Song Review:: Jay B (GOT7): Archive 1: [Road Runner]- Cloud nine

• Release date: 2024 November 27

• Album tracklist: Baby, if you, Make Me Right, Chosen, Take it easy, Crash, Preview, °C(Temperature), Right back, Inside, Cloud nine

• Album runtime: 34 minutes

I find it kind of hilarious that both Minho and Jay B, both of whom dropped full albums, released b-side music videos at about the same time even though the original album releases were three weeks apart. It's the little things, you know?

I know my R&B recognition meter is broken, but even if it didn't outright say R&B, which is a line I kept missing the first time I heard this song, I still pegged it as R&B. I could be wrong, because like I said, my R&B recognition meter is broken, but I feel slightly confident about it. The guitar here for me is a very good thing and scratches the country music itch I have a little. It's the wrong kind of guitar to fully scratch the itch, but it's good enough. The slow, mellow beat rolls through song like ocean waves, and the audience participation snapping instantly lends the song a sultry vibe.

His vocal runs are gorgeous. I don't know what this says about me, but I've always loved songs where there is scale movement, especially when it's both ascending and descending. I don't particularly care about the order. And in this case, not only do we get scalework, but we also get a word painting, so the musical techniques we have going on in this song that primarily get to hang out with his vocals are some of the things they bring me the most joy.

One thing that listening to K-Pop has done to me is made me realize how much I really like the silhouette of a man in a crop top. I didn't use to when I was around bulkier athletes, but because of the dancer builds so many of the artists have, the slenderness with the crop top creates a very nice silhouette. Plus, with the way so many of the male artists wear baggier clothing, when they are in form fitting crop tops, I feel a little like a Victorian man being flashed ankle. I said it for the title track, but his stylist needs a raise. Essentially the music video is him wandering around a city at night, in what looks like the industrial section of town which doesn't feel like the safest option. This has the absolute barest minimum of choreography. The approach out of darkness and then the subsequent hard lighting is an immediate and effective moodmaker. And my favorite part of the music video, which is very simple, is the ascent up invisible stairs before he falls. Inspired.