Lindsey: It keeps...there's like two different styles, fully, of this song,
and they're like, going back and forth between them.
Fiona: Totally different. Black and white, totally. Lindsey: It's like how they're cutting them in half and putting them together. Ah!
Fiona: Pchwew!
Umu: So EXID is a five-member girl group that we reacted to
once last season with their music video called 'Ah Yeah'.
Lindsey: Yeah, I remember that, ah yeah, ah yeah, ah yeah.
Umu: First we'll be reacting to their song called 'Up&Down'.
When it came out in 2014, it received a lukewarm response,
but after one of the member's legendary fancams
went viral, the song skyrocketed to number one
on various charts and saved this group from disbandment.
Umu: This song is composed by Shinsadong Tiger
and co-written by the rapper of this group, named LE.
Umu: The topic at hand is the subtle objectification of the female body.
The girls are split in half at times and the music video
takes this idea of conjoining separate objects
and body parts to produce odd shapes and connections
that aren't quite fitting with the natural state of things.
Rachel: Hmm
Jarod: Get ready! Collin: Let's go, let's go! Yeah. Jarod: All right, 3, 2, 1.
Colling: Hit it, hit it.
Collin: All right and, already.
Collin: Cool shoes.
Jarod: We got some sax. Collin: Oh, yeah, that makes sense.
Fiona: Oh! Lindsey: Ohh!
Lindsey: They're so empowering.
Fiona: I love how they're repeating that. That was so cool.
Isaac: Okay.
Kevin: I just like the way they keep
that sax riff throughout a lot of the song.
Rachel: It's so weird. Hugo: It's soft right now, there's like
Rachel: I know. Hugo: there's not any depth in it.
Hugo: It's almost like they're far away.
Fiona: Pop, pop, pop!
I like that.
Pop, pop, pop!
Both: Whoa!! Fiona: That was funny.
Lindsey: Oh, my God, they're so cool-sounding.
Collin: The production is really interesting.
It's just the triad. It's so good though.
Fiona: Like we're going off to battle. Lindsey: What the hell?
Isaac: Ooh!
Lindsey: They just totally changed keys and styles, and everything just changed?
Fiona: This is so weird.
Lindsey: What the heck?
Kevin: Just the simple verse and pre-chorus, Isaac: (singing)
combined with just the much richer
chorus, it just never gets old.
Rachel: Where did that go?
Distantly related key.
Lindsey: Their voices sounds so awesome.
Like,
their pronunciation and their enunciation in particular is just super-interesting sounding.
Kevin: This is one of the perfect K-pop songs, in my opinion.
Hugo: There's a synth trumpet going, ne, ne, ne, ne, ne, in the background, too.
Fiona: There's so many voices going on at once. I'm confused. Lindsey: Yeah
Kevin: And even in the rap, you get the sax riff but with the chords of the chorus.
How good!
Collin: There's a frog, and a tiger, and... Jarod: Oh, you got that cool little desk camp
part, like
in the in the background.
Lindsey: It keeps...there's like two different styles, fully of this song,
and they're like going back and forth between them.
Fiona: Totally different. Black and white, totally. Lindsey: It's like how they're cutting them in half and putting them together. Ah!
Fiona: Pchwew!
Rachel: This whole song could be like an exhibit at MOMA.
Both: What?!
Lindsey: This is so weird! I love it!
Jarod: I feel like the music kind of stands as like, it kind of fits in with the general
K-pop aesthetic, so it's like when listening, you're like okay, it pulls the
listener in, so it's like, it kind of draws like a
bait-and-switch kind of thing. The music draws the average ear into it,
and then you're listening to these words and you're like oh, wait a minute.
And then if you watch the video, and then it's like oh, sh*t! Like the whole game's,
the whole like....because they're like those like magician little boxes
where they separate people, so I guess that's like the game or whatever. Collin: Yeah
Jarod: It's just like there's a lot happening.
Fiona: My favorite part was the part where they were like talk-singing rapping.
Umu: wi arae wi wi arae Fiona: It's like such a cool vibe, and the fake sax is like (mimicking sax). Lindsey: Yeah
Fiona: Like, I'm partying, okay? It's like that sound equals, "Fiona party, right now!" I'm like, all right!
Lindsey: I just liked in general how it sounded like there were so many voices. Like, their vocal
tambours are all so different from each other, but yet they work so well together.
I don't know, it just seemed like it was more people than there were, but there weren't.
Isaac: I thought was really interesting how they have different sections
that don't, I thought they would never fit together.
You have really heavy beats emphasizing three beats, and then later you have the
chorus, which is like very lyrical, very smooth in comparison to the very like,
I don't know, rhythmic-heavy verses. It's just like it's interesting how they
transition into it. It's like, there's that one instance, they go into major. Yeah,
it's just like bunch of surprises every corner you turn. Kevin: I mean, that might
be called 'Up&Down', but I just feel up, in terms of energy, whenever I hear this
song. I just really like how everything is put together. It's basically what
Isaac said, how all these different sections all combine together
and then you hear the sax sort of come back, in spots.
It's not one where when you re-listen to it you get more little things out
of it, but when you re-listen to it, you appreciate the brilliance of just all
these parts coming together. And it's a perfect song.
Umu: So, now we are reacting to
a b-side song called 'Boy,' so in front of you is a fan-made lyric video. Hugo: Oh, a fan made lyric video. Umu:This was
released on EXID's 2017 'Eclipse' album,
Umu: released in 2014 Charlotte: did they loose a member? Umu: Yes. Solji,
the leader of the group has illness. Yeah, and she was missing from the group for
one or two years. Now she's back, but they had several comebacks without her.
