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demonlullaby · 3 years

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A comprehensive review of my favourite k-pop releases of the first half of 2021:

January

(G)I-DLE – I burn

Title track: HWAA

Despite being released earlier in the year, I burn is still absolutely one of the most memorable albums of 2021 for me. I’ve followed (G)I-DLE since debut, but it was after Queendom and Lion era (and then Oh my god not long after) that I think they began to show their true potential, and this release is nothing short of a masterpiece. HWAA is the single I wasn’t expecting but I needed: everything from the icy but charged atmosphere, the haunting percussive vocals, Soyeon’s rap verse splitting the song in two, the simple but extremely effective choreography… It worked so well for me, and definitely made me fall even more in love with the group, and especially Minnie’s stunning vocals.

The rest of the album isn’t just a no skip – all the songs are genuinely so good and well thought out. Some are mellow and melancholic, and my personal favourites are definitely Moon (mainly because of Minnie’s vocals – I seriously need a solo album from her – but also Yuqi’s strong pre-chorus, slightly reminiscent of Senorita era). However Dahlia definitely takes the place as my favourite song on the album. Something about it is so sentimental, yet gives a feeling of strength and resilience. Minnie and Yuqi really left an impression through the whole album, and as always I can only applaud Soyeon’s immense talent in producing and songwriting; she’s really the backbone of (G)I-DLE.

Dreamcatcher – Dystopia: Road to Utopia

Title track: Odd Eye

Dreamcatcher delivers every single time and with Odd Eye once again they did not miss the mark. The song has everything I wanted: the trademark Dreamcatcher rock sound, beautiful vocals (Siyeon’s adlibs, anyone?), Dami’s unique rap verses and, of course, absolutely mind-blowing choreography. Dreamcatcher are truly insane to watch on stage, and I do think they all deserve more credit on all aspects – discography but also vocals, dancing and performing. SuA is my favourite female k-pop dancer, so you bet I have watched every single fancam of hers that is out there. It’s also incredible how everyone in the group is very strong in not just one area – main dancers can sing like main vocalists and vice versa. The album was, as expected, gorgeous. I feel like all b-sides deserve to be talked about because I loved every single one so much. Wind Blows has one of the most beautiful pre-choruses in their discography (also, if I didn’t mention it already, I was absolutely over the moon about having Handong back) and the hook is literally meant to bang your head to it. I LIVE. Poison Love is yet another example of how Dreamcatcher excel in whatever genre they decide to try; while their title tracks usually borrow a lot from rock music, their b-sides explore more synth pop, r&b and house or trap styles. Overall an extremely solid comeback, and I expected nothing else from them. They’re truly a different league.

Hyuna – I’m not cool

This was HYSTERICAL. This release was purely Hyuna in her truest, strange and always charismatic form: from the odd progression of the song to the extremely over the top aesthetic and wardrobe. I was obsessed from the start and still am. I cannot express how happy I am to see her thrive and back to making music she loves. Flower shower was kind of a letdown for me, but oh did this mini album make up for it. I wasn’t expecting such a difficult choreography from her, but Hyuna knows how to own a stage, and it really shows what a pro she is because she is always able to fill the whole place with or without back-up dancers. I feel like I’m not cool was more about telling a message – Hyuna’s flourishing and colorful identity – than it was about vocals or rap, and I really liked that. I also enjoyed the rest of the mini, although I think I’m in the minority who still prefers I’m not cool over Good girl.

Cherry Bullet – Cherry Rush

Title track: Love so sweet

This is going to be a quick, but well-deserved mention. I still don’t know too much about Cherry Bullet besides their previous title tracks, but Love so sweet was truly a breath of fresh air and one of my most replayed songs of the year. I think all cute concepts lovers are extremely grateful to them for this release, and they executed it perfectly from concept to performance.

February

Kang Daniel – Paranoia

Hearing this song for the first time was like getting a punch to the gut, and honestly I feel like I still haven’t entirely recovered. Before Paranoia I listened to Daniel pretty casually, knew some of his songs but not all of them, but this song sunk its claws in me and literally dragged me into the fandom so hey, I guess now I stan? Everything about it ticked every box. The music video was spectacular, and the song itself has an extremely haunting and dark feeling, also paired with truly gorgeous lyrics. I feel like it was a brave and personal release. It was different and raw and I could feel the deep and true emotion behind it, and relate to it as well. Still one of my absolute favourite songs of the year.

SHINee – Don’t Call Me

For some reason it feels like it’s simultaneously been ages since this release and yet also like it just dropped this morning. Just SHINee things, I guess? I was excited beyond belief to get a new full SHINee album after the boys’ much awaited return from the military, for reasons that go from musical to pure and simple affection. It was so good to see them come together again, perform on stage, talk about their music and style backstage. I think all SHAWOLs needed it – I definitely did. I know a lot of people weren’t very into DCM, but to be honest I loved it at first listen. I think SM delivered a beautiful and whimsical music video that went perfectly with SHINee’s trademark uniqueness. They’ve always been known to stray away from trends, try new and sometimes odd styles, and this is exactly what they did this time as well. Even though it was a very different track from their previous ones, it still had an unmistakable SHINee flavour to me. I was also obsessed with all of Key’s verses in the song for MONTHS. I feel like the album as a whole could have been a little more, as some tracks were played safe, but I do have to mention queen Body Rhythm, which is the sultry but classy SHINee style in a perfect 3.12 minutes of a song.

Sunmi – TAIL

OH MY GOD. I was so unbelievably excited for this release and Miss Sunmi did not disappoint. She is and probably will always be my favourite female soloist in k-pop, but even though I enjoyed both pporappippam and Lalalay a lot, I felt like something was still missing there. I believe Sunmi needed some time, after leaving JYP, to find herself and her sound again, and to me that’s exactly what she did with Tail. She has her own brand of sexy, which somehow manages to be both subtle and very in your face. I loved the storyline of the song and music video, and Sunmi’s voice is just perfect for such a sensual and mysterious concept. The choreography was also not simply complex but also extremely clever, and a true example on how to use back-up dancers to an artist’s advantage. Rather than overshadowing Sunmi, which often happens with some soloists out of sheer number, they made her shine even brighter. A special mention here goes to the stylists: they kept the theme for every stage but somehow never made it boring. And overall, it’s Sunmi’s incredible stage presence that makes her songs really come to life on stage.

DEBUT

PIXY – Wings

This debut took me completely by surprise and had me OBSESSED. I replayed the song continuously for a whole week, watched the music video several times (which I usually don’t do) and oh my, that choreography. Wings is probably in my top 10 gg choreographies now, especially including the extremely haunting intro they performed on some stages. Overall I think it was a brave and interesting choice to go for a horror concept straight from debut, and I saw a lot of potential in the girls, especially as dancers and overall performers. While I didn’t personally like their next release, I’m still definitely keeping an eye on them because of this phenomenal debut.

March

WOODZ – SET

Title track: Feel Like

I fell for Woodz hard and fast. This song has that delicious dirty r&b sound that tickles me in all the right places, mixed with some more urban influences, and I feel like sultry soul is where Woodz truly excels. I had been keeping an eye on him because I had really enjoyed Love me harder, but I didn’t know if he was going to go in a more mainstream direction after that… and he did the complete opposite. He gave slow sensual vocals, an instrumental from the GODS, a beautiful retro and almost Wild West vibe and the wardrobe was on point. The other two songs in the mini were honestly just as good, moving in the direction of an even more contemporary r&b with a gorgeous taste of synthwave and dreamwave in Rebound.

DEBUT

Purple Kiss – INTO VIOLET

Title track: Ponzona

10/10 best debut of the year and I’m not accepting other opinions. I had high expectations for Mamamoo’s juniors and they SURPASSED THEM. Purple Kiss came out with a dark and mysterious concept and a song to match, and I feel like the group is extremely balanced, which is rare to see: vocals, rap and dance all have one or more members who absolutely excel in that skill, and it makes their performances beautiful and very professional, despite just being rookies. Like all 4th generation groups there is a definite focus on performance but, for once, I felt like this time the vocals didn’t have to take the backseat for the performance to shine, and I really appreciated it. I am especially interested in seeing how Swan will develop as a vocalist, since she’s so young but already so extremely talented; I am in love with how unique her vocal tone is. The title track stole the show from the rest of the album, which was also very good but could not compete with how incredible Ponzona was. Regardless, I feel like Purple Kiss immediately established their place in the industry with their debut, and I can’t wait to see more.

Baekhyun – Bambi

Ah, what a bittersweet goodbye. And yet what an absolutely flawless one at that. Baekhyun has been my favourite k-pop male vocalist probably since the first time I heard him sing, so yeah, it’s hard to think we won’t get any more new music from him for almost two years. Bambi was, after the incredible and well-deserved success of his previous releases, a gorgeous, sleek and mature level up into pure artistry. The instrumental is stripped down to the essential and yet for that very reason it hits much harder, and the song can’t help but follow Baekhyun’s voice wherever he wishes to take it. I loved hearing him showcase both his incredible upper AND lower register, and he probably had my favourite music video of the year – minimalistic, elegant, sexy. It made me think I would really like to see a collaboration between Baekhyun and Woodz someday in the future… anyone else? I also loved the album as a whole. Something I’ve noticed with Baekhyun is that every time, even delivering amazing title tracks, the rest of the album is always still just as beautiful. Maybe I’m just too in love with the man’s voice, but to me every single track on the album was memorable and beautiful in a way that felt a lot like longing.

April

ENHYPEN – Border: Carnival

Title track: Drunk-dazed

The day this album came out, ALL I DID was listen to it over and over. The sound in all of the songs follows a very interesting and coherent story progression, and besides visuals and choreography, the music was the most fascinating part of this release for me. From the intro it felt extremely atmospheric, which was helped by the narration, and the transition into the title track was seamless. I love that ENHYPEN have a very clear and unique concept and are going against the trend that we’re seeing from most 4th generation boy groups. Drunk-dazed was a continuation to Given-taken in storyline and music, but also an upgrade, and everyone has improved so much and so quickly it genuinely left me shocked. I was especially impressed by how much more refined and controlled Jake and Sunghoon’s vocals now sound, and delighted to see that not only Niki had more lines but they even gave him a small dance break. He’s always the highlight of ENHYPEN performances for me, and I do really believe he’s going to become one of the most legendary dancers in all of k-pop. The music video was my favourite of the year in a tie with Baekhyun’s Bambi: the cinematography was sleek and movie-like, Sunghoon’s acting beautiful and never overdone, and the imagery both haunting and gorgeous, mixing cold marble and blood in a way that reminded me a bit of the music video for BS&T. The album as a whole was also one of the most memorable releases of the year. Fever allowed ENHYPEN to perform a more sensual concept, still in a youthful way that felt appropriate for them, and all the choreography was beautifully intricate. I feel like it’s a general consensus that Heeseung shone the most in Fever performances; he always gives 1000% on stage and it’s genuinely captivating to watch. While Not For Sale is not my favourite sound for them and just in general, it’s still a fun song and makes it so that, while keeping stylistic coherence, the mini appeals to a very broad audience. Mixed Up became my new n.1 ENHYPEN b-side at first listen: something about it is so passionate and determined, and gives off the same exact vibe I get from the boys’ performances: youth, hard work, fierceness.

BIBI – Life Is a Bi…

Title track: BAD SAD AND MAD

SHE BROKE ME. This album made BIBI shoot up in my list of best soloists and she landed somewhere in my very sacred top five. She has an indie and r&b vibe paired with class and extreme relatability, and I could seriously listen to her sing forever; her tone is new and unexpected, not only in sound but also in storytelling. The songs on the album felt honest, raw, truthful. Unfiltered. Umm life, the first song on the album, is also probably my favourite. It hit me in a very personal way, and I feel like I’m not the only one who saw herself in the lyrics and overall feeling of it. With this album BIBI touched on a lot of difficult and often taboo topics, and the music video for the single (literally… BDSM) was both visually tongue in cheek and, lyrics wise, sad, poetic and rich with complex imagery. I loved seeing BIBI perform on stage and I watched all of her interviews too. There is something about her absolutely unbothered attitude on and off stage that fascinates me, and the way she performs shows how deeply she really feels her music. She put out an incredible album with tracks that were all thought provoking and well-thought out.

ITZY – GUESS WHO

Title track: In the morning

Okay, look. I know everyone is out there saying the lyrics were cringy or the sound didn’t fit ITZY or whatever else, but ITM and Sorry not sorry are still some of my most played k-pop tracks of the year so, say what you like but DAMN ARE ITZY’S SONGS CATCHY. To be quite honest I didn’t know what to expect after the disappointment that was for me Not Shy, but In the Morning not only delivered, it went beyond expectations in a way I couldn’t have imagined. ITZY managed to showcase all of their strengths and also their infectious charm and energy. Every performance was new and entertaining to watch; I love Lia’s vocals, Ryujin is the real definition of center and I was also captivated by Yuna’s energy and bubbliness, but also her professionalism at such a young age. Yeji stood out the most to me and proved that, at least in my opinion, she’s without a doubt the ace of ITZY in dance, vocals, rap and more. I wish JYP would give more spotlight to Chaereyeong’s dancing, however, as I feel she hasn’t been able to fully showcase her abilities yet. The choreography was extremely strong as usual and, unlike previously, I was finally able to enjoy some of ITZY’s b-sides, particularly Sorry not sorry, KIDDING ME and SHOOT!,all of which I loved. What ITZY ultimately brings to the table is an energy that’s impossible to resist and that I think no one else in 4th generation possesses.

May

Oh my girl – Dear OHMYGIRL

Title track: Dun Dun Dance

Someone get this song out of my head, please. Seriously. This release grabbed me and catapulted me in the world of Oh my girl and hey, I’m not complaining. I was desperately waiting for a fun, summery release that did not feel like it was a rehashed version of a 2020 song, and this was IT. The song came with a very tasteful, light and romantic album which contains some of my new favourite gg b-sides, like Who comes who knows or Swan. The performances were impossible to stop watching; the girls took a concept that is known to work and has been done so many times and still managed to give it a fresh and personal feel, and I loved all of it. The choreography fit so well with the song and the group’s image, and something I particularly loved was the styling (give me all the crochet tops please) and just overall how much fun it looked like they were having on stage. Thank you Oh My Girl for officially starting the summer of 2021!

SOLO DEBUT

YUQI – A Page

Title track: Bonnie&Clyde

I can’t stress just HOW ANGRY I still am that this wasn’t promoted in Korea and was barely performed even in China. Is Bonnie&Clyde the best song of 2021? Most likely. So someone explain to me why CUBE acted like Yuqi’s solo debut wasn’t the huge deal that it was (kind of like they’re doing with Soyeon now, to be honest). I frankly do not get their decision to not capitalize on it more, because they could have made a fortune with proper promotions but, moving on. TWO SONGS AND MY ENTIRE YEAR WAS MADE, MISS YUQI DID. THAT. I don’t sing, and I learned the lyrics to both songs. I’ve never played the piano before in my life, but you can bet your ass I spent 48 hours watching tutorials and now know how to flawlessly play Bonnie&Clyde on the keyboard. Yuqi has one of the most gorgeous voices in k-pop and just pop in general, and the potential all (G)I-DLE members have is INSANE. Her concept was strong, empowering and with hints of pain and, mostly, survival and resilience. I didn’t feel a choreography was necessary and I still think it’s pretty ridiculous how some people are so mad that Bonnie&Clyde, a song made to highlight Yuqi’s vocals, had a very simple dance performance. I cannot wait for the day we get a full album from Yuqi and we can see her perform on music shows.

Taemin – ADVICE

Genuinely, I do not want to talk about this album AT ALL. I have very complicated feelings about Taemin enlisting, what his artistry has meant to me through the years and the hell this man’s voice has got me through, and I still feel almost uneasy listening to this album. Restless. Advice was a risk for Taemin. He took a step away from his style both musically and in choreography, and it felt new and a little disconcerting, but deep down still extremely Taemin. It’s undeniable that Taemin includes in his art a strong element of, to put it simply, genderfuck; he represents both genders at once and also neither (I am in full support of recognizing “Taemin” as a new official gender identity :D) While the Move-Criminal-IDEA triad is still unshakable and probably impossible to top, Advice was something that, as a long-time fan, I needed. The album was as beautiful as I’ve come to expect from all of his releases (I believe I called Strings “slow, passionate sex” and I stand by that statement) and I have too many feelings I don’t quite want to figure out whenever SAD KIDS plays. As always, SHINee and Taemin’s music is more than just music or performance to me, and the reasons are many and complicated. All I really know is that Taemin’s voice manages to shake something very deep within my soul (throwback to when I first listened to IDEA and started full-on sobbing) and I am grateful to him for being the incredible artist he is.

EVERGLOW – Last Melody

Title track: FIRST

My girls!!! I am so proud!!! I feel like no one is giving EVERGLOW nearly enough credit for the growth they’ve done both as a group and as individuals. They started with BBC as an interesting but still somewhat lacking group, full of potential; having supported them since the very first day, I feel nothing but extreme pride as I watch their FIRST stages. They all look more confident and every single one of the girls absolutely owns the stage. I feel like finally Onda’s dancing was properly showcased (and I may have watched one too many fancams of hers because ?? Have you seen those shoulders??? *fans self*) and both Mia and Sihyeon’s vocals shone beautifully. They have grown up and become incredible performers, not just capable but extremely strong. In my opinion EVERGLOW have the most intricate and exhausting choreography amongst all girl groups as of right now, and this comeback they’ve shown they really are able to stand out in the midst of the industry oversaturation that is 4th gen. My only – but very real – complaint is: who the hell is writing their b-sides and why do they always sound so mediocre? I want to have a talk with the producer who thinks it’s ok to make C- songs just because they also delivered an A+ single. Also, EVERGLOW full album when?

TXT – The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE

Title track: 0X1=LOVESONG

HELLO??? WHAT WAS THIS?????!!!???????

