Umu: Well, ladies and gentlemen,
you guys are now reacting to the girl group æspa...
Owen: "Ladies and gentlemen?"
Kevin: Thank you for not assuming.
Umu: You are reacting to æspa's pre-release single,
titled 'Welcome To MY World' off of their 2023 My World album.
This album takes place in the real world,
this is a group that has a ton of-
Jory: Yohohooo.
Umu: Yeah, they have several different...
Will: The REAL WORLD?? Jory: Shut the f#%k up!
(Will: oH mY gOd!) Umu: ...places of existence, they have the KWANGYA,
Umu: they have the FLAT and they have the real world.
Fans theorize that this is welcoming naivis back-
Na- na-evis?
[Um, actually it's pronounced as Nævis, or 나이비스 in Korean]
Umu: Back to the real world, where she only existed in the Flat. (Brian: WHO?)
Jason: She's trying to get through her-
Brian: I'm sorry!
Jason: "WHO?"
Umu: Do you guys remember who Nævis is?
Ju Young: She's like the AI or something.
Like the queen?
I don't know.
Ali: She's a, she's a computer, like in her?
Ju Young: Like a motherboard.
Ali: Is it her or is it she? Ju Young: like cyber- is it Cyberchase?
Leon: Is that one of the members?
Umu: No, Nævis is like a separate entity.
There is the æs for each member
but Nævis is a fifth person that helps them and their æs out in the battle.
So she is able to open portals so people can go between different locations.
Leon: Oh
Will: Is she a novice?
Umu: No.
In fact, in fact she is the one who like saved the entire world when the-
HHhHHhHhhh
Umu: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Jory: Oh.
Umu: She's kind of like OP.
Will: So she's like a pro.
Umu: Yeah, she's a pro, she's opposite of what her name is.
Will: Alright.
Umu: The song is composed by Cutfather, Ubizz,
Celine Svanback, and Patrizia Helander.
Ju Young: Ready.
3 2 1
Is this Nævis?
Ju Young: It's giving Nævis.
Leon: Hm.
Stephanie: Kind of creepy.
Whaaat?
Jory: A little cricket sample. Will: Yeah.
Kevin: ooOOoOHHhhHH!
WHAT?
OHHhhH!
Woohohoo.
Liam: I like the guitar stuff. Uh~
This feels a lot more intimate than most of their other songs.
Rachel: Hmm
Liam: This is a good chord progression.
Kevin: I hope this builds up to something.
Owen: Where are they?
Kevin: Funyuns!
Jory: This sponsored by Funyuns?
Ali: It's kind of like Gym Class Heroes where they mix alternative rock and hip hop.
Jason: I like the percussion added to create flow and the rhythmic guitar, *dudadugaduda*, I like it a lot.
Leon: Wow.
Owen: I love transposing major thirds down by a major -or wait, sorry-
major chords down by a major third.
Like a B major to G major sounds so cool.
Liam: It feels maybe a little bit phrygian
because of the B major going, yeah, I like that color.
Kevin: Tsh-
Owen: So cool.
Owen: See, that's where the major minor third was a little sus.
Kevin: Why do I feel like-
Owen: Not like sus, bus sus.
Kevin: Help me, hahahaha-
Liam: AH! YEAH!
That was a good fill, I like that lead in.
Ju Young: It's like, it could be a ballad, but it's not a ballad.
Rachel: Uh, that was cool.
Rachel: Harp gliss or something? Liam: MMMMMmmmmmmhhhh~
Jason: Interesting, would have been better with a real orchestra, but it's still pretty cool.
It's actually, it wouldn't have been better with real orchestra
because this is supposed to be metallic and kinda futuresque,
or futuristic, it is pretty cool.
Both: Ooh!
Leon: That's her.
Stephanie: Oh my god!
Will: Is she like an AI person?
Jory: NoobMaster69
Will: NoobMaster69, yeah.
