealistic for various reasons. That's a cash grab. There's no consideration of the artists voices, how they fit stylistically, their range, etc. etc. Please, no one bring up SuperM. We haven't even seen them in action yet so we literally can't judge anything (not to mention it's a whole group, not a subunit, and we all know how different Bangtan's individual styles are).

I have to assume from the randomness of the MOTS/OST album subunits we've gotten from Bangtan so far that they haven't been thrown together just because they're popular pairings; if anything these were unusual choices and not really anything I've seen people asking for (I don't mean that they aren't good pairings, only that I'm not sure anyone saw those subunits coming).

When it comes to subunits on albums I would think Bangtan has a say in who does a song with who. They have, after all, had creative license to write and produce their own music this whole time. I don't see them being forced into doing a subunit song they don't want to do. If anything, we know at least once they were told not to do a specific song with a specific member (vmin/Christmas duet) and that was an issue of content.

Subunits have to make sense.

-> -> -> In order for a subunit to be successful and make sense, the 2 or 3 (or 4) individuals have to have vocal chemistry. Their voices and styles have to compliment each other and they have to sound good together. Rappers can get away with this a little bit but they still have to flow. Vocalists have it harder because in a duet or small subunit they'll be harmonizing, etc. etc. A company can't just throw two vocalists against a wall like spaghetti and see if they stick.

-> -> -> -> -> Subunits based on looks or to satisfy shippers et al. don't make much sense unless the subunit makes sense without those factors.

Since you mentioned EXO, I'll use the recent Chanyeol/Sehun EXO subunit as an example:

I'm not that well-versed in the EXO fandoms shipping culture, however, I do know some of the popular ships. And I'm not entirely sure if C/S are one of those (Chanyeol/Baekhyun? Huge.). The subunit makes sense since they're both rappers and the song is a rap song (I haven't actually heard the song but I saw the promotions). I have no idea if people were asking for that pairing or not. Likewise, I have no idea if they're a really popular pairing. They may be, either because of shipping or because they're rappers.

Popularizing/Monetizing/Exploiting/Fabricating

Saying that BH monetizes KM implies that they're deliberately trying to make money off of their bond and their popularity as a ship (more on this next). This can imply many things but one thing it implies that has a very negative connotation is that BH would fabricate things or deliberately mislead fans to make money (I've already explained that I don't see either the 2018 Memories or the Bring the Soul docuseries episode as KM bait, and I'll just have to agree to disagree with those who feel that way). Saying that BH can capitalize or make money off of KM implies to me that KM are popular, BH sees that, and BH may give us more moments of them together on film, etc.

In order to do that though, BH has to advertise the KM content. Are they actually doing that? I'm not convinced.

But this all still goes back to my point in the other post that BH actively promoting KM content in the interest of *winning* KM fans popularizes the ship and that's dangerous if they are actually together. It's dangerous because it opens them up to more scrutiny and puts them at risk of being outed. This would be devastating from a business sense unless the fandom culture changes (not going to happen) or they ease us into it. Maybe they are trying to do that now, I don't know how I feel about that, sometimes it seems that way but the reality of that is unrealistic. Before they could even remotely come out Bangtan and BH would have to take an obvious step toward supporting the LGBT+ community. They can't just skip over that to letting their artists come out.

KM are popularizing themselves with the way they act, and the video content we get continues to show how they interact. There's little BH can do at this point to avoid aiding KM in coming off as couplely. I mean, Seokjin deadass asked them if they were dating without a care in the world and teased their giggly asses on a Run! episode; he said it to tease them and everyone kind of brushed over it so it ended up not being very *dangerous*. It can't get much worse than that unless they were caught doing. . . something even remotely naughty and it got included in a show or film. We can infer things from their moments together and everything can seem couplely to us but each moment watched in isolation (with notable exceptions *cough*Rosebowl*cough*) isn't all that bad. They don't seem to be backing down in the slightest.

The only thing that I would think of as recent deliberate KM content (disregarding the *hearts* in their captions on episodes, photoshoots, etc. etc. because ALL members get that treatment) would be the VCR for 5th Muster. KM were in several scenes alone and Jimin was hella flirty. But that's just the thing: Jimin was flirty and Jimin is always flirty. He laid it on thick for the VCR but it's not unusual in and of itself. There's also the fact that they went to Busan this muster, and along with the KM being in the VCR they also did a photoshoot and even had photocards if I'm not mistaken. We know from the reaction of the city of Busan that people were pumped. Jimin was all over buses, etc. Busan got hyped. I don't doubt that BH may have done that deliberately because they were going to Busan. Could they have done it to deliberately excite KM shippers/fans? Sure. Did they capitalize off it? Well, the VCR was only available to people who'd already bought their tickets and no one was 'allowed' to film anything because muster would be available on vlive+, but they can never stop people from filming and within no time we already had the VCR or at least we had the KM bits immediately. So people don't really have to buy access to watch the VCR to satisfy their KM craving.

Basically, I'm neutral on that topic, I don't agree with the comments about 2018 Memories or Bring the Soul, and I'm not sure what else has been *done* recently to give off the impression that BH is trying to either exploit, capitalize from, or fabricate KM content. I could be proved wrong tomorrow but it seems like business as usual to me.

If BH wants to increase the popularity of certain pairings for subunit opportunities later, from a business perspective, why are they not capitalizing even more on already popular pairings?

I think we can all agree that taekook seems to be the most popular ship. Other popular ships I notice are sope, taegi, yoonmin, and taejin, with minjoon increasing in popularity; I see vmin mostly discussed in friendship terms with relatively little discourse on the 'realness' of the ship. My impression from this fandom has been that kookmin's popularity has been largely in the background until mid to late 2017 and really unleashed in 2018 when everything exploded.

And we all know this was partly because of two things: KM's increasing *loudness* and GCF:t. Neither of which had much to do with BH or any intention to make them an even more popular pairing for subunit/etc. purposes.

The way I see it, GCF:t was the straw that broke the camel's back for this fandom and at that point people *really* began to voice their opinions about this ship. After GCF:t people really began to question in earnest whether something was going on with them. The people who already suspected #jikookisreal were just cemented in their belief.

It seems to me that Jungkook's video (and his subsequent favoritism of #mainmodel Jimin) was the catalyst for this ships burst in popularity to where it is now.

But that being said, KM are still either less popular or soon to be on equal ground with TK. And yet, despite years of intense support for this pairing, Jungkook and Taehyung have yet to do anything creative together. Vmin is popular as a ship and in platonic terms, but Taehyung was told not to do a song with Jimin because of the content. If they'd done the song BH could have boosted the popularity of the pairing and capitalized on that subunit. Yoongi and Hoseok did Otsukare, and while it's a fun song it has never to this day made it officially to SoundCloud, despite the popularity of sope pairing as a ship.

More importantly, Jimin and Jungkook already are a subunit. They've done "Christmas Day" and a cover of "We don't Talk Anymore" together. Albeit, these were offerings for SoundCloud and Festa, but the two have already worked together of their own accord and established themselves as one of the 2-singer subunits in Bangtan. The fandom hardly hypes them as a subunit save for jikookers, and we already got a dance subunit performance so the fandom at large doesn't really push for them to perform together again at the moment. Yes, people might be noticing them more and they may be gaining in popularity as a ship and a pairing, but the amount of fans who see them as #busanbrothers as opposed to #busanboyfriends, a.k.a. the non-shippers who think the mere idea is crazy, is still large.

Salient points:

1. TK is still more popular than KM no matter how much of a bubble some of us are in,

2. TK fans (shippers or otherwise) are very vocal about wanting a TK subunit,

3. we still don't have it,

4. BH promoting KM for the purposes of officially debuting their subunit actually makes sense and doesn't come off to me as exploitation or monetization because they are already a subunit.

5. not many of the album subunit pairings so far have been very expected and/or made up of popular pairings or ships [jinjikook, vhope, and yoonmon aren't obscure by any means, but uber popular ships on the level of TK/KM/yoonmin/sope/taegi they are not (I would say that vhope would be the most popular ship out of these three, but that's just my observation)].

My general thoughts are that as far as music goes BH has neither made a concerted effort to push pairings that have a large, dedicated fanbase nor have they made strides to popularize subunits well in advance of the impending military enlistment of two members.

Yes, we now have 4 new album subunits between MOTS and OST and that's a lot, but only because we didn't have any before this year. Using the example of EXO again, they've had subunits for a while now and their group members only started to complete their service in the last few months (I know Xiumin/Minseok was in a subunit with 2 other members I believe, maybe Chen and. . Kai or Baekhyun, idk). Seokjin and Yoongi may be enlisting late next year, who really knows, and we still have to wait for two more albums to get the Namjoon/Jimin/Yoongi/Taehyung unit/s and these are only songs on an album. These aren't actual subunits that have been promoted separately from the group like Xiumin et al., Chanyeol/Sehun, and any of their other subunits.

From a business perspective, looking to capitalize on ship/pairing popularity, BH should be doing what exactly?