Look, I didn’t even listen to TXT much before this; I just casually knew their title tracks and nothing more. Then they come back with emotional rock music, absolutely insane choreography and flawless live vocals??? OK GO OFF I GUESS????? (Can you tell I’m still in shock and absolutely not over it? You probably can)

This was most definitely the release that surprised me the most; I listened to the title track when it came out just to quickly check it out, to see if it was catchy and if I wanted to add it to my playlist, and then proceeded to listen to it about 50 more times before I moved to the rest of the album, and did the same with every other song (special mention to Dear Sputnik and Frost for literally being the best k-pop b-sides in history). I learned the dance down to every detail, marveled at Taehyun’s vocals, the hypnotizing way Yeonjun moves on stage and just overall their chemistry as a group and the impressive level of individual talent everyone in TXT has. It’s very rare to find groups where all members have such outstanding vocals, dance and performance, and I’ve been in a TXT loop since this release. Officially added to my stan list. What an incredible album.

June

B.I – WATERFALL

Title track: illa illa

This was… a lot. iKON was, back in the day, one of the main groups that got me into k-pop, and B.I’s departure from the group – if you can call it that – took part of the fandom with him, including myself. So, a lot of us set to waiting. I had trust B.I would eventually come back fully as a musician. He’s always been an inspiration to me and the snippets he let us see on Soundcloud before making his comeback reminded me how much his music is able to truly touch me. And then this album dropped.

B.I is without any doubt my favourite lyricist in all of k-pop, and it is even more impressive that he has been able to produce, write and arrange for his own group, other groups and now for himself as a soloist. Some of the lyrics in this album, especially for Waterfall and illa illa, keep staying with me through my days – I’ll keep building sandcastles even though I already know they’ll eventually come crashing down – and I was able to relate to him not only as a fellow artist but also, very deeply, as a person. This album felt personal to me and many others, and Hanbin did not hold back – he never does, but especially not this time. Waterfall opens the album true to its title: it pours out angry, tired, hurt, and it just keeps pouring. It speaks of wounds not yet healed and lays down the truth that, in life, some wounds do not ever truly heal after all. Following it is illa illa, which with the first few notes already introduces a few hopeful piano keys and B.I’s equally hopeful voice. It feels tentative, like seeing an end to the darkness but being so used to it that you can’t quite believe it. It feels like accepting and maybe, finally, moving on. The album goes from deep to playful to hip-hop heavy tracks and back to r&b, and I was also very happy to see B.I and Lee Hi collaborating again, as she’s also one of my favourite artists. I needed this ray of hope.

TWICE – Taste of Love

Title track: Alcohol-free

Was I skeptical when I first heard the title? Yes. Did I fall head over heels for this song as soon as I saw Twice first perform it? Also YES. This is this year’s summer song, period. The last one/two years have been years of discovery for Twice, of maturing, finding an updated but still authentic sound that fits them, and this album feels very much like Twice but also showcases their growth. Alcohol-free is the perfect title track, and I swear once I listen to it or even just think about it then I’m stuck singing SWEET MIMOSA PINA COLADA for the rest of my week. All the stages were phenomenal, and I swear I probably died and came back to life several times while watching Nayeon perform. I love how the song highlighted Tzuyu’s vocals better than most Twice title tracks, although I am still very tentative about Jeongyeon’s return. But at the end of the day, if she’s made the decision to come back then all we can do is support her and hope she keeps getting better. This era also gave us iconic Twice interviews and shows (who gave Momo the right to be so funny, seriously?) and overall felt almost like a new beginning, finally seeing the group as a whole for an official comeback again. I also think Taste of Love has some truly excellent b-sides that capture the summer feeling perfectly, without ever feeling repetitive or basic. I especially loved how catchy Scandal is with its whispered intro, the sensual and intimate feeling of Conversation and the perfectly captured naivety of young romance in First Love.

ONEWE – Planet Nine: Alter Ego

Title track: Rain To Be

I did not expect ONEWE to release my favourite k-rock album of 2021 and surpass even DAY6, but boy am I impressed. I feel like, given the chance, they could really take Korea by storm, and I really hope RBW starts to give them decent promotions and distribute their

budget a little better. This was just overall a gorgeous album with an incredible title track. It came out almost two weeks ago but I still play it several times a day because I absolutely can’t get over it. ONEWE’s take on rock is indie and very emotional; Rain To Be feels desperate in its passion, and the vocals are so soulful and honest the song manages to feel both exciting and heartbreaking. Also the bass. Just. THE BASS. It’s a beautiful album from start to finish, and I might or might not have cried a few times while listening to COSMOS. The music video managed to be epic while keeping an incredibly simple concept, and I loved the visual of them getting slowly submerged by water as the song reached further and further heights. I really hope at least one person reads this and gives ONEWE a chance and listens to their songs, because they’re relatively new to the scene but I feel like they already have left a very memorable impression on the k-rock music scene.

To conclude this review, here are my most played k-pop tracks of the year so far:

ONEWE – Rain To Be

ITZY – In The Morning

YUQI – Bonnie&Clyde

Jessi – What Type of X

B.I – WATERFALL

ITZY – Sorry Not Sorry

Baekhyun – Bambi

Key ft. Doyoung – COOL

Hyuna – I’m Not Cool

ENHYPEN – Drunk-dazed

WheeIn – NO THANKS

PURPLE KISS – Ponzona

WOODZ – Feel Like

Kang Daniel – PARANOIA

ATEEZ – Sunrise

Henry – Thinking of You

CLC – No

SEVENTEEN – Light a Flame

Stray Kids – My Universe

WONHO – Open Mind

Sunmi – TAIL

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hwangso-ddong · 3 years

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Love Yourself trilogy vs. Every era that came after it. Spoiler: current BTS kinda sucks.

TW: PERSONAL OPINION

Today, in my void of complete lack of productivity, I was thinking about Love Yourself as an era, as a whole, all 3 main releases... and I just find it so much better than whatever BTS is releasing now or even right after LY.

Like, Love Yourself: Her is unprecedented like the assortment of tracks on it is unsurpassable. The title track is still the #1 most viewed BTS song on YouTube. The skit is a skip, yes, it’s a non-track, but whatever. Otherwise, LY:Her is a no skip album, every single track on it is a hit. Not to mention it is the EP that skyrocketed BTS’s popularity outside of the K-pop fandom sphere.

Immediately after, Love Yourself: Tear gave us Fake Love, and such B-side gems as 134340 and Paradise, which I still never skip when they show up on shuffle, along with tracks like The Truth Untold and Airplane Pt. 2 which went viral. Once again, every single track on this album (except for maybe Love Maze because I don’t remember it for the life of me) is a no-skip. I will not tolerate Magic Shop slander, either.

Love Yourself: Answer was arguably not as strong as the other two as a follow-up to them, since it is a compilation album (or repackage) with some (great) additions. It feels like a great way to top off the era, giving every single member a solo track like in You Never Walk Alone. Don’t forget the cultural reset that was IDOL came from this album, as well as I’m Fine which is the track that got me thinking about this whole thing in the first place.

Now, the next era is where BTS started to lose me just a little bit. BTS came back with Map of the Soul: Persona, ushering in a brand new era for the group. And, you know, it’s a pretty solid EP! I like all the songs on it, even Jamais Vu which seems to get a lot of flak for being “uninspired.” However, the title track especially, and the number of tracks on this album, left me wanting juuuuust a little bit more. Did not complain, though! It was great. With the overuse of some production techniques like autotune and the introduction of this more rock-inspired sound of Dionysus, I could tell BTS was heading in a certain direction with their next releases, which I was very skeptical about. And then, after BTS took a well-deserved long break...

Map of the Soul: 7 dropped. With a weeks-long teaser period and the release of Black Swan prior to the release of the album, it seemed like it’d be another hard-hitter. But... Black Swan is actually all this album had in terms of hard-hitters. The overuse of autotune as an artistic choice was back, and it was here to stay, allowing room for critics and fans alike to criticize BTS’s vocal production, as well as the further exploration of the rock-inspired sound that was introduced in the previous EP.

I really do not like MotS:7. I know, I know. The fandom has shunned me once and will do it again. But there’s just no memorable tracks on this thing! ON is a very underwhelming title track on which BTS’s vocals are completely and utterly oversaturated with autotune, the new tracks are just kinda good at best and awful at worst, and there is nothing here for me to hold onto. The only song I can clearly remember from this album is Filter. That’s it. And that’s a Jimin solo song. It feels like it’s hard to find a song on this album where all the members of BTS are participating together in one track... and that’s because there are only two new B-side tracks with all the members! Tracks which, I’m sorry to say, kinda suck! Louder Than Bombs is ironically kinda sleep-inducing, and We Are Bulletproof: The Eternal lasts awfully too long and is so uninspired that if any other group released it, it would flop. The rest of the tracks on this album are either old-school-hip-hop-inspired rap tracks, or slow rock ballads, both of which have absolutely nothing to do with BTS’s previous sounds, and alienate fans like me who expect certain things from a BTS album and just got... the complete opposite.

Now, I know an artist can (and should) release whatever makes them happy, and whatever they feel like they want to create. But when it comes to BTS, I expect something that I can appreciate the artistry of, something that I can listen to and admire the painstakingly shaped production, something that will grab my attention. I tried to listen to Map of the Soul: 7... twice. And I fell asleep both times. I have managed to listen to every song on it, and I don’t remember any single one of them. Nothing stuck out to me, and it still doesn’t. And you know what, as much as y’all don’t want to admit it, it’s not just me. None of the songs on MotS: 7 get any hype anymore, whereas songs like Go Go and Tear have almost cult-like fan favorite status. But wait, I’m not done!

At this point, BTS had lost me with MotS: 7. Bear in mind that I was, and still am, a big fan of BTS, and I got into them for their music first and foremost. And in 2020, Be dropped. Saying I was underwhelmed would be an understatement. I was full-on disappointed. The only worth-while tracks on this album are Telepathy and Dynamite, in my opinion, both of which get by easy because they ride on the disco revival trend of 2020. Even counting the title track, this entire album is a straight up disappointment for me. What infuriated me further was that track 4 is a 3-minute long iPhone recording of the members just talking and joking around, as if to slap the people that actually came for the music in the face. I am not going to worship BTS as a group just because of who they are. I do not care to listen to a 3-minute iPhone recording of 7 Korean boys just existing because I’m a fan of theirs. Most BTS fans do not speak Korean, so there go BTS again, alienating their fans... It’s not fanservice at this point, it’s just laziness!

I get that the point of Be specifically was to be a “homely” and “raw” album from BTS, to help their fans feel more at home with them and get to know them more during the pandemic. It would be a bit disingenuous for BTS to be releasing songs meant for a stadium during the year that nothing was ever open and no concerts were happening. But I don’t think Be was very intentionally put together that way, at least at first - this trend of lazy and underwhelming production from BigHit had been going since the previous album. I don’t think BTS have vocals that can convey the feelings Life Goes On or any other one of their ballads is supposed to convey, and they all end up just sounding bland and boring. They’ve done ballads right before! The Truth Untold is a great example, not even counting the EDM-inspired parts of Steve Aoki’s production. House of Cards is another great waltz ballad from BTS, and it is not boring in the slightest.

I think BTS and BigHit by extension are tired. The production is getting worse, the creativity is getting stale and uninspired, they’re outsourcing more and more... None of these are problems on their own. It’s just that BTS, right now, are not what they used to be. Their music, which should be the main attraction in a music artist, is not that interesting anymore. A lot of fans like to defend it because it’s coming from their favorite group, but if it came from anyone else they wouldn’t have even given it a second listen.

I’m mentioning BigHit as a whole because this laziness in production and overuse of autotune is prevalent in other BigHit groups as well now, namely TXT and ENHYPEN. I love TXT. I really do. But Blue Hour is plagued by the same boring uninspired rock-ballad type tracks as the latest BTS albums... and I really don’t want to see an entire company’s discography shift away from quality pop production towards trend-following and cash-ins.

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tempesrature · 4 years

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IDOL | Chapter 2

Platinum x Ride or Die (AU) Crossover

Pairings: (Major) Ride or Die | Logan x Ellie (Minor) Platinum | M!Raleigh x Cadence Warnings: PG13+ A/N: To people who actually know something about music and the discipline...please forgive me if I got anything wrong lol.

@troublemakerinspace @raleiighcarrera @harrys-wheezys @choicesarehard

Ellie nervously taps her feet on the car, earphones plugged into her ear as she hums out a melody she’s trying to work out into a song. She glances at Mona driving the car before she looks back at the time on her phone.

Ten more minutes and they’ll arrive at the recording studio to record the new single with Logan. Ten more minutes until she meets the man she—according to Raleigh—hit it and quitted it.

Is she nervous? Definitely. But she tries to withdraw to herself and focus on what she’s supposed to be doing—her job as a singer and being professional. Plus, she made ground rules for herself. Don’t talk about that night and focus on recording the song. Depending on the song waiting for her to sing, they should be done in two to three hours. Short enough for her to avoid any real conversation about anything that went on between them. So in theory, nothing wrong should happen.

“Ellie.”

Ellie looks to Mona and pulls out one earbud from her ear. “What’s up?”

“You need to pose for pictures after recording,” Mona turns the wheel and turns a corner. “We need to post it on Pictagram as a teaser.”

Ellie blinks, her heart rate shooting up.

So…maybe something wrong might just be happening.

“And…that’s a good idea?” Ellie starts hesitatingly. “I mean with what happened after the party you’d think that would be a bad idea right?”

“This is a good way for people to start talking about the song,” Mona says as she pulls into the studio’s parking lot. “Good press, hashtags trending, stans speculating, etc.”

“Yeah for him,” Ellie huffs as she pulls open the car door open and puts on her sunglasses. “I’ll be crucified by the stake!”

Mona pauses mid-open of the front door and looks at Ellie amusingly. “You realize that’s not how it goes, right?”

“Whatever Mona!” Ellie complains as they make their way down the purple neon-lit hallways towards the recording booth. “You know what I meant. This won’t end well for me. Why am I being put on—Micah hey!”

“El!” Micah shoots out of his chair and excitedly pulls Ellie into a tight hug. “Ready to record this song with Mr. Flavor of the Month?”

Ellie groans as she flops to the couch. “Not you too Micah. I thought you’d be on my side on this.”

“Hey, I am El!” Micah cackles as he slides back into his seat and swivels it to face her. “But you gotta admit, the pictures weren’t great. I like the Colt pics more, better lighting.”

“Micah. I’m leaving her with you,” Mona says and Micah replies with a mock salute just as she presses the phone to her ear and walks out of recording booth.

Ellie sighs as she takes off her sunglasses and throws it on the table in front of her, her demeanor changing and her mind fully focusing on her task. She already told herself that she wouldn’t let what happened between her and Logan affect her work. Although she isn't really a fan of his work, she doesn’t want to be accused of purposely bombing the song or act aloof and unprofessional when he arrives. That’s how ‘diva’ rumors start.

“Do you have the instrumental and parts for me?”

Ellie reaches over to Micah who hands her the lyric sheet for the song. Her eyes flick to the title of the song ‘Candy’ before she scans the lyrics of the song. The storyline is simple enough. It’s a guy who’s crushing on a girl that’s picky with the guys she dates. The guy compares himself to candy and how the different flavors compliments her perfectly. There’s a push and pull to the lyrics, as if the girl already knows that she likes the guy but she’s hesitant to fall for his charms. Ellie’s lips quirk in a small smile at how…playful the lyrics seem to be. Completely different from Logan’s discography of heartbreak pining that makes her cringe sometimes (although she’d never admit it to him personally).

The soft start of the synth fills the room and Ellie’s ears immediately pick up the sound and her eyes light up.

“Woah, wait. Is that the song?” Ellis listens carefully as she rhythmically taps her feet on the on the carpeted floor. “No way. The song’s an R&B pop?”

Micah grins as he adjusts the volume of the song. “Yeah, surprised me too. I thought I’d have to mix another whiny pop song.”

Ellie grins as she continues to sway to the music and silently hum the lyrics she’s partially memorized now. She likes the song more than she thought she would. When Mona first brought up the collab idea, she was really hesitant. Ellie didn’t really know if their musical tastes and genres could fit each other well enough to work together. But just as Cadence and Raleigh had been mentors to her, she vowed to help the newer artists make their way into the entertainment industry as best as she could. Now, she’s actually glad that she took up the project. She can already tell that the song will be a total hit.

“Let me hear the guide, do you have it?” Ellie stands from the couch to stand next to Micah. He pushes some buttons and the Ellie has to bite back the utter awe when she hears Logan’s voice and she’s once again reminded of why Logan shot to fame so quickly. He has a raspy and light lyric tenor voice with a bright and resonant mixed voice that can reach up to a F5 falsetto, the kind of voice that would suite a powerful and pining love song but agile enough that it can transition to more pop and R&B songs.

“Damn. He really does have a great voice.”

“Wow thanks, that means a lot coming from you.”

Ellie’s eyes widen as she turns around and faces Logan. He comes in with a big grin, his long brown locks swept back a little, and she can’t help but be reminded of the night and the pictures. It’s difficult not to ogle, to stare at how truly handsome he really is in the dim light, and she kind of understands her drunk self now. Drunk-Ellie might make dumb decisions but she sure does know how to pick out the handsome ones.

“Logan! About time man,” Micah greets as stands from his chair and gives Logan a hug and a fist bump.

Micah’s voice brings her out of her thoughts and she quickly reminds herself that she needs to be professional. Which means no staring, no thinking of that night and definitely no ogling so she plasters on a pleasant smile as she walks towards him and offers her hand.

“Logan, nice to meet you. I’m Ellie,” She internally cringes at herself. Of course he knows who she is. He’s here for a collab after all and they were already well acquainted a week before. She didn’t need to introduce herself and she didn’t need to make it so obvious that she was intentionally setting up a clean slate for them to work on.

But Logan doesn’t take notice of it and takes her hand with smile. “Thanks for taking on this project Ellie. I really appreciate it.”

Micah's eyes bounce between them and he lets out a small snicker before he makes his way back to the mixing console. Ellie internally sends Micah a threat of bodily harm for purposely leaving her with Logan knowing full well that it’s going to be awkward. But the slight flutter of the paper in her hand reminds her that she has a song to record and she can use that as a way to worm herself out of this awkwardness.

