Song Review:: The8 (Seventeen): THE 8 'STARDUST'- Orbit

• Release date: 2024 December 04

• Album tracklist: 54321 (Lift Off) (feat. Vernon), Orbit (feat. JinJin's water), Cold Love

• Album runtime: 9 minutes

  I wish I could include the Chinese characters, but I don't have the first clue about how to go about writing them. Congrats to The8! I am assuming that the title means this is his first Chinese EP. I don't know what the difference is between an EP, a single, and a mini album are, but that's something I can learn later. I'm very excited for this, even more so after seeing Vernon in the credits for two of the three. The two shortest songs, naturally, because that seems to be the way of it these days. But also, he was working on this while being busy with the group activities and the tour and everything, and I both applaud that and worry.

It takes almost thirty seconds for his voice to show up, and in that time, I'm left wondering what those instruments are. This song just washes over you without snagging or gripping too deeply, but it also invites you to just sink into it. There's not too much variation to the instrumentals, either between different sections, or within their own sections, but it's a non-taxing, gentle healing. But! I'm going to try to use my newly learned definition and tentatively say that I think it might have the correct beat and rhythm structure to make this an afrobeats song. I'm not positive about it at all, because I literally just learned about the genre a few days ago, and I don't think I've had the chance to identify a song yet. But if I had to, I'd say this was afrobeats. Not certain about this at all, but the only way to be more confident is to make try.

Vernon definitely helped with the English lyrics (great use of the vocabulary though, Vernon. Triones? Thumbs up from me! I had to look it up and it apparently is a reference to Ursa Major, AKA the Big Dipper). It's precious and I love that for him. The8's voice, like with the instrumentals, is incredibly soothing, but the best part is where he and his guest artist are dueting the rap part a little bit together. There is some really good potential with them, even if there's not a lot of inherent risk to the song as a whole. I don't mind that he's not trying to take a roof down with his vocals, partially because that doesn't feel like his vibe, although I'd love to see him do it, and partially because that's not the kind of song this is, but I would have liked a little more oomph to it.

That is a lot of skin I'm not used to seeing from The8. Also, the lines of his body are completely gorgeous, and his dancer's build is absolutely beautiful. Fascinating. Moving on from that, this music video reminds me of Assassin's Creed in the best way, like if the assassin was a dancer, and while I could definitely see it being set in the Middle East, I was getting some strong ancient Egypt vibes off it, but the tech portions also reminded me of the alien people from Assassin's Creed. The music video is very video game coded for me. The costuming is stunning on everyone, and The8 is back to his finger jewelry. The "waterfall" of sand provides an incredible visual backdrop. Honestly, it feels like Orbit and Spell could be in the same universe. They're similarly toned, both in visuals and aurally, but they've also both got this very strong fluid sense to them. This is a dance recital more than it is an idol dance, and it's beautiful.