With how popular ships like TK and yoonmin are, to me it would make sense for BH to monetize and pair together the members that are already popular and who already have a very large fanbase practically begging for a subunit. When I say beg, I mean I see TKers really begging for a subunit on the daily. And other major ships like yoonmin are really desired subunits too; people still freak out over rapper Jimin and want a recycle of Tony Montana, and that compared with their *ship power* means it's pretty desired.

From a business perspective, wouldn't it make the most sense to capitalize even further on these popular pairings and satisfy fans who are just waiting to spend their money to see or hear their favorite members together?

I think it was obvious that BH was capitalizing on the ship popularity thing when they did the Hyundai ads. They paired sope and taekook together for those. It seems kind of clear. But other things like giving fancafe members a taekook selca among the other photos--I'm not exactly sure if the fans got all of that content as part of their perks of being a member or how that works, or if they had to purchase that content, I'm not really sure. But it seemed to me that they got all of those selcas and photos because they were members. When that happened I saw the KM community commenting and making fun of TKers for "having to pay for their ship's selcas" (which, honestly, is just fucking childish and rude and I'm kind of tired of hypocrisy--what do you say to jikookers who would "pay" for content if they thought they would get something KM related? Do you mock them for "paying" for their ship's content? Pot -> kettle -> black). But that's a rant for another day.

My point is, BH has done things along the way to capitalize from ships or to make fans happy by giving them content with their favorite pairings, of course they have. I think that's just idol culture and the industry they're in, and it can't be helped. They pretty much pander to fans when it suits them and it's all tied into the toxic culture where idols can't date and a bunch of bullshit I'm not interested in talking about rn.

What I don't think is that BH has queerbaited us with KM. I'm familiar with being queerbaited, both when it's deliberate baiting and when it's not and people just get offended because they're ship wasn't real.

As for subunits, if KM are debuted as a subunit the last thing I want to hear is that BH pushed that and helped them become popular. BH can absolutely still capitalize on a KM subunit with or without interference because we all know KM do the work themselves.

More importantly though, KM are already a subunit. So I don't even see BH debuting them as a move to capitalize on their relationship or their popularity with fans. They've worked together and fans like them together vocally. It makes total sense for them to be a subunit and frankly, that has nothing to do with whether or not they're together. The subunit would make sense without BH doing it to pander or monetize.

Rant = over.

💜

[kpopreviewcafe]

BIGBANG 'MADE' Album Review

BIGBANG is the ultimate Kpop group and MADE was their crowning glory. VIP or not, this album is a MUST listen for anyone who’s even remotely interested in Korean music. What more can I say? Let’s get into the review.

There are no words that accurately sum up how tragically beautiful the first song on the album, called Loser, is - you just have to listen for yourself. The lyrics are introspective & self-deprecating, yet the angelic vocal flourishes and catchy raps make this song somewhat hopeful. This song was made for Taeyang’s voice to shine especially - his vocalisations in the ending chorus are to die for. This is really one of BIGBANG’s finest songs, reminiscent of their older hits like Lies and Haru Haru which propelled them to stardom. I could listen to this song forever.

Honestly, I’ve never fit in with the world, I was always alone It’s been a long time since I’ve forgotten about love

Bae Bae is one of the craziest, sexiest & weirdest songs I have ever heard. It is extremely catchy and addictive, with a funky beat that is strange and dream-like. This song will have you jumping out of bed and rocking out even when you’re too tired to move. The vocalists belt out amazing tunes whilst the rappers give the verses their all. The best part of the song is definitely T.O.P’s rap, which is honestly one of his BEST verses of all time. Bingu Tabi is BACK and he’s weirder than ever! (Check the live performance for the full experience). Also, this whole song is just one large ongoing innuendo tbh.

Pretty eyes like a deer, you’re my princess… My body wraps around yours so perfectly, You’re forever 25 to me

Bang Bang Bang is the title track to end ALL title tracks. It is the ultimate party song, one that is good enough to compete with Fantastic Baby for the most iconic BIGBANG song. I generally dislike the use of the word “epic” to describe things that aren’t literally epics, but to be honest, this song deserves it. I mean, it was so good that it was even played in North Korea as an example of the pinnacle of South Korean pop culture. BBB has a legendary beat, an iconic dance and a stunning music video to match. Each member had their time to shine, both vocally and visually. Music video highlights include: a T.O.P skit featuring an altercation between a sexy cowboy and an astronaut (him playing both roles, of course), Daesung’s iconic hair-covering-his-eyes look and G-DRAGON on a leash. What more could you ask for?

B.I.G Yea we bang like this, everyone together! Like you’ve been shot, BANG! BANG! BANG!

BIGBANG like to party, and We Like 2 Party with them too. This song is laid-back and fun - the perfect song to jam out to. The strong rhythm and catchy chorus just gets you moving. This is exactly the type of song to blast out on some nice speakers and just kick back with a beer. Take it easy, and enjoy some quality music while you do!

Let’s play with fire for the first time in a while... Being sober is against the rules WE LIKE 2 PARTY till the sun rises above our heads

If You is very different from anything BIGBANG has made before. The instrumental consists mainly of a simple acoustic guitar. VIPs get the pleasure of hearing BIGBANG’s voices in what almost feels like a cappella. G-DRAGON’s voice in the chorus is emotional, unmistakable and so crazily unique - he really is one of a kind. However, the person who truly owned this song was Daesung, who’s voice came powering through in the second verse, and was definitely the highlight of the song. This is a wonderful ballad - both sincere and warm.

If it’s not too late, can’t we get back together?… I should’ve treated you better when I had you

Next we have the cool and swag-filled Zutter from BIGBANG’s resident playboy rap duo GD&TOP. I’m honestly so glad this iconic pair came back with another song, because their subunit album from way back in 2010 was just so phenomenal. This song is sexy and arrogant, just like a good hip-hop song should be. Both rappers had unique and enjoyable verses, but I have to say that T.O.P came out on top (ha. ha. ha.). He switched up his flow in almost every line, and you can tell that each word was so carefully placed. T.O.P even referenced his legendary character from his movie Tazza The Hidden Card. (Whether you’re a VIP or not, PLEASE watch this movie - you won’t regret it). The intro and outro section of this song originally appeared on G-DRAGON’s Niliria… even HE thought that it was so good that we needed to hear it again!

Tonight we’re getting freaky freaky yea Baby give me some, give me give me some yea

Let’s Not Fall In Love starts off with T.O.P’s rarely showcased and unexpectedly beautiful singing voice. This song takes you on an emotional journey, and the music video allows you choose a BIGBANG member to fall for. Let’s Not Fall In Love perfectly showcases the members’ impressive vocal abilities and emotive rapping skills. In my opinion, the bridge and ending chorus are the best parts of the song, due to the heartwarming acoustic guitar and the wonderful harmony between T.O.P’s deep singing voice and Taeyang’s vocalisations a few octaves higher.  

Let’s not fall in love, we don’t know each other very well yet Actually, I’m a little scared

I don’t really know why Sober struck such a deep chord in me, but from the moment I first heard it, I knew I would never hear another song with such a unique colour. It’s probably my favourite song on the album. BIGBANG really outdid themselves with this track - they reached a level of craziness, pathos and talent that I didn’t even know they had… and they’re BIGBANG! Sober is the perfect rock ballad, with a twist. The lyrics are heartbreaking and painfully relatable. Party away the pain with BIGBANG, that’s what they’re here for.

It’s hard for me to be sober, I can’t fall asleep without you… I have so many damn things to do, but I have nothing that I want to do

In my opinion, FXXK IT was the climax song to the masterpiece that was the MADE album. This track propelled the album from outstanding to literal legend. I absolutely cannot get enough of this song, it perfectly displays BIGBANG in all their glory, from Taeyang’s angelic voice to T.O.P’s unforgettable rap. The wise words of Taeyang come to mind “ain’t no party like a BIGBANG party”. After hearing this song, you will realise that is true. This song manages to simultaneously be cool, sassy, reflective, cheeky and swag. I really don’t know how BIGBANG keep coming back with such gold.  

Haven’t felt this nervous in a while, I can’t do anything Before the night is over, I want you in my arms

Last Dance is so unbelievably sad that honestly sometimes I have to skip it when I put on this album. Its release marked the countdown to T.O.P’s mandatory military enlistment, and was therefore the last time that BIGBANG would perform as a whole team. Even though it’s painful to listen to, I am glad this song exists, because VIPs will always have this last dance.

I will listen to this song with you... Remember this moment. Until always, just one last dance

Girlfriend was an unexpected gift that came with the full MADE album. When this track was released, I was so overwhelmed with FXXK IT and Last Dance that I almost overlooked it! But with time, I have grown to love Girlfriend so much - it captures that cool, happy and care-free BIGBANG that I crave. I really liked the cool electric guitar, sexy raps and playful vibe.

When my heart is sad... Girl you always pick me up You know that I love you ma baby

The MADE album has such incredible musical diversity - it’s impossible to believe that all these songs came out as part of one album. Literally every track is good enough to be another group’s best song - yet BIGBANG owns them all. They truly are the kings of Kpop. If you’ve read any of my other BIGBANG reviews, then you will know that I always say this… but I stand by it. VIP until whenever. Peace.