“Uh should we practice with our parts?”

Logan blinks, his long lashes almost touching his cheeks, before he breaks out in a wide grin. “Yeah let’s do that. Want to do it in the booth?”

No. Absolutely not. Ellie does not want to do it in the vocal booth. An enclosed space where sound gets muffled and Micah can see everything happening from the other side? A terrible idea for her and her beating heart and crumbling resolve to not ogle at the guy in front of her.

But how else is she going to turn down his offer?

“Sure,” Ellie shrugs, trying to sound nonchalant but her voice comes out a little too squeaky for her own liking.

Logan grins as he moves to the door and pushes it open. “After you then.”

Ellie glares at the double thumbs up Micah sends her in her peripheral view and she quickly replies with an annoyed thumbs down before she enters the solitary and quiet space of the vocal booth. She takes the seat on one of the chairs and Logan drags one to place in front of her. He swings his legs over it and folds his arms on the back of the chair as he perches his chin on top of his arm to look at her.

Ellie immediately curses the musical gods at how they could create a guy so dastardly handsome with a golden voice and drop him in front of her.

“So,” Logan starts with a grin. “Did you get home okay?”

Ellie can’t help the blush that spreads on her cheeks as her lips pull into a frown. “You couldn’t just leave it alone?”

Logan shrugs with an honest smile. “I’m not really a subtle guy and I want to make sure you were okay. I didn’t get your number either so I couldn’t text you,” He lifts his chin off of his arm and he observes her quietly. “We didn’t have sex by the way.”

“We didn’t?!” Ellie practically shouts before she clamps her mouth shut.

Logan raises an amused eyebrow. “Of course. You think I’m the type of guy who’d take advantage of a drunk girl? I said I’d sleep on the couch but you insisted that it was my bed so I should sleep there. Then you started to strip,” He grins. “Luckily, we were able to reach a compromise on the underwear staying on.”

Ellie can’t keep the grimace away from her face as the mental image comes to her. It pains her to admit that Drunk-Ellie would definitely do those things in those exact same sequence of events.

She drops her head in her hands and groans. “God, I’m so sorry. I’m not usually like that, I swear.”

Logan chuckles, his voice light and teasing. “So you’ve said last night. You’re a really nice drunk though. Kept on insisting that you would make this song a guaranteed hit. That’s why you wanted to come home with me actually, “so we can practice” you said.”

Ellie chuckles ruefully before she lifts her head to look at him apologetically. Then, the image of him shirtless on the bed suddenly comes to her and she narrows her eyes suspiciously at him.

“If we didn’t…why were you shirtless?”

“Oh that?” Logan laughs a little as he rubs the back of his neck and looks away from her. “Uh, the lipstick was gonna leave a bad stain. Thought I’d put it in the wash first so my stylist wouldn’t kill me.”

“Oh my god,” Ellie covers her mouth with the lyric sheet in her hand in shocked guilt. “I’m so sorry. I’ll pay for it, send me the invoice. Along with the glass that I broke and the carpet I probably ruined.”

“Nah, it’s already taken care for,” Logan grins as he looks back at her. “And you didn’t leave that much of a damage. You’re fine, Ellie.”

She stares at him and a grateful smile tugs at her lips. Although she didn’t want to admit it, she’s already heard a lot about Logan from the staff and from what she picks up from time to time on the internet. Not that she heard anything bad about him other than his secret of hobby of racing cars but she’s still pretty apprehensive with the bad boy image that the company seems to be pushing on him.

She knows that an image of an artist can be fabricated to cater to the fans (and sometimes the general public) but a little of that image usually stems from the artists’ real personality. After all, it’s difficult to always keep up an image and the real person behind the music is bound to slip out. And she’s had enough of her fill of “bad boys”.

“Okay but let me pay for the shirt. I insist.”

Logan grins brilliantly and she has to internally scold her heart for reacting.

“Sure. Can your card handle it though? It was a Valentino.”

She smiles playfully as she leans forward and whispers, “I’ll put it down as a company expense, don’t worry.”

Logan lets out an amused laugh. “You can do that?”

“Oh yeah, Raleigh taught me that little trick,” She says just as she suddenly feels a little shy under his soft and warm gaze. “In fact, I can uhm…teach you a lot of stuff about the industry. Just to help you get by, you know? Have a friend and all that. I mean that’s what Cadence did for me. Raleigh too but he’s an awful teacher.”

She’s fairly aware that she’s rambling but she can’t seem to stop herself around him. Perhaps that’s why Drunk-Ellie was so adamant on kissing him. Even Sober-Ellie wants to do it and there has never been a time in Ellie Wheeler’s life where Drunk-Ellie and Sober-Ellie has made a unanimous decision on anything other than wanting to kiss Logan.

Logan smiles teasingly as bumps his knee against hers. “You’re a troublemaker aren’t you?”

Ellie blinks a little and a smile tugs on her lips. “Only if I have to be.”

They exchange a small laugh as the atmosphere around them starts to mellow out. The awkwardness and apprehension Ellie felt immediately disappears in an instant and she’s surprised at how easy and comfortable it is to be around him.

“Uh anyway,” She says as she raises the lyric sheet in her hand. “Let’s practice?”

“Sure. Think we can share though? I left my sheet with Micah.”

Oh fuck. The close proximity of him to her is not going to do her heart any favors. But it’s not like she can say no to him. What would she even say? ‘Sorry but you’re too hot and any closer I’ll catch fire?’, like hell she’ll say that to him.

“Yeah, that’s fine,” She says as she moves her chair next to him and she can already catch the smell of something floral and woodsy. She tries her best not to comment on how much she loves it.

“Thanks Ellie,” He looks at her with an encouraging smile as he pulls out his phone and waits for her cue so he can start the instrumentals. “Let’s start.”

Ellie nods and she warms up her voice by briefly running through some vocal warmups before she gives him a nod. She keeps in time with the intro of the arpeggio chords before she starts the beginning of the song.

Candy, candy, candy Aye, yeah, yeah, yeah Aye, yeah, yeah, yeah Candy, candy

Honey are you still wondering? Right, you are careful picking out sugar, spice I respect that appetite, yeah

“Shit,” Logan says in awe as he pauses the music. “I knew your voice would be perfect when I wrote this but I didn’t expect it to sound this good.”

Ellie pauses and looks at him in shock. “You wrote this?”

“Yeah, you think I don’t write my own songs?” He tries to laugh it off but Ellie could hear the slight hurt in his voice.

“No I didn’t mean it that way. I just thought…I mean the genre is so different from what you usually release. I thought Ellis might be pushing this on to you or something, sorry.”

Logan chuckles as he places his hand on his heart in mock hurt. “I take it that you aren’t a fan of the heartbroken bad boy pining songs I’m known for?”

Ellie wants to lie but the honest response of his question is probably written on her face.

“Sorry. They’re very sad though, I’ll give you that.”

Logan laughs. “They better be! The producers of those songs practically told me to cry in the booth if I have to.”

“They did not!”

“Oh they did,” Logan grins at her. “It’s ridiculous right? The things they’ll tell us to do to get the sound they want.”

“It comes with the territory unfortunately,” She laughs as she nudges his shoulder playfully. “When I was recording ‘Easy’ I was supposed to act sad and heartbroken. But I didn’t want the song to be that way. I wanted it to show a side that was playful and strong.”

“Yeah?” Logan grins and he looks at her with awe. “Bet they liked that.”

“Oh they loved it,” She says sarcastically before she giggles. “But when it placed fifth in the top 100’s and had 40 million views in PlayMe, I didn’t hear a peep from them ever again.”

Logan chuckles. “Troublemaker.”

Ellie grins. “Guess it’s just part of my brand now.”

“Funny enough, I didn’t become a fan of you because of Easy.”

Ellie looks at him curiously, their faces close enough that she can see his eyelashes touch his eyelids every time he blinked. After she collaborated with Cadence Dorian, which caused the initial push for her success, everyone was waiting for what type of song and image direction she was going to take. When she dropped ‘Easy’ as her first solo single, a groovy alt R&B single with a music video packed with soft and pastel neon lights, it was a guaranteed hit and so many of her fans credit ‘Easy’ as the reason to why they became her fans in the first place.

“So what made you a hardcore Ellie Wheeler stan then?”

Logan smiles as he plucks the sheet lyrics from her hand. “Flower.”

Ellie’s eyes widen and somewhere in her heart tugs at the mention of that single. She had released it shortly after her mother died as a dedication to the love and life her mother left behind. It’s the one song Ellie absolutely loves and absolutely hates at the same time. She loves it because it’s the most honest and raw she’s ever been as an artist but hates it because so many of her worst critics and haters dragged her through the mud for “capitalizing” on the death of her mother by promoting the song. As if she wasn’t allowed to express and work through her grief on her own terms.

“Thanks,” She replies but she can’t keep the forlorn and melancholy tone out from her voice. “It’s a nice song.”

“It’s more than nice,” Logan refutes. “I mean those runs in G5 falsettos? And I can feel the emotions you were putting into the lyrics. You got me hooked from that song alone.”

Elli goes red at the compliments that flow so easily out of him. No wonder so many people love him. He makes every word that comes out of his mouth sound genuine and honest. Ellie realizes he really wasn’t lying when he said that he wasn’t a subtle guy.

“Yeah, I really love that song,” She confesses honestly as she plays with the edges of her shirt. “My mother...is the one that taught me to sing. I thought it would be nice to honor her memory through a song.”

Logan smiles softly. “That’s why I love you.”

They freeze, the meaning behind his words hanging between them, and Ellie looks at him in disbelief and shock and Logan fumbles through his explanation as he looks at her nervously.

“I mean uhm as an artist to an artist, you know? I mean as a fan too. I’m a huge fan! That’s why I love you—as a fan. Nothing more. Just a fan.”

Ellie searches his nervous and panicky brown eyes as he settles his eyes everywhere but her face. She wants to dig in more to his words but she hardly knows him enough to know if he’s lying or not. And it’s not like they’re close enough for her to actually start asking him questions about it.

“Alright you two! Let’s get to recording!”

Micah’s booming voice in the vocal booth cuts through the awkwardness that settled between them. Ellie quickly stands to her feet and look towards the glass barrier and tries to hide away the blush on her face.

“Right! We’re—I mean I’m ready Micah!” She turns to Logan and holds her hand out. “The uhm lyric sheet. I need to record the song, I mean my parts. Not the whole song. This is a collaboration after all. That’s why I’m here and all that.”

She internally cringes at herself when she realizes that she has the social and conversational grace of a Raleigh Carrera after 4 glasses of tequila.

Logan laughs a little as he stands from the seat and hands the paper to her, his eyes burning in a passion and determination that pulls her in. “Let’s make this a hit Ellie.”

Ellie’s eyes widen as she gives him a reassuring and determined nod before she takes the sheet from his hand. “You can count on me Logan.”

#choices rod #choices platinum #logan x ellie #Choices Logan #raleigh carrera #cadence dorian #male raleigh x cadence #crossover #if anyone is familiar with the song #its candy by baekhyun HAHA #outing myself as a casual kpop fan #but im using the fan edit of wheein and baekhyun singing candy #top tier i need an actual collab

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songsorter28 · 4 years

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Blackpink: The Album Review

Okay, this is the first time i’ve done this and the truth is i don’t know how, so i’ll just try my best.

First of all: I am a Jennie biased blink. That means I have no trustworthy sense of criticism when it comes to them and if you do, this is probably not the place for you. I will try to talk about this album with a sense of criticism, but sometimes, i’m just gonna like a song because it’s blackpink and y’all just gotta deal with it.

BUT, I am not afraid of saying i don’t like things that the pinks have said it to like, which is actually how i’m starting this review. So, if you guys are all about loving the girls and emotion and “think about how they must feel” this is a decision made by the girls, this place is also not for you either. I am a blink and i share a lot of love for those four women, but i am also a consumer of their work as artists. I will complain if I didn’t get something I thought was necessary as a viewer and listener for my money and attention to be spent. I will not, of course, hate on them in any way.

Ok, before anything:

1) English isn’t my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes. 2) Here, we’re gonna talk about the cover, pre-release single choices, writing credits, tracklist and my honest opinion about the album as a whole.

a) The Cover:

There’s not a lot to talk about but the fact that it’s gorgeous, but simple. I didn’t understand why a crown if the name was The Album (something unoriginal to be honest, but i’m not 100% against it) and there’s no reference to royalty throughtout the album besides maybe Jennie’s rap “didn’t want to be a princess”. I did find the cover visually pleasing tho, could be much more embarrasing.

b) Writing credits and Track List:

This one is quick. I’m extremely glad Jennie and Jisoo were credited as songwriters (Jennie as well as a composer) but Teddy gotta give Danny Chung to god. He hates rapper Jennie and he’s the reason Lisa doesn’t write. He’s always in charge of the raps so teddy gets confortable and Lisa doesn’t get a chance to write her own verses, which is something the sure thing cover showed us she can do. Also, he hates rapper Jennie to the point where she had to write her rap on the title track (wich is good, but, you know what i mean) and wasnt even given a chance to write more than 8 seconds. Melanie I hope this is the last time you were here. Loren you can stay. Tommy and Ryan yall were cute we had fun but it’s over let’s move one (seriously, these producers really made me appreciate Teddy more lmao pls sir never leave us). Okay that’s it. Now, to the track list.

I will be talking about the fact this shouldn’t even be called a full album on the My Honest Opinion About The Album As A Whole topic.

1. How You Like That

I say my opinion more detailed on the next topic but at at essence. Cute. A good opener to the album and what is to come, but too much of a bside to even be a pre release single.

6.5/10

2. Ice Cream

Again, my opinion it’s on the next topic. Cute song. Loved Chaennie’s high notes and wish i didn’t know english so the rap didnt sound that silly. Not as bad as blinks and non blinks make it out to be.

6.12/10

3. Pretty Savage

I kinda also talked about that in the next topic lmao. It has everything a blackpink song should have. There’s been some controversy about Lisa “born skinny bitch” but Lisa was talking about herself since she has been body shamed through her whole career. She was right and she should say it. You’re entitled to feel uncomfortable but that’s just the thing she wasn’t talking about me or you. She was taking her pain and wearing like an armor. This was a diss track for the haters. Taking that away from her because of our own issues it’s kinda mistreating hers.

8.82/10

4. Bet You Wanna

Yes you guessed it right I talk more about it next topic. It’s a bop. Loved Jennie here. She has such a versatile voice I was very proud to hear her. And Cardi was also good. Just hope Lisa will get her rap part live cause she didn’t have much lines here. But I loved Jenlisa’s brigde. Rosé’s adlibs peak perfection and Jisoo’s chorus and english that’s what i’m talking about. The chorus can be a little repetitive and it kinda ends a bit suddenly but it doesnt bother me much.

8.37/10

5. Lovesick Girls

WHAT TO SAY ABOUT THIS MASTERPIECE OTHER THAN BEST BLACKPINK TITLE TRACK? Love that for me. It was so different than anything they’ve done so far, the lyrics were AMAZING, the message behind it also, the visuals in the MV, storylinne, RAPPER JENNIE OMG, she got the most memorable line “didn’t want to be a princess, i’m priceless” i love her tf the shade to the yg princess title and her scene in the car and in the mental hospital(will not touch on the controversies cause that was annoying) also Lisa’s rap/singing with a flow in the begining her voice OMG I WAS SHOOKEDT. Jisoo’s high note in the brigde? Rosé?? perfect.

10/10

6. Crazy Over You

Rapper Jennie for the last time with a 8 second rap again but LET’S BE POSITIVE. A bop. I loved the i. went. crazy. over. you. I love the lyrics. It bother a bit this much english but it’s bp’s idendity so i’m fine with it.

8.5/10

7. Love To Hate Me

This was a predictable song in the best possible way. Easily one of their best songs. There’s honestly nothing left to say. Also. Lisa’s rap. Maybe Danny Chung deserves some points. It even felt like she was a feat in the song like her flow yall just perfection.

9.4/10

8. You Never Know.

Great song I left with depression.

I like how this album talks with haters and blinks, it really shows a different side from the pinks. Only a few know the emotion Jennie starting off “but you never know unless you walk in my shoes [...] cause everybody sees what they wanna see, it’s easier to jugde it than to believe”. It was written by Loren, a close friend from the girls and the boy who’s Jenlichaeng boyfriend in the LSG’s MV and Bekuh Boom, a producer who’s been with them for really long, but if anyone got a conspirancy theory that they were involved in the songwriting process of the song, sign me up. You don’t need proves. I believe you. ALSO JISOO GOT MOST LINE ON THIS ONE and we got singer Lisa. After a while, it become my favorite song from the album. Now, it’s my favorite song from their discography. Debate your mother.

9.62/10

c) Pre-Release single Choices:

I can’t stress about this enough. Whoever was in charge for the single choices needs to go to jail. Not that HYLT is bad (at all) but comparing to the rest of the songs, it look MUCH more like a powerful bside than Love To Hate Me and Pretty Savage ever will. I will lecture later how Pretty Savage was the perfect choice to first release single, just wait. Now, to the controversial Ice Cream. To be honest, i found the song super cute and i think the MV was one of their best. It was different and refreshing, love that for me. But the whole sequence of events that turned out to that disasterous twitter timeline, with constant attacks to the girls especially Lisa over things they cannot control such as line distribuition and a sabotage from antis on yt comment section, was something I kinda already saw it coming. Ice Cream is Blackpink’s most successful single to date, but it was a bad choice from the start (I will talk about that in a second). For starters, YG decided not to promote the song well. While announcing the single, they gave us a poster with pictures from a summer package released months before. And each week they kept doing that, only using actual teaser photos in the release week. The hype was pretty much out. I can’t say my timeline is 100% blink because i have way too many fandoms that i’ve been following for longer than i’ve known kpop, but compared to the HYLT hype, they were pretty down and that’s on YGE. Also, ever since coachella, it’s been antecipated by fans and artists the possibility of a Blackpink x Ariana Grande (one of the most popular singes these last couple of years). The idea of an Aripink collab got blinks (who were already with an eye wide open after Blackpink was seen with Tommy Brown, Ari’s basically oficial producer, who has been producing for her ever since her second album and was reponsible for many hits of her latest project, Thank U, Next, such as 7 rings and Thank U, Next) even more hyped when YG announced (one of those old photoshoot posters. I’m sorry I will never let that go that company is so trash) that Blackpink’s second release was going to be a collaboration with a western artist, and Ariana herself like Jennie’s instagram post about the next single. I cannot put in words the reaction of my twitter timeline when YG confirmed that the collab was actually with Selena Gomez.

