Greatest Hits:: IVE: Love Dive

 I was honestly wondering when I was going to get a submission for a group that has been getting awards specifically because they've been getting awards. Well, that has finally happened. I'm assuming it was a DIVE that dropped this submission for me, although I've also never had a submission specifically asking me for other kpop groups covering the song in question. So this one took a little bit more time in that I had to hunt down some covers. It was an intriguing request. I appreciate it. I'm also combining it with an earlier submission that I got for this song, but hadn't gotten around to doing yet. That submission wanted me to make sure that I included a specific performance from the 2022 Gayo Daejeon, so the timing for it is actually perfect. Two submissions for the same song, everyone! This is exciting for me.

Love Dive is the first of two tracks on their second single. Because this song was submitted with comments on the awards, we're going to start with the awards to celebrate this song. It was nominated for twelve end of year awards and won nine of them, including four song of the year wins at three different award shows. For the music shows, Love Dive earned itself a Triple Crown on both Inkigayo and Music Bank with ten total wins across the five shows it won on. That's deeply impressive. Now it's time for our lovely song writers. First up, as lyricist, we have Seo Jieum, who I've mentioned before on here as one of the lyricists for one of my favorite debuts in recent years: ODD YOUTH's "Best Friendz"! I was ecstatic then to get find out it was Seo Jieum because she's written some of my favorite K-Pop songs. Taemin, Red Velvet, Kim Wooseok, EXO, Monsta X, NU'EST! The list is extensive and amazing. The composers are Phia (KATSEYE, IVE, KARD, Kep1er, and Wendy), Elle Campbell (Jennie, LE SSERAFIM, Lisa, FIFTY FIFTY, and Kep1er), and Nick Hahn (TOMORROW X TOGETHER, aespa, and NMIXX). Interestingly, for the composers, almost all of them had more K-Pop opportunities after Love Dive achieved such fame as it did, so that was probably huge for their careers as well. Not that they haven't also done well with the western artists, but it's an interesting note to point out for this trajectory.

• Group: IVE
• Debut Date: 2021 December 01
• Company: Starship Entertainment
• Status: Active
• Album: LOVE DIVE
• Song: LOVE DIVE
• Release Date: 2022 April 5

There is a dance practice version, so expect that at the end because I have thoughts. 

I read somewhere while I was getting this prepped (read: writing the above paragraphs and doing my background research) that the concept for the music video was "modern cupid," which is interesting because I'm not reading it as particularly Greek. It reads more sorority house in Greek style, if that difference makes sense. If you've ever read the book Oh. My. Gods by Tera Lynn Childs, it reminds me a lot of that. 

But there are two colors that consistently show up throughout the music video: pink and blue. There's a lot of white too, and they're usually in celestial coded elements (the angel wings, the clouds, certain accents to the costuming), but I'm a lot more fascinated by how the pink and the blue show up. Almost all of the lighting is either blue or pink. We see the pink show up first in the coloring to the clouds and in the neon arrows around the house, but their school costumes are actually blue, not black like I originally thought, and the blue is also present in the night sky. What caught my attention, and also made me take a closer look at that first set of costumes was the one with the light blue sweater. The feathers on the heart arrows are white, but the lighting turns them both pink and blue at different times, which is brilliant lighting work. The couch is pink, their ties are pink and blue striped. Almost every costume change gives a different version of blue with pink to highlight, even if the result of the lighting on them. Generally speaking, the blues are darker shades than the pinks that get encountered.

I'm kind of in love with the call and response that's going on with the "it's so bad, it's good" line. It's incredibly subtle, but genuinely, it allows the song to have a lovely little shift away from the smoothness of the song as a whole. There's another, softer one that draws even less attention to itself that I'm assuming is part of the backtrack, but I'm hoping is not, because it would give the song so much lovely movement.

And generally speaking, this is a very bold song without being brash or loud. It's bold in its quietness, in the way it confidently, but gently strokes the listener's hair, and that's an important distinction. The only time you truly get sass is during the dance break, when just for a moment, the song shrugs off the claw caps and it shows its sharp teeth in a yawn. This song is a housecat, but as the fresh, mostly healed scar I've currently got halfway around my arm from trying to put my cat down when he didn't want to be put down can attest, even the mildest housecat can still cause damage when it wants to. 

And you know what I find coolest about this song? This is a K-Pop group. There's obviously a rapper in the group, at least one, maybe more. But this is an all singing song, which means that the rapper(s) is flexing some incredible well-roundedness. You go, girl. 

Okay, let's grab some of the normal stages before I start in on the submission requests. Ready?

