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deadcactuswalking · 5 years ago

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REVIEWING THE CHARTS: 07/11/2020 (Ariana Grande, Bring Me the Horizon)

You know, it’s odd how that despite two pretty massive albums dropping, both having an impact on the chart, we actually have less debuts than the scattered mess of singles from last week, thanks to silly UK Singles Chart rules. Regardless, this week’s #1 is still “positions” by Ariana Grande and welcome back to REVIEWING THE CHARTS.

Dropouts & Returning Entries

The biggest drop off the chart this week is undoubtedly the #1 hit “Before You Go” by Lewis Capaldi, exiting the UK Top 75 after a run lasting 50 weeks. Nothing really compares to the weight of that drop-out but I guess we do have “GREECE” by DJ Khaled featuring Drake, “Heather” by Conan Grey. “Bando Diaries” by Dutchavelli, “Heart of Glass” by Miley Cyrus, “forget me too” by Machine Gun Kelly featuring Halsey and “Hold” by Chunkz and Young Filly, only lasting a measly two weeks but still peaking high. There is actually a theme to our returning entries as all of these are spooky scary Halloween-themed tracks. The classic “Thriller” by the ever-controversial King of Pop Michael Jackson is back at #57, “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker, Jr. Is back at #54 – this is my personal favourite of the bunch, mostly thanks to Neil Cicierega – and even ��Monster Mash” by Bobby Boris Pickett is back at #50. Oh, and “5AM” by M Huncho and Nafe Smallz is back at #66 but that’s just scarily bad. The biggest fall this week was for “Cool with Me” by Dutchavelli and M1llionz down to #64 whilst the biggest gain was unfortunately for “Whoopty” by CJ at #48. Honestly, what’s the appeal here? Sigh, at least we have some really interesting hijinks this week, pretty fitting for a week that saw the messiest US election in history, and I won’t write this in order so you won’t see what I’m leading up to until a while after you read this part but there is some incredible stuff here. You know what’s not incredible?

NEW ARRIVALS

#74 – “Too Many Nights” – 220 KID and JC Stewart

Produced by 220 KID, Joe Janiak and Mark Ralph

I started off this episode by writing about the Bring Me the Horizon songs first. Not only is the album good and I had recently listened to it, but I had a lot more to say about the tracks, obviously since it’s not something you see on the charts every day and there’s a lot more to discuss in these tracks. Hence, after writing nearly 2,000 words on the metalcore boys alone, I have a question: do I really need to cover this emotionless tropical house-pop crap manufactured by labels and DJs who rarely find any interesting instrumentation, songwriting ideas or even samples to cover up their complete lack of innovation and at times even talent, for a quick buck and stupid amounts of unwarranted chart success? I don’t want to say I’m angry and I don’t want to seem pretentious but music is art. Art is, as a result of the society that produces it, a product, but even #1 hits and major-label records are still pieces of art. They can be analysed, appreciated and listened to with a lot of thought and detail. I cannot see that in “Too Many Nights” by 220 KID and JC Stewart. To me, this is purely a product. I’m taking this way too seriously but this really exemplifies what people hate about pop music in three minutes and eight seconds of cheap plastic dance music. Next.

#67 – “Ginger” – Wizkid featuring Burna Boy

Produced by P2J

Wizkid and Burna Boy are both highly acclaimed Nigerian singers and given everything that’s happening here recently, it’s no surprise Wizkid released an album that I would think touches on these issues, Made in Lagos, which is a name I can infer means he will explore Nigerian identity and what it means to be from Lagos and make it big in music. Wizkid is one of the big stars and pioneers of modern African pop music and whilst I should be interested in the album, I haven’t had the time to give it a spin yet so I’ll take this first impression from the track with Burna Boy. This is a pretty sweet tropical tune with an infectious hook referencing the traditional West African dish of jollof rice, and whilst the language barrier does prevent me from fully understanding the song, I can gather that this is a mix of a hook-up jam and typical rap stuff, with him flexing how he lives nice and if people want smoke, he’s got smoke, and a lot about this woman gyrating on him. Seriously, that’s the whole first verse, which only arrives after a really awkward pause. The second verse is kind of awkward here and Wizkid’s voice and flow have never done much for me, especially here where both he and Burna Boy sound checked-out. Burna Boy’s contributions are pretty much relegated to half of the chorus and an outro that quickly fades away and soon enough, this really slow, kind of uninteresting song has already finished. I’m not personally a fan of this but I am still interested in that album – I like the song with Skepta even if it does sound very much like “Ginger”, just with a stronger guest. Now onto the big story, or at least my big story, on the chart.

#55 – “1x1” – Bring Me the Horizon featuring Nova Twins

Produced by Jordan Smith and Oliver Sykes

I never read Kerrang! magazine, mostly because I’m not a loser [citation needed]. I understand that they originated in the 1980s as a metal-focused magazine but I wasn’t there for that. I was there for the Kerrang! TV era of pop-punk whining, scene-core screaming, nu-metal grunting, emo crooning and the Bloodhound Gang for some reason. Listening to this new Bring Me the Horizon album, titled Post Human: Survival Horror, took me back to that place. That feeling of classic Metallica followed by less classic Foo Fighters followed by the absolutely not classic Medina Lake (some of their stuff still slaps, however derivative) – oh, yeah, and like 10 minutes of adverts after six minutes of music. That feeling of All Time Low and You Me at Six playing back to back and being completely incapable of telling the difference between the two. “If we ain’t got that then we ain’t got much and we ain’t got nothing.” They were simpler times. I may be mashing up eras here but it still stands. Hell, the BABYMETAL tracks even took me back to the “Flashing Lights” disclaimers of all things. Rest in peace to Scuzz by the way, and, yes, I said BABYMETAL, we’ll get to that in a bit. So, yeah, I really liked that throwback to turn-of-the-millennium mallcore, but it does keep itself fresh and interesting enough throughout, especially with Sykes’ unique delivery and topical albeit ham-fisted edgy lyrics. You can say a lot about Bring Me the Horizon but at this point at least they definitely have pretty defining characteristics and a lot of likeability even if they do like to stick to a formula at times that makes it pretty obvious where their influences lie. That said, I do think the album becomes a slog by track seven, and it’s a lot duller than it probably should be for the final stretch. Unfortunately, this is track seven. I’m not familiar with the Nova Twins but they’re a punk-rap duo from London and honestly I am interested in checking out that debut album but I’m not really impressed by them or the metalcore boys – which is somehow a better band name than “Bring Me the Horizon” – on this track. Again, there is a formula to the metalcore boys’ banger tracks, and here it feels particularly stale and awkward, thanks to the loudness war that’s present in the album as a whole (Linkin Park’s influence shows up everywhere, even in the production) and the awkward trap elements shoved into the percussion of the first and second verses. I think Amy Love of Nova Twins obviously flows better on it than Oli Sykes who should have handed everything that’s not the chorus – one of the most cookie-cutter on the record – to the Twins, because he sounds pretty off here. There’s a lot less “epic edgy” lyrical content (I’m not sure if that’s a compliment) but that leads to kind of vague and disjointed ideas that don’t all line up to the core theme of the song, which is human guilt for the sins of man or some crap like that. Boys, when you interpolate four of your own songs AND Linkin Park, you’ve got to realise you’re re-treading some ground here. Not even the typical Bring Me the Horizon drop into the metal breakdown from an electronic bridge really feels like it’s worth it or climactic here, which is a shame but who needs the Nova Twins when the metalcore boys have a collaboration with another unique all-female rock duo...?