Now, on a more personal note.

You see, I actually like Selena. I like her songs, besides the critics. Perfect is pop perfection. Waverly Place is the best disney show ever since That’s So Raven. But, to a collab made to the US market, and besides the success of Rare, Selena isn’t a sales force like Adele or Taylor Swift, nor a streaming force like Ariana Grande. Nothing takes my theory that this was supposed to be an aripink collab but, for some reason, she dipped and then interscope (blackpink us label and selena’s label) picked her. Selena showed us a good time and promoted the girls more than YGE did but, it wasn’t a surprise when the song didn’t get a top 10 (a top 13 is really good tho, don’t get me wrong).

Now back to the story telling

Selena was more than a feat, she sang the whole damn song, getting more vocal lines the the entire vocal line. She’s only a few seconds behind Lisa, who got the most lines in general. I understand that it is a collab, but this is the girls’ single. Why would they want to listen to them for only 16 seconds, the amount of time Rosé got? That set a bunch of solo stans (something that exists more in this fandom than everywhere else) to boycoitt the release, a huge fansite even taking out their funds for the full album (that was low, even for a solo account. JisooBar, you aint seeing heaven). Did i think it was a little of overeacting? As someone who’s an army that had to handle Not Today’s line distribuition, and especially since we’re talking about the main vocalist, someone who will for sure have more lines in the future (as she did), kinda. But, like i said, it was a bomb getting ready to explode at any minute. If it wasn’t that it’d be something else. That being said, NOTHING will ever justify the nastyness y’all did with Lisa and even Jennie’s comment section. Nothing. That was ridiculous even for solo stans. BUT for people who got worried about Lisa’s lack of posts after the release, don’t worry. She didn’t post a lot because Thailand is going through some stuff and I don’t think she has YGe’s permission to talk about it (when I catch the ones in power on that company istg).

Wow, that was long. At essence, it was a bad choice for several reasons, but i enjoyed the song a lot. Can’t wait for the live performances with chaesoo’s lines.

Now, back to HYLT. It was greatly promoted, it stopped Zico’s (huge in korea) releases and a bunch of other big artists in South Korea. Got 7 Perfect All-Kills and would’ve gotten more than 12 if the charts weren’t reforming at the time. It also broke a lot of records, and repeated Sour Candy’s position on the bb100 on #33. It’s another very Blackpink song that I enjoyed but kinda aged. Many non blinks didn’t like it but it’s not like they were ever going to admit they liked a bp song. They’re annoying. The song’s biggest problem is probably the 2015 edm in the chorus. Like. Teddy. You gotta let that go. It’s time. He kinda heard us in the album. But, these kinds of songs are very liked by the general public, especially the korean one. An interview was made asking the general public if blackpink should change concepts and they said a bit fat no. So that tells what you need to know. And that it why i think Pretty Savage should have been the first pre release single.

Okay, let me tell you another series of event. Back on november 2019, when we were starving because YGe does not like money, BlackpinkBar, a big fansite, payed trucks to be sent to YG building during a whole day demanding for better treatment to Blackpink. You can find all the demands online, but at essence, when it came to music related, blinks always mention: Jisoo’s lines, screen time and blackpink in your area, Main Rapper Jennie, Lisa dance break, Rosé’s high note. On HYLT, we got nothing. And everyone had to shrug it off saying it was just a pre release single, BUT it would be better hyped by blink and the hype to the second pre release would’ve lasted longe if PRETTY SAVAGE, who has basically all of that, was the pre release single. It would’ve assured us of so much. Jisoo said bp in your area twice, she RAPPED, she was singing, she could’ve had more screetime and center time especially bc she’s on all chorus. Jennie Main Rapper would go back and we wouldn’t have to be blue balled (which caused the ice cream meltdown)every single release and only having to wait till the title track and only to have a 8 SECOND RAP. I won’t talk about that now. Moving on. Rosé wouldn’t get a high note, but she would’ve gotten the brigde all to herself and the next pre release single, bet you wanna (wait for it), she would get those incredible adlibs. And Lisa’s dance break. Not only this is bp’s most danceable song and has a bunch of lisa’s raps, it also has jennie’s outro, where for a least 20 seconds lisa could’ve thrived. Yall we were robbed.

Now, real quick, back to Ice Cream. In a perfect world (or just a world where YG’s current ceo) had brains, if they wanted a collaboration to show the pink side of blackpink, with a poppy song and sassy lyrics, the artist not to be in the whole song, and to have an artist who would driven attention from the locals and is a big streaming force, THEY WOULD’VE CHOSEN BET YOU WANNA. My biggest problem with bet you wanna is Lisa’s lack of lines, which could cause stuff and well we just miss her they could have added a rap even for 8 seconds, BUT, seeing her all around pretty savage and knowing she’s gonna have Cardi’s rap during live performances would cool things down. Since we were in the middle of a pandemic, instead of a mv like ice cream where they had to do it separately, they could’ve done something like IU’s eight. A huge part in animation and a few with people. Literally YG why are you so dumb. Bye.

d) My Honest Opinion About The Album As A Whole:

I did some math (lol) and my rank for The Album is 8.4. It’s easily one of the best releases from this year and I loved it so much, but something were left to be desired and i think i could pass everything and just turn a blind eye at things, except one: the fact we waited for 4 years, watched all ggs and yg groups getting comebacks last semester and only got 8 songs. Loona is releasing a mini album with that amount of songs. Stray Kids and BTS’s mini albums are longer than that. It was bad enough KTL had 4 songs and a remix (a joke) with 2 songs lacking raps and no rapper jennie only for them to carry YG’s dirty name after what their protected boys did. I legit hate it here they didn’t even had 30 minutes, their longest song wasn’t even 4 minutes. Also, before anyone says anything about the girl’s interview about quality over quantity. I’d like to say that i understand them having that when it comes to have one comeback a year and i’m honestly okay with that. But their first full album? 8 songs? Are you kidding me? Like I said, I’m a consumer. I refuse to receive this half assed excuse about quality over quantity when they had more than enough time to produce and write more than 8 quality songs? what, is impossible to write more than one song per moth? these songs have formulas, they can be made more than 8 times. A blackpink album its more than a thousand reals here. That 90% of a sallary. And please don’t come with the “if you don’t want it just don’t buy it” “you can just unstan them” bc that’s not the case. I love their songs. I love the girls. But I’m a consumer of their art and if they want to be takend seriously as artists, they gotta do more than 8 songs on a full album. It’s unfair to anyone that isn’t a diehard fan willing to sell out an overpriced photobook in hours. That’s not the only kind of fan blackpink needs. they need the store locals, the people who are not on twitter or tumblr or instagram. Cause those locals are gonna stay like they stayed with adele and taylor swift. stan twitter is much more likely to leave them with time.

Side note: I’m tired of commenting on rapper Jennie so I’ll just say Jennie deserves better than 8 second raps as the main rapper of the group. That doesnt mean I want Lisa to not rap or to Jisoo not to sing, as many will say bc apparently that’s what people hear when we say main rapper who trained for 6 years to be a main rapper should rap on at least most title tracks even if not on all songs.

But yeah, that’s it. Besides the unfortunate final note, I loved The Album and now Blackpink it’s my second most listened artist of all time. They were top 13 before the album.

#Blackpink Jisoo Jennie Rosé Lisa TheAlbum The Album AlbumReview Album Review Kpop

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blackkudos · 4 years

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Peabo Bryson

Peabo Bryson (born Robert Peapo Bryson; April 13, 1951, given name changed from "Peapo " to Peabo c. 1965) is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, born in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. He is well known for singing soul ballads (often as a duo with female singers) and has contributed to two Disney animated feature soundtracks. Bryson is a winner of two Grammy Awards.

Career

He had two sisters and a brother and spent much of his childhood on his grandfather's farm in Mauldin, South Carolina. His love for music stemmed from his mother, who often took the family to concerts of well-known African-American artists at the time.

Bryson marked his professional debut at age 14, singing backup for Al Freeman and the Upsetters, a local Greenville group. It was Freeman's difficulty in pronouncing Bryson's French West-Indian name, "Peapo", that led Bryson to change its spelling to Peabo. Two years later, he left home to tour the Chitlin' Circuit with another local band, Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display. Bryson's first break came during a recording session at Atlanta's Bang Records. Although Bang was not impressed with Dillard's band, the young backup singer caught the ear of the label's general manager, Eddie Biscoe. Biscoe signed Bryson to a contract as a writer, producer, and arranger and encouraged Bryson to perform his own songs. For several years, Bryson worked with hometown bands and wrote and produced for Bang. In 1976, he launched his own recording career with "Underground Music" on the Bang label. His first album, Peabo, followed shortly thereafter. Although only a regional success, Bryson signed to Capitol Records in 1977.

Bryson's greatest solo hits include 1977's "Feel the Fire" and "Reaching for the Sky", 1978's "I'm So Into You" and "Crosswinds", 1982's "Let the Feeling Flow", 1984's "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" (his first Top 10 pop single, at #10 in the US), 1989's "Show and Tell", and the 1991 hit "Can You Stop the Rain". In 1985, he appeared on the soap opera One Life to Live to sing a lyrical version of its theme song. Bryson's vocals were added to the regular theme song in 1987 and his voice was heard daily until 1992. He recorded the successful album of romantic love duets with Roberta Flack (Born to Love) in 1983. In partnership with Regina Belle, Bryson recorded two hit duets: "Without You", the love theme from the comedy film Leonard Part 6, recorded in 1987 and "A Whole New World", the main theme of the Disney's animated feature film Aladdin, recorded in 1992. Bryson and Belle recorded four duets over the years: "Without You" (in 1987), "I Can't Imagine" (in 1991), "A Whole New World" (in 1992) and "Total Praise" (in 2009).

Among his romantic love songs and duets are:

"Gimme Some Time", with Natalie Cole

"What You Won't Do for Love", with Natalie Cole

"Here We Go", with Minnie Riperton

"Lovers After All", with Melissa Manchester

"Tonight I Celebrate My Love", with Roberta Flack

"You're Lookin' Like Love to Me", with Roberta Flack

"I Just Came Here to Dance", with Roberta Flack

"There's Nothin' Out There", with Chaka Khan

"Without You", with Regina Belle (theme from Leonard Part 6)

"For You and I" with Angela Bofill

"Beauty and the Beast", with Celine Dion (theme from Beauty and the Beast)

"I Can't Imagine", with Regina Belle

"A Whole New World", with Regina Belle (theme from Aladdin)

"You Are My Home", with Linda Eder (theme from The Scarlet Pimpernel)

"By the Time This Night Is Over", with Kenny G

"Light the World", with Deborah Gibson

"The Gift", with Roberta Flack

"Wishes", with Kimberley Locke (for the album Disney Wishes!)

"The Best Part", with Nadia Gifford

"As Long As There's Christmas", with Roberta Flack (theme from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas)

"I Have Dreamed", with Lea Salonga (theme from The King and I)

"Make It Til Tomorrow", with Sandi Patty

Bryson won two Grammy Awards: in 1992 for his performance of the song "Beauty and the Beast" with Celine Dion and in 1993 for "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle.

In Spring 1998, Bryson contributed his voice to Barney's Great Adventure: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, with the song "Dream (Twinken's Tune)".

Bryson performed in theater and operatic productions, most notably the tenor role of "Sportin' Life" in the Michigan Opera Theater of Detroit's version of Porgy and Bess. His tax problems caught up with him on August 21, 2003, when the U.S. Internal Revenue Service seized property from his Atlanta, Georgia, home. He is reported to owe $1.2 million in taxes dating back to 1984. The IRS auctioned many of his possessions, including both Grammy Awards, electronic equipment, his grand piano and multiple pairs of shoes including the 2 Versace pair purchased by Nashville Bassist and Florida native Justin Lowry.

In 2002, Bryson's "Beauty and the Beast" music video was included on the platinum and Blu-ray edition of Beauty and the Beast. His "A Whole New World" music video was included on the platinum edition DVD release of Aladdin. Bryson's CD, Missing You, was released on October 2, 2007 on Peak Records, a division of Concord Music Group.

September 4, 2016 was declared "Peabo Bryson Day" in Charleston, SC and North Charleston, SC during the LowCountryJazzFest. The annual jazzfest is presented by ClosingTheGapInHealthCare.org, founded by Dr. Thaddeus Bell.

In 2018, Bryson released his new album Stand For Love, which was produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. The project was released on Jam & Lewis' newly reactivated label, Perspective Records.

Personal life

Before marrying his present wife, former singer and member of English R&B group The 411 Tanya Boniface, Bryson was engaged several times to Juanita Leonard, the former wife of boxing great Sugar Ray Leonard. In the 1990s, he became engaged to Angela Thigpen, former Miss Virginia Teen USA and later a model/actress. Bryson and Boniface have a son, Robert, born January 1, 2018.

Bryson also has a daughter, Linda (born c. 1968), from a previous relationship, along with three grandchildren.

On April 29 2019, it was reported that Bryson had suffered a heart attack, and had been taken to Atlanta hospital where he was said to be in a stable condition. However he has since made a full recovery and is currently touring.

Discography

Peabo (1976)

Reaching for the Sky (1977)

Crosswinds (1978)

We're the Best of Friends (with Natalie Cole) (1979)

Paradise (1980)

Turn the Hands of Time (1981)

I Am Love (1981)

Don't Play with Fire (1982)

Born to Love (with Roberta Flack) (1983)

Straight from the Heart (1984)

Take No Prisoners (1985)

Quiet Storm (1986)

Positive (1988)

All My Love (1989)

Can You Stop the Rain (1991)

Through the Fire (1994)

Peace on Earth (1997)

Unconditional Love (1999)

Christmas with You (2005)

Missing You (2007)

Stand for Love (2018)

#04/13

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theotherboywhonevergrewup · 4 years

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My Top Songs of 2019

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

8. “Antidote” - Mr Hudson

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

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

7. “Me & You” - EXID

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

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

6. “Heartbreak” - Hunter Hayes

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

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

5. “Tempo” - Lizzo featuring Missy Elliott

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

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

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

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

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

3. “Beautiful goodbye” - Chen

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

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

2. “Never-ending Summer” - Cyn

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

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

1. “Lovebird” - Far East Movement featuring Lay

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

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

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

#me

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dailyexo · 5 years

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[NEWS] EXO - 181227 Billboard: “EXO's 'Love Shot' Album: The Producers & Songwriters Break Down Every Song”

"The long-awaited one-two punch of EXO’s Don’t Mess Up My Tempo and subsequent Love Shot repackage provided fans with two heaping doses of polished pop. From Daft Punk’s Tron to U.K. garage, EXO checks off all the stylistic boxes on their latest works, expanding upon and further fleshing out their diverse discography.

The sonic gambles have paid off: The Love Shot repackage has already swept iTunes charts around the world from Thailand to the United States, building upon the record-breaking success of its predecessor Tempo. The members of EXO are still going strong six years into their careers, with Love Shot representing a new apex for the boy band.

We spoke with the producers behind EXO’s greatest LP thus far for the stories behind the songs.

“Love Shot”

Mike Woods: Last year in January, we had a camp with Marz Music and SM. They had liked the song since January [2017] -- Korea's just very strategic when they release songs and how they brand everything around the song. It was purposely [for] the repackage album from day one -- not necessarily day one, but they were deciding between "Tempo" and "Love Shop" -- the original [title] is "Love Shop," by the way. So we kinda knew that the repackage album would have "Love Shot" being the title single.

We wanted something that was very, very performance-driven, very dance-driven -- something that would sound good loud and in an arena. We like the fact that it's kind of in a different time signature -- it's in 6/8, so that's not like a generic pop song. With Korea, we like to do things that push the boundaries, not super generic, because they're very musical. Things like that translate a lot better than they do in America. We really like the anthemic [sound] -- even [with] "Oasis," that's what we strive for. We like to do things that just sound big -- I feel like that's our niche with me, Kevin [White], and Bazzi. It's fun, big, and loud. We saved it for the last day 'cause we knew we wanted to end the camp with a bang, and in our heads, we knew what song we wanted to make. We had voice notes of it from the first or second day we got there, but we wanted to save it for the end 'cause we knew it would be a big song for them.

“Tempo”

Leven Kali: Two years ago I went to Seoul for the first time for a writing camp with SM, and we started “Tempo” during that trip. It took a few sessions after that back in the states with the rest of the writers [Tay Jasper and Adrian McKinnon] to finish it up, and then Digi, the main producer, brought it home with the final touches. We didn't know where the song would end up, but I'm grateful that it ended up with EXO because they always execute the records at a unique and high-quality level. I'm really happy [with] how it turned out and blessed to be a part of their story.

The song is inspired by a lot of different genres and artists, like Teddy Riley, OutKast, and Take 6. Adrian is one of the most talented singers and musicians I’ve ever met, and he really brought that doo-wop flair to the track. In K-pop they really encourage experimental arrangements, so we got to be creative with this one.

“Tempo” was so fun to make because the energy during the entire trip was on fire. We were working so fast, coming up with tons of good songs, and definitely dabbling in the Seoul nightlife. Digi and Adrian had started the song on one of those crazy nights, and when we got back to the studio, it was a party making the record. Gotta give a big shout out to the blue soju. Also, fun fact: The original spelling of the song is “Ttempo,” with two Ts.

Digi Chammas: “Tempo” was a huge group effort with the writers and they absolutely killed it. I feel like you can tell it was a group of us having the most fun making that song. The constant switch ups and harmonizing is how we like to work. When we do that, there is a lot of back and forth for months with fine tuning, especially the a cappella section because it’s so special. Adrian [McKinnon] is a genius with his harmony. It’s one of my favorite songs I’ve produced, and EXO just crushed it. Crushed it! Having a single with them is what I’ve always wanted, and to be a part of such an exciting release is unreal.

