Battle of the B-Sides:: WJSN: Pantomime

 And here's our closer to the b-side month I decided to do. You know what's kind of funny? The first songs I reviewed are about to become eligible for Greatest Hits posts. Some of them are practically those posts in length already, so it would be interesting to see what I do with them now, especially now that I've had time to sit with some of them and performances have had time to happen. In the meantime, we've got a song that comes with mcuh recommendation from the K-Pop community at large and kind of a perfect way to bridge what I've been doing with July and the events that are going to happen in August. Because this kind of is an event on its own, but it's also a b-side by an artist I haven't covered. Win-win. Best of both worlds. Perfect bridge. And it has a bridge, which is a throwback to May.

WJSN, also known as Cosmic Girls, debuted as a twelve-member group under Starship Entertainment back in 2016. I've actually got a pretty big soft spot for this group, courtesy of Exy, but I also feel like they haven't gotten the recognition they deserve. I mean, Starship has Sistar and Boyfriend and Monsta X on their roster (though the eldest two have both left and disbanded, and one has reformed since then), as well as IVE, which is arguably one of the biggest fourth gen girl groups, and a pair of rookie groups who seem to be doing pretty well for themselves. And then there's WJSN, that got a tenth anniversary release this year, but other than that, not much for the last few years. But they're not disbanded! They're still on the company website! That means they aren't disbanded! And I just checked! I regularly check company websites to see who all is listed, especially a specific company, but this is the first time I've checked for WJSN.

Pantomime is the third track of their eighth mini album, Neverland, released in 2020. The composer, arranger, and lyricist for the song is Kim Jinhwan (EXO, Wendy, RIIZE, f(x), SHINee, aespa, iKON, NCT, Red Velvet, The Black Skirts, Seventeen, CSR, Girls' Generation, Punch, Apink, 3YE, TVXQ!, Ahn Ye Eun, 4Minute, Sungmin, Forestella, 015B, PinkFantasy, BoA, Yoon Jong Shin, SS501, Melody Day, Jewelry, BADA, and 2Yoon) (you may see his name in October again because there are two songs in his credits that I'm eyeing for the Spookening). The other lyricist is my girl Exy (IVE, ILLIT, The Boyz, Cotton Candy, Cravity, OURBIRTHDAY, E'Dawn, OURBIRTHDAY, IDID, I:MOND, H1-KEY, MADEIN, Y teen, Xiumin, and Kei).

Y'all, we got a practice video from their Queendom 2 performance, so guess what we get! A dance practice video again! Yay!

Okay, Champions. We are listening to a song that has about five different songs going on here, which means that the three-and-a-half minutes that this song takes up feels too short for how much song is stuffed into this song like an overfilled cannoli. How many times can I use the word song in a sentence before it loses all meaning?

In all seriousness, this is a song that starts off a little floaty and magical, befitting an album called "Neverland", and then it twists into something approaching horror, much like the novella Peter Pan if you've ever read it. (Apparently it's outdated to underline now; I reject that because this is not going to be peer-reviewed and you can pry the underline out of my cold, dead hands). 

Now, the question is which definition the word "pantomime" is using. Because there's the mummery definition where we get the performer called the "mime" from, which likens the entire relationship in the song to a performance, which is something that's interesting enough, but for our non-American chaps, there's another definition of the word "pantomime" from my cousins across the pond that I learned from my Victorian Children's Literature class in college (the pond being the Atlantic Ocean; no, I do not know why one of the biggest bodies of water on Earth is colloquially referred to as "the pond", but there you go: some English slang for y'all and some vocab words in case you're a member of the English-is-a-foreign-language club). A pantomime over there can refer to a children's theatrical performance, which is similar but gives a very different flavor to the kind of performance.

And the reason I'm bringing it up, other than as an English Literature degree holder and thus with an inherent interest in language and meaning, is because we actually see imagery uses of both definitions here. We've got words like "mute" and "soundless", which nudges it towards representation and similitude of the mummery, but at the same time, the actors, the stage, and the characters implies the more theatrical, which shifts it back towards the second definition a little. The translation alone has strong enough imagery that if this was a poem I had to write a paper on, I would be able to do it pretty easily. It's also spooky enough that my natural inclinations would be a little more muted so I could actually probably enjoy the analysis.

All that fancy and highfalutin talk aside, this song is about a young love that's as long-lasting as a play on a stage and as stable as shadows cast by a game of pretend.

Oh, that's a good sentence. 

Sorry.

The chorus has such a cool moment of expectation subversion, where you expect the song to get bigger, and instead we get "mute", where we actually get a beat of silence across the board before the word finishes, and then there's another pause at the word "stop", though that one doesn't quite stop because it stretches the silence. But the truly fascinating thing about this is how grungy the instrumental is during the chorus. This is 2012 boy group levels of grungy. This is a filthy, fascinating contrast to how sweet the vocals are.

And then, even better, we've got several different zones of different activity. The song starts very science fiction, transitioning to fairytale, shifting into a town setting from a JRPG, and then going full grunge, before going back and picking one of the other genres in a way that feels almost wild in its movements through its course. 

It's so pretty vocally. So pretty. I'm appreciative because it's haunted-doll-spooky, but it's not that way through the entire song. It is, however, very pretty through the entire song. 

