Jarod: I have... goosebumps.
[Rossini's Semiramide Overture playing]
Umu: You are now reacting to the boy group VERIVERY
and their title track 'Thunder' off of their 2020 'Face You' album.
Umu: Do you guys remember 'PHOTO'? Charlotte: "THUNDER!"
Charlotte&Henry: "Nnnanannananana"
"THUNDER!"
*singing 'Thunderstruck' by AC/DC*
"THUNDER!"
Henry: Nnnana- oh, f#%k.
Umu: You guys remember *does impressive demonstration of 'PHOTO'*?
The 'PHOTO' song that you accidentally had a different song playing?
Raffi: That was our very first reaction.
Umu: Yes, 'Photo'. Sam: Yeah!
Umu: But, please, open the description of the video
and read the English part of the description,
one of you volunteer as tribute!
Kevin: "Face You"...
"Summer of 2020 has arrived faster than ever,
and VERIVERY has come back with their second episode album
[FACE YOU] from the ‘FACE it’ series
with a deeper, more mature appearance."
Umu: So while the previous albums illustrated the beauty [t/n: c.f. video description of 'Thunder' MV]
of the courage to find, feel, and face yourself,
this album's message develops upon self-reflection
and needed to courageously rise from a dot called ‘I’ and encounter
with a dot called ‘you’. It tells the story of
through facing yourself and self-recognition,
the 'I' encounters someone else and will find healing in discovery
through meeting the other person.
The title track ‘Thunder’ describes the process of [t/n: Brianna on the left, Cloud sits on the right]
when feeling insecure, [t/n: Brianna on the left, Cloud sits on the right]
YOU and I will come together to overcome [t/n: Brianna on the left, Cloud sits on the right]
with courage and eventually become
WE.
Cloud: US!
Umu: *US.
The song is composed by arcon, 희장 (Coke paris) and 원택 (1Take).
Jarod & Daniel: Wow!
Jarod: I love how heavy -
I love how - that's what I love about K-pop music,
because there is always a really meaningful story
behind a lot of these videos.
Daniel: Yeah, their production is, it's very...
Daniel: ...intense now. Jarod: PG Parent guid-
Jarod: I think this is the first time I've seen they got a PG warning
(Daniel: Right.) Jarod: on a music video.
Jason: This is PG? I'm not allowed to see this! Umu: This is PG!
Umu: Oh my god, get out of here, why are you in college! Jason: I can't see PG - I'm not in college!
Jason: I'm not real!
Stephanie: Okay, okay, click.
Stephanie: Oh?
Leon: Aah, this is interesting.
Owen: That is a lush synthesizer.
Kevin: Yeah.
Kevin: WHAT?! Jason, Owen & Cloud: *imitating line*
Daniel: It's very jerky.
Owen: A lot of scotch snaps. [t/n: ~ accented short note followed by longer one]
Kevin: Oh, I like how they don't sing the 3,
it's 5-4-1-7. [scale degrees]
*content chuckling by Stephanie*
Stephanie: Oh, this feel!
Henry: That's so soft.
Jarod: I have... goosebumps.
Daniel: Right.
Ju Young: This is in a mode, is this phrygian?
Raffi: *mimics high sounds* Do you hear that?
Sam: Yeah.
Kevin: A lot of the instrumental sound like human voices,
like *screams*, there is a lot of that going on.
Owen: There is some human voices functioning as instrumentals.
Daniel: There is that drum.
Jarod: Wait, this is...
Umu: You good, Jarod?
Jarod: Yeah, no, I am really feeling this right now,
I am like really feeling this music.
Jason: Uh...
the octave lower voice, panned on the right, made that very...
Jason: ...very haunting. Ju Young: Harmony!
Leon: Huh.
Stephanie: Woo. Haha!
Ju Young: They're so good at dancing!
Oh my god!
Raffi: The choreography...
Sam: Yeah.
Raffi: ...like, moves.
Sam: Oh, you hear that slide?!
Sam: Vocal slide. Raffi: Yes, yesyesyes.
Sam: Oh, what are they gonna throw at us here?
Oh?
Raffi: Vortex...
...of rhythm
Kevin: Oh, oh, minor, minor!
Major!
Owen: Major. Back to minor?
Both: No!
Owen: Thor!
Leon: Woah!
Stephanie: Mmm~
Raffi: Oh! Wow, he's riffing!
Sam: Yeah.
Sam: He's riffing in that very high place.
Stephanie: Hah, I like when they do *imitates fast rhythm*.
Leon: Mhm.
Ju Young: Wow, that is so satisfying(x2)... Jason: The breathing with the bass...
Jason: Wow, what? It's over? Ju Young: Oh sh*t!
Daniel: That's it?
Jason: I like that.
Jason: I like that a lot, actually. (Daniel: Wooowww!)
Jarod: I like that a lot.
And I like, wait wait, noticing this at the end:
There's all this struggle, and now they're around each other,
they're huddling, they're hugging, they're embracing.
Raffi: That was an experience.
Sam: Yeah.
Raffi: I was like here, and it made me feel here, you know?