"Tempo" is an amalgam of R&B, funk, disco, EDM, and '90s house. It all goes together without trying too hard. The pieces just fit. Doing edits on the demo wasn’t annoying or daunting because it just never got annoying to listen to.

I wanted to bring a bright energy to their music while still letting it still be serious without being too serious. Also, bed squeaks. They just work.

“Trauma”

Keynon “KC” Moore: Since [co-producer] DaBenchwarma and I are both managed by 3Sixty Music Group we collaborate on many different songs. Danny [Smith, KC’s manager] is telling me he had a plug for 5 Seconds of Summer. And I know they wanted to kinda go [in] a crossover, kind of urban [direction], but still keep it pop. So DaBenchwarma sent me over a few tracks for that and I wrote to four or five of them. And “Trauma,” as it is now, was one of them. It was actually called "A Little Bit" originally. I wrote to that -- usually what I do is I'm a night owl. I'll write really late, like 3 a.m., and then I'll toy with the melodies in my head. If I can remember the melody the next day when I get ready to record, it usually works out. The next day I went in and recorded it, so when I sent it over to DaBenchwarma, that was one of the tracks he really liked. Danny sent the records over to the A&R for DNCE and Ryan [Jhun], but Ryan hit us back first and was like, “We really like this track -- I’m going to send [it] to SM Entertainment, but let’s make some changes before I pitch it.” We made all those changes, [and] Ryan hit us back [and] said, “They want this for EXO.” A special shout out Ryan’s team Marcan Entertainment because none of this would be possible without them.

Maroon 5's last album was very [influential] -- I have a friend that wrote on it and she's one of my biggest inspirations. I wanted to keep things simple -- I'm still working on really simplifying what we call "pop music," trying to strip things down enough to where it's still very much intelligent but easy for a two-year-old to catch onto. Maroon 5, definitely, I feel like I utilized some of their simplicity and took my own take on it from there.

To me, it's a progressively pop song in which it's simple, but it definitely has a lot to it if you really strip it down and listen -- there's so much going on.

Cedric “DaBenchwarma” Smith: When I started working on that particular track, I was working on some stuff for DNCE at the time, and KC was writing some stuff for them as well. One of the songs that we'd written to, Danny had just gotten a pitch from SM again. At the time I was doing a lot of urban music, and so… it took me a day or two, because I had to readjust myself, just kinda reset and get in a different zone for the type of track it is. 'Cause it's uptempo, guitar-driven pop, a lot of energy. And I had to readjust and reset to get it how I wanted it, and once I sent it over to Keynon, we just started vibing out to it. We were like, "Man, I think we got something here." And so we sent it over to Ryan Jhun; he and his team loved it but wanted to make a couple of adjustments to make it fit for EXO. After making the adjustments, Ryan sent it to SM Entertainment. They loved it but ask[ed] for some changes and edits in additional to the changes Ryan’s team requested, plus a rap verse was requested since it wasn’t in the original pitch. We made numerous adjustments so it could be more energetic so that EXO could showcase their dancing. They're just a very multi-talented group; we wanted the music and the track to reflect who they were.

I was listening to so much at [that] time. I don't like to listen to one thing too long -- I kinda get influences from a little bit of everywhere. A little bit of DNCE, Maroon 5 -- guitar-driven melodic tracks that just keep you moving rhythmically from top to bottom. For me, I was looking for records that have that strong guitar influence in 'em at the time. I think that's one of the things that caught [SM’s] attention, 'cause it gets your attention right from the front of the melody of the guitar, and it drives the song right on home.

Last time we did an urban R&B mid-tempo style [track]. But this time around, we just wanted to do something more upbeat. Like I said, they have so many talents, with their dance and the stage presence and the energy they give. We were doing a track, we heard the energy to it, we [were] like, "Hey, this'll be a little different than what we did, but I think it'll be perfect for them because of how versatile they are." One day they may do the R&B, mid-tempo [sound], then next they come out with [a] high-energy dance track, and they can kill it all.

“Wait”

Andreas Öberg: This is kind of an interesting story, because it's an older song. We did this back in 2014, so the name "Wait" is very appropriate. I've done many camps, over ten camps together with [SM] in Seoul, but this was in my own camp -- it was arranged by a publisher in Korea called Iconic Sounds. So we were doing a week of sessions, and we had one day off. We were gonna go somewhere, but for some reason we didn't. We were indecisive [about] what we were gonna do that day, so Jimmy [Burney] and I were talking and we had done a bunch of songs based on tracks, more full-on kind of productions. We said, "Oh, we have this afternoon off, why don't we just go to the studio, do something just you and I, acoustic guitar and vocals?"

Back then, EXO were already doing winter albums, so we were aiming at that. Shortly after the camp, [SM] said, "Oh, this is perfect for EXO's winter album." So we got it confirmed as a placement. It was supposed to, I think, be on one of those Christmas releases. But then for some reason, they said, "Oh, sorry, no, we decided to use it at a later stage." Through the years, at different times, they told me, "Yeah, it's about to come out." So we didn't pitch it elsewhere because we thought it was coming out, but it always got pushed. And now, finally, four and a half years later -- I think it was autumn of 2014 that we created this song. We were kind of joking about it, "Wait" being an appropriate title, but it ended up where we kinda intended it to end up. We're really happy with the results, how it sounds with EXO's vocals.

I had to re-record the guitar a month ago because they changed the key slightly. It's basically two channels of guitar, one [with] basic chords, a little bit of lower bass mid-range chords, and then there's one other channel where I lay out some of the chords in the higher register just to get a little bit more glitter. We wanted to create something emotional for the winter season. Not necessarily a plain Christmas song, but this is, I would say, a winter season song. I think in Korea, in my experience, the releases from the labels are very season-based. People and fans are expecting specific colors, chords, styles of music.

Jimmy Burney: Four years ago I was in Seoul, Korea at SM doing some sessions with my friends from Iconic Sounds, a very talented music production crew. I went to breakfast one morning with Tesung [Kim], who is the head guy at Iconic, and he asked me who else I had been writing with in the K-pop market at the time. I told him about my buddy Andreas Öberg who does really well in the K-pop scene, so they ended up flying him out as well. Andreas is a genius on the guitar. So after a few sessions of writing to fully produced tracks, I suggested maybe doing something a little more stripped down. He started playing this beautiful progression and the record just came together like magic. A year after that, we were told that EXO would be cutting it and releasing it. That ended up not happening that year; we had to wait a little longer... so long to the point I almost forgotten they even recorded it. It was a nice surprise to wake up and see that the repackaged album it’s on had went No. 1 in 60 countries [on iTunes]. So I guess it was well worth the wait.

I really wanted to do a record that captured raw emotion, and the best way I felt it would stand out was to write a song that was opposite of what we had been writing the whole trip. Don’t get me wrong -- I think uptempos, drums, 808s, synths, and other fun sounds are amazing, but there is nothing like the feeling of a real instrument, like guitar, piano. It was really fun to arrange this with Andreas who has a great ear for structure and harmony. When I recorded my vocals on the demo, I wanted to make sure that it captured the essence of raw emotion so that whoever ended up cutting it would feel it immediately.

Andreas and I started creating this song in the evening -- I was extremely jet lagged. We ended up taking a break and my friend Siwon Choi from Super Junior came and picked us up and took us to dinner and a night out on the town showing us Seoul. We got back to the studio after midnight and finished writing and recording “Wait.”

I had another song with EXO years ago called "Love Love Love.” I’m honored to be a part of another album, I think EXO are amazingly talented. Since “Love Love Love” had more rap elements, it was really nice to give them a record that was more vocal driven this time around.

“Sign”

Patrick "J. Que" Smith: We called it originally "Body Don't Lie," but I think it might've been a little too spicy, so they made some flips to it. But the process of writing it was super, super easy. I remember we got over there and HM -- Harvey [Mason, Jr.] -- brought the track to the table. This trip, in four or five days, we maybe wrote fifteen or sixteen songs. So we've written one or two songs, and Harvey comes in the room excited -- "I got one! I got it! I know I got it!" And he plays the track, and immediately everybody's hype. We sit down and we start writing and we start vibing off of each other. We blew through the song fast, cut it, dressed it up, played it for the crew, and they were like, "Yo, we love this one, we definitely think we wanna use this one." We got the call when we knew they were gonna cut it. The guys ended up recording it, and I remember being back in L.A. at this time, getting a call from Harvey saying, "Hey, it's going really well, they wanna know if you can write a rap for 'em." We sat down, banged out a rap really fast, and sent it back.

Before we started writing, that [concert aspect] comes up now. You have to picture it on stage. If you can't hear it being sung, if you can't see it being performed in a stadium, then it's not the record it needs to be. We've met them, and they're all amazingly sweet guys, but seeing them perform was just wild. It's like watching Clark Kent turn to Superman. They're so amazing and mild-mannered and good natured and super polite, and then when they step on stage, they just become these superheroes. When we sit down to write, you just understand that you can't write this song for Clark Kent. We knew that we had to write the song for Superman. If Superman can't sing this song, we're not doing our job.

“Ooh La La La”

Digi Chammas: “Ooh La La La” came together so smooth. Bazzi is an animal with the pen. One of the A&Rs said something a little Latin would be amazing for EXO. Bazzi and I sat in the studio listening to this bossa guitar loop I had made with Justin Lucas right before I had gone out to Seoul. Honestly, [Bazzi] probably had half of song done within 5-10 minutes while I did the drums, haha. Then I just touched up the arrangement later that week before I left for L.A.. [Bazzi] knows how to write the catchiest shit ever. All I had to do was make it slap.

“Ooh La” is a Latin bop. It has low end and it moves. The inspiration for that was just EXO. When you have them as [the] goal, it’s easy to get inspired because you can almost already see them bodying it. You just know what direction to go.

Justin Lucas: The guitars throughout is me. It's got a bossa nova-inspired kind of groove. Me and Digi [Chammas] were messing around with the sort of bossa nova-inspired feel on the guitar, and then he sort of flipped that to more of the K-pop feel. We got together and played around with ideas, and while we were there writing, they sent some ideas. They said, "Hey, we're finishing the track, here's the bridge chords, can you do the bossa nova-style guitar over this section?" Once we started writing to the initial idea, it [took] about two days and it was done.

“Gravity”

Greg Bonnick, LDN NOISE: Whenever we start to work on records for EXO, we usually start by creating tracks freely and try to be as experimental as possible. Being fortunate enough to have worked on past records, we are quite connected to their journey, so therefore [we] have a feeling of what we would like to hear them do next as listeners and fans.

For “Gravity,” we started with a simple beat like Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and then played a funky bassline. As we layered more sounds, it became more like a disco/funk hybrid and gave us a futuristic feel. We visualized the movie Tron and the soundtrack by Daft Punk for the mood of the song and added the lead sound from “Power.” The lyrics added to the theme, and then Chanyeol helped with translation.

“With You”

Mikey Akin, Sons of Sonix: We basically had the writing session for another artist by the name of Aston Merrygold who's based back home in London, and it was a writing session that we had with him. It was us, Varren Wade, and Aston. I felt like [Aston] loved the song, but he was still deciding his sound for his project, so the record was still open. And then Varren had a meeting with one of the representatives at SM, someone that was looking after EXO, and played the record to them in the meeting, and they loved the record. SM was like, "Yo, we would love to take this for our project." ["With You"] was [created in] May 2016, and it found a home eventually. [SM], they must have heard it top of this year or later.

Myself and Mo [Samuels], our whole production is based in fusion, a lot of fusion [from] our background, us being British and Nigerian. Being from southeast London, you grow up listening to so much garage, so much jungle, so much grime, so what we tend to do is we fuse elements of each genre that makes our foundations in our productions. So even though the record is an R&B pop record, you have the elements of U.K. garage in there. I guess that's kinda one of the reasons why the record must have stood out, because it's something new, but something they could relate to. We just added a different spin to it with the U.K. element. It's kinda like cooking, when you make [something] a certain particular way and you [add] extra ingredients, and you go, "Oh, this is new, I didn't know you could do that!" But you're not scared to enjoy the meal.

[Chanyeol's involvement] was more of a direction kind of basis, making it fit into EXO's vision for the song. Because you gotta understand, if someone presents to you a whole complete record, there's still things you might wanna change. When we were finishing off the record and doing post-production on the record, he did have his input in terms of if we could try this and move this section of the rhythm there and have a drop out here. It was a collaboration back and forth to get the best out of the record.

“24/7”

The Wavyz: The initial idea for “24/7” came together almost a year before it got released. Our team is constantly working on new stuff for K-pop artists, and this is one of the ideas that we felt super strongly about.

Funny enough, it actually was meant for NCT 127 originally. We didn't find out that EXO was interested in it until around March, which is when we started to rework some of the parts.

We were going back and forth with [SM Entertainment] about different options for the intro of the song. We felt like we hit a wall and were stuck until the engineers we work with -- Aaron Berton, Andrew Hey -- walked by whistling the melody from the chorus. That’s when we knew it had to be the intro!

Our goal for this song was always to make it sound effortless while still keeping a high, driving energy going throughout. We wanted it to stand out from the other records on the album.

“Bad Dream”

Bianca Atterberry: It was [titled] "Stranger" when we initially wrote it. Me and Deez and Mike Daley and Mitch, they played the track. Deez will have a track listening when we come in and then we'll sit down and listen to the tracks that they've created. We started with melody -- that's how I normally start in general. I'll hear it and then we'll come up with the melody, and [Deez]'s so good at hearing harmonies and backgrounds and little ambiances. His ears are crazy. Deez is a very hard worker, so he was like, "We gotta get it done." That's all harmonies, all backgrounds, all lyrics -- we [got] it done that day. I feel like songs that are made in the moment are best.

It almost sounds like a '90s R&B song [in] the intro, and then it just hits with this energetic drive to it. It has a whole 'nother drive, almost like a poppy drive to it. But I felt like the melodic pocket needed to be a little bit more open because the beat was moving a lot, so I didn't want the melody to be too fast. I wanted it to be something you could still sing to and vibe to, so I was just going through melodies. I just sang, girl, I don't know where it comes from! I freestyle [the] majority of the songs that I write -- I'll just come up with the melody and sometimes I'll have the concept within whatever I just came up with. I'm not saying anything, I'm just [mumble-sings], you know what I mean? Just hearing what naturally feels good in that pocket.

Of course [the inspiration] would be a '90s male group, of course. It's New Kids on the Block, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys. Because I know that they have these supergroups and they're still in that '90s vibe but then they have these pop elements to them as well. They also dance like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC, and it's like they all had a baby, basically. That's what the vision normally is for EXO and groups like that.

Deez: “Bad Dream” was written during a song camp hosted by SM Entertainment. Normally in SM camps, producers bring their tracks, and the songwriters choose one of them to work on based on the discussion between the writers, and also with the A&Rs. When I’m in those song camps, I usually get involved in the track and vocal producing and toplining. For this song “Bad Dream,” I worked as a vocal producer and topliner. This was my first collaboration with the co-topliner “Blush” [Bianca.] She has [a] classical voice, but at the same time, it’s very trendy -- you don’t see that very often. Right after I listened to her voice, I could easily come up with melody of the song. She’s absolutely one of the best U.S. songwriters I’ve met. Blush and I worked on the track in very extemporary way, as we both like that type of work.

In song camps, I normally create one song per a day, but the chemistry with Blush made us to do two songs on that day, and “Bad Dream” was the first song of the day. It took 6-7 hours for the toplining and the vocal production. [It] was a very satisfying session. I normally do not follow any leads, but for this one, I was exactly targeting EXO, as Blush’s voice gave me the inspiration.

When we were going through Mike Daley’s tracks, it was hard for me and Blush to choose, as most of Mike’s tracks were used during the previous sessions. While we were struggling, Mike played a track that I heard while I was in L.A. last year. Mike let me listen to the track at that time, and I kept that one since I really liked it. I was thinking of TVXQ. Mike didn’t remember the fact that he gave it to me already, and played to us. Blush and I agreed with working on the track, and result was more than great.

Mike Daley: Usually when I go out [to Korea], I try to have a couple tracks ready from my camp just to be able to start the first couple of days off, and then start making new stuff when I'm out there. But that was a track I worked on with a producer I work with a lot, Mitchell Owens. So we started working on a couple of songs and if you hear two different beats -- it started off as a guitar-R&B vibe [track], and then I just started messing with some of the chords and different sounds and got a whole different vibe in the verses. [I] tried to make it sound a lot different than the intro, 'cause I know that's the stuff Deez likes writing to.

I think their sound, it can't be anything regular, down the middle. It's gotta be a little left of center, just something that's engaging, because their performances are so crazy. That's what I'm thinking about with the track, trying to make something that performance-wise will be cool.

Some of the new EDM pop elements, I got some inspiration from that. But then still, the real feel-good R&B, boy band vibe, which is what I came up in with The Underdogs -- that's always a part of what I'm doing.

“Damage”

Greg Bonnick, LDN Noise: For “Damage,” we really wanted a bouncy hip-hop record but with [an] anthemic chant feel to the chorus, so even though the verses were laid back, the crowd could really engage with the hook. We started with a piano riff and clap and built the song around that, adding in different elements as it progressed. It was a lot of fun and something different for EXO, one of our favorites.

Deez: “Damage” was created during the same camp that “Gravity” was made. The work flow with LDN Noise was pretty similar, but I wanted to stress [the] bridge part of the song. As you can hear, the chord progression, the melody, [and the] harmonies of the background vocals in the bridge part are quite dramatic. Since the initial track was [a] very strong hip-hop track, I wanted to give some turn around through the bridge part, and it was very satisfying, as listeners could have more [of a] spectacle when they get to the final chorus, with the bridge.

Adrian and I [are] always obsessed with new topline[s] and fresh harmonies, and this song was particularly a challenge for us. I think we were just trying to make the topline of the chorus part with obvious counterpoint. We took a break to think out of the box, and boom, all the rhythm and notes of the chorus hit my head. Based on them, we worked on the catchy rhythm.

