Song Review:: Lay (EXO): What About Love

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  • Release date: 2024 November 15
  • Album tracklist: What About Love
  • Album runtime: 2 minutes

 So, apparently this was originally released back on November. I apparently either didn't notice it, or I temporarily forgot which group he was with, but there's a music video out now, which I also just realized. Forgive me for not paying attention. I am not overly fond of that runtime though. Two and a half minutes? That's not comfy. And apparently it's an English single, which may explain why I didn't do anything with it in the first place. Although I do find it a little funny that Chanyeol just released a song in what looks like Chinese. 

Ooh, I like that guitar. When it's on, before the vocals enter, it reminds me of a song that would be on Supernatural. It sounds remarkably familiar, even though it doesn't do what my ears are expecting it to do. I think the drumsticks were utilized in the instrumentals, as well as some version of audience participation clapping. It's very mellow. The beats per minute is fairly quick, which one would think would mean the energy would be high, but that is not the case. Once the drumbeat gets added, there is no change to the instrumentals, no change even as the song moves towards the climax. Because of that, there's a sense of sorrow, resignation, and inevitability to the song. 

The same issue I have with the instrumentals is in the vocals. There are very few if any changes to the energy level over the course of the song. He's got a good sounding voice, but the band of notes he sings in is very narrow. It's the point of the song, as I can tell what they're going for, but it feels like he's been shackled by the song to operate only in that narrow band of potential. I do actually think I might really like this song. It's just...very unchanging. 

The music video makes very good use of the sense of space and scale, using both completely open, outdoor locations that free and narrow hallways that constrict. They also did fun things with the zoom and camera movements during the hallway portions that made me smile and flash back to learning about it in one of my film classes. And can we just talk about the use of light and dark is? I'm not going to say the entire music video does this as I'm sure somewhere there's color, but it won't be much. And the pairings sometimes match between Lay's outfit and the environment, and sometimes not, but the most glaring non-matching is when Lay is literally glowing in the darkness. It's a little fascinating.



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