#51 – “Kingslayer” – Bring Me the Horizon featuring BABYMETAL

Produced by Jordan Fish and Oliver Sykes

When I saw BABYMETAL on this tracklist, I was amused and kind of laughed it off. These guys do have some pretty bizarre collaborations – they have songs with Halsey and Grimes – but BABYMETAL? I remember them when they were half-awesome Japanese pop-metal band and half-complete and utter meme in the early 2010s, and I knew that they had continued being so, mostly because the last time I heard from them they were playable in Super Mario Maker. Seriously, look it up. Now when I saw BABYMETAL on the charts, nearing the top 50 no less, I was ecstatic and honestly shocked. Needless to say this is their first appearance on the chart and whilst metal bands in the 2000s like Slipknot and System of a Down had genuine hits, outside of, fittingly, Bring Me the Horizon, it’s unheard of, especially for a Japanese girl group who happen to have freaking shredders playing on stage behind them. I haven’t listened to a BABYMETAL album but I feel like I don’t need to because of how much they’ve made an impression through singles, videos and live performances. Judas Priest’s Rob Halford called BABYMETAL “the future of metal” and whilst I’m not into the metal scene, I’m half-inclined to both agree and add Bring Me the Horizon to that conversation. I’m just amazed there is a cyber-kawaii metal song on the charts. I’m honestly astonished. Oh, and it helps that the song is incredible. On the album there’s a short interlude that functions as an introduction but honestly the short, aggressive synth riff followed by an immediate crash into the metal groove and Sykes yelling his lungs out works better on its own to just shove you face-first into some insane music. I love how that opening yell is chopped up and digitally re-arranged in the background of the chaotic instrumentation. The cutesy and bleep-bloopy synths that are not new to Bring Me the Horizon’s repertoire are used to their full potential here and yes, it is complete sensory overload, but it’s also kawaii-cyber metal. I mean, what did you expect? It also thematically makes sense. The song is about Call of Duty but it’s also an ode to the people willing to stand up for what they believe in even if it’s illegal and even if it doesn’t abide by rules and regulations. The album is full of these songs that fully support a revolutionary attitude and a clear frustration with keeping up with the old guard for all these years. You can hear how fed up and sick and tired of the political hellscape Sykes is in his shifts between pitch-shifted whining not dissimilar to Blink-182 and gravelly yelling straight out of extreme metal, except unlike most extreme metal I’ve heard, this is actually mixed properly. This track and especially the opener, “Dear Diary”, have so much anarchic energy and that is what I love about the hardcore punk edge to a lot of the album, not necessarily as much sonically as that in content and lyrical themes, where Sykes presents his inner mental struggles and contextualises them on the world stage, making an album that tackles the pandemic, racism and corruption vaguely and with poetic wit without being shallow or impersonal. Most songs that relate to the social distancing will not use the depressive emotional bloodletting of “Teardrops”, the subtly ominous yet still anthemic choruses about lockdown in “Obey” (seriously, these guys can make even YUNGBLUD sound listenable) and even the slow, sour conflict with both Mother Nature and general isolation on the closing ballad that has a name way too long for me to recite, as much as I enjoy upping the word count on every episode. Sykes’ verse in “Kingslayer” discusses opposing points of political opposition and protest, on one hand wanting to express how sick people are of going through the capitalist machine only to be spat back out again but also asking him the condescending question of if he really wants to poke the governmental bear. On the pre-chorus, he voices those frustrations in profanity-laden motivation that is asking not just himself but the general public to wake up, not that they’re unaware of how unfair the system is but instead acting as a call to action. Su-Metal of BABYMETAL takes this ode in a different angle, seeing revolutionaries as idolised figures, so much so that the chorus works as a confession of love or just awe in how the “kingslayer” is destroying castles in the sky and will save “us” from the darkness and from the struggles that the corrupt elite forces onto the populace. In the verse Su-Metal juxtaposes the imagery in the hook of some kind of medieval warrior (“angel of the blade”) with the near-incomprehensible verse, which is half-sung in Japanese with a cry for help responded to in commanding English, which I see as a reaction from the authority that undermines these problems. They call the revolutionary “artificial” and “modified” in a condescending, mocking tone, as well as using so much digital jargon that the verse becomes practically meaningless, especially backed by the heavy, loud music that drowns some of the messaging about and very much intentionally. It also seems pretty intentional that this song sounds like a take on an anime opening, as all of this cyber-punk imagery and anti-authority lyrical content feels a lot sharper when coated in references and criticism of mass-media. Oh, and it also helps that the song rocks, Su-Metal’s melodies are beautifully placed against a frenetic, monotone bass note in her verse, and that final chorus is absolutely perfect. That rapid-fire addition to the chorus took me by surprise on first listen and just completes the song for me. The song ends with one last wake-up call from Sykes about the rabbit hole before his yell is manipulated, screwed and played with by the production, rendering his scream inhuman... and followed by the playful, childlike inflections of BABYMETAL. If we don’t at least try to change in this time, the generations after us will suffer from our mistakes and missed opportunities. Man, this song is a rollercoaster that starts with drum and bass rhythms and ends with Oli Sykes growling gratuitous profanities that get close to feeling like he’s insulting the listener – it’s really brutal – and I’m here for it all the way. There have been songs on REVIEWING THE CHARTS that I like and that I love and whilst I know this won’t stick around (it is still cyber-kawaii metal), this is undoubtedly the best song I think I’ve ever covered on this show and might as well just be one of the best songs I’ve heard this year and maybe ever. I adore this track, please, PLEASE check it out.

#46 – “Flooded” – M Huncho and Nafe Smallz

Produced by Sean Murdz

Okay, seriously for a second: who cares? There’s nothing interesting here. A synth-based soundscape with some cheap flute loops drowned out by trap percussion that doesn’t even drop in, it just awkwardly fades in – yes, even the 808s – and Auto-Tuned mumbling from a nasal-voiced child with an unbearable falsetto. What is the appeal? None of them sound interested, there are no bars of any interest or even a funny line, not even unintentionally. D-Block Europe make me laugh but this tragically awful duo make me bored to death. M Huncho has a cool mask he wears and I wish his gimmick was more than just that and you know, actually translated to the music, but he doesn’t sound intimidating or like a villain. He just sounds like some dude who decided to rap barely on the beat of badly-mixed type beat with bass mastering that should be pitied. He did have a fluke song that kind of slapped called “Pee Pee”, which just comes to show that the more ridiculous and stupid he gets, the more vaguely entertaining he is. So why is he this dull and lame?! The flow is either talking over a beat that refuses to stay still but never truly reaches any kind of climax or even build-up, or just trap-rap word association. “I flooded the chain, it’s like a lake, we runnin’ the game, you pressin’ the brakes.” There’s nothing here, absolutely nothing, and these two hacks cannot sell it. I’m just looking for some effort and even if something is effortless, at least have the charisma to make it sound like you give a damn because this is pretty inexcusable.

#35 – “Paradise” – MEDUZA and Dermot Kennedy

Produced by MEDUZA

I’m tired and I feel like I’m almost at breaking point with these songs. What would usually be generic and uninteresting is sounding offensively bad to me right now and I’m not sure why. That doesn’t really matter all too much to me though as this show has never been an in-depth critical assessment... okay, well sometimes it becomes as such but these are usually just my first impressions of tracks that happen to debut that week on the UK Singles Chart and this can range from volatile frustration to immediate adoration to not giving a rat’s ass about a single one of the songs that debut, depending on how I feel that day. That said, this song is fine. I actually really like Kennedy’s delivery, even if his rougher edges are smoothened and cleaned up by the vocal production here, which is pretty reverb-drenched but does allow for Kennedy to actually release rather than editing the vocals to sound really tight and closed-in... except for that really weak, pathetic drop but I do like the lyrical content, fittingly about distanced relationships as England enters a second lockdown. There’s little to say here but it’s worth a listen.

#32 – “Four Notes – Paul’s Tune” – Paul Harvey, Daniel Whibley and BBC Philharmonic

Produced by ???

No production credits for this one for whatever reason. Anyway, I am tired to the point of just complete speechless confusion at why this charted, and especially so high, rather than having any intrigue in why, but I looked it up anyway. Paul Harvey is a man from Sussex with dementia who is able to improvise beautiful piano melodies with only four notes as a reference point, hence the name. This was recorded by his son Nick and posted onto Twitter, where it soon became viral. This composition was then arranged by Daniel Whibley and recorded by the BBC’s Philharmonic Orchestra to be released as a charity single with proceeds being split between the Alzheimer’s Society and Music for Dementia. This isn’t a song I can critique. The arrangement is really pretty and it was in the original video, with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra only serving to make it sound grander and fitting for a single release. Dementia, Alzheimer’s and any kind of brain disorder are all really tragic and really depressing things to happen to anybody, especially to the people it tends to affect: the elderly. It’s sweet that this is a single and I like that it charted high so those organisations that can assist science in treating these disorders and give help to those with family members diagnosed with and suffering from brain disorders have more funding. The song sounds good, it’s mixed well and honestly it’s pretty gorgeous at times, and if this helps people, then it’s done its job, and I commend Harvey and his son, Daniel Whibley and the BBC for letting this happen. Now for something completely different.

