Hey guys, so this blog originally began as an assignment for one of my English classes and as a last project for that course, I had to make a video about a topic of interest. So I decided to make mine on why K-Pop has such an appeal, but also discuss some of the cons the industry has. As I’m a huge BTS fan, the video features a lot of BTS material, but that’s only because I know them the best. I’ve included other groups to represent a fair number of artists in the business, but it’s definitely obvious that my BTS bias shows a bit. Anyway, the video is below and that’s it for this blog post! Thanks for watching.
Author: Zephyr
Red Velvet — Really Bad Boy
So I am back with another review, this time for my favorite girl group, Red Velvet! I’m a bit excited since it’s my first review for them and this comeback was pretty unique, to say the least. As per usual, let’s get some background on this group!
Red Velvet is a group formed under SM Entertainment, consisting of five members: Yeri, Seulgi, Wendy, Irene, and Joy. They debuted in 2014 and established themselves as a quality group, having won the Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Female Group in 2017. With eight EPs and two full length albums, Red Velvet is known for their versatility with music and powerful vocals, among many other things.
Their name, Red Velvet, is actually supposed to contribute to their well-rounded image—the “red” part is used to describe their light-hearted and bubbly pop tracks, while “velvet” represents their more sophisticated and mature R&B concepts. The approach taken for this girl group isn’t one commonly seen, which only stands to increase their appeal to the public. The album ‘Perfect Velvet’ solidified their mission to be a group capable of musical diversity as it was labeled as one of the most diverse albums in the K-Pop industry. The artists have even been credited for pushing the boundaries of idol music in Korea and changing the passive image of Korean women.
Having a dual concept impacts other aspects of their artistry, especially fashion. When promoting red concepts, the girls are dressed in colorful clothing that radiate youthful vibes, whereas velvet comebacks consist of mature outfits that have less of a girlish feel. Below are examples of their red and velvet sides.
Big difference, right? While I do enjoy their lighter comebacks, I think the velvet side is more suited to my taste. Now that you know more about them, let’s go on to the review.
Lyrics
‘Really Bad Boy’ doesn’t leave much to interpret in terms of lyrics. With catchy and repetitive lines, you can pretty much get that these girls have fallen for a bad boy, knowing he’s no good, yet remain completely indifferent to that fact coz they’re in love. It’s basically a continuation of their song ‘Bad Boy’, in which the girls are playing a sort of mind game with the guy in question, being attracted to them and to the challenge of attracting them. The main difference between the two tracks (other than sound) is that this time round, the girl is hopelessly head over heels for him and the tension that existed in the ‘Bad Boy’ lyrics is no longer present.
Aesthetics
I’ll be honest, the concept of this particular comeback feels a little bit random given that we’re nearing Christmas, but it’s entirely possible that SM had to push it to a later date so right into the start of December, the fans receive a Halloween themed music video. It’s definitely creative; I have to give credit where it’s due.
The settings differ from a graveyard to a checkered dance floor with a bright purple background, and it captures the vibes of late October with its Halloween color scheme and use of props, specifically the giant wolf mouth that they’re sitting in. I can’t tell how I feel about that bit, but it fits the scenery and might just be the perfect touch for the video itself. Lastly, the dancing is a good mixture of cutesy and grown-up so it was delightful to watch.
Sound
The song sounded nothing like ‘Bad Boy’, which caught me off guard in a good way. I was worried that with the concept carrying over for this comeback, so would the vibes. But thankfully, it’s not the same song at all—’Bad Boy’ was all velvet and no red, whereas this song has a healthy combination of both sides. It’s a shame that this song wasn’t released so late in the fall, because it would have had a greater amount of hype surrounding it during Halloween. Nevertheless, the upbeat and cheery atmosphere created by the song is sure to make it well-loved by fans. While it wasn’t my favorite comeback by them, I do see myself coming back to replay this track as it does a good job of lightening the mood whenever necessary.
That concludes it for this review! Thank you for reading.
—Zephyr
MAMAMOO — Wind Flower
Hello!
Sorry about my prolonged absence, it’s been a crazy few weeks for me. But I’m back with a review of Mamamoo’s lovely new song, ‘Wind Flower’! As per usual, let’s begin with background information, although this time it’ll be rather short.
In 2014, the group debuted for the company RBW with four members: Solar, Moonbin, Wheein, and Hwasa. Their debut was an EP by the name of Hello with their lead single being ‘Mr. Ambiguous’, which has been considered one of the best debuts of that year. Since then, they’ve released one studio album and seven EPs. The members of Mamamoo are well known for their R&B and jazz concepts, along with having strong and mature vocals. Out of 92 nominations on music awards shows, Mamamoo has won 19 in addition to 27 awards from music programs.