Sam: Yeah.
Sam: It- I was here, and it made me feel like I was there.
Umu: That's good. It captivated you! Raffi: Wow, I'm...yep.
Sam: Right?
Owen: It does sound like if you took out the vocals
and maybe the more over the top sections,
the small one feel like they are cinematic,
or that they would work very well in a sort of television show
where the mood feels right with that.
I don't know, it's something about it.
That's only one comment and I'm talking for way longer
than the comment actually goes for,
it sounds like a television idea.
Cloud: It's just so surprisingly major.
Brianna: Hm?
Cloud: Like...
Brianna: That was melodic minor.
Cloud: No, I know, but like "thunder"- *Brianna sings melodic minor scale*
Umu: It went through three different modes. (Brianna: Yeah.)
Brianna: Within- they went through all the modes within that.
Cloud: That's the thing, like I want it to be all melodic minor,
Cloud: like dark sounding, but it's not. Brianna: Yeah, I think that's what's interesting because like;
*sings minor line*
Brianna: You expect it to resolve and they wouldn't resolve,
and that's what I was singing, and then they would not do it,
but it did have a lot of like Middle, like Eastern influences.
Jason: I just think it being in dominant phrygian was like...
captivating for the ears.
And I thought a lot of things they did, like what I mentioned with,
like the octave lower, panned on specific-
Umu: Something just happened to Ju Young.
Ju Young: Sorry. I choked on my spit, I CHOKED ON MY SPIT!
Jason: That's strike 2! Ju Young: Oh my god...
Jason: No yeah, so they did specific things
where they panned it in one ear or the other,
and it was like they would do an octave lower
and kind of distort the voice or,
things that made it kind of, you know,
giving that haunting quality, like production-wise,
which I thought was pretty cool.
And there was a lot of like ambient sounds that were
kind of detached from the tonal area or the harmony going on,
but it was just very...
kinda like pitter-pattered a bunch of these different
unexpected sounds that were just very uncomfortable,
which is kinda like what they were trying to do,
cuz it's a very eerie song and video.
Cloud: There is certainly a lot of interesting timbres going on
and I haven't yet decided if I liked them together (Umu: Interesting)
cuz I think I like them all separately for sure,
I just don't know how much I like them together,
(Brianna: Yeah, it's different, yeah) I'm trying to think of why, because I was thinking about the
the marimba a lot, if you can even call it that,
I'm not sure if it's a vibraphone or a marimba or whatever it is,
I was gonna say like "oh, it's more indicative of a major sound
and that's why I am feeling weird about it",
but that's not true cuz a lot of people use it for
the spooky doll-house feel (Umu: Yeah)
but it wasn't really giving me spooky vibes here,
it was giving me "I want to be happy and major",
but it's not, so it was that kinda like pull between,
where you're just kinda like: "where are we?"
Like, wow, the feels man, okay. (Brianna: Yeah)
Owen: It felt a lot longer than 3 minutes and 21 seconds.
Kevin: It felt a lot SHORTER than 3 minutes!
Owen: Bizarre.
For me maybe it was because my ears were just totally overwhelmed
and my brain could not handle what was going on all the time.
Kevin: Interesting, we had very different experiences.
Owen: Did it feel much, like sparser for you?
Kevin: I won't say it's sparse, but it did feel organized.
Owen: Manageable.
Kevin: Manageable for sure, even friendly, even welcoming. Owen: In terms of the cognitive load.
Owen: Interesting, yeah, for me maybe... Kevin: Yeah, because of the push and pull that I was talking about.
Owen: Yeah, maybe I've been listening to
a lot of classical music that I have a good grasp on
in terms of what's going on, where it's going,
and so, kind of, when I'm hit with a lot of stuff,
that's where it becomes a little overwhelming,
so it felt like it went on a lot longer.
Kevin: So yeah, one second the instr-
there are powerful synthesizers in the instruments,
the percussion is doing something more predictable
while the other instruments are going crazy,
and the next second the instruments go back to the little -
I'm gonna call it the marimba theme cuz that's what is doing *demonstrates*,
and the percussion just goes crazy and there are some,
there are textures that I've never heard before,
and I like how there's always a trade off,
the song seems like it always knew how to balance everything,
it never felt like it was giving too much at once,
and there is like this nice like:
"Oh, this part is gonna do more, so the other part is gonna do less,
so I can actually focus on the part that's being super creative."
Umu: Yeah, okay, so thoughts on the instrumentation?
Henry: The wooden bar instrument reminded me of raindrops.
I thought that was kinda giving me imagery.
Umu: I can kinda see that.
Henry: I was trying to tie it to- Charlotte: You don't have to be nice, we're band kids,
Charlotte: we know that's not right.
A rainstick reminds you of raindrops.
Henry: No, that's what it reminded me of.
And I thought it fit well with -
Look, I don't care! It's my opinion.
Charlotte: Your opinion is wrong.
Henry: Okay.
You have the right, it's a free country, you have the right to think that.
But it made my experience feel like it was a bit more thundery.