Dawon, SeolA, Exy, and Soobin were on a show called Sing and Stay 2 back in 2020, where they did a rearranged version of Pantomime to turn it into a ballad.

There are only two that I can identify, one of whom is Exy, who is pretty easy to identify since she's the only rapper of the bunch, and the other is Dawon, who is easy to identify because the comments are in love with her voice here. Exy also sings, as you'll note by 1:04, where she's part of that harmony there. I thought she was doing the ad-libs, until I actually looked at who was singing when, and nope! She's doing harmonies with Dawon there and the one next to Dawon is doing the ad-libs.

I'd also be willing to wager that this was in fact live (it says it's a live performance, but it's always nice to have verification) because at :59, whichever member that is (either SeolA or Soobin) goes noticeably sharp on that note. And the way the other member I'm not sure about exhales after finishing the word "mute" at 2:10 sounds like it fits.

I also thought it was really cute how at :44, you can see Exy preparing to sing, and then she holds up a finger to her own mouth to stop that.

And the vibrato on the member at 2:17 is just gorgeous. I mean, listen to that. 

Before we get into the Queendom 2 stuff, which is the highlight of this song as far as I'm concerned because that was a performance and a half, I found some musicians reacting to Pantomime. Now, I should have skipped the opening gobbledegook of the Patreon information and the subscribing thing, but if I didn't, then you're looking for :59.

Also, this way you don't have to take my word for how great this song is. I have people who are actually in the music industry backing me up on this. I am not above recruiting outside sources to say "Yes, this song has some really interesting things" that are less vibe based than I like to give y'all. Like talking about the chords of the song, which I don't typically do. Not because I couldn't, but because other people do it so well and I'd rather stay with the accessible, vibe-based, pop-culture-referencing base that I do because I was told once by a professor, who was upset that I was only an undergrad at the time so she couldn't have me as a grad student, that my ability to draw connections between things is one of my strongest writing strengths and she wanted me to trust those instincts more. So you all get to reap the benefits of that. 

Jamal at 2:16 who starts grooving to the song is my favorite because he is so obviously feeling this song in his body and just letting it move.

But the entire set of musicians spend their listen going "Oooh" or "Whoooo" or "Ohhhh". It made me smile.

"I'm honestly going to listen to this when I get home." That's it. That's what we're looking for. And in case you doubted me, Henry at 3:22 describes it as "like a Korean MMORPG". I've never played a Korean one that I know of, but I have played Japanese and Chinese ones, and I'm quite familiar with regular RPGs, so I feel quite validated in my assessment.

Queendom 2 time! Can we just appreciate that for the round "Run the World", they went with a b-side? How bold is that?

And the use of the white gossamer to create an air of literal magic on stage? 

I love the rearrangement to make it even jazzier. The jazz! The drama! The clockwork! Y'all, what is not to love about this song? I mean, really.

I love the stage costumes because the feathers feel Vaudeville. I know a lot of people are going to think Broadway, and that's fine. I won't tell them they're wrong, but with my background, the feathers make me think Vegas showgirl, but the music isn't Vegas showgirl, so I have to go back a bit further to Vaudeville. Also, there aren't enough feathers for a Vegas showgirl.

But the costumes also have enough sequins to make a seven-year-old girl happy. 

And I love the contrast between the pinks and the purples of their costumes and the male dancers in their suits. I understand why they didn't but I do kind of wish the men had had proper coattails.

So that's where I'm at. This is a wonderfully magical stage. The use of the LED and the white screen required such precise movements and coordination to achieve the effect it did. Had anyone been even a second late, it would have been blatantly obvious that it was a mistake (which, while being one of those things that mark a live performance, is not an ideal state for a performance, especially when potential elimination is on the line). But they didn't! They were successful! It was a whole musical number with as many twists and turns as the original song has.

I'm going to do a little something different here.

Dance practice video for that stage. I could talk about it. There are a lot of fun bits to talk about (like when they turn into ballerinas from music boxes).

But instead of forcing you to listen to me, I'm going to let someone talk about how amazing the performance is.

Namely, a retired dancer. She has a background in jazz dance, which is very applicable here for this choreography.

She is all enthusiasm and cheering, but she also points out things that I may not because I don't have a strong dance background.

She is, however, also a leg enthusiast. If you've been around here a bit, you'll know that I love it when the artists' legs show how hard they work in the musculature and the movements. She's coming at this from a dance perspective rather than a tennis perspective, but I feel we are kin in this way.

I'm also going to give you a reaction from an Ujung (WJSN fan) who says that this song is his favorite of theirs. He's got some excellent points.

And last, I'm going to give you a final reaction where they do a great job of talking about it with each other, including pointing out that you should watch it multiple times to catch everything. Which y'all have now done so.

And that's it! I'm posting this barely still in July in my time zone, my apologies for how late this is, but I wanted to make sure it was still in July because otherwise everything is thrown off. Although this is as much of an event as August is using. Sometimes, I like using other reactions because some people prefer to listen and some people prefer to read. I usually prefer to read, but that's me. And as a final song for a month that's had a surprisingly wide range while digging into b-sides both well-known and somewhat forgotten, this one is a main event in the making. It just happens to be a b-side.

If you've got songs you'd like me to cover, drop a comment! Drop a suggestion via The Form! Send me a message on one of the several social media sites I post these on! 

Have a lovely day!

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