Now that a brief overview of the group has been given, onto the review.
Lyrics
The lyrics for this track are interesting, albeit pretty self-explanatory. It starts off saying that the song is about a cliche love story and the girl feels lonely in the absence of her significant other. She expresses regret for not treating him better when the relationship still existed and wonders if she’s the only one who currently feels pain. The relationship is compared to flower petals—something I’ve noticed happens a lot in K-pop, the flower imagery—and it’s nice, the way she describes her progress in feeling better like a flower blooming again.
While it’s rough being out of a relationship that held so much meaning, the song reminds its listeners that the depressing days will come and go, but self-growth will eventually come. My favorite lines would have to be “I was really lonely while you weren’t here, I had a hard time”, “there aren’t normal days anymore, why is everything so irritating?”, and “why are we filling our song with lyrics of separation?”.
Aesthetics
The music video is beautifully shot and I think it did a beautiful job of encapsulating the regret and optimism of the song. Contrast between Solar’s scenes where she’s staring at herself in the mirror and Hwasa dancing in the empty shop is effective for displaying the feelings conveyed in the song. Their fashion is stunning without being over the top, being brightly colored yet simple and easy to take in. Due to the song’s emphasis on the feeling it creates rather than on the visuals, there isn’t any choreography to accompany the video. But I think that only benefits the song; having choreography might have distracted from the original intents and purposes of the track.
The recurrence of flowers throughout the video caught my interest, because some of the members are seen just carrying them while Hwasa burns hers. It contradicts the lyrics slightly, since the flowers blooming again is supposed to symbolize the girl finally getting over the relationship and moving on. But burning the flower can stand for closure as well, so perhaps it doesn’t matter too much anyway.
Sound
The song is pretty laid back, good for easy listening. But as a whole, I found it to be very typical of the Mamamoo sound, which rubbed me the wrong way. Based on personal experience, most of the songs I’ve heard by this group have something fundamental that stays the same sound-wise and while they have had comebacks that stray from their usual concepts, ‘Wind Flower’ wasn’t really one of them. The instrumentals were relaxing, care-free, and fun. I do like the song and I think the vocals are rich with emotion, but it’s not quite something I’d go out of my way to listen to.
That wraps up this short review and I’ll return with another one soon. Until next time, take care.
—Zephyr
All Time Favorites
Hello! Sorry for not posting any reviews as of late; it has been a crazy busy time. Since I’ve been short on time, I thought I’d do another music recommendations post except this time I’ll list some of my all time favorite songs, regardless of what genre. These are tracks I’ll turn to for any occasion and are very near and dear to my heart. I’ll share 50 songs and to prevent BTS from taking up the whole list, I’m going to avoid focusing on my favorite BTS pieces. Do keep in mind that these aren’t all of my favorites, just 50 of them. I don’t know how I’d compile a comprehensive list of every single favorite. So let’s take a look at what songs make up my favorites list!
- Un Barque Sur L’ocean from Miroirs – Andre Laplante
- Lost Boy – Ruth B.
- Dandelions – Ruth B.
- Potion – Eric Nam
- Youngblood – 5 Seconds of Summer
- Runaway – Aurora
- Bottle It Up – Sara Bareilles
- Kaleidoscope Heart – Sara Bareilles
- Fly Me To The Moon – Frank Sinatra
- Hawayein – Pritam, Arijit Singh
- Comfortable – Lauv
- House Of Memories – Panic! At The Disco
- FXXK IT – BIGBANG
- First Love – BTS
- No. 4 Diphylleia grayi – Jonghyun
- do re mi – Blackbear
- idfc – Blackbear
- Let The Road – Rixton
- Begin – BTS
- Golden Days – Panic! At The Disco
- Blinking Game – Jonghyun
- Take It Back – Logic
- Everybody – Logic
- Mistake – Drug Restaurant
- Our Love – Subin
- Havana – Camila Cabello
- lovely – Billie Eilish, Khalid
- Blue Side (Outro) – j-hope
- Manhattan – Sara Bareilles
- Panic Attacks – Elohim, Yoshi Flower
- Mercy – Shawn Mendes
- Visions of Gideon – Sufjan Stevens
- Mystery of Love – Sufjan Stevens
- ocean eyes – Billie Eilish
- So Far Away – Agust D, Suran
- Arwen’s Vigil – The Piano Guys
- Light In The Hallway – Pentatonix
- anxiety – Blackbear, FRND
- Weight In Gold – Gallant
- Mi Gente – J Balvin, Willy William
- YOUTH – Troye Sivan
- Path – BTS
- Born Singer – BTS
- Shape of You – Ed Sheeran
- Hallelujah – Logic
- Risk – Trafton
- Adore U – SEVENTEEN
- World War 3 – Ruth B.
