#nothing better than a deep dive through a whole discography

[letsbealone-together]

I just discovered a new band. ✨

[yuuana]

Music Monday #249: ATEEZ - WORK release: May 2024 genre: Kpop cw: surrealism

You may have noticed some Mondays missing. That is because May was a raging shitshow and honestly I'm still trying to recover from last week, but I also fully intend to go back and fill in all the missing Music May posts over the course of however long that takes.

The thing with ATEEZ is, even with this being their tenth EP, they are still able to constantly surprise me with new sounds and styles. WORK is both something new and something that feels like a completely normal evolution of their sound. The solid thump of the drum and bass that makes you want to bounce along, the Latin flavor in the instrumentals, especially the pre-chorus with it's tempo shift, and then that almost Gershwin-y, jazzy clarinet track. Making a focus playlist around WORK made it more obvious both how well it fits in with a lot of their existing discography (Crazy Form, Arriba, and Cyberpunk all came to mind quickly, but in the end the bigger problem was trying to keep the playlist in the sweet spot on length) and how unlike the current BG trends the whole EP is. Which didn't stop me from building a playlist of 85 entries, but it did take awhile and I'll probably keep fiddling with it.

As for the video ... well that's a wild ride all right. I've filed this as a lore MV for now, but it might be stretching things a bit. It wouldn't be the first time we've had an MV in a dreamscape (Illusion anyone?), and between Seonghwa riding an ostrich and Yeosang cuddling a chicken, to say nothing of the money burgers or Money Man, this is a fairly solidly unreal/surreal setting. Meaning if this is lore, it's going to take further releases/stages to contextualize it and fit it into the story. If this is A 'verse dreaming again, well, it's a colorful dream world all right.

That said, between the lyrics themselves and comments from Hongjoong and Mingi, it's hard not to see the whole of Golden Hour Part 1 as being a bit meta - ATEEZ have been working more or less constantly from pre-debut and their usual response to being snubbed or other fandoms' attempts to drag them into stupid controversy has been to double down and work even harder. It's to the point now where every time the guys vow to "work harder to become the ATEEZ that is worthy of ATINY," I half want to reach through the internet, shake San's shoulders, and insist that no, they already are. Add on that Mingi called Siren a diss track (which, I either need a better translation or we need to talk about what he means by "diss track" XD) and an argument could definitely be made that this EP is comment on ATEEZ-the-boyband rather than ATEEZ-our-pirate-heroes.

GOLDEN HOUR Part 1 just released last Friday, positioning it poorly for its first charting week, but it is what it is. It's available now wherever you do your Kpop streaming as well as for physical sale online and in select stores. And by "select" I mean both box stores like Walmart and, if you're lucky enough to have such, local pop ups and Kpop shops.

Want to see Music Monday deep dives more often? Sponsor a song selection! For the low, low price of one (1) KoFi, I'll write up the song of your choice. ANY song of your choice. Yes, even that one that's been played to death. Yes, your obscure faves too. With sponsors, I can stop skipping weeks and falling further and further behind in the releases! Sponsor a current CB for the next open Music Monday slot or sponsor a throwback for a Thursday feature! But seriously, if you've been enjoying my selections and analyses, we (me and the foster kittens) would love a KoFi in thanks. DW | Twitter | Mastodon | Bluesky | Ko-fi | Patreon | Discord | Twitch

[splashesdarling]

A comprehensive evaluation and ranking of all Mariah albums:

Y’all want to dive deep into Ms. Mimi’s discography? Well too bad, we’re doing it anyway (skip to the end for rankings).

Mariah Carey (1990) Mariah’s debut is a great collection of songs, but a great collection of songs and a great album are not one and the same. The songs individually (with the sole exception of Prisoner) are fantastic, but there is no real album cohesion, in either sound or theme. Its main purpose was to introduce the world to Mariah’s voice, and it does so with admirable panache. 

- Album Highlight: Alone In Love. Album Lowlight: Prisoner.

Emotions (1991) Mariah’s Debut album introduced the world to her voice, Emotions introduces the world to Mariah THE ARTIST. Her skills as a songwriter and music producer are on full display, as is her voice, which is allowed more freedom and spontaneity her second album out. Carrying the listener to dizzying highs throughout a distinctive yet cohesive album.

