Song Review:: NCT DoJaeJung: Perfume- Perfume

• Release date: 2023 April 17

• Album tracklist: Perfume, Kiss, Dive, Strawberry Sunday, Can We Go Back, Ordinary

• Album runtime: 19 minutes

 The Form Submission! This came from The Form! As you can see, this song has not quite turned two, it needs a couple more months, so it was correctly submitted for a regular review. Well done. Or I could have held onto it for a few more months if the submitter wanted a GH post. That was an option (if the submitter would like that as well, just let me know somehow, I'd be happy to do it). This was also next in my draft list, so I will get this written for the lovely submitter and then resume the new releases. Thank you very much, you lovely (I'm assuming) human. NCT DoJaeJung debuted as a subunit (surprisingly without Mark, who is in all the NCT subunits as we all know) with this mini album and it is to date their only one, and will likely be their only one for a while as, unfortunately, Doyoung is going to be enlisting this year. Soon, actually, I think. So, this is good timing.

I'm sitting here going "Have I heard this song? It's clearly in a playlist because it has a green check, but which one?" First two seconds: "Oh, I know which playlist this is in!" And I get to clear it out of the Junk Drawer (my playlist, not the page on this blog), because for some reason, it got put back in there.

Instrumentals are like if TLC did something space science fiction themed. I'm definitely reminded a lot of No Scrubs. Please tell me I'm not the only one who's hearing this. The instrumentals vanish for measures at a time, allowing the vocalists to sing a cappella a lot more than I normally hear, which is nice that the instrumentals understand they're there to highlight the singing rather than the other way around. There's also quite a bit of variation here within the different sections of the song. The verses aren't all the same, nor are the choruses, but their general structure are unified within those groups. The end of the song feels particularly full, with all the instruments that have been used throughout the song coming together. I'd prefer if they were one, maybe two ticks quieter, just to better emphasize the vocals, but that's more of a nitpick than a deal breaker. And I really love the car drive-by sound effect sometimes. I can't tell if it's actually a car or supposed to be waves, but it's amusing and I like it.

This is how you do a cappella correctly and to its strengths. Those are some incredibly, astonishingly good harmonies right there at the start. We get all three voices, sometimes moving, sometimes holding the notes, but the chords are so well sung. And the vocal runs that the members have. Oof. I'd have been happy with the a cappella at the very beginning, but there's more. And! And! Part of the a cappella toward the end uses the stereo system to give the impression to the listener that their voices are bouncing, and it's even more effective because it's a cappella. It's nice to hear. Now, full disclosure, yes, this was a form submission for a regular review. But the submitter specifically requested my thoughts on the song, and regular reviews aren't something that I choose to fangirl over. If the fangirling happens, that's my honest reaction to it. But this is technically, from a technical standpoint, very well-crafted, and that's something that I really enjoy on principle. And I already had this in my "The Jams" playlist, so I obviously like it. It's just well-crafted and performed well by the trio. 

Why are they trying to seduce me? You'll recall, back with my Jaehyun review of Unconditional that I was a little bit peeved by him trying to seduce us all, and since he's part of this trio, that's apparently just what he does. So that's good to know moving forward if I have any more dealings with him specifically. Even the thumbnail. It's always the SM groups. I mean, the song generally is seductive even without the music video, and this was the first time I'd seen it, but good heavens. And the choreography? It's a little rude, because this is such a technically gorgeous song, and they're doing that. And it's better because of the choreography. Sigh. Anyway. The glamour shots are killing me a little bit. And I'm kind of in love with the transition from the light at the start to the darkness at the end, which is very sensual in and of itself. The editing. Maybe I'll add this music video to my list of music videos I'm...Well, that's a potential new segment that's simply for me that I might share with you all.

So, those were my thoughts, Dear Submitter! You're lovely!