- Blood, Sweat, and Tears – BTS
- December – Sara Bareilles
I thought given that today is the first day of December, it’d be appropriate to end with a song of the same name. But these are in no particular order; all of these songs mean a lot to me, some more than others. Tracks like YOUTH, Dandelions, and ocean eyes have inspired me to write in the past and some of those are responsible for stories I’ve spend more than a year on. As you can see, there’s a pretty decent variety (and I know there’s still a fair amount of BTS, but what can I do), so I hope that if you do decide to try any of these, you find something that’s to your liking.
Until next time, take care!
-Zephyr
Jennie — Solo
Hi everyone, it’s time to discuss the solo debut of Jennie, member of the popular BlackPink! As always, let’s start off with some background about the artist herself.
Jennie Kim serves as the main rapper and vocalist of YG’s BlackPink. She debuted with the girl group back in 2016, and since then, their popularity has skyrocketed. The group received ample hype since they were the first girl group under the YG label to debut after 2NE1, which they lived up to throughout their first two or three comebacks. Jennie herself has been referred to as the secret weapon of YG entertainment, and after reading all about her, it’s not hard to understand why. The versatile 22 year old can not only sing, dance, and rap, but she speaks three languages fluently: English, Japanese, and Korean. She’d studied abroad in New Zealand for several years, allowing her to become one of the members fluent in English. Additionally, Jennie is also known as the fashion icon of the group, often being seen in high-end clothing such as Gucci and Chanel (she’s actually one of Korea’s Chanel ambassadors).
I’ve linked her Instagram account below in case you’re interested in checking it out. I’ve taken a gander at it myself and it’s incredibly aesthetic. I’m a bit intimidated by how cool she is, like, Jennie seems sweet but I don’t think I could ever approach her just due to the way she carries herself. It’s kind of amazing.
Now onto the review!
Lyrics
The song’s message speaks of a girl who is stuck in a relationship that’s essentially loveless for her, stripping her identity as she goes through the motions. She takes the initiative to cut things off, because she’s recognizes that it’s pointless being in a relationship where the feelings aren’t mutual and that she’s better off on her own. It’s a pretty straightforward song, really emphasizing the importance of loving oneself when they’re single since there’s a lot we as humans have to offer ourselves.
I appreciated Jennie’s message and there’s not much I can say about it other than I like it for its honesty regarding relationships and how they work. It’s not always sunshine and roses as Jennie points out in my favorite line, “after the encounter, the butterflies, the feelings, there’s break ups, tears, regret, and longing”. She doesn’t overdo the whole “I don’t need you” aspect of the song, which I liked. Rather, she focuses more on the idea that she doesn’t need to be with someone to feel complete or good, because she feels better when she’s on her own. She is all she needs to succeed, but her ex-boyfriend may not necessarily feel the same way (which is unfortunate for him).
Aesthetics
The video was stunning, simply put. It looked like a photoshoot for a fashion magazine and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. I know Jennie’s rocked some pretty pricey clothes for BlackPink comebacks, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look as expensive as she does in this music video. Honestly, the part I appreciated most about the visuals was how she switches from being this elegant, almost flower-like presence to a totally unbothered badass. It’s amusing how quickly she can go from looking like a sweet, innocent person to this fierce and highly intimidating force to be reckoned with—but that’s the whole point of the song, so I shouldn’t be so amused, right? Also, I see her wearing her Chanel gear, which also struck me as amusing coz she worked her promotions in there. Whatever works for her, though, I’m not complaining.
One of the good things about waiting longer to post the review is that the performance video came out in that time, so now I can also include that in this section. The performance review focuses mostly on choreography and my one note is that Jennie needs to get better at lip-syncing for the videos. Well, that and I don’t like the whole lighting effect they were experimenting with throughout the video, it was annoying. But the choreo was pretty great; it boggles my mind how daintily she moves. When she dances I feel like she’s going to break, that’s how fragile she appears, but that could just be me. Plus, she seems a bit blank, which is off-putting. Something Jennie needs to work on is her stage presence, because it doesn’t come through in this performance video at all. It’s great that she can do the dances flawlessly, but her facial expressions don’t reflect the same level of enthusiasm. It’s a bit too robotic for me and it looks like she’s just there for her job, not because she’s enjoying herself at all. She might have been having a good time, but I think she needs to work on making sure it translates through her expressions when she’s on camera. Or perhaps she was miserable, heck if I knew. Her personality needs to come through somewhere at some point. Anyway, I’ve linked the video below and highly recommend watching it.
