Song Review:: 8TURN: Like a Friend

-

  • Release date: 2024 December 09
  • Album tracklist: Like a Friend
  • Album runtime: 3 minutes

 You Are My Reason was such a stunning song, I have no idea how they could possibly top it with this release. It's absolutely beautiful. I love love-letters to the fans in song form. This is also their second post- Ace of Ace release in the last month, so they've clearly been keeping themselves busy, as they should to try to capitalize on the momentum gained. As long as they don't approach burn-out, I'm okay with them working this hard right now. It's unfortunately a good idea. 

I can practically see the choreography with this song. I'm glad to have this to break up the seasonal ballads with something a bit more high energy, and in this case, it's new jack swing. I'm learning about all sorts of musical genres I didn't know existed, but I also don't currently know if this song is a good example of the genre. It's not super high energy, and there are definite spots where it slows down, but there's a pretty identifiable, late game electric guitar that comes screaming to the forefront very briefly. This is an eclectic set of instrumentals that feels a little messy, but overall, it's not unpleasant, and works well with the vocals.

I enjoy listening to the vocalists a lot. The ad-libs are lower than I was expecting, but considering the entire song has somewhat of a conversational tone to it, I actually like that choice. There's also a surprising bit of harmonization that perked my ears, including vocalists harmonizing with the rappers, which is both cool and a little uncommon to hear. Speaking of the rappers, they did an excellent job of matching the instrumentals without moving too far from their speed.

It's a good thing that this was marked as a special video, otherwise I would have scowled at it for the dominance of the choreography. Not that the choreography is bad, but given that there's actually somewhat of a storyline within the video, that's what I'd prefer to see more of, if this was called a music video. It's also a very cute little love story of one-sided puppy love, and it's cute.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greatest Hits:: SHINee: Everybody

-
Image
 Finally a moment to breathe where I can get to this one. This was suggested to me via a Reddit comment by a user who asked me if I'd do this song because I'd mentioned it in my August wrap-up in the honorable mention category. No further details were incoming, but that's okay! In this case, I didn't need any. SHINee is the oldest group I've done so far for a Greatest Hits addition, and Everybody  is also the oldest song I've done so far because it's a month older than Hush . So, reviewer hat off, and fan hat on.  Group : SHINee Debut Date : 2008 May 25 Company : SM Entertainment Status : Active Album : Everybody Song :  Everybody Release Date : 2013 October 14 My city doesn't have a ton of K-Pop things happening, so when things happen, I want to go to them, even if it's for a group I don't know well/listen to as a show of support so we can get more and hopefully for a group I listen to. In the case of SHINee, I knew An Encore , because I heard ...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: B.A.P: Feel So Good

-
Image
 We're heading back to 2016 for this one, and that album cover is so unlike anything else they put out that obviously I had to go with this title track. I like the bright colors and the cheer and the amount of fun there.  And if you want goofy, that music video is unrepentantly so. This song was apparently them taking a break from their dark songs, which, as much as I like dark songs, I really, really love goofy ones just as much.  Group : B.A.P (Best Absolute Perfect) Debut Date : 2012 January 26 Company : TS Entertainment/ MA Entertainment Status : Disbanded (2019 February 18)/ Reformed (2024 June 12) Album : Carnival Song : Feel So Good Release Date : 2016 February 22 You know what? I feel like some screenshots are in order because no one should miss out on these moments. For all the fans out there, in case you happen to have forgotten, this was the one where Zelo had the rainbow pigeon poop hair. Which, you will be reminded of shortly.  I know that I have the mus...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: Loona: PTT (Paint the Town)

-
Image
Apparently the random wheel generator likes the fourth generation groups at the moment, which I'm fine with because eventually I'll get to do older groups and that's something I'm very excited about. But, in the meantime, we get a group that I initially became interested in because I really enjoyed watching them dance on Queendom 2. Do I actually know much about them? Nope. But I do know that they have a lot of subunits, like tripleS, and are currently promoting under various subunits and/or as soloists. Group : LOONA Debut Date : 2018 August 19 Company : Blockberry Creative Status : Inactive (there are no members remaining at the company, but they were not officially disbanded; additionally, the members have expressed a desire to perform together again) Album : [&] Song :  PTT (Paint The Town) Release Date : 2021 June 28 This song apparently marks the return of leader Haseul! There's usually an immense sense of relief from the members when one who was on hiatus...
Read more

Song Review:: Jin (BTS): Happy- Running Wild {Debut}

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 15 Album tracklist:  Running Wild ,  I'll Be There , Another Level, Until I Reach You, Heart on the Window , In Longing Album runtime: 17 minutes  This wasn't my first post for the day solely because I wanted to make sure that whatever I said for the last post of yesterday's didn't influence my feelings on this song too much, so I gave my self a buffer. Also, I didn't find out until I woke up that BigHit also had released the music video at least while I was still awake, so that's something I'll keep track of in the future. Happy solo debut, Jin! Congrats! I hope everything goes well. That is an uncomfy run time, and there's only one song out of the six that's over 3 minutes, which is even more alarming when also looking at labelmates' Tomorrow x Together's runtime for their most recent album. Why, BigHit? It's another rock song from him, which I'm genuinely loving, but it also reminds me a lot of video gam...
Read more