Kpop Review Café's Overall Ranking: 10/10 (this scale was literally created with MADE in mind as the gold standard)

[theotherboywhonevergrewup]

My Top Songs of 2019

It’s that time of the year again when I take a look back at all the great music that was released throughout the year and choose my top 10.  Quick disclaimer as usual: These are not what I think are the best songs of the year.  They’re not even my favorite songs of the year.  They’re simply the top 10 songs that have defined my year.  (See the end if you’re interested in the rules of the selection of this top 10; also, most of this was written in 2019 but some was written in 2020).

10. “Think About Us” - Little Mix featuring Ty Dolla $ign

“When you're dancin' in the club And the nights are getting hard Do you think about us?”

Everyone knows that I have a weakness for girl groups.  UK’s Little Mix isn’t exactly my favorite, but admire how strongly they’ve stuck together as a group.  Their chemistry is undeniable, both as people and as vocalists.  To me, “Think About Us” was the standout track from last year’s LM5, and the addition of Ty Dolla $ign was the little shove it needed to be great.  The girls shine with their vocal prowess both on their solos and together on the chorus, and Ty$’s verse splits the track nicely.  The accompanying video is mesmerizing.  Each of the girls look absolutely stunning, and they have individual sets representing the different parts of a relationship, with Perrie as the butterflies-in-my-stomach beginning and Jade as the icy, cold end.  The lyrics are quite vague, but I think that’s the intention.  It’s applicable to any stage of a relationship; it could be a love song or a break-up song.  With it’s fun beat, it’s hard to pick if you want to dance to it, belt it out, or try to do both, but it’s definitely been an infectious part of 2019!

9. “Lonely for You” - Armin van Buuren featuring Bonnie McKee

“No, you're never gonna see me cry I already got a brand new life Don't you know I'm moving on And everyday I'm stronger? I don't even know you're gone”

The Netherlands’ Armin van Buuren has a recipe to get trance music to pull at your heart, and one piece that makes this apparent is “Lonely for You.”  With the assist from US’s pop hit writer Bonnie McKee, this track is different yet familiar, a haunting disconnect to match the mixed feelings of the lyrics.  From light synths to disco-esque drums to pure piano, Van Buuren’s track pushes and pulls the same way the tumultuous narrator’s lyrics go back and forth, with McKee’s vocals surfing on the top.  The music video has a couple choreography emphasizing the push-and-pull theme, and McKee looks fantastic as usual.  Van Buuren’s Balance is full of more emotionally-rich tracks for both happy and sad times, many of which utilize beautiful piano to highlight amazing vocals.  “Lonely for You” is an altogether addictive track that was perfect for all the lonely nights of 2019.

8. “Antidote” - Mr Hudson

“You of all people After all we've been through Started out an angel And now you get away with murder”

As a huge fan of the UK’s Mr Hudson, I waited basically a decade for his sophomore album, and it did not disappoint.  While When the Machine Stops features several tearjerking songs, “Antidote” is on the next level.  The song takes the subject of betrayal and perfectly captures how trust can die.  The genius is in its simplicity.  Not a single instrument starts until the entire first verse is complete, letting the lyrics speak for themselves.  Even when the instruments do come in, it’s just soft percussion and synths.  As much as I love vocal runs and ad-libs galore, the straightforward melody had me humming this song for much of 2019.

7. “Me & You” - EXID

“Oh 야야야 더 이상 우리라는 말 하지 마마마 안 봐도 뻔하잖아 야임 마마마 지금 날 어디서 속이려 들어 그건 네 엄마마마 한테나 가서해 baby I don't care”

As I mentioned in last year’s post, 2018 was the year I fell in love with K-Pop, mostly due to Blackpink at the time.  As much as I love Blackpink (and got to see them live this year!), their limited discography didn’t leave much to be loved.  Enter EXID.  This group is stacked: arguably South Korea’s best female rapper in the game LE, one of the best vocalists Solji, and the girl who is absolutely beautiful, sexy, cute, and smart all at the same time Hani (who may or may not be my ultimate bias, sorry Rosé).  Their previous single “I Love You” missed my 2018 list because it was released so late in the year, but it turned out to be my most played song on Spotify this year.  In fact, several of their songs were on that list.  Like many of their previous singles, “Me & You” is an infectious dance track utilizing each member where they excel: Hani with her soft, sultry vocals, a splash of LE’s sick flows to split up the song, Hyelin’s powerhouse vocals to bring up the first chorus, Solji’s even more powerful vocals to take the song to its climax, and Jeonghwa on the dance break (low key kinda sounds like she’s singing “Baby Shark” but that’s a jam too I guess).  The duality of the track is what makes it stand out, with the pretty vocals and simple verses largely contrasting from the deep and dirtier synths of the dance break.  The video plays with this duality by featuring EXID as brides in white versus clubbing in neon.  The rest of the WE mini album isn’t quite as dance-y but is fun to vibe to nonetheless.  The group unfortunately may be over, since Hani and Jeonghwa are leaving their record label, but they’re at least sticking together for their activities in Japan for now.  So many more K-Pop hits were released this year, some of my favorites being Mamamoo’s “Gogobebe,” SEVENTEEN’s “HIT,” Super Junior D&E’s “Danger,” Park Bom’s “Spring,” KARD’s “Dumb Litty,” NCT 127′s “Highway to Heaven”, NCT Dream’s “Boom”, Ong Seongwu’s “Heart Sign,” and another release to be mentioned later on this list.

6. “Heartbreak” - Hunter Hayes

“Another, ‘Almost perfect’ Didn't work, but totally worth it Better to have loved and lost my mind Than lose the nerve to even try”

I remember watching the 2013 Grammy’s and watching Hunter Hayes lose all three of his nominations, at that point becoming the “Leonardo DiCaprio never wins an Oscar” meme to me and my friends.  He went on to lose two more nominations, but honestly, I always liked his music (and Grammy nominations are no small feat in the first place!).  While 2017 was technically the year I had my first date and 2018 was the year I had my first girlfriend, 2019 was the year that I really put myself out there and dated the most.  And yes, there was a lot of awkwardness and stupidity and mostly me messing up, but that’s just a part of life.  And “Heartbreak” perfectly captures all those feelings.  From the guitar to the bit of twang to the drums, this song is unabashedly fun country, and the optimistic lyrics always made me feel better.  It’s like a c’est la vie Rascal Flatts’ “Bless the Broken Road” before he found the girl. The accompanying video is also fun with a groundhog day theme as he tries to win over a girl.  The album as a whole is a fun listen, with “Dear God” being the other Wild Blue (Part I) standout to me.  Here’s hoping Part II comes out with some vibes in 2020!

5. “Tempo” - Lizzo featuring Missy Elliott

“He look like he could gain a little weight Lick the icing off, put the rest in your face”

Lizzo exploded this year, and I’m not mad about it.  She has confidence and charisma galore, and her resulting music is mad bouncy, earning her several Grammy nominations for next year, including Best New Artist.  Her songs like most of Cuz I Love You can be quite loud and in-your-face, which is fine, just not exactly my style.  However, get her on this more subdued R&B beat and throw in a Missy Elliott feature, I’m in.  This will make any upbeat R&B lover dance, and the music video is the kind of hot and fun you would expect (with a cowboy hat you may not expect).  Missy also made an imprint this year with Iconology which is her first group release since 2005′s The Cookbook.  I’ve always been a fan of her work, and this is a perfect feature for her.

4. “NONE of this has been about you” - Spencer Sutherland

“I'm afraid that you would hate me if you knew, That I've become insensitive, It's true, But even if you do”

Spencer Sutherland’s “NONE of this has been about you” off his debut EP of the same name has a lot of elements about it that I would personally want in a song of my own.  It starts off with a very simple piano and vocals with a tinge of soul.  As he continues to sing, he puts more soul and emotion into his voice, and splashes of harmonies start to come in.  A couple short riffs later and just a second before the drop.  Although, it’s not a dance drop.  A choir drops in for the chorus with some drums to announce that, in fact, none of this has been about you.  The song eventually escalates to Sutherland’s soaring ad-libs over the choir.  Beyond the musical stylings, I enjoy the message of this song.  Sure, the narrator is telling someone, possibly his lover, that his struggles are personal and not something she or he should worry about, but I also like to take it as a reminder not to always worry about others or what they are thinking.  For example, 2019 was the first full year I had an ex, and a lot of that time, I was worried about posting on social media because maybe she’ll think this or that is about her.  Honestly, I don’t recall ever “subtweeting” about her.  We’re good.  Any breakup song or black and white photo I post has nothing to do with her.  So this song is a nice reminder to keep it pushing and stay in your own lanes.  The remaining songs on Sutherland’s EP were all also on repeat throughout the year.  The man’s just got a solid voice, and I’m glad he’s continuing a soulful pop sound that is rarer than before.

