Davis: See, his voice is just so good. Lindsey: It is really good. Davis: They even gave him the blue note, that was nice.
Jason: Now you're reacting to a b-side song called 'Real Love', from the six-member boy group Astro.
Umu: The song as part of their 2018 special album called 'Rise Up - Astro to Aroha' for their fans.
Jasin: This album was released to assure fans that Astro will
continue as a group, since they had just been dealing the financial issues and the firing of the CEO.
Umu: The song is composed by Faces of Honour, Jinli, and Jake K from Full8loom.
James: So it's like, reassuring. Umu: Yeah. James: Like, we're gonna be together, don't worry. Umu: Yeah.
James: Cool. Melissa: So, first things first, I really like all of their haircuts, and don't look at my hair. I wish my hair looked good.
Okay, cool. That's my first comment on the music. Umu: Okay.
Davis: Anyway. Three, two, one.
Oh.
It's like phasing in-between my ears. Lindsey: Yeah
Davis: That's really cool. Lindsey: Whoa!
Davis: Yeah! I like that.
I like when music does that, it's really funny. It's like, okay, I see.
Kevin: Aww, the almost-piano synth is great. Aww, it's so sunny.
Hell yeah! Isaac: All right. Kevin: This is my synthpop land.
James: It's very groovy with that electric keyboard. Melissa: Yeah, it's so cute.
Lindsey: This sounds very like cinematic to me.
Davis: Interestingly, yeah.
Lindsey: I feel like this could be the background of like a... Davis: I really want there to be a music video to this, just listening to it.
Lindsey: Yeah. I feel like the music video would be like a story video,
Davis: Yeah, yeah. Lindsey: of like a boy and girl falling in love, and then one rides away on the bus without the other one, and then all of a sudden there's a field, and like....
Davis: Yeah, okay.
Elizabeth: "Real love" are the only two words in that phrase that get a full beat to themselves.
Davis: Yes
See, his voice is just so good. Lindsey: It is really good. Davis: They even gave him the blue note, that was nice.
James: I love the like, jazzy bass goin' on. Melissa: Yeah. James: It's really, really cool.
Kevin: Oh, nice.
Kevin: The chords are just so great.
Henry: Oh, hey! I'm so torn, because like right now, I'm very into the writing. Elizabeth: Whoa, yep.
Elizabeth: Here we go. Let's have the obigatory rap.
I'm learning.
Melissa: I feel like we're in West Side Story,
but we're also in a K-pop video. What if West Side Story was K-pop, rewritten.
James: Oh, my God. Melissa: Oh, my God.
Kevin: It's like a C minor chord, but there's a flat nine which makes it really weird. The second to the last chord of the pre-chorus.
Ooh.
(mimicking synth)
Syth harp.
I like just the chord. The eighth note chords that just last for like two bars. It's really tasteful.
Collin: Yeah.
Collin: You hear the bubbles? Jarod: I was literally about to point that out. I was going like...
Yeah, that C minor chord is great. C minor, minor 9.
C minor flat 9.
Oh!
Davis: Okay...key change! Lindsey: Okay, I think Rocky is my bias.
Melissa: I like that they have like singing and rap at the same time. James: Yeah.
Kevin: Are we back?
We're back. '
It didn't end up modulating at all.
Jarod: Like, everything works together. Collin: Yeah, that's really cohesive writing.
Jarod: The verses, the chorus--it all...
it all works.
Henry: The bass grooves in a weird way. The progression is like, yeah,
it's D flat, G, G-flat, A-flat.
So it's cool, but it's like, sharp four to four, and then to five, to one. That's a smart chorus.
That's really clever. The writing is really good.
Collin: The fills are pretty dope, with the bass. Jarod: Right.
Kevin: Oh, my God, are we gonna end here? Yes! Isaac: Wow Kevin: Flat sev. It's not even a flat sev, it's a
first inversion A-flat minor, which is like a slash chord. A-flat over C-flat.
Jarod: You know, I'm not gonna lie, I was a little suss at the beginning, thinking it's like, oh, man, is this gonna turn into one of those
every other kind of like K-R&B things,
but it's actually, I really liked that. That was kind of fun. Really well done.
Collin: Dare I say a good counterpoint, at some point with the background voices?
Jarod: I liked the interplay between the lines, especially whenever they brought pre-existing material and new material, like how they all
seamlessly worked together.
Collin: That was really, yeah. Really cohesive. Jarod: Yeah, so it's like it...yeah.
Jarod: Especially because as of recently we've listened to some really
disjunctive things, like things that are just really blatantly like... Collin: Panning?
Jarod: Yeah. Collin: Which just happened. Jarod: But like, yeah, but this is a very cool sense of unity, that kind of like,
feet back on the ground. It's like, yeah. Collin: Yeah. It's good.
The textures were really interesting because of, uh...well, those were also seamless, and that's not usually a thing,
Jarod: Mm-hmm, Collin: which makes it a little ambiguous with the form. Not entirely,
but that's not something you usually have to listen for. It's like, oh, well, the texture hasn't changed,
so has the form changed? That's usually pretty obvious. It wasn't in this, so that was good. Jarod: Yeah
Lindsey: I think the fact that it's sappy-sounding is probably like,
what makes them sound
young, also, Davis: Oh, yeah.
