Quick blurb reviews
EDIT: Lolololol, Stranger is a total Jpop song. Mostly Avex, but with some other things. 1 2 3 4 (Well, the chorus is anyways. The rest of it is that inferior-Lucifer rehash I was worried about. Thank goodness this isn't the title track, because this way I get my intense Lucifer dancing anyways.)
Man, if this is another YYJ+Teddy Riley collab they might just be my new favorite Kpop songwriting team. Mix of glorious brass, traditional percussion instrumentation hip hop, electro synths flowing around each other like circling tigers, and a choral chorus? It's like a mix of "Love Like Oxygen" and "VVIP" plus a heaping ladleful of EPIC. I was worried that they might pull a Super Junior and release successively inferior rehashes of Lucifer, but instead they did something both different and exciting. Shinee clearly has SM's favor when it comes to music quality. Of the Korean title tracks, anyways. Their only misstep so far imo has been Hello. Looks like the secret to releasing good SM music is to have a sizable fanbase but not have truly hit it Big, so that SM continues to search for that It Song instead of releasing schlock the fans will buy like hotcakes anyways.
This song is so good that I may jam to the MV without actually watching it for a good while yet.
Speaking of brass...
SweetTune REALLY don't play fair here, packing just about every possible bubblegum weakness of mine into the arrangement.(brass, surf guitar, a latin rhythm section,(or is that tropical?) double claps, liberal electronic guitar, a dog barking track? rofl, onewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayoneway *gets bricked*) As a matter of fact, the arrangement stands on its own thanks to the Lupin-esque arrangement hook, although Rainbow Nine Muses's vocals are well suited to the melody, from the sharp faux-rap to the whispy pre-chorus to the explosive chorus. Although I do think in some cases the mix could have been altered to be less cluttered, like moving the brass blasts a half beat to not coincide with the vocals. (So it would go "One way - *blast*" instead of "One way*blast*) Otherwise, completely sold on the song. The clutter factor doesn't even bother me that much when the volume's not that high. XD
It's like Jpop pretending to be 2NE1. :3 You have weak voices set against a catchy-as-hell dance track that doesn't match the visuals in tone, and the maknae looks more mature than her age while the freaking super-loli has a freaking lollipop for maximum fetish teasing potency.
But seriously, loving the high production values in the visuals. The simple storyline is effectively told and isn't some wtf-ery irrelevant to the song. Jiyoung trying to Minzy is so much win, as is Gyuri not making want to punch her in the face like Jonghyun in Lucifer. Too bad the song and the vocal meld just aren't to my taste. Mostly it just needs better production, because as is, with Kara's vocals, just sounds incredibly cheap. Like cheaper than an AKB stage song cheap.
This MV is fucking amazing with Nu ABO played over it. :3
Click to viewMan, if this is another YYJ+Teddy Riley collab they might just be my new favorite Kpop songwriting team. Mix of glorious brass, traditional percussion instrumentation hip hop, electro synths flowing around each other like circling tigers, and a choral chorus? It's like a mix of "Love Like Oxygen" and "VVIP" plus a heaping ladleful of EPIC. I was worried that they might pull a Super Junior and release successively inferior rehashes of Lucifer, but instead they did something both different and exciting. Shinee clearly has SM's favor when it comes to music quality. Of the Korean title tracks, anyways. Their only misstep so far imo has been Hello. Looks like the secret to releasing good SM music is to have a sizable fanbase but not have truly hit it Big, so that SM continues to search for that It Song instead of releasing schlock the fans will buy like hotcakes anyways.
This song is so good that I may jam to the MV without actually watching it for a good while yet.
Speaking of brass...
SweetTune REALLY don't play fair here, packing just about every possible bubblegum weakness of mine into the arrangement.(brass, surf guitar, a latin rhythm section,(or is that tropical?) double claps, liberal electronic guitar, a dog barking track? rofl, onewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayonewayoneway *gets bricked*) As a matter of fact, the arrangement stands on its own thanks to the Lupin-esque arrangement hook, although Rainbow Nine Muses's vocals are well suited to the melody, from the sharp faux-rap to the whispy pre-chorus to the explosive chorus. Although I do think in some cases the mix could have been altered to be less cluttered, like moving the brass blasts a half beat to not coincide with the vocals. (So it would go "One way - *blast*" instead of "One way*blast*) Otherwise, completely sold on the song. The clutter factor doesn't even bother me that much when the volume's not that high. XD
It's like Jpop pretending to be 2NE1. :3 You have weak voices set against a catchy-as-hell dance track that doesn't match the visuals in tone, and the maknae looks more mature than her age while the freaking super-loli has a freaking lollipop for maximum fetish teasing potency.
But seriously, loving the high production values in the visuals. The simple storyline is effectively told and isn't some wtf-ery irrelevant to the song. Jiyoung trying to Minzy is so much win, as is Gyuri not making want to punch her in the face like Jonghyun in Lucifer. Too bad the song and the vocal meld just aren't to my taste. Mostly it just needs better production, because as is, with Kara's vocals, just sounds incredibly cheap. Like cheaper than an AKB stage song cheap.
This MV is fucking amazing with Nu ABO played over it. :3