3. “Beautiful goodbye” - Chen

“다시 시간을 되돌려 처음 만난다면 가로등 옆에 서 있지 말아요 미소 짓지도 왼손으로 머릴 넘기지 마요 그래야 내가 그대를 지나칠 테니까”

Now, when it comes to a piano and vocals, nothing dominated my year more than Chen, especially his debut solo single “Beautiful goodbye.”  I won’t repeat all the reasons why I love his voice so much (see last year’s post), but long story short, he’s my favorite male vocalist right now.  Don’t get me wrong, I love EXO and the energy they bring to their songs, but a full EP of just Chen really lets the listener feel his artistry, pulling on heartstrings every which way.  In this song, the narrator is recognizing that his relationship is dead but proposing that they can hold onto it just for a bit longer until they peacefully part in spring.  There’s a respect to their relationship and what it has done for them that they can take with them as separate people before they part ways.  Chen’s voice takes the listener on an adventure, starting soft and simple then escalating and crescendoing to unveil the hardened pain in his voice.  It’s not a sudden angry breakup, it’s more subtle and more somber.  In the end, his soft vibrato and the final notes of the piano leave the listener in just as an uncertain position as the narrator; is it better to hope it stays winter forever or hope for spring to come?  While I also wanted some upbeat songs from Chen, his April, and a flower EP followed by Dear my dear is chockfull of beautiful and emotional ballads.

2. “Never-ending Summer” - Cyn

“What if we don't ever have to say goodbye? I wanna keep living like we'll never die If you're mad then I'm mad too You're crying, I'm sad too I'll watch your back for you, watch mine”

Newcomer Cyn’s “Never-ending Summer” is, to me, an experience.  It took me a while to appreciate its simplicity, but then it became so addictive that it itself became never-ending.  The guitar or synth (or whatever that instrument is) plays on loop to emphasize the never-ending nature of the song and gives a dreamy vibe that’s somehow both modern and reminiscent of the 70s.  Cyn’s simple vocals evoke a carefree feeling reminiscent of running on the beach and all the accompanying imagery with her photoshoot and lyric video.  It makes sense that Cyn is part of Katy Perry’s record label Unsub Records, as this song feels somewhat like Perry’s hits off of Teenage Dream including “California Gurls” and the title track, albeit much more in Cyn’s own understated style.  This summer, I learned how to surf and have fallen deeper in love with the beach (even though a stingray stung me my last time there), and this song would keep the surfing mentality continuing throughout the year, even when it gets too cold for it to be summer (or, even if my foot is bleeding to death).  Doesn’t hurt that Cyn is unbelievably cute too.

1. “Lovebird” - Far East Movement featuring Lay

“I can sleep here alone, but you know it's better with you You could be by yourself, but you know it's better with two”

As I grow as a person and become more proud of who I am, I think it makes sense for me to become more proud of my Asian heritage as well as support Asians and Asian-Americans out there, especially in the music industry as music means a great deal to me.  That said, it’s important to me that I don’t support people just because they’re Asian as if it’s some kind of nepotism.  That kind of segregating mentality can also be unhealthy.  Far East Movement are technically a one hit wonder; they have yet to outdo their 2010 hit “Like a G6.”  However, this year I found out about their record label Transparent Music that has been around since 2016 with a goal of unifying eastern and western music.  Their previous album aptly named Identity features a ton of artists from both sides of the word, from Hyolyn and Loco to Macy Gray and Soulja Boy (shoutout to my favorite song on that album, “Freal Luv” featuring Tinashe and yet another EXO member, Chanyeol).  To me, music is about unification.  It is about bringing a deeper understanding through melody and rhythm.  Those are the simplest terms I can put it.  I hope this is evident through this list that I appreciate people and music from all kinds of backgrounds.  Even if my tastes lean one way or another from year to year, I hope my lists maintain diversity and well-roundedness.  Somehow, Far East Movement has managed to capture this sense of unification in “Lovebird,” featuring Chen’s EXO bandmate from China, Lay.  It’s not the most complex song; in fact, like many songs on this list, it’s quite simple.  The synth bends in a carefree way that celebrates togetherness along with the lyrics, and I find that beautiful.  2019 was a year of growth and life, and “Lovebird” was the perfect song to accompany it.

*To qualify for this list, the song must have been released this year.  An artist can only have one song on this list, excluding features.

[rkevent]

AND WE’RE BACK FROM COMMERCIALS!

The title screen appears again, notifying the people that the show is back on. Standing on the stage is the MC of the night, Hong Jinwoo. “Hello and welcome back to the second and final part of the last episode of the Mnet Global Audition Season 5!” He greets and the audience cheers in excitement. “On the first part, we got to watch one performance from each team representing their company. Now, as it was made known, each group had to prepare a second performance and we’re about to reveal how that all came to be. Watch it now!”

Instead of showing one of the companies, the screen shows the stage of the previous episode and then a meeting room—the one where the decisions were made. Inside are the five CEOs and judges of the show sitting around the table. “So… for the final episode.” So Jisub points out and the rest nod. “How will we decide things?” From the corner of the room and without her face shown, one of the staff speaks out. “We already have that planned.” The CEOs look confused until another staff walks to the table and puts a black box on the center before running off the screen.

An intense silence settles on the room before Tiger JK lets out a snort. “What’s this supposed to be?” Katie Lee is the one who reaches out for it, seeing that there’s a hole on the top side. “Instead of discussing which second concept to give to each group, you’ll sort it randomly.” They tell them, and Katie Lee doesn’t look very amused. “Is this a joke? Will it be a prank?” The staff’s voice is almost too low for the microphone to pick up but a text appears on the bottom of the screen with a shacky ‘no…’

“The first one to go is Baek Jiyoung to choose the Sphere group concept.” The woman lights up on her seat, taking the box that Katie Lee hands over to her. “This is exciting!” She reaches her hand inside and pulls out a small white ball before turning it to the camera. “TRC!” She says in shock, and the scene fades with a loud chuckle from Tiger JK. 

We’re back on the Sphere practice room, all the four contestants huddled together along with their coaches. As it seems like always, KANG DANIEL is the one to speak. “I think TRC’s image and style is a lot more straightforward than Sphere. It’s really just hip hop, and not even like… khip-hop hip hop, necessarily, it’s really flashy and big and loud- very… swag,” he laughs at his own words. “I don’t think it will be too hard for us to find songs that suit them; anything in the hip hop spectrum might work.” Jinwook also shares his thoughts. “We can probably get away with an easier dance for TRC.” 

With something in mind, the group tries to focus on learning their parts. DANIEL is the one who approaches SAKURA. “Hey, can you write original raps?” And she replies enthusiastically. “Yes! I write a lot of poetry.” DANIEL looks surprised. “That’s really cool. We can write an original rap if you want?” And so the two sit together to try working on their lines together. They edit it for the time to pass on by quickly and the two writing and erasing the things they come up with. “How are you doing?” The boy asks the other. “It’s hard,” SAKURA replies and DANIEL nods in agreement. “I feel like my rap part suits me as is? I can’t really come up with anything better than it.” SAKURA seems to agree and the both of them decide to put it off for the time being and focus on dancing instead.

The stage appears again. Still following their tropical theme of before, there’s a small shipwreck on the stage this time with the front of the boat submerged in the stage floor. “Let’s welcome once again,” the MC begins, “the team Hollywood!” With cheering, the camera slowly zooms in on the boat. From behind it, the four contestants appear all still wearing their colorful sunglasses. They make their way to the center and once they’re standing in formation, remove the sunglasses and toss them to the side to reveal they’re all wearing eye-patches beneath them just in time for the song to start playing.

This time around it is DANIEL who starts the song using a modified intro to fit the MGAs. WOOJIN takes over the chorus and bounces along to the music, trying to hype the crowd. The second verse is covered by SAKURA with a rap verse followed by JUHO and his time to show off the charisma that he’s got. Before the end of the song, WOOJIN shows off a self-choreographed dance before they all stop in their ending pose.

Returning to the sight of the coaches, Baek Jiyoung moves the box over to Hyun Bin. He sticks his hand inside without much of a scene and then shows the results to the camera. “KT.” With a nod from Katie Lee herself, we’re back to the practice rooms.

It’s about the second performance that some of them seem worried about. “YEWONie~” CHANGBIN calls her his teammate’s name affectionately. “KT… has cute concepts… right? Could you maybe… teach me how to… fit that kind of image?” He asks and the girl doesn’t hesitate to give him tips. Of course, it doesn’t end with advice and YEWON tells him to do the gwiyomi song, a classic of cuteness. The rapper attempts to do the aegyo, but embarrassment gets in the way. “No, I don’t think I can do it. I don’t wanna do it.” He says, stomping his foot lightly at YEWON. His next step is to approach KENTA, who was watching videos. “I’m about to show you a whole new world!” The boy says excitedly as they start. “See, KT has a lot of cute and catchy concepts, and they do it really well. But they also have a strong, sexy side... I hope you see what I mean. Don’t worry too much about being cute, we’ll make sure that our KT performance lets you be as strong as sexy as you want,” he says, nodding. Joining JACKSON and YEWON to decide their second performance, they choose to show something different from what the KT team performed last week. CHANGBIN suggests giving Bad Boy more rap parts to fit the other half of the team and they decide to combine his idea with LC9's Sherlock. Coach Sunmi shares other ideas, like using the upside-down walking choreography from Woman and they add it to create a concept for the stage - spies.

