Battle of the B-Sides:: Stray Kids: MEGAVERSE

 Yeah, I'm still continuing this. Needed some mental motivation and then I got a nice little boost, so here we are, here you are, and here this is. This comes to you from The Form, so if you've got a song you want me to highlight, go for it. Throw as many or as few as you want. For the person who submitted this, I hope it finds you. And also for the dance practice you want me to highlight. I too am very much into the dance practices, so I'm deeply looking forward to this. This is my second Stray Kids post for either a GH or a BBS, the first being My Pace, so it'll be fun to do one that is a lot more recent. (I have another one on the list suggested by my Stay friend, so that'll happen eventually)

Before I begin with the chatting about the cool bits of the song, if any of you get hit by the Felix Effect, do let me know. If you don't want to let me know here, you can find me over on Tumblr (or wherever else you happen to have found this, I post them in places). Shoot me a message or an ask or whatever. I love seeing people get hit by the Felix Effect. I sort of did, but he wasn't what hooked me at first.

Rockstar was actually my first Stray Kids release, so I'm quite fond of this album in general (it does mean that I'm well aware that soon my first kpop releases will be available for me to do GH posts on them,). Well, technically Superbowl was, but I didn't know any of their names yet, except maybe Chan. I'm actually pretty delighted by the amount of easily accessible tech and background is available on this album, which then gives me good info for this song specifically. MEGAVERSE has background vocals from all three members of 3Racha, Chan helped with the recording, and the only other person to do any writing or composing for it is Versachoi, the fourth member of 3Racha. What a title. There weren't a lot of extra hands touching this song to start it out, which is fascinating to see. 

I'll be straight with y'all. I didn't listen to a lot of Stray Kids before this album release. But let's talk about that opening and intro, shall we? There are two things that stand out before Changbin starts going. First of all, it's that combination of the military-esque drumline that gets the emergency alarms added to them that really texture the song well. In context of the song, it genuinely fits together so well. We get both of them lightly woven in and out throughout. 

And if I remember correctly, Chan caused quite the stir when the fans realized that it wasn't just Felix in the beginning. Felix is the deep voice. That's kind of his thing. But Chan rumbling along with him? Not going to lie, it's kind of attractive. Not that Felix's isn't, but we get his a lot and this is the novelty of Chan's deep voice. On the other hand, French is generally regarded as one of the sexier languages and Felix does speak it to count at the beginning, so there's that. It's a lot of attractiveness from the Aussie line in that opening, then acting as the lead in to the rapid fire rapping of Changbin and Han makes the whole song just explode out of the gate like a racehorse on speed (note: don't do that). Plus, with how the instrumentals are just bass and a low buzz? There's so much weight to the song built into it from the very beginning, and I think that's super fun. 

As a side note, I'm pretty sure that if you have a workout playlist and this song is not on it, then you should probably add it to that playlist. 

I'll talk about the choreography when I get down to the dance practice (because it's me, of course I'm going to include the dance practice here if applicable), But this can be your spoiler for the choreography: it's really cool.

But, Lee Know, Seungmin, and I.N. 

Seungmin is another one, like Onew, who just has such a distinct voice that even if I can't recognize him by sight, I recognize his voice almost immediately. Part of it is the tone that he uses. I think he keeps his voice when he sings in like the middle of the bridge of his nose and then because of the rest of the technique, it makes for a very distinct sound, that and his range. I think he's another one with a range that doesn't quit.

I.N is, as described by Lee Know, is very solid and dependable in whatever position he ends up in. Solid vocals. Solid rapping, although we don't hear as much of that from him in this song. Solid dance. I actually want to spend more time on him later with the choreography because look at you, Baby Bread! Actually, what's kind of funny is my brain has given him a nickname that makes me snicker because I never use French, but my brain has assigned him the nickname Papa Pain for when he's especially... Honestly, I'm not sure what inspires the random French, but he's got a couple of moments when it's like "I see you, Papa Pain."

And again, I know I'm going to talk more about Lee Know later with the choreography, but I really like his voice? And that shot when he's looking down at the security guard? Nice. 

Oh, wait. I just recognized Han's "follow!" part from the recording video that went viral. That was interesting. Huh. Well, I'm happy to know which song that clip belongs to now. That's actually pretty exciting. And now I can't unhear it. That's actually kind of fantastic.

 So as far as the music video goes, I love it? They're weirdly sinister, but they don't fully do anything. They're just like "Ooh, I'm big and scary. Whoops, looks like that was an unfortunate accident." They're just messing with the poor security guard, and honestly, if we didn't love Stray Kids, this would in fact be horror. They're basically eldritch horrors that spawn in and out, playing mind tricks, and cause all sorts of damage and chaos. The best part is that at minimum, they don't seem to care and at best, they seem to enjoy being able to be tricksters. Some of them seem to be more excited about the chaos than others. 

But, it's really just so much fun.

And also, spoiler for the song with Tablo that was released last year. Is it a spoiler if the thing has already come out? I actually really like that song too. I just had no idea that it had been teased a year earlier.

There's something so incredibly satisfying about seeing this many people moving together as one. That part where they all stand up together?  *chef's kiss* And the rippling at the very end? It looks so good when you can see the whole thing because then you really get to see exactly how sharp and clean this choreography is, you know?

I don't think I've talked about Hyunjin yet. Well, let's do that now since he is part of Danceracha. First of all, the dance break he gets before Chan pops out? And like, I admit I'm a little bit biased after seeing them last spring because he's incredible, but even at this distance, he's very distinct and not just because of his hair. The way he just popped out of the midst of the dancers to do his part in the middle there is so cool. I mean, because he's taller, he's instantly more recognizable, plus he had that long hair going on, but I'm also looking forward to seeing any stages where this was performed because then I will get a slighter better close-up, even though some of the details will be lost. Actually, he reminds me a little bit of one of my friends from high school. 

But Lee Know. Lee Know. Lee. Know. I know, you know, Lee Know. His movements are so crisp and precise while looking so effortless. He moves like this choreography was made specifically for him and it's the easiest thing on the planet. It's not. This choreography looks like it would be an absolute wrecker. But for Lee Know? Obviously nothing could be simpler, and that's a testament to his skill and training and raw talent. He doesn't move like water; he moves like shards of ice, and it is beautiful.

Oh, I.N. Remember how I just said that sometimes my brain decides to be weird and call him "Papa Pain"? This performance, he's incredible. The visuals, the vocals, the dancing. All of it is so nice. And that transition from Changbin's rapidfire rapping to I.N's softer, smoother vocals? Whichever member of 3Racha + 1 it was that came up with that transition deserves a handshake for it. It's absolutely gorgeous. Lee Know, again, owns the stage like this is the only home he's known.

And Han's headbanging! Don't think I'm going to forget or not know about that.

Well, friends, this has been a very long time coming. But I'm going to leave you all with the recording of Megaverse (as well as Cover Me), so I hope for whoever submitted this via The Form this is satisfactory.