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be17forever · 6 years ago

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My Honest Review of “An Ode”

Let me preface this by saying, I am absolutely a Carat, I’ve been a Carat since Mansae era, and I will continue to be a Carat. That said, there were a lot of things in this newest album “An Ode” that made me really think. I wanted to review and process my thoughts on the album honestly, as a fan, as a music lover, as a listener.

1. Hit: I don’t really think I need to delve into it because a lot of my initial reactions have been blunted since I’ve been repeating it pretty non-stop for a month now. Key point: I really didn’t appreciate the song much on first listen and not even with the whole performance. I mean, the performance is definitely impressive, but it didn’t really jive with the music or wow me in a way that “Getting Closer” did. However, I blasted it on speakers, realized that’s what the song was really suited for, and really came to appreciate it a lot more.

2. Lie Again: Hands down my favorite song on the album. It obviously cannot be a choice for title song, but the quality is really close to what I expect from a title song. Great choice for instrumentals, great catchy chorus despite it being a mellow slower song, good build up through the verses. Vernon’s part references DWC, and this self-referencing is what I love about Seventeen. It is the best part of being a long-term serious fan of their music, though I know it can be divisive because it alienates new listeners (though DWC was fairly popular, so maybe not?) This song is the follow-up song that DWC deserved instead of “Without You” (possibly my least favorite sub-song from Seventeen, ever, and definitely my least favorite on Teen, Age). The bit after the bridge is a bit of a weak point, but not super jarring to the whole song. Great mixing. I don’t look at line distribution for each song because I don’t think a measure of “how much” part a member got in a 13-member group really means anything, but nothing stood out as a particular problem. Overall, a very well-rounded and well-executed song. There’s really not much to say because I think the song speaks well for itself.

3. Fear: I hate saying negative things about it because it is the title track and I have been so looking forward to it, but there were some points that made it just lackluster. Some errors were glaring, to a point that I don’t think I’ve ever felt about their songs, not even in the early days.

First, some positives. I think “Fear” did really well in terms of synthesizing the R&B base with slightly Arabian/Eastern/Medieval thematic bits with EDM, hip-hop, and their usual rock elements. It sounds like something I might have heard on the radio in mid-2000′s but with contemporary elements that remind me we’re in 2019 already. This entire album is fairly consistent in keeping to the R&B genre, which is honestly a hard move for them because Seventeen has been more rock or punk-rock based for so many of their albums in the past. “Fear” has also managed to keep the HHU from pitching their lines too low. The HHU, including Wonwoo, are not naturally low deep gravelly when they rap. They can pull off that kind of sound in studio, but it’s really difficult to do when they perform live. That’s why you’ll hear them often just doing their lines in a completely different tone than the recorded line. I hope they continue this decision into future songs because it makes it less jarring to hear the rap lines during live performances. Seungkwan’s voice shines like no other in this song. The song really plays to the best qualities of his vocal style. I know lately, there have been accusations of under-utilizing the main vocalists, but no one can say that with this song because it is clear that Seungkwan was very well incorporated into the song. Jeonghan also really fit well into the style of the song. His vocals really stand out, which is a huge achievement for someone who was not utilized much at Seventeen’s debut.

That said, there are just a lot of things that felt sloppy to me about this song. Now, I cannot tell if these are mistakes or deliberate stylistic choices. However, some of these points are not just my personal opinions, they kinda go against the rules in a meaningless way. The mixing is really clumsy with the song. The beginning line from Wonwoo sounds a lot like how Mingyu started “Getting Closer”. But the glaring difference is that there is no musical anticipation into the part, nor is there a momentum out of that part before the first drop into the verses. There are so many quick fixes they could have done to the little instrumental that comes after his part to offset this, but because of the lull, the song immediately loses impact. I’m not sure what kind of effect they were going with doubling Joshua’s part. It sounds unnecessary, but I do like that they started absolutely bare with just the voice for the verse. It creates at least a little bit of tension into the rest of the first verse, which builds up by ping-ponging between more vocally artistic lines and rhythmic rap. Everything gets wrapped up by Seungkwan’s “Someone tell me, what should I do?” And then.

Nothing.

They recover the momentum that was lost through the whole verse, and then there’s just no impact into the chorus. It’s a real shame because I think “The way I love” bit is fairly catchy, so if they had a strong start to the chorus, the whole thing could have been really catchy. Also, the chorus is just a bit too short for “The way I love” to shine. Mentally, I wanted to hear another repeat of the chorus. Now, I’ve made my peace a long time ago with the fact that Seventeen just isn’t really going to chase after trends for their title songs. They’re not going to force themselves into a catchy hook just so the song can be catchy. But “The way I love, the way I love”-- that line is just so naturally perfect as a catchy tune, so it’s a little disconcerting that this wasn’t taken an advantage of.