Clips of their dance and vocal practices appear on the screen and their hard work and determination have good results. On the last day, once they are done practicing, the group sits down with the coaches to learn more about their previous experiences on the show and hear some encouragements from those who supported them in the past two weeks. “I’m going to tell you guys something my coach used to tell me before my floor routines for gymnastics competitions: you leave your heart on that stage. Our every ounce of energy you have into it. Make it as memorable and amazing as you can because you have the talent. you have the potential. you just have to show it.” Sunmi says to them and Seungwan shares her own advices. Sunmi promises to take them out to eat if they win. “Ah, we really have to win now…” KENTA says.

Because of their previous stage that night, when Team Polaris returns to the stage for their second act, this time portraying KT, everyone seems curious to know what they have prepared this time, wondering if it would be as shocking as the first stage. Instead of religious outfits and accessories, they look nice in suits and glasses. They re-introduce themselves and get into position as the stage darkens. Only the boys are seen as they take the center stage looking like spies. The opening instrumental kicks in and they play with dialogues and poses. The group adds some dancing onto the intro and uses the umbrellas as guns in an interesting way. The lights go from red to normal as YEWON comes in with her backup dancers in the famous upside down walking dance. She’s placed down onto stage and they get in position for the actual song. The music starts and the group does the choreography with some alterations. CHANGBIN is responsible for the element of surprise when he raps, the lyrics self-written and full of references of the artist’s previous title tracks. When the audience could start guessing if they would keep some of the original lyrics, KENTA sings, followed by another rap verse from YEWON, and both KENTA and JACKSON put their colors to the chorus, their voices sounding good as expected from them. Sounds of gunshots can be heard and they all get down, then sirens play and the lights follow the only girl of the group. A red spotlight appears and they sing in unison, changing the famous lines of LC9 to KT. The vocalists sing the pre-chorus, then move into the chorus powerfully. They end the performance with a simplified dance break. The girl is center during the part and shoots the boy down with the umbrella she grabbed. they fall and she is the only one standing as the lights dim. The crowd reacts positively once they’re done.

Tiger JK looks happy as he reaches inside the box, turning his hand inside. “I hope it’s Sphere?” He chuckles towards Baek Jiyoung, the one who had chosen TRC earlier in the day. When he takes a ball out, however, it says something else. “Nova!” He exclaims before looking over at Hyun Bin. “That’s a real challenge.”

"We tied our performances this week into last week’s. We were team Antidote and this time we’re coming in as team Sirius because it’s the brightest star of the constellation it’s part of and because of Nova, because Sirius is tied to very different mythological historical figures who are opposites of each other. Our performances are like that too. last week was about being the Antidote. This week is about love, about a poisoned love and a pure one. One that was saved by the antidote and one that wasn’t. Something like that,” MINHO explains with a bright, cheeky grin during his interview.  

If the team formed by KANG HYUNGGU, HWANG YEJI, CHOI MINHO, and LEE CHAERYEONG tried to capture TRC’s image in their performance earlier, they now return to the stage wearing school uniforms with the challenge to portray Nova’s. The stage starts in a blackout and the intro message saying "Our love is in the stars" appears on the screen, stars behind the message. The screen rises and they sit by their desks with the eight backup dancers, lights flashing on and off as they start to dance. The group showcases a powerful dance intro with sharp movements. YEJI pretends to load a gun and they move the desks in a way CHAERYEONG can run across them and take over the center. The backup dancers turn over the desks to reveal the capital letters that formed their team name, Sirius, behind the group. The lights dim, but when they’re back, the group is in formation to start. A summery background appears as the music kicks in. HYUNGGU starts the song and other vocalists, MINHO and YEJI, continue alternating the verses. Known for being a group of good dancers, they have no trouble executing every move of the intense choreography precisely.  They all sing in unison before CHAERYEONG starts rapping, the original lyrics changed and making reference to their previous TRC performance. It progresses to the chorus and the group shows their skills once more, synchronized dancing, charisma, and good live singing. HYUNGGU brings an end to the song.

Instead of following the pattern so far, the screen turns black. “This is our last interview. How does that make you feel?” The first one to appear is KANG DANIEL. “Ah,” he laughs. “Honestly, I’m… sad.” Following him, MIYAWAKI SAKURA appears with a pout on her lips. “I’m actually sad, ya know! I enjoyed my time here with everyone despite the heavy competition.” LEE NAKYUNG comments as well. “I remember every week thinking that maybe that’d be my last interview, and now it is real.”

LEE SUWOONG appears next. “Truthfully, I feel accomplished! Who would’ve thought that LEE SUWOONG would make it this far? I started with trot, didn’t I? And now I’m sitting here, interviewing for the finals.” LEE CHAERYEONG goes next. “It makes me sad to move on, but excited for what the future will hold.” Another person appears as well, SEO CHANGBIN. “When I first joined, I didn’t really know what to expect. Whether I’d make it through the first round, or the second, even make it through the callback.” To finish this off, there is WONG YUKHEI. “It’s exciting to be in the finals, and this sort of signifies that - my last interview. I made it this far… guess all I have to do now is win, right?”

Back inside the room with the judges, the staff tells the next CEO to sort the second concept. “Katie Lee must choose the KT group concept.” The woman sighs, leaning over to reach inside the box. With not many options left, she shows what she pulled: “Sphere!” Before they can move on, a staff member interrupts them. “You’ll have to pull again…” Katie Lee looks to the side not looking very amused. “The only group left is Royal, so if you choose Sphere they’d have to do the same concept twice.”

“Then why did you make me do it?” The woman puts her hand back inside the box. When she pulls a new ball she shows it to the camera again. “I think… it’s Royal.” So Jisub frowns from his seat. “Don’t say it like that.”

Returning to the stage, the MC introduces them again. “Returning for their second stage is… Black Widow!” The four contestants make their way to the center of the stage. It is decorated with detailed white woodworking and standing lamps and they all stand in a line dressed in golden colors. When the song starts to play, they turn their face to the front and slowly pick up the dance. SIA begins the song, walking forward, and then followed by YURI’s lines. When they get down on the floor, NAKYUNG, followed by YUKHEI. He also gets his own rap verse later into the song, followed by the bridge led by YURI and SIA. They finish it off with an intense gaze to the audience and the camera.

The room with the CEOs appears again, but there isn’t much mystery left behind which concept will be the last to be chosen. So Jisub reaches for the box, clearly unhappy. “Why do I need to do this too if we already know what it’ll be?” Baek Jiyoung taps her fingers against the table. “Come on! Say it!” The man takes out the last ball, but it’s one people already saw before. “It’s Sphere.” There’s a sudden silence in the room, all the CEOs appearing to be frozen. “That is all for now.” They turn to stare at the staff, Tiger JK chuckling again while Hyun Bin runs his hands down his face. “How fun!” Tiger JK says just in time for the screen to change to the last few practice scenes.

Back in Royal, the contestants are seen taking a water break by themselves, and SUWOONG decides to say something. “Let’s do a second prank.” If anyone forgot, the screen shows the last few pranks done inside that room. One was by the coaches with the cake drop, and then the other by the contestants with the door scare.

“Didn’t you see how shocked they were last time?!” YOUNGJAE protests, but SUWOONG promises it won’t go down like that again. “No, no, no, not another scare prank. Something bigger. Better. They already think we got them back with the scare prank, so they wouldn’t expect another one.” On the following day, the coaches are back again, nervously watching the contestants as they make their announcement. “We have a confession,” SUWOONG starts. “Yesterday, when the three of you were gone, we sat down and thought really hard about our performance. It’s cute, but we want to do something more fun and relevant, so we… chose a new song.” He quickly raises both of his hands. “Don’t be mad! We’re very serious. Please allow us to show.”

Instead of being serious, as they had promised, the four of them instead start to perform their version of ‘PPAP.’ When the first vocal part is done, YOUNGJAE takes out his otamatone and beings playing it following the song. Is with this fun mood that the scene fades off and changes to the live stage and the MC waiting to announce them. “And now, for our final performance, please welcome the Royal Flush!” The four last finalists make their way to the stage, all eyes now set on them. Their outfits are all in pretty pastels of yellow and white. 

HEEJIN is the one who starts them of this time, welcoming the stage with her sweet vocals to a popular She’Z song. KYUNGSOO sings next, showing a cute side of himself even with his deeper voice. Unlike the previous performance, YOUNGJAE gets to sing this time instead of rap. They follow along with the performance as it is known until it gets towards the end when they all shout together to the public. “Do it with us!” It’s the last chorus and the camera captures a few of the audience members who follow along to the arm movement. The performance ends with a large heart created by HEEJIN and YOUNGJAE as the top half and SUWOONG and KYUNGSOO at the bottom. 