Sound
The sound is great, mainly because it doesn’t do that one thing that most BlackPink songs do: go overboard during the choruses. It starts off light-hearted and definitely builds up during the choruses, but there’s plenty of focus on Jennie’s actual vocals and I love that. The chorus itself has a catchy melody that’s not over the top and not tiring to listen to after a couple runs through the song. It complements the rest of the song well and adds a nice balance to the overall track.
Nothing struck me as overwhelming with this song; it captures the vibes of the lyrics and the choreography only enhanced the music for me. There’s really no complaints, it’s a bop and it’s different from the BlackPink sound, so I think Jennie did a good job in establishing her unique sound in this debut.
Overall, I loved this debut and I’m excited to see what else she comes out with in the future. Jennie’s an astonishingly talented artist bound for many accomplishments in the future. She’s my favorite BlackPink member, so I hope to see her do well, but my only critique that I’ll pay attention to as she progresses is that she’s got to let her personality show in her performances at some point. Having good music is nice, but having a killer performance accompanying it makes it an even better experience. I hope that she can eventually ditch the emotion-less facial expressions and start showing enthusiasm in the music as she performs. Once she achieves that, she’ll be golden.
That’s all for this review! What did you think of the debut? Until next time, take care!
—Zephyr
NATURE — You’ll Be Mine
Remember how I said I dislike cutesy concepts? If not, you’ve just been informed that I’m not a fan, and I think that about sets the tone for this review. Join me in discussing one of the most confusing comebacks I’ve ever seen…but not before a little bit of background.
So I had no idea who Nature was, but then I learned that they debuted in August of this year under the label n.CH Entertainment, and I feel less bad for not knowing them now. The group has nine members by the names of Lu, Haru, Saebom, Aurora, Sunshine, Chaebin, Gaga, Uchae, and Loha. I’m not sure who picked these names, but some of them are a bit peculiar to me. Anyway, the group had their debut and this is their first comeback since then. Already, they’ve won the Soribada award for New Artist of the Year, and I think I’ll have to check out their debut music video to truly understand why. This music video also introduces the newest member, Loha, and I guess that’s about it for background. There isn’t much on them since they’re so new.
Lyrics
It’s like Love Bomb, but it makes less sense. I’m not entirely sure what the wordplay for ‘some and love’ is supposed to mean, which sucks seeing as that’s basically it for the whole chorus. But the lyrics are the same old, same old. Girl likes boy, she’s utterly enchanted and determined to make him hers. Riveting stuff. I wish I could say that there’s more depth to it, but there really isn’t. The chorus consists of the line ‘some and love’ and a seemingly endless stream of ‘lalalala’, and I’m not remembering that too fondly. I feel bad for being so mean, but I was both underwhelmed and overwhelmed with the direction their comeback took.
Aesthetics
The hue saturation. My God, did they have a field day with that. The music video is drowning in brightly colored backgrounds and settings, topped off with over the top, brightly colored outfits covered in sparkles and whatever else they could’ve glued onto the fabric. There’s no real break from the intense use of color throughout the music video and I genuinely feel that the aesthetics could’ve used something a bit softer here and there. I mean, it’s sure to catch the attention of anyone watching it, but I like my girl groups a little less neon coated.
The dancing suits the music and it’s funny, because the song caught me off guard entirely. It’s filled with dance moves I don’t really see anyone using ever, but then again I refuse to dance so what do I know? They sprinkle in their cutesy movements, especially the finger hearts, and I don’t have any issues with that—in general, watching them dance made me want to laugh. That about sums up my thoughts on the music video itself, now let’s talk about the track.
Sound
From the looks of the comments section, this song successfully played me and everyone else that was listening. It starts off somewhat sweet and soft (I’ll use that loosely), and I felt like I was listening to music for some super pixelated arcade game. But then the beat drops into this whole EDM thing that nobody was expecting, and I just…I just didn’t know what to make of it. As if I wasn’t already taken aback by the use of color, they then throw this heavy dance music at me and then I’m screwed.