I really like the idea of taking away the instrumentals and having Jeonghan just stand alone with that whispery, haunting voice to give a fresh-start feeling for the second verse and keep it from being stale. However, I do believe there was a legitimate mixing error for this part. You can barely hear his part during this section if you keep a constant healthy non-eardrum-perforating volume on the song. If it is that hard to hear his part, casual listeners won’t even pay attention to it. And the whole cessation of the instrument and how wistful Jeonghan’s voice is should have made this part the absolute high point of the song. You do not have to lower the volume so low on the vocal track to keep the atmosphere because you literally just cut away the backing instrumental and his tone is enough to give that feeling. I just have a difficult time getting past this as just a stylistic choice. The second verse is also quite boring compared to the first aside from Jeonghan’s part. Coups’s verse tries to give a little change on the rhythm, but it just doesn’t really work for me, personally. Then we move into the chorus, but it’s better this time because of the little “Oh, oh, oh” break and “The way I love” repeating.

I really feel quite neutral about the bridge. It doesn’t really stand out until it launches into “This is love”. And then there’s just a lot of overlapping elements. I’m not sure if they felt pressured into trying to use all of the members, or as many as they can, for this last bit, but there’s just a lot going on in not a particularly cohesive way. The two vocalists belting, for example, is quite impressive but feels like an afterthought.

The reason why this song fell a little short for me were primarily the editing choices that made me keep guessing if a certain effect was there intentionally or if it was a mistake. If it was an error, that is something that should not have gone uncaught on the first full albums in 1.5 years; if it was intentional, it was poorly executed. The lyrics-- I’m going to be completely honest. I’m fairly fluent in Korean, and the lyrics are really confusing. I’m not sure what kind of message they’re trying to send-- don’t love me, I’m poison, love me, my mind is corrupted, I’m afraid... If Woozi one day said that this was a song representing a conversation between two people or like a case of DID and two personas within a person warring, that would be a plausible explanation of what’s going on in the lyrics. And Seventeen lyrics are usually not like this at all. Seventeen songs have fairly elegant and figurative lines, cohesive story that makes sense, etc.. It’s part of why the song sounds good as segments (aka the teaser bits) but doesn’t really work together when it all comes together.

I do still really like the overall genre of the song. They were really true to incorporating all the elements they said they would use. The HHU, I felt, was more well-incorporated than they have been for the last few comebacks. Seungkwan and Jeonghan’s voices pop out like no other. And it’s really, really difficult to make a dance song that is in a minor key and using scales/progressions that are not part of the more typical, Western music and have it sound natural but sophisticated. I imagine it may even grow on me after a while. But there were just some choices that felt a little bit flat and unpolished compared to what I had anticipated from the teasers.

4. Let Me Hear You Say: I felt very meh about this song. It’s a cutesy song, and it serves its purpose. Nothing really stands out good or bad about the song. It reminds me a little bit of “Without You”. Let Seventeen have one cutesy almost-vapid song on their album, ok?

5. 247: Definitely not my style, but it blends well with the R&B theme of the whole album. It has all of the elements of those sticky R&B bedroom anthems reminiscent of male solo artists like Taeyang, Rain, or (for those closer to my age) Brian McNight. But minus the stickiness. I do wish that they incorporated a little bit of team element to it-- this whole song could have been sung by a single male artist and I would not have felt weird about it. A group should be accomplishing something different than what a solo artist brings to the table. This is my least favorite performance unit song from Seventeen, but that is not saying much because all performance unit songs are, in my definition, glorious hits, home runs, true bangers. This one just fell a little short of legendary.

6. Second Life: I hear the “hip-hop” elements... ok, Woozi, ok. I appreciate that Seventeen’s vocal unit feels more adventurous than sticking to ballads. This is also a quite meh song for me. The weird stop in the bridge is a bit jarring... to be honest, I don’t think anyone on the vocal unit could have pulled off the effect they were trying to go for, though. I think the lyric content is really warm and appealing to a slightly older audience.

7. Network Love: I love this song, and not just because I’m a filthy American 외퀴. I love the theme of it. I love the playfulness they have with the lyrics (“I 좋아 = 아이 좋아”). That is also another divisive element about Seventeen’s music that I love but sometimes alienates the public. The whole build up and drop into the chorus is just masterful. The lyrics are witty. If this was a group song, it could have been a decent contender for title song. The theme is very relevant and authentic. Honestly, if Lie Again was a little less perfect, this would be my favorite off the album.

8. Back It Up: We’re starved for a good HHU song, ok? What a great addition to the HHU’s discography AND this album simultaneously. I mean, my favorite is and will always be “Un Haeng Ill Chi” and “Check In” is also just so well-polished, but “Back It Up” is a great change of pace. I like that they just went ham on the lyrics, on the song, on the mixing. It shows the versatility of the song’s creators. The only sad thing is that the lyrics are so confident and ambitious about achieving more as a group, but in real life, this kind of drive and ambition is only expressed in the 3-ish minutes they have on stage and not reflected in the aggression of their activities and artistic direction.