- Album Highlight: Till The End Of Time. Album Lowlight: None.

MTV Unplugged (1992) Its sole reason for existence was to prove Mariah’s voice was not a studio creation, MTV Unplugged proves it, though the performances are held back by some sloppy music cues and Mariah’s obvious stage fright. There are some lovely live instrumental rearrangements and vocals, but there are better live performances from Mariah. 

- Album Highlight: Negligible. Album Lowlight: Negligible.  

Music Box (1993) Serving as a transitional period for Mariah musically, Music Box sees Mariah experimenting with new sounds and singing styles, most of which work wonderfully and those that don’t are at worst only forgettable. Much like her Debut, Music Box is a great collection of songs, but as an album experience it’s lacking. The album doesn’t inspire you to listen from beginning to end, rather you skip to the songs you want to hear. 

- Album Highlight: Everything Fades Away. Album Lowlight: Hero.

Merry Christmas (1994) Do you like Christmas music? Do you enjoy talented vocalists? Do you like when talented vocalists sing Christmas music? You’re in luck, but the rest of us will have to wait for a real new album.

- Album Highlight: AIWFCIY. Album Lowlight: It’s a Christmas album, the entirety of it is a lowlight.

Daydream (1995) The title is apt, this dreamy album is a pleasure. Though cohesion is still an issue, it's not so blatant here. Many of the songs tie into a central theme, and soundwise there is a through line. That is not to say the songs that deviate bring the album down, quite the contrary. For the first time Mariah’s hip hop, r&b, and soul inspirations and deep-seated love for the genres are coming through clearly, but they’re somewhat held back, which would become blatant with the subsequent release of Butterfly.

- Album Highlight: Always Be My Baby. Album Lowlight: (If only for me) One Sweet Day.

Butterfly (1997) Mariah Carey crystallized. Her first album to truly capture the woman she was and the phenomenal artist she is when unrestricted and allowed to express herself freely. From the lyrical artistry, to the pitch perfect production, Mariah’s breathtaking vocals and the depth of the album as a whole, Butterfly still stands as Mariah’s magnum opus. The album is cohesive, while still allowing each song to stand easily on their own. Some will argue the exception is her cover of The Beautiful Ones, but I wholeheartedly disagree. If taken on its own perhaps, but within the context of the album it is as essential and beautiful as each of the other tracks featured.

- Album Highlight: Outside. Album Lowlight: None.

#1′s (1998) A celebration of Mariah’s (then) 13 #1′s. The inclusion of I Still Believe, When You Believe, Sweetheart, and a newly duetted Whenever You Call, along with her established hits makes this a worthwhile listen. 

- Album Highlight: When You Believe. Album Lowlight: Do You Know Where You’re Going To.

Rainbow (1999) Often overlooked due to its busy musical production and the arguable disappointment at its relative weightlessness in comparison with Butterfly, Rainbow is underrated but undeniably disjointed. A half and half of an album, with half cohesively flowing from one song into the other (this is even the first use of interludes by Mariah) while the other half stumble the album’s momentum and flow. For the most part it’s an easy listen, the melodies, vocal layering, and production making for an enjoyable experience, but the album’s failings sadly result in a missed opportunity on the whole. 

- Album Highlight: Bliss. Album Lowlight: Did I Do That?.

Glitter (2001) Intended as a soundtrack more than a traditional Mariah album, however it doesn’t embrace the concept or style of a soundtrack enough to differentiate from the rest of her body of work. Glitter contains the absolute peak of Mariah’s ballads, while the non stop party anthems are fun enough to bring the house down, and there are touching dives into the somewhat autobiographical story of the character Mariah plays in the film from which the album takes its namesake. Audio clips from the film are included only sparingly towards the start of the album, uncommitted interludes if anything, they add nothing to the listening experience and serve only to undermine the album’s strengths. 

- Album Highlight: Lead The Way. Album Lowlight: If We.

Greatest Hits (2001) Released a scant three months after the critical and commercial flop of Glitter, the message couldn’t have been clearer. Ironically the strength of Mariah as a vocalist, songwriter, and music producer highlights exactly why writing her off as they did with this release was a resounding mistake. 