#26 – “Deluded” – Tion Wayne featuring MIST

Produced by Steel Banglez and Chris Rich Beats

Steel Banglez, Tion Wayne and MIST? God, maybe we are returning to the new normal; this is a 2019 line-up. Tion Wayne is a character and a presence on the track always and MIST is quite the opposite, but that “So High” song with Fredo was pretty cool, I suppose. Tion Wayne has always been more of an entertaining presence than half this crop of drill rappers, even if his flow and bars suffer from it, but he’s always a lot more fun and he does have a couple punchlines that hit. This particular song uses that “mm-mm” flow that originated on his track “Keisha & Becky”, and both him and MIST sound really interested and enthused here, as they trade bars in the verses and support each other with ad-libs throughout. The two seem to actually have some chemistry and it’s not an unnatural collaboration. Even in Tion Wayne’s solo chorus, MIST is shouting behind him, and it overall makes the song really aggressive and punchy, even if some of the lyrics are just kind of uninteresting or even confusing, like the oddly-specific jab at an unnamed crack abuser, always referred to as “you” in the song. Is the listener a crack addict? Should I be scared? I’m not entirely sure, but this kind of slaps, especially the keys and vocal sample in the outro. It kind of reminds me of a harsher version of the #1 hit back from 2018, “Funky Friday” by Dave and Fredo, except these guys are legitimately menacing in the song and the bass-heavy drill beat never subtracts from that, not to say that “Funky Friday” is a bad song (far from it). It’s not about being able to convince me with lyrics, it’s about being able to sell what you say effectively and interestingly – not even uniquely, but just in a way that’s presentable and leads to genuinely good music. M Huncho and Nafe Smallz could take a couple hints from these guys.

#16 – “motive” – Ariana Grande and Doja Cat

Produced by TBHits, Joseph L’Etranger, Mr. Franks and Murda Beatz

Murda Beatz, huh? Well, I haven’t listened to Positions yet, mostly because I’ve been bumping Goddamn Bring Me the Horizon for the past week, but also because 14 tracks of the same song doesn’t necessarily interest me. For the sake of the show I probably should check the album out – it’s not that long – but don’t expect me to have that a positive opinion on it. I said my peace on Grande last week and given the singles I seriously doubt this album will erase my continuous issues with her projects. I’ve always felt that despite her unbelievable talent, she is also unbelievably disinterested and detached from her own music to the point where whatever artistic contributions and creativity she and her team had is completely washed out by the questionable production, weak-sauce trap beats and misguided song ideas (I still roll my eyes on “7 rings” and “sweetener”). From what I’ve heard from this new album, it has a lot more classic R&B keys and strings undercut by trap skitters and modern vocal production, and this is pretty clear in “motive”, a funky house-inspired dance-pop tune that feels miles less robotic and factory-made than most house on the charts, instead going for an organic fast-paced groove and mildly annoying vocal samples. The trap breakdown in the pre-chorus is what gives Murda Beatz the right to put his producer tag at the start of the song, which is honestly just funny. I do like the verses but the chorus doesn’t hit in quite the same way it should, possibly that pre-chorus is just garbage and it doesn’t build to an effective crescendo for the chorus to build up on off of whispery murmuring. Oh, and Doja Cat is here, which took me by surprise when she started lazily rapping since Ari actually sounded like her in the second verse. In fact, this is a Doja Cat song in all but lead artist credit and honestly, the song kind of suffers because of it. This is decent, I suppose, but a collaboration that doesn’t favour either artist.

#9 – “34+35” – Ariana Grande

Produced by ProdByXavi, Mr. Franks, Peter Lee Johnson and TBHits

Ariana Grande’s albums have disproportionate producer credit to producer effort ratio. At least there’s not a M-M-M-Murda on this one. The song title is stupid but this was pushed to radio so I guess it has to be family-friendly PG clean to some degree. It is interesting how it goes for the absurdity of being dirty over Disney-like orchestral blossoms and pretty nice-sounding strings, but it doesn’t go far enough other than the chorus. It’s missing a good, effective, funny opening line, and I feel that the verses are pretty lacking. The pre-chorus is almost cringeworthy and just going into bizarre levels of horny on main but that is very much the point of the whole thing. “You know I keep it squeaky”? I find it almost difficult to take this song as anything more than a joke, but she does have some pretty commanding tones when she asks him to “just give me them babies” and the snarky laugh in the intro combined with pretty slick albeit absolutely stupid punchlines that go from so bad it’s good territory to just unabashedly ridiculous and embracing itself as such. I love the falsetto in the chorus even if it is just building up to that stupid title that is nowhere near as clever as Ari thinks it is. By the way, she completely delivers here and it’s a pretty damn great performance from her, one of her most enthusiastic on record, even with her now typical “yuh”s spread throughout. Hell, the rap verse actually works this time mostly because her charisma actually comes through and the trap skitter has some energy this time, unlike “7 rings”. I don’t get the end where she says she was never good at maths, though, because “34 + 35 = 69” is a pretty solid and correct albeit obviously simple calculation. You got the answer, give it a tick in a different colour pen.

Got the neighbours yellin’, “Earthquake!” / 4.5 when I make the bed shake

There’s a song in the top 10 that uses the moment magnitude scale as a sex metaphor. 2020, everyone.

Conclusion

Let’s cut to the chase: Best of the Week goes to Bring Me the Horizon and BABYMETAL for “Kingslayer”, which should have been obvious. I’m so glad I expanded beyond the top 40 on this show. It means I can talk about songs like that in depth. Honourable Mention might actually go to Ariana Grande’s “34+35” on plain fun alone, although the similarly numeric “1x1” did get close. The Worst of the Week is really a toss-up because there was a lot of disposable filler between the good and interesting stuff this week had to offer. I’ll probably go with “Flooded” by M Huncho and Nafe Smallz, with a Dishonourable Mention to “Too Many Nights” by 220 KID and JC Stewart. Both are just impressively lacking in effort or any appeal I can search for, but knowing my luck, they’ll both be “Old Town Road”-level big. Here’s our top 10:

Thanks for reading this! You can follow me @cactusinthebank on Twitter and I need some sleep. See you next week!

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qualityhomeworkanswers · 5 years ago