9. Lucky: I wonder if Woozi is secretly on a mission to receive credit for the best use of pan flutes and bossa nova elements in a kpop song. He’s managed it once with “Fast Pace” and now he’s done it again with “Lucky”. It’s a very light song. There are a lot of things in this song that can be difficult to pull off because they’re not conventional, but it really works on the macro level. A stark contrast to how “Fear” fails to make unconventional choices sound intentional and cool. I love that the lyrics tell us to “slow down” and the whole song has that on-your-toes kind of fluttery rhythm. Light, bouncy, solid group b-side.

10. Snap Shoot: This must have been a strong contender as a title song. I’m almost mad that it’s not (even though it is completely contrary to the whole dark Seventeen/growth theme they’re trying to turn over in 2019). The choir starting the song off is perfectly whimsical. It really took advantage of many of the members. For example, Joshua and Woozi sing comparable parts in verses 1 and 2. But they sing it with their own flow and style, it almost feels like a completely different melodic line. And it works well for both of them. The chorus is super catchy. The concept of the song is really true to the times. It can really work as a summer or a winter song. Very universal, very likable. There’s absolutely no rule that Seventeen “must” do a bright, poppy song. I think that frame is something we have to keep resisting against, especially for older fans who’ve seen the peak of the carefree boyish days. But if we look at the songs that they’re really known to the public for, such as Aju Nice, Pretty U, and Mansae, they certainly have that brightness as a known group characteristic, and they’ve nailed getting a cohesive and inclusive group sound down to a science since those early days. So it naturally follows that Snap Shoot sounds almost effortlessly perfect.

11. Happy Ending (Korean ver.): I know people really want Korean versions of the Japanese releases because the Japanese singles/titles are great, and they show off new elements of Seventeen. But I am of the camp that if a song has lyrics in it, the melodic line must accompany the natural rhythm and flow of the lyrics, not the other way around (reinforced by my one-time brief conversation with Sondheim). Have you ever seen the “Kevin may not be smart, but he’s strong” meme? That’s what the song feels like to me. And this will happen for any song you try to translate into another language. It’s so, so, so difficult to keep the fluency of the words while retaining most of the original melody. Not saying it’s impossible, but this particular version did not excel in this regard and the new version only made me want to sing “Kikasete, kikasete” every time because the original was just so catchy.

Final thoughts: This will not be a make-or-break album for me. I still hear a lot of the Seventeen I fell in love with or grew to appreciate. Some of the b-sides from this album, like Lie Again and Network Love, were truly great songs. But this made the less stellar songs stick out even more in contrast. I did like that they’re venturing into the “dark Seventeen” territory more because as much as old fans love it and still miss it, the teenagers are no longer teenagers and Seventeen does not have to box themselves into one image. I really appreciate that they changed up the basis of their sound to the more R&B territory, undoubtably guided by Bumzu, who has quite a history in that area. And they really stuck to it through the album. Though not as cohesive as YMMDay had been, the album does play like the songs, for the most part, belong together. That is kind of a lost art in the kpop world nowadays. CD’s are for pretty packaging, the tracklist shows off the width of the group at best, and no one seems to care for how the songs work together in order. When you listen to “An Ode”, it sounds like an entire album. Seventeen is a group in kpop that is quite counter-cultural in this way. I also really appreciate the effort that went into the music video production. I’m not sure if it was intentional, but it was a lot of things that the fans had been asking for a long, long time. The visual for the music video for “Fear” is definitely striking and appealing. That’s a big part of the music in kpop, so it would be irresponsible not to mention how well the MV works with the music.

That said, there are few disappointments and choices that seemed questionable, especially when it comes to title track “Fear”, which should be their best song from the first full length album they’re dropping in over 1.5 years. As a Carat, I cannot be afraid to speak about things that are not working for me in this album. First off, I don’t have this delusion of grandeur that because I had some suggestions about improvements to this album, Seventeen members will take my specific words to heart and be so hurt and broken over it. If they don’t get the kind of reception they were hoping for, it can be saddening. But they still have literally thousands of Carats-- including myself-- supporting their future endeavors. Second, just because the members worked on the album themselves does not mean there’s no room for constructive criticism and feedback from the fans, industry professionals, and even the general listener. I appreciate all the hard work and sleepless nights they put into the album and simultaneously have things that I wish were thought through more carefully. As a fandom, we can’t label everyone who points out a few flaws as a complete heretic. That’s how we only grow insular and never end up reaching full potential. When there is no room for criticism, no more feedback and no desire for changes from fans, that’s when a group hits stasis. And as my old chemistry teacher (perhaps erroneously) liked to say: absolute equilibrium in a living thing means death.

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