Battle of the B-Sides:: NU'EST: ONE KISS2

 Even though I desperately want to do nothing but talk about my absolute ult and first group, the unfortunate reality I face every time I have to pick a song for either a GH or a BBS post, and it's one that everyone who is a fan of a disbanded group is aware of, is that until and unless they get back together after their enlistments, NU'EST songs are a finite resource. If I go hog wild on them, I will run out of them quickly. So, really, I should save them for special occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries. And this isn't one, but I have also spent the past week or so just missing them. So I'm ignoring the suggestions for this posting cycle, I'm ignoring the Roulette Wheel, and I'm ignoring the irrationality of the emotion. I'm sure this is partially fueled by the awareness of Hoshi's impending enlistment with the release of CBZ, but it is what it is. So I'm also giving myself permission to just fangirl over this song.

Please note that the name of the fandom comes from the Hangeul spelling of NU'EST: 뉴이스트. As you can see, there is no 뉴이스트 without ㄴㅇㅅㅌ. I don't know who came up with that (I assume it was Aron or Baekho, for a specific reason you're about to read about), but it's one of the single sappiest fandom names I've discovered so far. Also, please note what the name of this blog is.

So. This song comes from an album I had to actively hunt down to get it on disc because it's out of print and I hate that, and it is probably my favorite of the pre-Produce 101 albums. Or second favorite. I really, really love Sleep Talking, both the album as a whole as well as the song. Released in 2016 as their return to Korea after a year and a half in Japan, Q Is was the first of their trilogy of mini albums focusing on the love a knight (NU'EST) has for his queen (the LOVEs). I believe this album was also the first time Baekho helped with producing any of their music alongside Bumzu. This album was also the catalyst for me tumbling head-over-heels in love with these goombahs because back when I was still getting to know them and before I'd actually decided to listen to K-Pop almost exclusively, I watched their very first VLive. And in that awkward little video, which likely would have been enough to make me love them because they're so dorky, two things happened. One, Joshua from Seventeen was invited on to do an acoustic version of the title track Overcome with Minhyun, and it was angelic. Two, as they were talking about the album, I think it was JR who let it slip that it was Baekho's decision to name the tracks so that the first letter of each track spelled ㄴㅇㅅㅌ, and ended with a heart in ONEKISS2. I checked and sure enough, the name of their fans is written in the track titles: LOST & FOUND, OVERCOME, VVITH, EMOTION, ONE KISS2. They did that for both the English and the Korean names of the tracks. The amount of sappiness and awkward embarrassment from Baekho made me realize how much of a teddy bear he is, and the fondness from the other members sealed the group for me. Anyway, Q Is sold a grand total of 340 copies the first day according to Hanteo, so that's where they were at the year before Produce 101. After Produce 101, the album re-entered the charts and peaked at number 5. That also proves album sales are a terrible indication of how good an album actually is. Congratulations are in order when an album sells well, but just because they don't doesn't mean the music isn't good.

There's so much I love about this song that it's hard to figure out where to start. So, I will not start with the part I'm going to spend the longest on. As a side note, this song sounds so much like a Backstreet Boy ballad. And we have vibratos. And I'm a happy Fangirl.

So instead of starting where I want to yap, I'm going to focus on the vocalists, starting with Minhyun because he is the one to start the song. Minhyun has an angelic voice which surprised me the first time I heard him speak, because his speaking voice is so low, but opening this song with his voice turns the song into something akin to a lullaby. It's so comforting and soft with a beautifully pure tone. He also gets some really good parts during the chorus, which allows that same softness from the beginning to be injected periodically. 

I've got a lot of affection for Ren since our birthdays are fairly close to each other. He's a high energy, high affection softie that reminds me a lot of Hoshi and DK in some ways, but when he settles in for a ballad? He really does have such a good tone. And one of the things I particularly like about this song is that he gets the melody to close out the song while Minhyun harmonizes up above. They sound so good together. Ren actually just sounds good with all of them, and his voice rounds out the older trio of vocalists well. I say older. Only one of them is more than four months older than him.