Lindsey: So it's like, they're already like, they sound young, and then they have this song where everything in the background is entirely synthesized,
which I don't think is a problem, I think it actually worked
well in this. I mean, I would like to see a video.
I think it would, Davis: I would love to see a video. Lindsey: I think it would do well with a video. Like I said, you know, just two
estranged lovers. One one leaves on a bus, and then all of a sudden
the other one is walking through a field holding flowers, because they just missed the bus to give flowers to their lover as they were leaving.
Davis: But it's not flowers, it's lollipops. Umu: What? Lindsey: And then, all of a sudden, they're
walking through a field, and they get to the other side of the field, and there's their true love. Davis: And she's wearing a cat head.
Davis: Sorry, it's K-pop, I have to make it a little weird. Lindsey: And he's still holding the flowers, but since he walked all the way through the field, now they're half dead,
but he gives them to her anyway because he's just so in love.
And all of a sudden, Davis: They're all clapping. Lindsey: everyone just appears from the shadows, clapping,
Davis: Yeah, that's in the song. Yeah, for sure. And then you have like a drone zoom put at the end, and then fade to black. Lindsey: Yeah, that's my vision.
And then all of a sudden it's a wedding,
Umu: What? Lindsey: and everyone at the wedding is clapping, Davis: That's part of the ???????? Umu: And then it turns out the guy actually liked the guy friend..
Davis: Oh, yeah. No, but that's like a series. You could make a series out of that, get people excited, Umu: Yeah Davis: have theories online.
Umu: Real love, true love.
Lindsey: Gay love story. Umu: Yes.
Davis: Let us create a concept album for you. Lindsey: Yeah! Davis: We're already like, halfway there. Lindsey: Oh, man.
James: Like everything we've listened to, everything I've listened to on this channel is so different, and it's like so refreshing.
Just when I thought I had heard
I mean, I don't think I can't say that I've heard everything K-pop has to offer as a genre,
but like, Melissa: I've heard every song ever written, in every genre,
I've heard every piece of music in this world. James: Oh, wow.
Melissa: Just kidding.
James: I just keep getting surprised over and over again. Like, there were some really clear,
Melissa: (singing)
like the synth piano, there was like, wa, wa, wa---there was like some some really cool sound effects in there,
It was like there was a low, jazz bass type thing going on. It was just like really...
Melissa: They're so happy! Oh, my God.
James: Yeah. A lot of interesting like, samples-- the water droplet sound, and Melissa: I didn't notice that.
James: Yeah, there was a (making water droplet sound)
sound. Melissa: Wait, do that again. James: (Making water droplet sound)
James: I'll teach you later. Melissa: Okay
Ow!
Nope.
Elizabeth: It was just short of being mellow. Like they definitely were making it like a sort of laid-back pop song, which is fine.
I just like, personally, I found some of the like choices of
timbre and the synthesizers to just be like a little bit abrasive,
I think is the word you used. And so like I couldn't necessarily
relax into it. Maybe it's because we turned up the sounds on these headphones.
So, I think that was what they made me hesitate a little bit in like,
really enjoying it. But yeah, I mean their voices are very, very nice, and very mellow.
Even the rapping was like super smooth and very quiet. It wasn't like...
In your face. Henry: Very spoken word.
Elizabeth: Yeah, yeah, which I appreciate that style of rap a lot more. So yeah, there were a lot of elements I enjoyed, but
some I didn't.
Henry: Yeah, I definitely like, one thought that I had about two-thirds of the way through--it was like,
man, if there was an acoustic version of this song, I would be all over that.
Isaac: H3H3.
Kevin: You're right! Isaac: Yep. Isaac: It's the H3H3 theme.
Isaac: Yep Kevin: Listen to the H3H3 theme. Isaac: I couldn't get it out of my head.
Kevin: Really? Isaac: Man, that was, Kevin: (singing)
Isaac: that was a plot line for me.
Kevin: Really? Isaac: Yeah
Kevin: Just because of the association? Isaac: Yeah. I do like the texture of it.
It's very enjoyable in that sense, because it's like very poppy, and also it's like, the syncopation really helps that poppiness, Kevin: Um, hmm.
because it's like, the anticipation of the downbeat's not really there, because it's just offset.
Kevin: For me, I love the H3H3 theme so much, that I could use a hundred different versions of of the H3H3 theme. Isaac: (singing)
So, I loved it.
I think the chords are very colorful
But the melody is so simple and catchy that when I listen to it
I tend to focus on the melody. And the chords are just so colorful, it's almost like a borderline synesthesia.
Not that I actually have synesthesia, but there's like a borderline
like, wow, you just feel like it's colorful and rich. So I can't analyze a lot of the chords,
but I will say that going to E major and then modulating back without even
like knowing, like, I was like, oh, we're back in the home key, but how did we do it?
Kevin: You got me there Astro. You got me there, Jake K, and the rest of the compass composers.
You got me. The synth sounds were great, and it didn't interfere with the vocals, which is really crazy.
Like, the synth is so bright, but it didn't interfere with the vocals. And, yay! I know what real love is now.
Hello everyone. I'm Umu, React to the K channel creator and I'd like to thank you for watching this video.
I really hope you enjoyed or learned something from it.
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