As the crowd cheers for what is the final performance of the season, the MC appears again on the screen. “With this, we conclude our performances for this season. It’s been a long one, but as the grand finale, it will come to an end.” Some people in the audience let out an ‘aww’ and the man stops to nod. “Voting has closed now and before the results are announced we’ll take another small break! Please don’t change your channel. We’ll be right back!”

The break is as long as the previous and when the show returns, the stage is rid of any previous props of confetti. All the finalists stand together with the group and a bit apart from each other. The MC stands in the middle, ready to greet the public. “Welcome back to the grand finale of the Mnet Global Audition Season 5! Our contestants have already shown all of their performances and voting has been closed! Our judges already have their final decisions in hand and all that is left is to announce the final ranking.”

“We have 20 finalists here from the starting 100 hopefuls. They are separated into five groups and each performed here twice today. However, only one group may be the final winner. Congratulations on your journey all the way here. Please, can we have a round of applause?” The audience claps and cheers for their favorite finalists, some names coming out louder than others. “And now, without further ado, I’ll announce the final rankings.”

Tense music starts to play in the set, one people should already know from the previous episodes. “In fifth place…”

(To be continued briefly)

[yuuimagines]

A guide to Stray Kids

Wassup guys, you wanna know something about our boys Stray Kids? Yes? Let’s get it! May have some spoilers for the show!

General information: Stray Kids are a 9 member group under JYP Entertainment. They went through the survival show “Stray Kids” and even though there were hard times for the group, they were able to debut as 9! So far they have 5 mini albums (I am: NOT, I am: WHO, I am: YOU and Clé 1: Miroh and Clé 2: Yellow Wood) and a predebut album (Mixtape)

Fandom name: Stay

Predebut: As I said, Stray Kids had a predebut album called Mixtape. They produced the songs during their survival show and wrote the lyrics themselves! But there was and is a predebut group and subunit called “3RACHA”, consisting of CB97 (Bang Chan), SPEARB (Changbin) and J.ONE (Jisung/Han).

Debut: They debuted on the 25th March 2018 with the song “District 9″ and the album “I am: NOT”, the first part of the “I am” series. In District 9 they wanted to show their unique color.

Now you know what Stray Kids are, but you still don’t know who Stray Kids are! From oldest to youngest:

Name: Kim Woojin

Stage name: Woojin

Position: Main Vocalist

Born: 8th April, 1997 in Daejeon, South Korea

Character:

Is the oldest of Stray Kids

Some say he’s the normal one of Stray Kids, but YOU ARE WRONG

Loves cuddles

Is the dark lord of savage

1/4 Hyung line

1/3 Vocal line

A bear :(

Name: Bang Christopher

Stage name: Bang Chan

Position: Leader, Lead Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Rapper, Producer

Born: 3rd October 1997 in Sydney, Australia

Character:

Was a trainee for 7 years

Chose every single member of Stray Kids

1/2 Aussie line

1/3 3RACHA/ Producer line

2/4 Hyung line

Weird and extra, but very sweet and humble af

Loves his members so much :(

He can do anything. Really, anything.

A kangaroo :(

Name: Lee Minho

Stage name: Lee Know

Position: Main Dancer, Vocalist, Rapper

Born: 25th October 1998 in Gimpo, South Korea

Character:

Minsung (Minho + Jisung)

Minhoe, does sexy things a LOT

1/3 Dance line

3/4 Hyung line

stan a dance king, stan Lee Minho

Loves his cats

Name: Seo Changbin

Stage name: Changbin

Position: Main Rapper, Vocalist, Producer

Born: 11th August 1999 in Yongin, South Korea

Character:

Changlix (Changbin + Felix)

Matryoshka, our national anthem, has the most iconic line

4/4 Hyung line

2/3 3RACHA/ Producer line

Seems like a mean bean but is actually the aegyo king of Stray Kids, ngl

Binsual (Changbin + Visual)

smol

Name: Hwang Hyunjin

Stage name: Hyunjin

Position: Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Visual

Born: 20th March 2000 in Seoul, South Korea

Character:

Is our little weirdo

aussiboo, I don’t make the rules

Stan a dance king, stan Hwang Hyunjin

No but really, he’s our prince

His laugh is so cute :(

1/5 Maknae line

2/3 Dance line

Name: Han Jisung

Stage name: Han

Position: Main Rapper, Lead Vocalist, Producer

Born: 14th September 2000 in Incheon, South Korea

Character:

Was in Malaysia and is able to speak english

Softest boy guys, I don’t know wether he is gay or full of love

Minsung (Minho + Jisung)

His high notes are amazing. Yes, high notes. He’s a rapper.

Crackhead

2/5 Maknae line

3/3 3RACHA/ producer line

squirrel

Name: Lee Felix

Stage name: Felix

Position: Lead Rapper, Lead Dancer

Born: 15th September 2000 in Sydney, Australia

Character:

Australias pride 2

He is the biggest meme, does Fortnite dances guys, probably knows every single vine

2/2 Aussie line

3/5 Maknae line

3/3 Dance line

yOngBoK (his korean name)

freckles :(

Name: Kim Seungmin

Stage name: Seungmin

Position: Lead Vocalist

Born: 22nd September 2000 in Seoul, South Korea

Character:

Seungmean, hates his members lmao (ok no)

But is a fucking savage

Looks like a puppy, don’t fight Stays

Sweetheart tbh

talented vocals

4/5 Maknae line

2/3 Vocal line

Name: Yang Jeongin

Stage name: I.N

Position: Lead Vocalist, Maknae

Born: 8th February 2001 in Busan, South Korea

Character:

Always smiling, our sunshine :((

Looks like a fennec fox

Savage Maknae, he is an adult now guys. Watch out

Used to have braces but not anymore since Miroh comeback

5/5 Maknae line

3/3 Vocal line

Iconic Moments:

Changbin’s iconic: Matryoshka

Felix’s mosquito sound

Dolphin scream of Jeongin

Verse 2

Minsung sexy dance

3RACHA’s WOW (eXcuSe me NoOna, dO yoU haVe a bOyfRieNd?)

Chan: liKe mAte, stop procrastinating

Minho: “Let’s eliminate people”

sEunGmin iN tHe BuilDinG

Safe show

The Changlix kiss

Minho’s bundles

“Wakey Wakey~”

“Why did you try do eliminate me, hyung?” “You weren’t good at that time”

Seungmin explaining “Mirror”

Changbin’s “yooooooo” (It’s in almost every song guys)

“FINDING SKZ” “SLOWLY SLOWLY”

Chan calling himself daddy and his fans babygirls (It’s.. in every Vlive, ngl)

[rkxayah]

💎 LUXE VLIVE

↪ celebrating their 1st anniversary     content includes: q&a, peppero game, limbo, whisper challenge, reaction to their royal survival auditions (+ mini performances of them), break for snacks

confused part switch ver.: xayah (belting these high notes) as cheri cheri (accidentally spoiling miniskirt) as zoe zoe (seducing the nation) as ella ella (being a cutie) as yena yena (getting that swag) as xayah

“oh my goddess! hello, we’re luxe!” 

they all chant at once, bowing and waving at the camera. they’ve waited until quite a few hundred people have already tuned in, and for the first couple minutes they most greet fans and talk, explaining that they’re here for a longer vlive this time. it’s their first anniversary and they’ve prepared quite a few things! they will mostly be games, to make it entertaining to both the viewers and themselves. they don’t really get to just relax and talk to fans very often so this is a perfect opportunity to do so. 

they answer questions, but mostly talk about their feelings about their anniversary, express gratitude for all the love and support they received, both through successes and hardships. xayah is even more hyper and talkative than usual but she does her best not to cut anyone as they’re speaking, mainly just looking excitedly at the comments and waving at the camera from time to time. “thank you guys so much for staying with us all this time! and here’s to an incredible second year!” she says once her turn comes. besides their upcoming comeback, she doesn’t know what this year will have in store for them but hopefully it’s more about breaking barriers than being held back by bad news again.

the focus soon switches to games. they have prepared a few of them. the whisper challenge proves to be absolutely hilarious, not to mention chaotic (but not nearly as much as the confused part switch version will be). ella proves to be pretty good at this game, guessing the words and expressions easily which annoys xayah. “yah, you’re supposed to make it funny!” she calls out, and the others laugh at their bickering. it’s always like that with the two of them, but ever since they apologized to each other for fighting, it’s mostly harmless and of good fun. sure, they still can’t stand the other sometimes, but they’ve learned that these differences they have is what makes luxe... luxe. on the other hand of the spectrum, xayah fails miserably. it might have something to do with her level of korean, but she’s just incapable of reading lips in general. she screams incomprehensible and stupid things that have everyone broke into laughter. and let’s say the rest of the group isn’t that good either.

the peppero game proves to be quite something, too. yena acts as the referee, dividing the rest into two pairs. on one side, cheri and zoe and on the other, ella and xayah. there’s a fire in the maknae’s eyes as she looks at her rival. she wants to win no matter the cost. if it means pecking ella’s lips on live broadcast, she will. there’s a definite resolve in the dancer’s stare as well. they bite on each end of the stick, and soon enough they teeth are almost touching. they end up briefly pecking lips, and ella snatches the remaining pieces. it sends the comment section in a frenzy.

