Apink - "Eung Eung"
Late career update into modern production turns saccharine Apink girls into coy ladies that get it.
Hwa Sa - "TWIT"
Mamamoo alum twists title refrain from primal growl into throaty wail, in this conflicted power vocal of a power move song.
Izzy - "Dalla Dalla"
Speed Garage. OMG.
Bibi - "Binu"
Metaphorically washing off dumb life mistakes to reveal the lavender scented freshness of a newly reborn soul has never been more physically seductive or lolita-esque as when Bibi invites you to hit that dirt with soap in a bathtub.
Twice - "Fancy"
A snipped and repressed bass drop (sprinkled with the iconic Roland #169 preset famously sampled in Nelly's Dilemma), fleshing out into a standard 4/4, stands in for the first verse. The second time around, you get dainty trap for the verse, which whips again through the down, up, down up, up melodic pinball of the build, and hydroplanes into a gigantic strawberry cream, sugar shock, synth-xtravaganza of a girl pop chorus.
Lay, Jason Derulo, NCT 127 - "Let's Shut up and Dance"
Shake your booty! Now! Imperative modality, crossover dance floor banger of the year.
Steve Aoki & Monsta X - "Play It Cool"
Kind of hacky but I like the earnestness.
BTS ft Halsey - "Boy With Luv"
"Boy in Love" no longer. Cheerful and effortless, "Boy With Luv" is BTS full of confidence and no need to prove anything (after, you know, Billboard, Grammys, world domination, etc.) Home, from the same album, Map of the Soul: Persona, expands on the celebratory vibe with a body roll from the limo moon roof, champagne a-poppin.
Lay - "Honey"
Drip, drop xylophones. 8-bit sproings. West coast grinding. Plus, Lay dancing, ALL MV LONG.
Oh, yeah...
Oh, yeah...
Simon D - "Pose"
"잠깐 pause, 잡아 pose
잠깐만 pause, 잡아 pose..."
NCT Dream - "Boom"
Sort of Exo light with similar arrangements but playful rather than sexy. Used judiciously, petite beats have a twee inflection rather than a big revved up amp hit. Since the vocals are less emphatic and flowery, less showy than on an Exo track, "Boom" freestyle interludes float naturally into weightless winsome bridges. This is the right look for NCT Dream.
Exo - "Obsession"
"I wan't you, want you, want you... I don't think so..."
Quintessential EXO: Tortured Angel/Sultry Devil R&B vocals of Chen/Baekhyun, split personality song structure and storytelling, big demon beats shot through with ethereal monastic melisma, giant dissonant harmonic chords signaling triumph and underlying tension at the same time. So much contrast. An EXO song is a chiaroscuro painting of moods, sounds, images. Truly.
To add: The Obsession album is yet another end of year gift from EXO. Each track shifts from mood to genre with a chill mid-tempo through-line and a BDE attitude. Ya Ya Ya is a fantastic 90's R&B swagger trap exploration of a classic SWV sample. Vocals reminiscent of Dean's blase style swim in Groove's luxurious orchestral soundtrack to a throbby rooftop-party house beat.
To add: The Obsession album is yet another end of year gift from EXO. Each track shifts from mood to genre with a chill mid-tempo through-line and a BDE attitude. Ya Ya Ya is a fantastic 90's R&B swagger trap exploration of a classic SWV sample. Vocals reminiscent of Dean's blase style swim in Groove's luxurious orchestral soundtrack to a throbby rooftop-party house beat.
Ravi ft. Cold Bay - "See-Through"
Mildly auto-tuned Ravi rapsings languidly to a super groovy Miguel smokescreen of reverb that camouflages a melodic specter, which haunts your melancholic head space like music from another party down the street that you didn't get into earlier.
Hoody - "Miro"
A duet between Hoody's nimble, scatty vocals and the skippy kicks/scampering snares of Slom's dirty, cerebral bassline. Recalls the tricky UK bass drum programming of Pearson Sounds/Ramadaman. For funsies, check out XLB, an ode to the juice prematurely dripping from your soup dumpling.
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