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1. (16 points) You are asked to estimate the proportion of students at the University of Chicago who have ever cheated. Let this proportion be denoted by ✓. In order to avoid complications due to some students’ reluctance to tell the truth, you collect an i.i.d. sample of responses from n students where you give each student the following instructions: (i) Flip a fair coin secretly. (ii) If the coin comes up “heads,” then answer the following question: “Have you ever cheated?” Otherwise, answer the following question: “Were you born in Illinois?” Let Xi denote the response given by the ith student sampled, where Xi = 1 if the response is “yes” and Xi = 0 if the response is “no.” In particular, note that you do not observe which of the two questions the student answered. (a) (4 points) From admissions records, you determine that the proportion of students at the University of Chicago who were born in Illinois is .1. Show that P{Xi = 1} = ✓ 2 + .05 . (Hint: You can do the rest of this question even if you can’t do this part!) (b) (5 points) Propose an estimator ˆ✓n = ˆ✓n(X1,...,Xn) of ✓. Show that your estimator is consistent. (c) (7 points) Construct a level↵ confidence region for ✓. Please be sure to describe completely how to compute Cn. (Hint: How would you construct a confidence region for P{Xi = 1}?) 2 2. (20 points) Let Y , X and U be random variables such that Y = 0 + 1X + U . Interpret this regression as the best linear predictor of Y given X. (a) (4 points) Explain briefly why we should not expect E[U|X] = 0. (b) (5 points) Explain briefly why we are assured that E[U|X] = 0 when X 2 {0, 1}. (c) For the remainder of the question, assume X 2 {0, 1, 2}. i. (5 points) Explain briefly why we should not expect E[U|X] = 0. ii. (6 points)Can you modify the linear regression so that we are assured that E[U|X] = 0? (Hint: You may need to define new variables using indicator functions.) 3 3. (12 points) Let (Y,X1, X2, X3, U) be a random vector such that Y = 0 + 1X1 + 2X2 + 3X3 + U , where E[U] = E[X1U] = E[X2U] = E[X3U] = 0. Assume further that X1 depends only on X3 through X2 in the sense that X1 BLP(X1|X2) ?? X3 . Consider Y = ⇤ 0 + ⇤ 1X1 + ⇤ 2X2 + U⇤ , where E[U⇤] = E[X1U⇤] = E[X2U⇤] = 0. Show that ⇤ 1 = 1. (Hint: Use Frisch-Waugh-Lovell.) 4 4. (26 points) Suppose Y = 0 + 1X1 + 2X2 + 3X3 + U = X0 + U is a model of the determinants of Y . A researcher is interested in 1 and 2. (a) (3 points) Suppose that X3 is endogenous while X1 and X2 are exogenous. What does this mean? Be as precise as possible. (b) (5 points) Because the researcher suspects the endogeneity of X3, she runs linear regression of Y only on (1, X1, X2). Is the OLS estimator ⇣ ˆOLS 1 , ˆOLS 2 ⌘ consistent for (1, 2)? (c) For the remainder of the question, suppose that the researcher has an access to two valid instruments for X3, Z1 and Z2. She observes an i.i.d. sample of size n from (Y,X1, X2, X3, Z1, Z2). i. (4 points) Provide a formula for the TSLS estimator ˆT SLS. Define every quantity in your expression for the estimator. ii. (4 points) Is ˆT SLS consistent for ? iii. (4 points) Is it necessarily true that 1 n Pn i=1 Xi,3Uˆi = 0? (Hint: Recall that Uˆi = Yi Xi 0 ˆT SLS.) iv. (6 points) Describe how you would test the null hypothesis H0 : 1 = 2 = 0 against the alternative that H1 : 1 6= 0 or 2 6= 0 at 5% significance level. In particular, describe your test statistic, your critical value, and the rule you would use to determine whether or not to reject the null hypothesis. 5 5. (26 points) As an econometrician, you are hired by the University of Chicago to assess the e↵ect of an experiment using the flipped classroom approach. For the experiment, the university randomly selected students and gave them the option to take courses in a flipped classroom setup. To make the comparison, every student took a standardized test after the quarter. Let us use Y1, Y0, X1, X0 to denote the potential outcomes and the potential treatments: Y1 : test score if taught in a flipped classroom Y0 : test score if taught in a traditional classroom X1 : whether the student is taught in the flipped classroom if selected in the experiment X0 : whether the student is taught in flipped classroom if not selected in the experiment . If not selected in the experiment, a student takes courses in a traditional classroom setup. The university gives you the access to a confidential dataset of (Y1, X1, Z1), ··· ,(Yn, Xn, Zn), which is an i.i.d. sample from (Y, X, Z) where Y : the test score X : whether taught in the flipped classroom Z : whether selected in the experiment. (a) (5 points) You first consider estimating Y = 0 + 1X + U using ordinary least squares. Do you expect the limit in probability of the OLS estimator of 1 to equal the ATE? Explain briefly. (Hint: Do we expect (Y1, Y0) ?? X?) (b) (8 points) You next consider estimating Y = ⇤ 0 + ⇤ 1X + U⇤ using two-stage least squares. Provide the conditions under which ⇤ 1 can be interpreted as a LATE as well as an expression for the LATE. Comment briefly on the plausibility of each of these conditions in this context. (Hint: There should be three conditions!) (c) (8 points) Provide a formula for the IV estimator and TSLS estimator for ⇤ 1 . How are these expressions related? (d) (5 points) Suppose that you conclude using the data that the LATE is significantly positive. Would you recommend that the university enforce the flipped classroom to every student? Why or why not? 6

1. (16 points) You are asked to estimate the proportion of students at the University of Chicago who have ever cheated. Let this proportion be denoted by ✓. In order to avoid complications due to some students’ reluctance to tell the truth, you collect an i.i.d. sample of responses from n students where you give each student the following instructions: (i) Flip a fair coin secretly. (ii) If the coin comes up “heads,” then answer the following question: “Have you ever cheated?” Otherwise, answer the following question: “Were you born in Illinois?” Let Xi denote the response given by the ith student sampled, where Xi = 1 if the response is “yes” and Xi = 0 if the response is “no.” In particular, note that you do not observe which of the two questions the student answered. (a) (4 points) From admissions records, you determine that the proportion of students at the University of Chicago who were born in Illinois is .1. Show that P{Xi = 1} = ✓ 2 + .05 . (Hint: You can do the rest of this question even if you can’t do this part!) (b) (5 points) Propose an estimator ˆ✓n = ˆ✓n(X1,…,Xn) of ✓. Show that your estimator is consistent. (c) (7 points) Construct a level↵ confidence region for ✓. Please be sure to describe completely how to compute Cn. (Hint: How would you construct a confidence region for P{Xi = 1}?) 2 2. (20 points) Let Y , X and U be random variables such that Y = 0 + 1X + U . Interpret this regression as the best linear predictor of Y given X. (a) (4 points) Explain briefly why we should not expect E[U|X] = 0. (b) (5 points) Explain briefly why we are assured that E[U|X] = 0 when X 2 {0, 1}. (c) For the remainder of the question, assume X 2 {0, 1, 2}. i. (5 points) Explain briefly why we should not expect E[U|X] = 0. ii. (6 points)Can you modify the linear regression so that we are assured that E[U|X] = 0? (Hint: You may need to define new variables using indicator functions.) 3 3. (12 points) Let (Y,X1, X2, X3, U) be a random vector such that Y = 0 + 1X1 + 2X2 + 3X3 + U , where E[U] = E[X1U] = E[X2U] = E[X3U] = 0. Assume further that X1 depends only on X3 through X2 in the sense that X1 BLP(X1|X2) ?? X3 . Consider Y = ⇤ 0 + ⇤ 1X1 + ⇤ 2X2 + U⇤ , where E[U⇤] = E[X1U⇤] = E[X2U⇤] = 0. Show that ⇤ 1 = 1. (Hint: Use Frisch-Waugh-Lovell.) 4 4. (26 points) Suppose Y = 0 + 1X1 + 2X2 + 3X3 + U = X0 + U is a model of the determinants of Y . A researcher is interested in 1 and 2. (a) (3 points) Suppose that X3 is endogenous while X1 and X2 are exogenous. What does this mean? Be as precise as possible. (b) (5 points) Because the researcher suspects the endogeneity of X3, she runs linear regression of Y only on (1, X1, X2). Is the OLS estimator ⇣ ˆOLS 1 , ˆOLS 2 ⌘ consistent for (1, 2)? (c) For the remainder of the question, suppose that the researcher has an access to two valid instruments for X3, Z1 and Z2. She observes an i.i.d. sample of size n from (Y,X1, X2, X3, Z1, Z2). i. (4 points) Provide a formula for the TSLS estimator ˆT SLS. Define every quantity in your expression for the estimator. ii. (4 points) Is ˆT SLS consistent for ? iii. (4 points) Is it necessarily true that 1 n Pn i=1 Xi,3Uˆi = 0? (Hint: Recall that Uˆi = Yi Xi 0 ˆT SLS.) iv. (6 points) Describe how you would test the null hypothesis H0 : 1 = 2 = 0 against the alternative that H1 : 1 6= 0 or 2 6= 0 at 5% significance level. In particular, describe your test statistic, your critical value, and the rule you would use to determine whether or not to reject the null hypothesis. 5 5. (26 points) As an econometrician, you are hired by the University of Chicago to assess the e↵ect of an experiment using the flipped classroom approach. For the experiment, the university randomly selected students and gave them the option to take courses in a flipped classroom setup. To make the comparison, every student took a standardized test after the quarter. Let us use Y1, Y0, X1, X0 to denote the potential outcomes and the potential treatments: Y1 : test score if taught in a flipped classroom Y0 : test score if taught in a traditional classroom X1 : whether the student is taught in the flipped classroom if selected in the experiment X0 : whether the student is taught in flipped classroom if not selected in the experiment . If not selected in the experiment, a student takes courses in a traditional classroom setup. The university gives you the access to a confidential dataset of (Y1, X1, Z1), ··· ,(Yn, Xn, Zn), which is an i.i.d. sample from (Y, X, Z) where Y : the test score X : whether taught in the flipped classroom Z : whether selected in the experiment. (a) (5 points) You first consider estimating Y = 0 + 1X + U using ordinary least squares. Do you expect the limit in probability of the OLS estimator of 1 to equal the ATE? Explain briefly. (Hint: Do we expect (Y1, Y0) ?? X?) (b) (8 points) You next consider estimating Y = ⇤ 0 + ⇤ 1X + U⇤ using two-stage least squares. Provide the conditions under which ⇤ 1 can be interpreted as a LATE as well as an expression for the LATE. Comment briefly on the plausibility of each of these conditions in this context. (Hint: There should be three conditions!) (c) (8 points) Provide a formula for the IV estimator and TSLS estimator for ⇤ 1 . How are these expressions related? (d) (5 points) Suppose that you conclude using the data that the LATE is significantly positive. Would you recommend that the university enforce the flipped classroom to every student? Why or why not? 6