the limbo is a nice way to expose the girls who lack in the flexibility department. zoe and ella are definitely top notch due to their dance background, whereas xayah puts up a good fight too. she’s an athlete after all, and while it doesn’t always guarantee flexibility, she manages to scrape by.

after a brief intermission during which they eat snack, hydrate and chat among themselves and fans, it’s time for a surprise from the staff. had xayah expected anything, it would’ve been a delicious cake, but instead they’re met with playful smiles. they’re up to something, but what? “we thought we would have you go down memory lane and watch your royal survival auditions!” they announce, leaving the girls dumbfounded. “you’re kidding!” xayah responds, jumping to her feet and pointing an accusatory finger at them. she barely kept any memory of that... vaguely remembers dancing and rapping. after watching cheri’s audition, in which xayah can’t help but wonder why in hell their leader was put into the minor team after it, they suggest that they perform a snippet of it live, just to see how much they’ve improved over the past... two years, almost. zoe’s dancing was insanely good, and maybe it’s because their choreographies so far haven’t been very impressive in their complexity, but it’s the first time she realizes just how good zoe is. it’s even better now than it was back then, though she only does a small part of it. seolhyun’s audition was also dancing. the girl looks as good as ever, and when she mentions that she’s the only one among them who had never been in the minor team, xayah looks at her. “we know you were so jisub-nim’s pick, unnie~” she comments innocently, nudging at the other’s side.

yena, being loyal to her brand, had performed a very cute song which is so contrasting to what royal has her do now. she does say that it’s a chance she did full moon later on or the company would have not thought her capable of doing a sexy concept. “it seemed like he was only satisfied when i danced hip hop though, so why did he choose me?” she wonders out loud. but the answer is obvious: she definitely had the type of unique sexiness he was looking for. they each have their goddess concept, their own vibe. xayah finally sees her own audition. it was kard’s hola hola, and she performed part of the chorus and two rap verses. she danced along too, and so jisub did praise her boldness in choosing to show off more than one skill, as well as her stage presence. he thought she would be popular with the audience, and she was indeed. royal was always her top choice, even after going to kt, and he remembered that. it goes to say that sometimes it’s better to take an opportunity that differs from your original plan, because it can lead to exactly what you wished for in the end. if you keep waiting for it to fall from the sky...

they go into a deeper discussion about royal survival, how it went down for them, what they liked most, and how they do miss the other girls that were with them. times were different then. they had no idea what lay ahead, that six of them would debut less than a year later. and poor zoe who was sent home first couldn’t have fathomed being selected afterwards.

to conclude the vlive, they announce they’ll be performing confused. the song was indeed a bit left out when every night’s popularity picked up and pushed it aside. but it won’t be just a regular version. they’ll each be picking out a member’s name whose lines they will inherit, and perform it live to the best of their ability. cheri ends up getting zoe, xayah gets cheri, yena gets xayah, ella gets yena and zoe gets ella. it already doesn’t sound too good, but xayah assures everyone that she’s definitely main vocal material now. it convinces absolutely nobody, and especially not cheri who’s had to sit through xayah’s cover of her solo song, butchering high notes to the best of her ability.

it’s just as chaotic as fans expected it to be. cheri forgets dance moves every time she’s in the center, and accidentally spoils their upcoming choreography, but fans will only figure it out later on when the mv drops. yena takes her rapper persona very, very seriously. and xayah, well, she... sings to her heart’s content, taking revenge from all the singing lines royal has been denying her since debut. the reason is obvious. of course she’s not a main vocal, and not as good as yena or ella either, but when within her range she sounds decent, and at the very least stable while dancing. it’s not good, but it’s not bad either. still, she makes it memorable by belting out high notes with no shame at all, exaggerating her facial expressions as if she’s really into the zone.

who said they had to keep their goddess image off stage?

[ryujinrk]

-.✦･｡ﾟMGA season 5: episode 5, kyung’s outfit (lyrics + line distribution)            performing block b “jackpot” with @rkjaemin & @rksuwoong 

They look absolutely ridiculous in their brightly yellow outfits that makes them all look like some giant bumble bees but honestly, Ryujin does believe that if they are going to have a fair chance to win this whole thing they need to walk the extra mile that she reckon some people will skip. It should be more than enough to gain attention though, and part of her love, love, love, that they are actually about to be this extra about the whole concept. They aren’t only covering the song, they are stepping into the roles with the same enthusiasm as Block B.

Considering how the week started it’s almost unbelieveable how comfortably Ryujin sit next to her partners, SUWOONG in particular, their first impressions of each other so turbulent it even resulted in the teen experiencing her very first migraine attack that sent her to the infirmary. If it wasn’t for JAEMIN then the trio would likely have been doomed because truthfully, the dynamic between them was just that bad. They call themselves the Golden Trio and are the very last to parform today; saving the best group for last, is what she like to believe. 

There are so many strong song choices this week but for some reason, she is confident in her own group. It’s a familiar trait for her to be convinced of the fact that her stages are good but it isn’t just her this time, Ryujin has such strong faith in the Golden Trio because they have been through both good and bad together, they have bonded in a way that she think has brought the three of them closer. The performances start off strong, some certainly more interesting than others, and she looks forward to the group that she shared practice room with.

Ryujin is beyond excited when they head down to ready themselves to perform, the eyes that she has felt piercing through her the entire month suddenly don’t feel so scary anymore since the truth has finally been brought to the table. CHAERYEONG, NAKYUNG and WOOJIN step away from the stage and leave it empty, ready for the very last group to perform. She walk out with the males that she has worked with for seven days straight, a cheeky grin playing on her lips as she know that they look silly. They introduce themselves, THE GOLDEN TRIO. 

“I’m Lee Suwoong, I’m Na Jaemin, I’m Shin Ryujin - And we are the Golden Trio!”

Not necessarily because they are the best, though she believes that SUWOONG would argue that they most certainly are-- she too, honestly, but the group name means something more to complete their concept. As they shift into their positions she know that they are starting quickly, and she has to hit the beat, which has yet to be a hinder for her. They look stiff like dolls, which obviously is by purpose, their whole posture revealing what they are aiming for. Tense shoulders, bright smiles, head moving from one side to the other as Ryujin voice the first line.

0.00 저 오빠들 이상해 Those oppas are weird

She almost can’t contain herself when SUWOONG screams, that alone setting the mood for a great performance, but she remain professional and instead of laughing she grin genuinely as she move behind the elder as she and JAEMIN pose as the current backup dancers. They are swiftly and playfully shifting between who carry that particular role, depending on who’s in front doing their part. JAEMIN is the first one out with a proper verse, the two others dancing slightly differently to him before they hide behind him, only to pop out soon after to each his sides.

His rap is flawless in Ryujin’s ears and she is proud, in one way, to see him perform something like this. He’s quiet and usually keeps to himself, so that he agreed to such an energetic stage definitely took her by surprise. It’s fun though, they are having fun-- she thinks, at least. She is preparing herself for for the next part of the song, the first verse that she has been assigned. It suited her perfectly, being able to pretend for a moment that she is the famous P.O of Block B-- he’s not a dancer, they don’t have that in common, which makes it so much more fun.

Fit한 턱시도와 Brand new shoes Fit tuxedo and brand new shoes 여비서와 Well-being food Female secretary and well-being food 근사하게 외출준비, Fabulously get ready to go, 눈떠보니까 꿈이야 opened my eyes and it was a dream

난 지금 레이스중 I’m in the middle of a race 내 출세가 남에겐 Bad news My success to others is bad news

Midways into her verse the males position themselves perfectly to each her side, SUWOONG kneel in front of her to the right side while JAEMIN stand suspiciously to her left. The former is supposedly, through acting, kicked away and at the same time the latter is knocked to the very opposite side. The first part of the rap lacks dancing from her side as P.O refrain from it during the original choreography, but when she moves into the short part of dancer and rapper U-kwon she get a chance to do both herself. The song has a short pause, before the refrain.

SUWOONG comes in strong as he always does, during a part that requires a power vocal. It’s potentially risky picking a song with such power vocals but Ryujin has faith in her partners, the very least she can do is believe in them as they have practiced their asses off for seven days straight to make it through. He and JAEMIN share most of the refrain as well as the bridge, she only has one line in there but that’s okay, she is about to deliver a full verse soon after anyway. High kicks, twirls and giddy moves shift into the puppeteer dance from the intro.

While the males stood in front during that particular part Ryujin slide effortlessly in, in front of JAEMIN and lead the march of dolls until another playful fighting scene takes place to introduce her next verse. One apparent hit from one male, another from the other, twirl a few times and then JAEMIN kicks her off into the spotlight again. She absolutely loves this song, there is so much happening although there is a obvious red thread throughout the whole masterpiece. She grins broadly, the others waiting in the background for their choreo to start.