Baekho is the big belter of the group with the second most distinct voice in the group, which I am a little biased about, but the huskiness of his voice is absolutely gorgeous. His range is also incredible and as long as his voice has been warmed up, it's so stable even when he starts going up into places where I have to be in his range to be hitting. Like his counterparts in Seventeen, Pledis did a good job in finding and training him. Oh, to hear him live. That will have to be a dream for 2026 or later. Baekho flexes that voice, and it's simply incredible.

Aron's voice is the missing piece that keeps the group's sound together. Like Ren, his voice just fits into whatever space it needs to in the group, be that as a vocalist or rapper, and with ONE KISS2, his vocal runs are a thing of beauty. He hits every single note cleanly, and his vibrato is just beyond gorgeous, and I could live in his voice.

And now to the main event, my ult bias in my ult group. So, when you listen to ONE KISS2's chorus, you have a full group harmony and one noticeably lower voice. Say hello to NU'EST's resident main rapper and main dancer and shy vocalist who would prefer not to do that thing, but can. Those low notes supporting the harmony are beautiful, but as much as I love his singing voice, he is a rapper, and that's where he should get the most attention, especially in this song. You have to wait for most of the song for it, but when it comes, it's such a soft rap. Tonally, lyrically, emotively, full of longing and love. He may not have written the words, but he delivers them like he has. His beautiful, comforting rap slips into place among the vocalists' verses with barely a ripple to the song. I mean, he is generally a work of art. All of them are, but his verse here? It's one of the few things both my cat, T'Challa, and my dog can agree on is good. My cat who loves ballads and my dog who hates music. 

Moving away from just the song, first up is a fancam that shows that Minhyun can't help but sing this entire song. It's not the entire song, which is a shame, and must be after they performed something else from the amount of sweat he's got going on. But I'm also including a Minhyun fancam because there will be a time when he couldn't be with the group.

Poor Minhyun. Dude is allergic to salt, and even sweat makes him react. He needs a towel. Although if he's that bad, Baekho and JR are probably puddles. 

Unfortunately, the sweat makes him glisten, which, combined with the white shirt and jacket, also makes him look heavenly, and I feel bad that he looks as good as he does. He also sounds like an angel, so that matches.

Going forward about a year to post-PD101, even before NU'EST W had properly debuted as the subunit but after Baekho had to return to Jeju for personal reasons, they performed it as part of a mini concert on VLIVE. 

Three things. First of all, those mics are live. Although, granted, these would be some of the best conditions to have live mics without having to worry about things. Speaking of the mics, I'm also a little entertained by the fact that they are in sync just sitting there. They're raising and dropping the mics in unison. Second, it's adorable that Ren is tapping the beat with his shoe, even though presumably he has the beat coming in through that earbud. He's the only one who is until JR's rap, and then all of a sudden they're all doing it. Thirdly, JR's expressions are lethal. My word. Even if he hadn't snagged me against my will, I'd likely still think that.

But, July of 2017 was a sad time. I love the performance so much, and yet I can't watch it a lot because of the context. I'd rather watch the more restrained joy from 2019, after their reformation and return as a full group. 

They do so much more harmonizing for the Segno in Seoul concert. I love everything about this performance because it shows how much they've grown even just two years. And Ren! His new experience in musical theatre is obviously proving its worth because him at the beginning of this is so glorious. Granted, they are also twenty-three-years-old at this point, except for Aron who is twenty-five, so you'd expect a deeper, richer sound out of them, But Ren's growth is astounding. And even though Aron is currently hurt and unable to dance too much, this song is perfect because it has no choreography, and it is simply a ballad. I also love that they put Aron in the middle. It's a gorgeous song and the setting and lighting is incredible here. The people who arranged and designed them did a fabulous job, so shout out to them. 

So, yeah. This isn't my favorite NU'EST song, but it is one I listen to specifically when I want the soothes. I hope you all enjoyed it. Even if you didn't, thanks for letting me yap about them.