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juniperpublishers-etoaj · 6 years ago

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Juniper Publishers - Open Access Journal of Engineering Technology

Implementation of A* Algorithm to Autonomous Robots-A Simulation Study

Authored by : Selvakumar AA

Abstract

This article presents some of the current contributions to the robotic path planning field. Reliable collision free path is the fundamental thing for proper working of autonomous vehicle/robots. In order to find an optimal path for robot, environment or workspace need to be understood correctly and suitable algorithm need to used. Many researchers developed different algorithm techniques as per the required operations. This paper presents an overview of strength and weakness of A* algorithm for static environment using distance formula. A* algorithm works on the lower details of the map hence, it is considered as a higher-level path planning technique. A* algorithm is based on the availability of adjacent nodes and distance of goal location from the current state of the robot.

Keywords: A* algorithm; Path planning; Hierarchical algorithms; Heuristics

Introduction

Autonomous robots attained genuine attention because of variety of applications in the household, industrial as well as military purpose. For the accurate performance of such mobile robots, navigation or motion planning is the key aspect. It includes perception of environment based on sensory data, configuring with the surrounding and decision making which is an important phase to find an optimal path from the start location to the goal location without any collision with the surrounding. Different algorithm techniques have been used the path planning of autonomous robots. For example, genetic algorithm, grid-based algorithms, geometry-based algorithms, sampling-based algorithms. Most commonly used technique for static environment is grid-based algorithm. It includes configuration space which is divided into no. of small grids and hence detecting the obstacles robot finds the path from start location to goal location in the configuration space. But, in order to find the optimum solution, i.e. collision free path with the shortest distance so as to minimize the travel time, distance formula is implemented with the A* algorithm [1].

A* algorithm is grid-based path planning technique. Basically, A* algorithm was initially designed for the graph transversal problems. Later, it was commonly used for path finding applications such as computer games. A* algorithm is practically easier and faster for implementation [2]. A* algorithm is suitable for the static environments only. Also, it is not good for obstacle shape changes. To reach the goal position, A* algorithm creates sub optimal paths with the help of neighboring grids. It is represented as f (n) = g (n) + h'(n) where, g (n) is the distance from the start position to the current position whereas h'(n) is the estimated distance from current state to the goal position. In order to find this estimation heuristic function is used. f(n) is nothing but the estimated shortest path from the start location to the goal destination. In this technique, distance formula is used as a heuristic function [3].

In practical situation, static environment may be large for this algorithm to solve. Such cases are solved by defining a hierarchical solution. A* algorithm works on probability-based maps, i.e., it always tries to find path with the smallest length having lowest probability of the collision with the surrounding. Here path length factor is dominant one. [3] Also, as the obstacle size increases probability of collision with the surrounding reduces drastically. [4] Stated in their article, A* algorithm is not suitable for the static environment with the smaller size obstacles as this algorithm tends to find shortest path only over the obstacle avoidance.

Problem Statement

In the static environment, position or orientation of the obstacles are not changing. Hence configuration space is considered as a rectangular terrain, which can be divided into number of small grid. Initial and final location of robot or obstacles can be represented in these grids. Here, the problem is considered as a two-dimensional transverse terrain shown in the following Figure 1.

As shown in the Figure 1, configuration space is divided into number of grids. Autonomous robot is represented by blue dot. It has to transverse the terrain and reach the goal location which is represented by red oval. Black dots represent the obstacles.

Algorithm Guidance

Consider the case of a 4x4 configuration space. The starting node is (1,1). The successive node is only one in this case which is (1,2). There is no confusion, until the Robot reaches node (2,4). Now, there are two nodes (3,4) and (3,3). The successor node can be determined by evaluating the cost to the target from both the nodes (Figure 2).

Now, f (n) for (3,3) is smallest of the two, hence the successor node is f (n) . The robot can now transverse to the node (3, 3) and continue expanding the successor nodes as above, until the goal location is reached.

Consider a configuration with dead end condition (Figure 3).

Here, from Node (2,1) will be chosen as the successor node instead of Node (1,2). The robot will continue to traverse the route until it ends up at the block at Node (4,1). Here, need to add an algorithm by which the robot find outs alternate paths once it ends up at a dead node (dead end). Avoids traversing paths that follows to a dead node.

This is achieved by keeping up two records OPEN and CLOSED. OPEN list contains successive paths that are yet to be computed and CLOSED list is having all paths that have been explored. The list OPEN also stores the parent node of current location. This is used at the end to trace the path from the Goal to the Start position, thus calculating the optimum path. The start node has 2 successors (2,1) and (1,2). From the initial calculation (2,1) is chosen and the robot travels along that node, however ones it reaches the dead end, it discards the node (2,1) and takes the second successor (1,2) and explores that route Figure 4.

Once the goal location is reached the parent nodes are highlighted and tracked back to the start location to get the complete path. In the above example N(4,3),N(3,4), N(2,3), N(1,2), N(1,1) gives the optimum path. From the above conditions the following algorithm is obtained [3].

Algorithm Flow

Consider the first node and put it to the OPEN list. As it is the start point, is zero.

Now, next adjacent node's cost function is calculated. Smallest one is shifted to CLOSED list.

Suppose, robot reach to goal location, stop the algorithm. With the help of all cost functions, determine the path value. Otherwise, continue with the next nodes.

In the same manner, compute the cost function for all adjacent nodes with respect to robot's current position.

Now, with respect to parent node, sort the successor nodes to OPEN or CLOSED lists. Repeat the cycle till cost function of current location is zero (Distance between current location and goal becomes zero).

Simulation

Simulation is carried out using MATLAB. Based on MATLAB coding, two-dimensional array of a configuration space is created. Autonomous robot's initial location and goal location we can assigned. Obstacles are assigned manually. From these above inputs we got the output as Figure 5.

Result

Hence, the optimum path is found out from start location to the goal location in a static environment using classification of open nodes and closed nodes based upon distance formula. This technique is successfully implemented to the different static environments as far as obstacles are in its definite shape and size. If we consider each grid of dimension 1x1 unit, following are the results from the simulation of the total distance of some possible paths [5-11]. From the results shows in Table 1, the available shortest path is highlighted in the Figure 5.

Summary

Hence, A* algorithm is successfully implemented to the static environment using MATLAB simulation. This technique of path planning finds the optimal path with respect to the distance, but practically there are chances of collision with the surroundings as distance is the dominating factor in this algorithm over obstacle avoidance. In order to serve this purpose, more accurate understanding of the environment is essential. Also, to get more optimum results with respect to distance, integration of this technique with neural network can be used. Future scope in this area refers to integration of this algorithm with genetic algorithm, i.e., simulation results of this algorithm can be treated as an initial population for genetic method for determining more optimized path.