Aight- 나이를 먹어도 Even though I age 지갑은 탄력 넘치겠지 I bet my wallet will become very flexible 헛스윙 날려도 나, Though I make a bad swing, 나이스샷이라는 Caddie “nice shot” says my caddie 나를 무시했던 놈들에게 I will shake the hands of those who ignore me 복수대신 악수를 건네네 instead of getting revenge 조심해 넥타이와 손목시계는 Be careful, my necktie and wristwatch 목줄 또는 수갑으로 변해 becomes a collar and handcuffs

During the fourth line she swing her hand as if holding a baseball bat, the others pretending to watch the imaginary ball fly away. Part of her can relate to the lyrics that she’s assigned, from the very start to the end. These oppas are weird, they most certainly are. Fabulously get ready to go, opened my eyes and it was a dream, she was ready to debut but suddenly she was cancelled. I will shake the hands of those who ignore me instead of getting revenge, she is better than a certain someone who most definitely deserved revenge.

The beat shift slightly during her verse and while the origianl choreography calls for two girls, as backup dancers, and a somewhat suggestive squat, SUWOONG and JAEMIN came up with an alternative that they were both comfortable with. Ryujin follows the original choreography as the dance itself is rather basic, she’s only moving her free hand, lowering her body at one time, and then getting back up just in time for SUWOONG to lead her out of the spotlight like a cop and a criminal so that JAEMIN could step into center. They walk casually back and behind him, as to effortlessly claim the roles as backupdancers once again.

Refrain comes, refrain goes-- bridge and finally, the final act of their show. SUWOONG, along with Ryujin, pretent to fight in a silly manner. One hit, another hit, Ryujin pretends to grab onto the other’s blazer before JAEMIN breaks them apart as he then lead them into the final refrain and thus the ending part. Ryujin was looking forward to this bit the most, the entire stage has been practiced to fit perfection but this last scene was something that they came up with all by themselves. SUWOONG, in fact, but she loved the idea so she went with it. They all share a line here and a line there, performing around one another just like practiced.

And then...

When JAEMIN voice that they have hit the jackpot they begin to toss out a bit of chocolate coins to the audience, like they are sharing their wealth with everyone else. It’s hilarious that they are the final group on the stage performing, having this ending to the whole lineup-- the coins complete the act, in Ryujin’s eyes and she feel amazing as she close up the stage. Her eyes meet some random pairs in the audience, they meet the judges, and Ryujin is goofing around while having fun. 

라라라 라랄라, uh, Luxury Luxury life Lalala lalala, uh, luxury luxury life 라라라 라랄라, Get that money money Lalala lalala, get that money money get that right get that right 라라라 라랄라, Luxury Luxury life Lalala lalala, luxury luxury life Anyway we’re playing hard to get lucky Anyway we’re playing hard to get lucky

NOTE!! please pretend like ryujin is as energic, joyful, playful and expressive as they are in the original performance stage. i know i didn’t get to write that obviously bc i’m short on time :(

[thekihyun]

ALBUM REVIEW: WE ARE HERE 

by @kihyukis

(all opinions expressed in this post are mine, if you disagree with something, it is ok to comment or express your own opinion, but pls don’t be disrespectful, thanks! Also it is my first time doing this in english, sorry if there are mistakes!)

1. Intro: We are here

A song that introduces us to the concept of the album, it does its job. In contrast to “Intro: Are you there?, which is much softer and clearer, this one sounds dark and heavy. Considering that this album is linked to the previous one and the title of it, we know that there will be a progression in terms of plot, and it gives us a preview of how intense the album will be. “Intro: Are you there?” to me says “we are lost, we need to find our way” and “Intro: We are here” is “hey, I’ve arrived”. (8/10).

2. Alligator

Extremely hard and mechanic beats, high and compressed vocals, it sounds a little bit all over the place to me. The first verse and build up to the chorus are interesting, but the vocals on this part don’t connect so well to the beats. The chorus itself is very catchy and it is a high point of this song. The second verse where they repeat “alli-alli-alligator” could have had something else, considering that they already had repeated “alligator” many times in the chorus, so it is a weak part for this song in my opinion. Joohoney’s rap very fun and intense, which is something we expect of him. I.M’s rap part follows Joohoney’s and closes well this segment. Another weak spot that this song has is the abrupt transition between the rap part and the second chorus repetition, followed by the second repetition of the verse. The bridge is a build up to the final chorus repetition, and it is completely different and well executed by Joohoney and I.M’s back and forth rap. It is heavy and fast, complemented by Kihyun’s high notes, which are superb. This last part delivers we expect from a Monsta X song. Overall it is a catchy and strong song, but at times it seems the beats are not matching well between themselves and the weak parts I’ve commented about made me don’t feel as impressed by this song as I was with their previous title songs. (7.5/10).

3. Ghost

The intro of the song is interesting and weird at the same time, it caught my attention right away. Joohoney makes his appearance right in the beginning which is very cool, because if we listen to Monsta X’ songs we notice that Joohoney and I.M deliver their rap parts one after the other. It’s great, because they match incredibly well, but it is refreshing to hear when they don’t do it. The first verse proceeds with the weird vibe of the intro. The build up to the chorus is poor in the other hand, and the chorus itself is weak, the beats are too energetic and hyped in comparison to the first verse, it breaks the weird vibe we were getting from before. I.M’s rap part is fine, and the ad libs he added surprised me. The second verse is also a weak part for this song because of lack of lyrics, it didn’t add much. Jooheon and I.M follow up is fast but nice, followed by the chorus repeat. (7/10)

4. Play It Cool

I love EDM, but I am not a big fan of Steve Aoki. However... I think he did a good job with this song. I was expecting a little bit more heavy, considering his previous work with the Bangtan boys, but it left me a taste of “Wasting on me” in the mouth, which is not bad at all! It is a very catchy song and I don’t have any complaints about the verse or the chorus. I think althought it is a EDM song, we can feel Monsta X in it. It was a pleasing surprise to have Joohoney singing part of the lyrics. My only complaint is maybe the abrupt change on the beats when I.M’s rap part starts, transition was not so well executed. I am excited to see them promoting this song on shows, it sounds fun! I feel like it could be a older cousin of “Fallin”. (8.5/10)

5. No reason

Already a dear of monbebes! We know her since last year and we love a song produced by Wonho! We can feel Wonho in this from the beginning to the end. It is soft, the lyrics are meaningful and you can just close you eyes and enjoy it. Minhyuk’s and Kihyun’s voices match so well to the beats, and the line distribution for ot7 was smart. No complaints. Tecnically speaking, this song doesn’t have much beat intensity or fluctuations, it is straight foward and it gives me a feeling the whole song is a chorus, that you just want to sing along. It is warm and makes all monbebe proud. A must in the album! (8.5/10)

6. Give me Dat

Honestly, not a fan of this song. The beats are too messy and uneven between themselves. I would say it seems to be like a “Frankestein”, pieces and bits sewn together. It is not a song that I would consider that adds much to the album, but I the chorus is catchy, maybe if it was structured differently it would have worked. Another thing that bothered me was how the beats and the rap deliver didn’t match at all. (6.5/10)

7. Turbulance

A intense song... we like intensity. I didn’t like that this song came right after “Give me Dat”. They have similar beats and tones, which can be tiring to the ears if you are listening the whole album in a spree. Overall, this song works very well, it is balanced, the vocals and the rap parts are nice. You can feel it is a Monsta X song. The beats also gave me a little bit of 90′s vibes for some reason? I like it, but also don’t have much more to say about it. (7/10)

8. Rodeo

This song is weird as f***, but in a great way! Right in the beginning you get those strong beats with high and energetic vocals, which you expect that will set the “let’s go wild” tone of the whole song. First verse is cool, vocals are on point and the ad libs and rappers verses worked really well. The build up to chorus is completely different from the previous beats and from the chorus itself and goes far away “rodeo” vibes we were getting previously. That, in my opinion, was a weak choice for this song. The chorus was a nice surprise, it is conducted by Joohoney (and Wonho with the sub vocals? I am not sure). Listening to this part, I could imagine a rodeo party, a crazy and wild party. Something that is interesting about this song is that it doesn’t have a specific rap part, it is mixed with the vocals. Kihyun’s high note in the end serves the cake, it is a bop. (8.5/10).

9. Stealer

I thought this one sounded promising when I heard the the preview, but I guess I was wrong. It has it’s charm, the first verse is great, misterious, sexy. But then the song builds again to a hyped and EDM-ish confusion in the chorus. It’s tone goes down again in the second verse but again it gets super hyped with the chorus repetition. With so many hype songs in this album this could’ve been a more chill and sexy song, like “Myself”. The beats are too messy sometimes, and the transitions are weak. It was a miss in my opinion. (6.5/10).

10. Party time

Best song of the album, hands down. It went in a completely different direction from the previous songs. It is calmer, but still a fun and happy song. It is perfect to close an album. The lyrics are sexy and witty, it is addictive and hard to not lose yourself and just enjoy the “party” it serves for you. You can feel Brother Su’s touch on this one, the chill vibes of the intro and the delightful vibes the chorus gives you. I.M’s rap is a high point, you feel drunk with him. I wanna get drunk listening to this song. (9/10).

Overall: 7/10