“Smile On My Face”

Iain James: “Smile On My Face” came together in Los Angeles at Brian Kennedy’s studio with myself and Sam Hook. Sam is very close friends with the artist Trey Songz, and the song originally started out as an idea for him. It didn’t take long to be produced, mainly because Brian already had a lot of the track in place, especially the chord structure. So it was really just a case of myself and Sam coming up with the concept, defining the lyric[s], and then creating the melody, which I remember being a lot of fun as we’re both singers.

In terms of inspiration for the song, I think it was clear from the start that we wanted it to be an intimate love song, something for a singer to really connect with, and have a catchy chorus -- which I think it really does.

The song I did for EXO-CBX was probably a bit more fun and upbeat, so I’m glad we could do something a bit more heartfelt this time for EXO. Something their fans could really connect with, and something that would really show off their vocal abilities.

“Oasis”

Mike Woods: The original title is "Running," and the chorus [was] "I'm on the run/Baby I'm running."

Kevin White: I think the first or second thing [Bazzi] did [was] the "Running" [part]. I think at first it was kind of a mumble, and then he transformed it into words. We work real close with Bazzi -- we have a really good rapport and really good working relationship. I think this is one of the earlier songs we did in the camp. I remember Mike playing the stabbing chords, and then that kinda hit in the verses, and I remember we were saying, "It'd be crazy if the drums hit with that and then cut out." So it's doing a lot of things that come naturally to us.

Mike Woods: With us and Bazzi working together, I think we always try to do something that hasn't necessarily been done before or the way that we've done it. That's a really big thing for us anytime we work collectively, it's always about "How can we push the boundaries?"

Kevin White: The big choral stack... we just knew it had to go there because I think we were really searching for that big anthemic chorus that everybody's gonna sing in a stadium -- that's always the goal."

Credit: Billboard.

#EXO #EXO K #EXO M #181227 #t:news #fs:billboard #comeback:Tempo #followup:Shot #album:love shot

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wereikonics · 5 years

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Just For You Song Analysis

@/bianxstan on Twitter - 12:28 PM - 2 Jul 2018

'For You' has the most beautiful instrumentals in their discography. There's a perfect balance b/w organic instruments & synths. The synths are placed so subtly, it feels organic. The instrumental can stand on its own. It's that beautiful.

~ There's a lot of instruments used in this song but it doesn't make you feel overwhelmed. You'll never think that the bgm is 'too much' for the song. #HANBIN always had a way of making fluidity in music seem so natural. He knows when to pull back and when to give. ~ I'm in love with the guitar in this song. It's an influential presence that makes you feel at ease. In contrast, the beats at the beginning entices you to listen. It strikes curiosity. But when the guitar comes in along with #JUNHOE's voice, it hits you emotionally. ~ The line allocation is spot on. The lyrical context matches the vocal tones of the singers in each line. #BOBBY's vocal tone have always had a feel of desperation & regret. His raspy voice was utilized to convey the feeling of wanting to do better for someone but not having the capability to do so. #BOBBY's voice in this song almost reminds me of vocal breaks when you try to talk after you cry too much. But the way he sang his last line, the melody fills you with hope. ~ When #JUNHOE enters, the bgm was stripped back to nothing but the guitar at the forefront. With his soft full vocal, he fills your ears with promises. And you believe it because his adamant sincerity comes from nothing but his voice alone. No distractions. ~ When #DONGHYUK enters with his falsetto, I thank all that is holy that he now embraces his voice. Donghyuk's voice is like a hug. When he sustains a note, it's so pitch perfect that at some point in his part, his voice could pass as the strings in the bgm. 😭😭😭

~ When #JINHWAN enters, the beats at the beginning of the song were used again. Which is effective because it brings you back to the vibe initially proposed in the song; the feelings of regret for promises not kept can be felt in Jinani's intonation and enunciation. However, the uncertainty portrayed in the lyrics was filled with optimism with the way #JINHWAN sang his lines. But the self-doubt that come along with promises, was not erased yet.

I love #HANBIN's vocals. I love that he didn't rap. I'm so tired of emotional songs in kpop where they add raps that doesn't fit in the song at all. Adding an unneeded ingredient can break the recipe. Hanbin chose to stay true to the song and sang. And he did it good.

The way #HANBIN sang isn't pretentious. It's almost as if he's talking. But the way he hits high notes is almost like a caress that gently fades out. His voice has a certain fondness in it. If #June sang this part with stubborn promises, Hanbin sang his w/ dedicated perseverance.

At #YUNHYEONG's part, the vibe becomes more positive. His voice perfectly reflects the line 'you're my light in this never-ending darkness.' This is because his clear vocal tone was sustained the entire time. It isn't airy or raspy. It's literally like a light that floats around.

#CHANWOO's part is an intake of breath in this song. His vocals are placed at the break down because his cool tone is perfect for slow and low melodic progression. It is a perfect breathing and emotional break before the climax/ending.

But at the same time, you just want to keep hearing it. #CHANWOO's tone is similar to a breeze. Once you stop hearing his voice, you long for it. Much like his line, '...long for that carefree day.'

When #JINHWAN ends the song, though the lyrics are similar, it provides a different feel. In contrast to the uncertain promises at the beginning of the song, this time around, the lyrics were portrayed with determination. It almost feel like that the singer himself now believes the words he is singing. It is no longer a casual promise. It now becomes a commitment. That emotional development within the song was supported by an equally moving bgm. It's so beautiful, it gave me the chills. #FORYOU is my fave fansong to date.

The musical background, imo, is a masterpiece on its own. But the vocals itself wasn't overshadowed. In fact, the vocals effectively bring all the essential emotional input that makes this song a fansong.

I don't think people realizes how big of a deal it is for an artist to release a song that is free. Remember that #iKON use music to earn a living. When they released this song for free, it isn't monetized. They get nothing from this.

And yet here we are, #iKONICS, enjoying a well made masterpiece without a hit to our wallets. The question that only remains after all these is that, how is it possible to have an ounce of hate towards this boys? HOW? TELL ME. #iKON is just a bunch of mischievous angels.

#bianxstan twitter #Just For You #iKON fan song #bianxstan:iKON Song Analysis #iKON

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sparklejohnny · 5 years

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tagged by @jaehynn ~ ✨✨✨

rules: answer 21 questions and then tag 21 people who you want to get to know better! (which this is only 19 questions so tbh i don’t know what the fuck happened there. maybe i counted wrong? who knows. i am not a math major please leave me be. also. didn’t tag near 21 people. sorry.)

nickname: i have so many nicknames among so many friend groups so y’all can just call me em or emily.

zodiac: gemini-cancer cusp

height: five foot four inches

last movie i saw: lol my friend courtney and i watched the fyre festival documentary on netflix. full disclosure: it was fucking priceless. many quotable moments. i highly recommend it.

last thing i googled: “how do you say ‘i don’t speak japanese’ in japanese?” lol

favorite musician: my ult kpop group is definitely nct127 but i listen to a lot of other kpop as well! outside of that, i really like the 1975, danger incorporated, death grips, joji, sza, and honestly a bunch of other artists that would take me too long to type out lol. i know it said “favorite” but i’ve never been able to choose favorites when it comes to music. i love it ALL.

song stuck in my head: take me HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH 나를 좀 더 데려가 줘 !! stan talent stan loona BITCH

other blogs: i have one other but it’s only for a poetry and photo dump and i will literally never tell anyone the url i’m SORRY

following/followers: i have a very phat ratio lol, i think i follow like 300 blogs and have around 150 followers? i don’t know the exact numbers.

do i get asks: never lol

amount of sleep: i usually get around six hours of sleep on a good night, sometimes as little as three or four. just call me bang chan.

lucky number: i don’t really have one.

what i’m wearing: long-sleeved striped shirt, streetlight manifesto band tee, athletic shorts, and black and white socks.

dream job: teaching esl or doing some sort of true-crime non-fiction writing. also maybe journalism or working in publishing. my career interests are widely varied.

favorite food: fuckin’ CHICKEN no joke. it’s all i ever want lol. that or cashews ! i also fuck with mac and cheese heaaaavy.

instruments played: i used to play the saxophone but only for a year.

languages: english, a tiny bit of spanish, and even a tinier bit of korean. i know like baby korean such as hello and what’s your name and “so cute” haha.

favorite songs: oh fuck well. i guess i’ll just list favorite songs of the artists i mentioned earlier lol please check them all out! :

-nct 127: ugh so hard to choose tbh. it’s defo between sun & moon, summer 127, and touch. (cherry bomb is a god tier album please do not start with me on this because we will have a DISCOURSE!)

-the 1975: this must be my dream, she’s american, heart out, i couldn’t be more in love. honestly matty’s discography is all perfection. everything the 1975 produces is golden.

-danger incorporated: diamonds, ashley olsen, $$$/xoxo

-death grips: literally anything off of the powers that b because that album changed my life. also they performed several songs off of that album when i saw them live and it was both terrifying and exhilarating.

-joji: if you haven’t listened to all of ballads 1 yet please do yourself a favor and download it now. i’m in LOVE

-sza: supermodel, go gina, broken clocks. literally the entirety of ctrl. again LISTEN TO IT if you haven’t! you will not be disappointed.

random facts: i never talk about it on here but i’m an active gym-goer and weightlifter irl lol which i feel like is probably the most random thing about me as a person. also i feel like a majority of my followers don’t know my age and assume i’m like fourteen but i’m actually an adult attending graduate school and maintaining a full-time job. but i’m a big ol kid at heart. (also i’m in my early twenties, so don’t think i’m like a forty year old cat woman trying to be hip on tumblr because that’s only partially true.)

don’t feel obligated if i tag you ~ this is all just for fun! 💓 thanks for reading through all of this hehe.

@emdotdilly @bawdytalk @kookies-n-key @almasstudies @ellablexkpop @evaporating-memories @dumbthotjuice @baugchau @moon-taeil-love @2jaeten

#tagged

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airadam · 3 years

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Episode 146 : Rise.

"Put on the wings of the morning and fly."

- Capleton

It somehow feels like an awful long time since the last episode - the new job has been keeping me extra-busy and the speed of world events just seems to keep accelerating. Sadly, one of those events was the passing of Biz Markie - another legend lost too soon. I've selected one of his most famous tracks to close the episode, but I hope you enjoy the fifty or so minutes before that as well.

Twitter : @airadam13

Twitch : @airadam13

Playlist/Notes

Above The Law : 100 Spokes

Air Adam trivia : I own four copies of this on 12"! I had a beat-juggle routine with one of the remixes, and in the old days, you couldn't just hit "instant doubles" on Serato - plus the records do wear out! The original is the better track for a straight listen though, with Cold 187um handling the production and the first verse, with the late great KMG bringing his trademark low-key style to the second. This is more easily available on the excellent "Time Will Reveal" album - which I actually have twice on vinyl, and once on CD...

The Rattler Proxy : Death Machine (Jokers of the Scene Remix)

I don't know if this will be everyone's cup of tea, but it's a track I've been playing heavily since I first heard it on one of Victoria Rawlins' Twitch sets. If you've got great headphones, or big speakers, you'll be amazed at how the low end comes in and envelops you after the long ambient intro. The Rattler Proxy were a Greek duo who broke up last year, but this remix of one of their 2014 releases feels like a lasting classic to me.

Semi Six ft. Tha Essence & 5'4 : Heaterz

Fellow Polo enthusiast and Detroit native Semi Six is back with a new EP "Assorted Fries", and brings a couple of spitters along for the ride on this single. Atlanta's Tuamie provides the crispy-clean instrumental, and the whole track is no hook, pure bars.

Elzhi : Light One, Write One

Last year saw the release of Elzhi's third solo LP "Seven Times Down Eight Times Up", which follows the old-school tradition of having the same production personnel from beginning to end - in this case, JR Swiftz out of Brooklyn. Always a skilled writer, El gets busy over the nice soulful jazz/vocal sample and classic boom-bap drums.

* as an aside - you only have to get up as many times as you fall down...

Capleton ft. Method Man : Wings Of The Morning

I remember having to look up the meaning of the title; it's shared with a 30s film, but originally from the Book of Psalms. This is a winner from the era when US artists began to collaborate with reggae and dancehall stars - with results of varying quality, it has to be said! It shows how well it really can be done, with Capleton's Rastafari lyrics and deejay style meshing with the characteristic grittiness of the sound of Wu-Tang's Method Man. The piano sample will be familiar to many, hooked up by Stuart Brown, and the drums are rugged enough to do justice to the vocalists. The 1995 "Prophecy" album was a strong release, and this was one of the best cuts from it.

Lone Apostrophe : Take Me

Manchester's own Lone Apostrophe is a true student of beatmaking, and his new "Webs" collection is a great pickup for anyone with an attachment to the golden age of the boom-bap. Those echoed/delayed horns take you back to mixtapes in 1993...a mood.

1982 ft. Skyzoo and Jared Evan : Summer In New York

If ever there was a track that announced the title before you hear it, it might well be this one! The combination of Statik Selektah and Termanology is also known as 1982, and their compact new release "The Summer EP" is headed up by this sunny track, which is definitely lifted by Jared Evan's hook .

Nas ft. Cordae and Freddie Gibbs : Life Is Like A Dice Game

"When I finish this shit, sure to be a hit..." I was extremely surprised to see this one pop up recently! Many years ago, there was an unreleased Nas track with the same title, ropey sound quality but as dope as you'd expect. It was recorded around the time of "Illmatic", and leaked on the underground but never made an official release. Apparently, Spotify recently asked Nas if he'd resurrect it and so the production was re-done (by Hit-Boy) and he brought in Freddie Gibbs and Cordae to join him for a memorable recording. This deserves to be the hit Nas predicted it would be over twenty-five years ago.

Sadat X ft. Jigmastas : Don't Get It Twisted (PUTS Remix)

One of those great independent 12" releases that illustrate why the streaming services aren't (at least yet) in a position to replace a collection built over years. This remix by People Under the Stairs was on the B-side of the "Plan X" single, and pairs up Sadat X with Kriminul of Jigmastas - as you'd expect, the original was produced by DJ Spinna.

Tanya Morgan ft. Kooley High : So Good

Sonically, seasonally appropriate once again - this 80s soul club-sounding cut has summer written all over it. Tanya Morgan (Donwill and Von Pea, if you didn't know) will be releasing their fifth LP "Don and Von" in August, from which this is the second single. The North Carolina crew Kooley High come along to deepen the MC roster for this one, which whets the appetite for the album perfectly.

Buckwild : Mad Ammo (Instrumental)

A vintage SP-1200 beat from the disk boxes of DITC's Buckwild, as originally heard when it was dug out and rhymed over by Celph Titled on the "Nineteen Ninety Now" LP.

REMI ft. Konny Kon : Good Mates

I'm glad Michelle Grace Hunder put me up on the latest (and final) album by this crew out of Melbourne, not least since I happened upon a Konny Kon guest appearance I might otherwise have missed! "PTSD in the hood runs undiagnosed" - isn't that just the truth? Remi and Konny spit raw reality on their verses, with Sensible J on production. Definitely peep the "Fried" LP.

Pete Rock ft. Pharoahe Monch : Just Do It

We go back to the "Soul Survivor 2" collection for this track - not quite up to the mark of the first, but still an excellent LP. Only great producers can make a beat as sparse as this and make it sound complete, not unfinished. The spaced-out keys on the hook are an added bonus, a nice bit of additional polish. Pharaohe Monch can sound good on pretty much anything, so when he gets quality material like this then it's an easy win.

Roots Manuva ft. Ricky Rankin : Bashment Boogie

I've been meaning to play this one for years - originally thought it would be one to open a show with, but I think it works well enough here! One of the early tracks on Roots' critically-acclaimed second LP "Run Come Save Me", this one bumps along with a digital flavour (Lotek on the beat) as he tells the story of getting ready to go out of town for a jam. One of the great artists ever to come out of the UK scene, Roots drops plenty of references that the home crowd will get, and it still stands up twenty years after release.

Khadejia ft. Product : Here We Go

A slightly obscure track, despite all the personnel involved! This was on Funkmaster Flex's "60 Minutes of Funk - The Mix Tape Volume III" release, and he produced it along with Wyclef and Jerry Wonder. I believe this is Khadejia's only headline release, but she's got a fair few features in her discography, including "Can't Help It" by Royal Flush which I love. Accompanying her are the duo The Product, whose releases I must say passed me by at the time! They borrow a classic Boogie Down Productions lyric and build around it for a nice little jam.

Flamingosis : Jet Skis & Hennessy

Flamingosis just has that knack of cooking up instrumentals that make you feel great. This selection from "Flight Fantastic" is no exception, and perfect for a summer's evening.

Biz Markie : Nobody Beats The Biz

What can I say that hasn't been said about this certified classic from a recently-departed giant? Well, maybe I can give you some trivia gems you may not have been aware of - it's got to be one of the most-sampled Hip-Hop tracks of all time, the title/hook is based on commercials from an 80s electronics chain in NYC, and Biz bought every copy of the Lafayette Afro Rock Band record containing "Hihache" (used for the drums here) from one shop to replace Marley Marl's scratched-up copy! A legendary track from the "Goin' Off" LP, which will be played as long as this culture lives.

Please remember to support the artists you like! The purpose of putting the podcast out and providing the full tracklist is to try and give some light, so do use the songs on each episode as a starting point to search out more material. If you have Spotify in your country it's a great way to explore, but otherwise there's always Youtube and the like. Seeing your favourite artists live is the best way to put money in their pockets, and buy the vinyl/CDs/downloads of the stuff you like the most!

Check out this episode!

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seauxfientertainment · 4 years

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Is "How You Like That" by BLACKPINK worth the hype?

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[July 11th, 2020]*

It's been only two weeks since BLACKPINK (BP) released the seemingly hit or miss, record-breaking single; "How You Like That" (HYLT). It is the pre-release single from their upcoming debut studio album and there has been a lot of talk surrounding it.

People seem to either hate it or love it for a multitude of reasons. Reasons I will explain in this post.

I'll be talking about the song itself, the aesthetics, the music video and the controversy it incited, as well as the records it broke, and then I'll give my final thoughts on the song.