I don’t like their voices, mainly coz they sound like a group of middle schoolers shouting. Harsh, I’m aware, but I stand by that. I couldn’t sense any vocal maturity, and it might not be that none of the members have nice vocals, but it certainly isn’t showcased for this song. They’re all high-pitched and childish sounding, even the rap, which sincerely irked me. The chorus only made them sound even younger and I couldn’t stand it; for me, music needs to have some integrity to it, but here it’s nothing more than a bunch of noisy samples placed together with immature voices on top. I got tired of it after the first listen and it’s too loud. I wish it calmed down at some point, but even at the bridge, they didn’t really pull back too much.
That’s about it for this review. Sorry if you like Nature, I realize I just ripped into them, but hopefully they’ll improve as the years go by. Until next time, take care.
—Zephyr
KEY — Forever Yours (ft. Soyou)
Hello, happy Thursday! I’m back with a review of Key’s solo debut ‘Forever Yours’. But before going into the song, I’d like to talk about who Key is, because he’s a pretty dang awesome dude.
Key is the stage name for Kim Kibum, a member of the well-known boy group SHINee (pronounced ‘shiny’). He’s been in the music industry since 2008 and he’s explored other areas for his career, including acting and fashion designing. He has performed in dramas and musicals, which surprised me because I’m not used to seeing K-Pop artists have background in theater. It’s pretty cool. In 2015, Key delved into the fashion industry, eventually becoming a fashion designer and a model. He is now the fashion director of his group and he also holds the position as an editor for the Korean branch of Elle magazine. There’s more about him, but I don’t think it’s necessary to go that in depth. If you’re curious about him though, I do recommend searching him up and just do some light reading. There’s some pretty interesting stuff out there about him.
Aside from all this, Key is also completing his post-graduate studies, his major being in “Cultural and Education Contents Development”. To be quite candid, this is all new to me since I’ve never looked into Key’s background, but now that I have, I have a lot of respect for him. He really didn’t stay in his bubble; he’s a versatile artist and incredibly talented.
Here are pictures from photoshoots he has done, and I’ll link his Instagram account as well (he has adorable dogs).
I can’t get over how pretty he is. Alrighty, now time for the review itself.
Lyrics
I love the imagery of this song. I’d originally watched the music video first and since it didn’t have subtitles, I had no clue what the song was really going on about except for one line in the chorus that I could understand thanks to my rudimentary knowledge of Korean. It’s a seriously random video without any context.
Essentially, the guy is saying his heart is forever belonging to a girl he loves, because she is his universe and his life revolves around her. It’s not that overall idea that won me over, it’s how the idea was expressed. There were a few lines throughout the song that made me smile, due to how cute they were. They took a regular love song and made it charismatic through the use of imagery. Some lines I find adorably poetic are “a slightly dazed look with your chin propped in your hands’ palms, you look like you’re indifferent to everything”, “our engines are different from others, when places unvisited wait for us, we pick up the speed”, and “because I keep thinking about you, my day is spent floating on air”. The line about engines brings a lot more sense to the aesthetics of the video, because Key’s in this car and traveling around in space, which confused me initially. As it turns out, it all ties in to that one line of the song, so he’s visiting those places unvisited throughout the course of the video.
Aesthetics
Clearly they weren’t going for realism in this video, but that’s okay. The thing I can’t wrap my head around is his hairstyle. I know K-Pop artists can be eccentric in terms of style, but with no disrespect to Key, his head looks like it has little Cheetos glued on. And what’s even more baffling is that he doesn’t look awful. It doesn’t make a shred of sense to me, but then again, I know nothing about what works fashion-wise. His outfits, mainly the mechanic one, were cool; I enjoyed seeing the ensembles they put together for the video.
As far as the animations go, again, they weren’t trying to make it believable. I have no issues with that, but the video as a whole reminded me strongly of Jonghyun’s ‘Shinin” music video due to all the special effects. The colors and effects used are entertaining, so I wasn’t bored while watching it. There wasn’t any choreography for Key’s video, he spends most of the time either in the car or jamming out in space.
To check out the dance moves, though, I went and watched a live performance. I’m glad I did; the choreo for the song is fun and cheerful, and I don’t typically mention this when discussing lives, but Key has such an amazing stage presence. There’s something about watching him perform that brings a smile to my face. He’s upbeat and it feels as though he’s genuinely happy to be performing onstage, and it’s lovely to see. I actually think I like the live performance more than the video itself; I highly recommend watching it if you’re interested.