Ju Young: Hey b*tch, welcome to Earth.
Leon: Wait, does she sing?
Umu: Maybe
Leon: Oh yeah, maybe, yeah.
Liam: That was sick.
That was a really cool song.
Rachel: Yeah.
Liam: It is cinematic.
Very epic in scale.
*Rachel figuring out scale*
Rachel: Ughhh?
*Jason figuring out scale*
WTF?
*Leon acing as usual*
Leon: It's uh...
Umu: Phrygian?
Leon: No, it's like a double...
I don't know what that is,
it's like double... harmonic?
Leon: It's like what Kenny Garret uses all the time. Stephanie: Yeah, I was just thinking that.
Stephanie: You should play that.
Leon: Yeah, it's like, if you use that scale over their chords
it's gonna work perfectly.
It is like, it all works.
Umu: Wow.
I didn't know that scale existed.
Umu: What kind of color or vibe does that sort of mode...
Rachel: It's very mysterious.
Liam: It's mysterious... Rachel: It's a mysterious mode.
Liam: Well, it kind of...
Rachel: Ugh, the adjectives.
Liam: It kind of infuses it with a lot of ambiguity
which kind of is like, I don't know,
it's really appropriate for the tone they are trying to get
cuz like, they're bringing Nævis into their world, right?
And there is kind of a moral question where,
is it right to kind of bring someone...
Liam: out of the world that they've lived in for - yeah. Rachel: Yeah, this feels like very dystopian, like,
Rachel: "Oh, we're just trying to trip into the woods and nothing, you know,
we're just girls on a trip, we're gonna have fun and eat some Funyuns" (Liam: Eating Funyuns)
and then you're like:
"Oh, but there's a squiggly bit in the sky!"
And you're like:
Jason: Well it's cool, what it does is, it uses the ♪B major♪
Cuz it seems like there is like kind of E minor stuff going on,
so it just uses the, in E minor, using the major V.
Of just:
So it kind of feels weird going from:
So this:
in this ♪Bmaj♪ makes sense.
and then:
♪C6♪
Going back into an E minor, A minor, C major kind of area
but the, having the fifth [V] gives you that D♯, which is the 7th to E, so that's why it sounds:
So that's why it sounds a little bit more juicy
and there's a little quality in there that is a bit more futuristic and more mechanical
and the way that they do it with like the *ch ch ch* with the hi-hats
and the sub bass and the very like human kind of sounds
but also hauntingly metallic,
this whole just
*plays melody*
Using a major, like B major going to like an E minor,
it just sounds like two different worlds
and so to me it's like that melody shows,
the beginning of that melody to the resolution of it is like
this new person coming in.
Like the *sings melody*, this is kind of like:
Wow, major, really weird world, but we're kinda in this minor zone, and then:
But then it kind of ends in like a minor, E minor-ish, A minor area, I don't know what it does.
So I think that that melody encompasses the kind of...
What was her name? [Nævis]
...kind of coming back, because it's an uncomfortable and interesting future sounding harmony,
so it's cool.
It's prophecizing the character coming in through major and minor mixture.
Liam: I was honestly just caught up in the orchestration.
Rachel: The orchestration was really interesting.
Liam: How everything kind of kept getting built up.
Rachel: Yeah, there was a lot of orchestral instruments,
harp glissing,
triangle
strings on top of electric guitar,
Rachel: which was really interesting. Liam: The use of the guitar was fantastic.
Rachel: Yeah, I think the guitar was kind of the star of the show. Liam: That was really great.
Liam: Yeah, cuz like, it started off and it gave it this really intimate kind of vibe, wholesome energy
and then they added in-
Rachel: Really lush, just like chords, chords on top of,
and then just like adding the strings with that.
Yeah, cuz the first time the strings came in really prominently, I was like confused
cuz like, oh that sample is so odd,
no, it's cuz like, it was layered on top of the electric guitar but...