- Album Highlight: Take your pick. Album Lowlight: Here in the UK we had Against All Odds feat. Westlife included, soooo.

Charmbracelet (2002) The only album to close in on Butterfly’s position atop Mariah’s discography. Generally overlooked and ignored by even the lambs themselves, Charmbracelet is a criminally underrated masterpiece. The revised priorities of musical production and vocal arrangement following the somewhat overproduced Rainbow and erratic Glitter, Charmbracelet is a bracing reminder of Mariah’s overwhelming talent and ability to imbue her music with such beauty and poignancy, to invoke both personal evaluation and universal truths. It is also, incidentally, my favourite Mariah album, just in case you hadn’t guessed it.

- Album Highlight: Yours (fight me). Album Lowlight: None.

The Remixes (2003) Much like the release of a Greatest Hits album following Glitter’s critical and commercial failure, so too was The Remixes released following Charmbracelet’s lukewarm reception. A reminder of Mariah’s talent and decade long stretch of hits across Billboard’s various music charts, another plea for listeners to realise you can’t write off talent like Mariah. The first disc of this two disc set features the club remixes (most courtesy of longtime collaborator David Morales), the only real stumbles are the Heartbreaker/If You Should Ever Be Lonely Remix, which doesn’t blend together or sample each song well enough to justify itself or its inclusion here, the other is the Hq2 Remix of Through The Rain. I appreciate the need to promote the newest album of original content but we know Mariah can do better. The first disc is somewhat of a letdown, as the exclusion of certain club remixes are especially egregious (Always Be My Baby and The Roof specifically) The second disc (featuring the commercially released singles remixes) fares far better, and probably would have been better served being released separately. 

- Album Highlight: Thank God I Found You (Make It Last Remix). Album Lowlight: Through The Rain (Hq2 Remix).

The Emancipation Of Mimi (2005) Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, which is amazing given how needlessly bloated the album is. The album benefits from the cohesive sound and style utilized throughout and from containing an abundance of chart ready songs, but ultimately the experience is dampened by all the throwaway filler. There is no justification for the inclusion of To The Floor when we have Get Your Number, no reason for a Part II to So So Lonely when Part I was so forgettable, Circles, Joyride, and I Wish You Knew are too similar in sound and lyrical content to appear almost one right after the other. The highs of TEOM are likely to make you giddy, but the interruption from second-tier material drags the album down. The album is 19 tracks long when it should have been a brisk and memorable 13.

- Album Highlight: Fly Like A Bird. Album Lowlight: Makin' It Last All Night (What It Do).

E=MC² (2008) Much like Rainbow, E=MC² is often overlooked due to its busy production, and make no mistake the album is very busy production-wise. The album lacks the restraint even Rainbow was capable of. That is not to say the album is bad by any means, far from it. The biggest issue of the album is the lackluster beats. Generic for the most part, missguided in certain cases, and overall a less engaging and original sound than we’re used to from Mariah. What saves the album is the infectious fun of it all, Mimi’s celebrating and you’ve been invited to the party. Not that it’s one long party record, there’s an array of lyrical depth to be found hiding within the deluge of uninspired beats, that is if you’re willing to stick with the album long enough to hear them. 

- Album Highlight: I’ll Be Lovin’ U Long Time. Album Lowlight: Cruise Control.

Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel (2009) THIS is how you do a long album. 17 tracks long but, unlike TEOM, there’s no filler, no redundant repeats. The album is long but tight and cohesive, flowing effortlessly between songs, rewarding for those willing to listen from beginning to end. The first time since Rainbow that Mariah had used interludes (Glitter’s half-assed attempt does not count), though they’re more satisfying here. Mariah is telling a story with this album and the languorous pace and the breathers the interludes provide enhance the album’s listening experience. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the lyrical skill on display throughout the album, it’s deep but Mariah still has plenty of fun here, the line ‘it's going down like a denominator’ is a personal favourite. 

- Album Highlight: The Impossible. Album Lowlight: None.

Merry Christmas II You (2010) Do you like ‘modern’ Christmas music? Do you like iconic artists slumming it? Do enjoy watching music icons try desperately to reinvent Christmas classics with a ‘modern’ twist? First, what is wrong with you? And second, please don’t come to my house during the holidays. 