Sound
The track carries heavy SHINee vibes. While listening to it, I was reminded of various tracks from their 1 of 1 album, and that’s one thing I think about when it comes to SHINee solos. It has a catchy chorus, very common to ones used by the boy group, and an overall summertime feel. Now, Jonghyun and Taemin have done a good job of establishing their unique sounds independent of their SHINee image, but Key’s feels like something that could be used as a comeback for the group. I don’t know what to expect from him in the future from this music video alone.
I’m not saying that’s a bad thing. The song has strong feel-good vibes and is sure to boost someone’s mood, but I guess what I’m getting at is that I didn’t get a sense of Key’s individual music style from this debut alone. That could even be the reason behind it; as it’s a debut, it’s possible that he didn’t venture out too far from his regular musical zone, because that’s what’s been successful for so many years. Or it could be that what has been firmly established as SHINee’s style does represent Key’s style as well. I’m not entirely sure, but I am curious to see what he comes out with in the future and whether it will vary greatly from everything he’s done so far. All in all, it’s a poppy song overflowing with optimism and beautiful vocals (Soyou did a great job on her parts, their voices go together quite nicely), so I do like it. I just can’t listen to it too many times in a row because of how pop influenced it is.
That concludes it for today’s review! I hope you enjoyed and I’ll be back next week with a review for Jennie’s solo debut. Until then, take care.
— Zephyr
gugudan — Not That Type
Alrighty, time to jump into a review for gugudan’s most recent comeback! As always, let’s go straight to background first and foremost. As someone who has never even looked into this group beforehand, researching them has been pretty beneficial for me as well.
The eight member girl group debuted back in 2016 as a product of the survival show, Produce 101. I’m actually a little surprised at how many of these groups have been formed through survival shows and I don’t know how I feel about it. For me, music deserves to be something a bit more organic, and that notion seems almost laughable for the K-Pop industry. Not trying to badmouth them or anything—I mean, they have produced some bops—but it all comes across as so cutthroat that it’s hard not be bothered by their process at times. But enough of this tangent.
Under Jellyfish Entertainment, gugudan originally had nine members, but one member (Hyeyeon) recently left to take care of her health and education. As of right now, she is still under the company’s wing. This leaves members Mimi, Hana, Haebin, Nayoung, Sejeong, Soyee, Sally, and Mina to carry on in the group. There are two subunits, one becoming inactive once Hyeyeon departed, and the other remains active, though I’m not sure how much they do on their own. The group as a whole has released three EPs, and this comeback is for their most recent EP, Act. 5 New Action.
Side note—I find this title amusing, because the previous EPs were Act. 1 and Act. 2 so I have no idea where Acts 3 and 4 went. They totally just skipped over them; I’m a bit curious as to why they chose that route.
Now, onto the review itself!
Lyrics
I liked the lyrics of this song way more than I expected to. In fact, I love them. From the first verse, the girls establish that they’re different from most girls in that they hate waiting around for the guy to make the first move. Honestly, I found it to be pretty refreshing coz I relate to this sort of mindset; it’s relatable for me. Despite having quite a bit of anxiety and being pretty timid, I don’t have enough patience to wait for others to take the first step in most situations (not strictly romantic ones), and oftentimes I’ll go ahead and say what I need to. So they essentially make it clear that if they are after something, they won’t waste their time in trying to get it, which I applaud.
The first verse basically sets up the whole premise of the song with the rest of it going into how the girls know they’re cool in the sense that they don’t rely on the guy to get things done and if they like you, they’ll tell you without hesitations because they’re not the type to sit around. I think my favorite lines have to be “yes or no, just tell me. Make it easy and simple. I hate ambiguous answers. I’m not that type”.
Amazing. I love it when girl groups do songs like these; it beats all the cutesy ‘oh I’m head over heels in love’ stuff, coz I’m always wishing the song would have them actually do something about it. Being in love is grand (and a hassle at times), but sitting around and waiting for the person you’re in love with to realize or make a move is freaking exhausting. I can’t deal with it sometimes, so lyrics like these pump me up and I love this song just from the words alone.
Aesthetics
The music video was pretty good. I liked the simplicity of the settings and how they didn’t go over the top with lighting or anything; it was easy to take in and appreciate. Fashion wise, I liked a few of the themes they had going on, but my favorite outfits were tied with the garage scene.
This one. It’s not too overwhelming to look at and the outfits are just…cool. There’s no other word for it; the girls look phenomenal and fierce. You can’t pull off outfits like those unless you know how amazing you are. For the scenes in front of the store, there were a few members sporting animal print outfits, which I didn’t particularly care for, but all in all, the styles were nice.
