Song Review:: Daesung (BIGBANG): D's WAVE- Universe

-

  • Release Date: 2025 April 08
  • Album tracklist: Beautiful Life, Us Before, Universe, Last girl (with Han Yo Han), JUMP, Fly Away, Wolf, Umbrella - Bonus Track
  • Album runtime: 28 minutes

 Apparently this is his first Korean mini album, which is both entertaining and adorable. It's nowhere near his solo debut, because that was almost two decades ago with trot, but the time gap is kind of precious. I'd also like to say that I'm a huge fan of how long these songs are, with only one of them under three minutes and that's barely. I'd also like to add that one of the places that Baekho has signed with is the company that has Daesung's company. So they're sort of at the same place now (like how Baekho and V were both under HYBE, just not in the same company).

We're definitely leaning more towards the rock and the ballad for this, though by the prevalence and drama of the drums and the electric guitar I'm much more inclined to call this a rock song, and I couldn't be happier. We've got highs and lows, as there should be, with the instrumentals supporting his voice without overtaking it. We've got shifts in the instruments being used, as well as mimicking the vocal melody within the instrumentals, something that I don't hear nearly as often as I should because it's both an easy way to keep the artist singing the right notes (not that I think Daesung needs the help too much at this point in his career with that) and also to help strength the vocals so they can more easily stand out against the rest of the track. It isn't there for the entire song, because that would be a little too much for a singer as seasoned as Daesung, but it was strategically added in places. So well done to the production team for that one. Excellent work.

His vibrato is so pretty when it comes out. I'm so jealous. Also, you can hear how much control the man has over his voice. It's obvious in a subtle way because of the range he's exhibiting here. He's got the big, rocker belts at times, as well as a soft, almost conversational tone to fit into the valleys of the instrumentals. Absolutely gorgeous.

The symbolism of this music video. Wow. I mean, it's not blatantly obvious, but circumstantially, you could definitely read this through a Christian lense, and I don't think you'd be incorrect to do so, given what he's said about his faith. It's a gorgeous music video too, with a lovely use of contrast between light and dark, as well as with colors. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greatest Hits:: LOONA: PTT (Paint the Town)

-
Image
Apparently the random wheel generator likes the fourth generation groups at the moment, which I'm fine with because eventually I'll get to do older groups and that's something I'm very excited about. But, in the meantime, we get a group that I initially became interested in because I really enjoyed watching them dance on Queendom 2. Do I actually know much about them? Nope. But I do know that they have a lot of subunits, like tripleS, and are currently promoting under various subunits and/or as soloists. Group : LOONA Debut Date : 2018 August 19 Company : Blockberry Creative Status : Inactive (there are no members remaining at the company, but they were not officially disbanded; additionally, the members have expressed a desire to perform together again) Album : [&] Song :  PTT (Paint The Town) Release Date : 2021 June 28 This song apparently marks the return of leader Haseul! There's usually an immense sense of relief from the members when one who was on hiatus...
Read more

Music Show Wins: Week of 01/08 - 01/14

-
Image
  It looks like we may be getting more music shows back up and running if this week is any indication, but the most exciting news of all is that this week was a group's first first place on a music show! Congrats to n.SSign! Took about a year and a half, but I'm so happy for them. G-Dragon also got the Triple Crown on Inkigayo this week, which opens the trophy back up to someone else for next week, and that's without promotions. On After School Club, Allen and Taeyoung were absent, so Jayn Lee, former leader of TO1, joined Aron as co-host for n.SSign to come out and play a little. And in a both funny and adorable moment, Aron complimented them on smelling good. So if you're a fan, at least one of them smells really nice. Both of the hosts struggled a little with the MC Challenge, which remains my favorite segment, and the members had some interesting insights for the Question Corner. Show Champion: N/A MCountdown: Stray Kids "Walkin on Water" (note: I think I ...
Read more

Halloween Spookening: 2024 Edition

-
Image
 I love Halloween. It's been my favorite holiday for literally my entire life. I have loved Halloween longer than Sangyeon of The Boyz has been alive, barely because my first Halloween was a couple of days before he was born, but according to my mother, even at the age of not-quite one years old, I have loved it. She dressed me up as a San Francisco 49ers cheerleader. I have pictures.  One of the most important things, then, is finding music that matches the Month of Spookening and horror. I love spooky movies. I love spooky books. I love spooky video games (even though I am a wuss of the nth degree and prefer to watch other people play them). And I love spooky music. THUS, this post is simply going to be a compilation of some of the songs I've added to my Halloween K-Pop playlist. If I were to add all of the songs in there, this post would be ages  long. So I'm only going to add as many as I feel like it. I don't know how long this is going to be. But there will be vib...
Read more

Who is this Random Person Reviewing K-Pop and Why Does Her Voice Matter in the Cacophonous Discord that is the Internet?