Liam: A really interesting timbre. Rachel: Like in a, it was
Rachel: It was very interesting. Umu: Like an electric guitar patch or something.
Rachel: It was odd, I liked it, I was just like woah, that was cool.
Liam: Yeah, I really like it,
yeah, the electric guitar really like enhanced the timbre of a lot of things, like... (Rachel: Yeah)
I remember there was one spot where it like doubled the upper vocal harmony
and it gave this really eerie kind of feeling.
Rachel: Little triangle there.
Liam: Oh my god.
Rachel: Wind chimes.
Liam: With the wind chimes, dude, oh my god.
The orchestration is so great.
Rachel: It is very like mystical too, I mean especially at the end
because of like the wind chimes and the triangle and the harp and you know,
like, as she is coming into the world it feels like...
supernatural.
Liam: Mhm
Rachel: They really added something with the orchestration. Liam: Yeah, they leaned into that aesthetic really effectively.
Rachel: Yeah, it was really cool.
It was like telling a story, it's a good song.
Umu: Yeah~ Rachel: It's a really good song.
Jory: Kind of liked the strings actually.
Will: Yeah, I agree, the strings were pretty cool. Jory: I liked that whole,
Jory: It was like really sweeping, really dramatic, it was cool.
Jory: I didn't like the kick drum, but like basically everything else about the sonics, I liked.
Will: Yeah.
I wasn't opposed to the kick drum.
Jory: It's just too repetitive Will: It was different and kind of-
Jory: After a while, cuz like when it's that unique of a sound
you just like overuse it really fast.
Umu: Yeah, what initially drew you to it again?
Will: It's just weird, it's very stereo and very...
I don't know, I can't quite place what is going on there,
a couple layers to it, I think,
and there was something kind of like roomy sounding
and kind of like high mids, mids,
I don't know it's just...
I don't know.
Jory: Mm.
It sounded like a mic-ed sample
but then just like the top end of it.
Will: Yeah.
Jory: Not of the actual kick.
Jory: Cuz there was an actual kick kind of in the middle. Will: Right, there was an actual kick, but that was like a layer.
Will: I don't know, could have been like a mic on like the beater of the kick drum or something like that.
I don't know, and then just like super processed...
Total guess, you know, it probably isn't that at all but idk.
Will: This weird weird sound. Yeah, Idk. Jory: Yeah, it's probably just a Splice sound.
Will: Interesting.
Jory: Mm.
Owen: I just, I really like the chords in the beginning.
Umu: Why?
Owen: Can you- can you play-
*Nice cluster chords by Kevin*
Owen: A B-major chord? A nice and happy B-major chord?
Owen: And then to a G major chord?
Wait, with a G in the bass, that's nice.
And then E♭-major.
Ah, isn't that so interesting? Isn't that so cool?
I just think that major chords going down by major thirds sound really really interesting.
Kevin: Liszt loved that stuff.
Owen: True.
And then when it went to C it was like, it was nice.
And then to go from more major chords, D to C, then to B major,
like, that was great.
Kevin: Well there is also C major but then with the D♯.
Kevin: There was a part in the bridge where the D♯ was like... Owen: Yeah but that was the exception, I feel like.
Umu: Which sus where you talking about, Owen?
Owen: No, it was when the melody was singing the D♯ over the C major chord. (Umu: Yeah, which sus?)
Owen: It's not really sus, I mean unless you say it's an augmented second, suspended.
Umu: So it's like suspicious?
Owen: Oh no, I was saying it was sus as in suspended. Kevin: No, it was suspended, yeah.
Umu: Okay
Ali: That's my favorite one.
Well everything seems sweet and searching and
it does sound like something new is opening up and seeing the eyes through like a new lens.
But harmonically there is pretty much only major chords.
Umu: So when we hit that moment...
Ali: It's kind of modal mixture, which is different.
*Giggling*
It's like, if they went:
"This city is so pretty with your lights on"
then it could have been justified (Jory: You could have pulled it off.)