For more articles in Open Access Journal of Engineering Technology please click on: https://juniperpublishers.com/etoaj/index.php

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bythesamehand · 4 years ago

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I was reviewing and trying to recall quicksort. most sorts have an idea that defines them, but i couldnt really recall the characteristic property of quicksort. the motivation wasnt obvious.

i thought about the one ‘obvious’ thing, which was only made ‘obvious’ by Hug’s 61b lectures. Partitioning.

as good as Hug is, i don’t remember him playing up the idea more than to say it works and its hard to analyze mathematically. i’ve come to think about at least one possible underlying property, about number (#’s), aided by an assumption from probability (Probability), that might extend to any Ordered (comparable) object/ list (vector) of objects. AFTERTHOUGHT: Remember, even r ∈ R is a vector! Principally, by definition with no more explanation necessary, or if we really must be so weak as to require the more tangible real entry vector parallel, a 1x1 vector in R^1.

So what about numbers, probability, and order? i got a lil fancy formula

P( (v_i - v¯¯¯) < ∈ : ∈ -> 0) -----> 1

“Most things arent far from the average, so for large v, v_i - v_bar is likely small. The probability of this, is almost 1.”

I would state it better that, “Partitioning on v_i once is likely to yield a (decent) partial sort. Or successive random partitions yields many partial sorts, up to a full sort.”

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dermaextra-blog · 7 years ago

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humbertoramirezestrella · 7 years ago

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TÉCNICO UNIVERSITARIO 1X1 EMELEC www.emeleXista.com

El Emelec 2009-2018 es el equipo más regular y el de mejores números consecutivos en la historia del fútbol Ecuatoriano, y aún dentro d esa extraordinaria regularidad hubo baches en cada temporada, estoy completamente seguro q se sorteara pronto esta mala racha.

A Orejuela le falta ser mas encarador y Arias tiene que mejorar el sistema defensivo. Se saca un punto que suma pero que no gusta.

Burbano en los 1eros minutos que jugó cerca de Dixon, lo hizo bien, la lesión de Paredes llevo a cambiar de posicionamiento, Matamoros tiene menos recorrido y quedaba mas expuesto Dixon.

La presión que planteo TU los 1eros 15min complicaba la salida de Emelec y nos tenia atados, poco a poco Emelec fue controlando eso y la presión de TU bajo, el error de Silva nos costo un gol.

Joao Rojas no está lesionado, no fue considerado para el partido de T.U. pese a estar convocado. La razón de q no esté en banca es netamente del DT.

Ya son 18 días que tiene Emelec sin ganar un partido, ¿Cuál crees que sea el motivo del bajón futbolístico? ¿Qué correcciones se tiene que hacer? mucho también se debe a que hay muchos lesionados desde la fecha 3 no jugamos con equipo completo.

En los últimos 8 años Emelec ha tenido malas rachas como esta en cada uno de esos años y al final del torneo no bajó del segundo puesto. Este equipo es capaz de todo.

Estamos con todas las plagas. Medio equipo lesionado, las que antes metíamos ahora no entran, nos hacen goles por errores increíbles. No es fácil cuando te sale todo mal pero este equipo ha demostrado muchas veces que puede levantarse ante las adversidades.

Aún sin llegadas, Emelec pudo anotar pues por propios errores de defensas de Técnico Universitario, el bombillo tuvo en Burbano, Orejuela y Luna, remates frente al arco que salieron desviados. Si no definían alto sino por bajo y con dirección al pórtico, pudieron ser goles.

Emelec le hizo poco daño a Técnico. No tuvo llegadas a excepción del gol a los 87' de Angulo. Sin pases de gol ni de Matamoros o Luna, Bagui, que no es un enganche, intentó filtrar pelotas para Angulo en el área; más fueron centros a ras de piso buscando a cualquier receptor.

Emelec tiene salida muy lenta con pelota y reiterado retroceso de balón en vez de ir para adelante. Retrotraen la acción para volver a empezar porque no están claros desde el mediocampo y el juego se vuelve avisado. Emelec no tiene paredes o triangulaciones, si mucha imprecisión.

el reemplazante de Preciado fue Orejuela, quien demostró condiciones el año anterior en lo poco que jugó pero hoy se quedó en intención. Pueden volver jugadores pero en la posición de enganche ni Matamoros ni Luna están bien: muy frágiles y poco influyentes en la creación.

Ante tantos lesionados, Burbano dejó su lugar por derecha a Romario Caicedo, quién es servicial y solidario en marca pero en desborde o juego asociado para correr al vacío y centrar no entendió esas jugadas. Por izquierda faltó el mejor jugador azul, Ayrton Preciado y se sintió.

Emelec volvió a ser el equipo del 2017, cuándo tenía: salida lenta con el balón dominado desde su defensa y muchos pases al arquero, pases errados de volantes de marca y de los enganches y a quienes les quitan fácilmente el balón (Matamoros/Luna), y escaso desborde de aleros.

En la zaga involucionaron Paredes y Guagua, que eran solventes y se imponían pero ahora no son tal. Los volantes de marca azules tienen poca contención y menos salida clara con balón. Y los 3 volantes ofensivos han cambiado mucho pero ni titulares ni suplentes marcan diferencia.

Desde el partido de Flamengo hasta acá, cuatro partidos, tiene cada vez menos juego colectivo. Antes sin lesiones y ahora con lesiones, pero cada vez juega menos. No tiene llegadas de gol en los partidos Emelec y así no se puede pensar en dominar ni menos ganar.

Saben por qué Emelec no sale del bache??. Porque en las 4 primeras fechas generaba muchas opciones de gol, tenía buen ataque y así claro que va a marcar goles. Ahora cuántos goles puede anotar Angulo si genera una llegada de gol por tiempo: 2 por partido y es mucho. No hay juego.

Ayer era el día en que Emelec debía levantarse: primero porque se enfrentaba a uno de los rivales más pobres del torneo, segundo porque cada vez se aleja más de los primeros y tercero porque vienen rivales muy difíciles: el Clásico, Independiente y la Copa con River.

Declaraciones

Arias "Estas cosas pasan en los más grandes equipos y hay que tener la fuerza para salir. Tenemos que entrenar más y estar más concentrados, en un ataque nos convierten y nosotros no"

Alfredo Arias "Preciado se lesionó con Flamengo pero siguió jugando y ante Liga de Quito su dolencia se agravó. Por ello no quisimos arriesgarlo hoy para que no se complicara más su futuro"

Esteban Dreer: "Los clásicos hay que jugarlos y no volverse loco, se juegan a muerte. Vamos a enfrentar a un rival que está haciendo las cosas bien"

Alfredo Arias: "Preciado y Joao Rojas fueron excluidos por una estimación de tenerlos recuperados para lo que vendrá y veremos su evolución"

Alfredo Arias "Este punto nos va a servir para ganar el Campeonato. Nos afectan mucho las lesiones ahora de Preciado y Paredes. Paredes presenta una lesión de tobillo, espero no sea más grave que un esguince. Dominamos gran parte del partido"

Alfredo Arias "Puedo rescatar la entrega del equipo hoy. Buscaron todo el partido el triunfo y en un ataque del rival nos anotan un gol, era una situación difícil. Destaco que se repusieron y lograron empatar" "Este punto fue uno más para pelear el campeonato"

Brayan Angulo "Vinimos por los tres puntos pero solo llevamos uno. Tendremos que trabajar mucho en el equipo para mejorar de cara al Clásico"

Datos

Emelec sigue sin ganar en Ambato, en 2017 perdió los dos partidos ante Macará (4-3 y 1-0), este año 1-1 ante Técnico Universitario. 2016 fue la última vez que ganó en el Bellavista (0-3 vs Mushuc Runa).

Desde junio de 2017 que Emelec no le ocurre que en cuatro partidos no conoce la victoria, aquella ocasión fueron cinco los compromisos donde obtuvo 3 empates y 2 derrotas: Clan Juvenil (2-2) Independiente (1-1) Macará (4-3) Liga (1-1) Barcelona (2-1)

Mal resultado para Emelec, pero amplia a 8 partidos su invicto enfrentando a Tecnico Universitario por Serie A, con 5 triunfos y 3 empates.

