Song Review:: Kang Daniel: ACT- Electric Shock

 

• Release date: 2024 September 23

• Album tracklist: Losing Myself, Get Loose, Electric Shock, Come Back to Me (feat. CHUNG HA), 9 Lives

• Album runtime: 15 minutes

I am mostly familiar with Kang Daniel because of Produce 101, but I expect a lot from him because the quality of the Wanna One members demands that. I understand he's also been going through some legal problems, so finding out he was putting out a new album made me pleased and surprised. I wish him well.

Hello, piano! That's fun and spritely! I haven't looked at the lyrics yet, but for some reason, I have a feeling that this is one of those cheerful sounding songs that have kind of depressing lyrics. Actually, the instrumentals remind me of a musical. It's probably the piano doing the frequent arpeggio that sounds like rain falling. There's also a sense of drama during the chorus, something that I deeply appreciate. He didn't just give it a tone shift, he added more bombastic layers to drive energy forward. I'm half in love with the chorus, and fully in love with the piano on its own. 

He deserves the praise he got. This is, what, seven years post-Produce 101? I can't imagine his vocals got worse, but even if they were then half of what they are now, I get it. (I didn't pay much attention to him when I watched Produce 101 because...well, I had five others I wanted to pay more attention to, NU'EST and Samuel). There's a beautiful huskiness to his voice that reminds me of JR and SCoups and V, which is high praise from me all things considered, and he wields it like the weapon it is. I don't know if it's his voice in general, or if it's this song, but it has hit me in the happy for my brain. This is one of those songs that is an instant, willing repeat for me. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I also can't heap enough praise on this song and his voice. 

The music video is starting off with a marionette, I see. Also, for the record, it almost immediately triggered the part of my brain that only wakes up when I got into analysis mode. So rather than fight it, I'm going to indulge it a little. Assuming that the messy, brown-haired guy is meant to be the flip-side of silver-haired Kang Daniel (if that isn't him anyway, Superman's disguise would totally work on me), they both seem to have the same electricity based powerset. One famous, one an average Joe Schmoe. I really can't decide if Brown Hair is meant to be the younger version of Silver Hair or not, but that's where my instincts are inclining me towards. ( I have reasons for it, but I don't want this paragraph to turn into five, so I'm limiting myself). So, running with that assumption, this feels like a statement on the price of fame and the regrets that come with it. Brown Hair's attention gets caught by Silver Hair's use of his powers and then he does everything he can to get his attention, because they're alike. But then there's sabotage involved. So either we can read it as the past attempting to stop Silver Hair, which is an interesting reversal of regret and screams of the movie Looper, or Brown Hair is actually just a fan who has the same powerset as Silver Hair, and is so obsessed that he wants to be Silver Hair and is attempting to bring him down, which is more sasaeng behavior than anything else. Either way, the theme would be regarding the price of fame and the regrets that come with it. I didn't even touch on the marionette aspect, but since Silver Hair is literally a puppet at one point...I don't know. You tell me if this isn't direct commentary on what is going on in Kang Daniel's life.

This kind of song is why I'm glad I started this blog. I likely wouldn't have listened to it if I hadn't had to, and then I'd never know how much I love it. Both the song and the music video. So good!