Raffi: Call me cliché - well, don't call me cliché,
Raffi: but (Umu: "Please don't call me cliché.") (Sam: Cliché!)
Raffi: it felt like a thunderstorm!
It felt really electric and there's a lot of low, bass-y stuff going on,
and then you kinda hear the pitter-patter of the rain
with that arpeggiating instrument that I won't even attempt to name,
but yeah, I mean just for starters, sorry, that's just the surface,
that's what I heard, yeah.
Sam: Honestly, I can agree with that.
There were also some vocal harmonies that weren't dissonant
but in terms of the tonality of the song
it just drew your ear somewhere else,
and there were a lot of instruments that made you go:
"Oh, this is very unsettling."
I think the most vivid for me was in the
post-chorus I guess you can call it,
there really was sparse percussion except for his breathing,
and that just created such almost like anxiety in me
and I was like: "Oh man, that's really effective if what they..."
like for what they're trying to go for, that was really really cool.
Kevin: Did the thing at the beginning ever come back, the *demonstrates*?
Owen: Not that I heard. Kevin: Yeah, not that I heard.
(Owen: It was fun.) Umu: Second listen?
Kevin: Okay, let's do it!
Kevin: Oh, I never noticed the dubstep influence,
cuz I was paying attention to the vocals too much in the beginning.
Owen: It feels like they're using a lot of ideas from the horror genre.
Kevin: Yeah. The video supports that, too.
Owen: Mhm.
Kevin: Yeah, like...
Owen: The thriller.
Kevin: The percussion is on fleek here.
Oh, there's a *wahwahwah* as well.
Uh.
What is that sound? It sounds like breathing,
but you're hearing the inside of your body as well.
they're just some... these pulses!
*Imitates*, oh, I heard it.
Just the bass *demonstrates*, there was no percussion along with it.
Owen: Yeah, a lot of very human and a lot of very inhuman sounds combined.
That was cool.
Kevin: Did you like it better, did you find...?
Owen: It was definitely more manageable.
Kevin: Hmm, I found it more chaotic. We kinda traded off.
Owen: Very bizarre. That's cool. Kevin: No, it's only because I was-
Kevin: I think I heard your comments and I was listening to it
sort of through your vantage point a little bit.
Owen: And maybe I was the opposite.
Kevin: Maybe, I mean I don't think it's totally chaotic,
I still mostly stand by what I said the first time through.
Jarod: Wow. I really liked this because
I feel like I've had an experience like that really recently,
definitely feeling like almost a little emotional after that.
It was really cool because at first I thought
when you talk about coming together,
initially I thought it was gonna be some sort of ballad,
sweet, something really sappy,
but this was a lot more raw and a lot more from the other side of that,
right, where it's like you're struggling,
like you're struggling, you're having a hard time, it's very dark music,
but what I also like is it's from the perspective of the friends, too,
because it's not just like a solo like:
"Here are my problems, let me like...", like,
"Argh, I'm alone I need my friends" and the friends come, it's...
I think it shows that a lot more people care about us than we anticipate
because it's from the angle of the friends
seeing that their friend is missing
and you see the genuine like:
"Hey, we gotta find, we gotta bring him back, right?
We gotta go Sasuke Rescue Mission on this guy."
The thing about the music, too, is like,
the beat isn't like loud drums beat that you-
it's not beats that you hear, it's beats that you feel.
Like the chords and everything is really low and bass-y (Umu: A lot of bass, yeah.)
and it's like you feel it, like again, also the whole thunder motif, too,
but like literally like these aren't,
this isn't an issue, this isn't music that you listen to,
it's something that you feel, right?
And they see their boy like struggling, right, struggling by himself,
and the lightning getting the best of him,
but then you know, they...
yeah, becoming the WE, it's like your friends,
your friends are there for you, you know, and it's,
cuz like for me is this like, I guess little story times,
I just moved to LA, and like by myself, right, I live alone,
but I have a really strong group of friends out here
who like took me under their wing and like, (Daniel: Yeah)
and have made the experience so far,
so like, I felt this music,
like we feel alone but our friends are there
and it's just kind of an homage to that.
Daniel: You know, that reminds me of that quote,
have you heard that quote? It's like
"If you go alone you can go fast.
But if you go together, you can go far."
Daniel: Have you heard that? Jarod: Woah, I've never heard that. Umu: No I haven't, I got goosebumps!
Daniel: Yeah, it's like a proverb or something.
You mentioned how those voices come together
and they don't create something that's like
something for themselves, but something for each other.
There is a merit in performing alone
but when you're performing together it's just,
it's a completely different dynamic and also
it's a different music philosophy, as we know, (Jarod: For sure.)
as an ensemble player, it's like your, you know,
I becomes "you", "you" becomes "us".
WE are together.
Owen: Those were horror strings
that you might hear in something like Psycho.
Kevin: AAAH!
Owen: Ow! My toe!
*Umu loling*
*Owen cracking up*
Kevin: Seriously? That was, that was, I mean...
...it was amusing.
Owen: I didn't think it was that funny, it's only just you...