So if any of this interests you, you can continue reading. I'd appreciate it if you did.

*this post was originally written a couple weeks ago for a different platform.

•••

1. CONCEPT PHOTOS AND PROMOTIONAL ASPECTS

The hype for HYLT actually started about a month before the name of the track was even revealed (longer if you consider the year long hiatus BP took between the "Kill This Love" EP and this new comeback.)

On May 4, 2020 reports came out stating that BP had finished recording their first full length album and then on May 18 YG ent. projected a June 2020 release.

The first teaser poster was posted on social media on June 10, confirming that the release date would be June 26.

Finally, the Blinks' more-than-a-year-long wait for a comeback was coming to an end!

On June 12 YG ent. released a prologue to BP's new reality show "24/365 with BLACKPINK" on the BP YouTube channel. In the video Jisoo gave a spoiler to HYLT saying, "if our previous songs gave off the vibe of being strong and powerful, I think this song is more hip [hop], that shows us our swag." (Translation comes from the in-video captions.)

So, at this point we'd been told that BP would be taking an artistic turn from their previous discography. Things were going good. For those who were complaining that most BP songs were essentially the same song, now were being promised something different.

Then things started to look really good.

From June 15 to the 21st YG released individual posters, concept photos, and videos promoting the single.

And everyone was excited for the new comeback. The previews were nothing short of enticing. It seemed like we were getting a dark concept. Jennie had red smudged tear stains. Lisa had deep red hair. They all looked so stoical. Maybe this comeback was going to be a serious one?

YG dropped the Music Video teaser on June 24 and everyone was hyped.

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Although the theories were flying and everyone seemed to have differing ideas for what this new song would have to offer, in general everyone was happy. We might just get something unlike the typical BP comeback and the hype built up from there.

•••

2. MUSIC

Now let's discuss what we actually got.

On Wikipedia, HYLT is credited as a blend of trap and hip hop, but I would include electropop into that mix. To start, the song is fairly short, barely making it to three minutes long (a little bit more about the hastiness of a couple parts on the track later), a common theme that has been occurring in pop music in the past several years.

I listen to this podcast called "Tiny Meat Gang" (it's done by two comedians, Cody Ko and Noel Miller), and in one episode they mentioned what they believed was the direction the music industry will take in the future. They believed that TikTok was pushing the music industry in a direction where all songs can be shorter since only 10-15 seconds of the song actually goes viral instead of the whole track.

(The clip is from 38:25-41:40, if you're interested)

HYLT definitely has the elements needed to go viral. Something I'll continue to point out throughout this post.

The song opens up with an orchestral instrumental beginning, then slowly builds with Jennie, Jisoo, and Rosé's vocals to the bass drop and into a chorus, which to put it nicely, leaves something to be desired by those who were expecting a drastic change of pace from BP's previous comebacks.

The recycled beats and the over use of tag lines and onomatopoeia are just some of the reasons why people have been critical of this particular BP comeback and previous ones.

mera (Youtube channel), her video titled "The Real Problem with Blackpink" goes way more into detail on this topic of repetition in BP songs. I highly recommend you check it out.

In the second verse Lisa raps over this Arabic sounding beat that's actually really cool. By far my favorite part of the entire song and was the only part that really stood out to me and was distinguishable from other BP songs. Lisa's style of rapping fits the song well in my opinion.

Up until this point the song had been fine, it wasn't the best thing ever but it also wasn't the worst. This is where things started to seem rushed. The bridge, with Rosé and Jisoo, was barely there and then we go into the usual beat switch outro with chanting.

•••

3. LYRICS

The lyrics are quite vapid, at least in my opinion. The message of the song isn't ground breaking and doesn't really tell us anything about who they (the members of BP) actually are or how they feel.

In essence, the song is a revival track. At quick glance it may seem that the song is about coming out of a bad breakup feeling empowered despite the circumstances (which make sense since that was essentially the same concept used in "Kill This Love"), however, according to Genius, the meaning is actually 'deeper' than that.

Apparently, the meaning of the song is that the girls were in a dark place with all the hate they had received and now they're back stronger than ever.

As mera so colorfully says in her video, BP's music suffers from "forget to write the chorus" syndrome. All they do is repeat the same phrases over and over again. I will say this though, the chorus can easily make it a viral song. It's simple and easy to sing along to, as well as the dance isn't super difficult.

They also stick in seemingly random phrases. Such as the reference to the 1950s "Adventures of Superman" with the line "Look up in the sky It's a bird, it's a plane". Some had mentioned that it's a play on their group name.

Bird = B

Plane = P

BP = BLACKPINK

But I think there are visuals that better support these lyrics in the music video.

As for the line distribution, it's pretty good for BP standards. Rosé and Jennie together make up more than 50% of the song, each finishing with 29.4% and 29.3% respectively. Lisa's in third place with 23% and Jisoo is last with 18.3%. However, what Jisoo lacks in lines she gains in screen time in the music video, so in my opinion it levels out.

From what I understand there is a small group of people that make BP songs but prominently this man, Teddy, is the main producer and lyricist for them. He's made songs for them for basically their entire career.

Personally, I think YG needs to either find someone else to make their songs, someone with new ideas, or have Teddy and the others on the team work with the members themselves. Let the members write some of their own stuff so that it seems more personal. Many groups do this and it adds an authenticity to their sound.

This is only the first song released from the new album, so who knows, maybe the other songs are very personal. But until then, HYLT is all we have, and things don't look too promising.

•••

4. CHOREOGRAPHY

I'm not going to lie, I actually really like the choreography.

I know a lot of people complained that BP uses 'recycled' dance moves. I did some research and they've used the same choreographer, Kiel Tutin, for their past couple title tracks ("Kill This Love" and "DDU-DU DDU-DU") so that's why things might seem familiar.

Side note: Kiel Tutin has choreographed for a ton of K-POP artists. For example, 4minute ("Crazy"), TWICE ("Feel Special", "Fancy", and "More & More"), Big Bang ("Bang Bang Bang"), and he also even did Jennie's "Solo."

I think the choreography matches the tone of the song. It's fun and not super complicated yet it looks elaborate with all the staging.

My personal favorite parts of the choreography is Lisa's little body roll movement in the second post-chorus:

And when Lisa and Jennie make an little arch with their arms for Jisoo to walk under:

I don't really have anything else to say about the choreography. It's just good.

•••

5. MUSIC VIDEO AND AESTHETICS

The music video is gorgeous, who is anybody kidding? Nothing too mind blowing but just beautiful to look at:

The sets were so intricate and gave atmosphere to the song. Rosé in the flowers, the arctic oil field, the tropical jungle, the staircase with the wings, the street market, the pink world dome. It's all so aesthetically pleasing.

However, the music video wasn't just nice to look at. It did reveal a lot more to the story told in the song.

Jordan Orme, a music video editor made a video breaking down all the little details the director and editor(s) used to show the story written in the song. I found it very useful to better understand the meaning of the song and the visuals. Check it out if you want.

Some of the visuals that I appreciated the most were the umbrellas during the second pre-chorus with Jennie and Jisoo.

Jordan had spoken about how he thought the umbrellas represented protection or being shielded from the hate. And then with Jisoo the umbrellas are burning because they no longer need protection, they can take on the hate themselves. It was just a little detail I enjoyed.

I also quite liked the buildup to the outro and the outro itself.

Each of the members stood in front of the wings as Rosé and Jisoo sang:

"The day I went down with my wings lost / Those dark days when I was trapped / You should have ended me when you still have a chance"

During the Superman reference ("It's a bird, it's a plane") they showed the heads of the Trojan horses and then later showed their wheels, rolling in, when Jennie yells "Bring out the boss bitch!"

It's the little details that get to me.

Although now I know that the Trojan horses represent the BP members passing themselves as a gift to the music industry but in actuality they're preparing to 'attack' (supposedly with their upcoming album), when I was researching the meaning behind them I found this user on Quora, Hamedah Badmus, who while answering the question "What does a Trojan Horse means in the latest Blackpink video clip 'How You Like That'?" gave their interpretation of the music video using Greek mythology. It's amazing how people can imagine things that others can't. They created a whole other storyline.

The music video for HYLT appears to be universally liked. However, there is one problem with the video. Which brings me to my next topic.

•••

6. CONTROVERSY

In the scene where Lisa is rapping on a throne in a North African street market, there is a statue of the Hindu deity Ganesha:

This upset many followers of the Hindu religion, and rightfully so. There's no excuse for making fun of someone's religion. It's personal and should be taken seriously.

From what I understand Ganesha is the Hindu God of New Beginnings, Success, and Wisdom, and the Remover of Obstacles. In regards to the statue, the proper way to display Ganesha is on an alter. You are not supposed to place the statue on the floor or in low energy areas, such as the bathroom, garage or laundry.

I'll probably talk about this in more depth in my next post about Agust D's new album, because he dealt with a separate but similar situation, but here I'll simply say that ignorance, such as haphazardly using a religious icon in a music video without real knowledge on how to properly display said icon, is unacceptable. Especially with a group as popular as BP who reach millions of people from around the world.

This isn't the first time BP has upset followers of the Hindu religion. In "DDU-DU DDU-DU" Jennie was criticized for wearing a Bindi, a decorative mark worn in the middle of the forehead by Indian women. Jennie's, I believe, was a jewel one. And in the "Kill This Love" music video when Jisoo is shooting an arrow she's wearing an Indian headpiece.

I've also seen clips of the members mimicking traditional Hindu dances. It's tasteless and done out of ignorance. Like any other instance of cultural appropriation, it must be addressed and learned from.

•••

7. LIVE PERFORMANCES AND FASHION

The live performances have been a bit lack luster for me (so far.)

The members just don't seem that into it. The dancing was uninspired to say the least. Lisa's always giving it her all, but the other members are just going through the motions. And it hasn't even been a month yet.

The Inkigayo Comeback Special from 0628 was by far their best performance. They got to do a short intro and the set looked like a jungle temple. I also really liked the costuming during that performance. Lisa has these red boots and all the background dancers were wearing cute pink tops with jeans and their hair in braids. It all looked great to me.

They also looked stunning on Jimmy Fallon. (They wore the outfits similar to the top photo down below). I liked Jisoo's bell sleeves and her little pigtails.

In general, the outfits for this comeback have looked really nice and complement each other well (except for Jisoo's purple dress in the bottom picture from above. A lot of people said they liked it, that it made her stand out but I didn't care much for it. I think it clashes with the other outfits.)

(BTW did not notice Lisa's yellow glove in the winter scene of the M/V)

This comeback also has many different looks. It would be nice to see all of them with slightly different sets similar to the music video during their live performances.

I believe that this era is Lisa's era, at least fashion-wise. I mean Jennie's modernized Hanbok is nice and everything, she's definitely been given some pretty amazing outfits:

And the hair, you can't forget about the hair. From braids, to blonde streaks, to a shoulder length cut, the stylists seem to be giving Jennie everything.

But Lisa's outfits are killing it.

My favorite look from her, and probably from the entire comeback, has to be the jewel-beaded top and blue (denim?) pants she wore during her rap in the music video.

Also she looks gorgeous with that black bob cut hair.

(She also looked great in her LILI's FILM dance performance but that's on the side)

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I did very much enjoy their encore performance. There's something about watching them in a relaxed environment where they don't have to worry about messing up the choreography. They can just sing and have fun.

YG should include more moments like these in their performances.

•••

8. INITIAL ACCOLADES

One of the biggest reasons why HYLT is garnering a lot of hype is the amount of records it's breaking and how much success it's gotten since it's release.

HYLT has broken five Guinness World Records:

—most viewed YouTube video in 24 hours

—most viewed music video on YouTube in 24 hours

—most viewed music video on YouTube in 24 hours by a K-POP group

—most viewers for a premiere on YouTube (1.66 million concurrent viewers)

—most viewers for a premiere on YouTube for a music video

They received what they call in South Korea as a 'perfect all-kill', charting #1 on Melon, and charting on Genie, Naver, etc.

HYLT debuted at #12 on the Gaon Digital Chart. (The Gaon Music Chart is essentially South Korea's version of the Billboard Chart.)

On Spotify, HYLT debuted #5 on the global chart with 4.073 million streams and #10 in the US with 762k streams. Although that's not that surprising since BP is the most followed girl group on Spotify.

•••

9. FINAL THOUGHTS

So, is "How You Like That" worth the hype?

The short answer: probably not.

The song itself isn't bad, it's just repetitious. Like we've already heard this song before, and we kind of did with "Kill This Love" and "DDU-DU DDU-DU", among others.

I think the song fits it's purpose; a fun song for people to dance to and make videos with. It has its catchy tag lines ("How you like that?", "Look at you, now look at me", etc.) and its electropop dance beat. It doesn't really need anything else.

I was reading many of the opinions on Reddit, one person had suggested that if the outro was used as the chorus the song would have been better. Everyone's saying the song would have been better "if Jennie had her own rap", "if Rosé got a high note", or "if the song went on longer."

Another person said that if HYLT was sung by another artist it wouldn't be receiving the same amount of hype. That's probably true.

I don't know, man.

Those who like BLACKPINK songs will keep on liking them, those who don't will keep on complaining. And that's that.

•••

I believe a majority of the problems BLACKPINK faces is due to their company YG. They have the money and the resources to make unique, sentimental music. They just decide not to. Rather, they make budget cuts, putting the least amount of money into the group and maximizing capital. Especially because, just like this comeback has proved, BP can put out anything and it will sell. Only further encouraging YG to put in the bare minimum.

I don't dare to question the talents of the BP members when it comes to song writing, because, honestly, I don't think they've even been given the chance to try. Like I said earlier if YG had Teddy work with the girls to write songs and get their input into the creative process they could release innovative and inspired songs.

I hate to make comparisons because I don't want to say one particular group is better than any other. In actuality they're all talented, they just need the support from their company. That being said, I do look at groups like BTS who were given a whole lot more reign when it came to the creative process. And it certainly has never hurt them. If anything it increased their popularity since more people could relate to the deep meanings in their songs.

You can't feel empowered all the time. It's only human that we feel weak and vulnerable at times. I want to hear about those sides of BP. It would humanize them rather than being idol robots that do whatever they're programmed to do.

Anyways, thank you for reading this post. I put several hours of research just to write this, no joke, but I enjoyed it.

This type of project would probably be better suited for YouTube but I'm just not a sit in front of a camera type of person. I enjoy writing though, so this seemed like a better fit for me.

Please, leave a comment on what you thought about BLACKPINK's "How You Like That" and maybe leave a suggestion for what K-POP topic I should review next (songs, albums, idols, groups, videos, etc.)

Until the next one,

Seaux Fí

•••

SOURCES

Wikipedia

Genius ("HYLT" English Translation)

BBC NEWS (BP: HYLT scores the biggest premiere in YouTube history)

kieltutin.com

guinnessworldrecords.com (BP's return sets new YouTube records with HYLT)

scmp.com (Did BP's HYLT video insult Hindu religion? Plus 4 more times K-POP's biggest girl group stoked controversy)

allkpop.com (forums: Jennie's Bindi Controversy)

kpopmap.com (BP talks about the choreography for HYLT, fashion and thoughts on breaking records)

r/unpopularkpopopinions (Mega Thread: BP - HYLT)

thespruce.com (The Proper Way to Display Ganesha)

#kpop #kpop bands #kpop girls #kpop opinions #blackpink #how you like that #blackpink how you like that #blackpink hylt #music #kpop songs

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playitbyear-laz · 4 years

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007

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the importance of honesty, specifically as it relates to art. Despite festival plans being postponed, my original plan for this week was to provide a playlist that carried the same energy and ambiance as Coachella. It was my goal to uplift people, give hope and a glimpse of the Sahara tent from quarantine. However, as I started selecting tracks I began to pay more attention to my inner-voice, and decided my heart wasn’t there, despite it wanting to be.

Like many others during this time, my mood this past couple of weeks has been a contemplative one. I’ve had more time spent in calm moments and self-reflection than time filled with energy and excitement. I had to remind myself of the importance for Play It By Ear to be a platform through which I convey my most honest and vulnerable feelings at whatever time I’m feeling them through the sound palette. Doing it any other way would be a cheat to myself and the listener, and the art would suffer.

That being said, this week’s playlist might not have the upbeat & carefree vibe that we’ve all been craving so badly, but I promise you that this release (and every playlist I release) will express my honest feelings & emotions in the moments that I feel them.

much love,

laz

PLAY IT BY EAR 007

curated by laz

Link to all platforms HERE.

Change of Tone - R+R=NOW

WHERE: Not sure how I came across this R+R=NOW album, but I know about the members of this group (Robert Glasper, Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah, Derrick Hodge, Taylor McFerrin, and Terrace Martin) through their work on various hip hop & jazz records.

WHY: I love the journey that this song takes you on, from the first upbeat section with Terrace Martin singing on the melodica to the second and third sections which are pensive & dreamlike.

Way Eye - keiyaA

WHERE: Found out about keiyaA through a Pitchfork article.

WHY: keiyaA is a fire up & coming neo-soul/R&B artist from Chicago who’s vocal style, production, and lyrical content remind me a lot of Solange. This song has a really great groove to it & almost feels like it could be an interlude.

Simultaneously Bleeding - Navy Blue

WHERE: Tweet by Earl Sweatshirt.

WHY: This track has a couple of elements that make me feel almost uneasy while listening to it - it’s as if Navy Blue is almost running away from the beat, but the beat itself isn’t doing much to keep time anyways & sounds like the track is being played on a loop in reverse. As far as lyrics go, however, a much different message is conveyed. Navy Blue raps about confidence and certainty despite the messiness and unpredictability of life.

LUCY - Brandon Banks

WHERE: Brandon Banks has been on my radar for a while now through a mutual friend, but lots of people I follow have posted about the album that he dropped recently.

WHY: Liking Brandon Banks was almost inevitable for me, since the whole contemporary neo-soul wave (artists like Lucky Daye, Giveon, SiR, etc.,) is my go-to genre in general. The lyrics tell a story of temptation & do it in a super beautiful way, through the song structure and the simple, yet haunting chants of ‘LUCY’ in the chorus.