La última vez que Técnico U. y Emelec empataron 1-1 en Ambato fue el 22/07/12, aquella ocasión marcaron Arraya y De Jesús.

Vieja formula para el empate de Emelec, centro de Marcos Mondaini y Brayan Angulo de cabeza hace el empate; 5 goles este año, 28 en Serie A tras 81 partidos.

Brayan Angulo marca su quinto gol en el campeonato, le anotó a El Nacional (2), Macará, Guayaquil City y Técnico U.

En lo que va del año Emelec no ha logrado darle vuelta a un partido tras recibir el primer gol, la última vez fue el 26/11/17 ante Liga (2-4).

Alineaciones:

Técnico Universitario: Chávez; Moscoso, Borjas, Soto, Mora; Vélez, Delgado, Zambrano (J. Caicedo, 88m), Armas; Chavasco (Medina, 82m), Cobelli (Mina, 69m). DT: Patricio Hurtado.

Emelec: Dreer; Paredes (Matamoros, 37m), Guagua, Silva, Bagüí; Arroyo, Burbano (De Jesús, 81m), Orejuela, R. Caicedo; Luna (Mondaini, 60m), Angulo. DT: Alfredo Arias.

Árbitro: Diego Lara. Amonestó a Bagüí (61m), Matamoros (63m), de Emelec.

Incidencias: Partido de la séptima fecha del campeonato nacional que se jugó ayer en el estadio Bellavista de Ambato, ante cerca de 8.000 espectadores.

Vía @josemariamq7 la fiel hinchada de #Emelec alentando a los jugadores a su llegada al estadio Bellavista #emelexista

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vskpop · 8 years ago

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August 2017 ⋅ Enerzetic

Gashina - Sunmi

It’s true across most big companies that we will never get to see what their artists actually want to do until they either have enough power to make their own decisions, or they leave the company entirely. While Yeeun has always been the clear breakout act within Wonder Girls, and the only one with some space to do her thing, I have been waiting for Sunmi to have a decent solo career ever since 24 Hours.

Sunmi had a bunch of writing and composing credits in the last two Wonder Girls album, so it’s not a surprise that she knew exactly what she wanted to do and how to do it as soon as she moved away from JYP. If Gashina is anything to go by, full creative control for Sunmi is everything I didn’t know I wanted. It’s catchy and sexy, which we knew she could pull off, but also incredibly weird and out of the box. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

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Following - Hyuna

Last year, Hyuna’s comeback was an exaggeration of all her defining elements, and not in a good way. It came out in the first moments of a very very bad phase for Cube Entertainment, a phase they haven’t left behind yet. After the excellent Triple H project, it’s nice to see Hyuna build on her past work rather than staying exactly where she was thematically and musically.

While the central idea of title song Babe is kind of weird - she feels younger and younger because of her love interest, to the point that she feels like a baby - I like that for once Hyuna didn’t have to put all her effort into being sexy, and looks happy and carefree in the music video and in the live performances.

Babe has catchy parts, but doesn’t shy away from its weirder, more meandering parts. It’s definitely a dance song, but there is more to it: even if the song is about feeling younger, Hyuna is growing up as an artist and can do more than straightforward party tracks.

While A’wesome sounded like a collection of random leftovers from other projects, Following sounds like a cohesive piece of work that shows all different aspects of Hyuna, now a grown-up with control over her releases; after years of collaborating on her songs’ lyrics, she has composition credits as well this time.

Party and Purple mix the party atmosphere of older Hyuna classics with the voices of Cube’s newest acquisitions, Pentagon’s Wooseok and E’Dawn. Dart and Mirror might be trendier, but they are the real gem of this album: both songs are performed by Hyuna in her actual singing voice rather than her high-pitched tough lady voice.

It’s really special that Hyuna and Sunmi are promoting at the same time: the two Wonder Girls alumnae (even though Hyuna’s experience as a WG was quite short) show that there is a life on the other side of a girl group, and that women idols can find their own voice in an industry that doesn’t particularly want them to.

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White Night - Taeyang

There is a fringe of k-pop fans that is absolutely obsessed with establishing scientifically that their favourite is the best singer in terms of technique. I have never seen this kind of morbid obsession in Western pop music, but it does make me laugh to see people spending so much energy on letting everyone know that Taeyang is a bad singer.

Bad technique or not, I think Taeyang is one of the most charismatic, emotional singers in k-pop. This comeback is quintessential Taeyang for me: both Darling and Wake Me Up are sweeping, emotional songs that sucker punch the listener with the insane expressiveness of Taeyang’s voice.

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I think this is the first time that instead of pairing a dance song and a ballad, Taeyang chose to go with two slower songs. I’m not huge on very samey comebacks, but the pairing of Wake Me Up and Darling really allowed him to show all of his strengths, and probably to save all his choreo energy for the huge tour he’s embarking on.

It’s also interesting to consider that both Taeyang and G-Dragon, who are celebrated for their danceable or more hard-hitting songs, went with ballads for their comeback. It’s obvious that G-Dragon’s circumstances were forced (and that his original plan was different), but I like seeing that they have reached a point in their career where they can do something that feels close to their heart rather than something that is easier to sell.

I think it will be hard for Taeyang (or anyone) to ever put out an album that’s better than Rise, but White Night is as good as I expected to be. The only song that’s an obvious dance single is Naked, which would have never ever been picked because it would have never been aired on Korean TV with the lyric “I want you naked”. As usual, his intros should be whole songs and he knows it - so much that this time he made a music video for the intro to White Night this time around.

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Since this might be Taeyang’s last comeback before his enlistment (although I secretly think and hope we will get one more GD x Taeyang), I was terrified of how it would turn out, and I was honestly just relieved that he managed to go through an entire album without any gross cultural appropriation. Even though I still don’t want him to go on a two-year hiatus, I think I can be happy (and by happy I mean rolling in my own tears listening to White Night) with how he closed this chapter in his career.

Our Twenty For - Winner

It will take me some time to get used to Winner having regular comebacks instead of disappearing for 18 months at a time. I’m glad to see that their new four-member incarnation is finding success shedding their mid-tempo image and throwing themselves into the latest trends.

Winner used the obvious title song (the one that sounded like Really Really) as the b-side of their comeback. Island has the staples of every other tropical track, but is made a bit less predictable by avoiding the drop and going with a chorus that’s a bit less formulaic than Really Really’s. I have to admit that it’s my favourite song between the two; the video is so gorgeous and romantic, and the song is the perfect halfway point between hype and chill.

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The actual song that was promoted, Love Me Love Me continues the tradition of Winner singles with a repeated title (after Really Really and Baby Baby) but switches things up again in terms of sound. When everyone else is stuck in a labyrinth of EDM trends, they looked in a different direction and put out a disco-inspired song. It’s similar enough to Really Really in structure, but it’s a signal that new Winner is ready to experiment and maybe is not so set on a new identity yet.

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If there’s something that I appreciate about Winner, it’s that their lyrics aren’t made up of the same three sentences of the average love song; they actually express feelings that people in their twenties would have, like the apparently very controversial line “I want to mix it up with you on the sofa”. They are corny enough to sell, but not so much that thinking about what they’re actually saying makes me cringe.

Winner have always focused on ballads; it’s interesting to see how they still clung onto a slower song in their first new-formation comeback, but they’ve entirely let go of it this time.

In a way, we are still looking what ‘color’ suits us best. ... I’d say right now, we are in round four (of 12 rounds in boxing).” - 04/08/2017

For me, none of their songs has reached the levels of EXIT: E, but I appreciate seeing that they aren’t afraid to branch out and that YG is letting them.

Bonus: Island and Love Me Love Me acoustic version

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1X1=1 (To Be One) - Wanna One

I am positive that the eleven weeks I spent sweating and crying over Produce 101 will be the last time I follow a Korean survival show (until the YG ones come around, that is). I was bound to be attached to Wanna One even after my favourite Samuel didn’t make it through just for the sheer amount of time I spent watching the show and following the drama and controversies around it.

The rumours that Produce 101 was rigged are unsurprising and, to be fair to Mnet, I do think that the final 11 members really create a fantastic team . After countless hours of performances and variety shows (you might sense that I’m a bit obsessed) I think they are one of the most well-balanced groups I’ve ever seen in terms of actual talent and personas/personalities.