- Album Highlight: When Christmas Comes (it’s actually sweet, just avoid the duet version). Album Lowlight: All of it.

Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse (2014) The album delivers on the epicness of its audacious title. One of her best albums, period. Many balk at the 62 minute run time (74 if you go Deluxe) but it’s well worth the time. This album is an experience, Mariah said that if this were to be her last album she wanted to say everything she needed to say with it, and she does (and then some). It’s a beautiful and inspiring album, managing to balance that classic Mariah sound while still sounding fresh and new. The album is a tour de force, and had this been Mariah’s last album? She would have been going out on a high note. 

- Album Highlight: Meteorite. Album Lowlight: None.

#1 To Infinity (2015) For the love of God, stop releasing greatest hits compilations whenever her albums underperform. Yes, sadly MIAM...TEC failed to grab the public’s attention (for context, the biggest songs of that year were Happy, Dark Horse, All Of Me, and Fancy, soooo, there’s clearly no accounting for taste that year) so we got an updated #1′s album, given that by this point her initial 13 had increased to 18. If you enjoy her #1s the album’s a great way to have them all in one convenient disc, Infinity the song is fine but nothing special. Fun fact, the UK release swapped out Someday, I Don’t Want To Cry, and Thank God I Found You for Endless Love, Without You, and Against All Odds feat. (SIGH) Westlife. Because when you’re buying a disc featuring Mariah’s record breaking 18 American #1′s, obviously you don’t actually want those original songs of hers, you want 3 song covers because they went to #1 in the UK!

- Album Highlight: Take your pick. Album Lowlight: (Why do you keep doing this UK?!) Against All Odds feat. I hate you talentless bastards.

Caution (2018) Mariah could have gone out with MIAM...TEC, but thank God she didn’t because then we wouldn’t have been blessed with this gem. A brisk 11 tracks (only 10 if not for the internet, because apparently Mariah doesn’t want us to have nice things) go by far too quickly, they’re each so enjoyable you don’t want them to end, and though they each have their own distinctive sound they blend together to form a cohesive whole. Mariah is clearly through trying to appeal to the general mass public in any way, shape, or form, and Caution is all the better for it. Mariah has nothing to prove at this point, and she knows it. This is an album made entirely from a place of self-assuredness and an unsuppressable love for writing, singing, and producing music. May she never grow tired of doing so. 

- Album Highlight: Giving Me Life. Album Lowlight: None.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Overall Album Ranking:

#1 Butterfly

#2 Charmbracelet

#3 Me. I am Mariah... The Elusive Chanteuse

#4 Emotions

#5 Caution

#6 Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel

#7 Daydream

#8 Mariah Carey

#9 Music Box

#10 Rainbow

#11 Glitter

#12 E=MC²

#13 The Emancipation Of Mimi

#14 MTV Unplugged

#15 Greatest Hits

#16 #1′s

#17 The Remixes

#18 #1 To Infinity

#19 Merry Christmas

#20 Merry Christmas II You

[haveyouseenthis]

I Wanna Have More & More | TWICE Comeback Review

TLDR: The girls are back and better than ever. 

Okay Tek, bear with me. I’m trying to work out a skeleton of sorts for these reviews. 

Pre-Release: (I’ll dive into the teasers, trailers, and my thoughts going into the comeback)

Back in 2019 TWICE started a chain reaction in their concept with the release of the EP Fancy You. ONCE finally started to get the TWICE that J.Y. Park promised us back in 2015 on SIXTEEN: a cute girl group with an edge.

The sound was different, the looks were shocking, but I was left wondering if it would be a one time thing and that we’d go back to eras like “OOH-AHH” and “Likey” (not that that would have been a bad thing in the slightest). Would Fancy You just become an outlier in TWICE’s discography? A failed experiment?

Five months later in September, I got my answer with the release of Feel Special: No, this TWICE was here to stay. Both comebacks were shocking and bright in a way I hadn’t seen the girls tackle before, but they still hung onto a hint of something, a feeling, that was so TWICE. 

“More & More” individual teasers played with a peaceful and dream-like world. Album design told a different story. It looked like the girls were going to be tackling a darker concept, or at least one with duality. 