-
     Much like a recipe blog, this K-Pop review blog depends on the path leading me to where I am at today to dictate my tastes and how I perceive the world. Unlike a recipe blog, I'm not going to start every review with fifteen pages of backstory to get to the good stuff that you would actually care about.      You'll get the full fifteen (this is a joke, I don't think it's that long) pages up front, so you can decide for yourself if I'm worth listening to. There are a lot of voices out there. I'm merely one of them. Hopefully somewhat entertaining, but considering it took one of my friends four years to realize I was fun, I'm not holding my breath on that one.      So, who am I, and why should you care? Because my story isn't extraordinary. Well, it is because it's mine, but there are at least thousands, probably millions of other stories like it. Maybe something about mine resonates with you. But I do like to think I have some credentials ...
Read more

Song Review:: Kiss of Life: KISS ROAD- Live, Love, Laugh

-
Image
Release date: 2025 May 07 Album tracklist:  Live, Love, Laugh ; W.House; Live, Love, Laugh (Inst.) Album runtime: 10 minutes  I recognize that choices on the part of the group have been happening recently, making some people disinclined to listen to them. I am going to be putting this song on Underage Protocol to limit the amount of my impact, but this review is generally for anyone but specifically for those who would normally listen to it, but are as aforementioned disinclined to because of choices that have been made, but also are curious about what the song entails so I will go in as much detail as possible for that group of people. As a reminder, Underage Protocol is one listen for the instrumental paragraph, one for the vocals, and then a maximum of two views on the available music video. The irony of the title is not lost on me, but it is what it is. Opening piano and what sounds like a brass instrument being played very out of tune, obviously deliberately. Or maybe it'...
Read more

Song Review:: Jin (BTS): ECHO- Don't Say You Love Me

-
Image
Release date: 2025 May 16 Album tracklist: Don't Say You Love Me; Nothing Without Your Love; Loser (feat. Yena); Rope It; With the Clouds; Background; To Me, Today Album runtime: 20 minutes  My mother has actually been pestering me a little about this song, which is funny because I've been working for months on her with BTS and she finally found a member she likes. Thinks his voice is gorgeous. Don't worry. I'll continue working on her. She may be a little stubborn, but I am just as stubborn and more patient. The album runtime is a lot better than I've been seeing out of HYBE, so I appreciate that even if it's under the three minute mark I want to be seeing. However, the title track song itself comes in at just three minutes, so it has successfully met my bare minimum! Had to turn up my volume a little bit for this, which is fine. It does mean that this is an inherently quiet song. There isn't a whole lot of variation to the song, but considering how much of...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: Taeyeon (Girls' Generation): INVU

-
Image
 Last of the girl group submissions for the moment, then I get to move on to some of the boy groups, but it's not just boy groups. There's a co-ed submission in there, which is such a yay from me. I'm excited for that. But! I'm also very excited for this, because she is a second gen heavy weight, reigning champion of an artist. Award-winning. Best-selling. Chart topping. And that's just her as a soloist, that's not even counting the years before that as the leader of Girls' Generation, which is one of the most well-known groups to come out of K-Pop. I admire her a lot, as you can tell, and I also think she's really cool. And funny. I don't know if she's generally known for her humor, but I think she's hilarious. She's also fairly out-spoken which is something else that I admire about her, but the group turns eighteen this year. If anyone has earned the right to pass judgement on the industry, someone who has been as active as she has the ...
Read more

Song Review:: The CrewOne: Hit the Floor {Debut}

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 1 Album tracklist: Hit The Floor Album runtime: 3 minutes  Considering Ace of Ace  has been over for weeks, I had no intention to do any reviews on the final tracks. But by the time this gets published, The CrewOne will have been on ASC, which means that I have to follow my rules. For the uninitiated, The CrewOne was a team put together for Ace of Ace  consisting of the fourth gen boy groups ATBO and JUST B. Apparently disbandment was in their future before the two groups got put together, which is completely ridiculous as JUST B debuted in 2021 and ATBO debuted in 2022. I'm sorry, there are a number of groups that went on to be very successful after three not-successful years and if their companies had disbanded them, the face of K-Pop would be radically different. And yes, one of those groups I'm talking about is in fact BTS, though I wouldn't be me if I didn't also mention NU'EST here. But, I digress. If The CrewOne are going to be an...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: EXID: Up & Down

-
Image
 I was actually really excited to get this suggestion via The Form, because this song has apparently been sitting in my Junk Drawer for ages, which means that I get to clean out the playlist a little. That feels a little illegal, but who cares? Thank you, dear suggester, for giving me an excellent excuse to move a song out of that unwieldy playlist. They also directed me towards a fan cam from Music Bank  for this song and mentioned that it was the reason they got into the group at all, so I'm excited to see what this fan-inducing fan cam was. You can get some incredible shots on fan cams, and I love them because they're usually the raw audio that's been unaltered by the program or agency to make the groups sound better. So, EXID is a 2012 group, which I'm very delighted for obvious reasons. They sit between B.A.P and NU'EST in age, being a February debut as well as my apparently preferred debut year of 2012. I like this. I also really like their logo because unless...
Read more

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

-
Image
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 t...
Read more