While at this point I have my doubts that debut track Energetic was actually picked by the public and not by the managers of Wanna One, I think it’s the perfect debut song for them.

There is nothing crazily original in this song, but it capitalizes on all the best parts of Wanna One: charismatic dancers, top-notch vocalists, expressive rappers. It was clearly written knowing that capable people would perform it (if not exactly who would perform it), and that their parts didn’t need to be easy or muddled to cover their lack of skills. Mnet also managed to pull through and get a track written by Hui of Pentagon, who was behind the most successful Produce 101 original track, Never, pretty much guaranteeing the success of Energetic.

I am very impressed that Mnet managed to put together a video balancing a more cheerful, colourful vision of Wanna One with the edgier, blue-and-pink neon trend that has swept up “aggressive” k-pop groups. It really shows each member in their best light, and how the group will be able to switch genres and styles without looking out of place.

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Seeing the music video for their second possible debut song Burn It Up makes it clear that there wasn’t a chance in hell that it would be the title track. Terrible editing and post-production aside, Burn It Up is a perfectly good song, albeit on the more banger-y side of k-pop trends, a style that Produce 101 never seemed to be particularly inclined towards.

I still really like the rapped pre-pre-chorus, and the distortion in the chorus felt like an interesting way to switch up the k-pop chorus formula that has been everywhere in the past couple of years (screamed title of the song + dance break).

Apart from the fact that it’s a bit conventional, Burn It Up would have really penalized the vocalists in Wanna One since it’s almost entirely rap or rap-singing, so I’m even happier that they went with Energetic.

The more I listened to it, the more I realised that there was another group that disappointed me lately and would have suited this song: it’s perfect for iKON, and I do hope that after their recent debacle they take a page from the Wanna One book and go for something similar to Burn It Up.

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Wanna One have a sea of advantages over IOI, starting from the fact that they are men, so they aren’t expected to adhere to a cute, innocent concept. They are also benefitting from all the experience that Mnet and YMC gained from IOI’s failures and successes. Their debut is a million times better than the terrible Dream Girls, so I want to believe that all the other problems IOI had will be avoided this time around. I am really looking forward to the next 18 months with Wanna One.

Holiday Night - SNSD (Girls’ Generation)

In a year of underwhelming comebacks for SM artists, SNSD just reached a whole new level of disappointment for me: I’m furious that this half-assed comeback was their tenth anniversary. They have been working incessantly for ten years and this is what they got.

Considering their team must have been preparing this comeback at least since the end of the You Think/Lion Heart promotions in 2015, it’s quite shocking to see how uninventive and cheaply made their new round of “promotions” (more on that later) was.

I think most people agree that Party was a terrible song, so I can’t imagine why SNSD would double down on it with Holiday. The song is a decent b-side at best, and the styling is atrociously childish for a group of adult women; if Taeyeon hated Gee, I can’t imagine how she felt about this. I can hardly get past Hyoyeon’s rap, which is literally “You know I’m hot, hot, hot, hot”; SM could have at least gotten someone to write her decent lyrics.

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All Night is a fun song, and with a much more current sound than Holiday. It does a good job mixing the bouncy atmosphere you’d want for a celebration and a sound that matches a group of women in their late twenties.

The video feels a bit strange - as if they had had to cut out some elements that were key to the narration and we were only seeing the leftovers. If I had to put my money on something, it would be that they had to cut out 90% of the footage with drag queens.

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There is everything to hate about this comeback, still - the videos have clearly been shot on the cheap, and some of the costumes are just horrendous. Seeing this comeback in the context of the larger situation with SNSD, however, makes the subpar quality of Holiday Night one of the least important problems that the group and fans should have.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that SM is using organized-crime-level intimidation tactics to make the members renew their contracts: cutting their promotions short, refusing to reprint the album, sending them to schedules with no security, throwing out random contradicting news for media play…

I’ve read as much as possible about the situation (as much as a non-Sone can) and I honestly can’t imagine how being treated like this would make anyone reconsider the choice of leaving SM. I really wish the best to each of them, especially after they’ve worked so hard for ten years for a company that showed yet again that doesn’t give a shit about them.

Free’sm - CLC

The first thing I thought of when the Seonho teaser for CLC’s comeback was dropped was Reality from La Boum (the French film, not the Korean girl group).

Where Are You? is yet another sharp turn for CLC, coming from a “fierce” concept in their previous comeback with Hobgoblin. I wasn’t persuaded by the song straight away, but I ended up falling in love with the 80’s inspired sound and the strange, dreamlike, artsy music video.

I wasn’t so in love with the styling of the performance, which saw the still pretty young members wear outfits I wouldn’t wish to the last surviving second-generation girl group.

Free’sm sounds like a strange mix of bits that they had leftover from previous comebacks and from what they had in mind for them. There’s one tropical song, one hard hitting song, one cute song (that they ended up promoting), et cetera.

Lack of success has pretty much made CLC a directionless group since day one, but this comeback, especially with the promoted song switch in the middle of the promotion - from Where Are You? to cutesy Summer Kiss - really highlights how Cube Entertainment have literally no idea of what they should do with them.

I understand why they would want to try different things and see what sticks, but I don’t think that the constant flip-flopping between concepts will help them cement a fan base. Free’sm has sold about 1500 copies as I write, a pretty severe dip from the 4000-5000 of their previous albums - still an unsatisfactory number for Cube, but not as abysmal as what they did now.

After listening to the album over and over, I still wish that Cube had pushed through with the “tough” concept and had picked Call My Name or I Like It as the title track. Call My Name is trendy enough to be popular, and fierce enough to escape the cuteness. I would have picked I Like It as one of my favourite songs of the year if it wasn’t for the obnoxious chorus; Seunghee’s pre-chorus is just about perfect and I hope to see it live at some point.

With Pentagon hitting it big and Hui becoming a household name as a producer, as well as trainees Guanlin and Seonho making a splash on Produce 101, I can’t imagine that things will look up for CLC if they don’t turn their career around by mid-2018.

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Sixteen - Samuel

It’s shocking to think that Samuel is at his nth debut and he’s only fifteen. He was supposed to debut in Seventeen (which is how I ended up following him), he was in the terrible 1Punch, he was on Produce 101 and narrowly missed being in the final group, and now he’s debuting again as a solo artist.

Despite how much I love him, I don’t think this was a very good idea. While it’s obvious that he’s talented and has been working hard for years, he’s still not the most well-rounded performer - which makes sense, since he has literally just turned 15.

The album is sort of neither here nor there for me; a lot of it felt really dated and I’m not sure if the autotune was meant to be a feature or just be covering up for Samuel’s vocal shortcomings. I didn’t mind the song with Chungha, but it’s still not something I would listen to again.

Being onstage by himself underlines Samuel’s limitations and I think he would give his best in a group, even just to share the pressure he seemed to be putting on himself during Produce 101. I hope that Brave manages to build a group around him in the coming months/years, because I can’t imagine this being sustainable for him.

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Ever - Jeong Sewoon

I felt bad giving space to Samuel and not dedicating a single word to another of my very favourite Produce 101 contestants, Sewoon. Differently from Samuel, he always looked out of place in Produce 101, and like he didn’t really want to be there or be a idol.

I highly doubted Starship would be able to put together a group for him, but I was glad to see that at least for now he is getting a solo debut. The single Just U and the rest of the album exquisitely blend pop/trendy sounds and the more singer-songwriter identity that is Sewoon’s signature.

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Ice Chu - Gugudan Ogu Ogu

While I was bound to watch everything this sub-unit would put out because of my eternal loyalty to Kang Mina, I wasn’t so sure I was going to like their debut concept. I don’t know if I would say I was “pleasantly” surprised, but the horrifying tortures they inflict on the ice-cream people in the video for Ice Chu really gave an edge to what I would struggle to define as a cute concept, at this point.

The hammering rhythm, the tiny voices, the cute-but-freaky concept really reminded me of the later songs of Orange Caramel (it’s more Catallena than Magic Girl). It was watered down just enough to be appropriate for Mina and Hyeyeon, who have just turned 18, but it’s all there. I love it.