Song Review:: TWS: Last Bell- Last Festival

•  Release date: 2024 November 25

• Album tracklist: Highlight, Last Festival, Comma,

• Album runtime: 9 minutes

If you're new to this, I love NU'EST an exceeding amount, and that's why you're reading these words right now. If you aren't new, then you can likely guess what I'm about to say. I decided I was going to love this group as soon as it was announced that Pledis would be debuting a new boy group. Didn't hear a beat of music from them, knew nothing about them, and I decided I would love them for the sole and simple reason that they are NU'EST's grand-dongsaengs, and that they were introduced by Seventeen the same way that NU'EST introduced them. Though it took me until TWS's second mini album to get the music video-ed b-side that actually caught me as a fan outside of my simple loyalty to NU'EST, I'm very fond of them and continue to have tentatively high hopes for their music as the Powers That Be, be they Pledis or HYBE, give them really good songs. Also, I'm really grateful this is only a single. A third mini album in a year, especially with Kyungmin still underage? No, thank you. This is stretching my tolerance limits as it is. 

Both of their previous title tracks so far have been high energy dance-pop songs, and a different approach is being taken for this one. This wouldn't be cause for alarm, other than looking like they're following NU'EST's path more than Seventeen's, and I really don't like that, but I need to check some song credits. Good news, it doesn't have the same writers as Tomorrow x Together's newest title track nor Enhypen's. Bad news is they're very clearly the same kinds of songs. Multiple groups means the opportunity to diversify the music, and a healthy ecosystem requires high levels of biodiversity. I wouldn't put it past HYBE to be the one making that decision when HYBE is what connects the three groups. I'd love to hear what the song sounds like without the percussion because there are some incredibly interesting things going on that are partially hidden behind.

Despite the fact that I still require translations, I'm actually really happy with the amount of Korean in the song. As in, it's mostly in Korean. I recognize the irony given that the song starts off with an English word, but while I appreciate having songs with a lot of English, it's an opportunity to feel for understanding in music rather than hearing for understanding. In this case, it feels sad. Not overwhelmingly sad, but I think the word I'm looking for is lovesick. I've mentioned to people before, but the group has strong streaks of NU'EST to them, in personality and in sound (obviously I'm going to say that, but hear me out). Listen to this song and then listen to Inside Out. The specific voices are different because they're different people and different groups, but the tone and the vibe are the same between the songs. Even the repeated bit through the chorus is similar, though that's also a currently trend anyway right now. 

Oh, my gosh, this is in fact the younger version of Inside Out. And the love triangle with Shinyu and Dohoon? Breaks my heart, but the Shakespeare connection adds so many layers of meaning. Obviously, Midsummer Night's Dream, which literally has all sorts of weird fighting over people, but also A Winter's Tale, which is ALSO about friends fighting and a love triangle, or at least a perceived one. I could do a full comparison analysis, but this isn't the time for it. Instead, I'll also comment on the posters when the music changes. The shoutout to the group and their last title track is precious, but on the whole? It's so sad, y'all. It's just sad.