Song Review:: Yena (IZ*ONE): NEMONEMO- NEMONEMO

 

• Release date: 2024 September 30

• Album tracklist: NEMONEMO, Sugar, It was love

• Album runtime: 9 minutes

This was my random-selection-on-the-comeback-schedule for a review. Could I have chosen an October release? Yes. Did I? Obviously not, but I figure I might have other days where they're slow, and I can randomly select from October releases then. She appears to be a soloist. 

This is so incredibly J-Pop sounding. I don't realize how much I actually like that style until I hear it again. Obviously stems from my years of watching anime. I didn't watch a lot of different anime, for the record, but I did rewatch a lot of anime. So this sound sends me straight back to middle and high school. Alternatively, this could come straight out of some very specific Japanese video games. We've got a very funky sound with the synths and crashing cymbals. I have yet to spell that correctly on the first try. But there's a very, very specific sequence of beeps at the beginning and at other points in the song that my brain finishes the sound sequence for: "We're sorry. The number you have dialed has been disconnected. Please hang up and try again later." And then I'm distracted for the next little bit of the song. I feel like having that response to that beep dates me, especially with the sound of the ringing at the very beginning of song. This song is a blast of sound that drags you along with it willingly or not, and has an astonishing variety of phone sound effects within the high energy, high cheer instrumentals.

There is a Japanese girl metal band that I listen to occasionally called BABYMETAL, and Yena sounds like she could be in the band as the fourth member. They have the same high-pitched, manic energy where they just fling themselves into the song with reckless abandon. Note that I just compared her to a metal band. And honestly, the instrumentals could be from a BABYMONSTER song as well. 

The music video is completely bonkers. And this is a break-up song??? Okay. Well, I amend my statement on the aggressive cheer. You know what? This is so 2000s K-Pop coded with a J-Pop sound embedded into it. It's a very fun music video. Alternatively, this isn't a break-up song. This is a "I don't care that you're a loser, I still love you" song. I amend my amendment. There's so much happening in this music video that defies explanation though.