The M/V trailer was released, and wow! When I say it gave me Alice in Wonderland vibes - yes. I was a fan from the moment it came on screen. It made perfect sense, right? All the trailers I’d seen showed a perfect utopia and all the memes my discover had been flooded with told of ONCE’s excitement of an upcoming dark concept - what encapsulates that better than Alice’s world of her own where nothing is as it seems? Right at the end of the trailer though, we’re hit with a red lensed shot of a snake wrapped around a tree branch. The edge we’d been waiting for. The hint of darkness first teased in the album designs. My mind immediately abandoned my previous Wonderland theory and linked the shot to Adam and Eve. Suddenly everything made so much more sense. The teasers, the tone of everything released so far - this peaceful garden with its bunny-rabbits and butterflies wasn’t Wonderland, but rather The Garden.

Post-Release: (a smaller section where I’ll cover how my thoughts above changed with the release of the m/v. Were my speculations correct or way off? Did it live up to the hype going into it? etc.)

With all the hype from ONCE insta I was expecting a little more “dark” than I got. While I was disappointed, I couldn’t stay mad because JYPE didn’t exactly promise ONCE as dark of a concept as we got hype for. On the contrary, JYPE gave us exactly what they showed us in the teasers. I respect that. 

While there was a very clear Garden motif going on, it wasn’t as prominent as I thought I was going to be. Honestly, I’m a little disappointed about that. I feel like there was a lot of lost potential there. Still, the little nods to it were nice. I’m absolutely a fan of the deep-voiced “more”s throughout the song.

This was absolutely Sana and Momo’s era. More on that later...

The album overall did not disappoint. My favorite song is “OXYGEN,” hands down. It’s got so much personality and could easily have been the title track (fun fact, Jihyo actually said it was almost on the tracklist for the Feel Special comeback, and could have even been the title track). Mina’s starting “na na”s give me Melanie Martinez K-12 vibes. A tranquil melody with a dangerous undertone. I love how Nayeon and Jihyo project at the beginning of their parts in that second verse “Yeah 이건 마치 Fiction / 항상 꿈꿔 왔던 오늘 같은 장면 / Feeling na na / 말로 다 할 수 없는 기적 / 꿈이라도 좋아 / 내 기분은 So high / Singing la la”. The repetition of “really” in the chorus helps tie this song down to the More & More era. In my head it feels like a nod to the “more more more more more and more” in the title track, so it fits perfectly in with the style of this era.

I could go on and on about “OXYGEN” forever, but I’d really like to mention “FIREWORK,” definitely my #2 this era (“More & More” comes in at 3rd for me, sorry Tek). This is the first Latin inspired track TWICE has done and I absolutely loved it. This song is everything IZ*ONE’s “Fiesta” should have been. It gives me major KARD “Oh NaNa” vibes. The whole song I’m waiting for Somin and Jiwoo to pop up. It sounds like something they would have done at the beginning of their career. Nayeon’s voice when she sings “I feel like a firework” at the end of the song is sassy and smooth in all the right ways. 

Visual: (My thoughts on outfits, makeup, hair, sets used in the m/v)

There isn’t a single point lacking visually in this entire m/v. The hippie-esque style of the outfits not only fits the style and tone of the song, but enhances it. The opening set is my favorite, hands down. What, with it’s too-blue pond and bedazzled trees, pink and teal plants surrounding the girls. It sets the tone right off the bat for the magical and all too perfect world we are entering. Plus, the 3x3 square formation at the beginning is perfection, it’s something I can never get enough of with groups of 9.

I thought NCT 127’s “Regular” had ruined CGI big cats in M/Vs for me - not a sentence I thought I’d ever have to type, but here we are - but I have to say, I’m really in love with Tzuyu’s scene where she is surrounded by jaguars. It took me aback at first when one of the cats appeared in the background of her close up, but when they zoomed out to give us the full shot with the five or so big cats I was… actually pleasantly surprised? They committed to the theme for her scene and I dig it. Queen Tzuyu from Feel Special has five pet jaguars and honestly, of course she does. 