Song Review:: ATEEZ: Golden Hour : Part.2- Ice On My Teeth

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 15 Album tracklist: Deep Dive, Scene 1 : Value, Ice On My Teeth , Man on Fire, Selfish Waltz, Enough  Album runtime: 17 minutes  Because of the heavyweights releasing albums today, and because KQ has a fantastic track record of releasing albums when I'm still awake, I'm going to review this one now to give enough space to both it and the other releases for today. Ooh, I'm excited for this one as it's the first comeback (that isn't a Japanese release) since I saw them in concert. For the record, the two that surprised me the most with their raw levels of charisma that had me fully entranced were Seonghwa and Yunho, so with that new awareness, I'm a little nervous. Okay. Let's do it. The album runtime would be a lot closer to an average of three minutes if it wasn't for Scene 1 : Value  being only about a minute long.  Violin! Violin alert! There are a couple of spots where it almost sounds like a fiddle, even if realistically i...
Read more

Battle of the B-Sides: Jin (BTS): Heart on the Window

-
Image
 My first BBS request! I just saw some of the memes being made about their performance and the amount of space between Wendy and Jin, and I just have to say that they're hilarious and the amount of trolling I'm seeing from the fans gives me life. The timing is actually really helpful for me to get into fan mindset. This request comes from a user on Reddit, who simply said there was too much, they were obsessed, and then linked me to an appreciation post they'd done. This is what I like to see, and it gave me a very good place to start: Jin and Wendy's voices. As a side note, Jin really does have the perfect trot voice. This isn't even in that genre or anywhere approaching it, but that honestly doesn't change this fact about him. If he's willing to give us more trot or trot-adjacent, I'd be a happy camper and eat it up. Heart on the Window comes from Jin's debut album and is the fifth track between a soft rock ballad and a full fat ballad. With the t...
Read more

Song Review:: Stray Kids: GIANT- GIANT {Japanese}

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 13 Album tracklist: GIANT , Chk Chk Boom -Japanese ver.-, NIGHT, Falling Up, WHY?, Saiyan, Aiwokuretanoninaze, Christmas Love, NIGHT -English ver.-, Falling Up -English ver.- Album runtime: 31 minutes  Even though I don't do a lot of the Japan releases, my Stay friend asked me if I would do this one. And so I shall! And I deeply approve of the run time. Ah, industrial music. It's the pinging and clanging of metal that makes me smile fondly, which is likely due to the fact that while I was watching the movie Looper  with commentary (because that's what I, a movie nerd, do in my spare time), they were talking about making the music and going out and recording in a parking garage, I think, sounds while banging different bits of metal together to get the specific sounds that Rian Johnson, the director, wanted with the music. The last time I watched it with commentary was prior to The Last Jedi  coming out, so I may be misremembering specifics. But ...
Read more

Song Review:: Wendy (Red Velvet): Wish You Hell- Wish You Hell

-
Image
  Release date: 2024 March 11 Album tracklist: Wish You Hell , His Car Isn't Yours, Best Ever, Better Judgement, Queen Of The Party, Vermillion Album runtime: 9 minutes  Before I plunge into the laundry list of recent debuts because the amount panicked me for a moment, I'm going to do a March release to help fill that list out a little bit better and to ease me into the laundry list. Who better than Wendy to avoid doing the one that I'm most aware released last March? Plus, it's been eight-and-a-half months since this released. Also, the demon child (my cat named T'Challa who has intensely strong opinions about K-Pop and has both an ult group and a bias within that group, and yes, it's weird for me too) has settled into my lap because he's cold while I write this, so I'll have to let him take a listen. He's got surprisingly good taste. I don't know that I've ever had him listen to Red Velvet in either solo or group form, so I'm a little c...
Read more

Song Review:: izna: n/a- IZNA{Debut}

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 25 Album tracklist: IZNA , TIMEBOMB, IWALY - izna Version, DRIP, FAKE IT Album runtime: 13 minutes  The project group from I-Land 2 is finally debuting. I say finally. It's a little weird seeing names I actually recognize in the debut list. Unlike ZEROBASEONE and Kep1er, their survival show siblings under WAKEONE, izna has a standard contract so, assuming something weird doesn't happen, they should be around for more than a few years. And, because they're a newly debuted group, I get to take a look at their ages in slight trepidation because while I remember that there were some fairly young contestants, I don't remember them making it to the end. But I'm happy to report that they barely squeak by with the majority of age and the maknae turning seventeen pretty soon. Her birthday is in January. The runtime physically pains me though. The title track is barely over two and a half minutes, and only one of the songs is over three, and that...
Read more

Song Review:: Treasure: Last Night

-
Image
Release date: 2024 December 05 Album tracklist: Last Night Album runtime: 3 minutes Well, we just got some news on the near future of the group. It's nice that the company remembered that they existed and decided to get them out of the pasture where they'd been retired. I kind of feel like they weren't even locked in the basement. But! YGE needed them, and so they've been returned to work.  This song reminds me so much of Good Time  by Owl City. It's not even funny. I was sitting here for five minutes humming until I could recall lyrics and then one short search later, and I got the song I was thinking of. The instrumentals here are so similar. I'm also reminded of early 00s Disney Channel star pop or late 00s boy band pop with how very bright this song is. The grungy bass popping in to accompany the rapping is a good change of pace within the song, getting it just a little dark and messy to sully the brightness of the rest of the instrumentals. It's enterta...
Read more