Will I Come - King Krule

WHERE: Don’t hate me, but I really didn’t understand King Krule’s music until super recently. After sitting attentively with his 6 Feet Under The Moon album playing a couple times through, I truly love it and I’m stoked to listen to his next few albums as well.

WHY: This track is pretty different from a lot of his other songs, so if this is your introduction as well, don’t be fooled into thinking this sort of trip-hop vibe is it. On 6 Feet Under The Moon, he plays into a couple of different genres from jazz to punk to even some acoustic tracks. Despite this versatility, the music has a common thread, in his raw vocals and ability to evoke feelings of pain and longing.

Before - Bibio

WHERE: Randomly played on Spotify.

WHY: Thought this was Tame Impala when it first came on, which again, is a given that I would like it. Feels like the soundtrack to an old western film and I love the psychedelic, underwater feel to it.

In Bloom - Jay Wile

WHERE: Been following Jay Wile’s music since hearing ‘Dwn’

WHY: You know I love my acoustic singer/songwriter tracks. Jay Wile’s vocals and melodies remind me a lot of Frank Ocean here, full of emotion and yearning.

Stories - Bill Withers

WHERE: Played through most of Bill Withers’ discography this past week (rest in peace) and this song felt true to my feelings as of late.

WHY: Bill was most famous for his ability to write simple songs about deep and complex emotions, but tracks like this showcase his powerful vocal genius as well. The message of this track about the value of living your story, enduring it, and then telling others about it afterwards is an almost perfect depiction of Bill’s impact within the history of soul music & songwriting in general and also feels fitting given the world we’re currently living in.

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maxg-longform · 5 years

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Amo - Bring me the Horizon

Sem Amor

There have been many hot takes on Bring Me The Horizon’s 6th album in recent weeks. Many of these have been unfair criticisms levied by those who still haven’t forgiven the band for abandoning straight up metalcore what is now 3 albums and almost a decade ago. I’m not one of those people. I like their entire discography, but my favourite two albums are That’s the Spirit and Sempiternal, and I grew up on Pendulum and daft punk and threw myself head first into dubstep and then future house in the early 2010s. So I’m not coming at this from an anti-electronic angle, and I like their pop direction. So everything I’d heard about this album was poised for it to click with me, and quite frankly, it just didn’t. Of course, that’s hardly a review, so I’m now going to try and dismantle exactly why I don’t think it resonated, and that’s a lot harder than my usual schtick of fanboying about music that speaks to me.

First, lets talk about what I loved. The collab with grimes called “Nihilist Blues.” This was dark, moody pop that was a progression from their moody pop rock from TTS. Grimes’ airy vocals contrast Oli’s restrained yet still markedly dark delivery chillingly – his delivery of “spirit in a tube” reminds me of Katy B’s delivery on the chorus of Katy on a Mission, one of my favourite tracks of all time. The heavy heavy electronic beats are impactful and unforgettable, unlike in many other spots of the album. Why couldn’t we have got an album of this?

Heavy Metal gave me a good laugh. A song called heavy metal that is actually a rap about the metalheads who still wont give up on giving them stick for making pop records, even though they’ve been making pop records longer than metal records now. All the punches land and the chorus is catchy. Other shoutouts are the incredibly catchy chorus of Medicine which still jams despite cringy 14 year old lyrics; the riff of Wonderful life which is distorted in an interesting way and Why you gotta kick me when I’m down is heartfelt with an excellent electronic breakdown at the end.

A key point here amongst all these points is that nothing I said I liked in the above two paragraphs were within two songs of each other. This is a bloated and incoherent album in my opinion. Outwith ‘I apologise if you feel something’ which wouldn’t work as anything other than an intro track – it isn’t a full track – this album is as well played on shuffle as listened through in order. We have a spooky and eerie intro which leads straight into the bombastic, overblown cringefest that is Mantra. Its catchy but I can’t shake the feeling the riff is just Club Foot given the spinal tap treatment and the lyrics are again a letdown. I forgive the lyrics on TTS because I like the atmosphere of the record but there is no consistent atmosphere or mood here so it just comes off as an aberration. You can tell they recorded it after the album was finished specifically to be a single. I presume the album was meant to transition straight from the intro to Nihilist Blues, which would make far more sense. In the dark is just forgettable, it made no impression whatsoever, and then we go into the very strange collab with Dani Filth, of the band Cradle of filth. Its just a confusing mess of a song. A great riff, with parts where Oli talks over the top about the brain decaying then mumbles about forgetting what hes on about, then going into the chorus. I know it’s meant to be irreverent but it just comes across as a waste of a good song. The lyrics in this song and in Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea are not cringy but loveable in the same way as many of their songs in the past have been, they’re just straight up insultingly bad.

Ouch is an inoffensive and at least cohesive follow up to Wonderful life, and I find medicine incredibly catchy, with a great hook. However, this is followed by Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea. Now where do I start with that. Where do I start. The change in tone back to Alt-rock comes out of nowhere. The fact that the joke of the chorus is that we’re all full of… Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea… yeah. Put the first letters of each word together. Yeah. That is a genuine chorus written by a man in his 30′s. Moving on, the rap influenced ‘why you gotta kick me when I’m down’ is very well produced and heartfelt. It’s a high point of the album and the electronic breakdown at the end is excellent. Fresh Bruises has an eerie intro and then some very heavy beats with pitch shifted layered vocals that between this and the previous song actually start to establish a mood for the first time on the album. However, this is offset by the generic and forgettable Mother Tongue which goes straight into the very heavy “Heavy Metal.” As I’ve said above, I love everything about this song. It has a great message. It made the metalcore subreddit very angry. It has a fantastic beat, interesting breakdown, and the irony of ending on one of his trademark screams is excellent – even if it does make me wish I could have a few more. The ending song about his friend with cancer is an emotional way to end the album but it feels odd coming off the back of heavy metal – I’d maybe have put heavy metal before mother tongue, then a softer transition into this. I feel like it loses some of its emotional impact via juxtapositional context.

Summing up this album is incredibly hard. On the one hand It has no flow and is generally incoherent in terms of identity, and on a thematic level. It veers like a drunk driver from alt-rock to rap beats to various EDM influences and the 1975 influences are very apparent on the slower electronic tracks. It doesn’t feel like artistic evolution but artistic desperation. That said, a number of the songs are genuinely excellent and have been on heavy rotation in my playlist. The only song that has nothing going for it is Sugar, Honey, Ice and Tea. The others are either forgettable or have a redeeming feature – the riff in wonderful life for example. They show that they are excellent musicians and artists throughout but it feels incongruent and I feel like it is worse listened to as a whole than simply with songs taken as singles, and its honestly the first time I’ve felt that way about an album in a long time. I remember not vibing with all the singles for The American Dream by Trophy Eyes but in the context of the album I thought it was a masterpiece when taken as a whole. But I don’t remember feeling the reverse. This album just leaves me with an odd feeling. BMTH are a band I’ve liked for a long time, and 4 of the songs off their new record are in heavy rotation in my playlist. However, I don’t think I can in good faith give it more than a 5 because in my opinion it’s not an album, it’s a collection of songs, Some of which I love, some of which I disliked and some of which I forgot, in relatively equal measure. It is a tonal and quality sin wave of an album, but despite the amount of criticism I would encourage you to give it a listen anyway. As with every album i write about, I only write about it if I think there is something good in it that I want to write about. In this case, it’s spread thin in places, but nonetheless, there is genuine artistic merit in the high points of this album.

5/10

Key songs:

Nihilist Blues; Medicine; Heavy Metal; Why you gotta kick me when I’m down

@CoreLineage on Twitter

#Bring me the horizon #Pop #electronic #pop rock #metalcore #music #music reviews

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aaronmaurer · 5 years

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Music I Liked in 2018

Every year I reflect on the pop culture I enjoyed and put it in some sort of order.

Are alternative and indie rock viable formats anymore? What do those labels mean in the year 2018? (What did they ever mean, really?) My favorite sonic moments of the year appear to be more out of step with the general populace and critical circles than ever before, and yet, I still go to a lot of concerts and seeing many of these acts live this year in sold-out venues proves that there is still an audience out there for guitar-based music. If that’s your thing (and no worries if it isn’t), give some of these records a shot.

15. Ruins / Tender Offerings EP – First Aid Kit

Sweden’s harmonic folk sister act returned at the beginning of the year with the accomplished Ruins. It may not have hit the heights of their career-best Stay Gold, but it still provides moments of sweeping beauty. However, it’s the 4-song collection of outtakes from the same sessions that cements this album cycle on my list: Tender Offerings is even more immediate and quietly affecting than its parent record.

14. Arthur Buck – Arthur Buck

Personal favorite singer/songwriter Joseph Arthur teamed up with former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck this year for a collaboration that hews more towards Arthur’s influence than Buck’s. That’s not a bad thing and this is a recent highlight of Arthur’s prodigious output. If the collaboration continues to foster such energy and inspiration, I hope it extends well into the future.

13. Malibu Nights – LANY

I’m not quite sure how to classify LANY; in my analysis they have as much in common with emo as pop music, and their synth-heavy sound doesn’t readily slot into rock formats. Regardless, I find their music easily approachable and their lyrics to cut with a similar sincerity as the likes of Jimmy Eat World. Malibu Nights is concise and consistent, two things that cannot be said of 2017’s self-titled full-length, and it is all the stronger for it.

12. Black Panther the Album – Various Artists

Black Panther the Movie was one of the highlights of the year (see my film picks coming soon) and its companion soundtrack follows suit. A mixtape curated by and featuring Kendrick Lamar, this album of original material manages to form a cohesive unit as opposed to a collection of random tracks (i.e. last decade’s Spider-Man 3 soundtrack – which I actually liked, on the whole…). Wakanda forever!

11. Love Is Dead – CHVRCHES

The third LP from Scotland’s CHVRCHES was viewed as a letdown by much of the critical community, and as someone who ranked 2015’s Every Open Eye as that year’s favorite album, I would have to agree – to a point. Love Is Dead still has plenty of fantastic arena and festival-ready anthems to its credit and I don’t blame the trio for leaning into their pop side for this one. The album is incredibly front-loaded with “Graffiti,” “Get Out” and the Matt Berninger collab “My Enemy” coming in the first third, but there are strong moments all the way through and it’s definitely one of the most enjoyable listens of the year.

10. Wildness – Snow Patrol

After a 7-year hiatus, Snow Patrol returned with Wildness and I have to admit I was initially disappointed. However, I have found that with repeated listens this record has really grown on me. The emotional transparency of Gary Lightbody’s songwriting remains intact and you can feel his authenticity on songs like “Life On Earth,” “Heal Me” and “A Youth Written In Fire.” Definitely worth spending some time with.

9. [untitled] EP / [Untitled] – mewithoutYou

Philadelphia’s post-rock luminaries made a surprise return this year with some of their best work to date. An EP arrived in August and rather than a preview of October’s full-length release (only a single song is repeated, in a different version), it functions as a compelling work in its own right and finds the band embracing their more meditative and melodic tendencies. By contrast, the LP leans a bit more into the band’s harder edge – but not completely eschewing quieter moments – without sacrificing any of the lyrical depth or deft musicianship they are known for. It feels like a creative renaissance for a group soon to enter their third decade.

8. boygenius EP – boygenius

The only negative to this stellar collaboration between singer/songwriters Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus is that it’s only six songs long. The artists are each given space to shine and when the harmonies kick in, it’s transcendent. Here’s hoping it’s not the last we hear from them as a trio.

7. Be More Kind – Frank Turner

A blazingly earnest call-to-arms for hope in the face of the current political and social landscape, Be More Kind is filled with rousing sing-alongs about decency and making a difference. “Don’t Worry,” “Little Changes,” “Brave Face” and the title track are among the most positive and affirming songs I’ve heard in recent memory, but it’s the rousing and reclaiming anthem “Make American Great Again” that marks my favorite moment on this near-perfect record.

6. Come Tomorrow – Dave Matthews Band

Old habits die hard, and even though my enthusiasm has waned since my obsessive high school & college days, I’ll still go to bat for much of Dave Matthews Band’s music. Their first studio album in 6 years is somewhat a catch-all of songs they’ve been playing live for a while but hadn’t recorded, and as such, is a bit overlong and slightly disjointed. Even so, there is a melancholic wistfulness that pervades many of the record’s highlights including “Samurai Cop (Oh Joy Begin),” “Virginia In the Rain” and “Come On Come On,” which rate with their best work.

5. Upside Down Flowers – Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Andrew McMahon’s latest effort is a very nostalgic look back at not just his early career in Something Corporate (“Teenage Rockstars”) but to his childhood as well (“Ohio,” “House In The Trees”). What could come across as navel-gazing or self-mythologizing instead becomes universal in its specificity and his most impactful work in years.

4. Art of Doubt – Metric

Every few years, Emily Haines and Co. grace us with an album of self-empowerment anthems, some of which make more of a personal impact than others. This year’s Art of Doubt was initially a sleeper that I find I keep returning to, discovering new layers of resonance each time. It now ranks alongside Fantasies and Synthetica in the band’s discography to me.

3. Mirror Master – Young the Giant

On their fourth record, Young the Giant deliver some of their most diverse and hooky tunes yet, including the Eastern-tinged “Superposition,” the introspectively moody “Glory” and the soaring anthem “Simplify.” While I’ve counted myself a fan of their previous work, this one coheres in a new way for me that is immensely rewarding.

2. Vide Noir – Lord Huron

Lord Huron have yet to make a misstep and their third full-length proves their most sonically wide-ranging yet. From the driving energy of “Ancient Names, Pt. I,” to the old-timey crooning of “Wait by the River” to the blown-out guitar of “The Balancer’s Eye,” a range of styles are employed. Even with these varied modes, everything hangs together to create an atmospheric quest into darkness for meaning beyond this plane.

1. Layers of Us – Mimicking Birds

There is a spacious ambience to the latest from Portland’s Mimicking Birds, on which acoustic guitars are traded for splashes of mood-setting synthesizers and lyrics pondering humanity’s place in the cosmos and impact on the planet. Despite the dread and existentialism that permeates some tracks, I find a lot of beauty and hope shimmering through the record. It is by far the album I listened to the most in 2018 and perfect for the winter months (during the Winter Olympics I found myself daydreaming alternate realities where the gorgeous and haunting “Belongings” could soundtrack a gold medal figure skating performance).

Here’s a sampling of songs from each of these records if you want an easily-digestible mix:

Bonus! An additional mix of other singles, b-sides, covers and more from 2018 that I really like:

Double Bonus! 7 Best Live Performances I Saw in 2018:

7. U2 – Experience + Innocence Tour at the United Center, May 22nd

The companion to 2015’s Innocence + Experience Tour shared a stage and some common songs, but for the most part was a unique experience that stood on its own. Still telling a loose story of the band’s history through the lens of their Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience albums, this arena tour centered around the newer material of the latter, which – being one of my favorite albums of 2017 – I was quite happy with. Closing the show with the same excellent two-song final sequence as that album, and a beautiful visual element that formed a bookend with the I+E Tour, was an inspired and moving choice.

6. Lord Huron – Pandora Presents The Stack at Concord Music Hall, September 20th

I was lucky to see Lord Huron twice this year during the Vide Noir tour cycle, and the second time was even better because A) it was a free event (put on by Pandora) that included free Sam Adams!, B) it was in a small venue and C) they reached all the way back to their first EP to end the night with “We Went Wild.” It took me right back to the night I was introduced to them at an intimate Lollapalooza pre-show at the Double Door in 2011, where this then-unknown band captivated me with their atmospheric percussion and guitar rhythms. They’ve yet to let go.

5. The National – Lollapalooza Aftershow at Metro, August 2nd

The National are at a point in their career where they headline festivals and play large theatres, so it’s rare to see them at a 1000-capacity venue like Chicago’s Metro anymore. Fortunately, the concert hall often hosts huge bands on Lollapalooza weekend for late night “aftershows” (which are always nearly impossible to get into) and I somehow scored tickets to the National’s performance there the night before they headlined the fest. It was great to see the band tear through a setlist spanning their whole career that was significantly different from what they did the following evening. The finale of an acoustic “Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks” – at around 2am – was a beautiful communal moment.

4. Beck – Riot Fest, September 15th

I’ve seen Beck a few times over the years and I think his current setlist might be his best ever, a great mix of all his musical permutations (though missing any songs from Mutations…). Latest record Colors was one of my favorites of 2017 and that material was fantastic live alongside classics like “New Pollution,” “Loser” and “Girl.” The stage and lighting design were a lot of fun as well and provided a visually engaging and exciting backdrop. While the festival setting meant a truncated show, I won’t hesitate to catch him again whenever he returns to town.

3. Mew – Frengers 15th Anniversary Tour at Brooklyn Steel, October 14th

Mew are a Danish indie/prog rock/dream pop band that have a number of great albums to their credit. One of my favorites is Frengers, which I didn’t actually discover until a few years after it was released in 2003. Imagine my good fortune to discover one of the few US dates on its anniversary tour happened to coincide with my trip to New York this fall. Hearing the record performed in its entirety, from the opening guitar+drum salvo of “Am I Wry? No” to the final soaring cacophony of “Comforting Sounds” was a moment out of time in the best possible way.

2. boygenius – Thalia Hall, November 13th

A truly transcendent night of music that began with each of the collaborators – Lucy Dacus, Phoebe Bridgers and Julien Baker – playing her own masterful set, then all coming together for a finale of their entire EP. The vocal control evident in the contrast between the raw power unleashed on “Stay Down” and the restraint on the acoustic and un-miked closer “Ketchum, ID” proved these ladies really can do anything.

1. Frightened Rabbit – The Midnight Organ Fight 10th Anniversary Tour at Thalia Hall, February 16th

This is incredibly bittersweet, in light of frontman Scott Hutchison’s death in May. Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit played two nights in Chicago during a brief album anniversary tour, hosting what turned into an audience sing-along of Midnight Organ Fight in its entirety along with a mix of other favorites including “Holy,” “The Woodpile” and “The Oil Slick.” Losing such an honest and powerful voice this year hurt a lot. I’m so thankful I had one last evening of catharsis with him.

#music

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