The choreography was also nice; I did have to go watch a separate live performance so I could focus on the dancing more, but I was pleased. It was dainty in some parts yet simultaneously powerful, so it went well with the rhythm of the track. Frankly, I don’t have much to say about the aesthetics other than that they were great and I loved it.
Also, I couldn’t take my eyes off one member so I did some hunting and figured out who she is. I think I can safely say that Sejeong (third one from the left) is my bias (favorite member). She’s just so lovely. Plus she struck me as familiar, and as it turns out, I’d watched a Korean drama that she was the lead in. From what I remember, her character really annoyed me so imagine my surprise when my favorite member ended up being her. The pictures below are of her.
She’s lovely, that’s the best word for her. Her vocals are amazing and she looks really sweet; it’s hard to pay attention to the other members when she’s in the group…or maybe I’m just terribly biased.
Sound
Simply put? Top-notch. I really appreciate girl groups that do more badass songs without being too flashy (totally not thinking of DDU-DU DDU-DU). Sometimes when the songs are so over the top, I can’t help thinking that the members are trying too hard to establish how badass they really are, but it can be done without confusing me by flashing intense visuals for four minutes.
It’s energetic and upbeat without being redundant. They repeat the chorus enough times so that it’s stuck in your head but not tiring. The vocals were great, the beat drop was satisfyingly on point, and I’m already playing it every morning during my commute to school. Hasn’t gotten old yet; it’s a track that does an awesome job boosting my mood, and I think it’s definitely one of my all-time K-Pop favorites. There isn’t a single thing I found wrong with it, sound-wise, and that surprises me given how picky I tend to be.
Gugudan really came out of nowhere for me, so I’m more than eager to see what their next comeback will be. Seriously, give this song a try. In the meantime, I’ll continue jamming to ‘Not That Type’. Until the next review, take care!
— Zephyr
Stray Kids — I Am YOU
Finally, I’ve gotten around to reviewing this comeback. I won’t waste time with anything so let’s jump into background for Stray Kids!
The new boy group is represented by JYP Entertainment, formed on a reality survival TV show in 2017. Prior to finalizing the lineup, two members were eliminated from the group and then brought back in (don’t ask why, I have no clue), leaving us with nine members by the names of Bang Chan, Woojin, Lee Know, Felix, I.N, Hyunjin, Changbin, Han, and Seungmin. They’ve released four EPs: Mixtape, I Am Not, I Am Who, and I Am YOU. Not entirely sure what the theme is with those last three EPs; it’ll require more research, but it’s an interesting concept.
As of yesterday (I’m pretty sure it was yesterday), they have won the Genie Music Award for Male Rookie, and to be honest, I can see why. From what I’ve seen, I have yet to be disappointed and I try to keep up with their material. They remind me of 2013-2014 BTS with their lyrical content, and the group has some really strong rappers. That’s one thing that stands out to me when it comes to Stray Kids, they have a rap line with overwhelming potential. The vocals are strong as well, but there’s something about the rappers that catch my attention every time. They’re amazing. Most of the songwriting and production is done by Han, Changbin, and Bang Chan; these three members make up a separate hip-hop group known as 3RACHA, also under JYP Entertainment. So clearly, even they realize their rap game is strong.
Anyway, onto the review.
Lyrics
The lyrics of this song are a bit different from their previous comebacks as it is a bit more romantically geared, but nevertheless, it sends a lovely message. The gist of the song is that this boy (or girl for that matter, but I’ll stick with boy coz it’s easier) has found strength in the person they love, he receives comfort and confidence from that loved one, ultimately seeing himself in them as well. Due to having that person by his side, the boy no longer feels empty and expresses that simply by holding their hand, he can shine brighter than he ever has. Having the support of their love brings out the best in him, and he says that living for them can push him to do anything.
I didn’t expect the lyrics of this track to move me as much as it did, but it’s just a really sweet song. While reading them, I found a few lines that stood out to me and I’ve deemed them as my favorites. These include “if you can shine brighter, I can be the darkness”, “you shined on me even when I didn’t know myself”, and “with you, who has taken my hand, I can shout of a bigger dream than before”.
Line distributions for the song seem to be okay, but I noticed that in this particular track, Lee Know didn’t seem to get a lot of lines. I’m not a big enough fan to recognize whether this is something that normally happens—I feel like there’s always one or two members that receive less lines compared to everyone else—but hopefully, that’s not the case and throughout the albums themselves, perhaps each member gets a chance to showcase their talents.