Onto hair and makeup. The stylists killed it with this era, no joke. The members with my favorite hair are easily Jihyo and Sana. The pale pink suits Jihyo so well, and I was in love with it the second I saw her teaser video. Sana’s firey orange really stands out compared to the other members’, but the more it popped up the more I liked it. It really fit with the whole “everything is not as it seems” thing they had going on. It was another edge they added. I loved seeing her in the center. The bright color really drew your eye to her, and is a big part of why I say this is partly her era.

It hurts me to see my girl Jeongyeon with long hair again. Of course, she looks good regardless, but come on! JYPE, you have a living breathing girl-crush right there and you gave her short hair to Nayeon? As you can probably tell from that comment, T, I’m not exactly living for Nayeon’s short cut either. Again. Of course, she looks good, how could she not? Personally, I think the two would have looked better if they had swapped styles. I would have loved to at least seen Jeongyeon’s hair up more. The colors still look gorgeous on them though. I have always loved Nayeon with that nice, deep chocolatey look like that.

Dance: (My thoughts on the choreo *let it be known up front that I am in no way a professional dancer*, and how they worked center distribution with it)

All the members have agreed that “More & More” holds the title for the title track with the most challenging choreography. It doesn’t surprise me at all. From second number one there is already a lot going on. It’s deceivingly simple on the surface, but it requires the members to be so absolutely in sync and precise with their movements.

The dance break about two-thirds of the way through the song is what really makes me want to call this Momo’s era in addition to Sana’s. Not only did they add a dance break for her, but they added a completely different set and brand new outfits.

And it paid off.

The dance break is easily one of my favorite moments in the song. I do mean to say song, not just M/V. Often I’ll like a dance break in a M/V because I have something right there in front of me to watch, I can see the choreo that goes with it and that keeps me interested. Then I’ll listen to the song on its own and the dance break feels alien to the entire concept. Like it was literally thrown in. “More & More” doesn’t feel that way. I don’t sigh every time the dance break starts as I do with so many other songs, I get excited. I get up and dance myself because it’s so contagious. It manages to change just enough to warrant a dance break but still sounds like “More & More”.

Vocal: (My thoughts on line dist. and associated things)

The line distribution (LD), in my opinion, is godly. To have a large group like TWICE show such even LD is amazing. 

Or maybe it’s not and NCT 127 just poisoned me.

Nayeon has the most time with 14.4% of the song being sung by her, and Momo came in last with only 7.3% of lyrics. Yes, you read that right. A 9 members group only has a LD percentage gap of about 7%. In fact, the line distribution looks ideal. The main and lead positions got about half of the song, and the other half was split between the subs positions and dancers. With that in mind, it makes sense that Momo, the main dancer, has the least lines. Of course, she was well compensated raking in the most composite center time with 34.4 seconds.

That’s not to say positions always determine the LD among members. Nayeon, a lead vocalist, raked in more lines over the main vocalist Jihyo. When I first saw that I was a little taken aback. Jihyo, my main vocalist queen deserved those lines, didn’t she? 

Well, maybe not.

The more I’ve listened to the song, really taken time and let the notes and melody sink in, the more I’m glad they gave a lead more lyrics than a main. Why? Well, Nayeon and Jihyo have very different voices. First of all, Nayeon’s voice goes a little higher than Jihyo’s and sounds sharper than hers. It reminds me of a fairy; light and airy. Jihyo’s has more of a smooth, sexy, bewitching sound. It’s very full and thick, like syrup. 

That’s not to say either one of them can’t do the other. They are both extremely talented vocalists. However, I admire JYPE’s intelligence in divvying up the lines. “More & More” is a song that better fits Nayeon’s natural way of singing. Jihyo got the parts that fit her voice and she sang them well. Nayeon got the others, along with Sana, Momo, and Tzuyu, the three other members who also sing in a similar style.

Final Thoughts:

Very, very, very good. I’ve listened to the whole mini album at least once a day. I really want more comebacks with this same feel and style. They have been expanding their repertoire and pushing their limits every comeback and I don’t want to see that stop anytime soon, however, if it did, this is a good era to get stuck in.

More & More Lyrics

OXYGEN Lyrics

FIREWORK Lyrics

IZ*ONE Fiesta m/v

KARD Oh NaNa m/v