[Discussion] Bolero
Good news: I'm working on Bolero both practicing and coming up with the score.
Bad news: It's one of the toughest songs to play and I won't release it until the official single has been released.
It's funny how much speculation has been going about on whether or not Jaejoong sang the word "Bolero" or "boh-leh" or whatever you think he sang. The official single isn't even released yet! It's OK to not have the title song in a song.
However, I must admit that Bolero is the best single released so far. In fact, it is very similar to Love in the Ice in many ways.
The chords are almost identical except for some parts, the vocal arrangements for the verses, choruses and ad-libs are very much the same and Yoochun hasn't hit that high note since Love in the Ice performance in Soul Power Live 2007 (excluding LITI Korean version). The fact that Junsu took the lead in the bridge with the rest of them ad-libbing just shows that Tohoshinki is here to stay for a very long time.
Hearing them sing this song Live would be f-awesome but the length of the song isn't your normal 4-minute radio friendly song. With so much emotion and feeling being put into Bolero, one wonders when did the men find time to practice such gruelling vocal demand despite their hectic schedule travelling back and forth Korea and Japan.
The introduction alone is not your normal song introduction. Instead, it fades in with Junsu singing the first verse immediately. Unless, there is the 'complete' version waiting to be released? There are a lot of strings that are being used but the main instrument I would say, is the harp that provides the ethereal, almost angelic-like mood to the song. The harp makes the song sound dreamy as depicted in the PV where the girl (who also happens to star in THSK's "Shine" PV) dreams of becoming a ballerina? The time signature of compound duple ( note: 6/8) gives is a waltz feel to the song.
I don't tend to read the meaning of the song in English but it is surprising to me that when I first read about Bolero, I was thinking of a more upbeat song like "Box in the Ship". The song title was definetely unexpected. It's funny that they came up with the title because of the dance-nature of the song. It kinda 'tricked' listeners into thinking of a happy song when in fact, it is a song about dreams and hope.
Is there anything that you like or don't like with the song, or title, or anything with Bolero?
I now will return to completing this song before I work on their 4th album - MIROTIC songs. Bolero got me hooked. XD