Aesthetics
I’ll start this off by saying that it really amused me that they used ‘My Pace’ (another Stray Kids song) in the background for the beginning of the video. It reminded me of BTS’ ‘Fire’ music video, because they did the exact same thing and had one of their older songs playing until the actual song started. It always makes me feel like this song is meant to be a continuation of that older song in some way, which almost sets up the messages of the songs as if they’re part of one big story in which we see our main character progress. I’m not sure if that’s the direction they were going for, but that’s one way I thought about interpreting it. But the music video didn’t just remind me of BTS; I was able to find similarities with other groups as well.
For starters, the whole ‘boys being happy and having a nice time on the roof’ gave me SEVENTEEN’s ‘VERY NICE” (and maybe a little bit of “Pretty U’) flashbacks, just dialed down way more. Those scenes are similar conceptually, but the Stray Kids version have more of a subdued feel. The scenes with the rappers are more serious and intense, which I appreciate since it seems to add another layer to the lyrics, and there are shots of the boys dancing on the back of a train or on the roof. For the train bit, I’m not sure what their angle was or what they were going for; I didn’t particularly care for it, but the rest of the music video was great. The choreography is powerful and sharp, so it goes along with the music well.
I genuinely like the fact that this music video didn’t go above and beyond with the colors, because it allowed me to focus on smaller details more and actually process what’s happening in the song itself, so that made it more enjoyable to watch.
Sound
I liked this song way more than I expected after giving it a few listens. I think the parts that caught my attention the most were the chorus and the bridge. It doesn’t remind me of any other K-Pop song, really, so that’s a good sign. The start of the track was nice and slow before jumping into some pretty intense rap (courtesy of Bang Chan), which then builds up to the gentler sounding pre-chorus and a brighter sounding chorus.
I can’t place this song in terms of emotions—there are places where I argue that the music can evoke happy feelings, but overall, I can’t categorize it as a cheerful song. There’s something about the music in the chorus that stops me from calling it happy; I’d even go as far as calling it kind of reflective. But I can safely say that the song does not make me feel upbeat or cheerful, rather, it gives me slight feelings of angst and I can’t tell if it’s because of the instrumentals they use or the way their voices sound when singing. The raps are definitely on the angsty side. For the rest of it, I’m currently confused…yet I still love the song.
Alrighty, that concludes my review of this comeback! Stray Kids is just one of those groups that I follow quietly, so I don’t discuss them much, but they really are a talented bunch. They aren’t redundant with their subject matter in songs, their vocalists and rappers are strong, and their choreography is undoubtedly powerful. It makes me a bit nostalgic, just because this is kind of how BTS started off (granted, they had more hip-hop influences) and I hope that Stray Kids is met with a lot of success in the future. They have plenty of potential and if JYP lets them nurture it properly, I think they can have a pretty big impact in the industry.
I’ll be back next time with a review of gugudan’s “Not That Type” so until then, thanks for reading!
— Zephyr
Music Recommendations
Hi all! So because this is a terribly busy week for me, I’ll only be writing up one music review. But in order to maintain my two post a week schedule, I thought I’d try something a bit different with this post. As you probably got from the title, I wanted to share my current music recommendations in the hopes that maybe you might find a song that you’ll enjoy. I’ll link their music videos or lyric videos to make life easier.
Now, these are a few songs that I either have on repeat or keep coming back to, and they won’t necessarily be recent songs. I won’t limit it to K-Pop, because that’s not really an accurate representation of what I listen to daily, and hopefully you can find enjoyable music that isn’t Korean. Also, I need to note that these aren’t the only genres I listen to; my music taste is pretty eclectic. I’m keeping it limited to prevent musical ramblings. Anyway, here we go.
- Gashina – SUNMI
- tokyo – RM
- badbye – RM
- Waste It On Me – Steve Aoki ft. BTS
- Lento – Rudy Mancuso
- Fake Love (Rocking Vibe Remix) – BTS
- Singularity – BTS
- Miss You – Eric Nam
- Crave – Ruth B.
- Celoso – Lele Pons
- Black and White – Rudy Mancuso
That’s about it at the moment. I know some of these songs are made by people who are YouTubers, but I don’t know if that has negative connotations or anything. The way I see it, good music is good music, and to me these are all pretty great songs. So if you happen to try any of them and like it, do let me know. Thanks for reading.
— Zephyr
Musical Musings 