Starting with Inkigayo, that stage is incredibly designed. It kind of gives the whole thing more of a music box vibe which I am so here for. For some reason, their costuming reminds me of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz as well, which is an interesting connection. 

I spent part of this wondering if this was a one-take performance with the camera, but no, we have cuts. They're long cuts, which is fascinating and a little unusual, but there are cuts. For a group five months fresh off of their debut, I'm kind of glad for that. But I'm equally glad about the long cuts because at least the camera lingers and we get to actually see them perform instead of having to reorient every two seconds because there's yet another camera cut, you know?

And I know I try not to get as bitter here about certain things that I have a tendency to snap about in my reviews proper, but I will say that I'm a little bit surprised that they're wearing those costumes, with that choreography during the dance break, when our maknae here had turned fifteen a little over a month prior. This will be the only time I bring this up here, but I'm deeply disappointed in Starship for this.

You can hear the fanchant in this one! And thank you, Music Bank, for giving us the name of the one who is singing so that I can be even more specific on which members are specifically being amazing.

And! And! I'm hearing some live vocals in this one. Yes!

There's a strong water motif with this stage, but interestingly, we've had the pink and blue commonalities happening in both of these two stages so far. Honestly, the water fits the song better, because I swear there's jellyfish elements to the choreography.  Gaeul, girl, you're reminding me of Soyeon, which is an incredibly high compliment from me.

Towards the end, and it immediately endeared me to her, so much that I specifically went back to a spot when she was singing to find out which one she is, Rei fixes her hair when she's almost off camera, but she's still in the shot.

Okay. I'm going to do two covers now, and then we'll finish off back with the group with the Dayo Daejeon performance and the dance practice. That should satisfy both requests.

Okay, this one was 8TURN on Road to Kingdom: Ace of Ace. The strongest differences here are in the choreography. The melody and the lyrics were largely left alone, but the choreography has some very different spots. It's also focusing heavily on the myth of Echo and Narcissus (which, brief Greek mythology lesson for those who are unaware, Echo is a nymph who falls in love with Narcissus, who looks at himself in a pool of water and falls in love with himself, and then she fades away and he turns into a flower and that flower is named the narcissus, after him (yup, super happy)) where the original, as stated above, is a bit more cupid inspired, though still in the same general realm.

But this is a beautiful stage, and! Did you notice the attention on the blue and the pink here as well? It feels like an homage back to the original that's so subtle here. 

For the second cover, I found one that's very different, to really highlight the range of this song. But, if you've read any of my proper reviews, you'll know how much I love strings. I have no idea who this young woman is, but this is incredible. Y'all need to watch this.

She likely wouldn't put in the effort to transcribe and then learn the song if she wasn't a fan of it, and honestly, this is an incredible display of both her talent and her love for the song. It's a gorgeous cover.

And now back to the original artists. Submitter, I hope that was satisfying and what you wanted.

I'm fully in love with the foot stomps and slides and squeaks. They really make the song feel lived in, and I live for these small details. Plus, we get to see the whole choreography without the camera getting in the way of the whole picture. 

The shadows here are really what makes this song look even cooler than it normally does. It makes them look like they have back-up dancers without actually having back-up dancers.

There are some points of this choreography that I'm so fully in love with though. The "it's so bad, it's good" with the thumbs? The entirety of the chorus with the mirror imagery? The dance break? It's not often we see anyone getting on the floor and dancing like that. We also get some jellyfish or flower waving choreography. I still think it looks a lot like a jellyfish, but upon further reflection, this could be another reference to Narcissus the Dude. 

So many excellent points. Oh, I love it.

Ooh, this sounds like we've got live vocals again! The instrumental got a bit of a classical or Christmassy rearrangement, which really opens up the song and compliments those little flaws, little vocal warbles and breathiness you want to hear in live vocals. Beautiful imperfections that prove truth and reality.

This is a big stage with a lot of back-up dancers. The scope of this performance is incredible. Also, I have to give a specific shout-out to Wonyoung and Yunjin. They were practically glowing during this performance, and the amount of fun and lightness they were feeling definitely shines through. I like seeing the idols really enjoying themselves, and those two went above what I want here. And with his being months after either of the other stages I shared for you, the comfort level with the song across the board has clearly risen so high.

This is a stage. This is also why I love the end-of-year award shows so much, because they get to show off what a song is meant to be.

Thank you, everyone! This was something mostly out of my wheelhouse, so I was surprised by how much I genuinely enjoyed the song. For the two submitters who wanted this song, I hope I gave you enough and that you like this as well.

If anyone else has any recommendations for me to cover, feel free to leave a comment or drop the suggestion in The Form!