But they went "This city's so pretty when your↗lights↘↘on"
And then it's just like weird auto-tune, like she didn't actually sing a note, it was just like,
Like, auto-tuned bla.
Umu: People are theorizing that that might be Nævis
cuz this label has hinted that this AI character is gonna have a solo release.
Like a solo...
Will: So an AI wrote that and it's like, that's an AI voice?!
Umu: People are theorizing that's like an AI... Jory: It's probably like AI sung, right? // Will: I don't really think it is
Will: But maybe it could be. Jory: It just sounds bad, I don't really know if that...
Umu: Just might be like some auto-tuned normal voice. Jory: Yeah, it could just be.
Will: You know what? Jory: You know, I can hear it.
Will: I think it, that sounds like an auto-, that sounds like a generated voice. (Jory: I can get behind that)
It sounds very robotic.
Jory: That makes sense, I was wondering about this section
cuz it was like weirdly repetitive and it didn't go anywhere and I was like,
"Are they- what's happening?"
But it makes sense if it's like a call and response between the band and this AI thing.
Will: Mhm, that does make more sense.
I think it's that.
It definitely has kind of like a...
(Jory: It's got like the -) little bit of a like vocaloid texture, you know,
it's like it sounds like it's that type of thing, auto generated voice.
Jory: I don't think like the AI wrote that.
Will: I don't think the AI wrote the melody (Jory: Yeah)
Will: but I think they gave... Jory: But they probably got like a speech to voice thing.
Will: I think that's what it was. Jory: Or text to voice.
Umu: Yeah
Will: And then just re-pitched it, but also, if they were gonna re-pitch, like,
why would they re-pitch it to something that sounds so bad?
Jory: Mmmhpf.
Umu: Some reactors think that that part is just musically wrong.
Leon: That??
Umu: Yeah.
Leon: No, that's beautiful,
Leon: that's like one of my favorite parts of the song! Stephanie: Yeah, I like that part.
Umu: It was Jory and Will who thought it was off.
Stephanie: Really? I wanna hear it again... Leon: Really?
Leon: No, it's absolutely correct.
Stephanie: Let's fight them.
Leon: Yeah.
Leon: Here, right?
Leon: Yeah.
Stephanie: Wow.
Leon: Especially like the thing right after, like they pick G, that note, it totally makes sense.
It is like:
And then:
Or technically that note is also wrong
but because it's [B double harmonic scale]
it's all from that scale, so...
Leon: Everything makes sense! Umu: Damn! Les geddit!
Stephanie: It's cool, like,
basically the main melody is just all half steps, just literally half steps, like:
They do so much with just that one half step,
I was like, that was impressive, I was thinking.
And that's true like with this scale too,
it's just half step.
Leon: Yeah, just maj7♯9 is like common in jazz too.
This, I love this sound.
A beautiful sound.
Umu: Ugh, for me it's so like haunting.
Stephanie: True, which matches this, I guess. Leon: Yeah, it's like a - yeah.
Leon: It's like dark and bright at the same time.
Stephanie: Yeah!
Stephanie: Facts! Wait! Leon: Because there is a major chord and there is minor chord inside.
Stephanie: That's exactly what this thing is! (Leon: Yeah)
Stephanie: That's cool!
Leon: So that's why I think that that's like a brilliant moment. Stephanie: Wow, sick.
Stephanie: But it's kind of like eerie and then also like very bright, like the visuals too.
Leon: Cuz the chords, chord progression, like all are major
but the chord progression is actually really dark.
Umu: Mmm.
Leon: It's like all like minor [♭]VI and ♭II,
it's like a really dark progression
but everything is major chords!
Kevin: I have this...
Umu: You, you wanna-?
Kevin: Like a farewell.
Owen: Oh like forever Umu: We can do that at the end.
Kevin: Well that's all everyone, stay noided my friends!
Umu: Great.
Someone out there will get that.