The song is composed by Shinsadong Tiger, Jion, and again, LE. Boy's lyrics talk
about the extreme loneliness a person feels and wanting a partner to talk
about their feelings. Fiona: Boy! Three, two, one, boy!
Lindsey: Whoa.
Fiona; That was like me saying, boy! Lindsey: Yeah.
Fiona: Boy!
Hugo: I'm so far digging this, so much.
Digging the live bass.
Rachel: Yeah
Hugo: The string bass.
Rachel: Like an ostinatoey....
Hugo: (singing)
Rachel: What is that called?
That's like a...like a...like a tango.
Lindsey: I also like how there's just like the hit on the beginning of every four beats Fiona: Oh, yeah.
Lindsey: and that's it, because it's like super laid back.
Collin: The instrumentation's super interesting. Jarod: Yeah, cuz you got like flute, slash synth, you got like that like well flute slash
you got like high voice, low voice, and then like she kind of fits right in the middle.
Fiona: Their voices are so different in this. Lindsey: Yeah
Rachel: Yeah. The chords are really interesting with that bass line.
Lindsey: What?!
Fiona: I'm about this. Yes.
Lindsey: I was just not expecting that at all. What the heck? Fiona: That gave me goosebumps on my right leg.
Rachel: Ooh! You know what this sounds like? Hugo: Oh! Marion Hill. Rachel: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Peyton: Oh.
Charlotte: Ooh!
Peyton: Ooh! Charlotte: That delay.
Peyton: Ooh!
I really like that deep, heavy-hitting bass. It's like a really like, "ahh"
sound, with a really hard front.
Collin: No, but this is good. I think this is better than the
last one.
Jarod: Like rhythmic, very... Collin: The syncopation is good, it's creative.
Hugo: Oh, hit it, girl! Rachel: It's very eighties.
Charlotte: I love her rapping.
Peyton: Yeah. Charlotte: It's so good.
Kevin: It's like the harmonic shift while this note stays the same; the overtones all change.
K: that's what gives it the round bendy quality
Fiona: Do you hear that?
Lindsey: The like, clave Fiona: I love that. That's like, getting me really hyped.
Lindsey: It kinda sounds like single tempo block.
Kevin: You still have that element of just different
moods and grooves and instrumentations kind of coming together.
Jarod: Is that the- There's something so cool about that. Collin: Yeah, interesting
And now they're building on it. Yeah, the layering is good.
Jarod: Cuz it's like, kind of the same but not. They like tweak it, they tweak it.
Collin: Dude, I mean it's like a recap.
Jarod: Right. Collin: Like a well-composed recapitulation.
Peyton: Whoo!
Slay me with that harmony, baby. Charlotte: Heck, yes.
Fiona: Ooh, yeah.
Do you hear that really, really high voice on top? That's so cool!
Peyton: Is that a woman singing that low? Charlotte: Yeah. Peyton: Oh.
Fiona: Oh! Bye. It's like different, so it's (singing) Lindsey: It's like pointilism.
Like in that part where they're like, i, e, i, e, it's just, everything just, it's very....pointillistic. Fiona: It's like (singing)
It's like not connected. Like in music, we're taught
so much like, to connect all the phrases. It's like (singing) Lindsey: It would be like if somebody
wrote something for a section in an orchestra, and instead of just having
like, horn one play the whole melodic line, they gave every other note to a
different horn part. Fiona: How true.
Lindsey: Yeah. Fiona: Detached. Lindsey: Yeah. It was so crazy.
Fiona: I liked it, you know. It had like, this layer, this layer, and this layer, and then like, (popping sounds), Lindsey: Yeah
Fiona: And that's all I needed, and it kept moving the whole time, and liked it a lot. Good job. Yay. Lindsey: Yeah. It kind of killed it ??????
Charlotte: Very cool vibe.
Peyton: That is something that I'd actually listen to. I appreciate when there's like an arc to the song. They kind of start off very like, minimal,
it's like (soft note).
Sort of weird, synth, oboe-type Casio
keyboards set. Charlotte: Whatever that is. Peyton: And then (louder note). It's just very like,
give you a little bit, and then they when they start moving it in, it's everything ties into each other,
nothing's really like, there's no dominant voice pounding away
at the holes. Charlotte: It's like a melting pot of sound.
Isaac: I thought it was really nice.
Four of the vocalists have very distinct styles of singing. I like how the instruments
support their voices. So the first one you have the really slow pizz, and
it really sets up the mood. And it's like very soft, and you're very relaxed. Kevin: And then it comes back after a while.
Isaac: Oh, yeah, that's interesting. It's like, and it starts
building up tension; the second one was really like, almost like sotto voce, just
having that really like low...is it distant? Oh, not distant, it's like a
lower, lowered voice, sub voice, so it's like
it's hard to hear, but it's audible. And then moving on to
I think it's Ye- Yerin? Dude, she's a great vocalist, damn.
Kevin: Man, I just love how much space they put in the beginning, so your mind kind of wants to fill in
everything. And then it becomes more active, and I think during the pizzicato
section there were parts where there are just multiple complex rhythms going on
between the melody, and the pizz wasn't some really boring pizz, and it was just
just slowly filling my brain with the coolness. And then the synth chords come
in, and it's like that middle range that finally gets fulfilled, and of course
we've got the drop, that's just all, I mean, I feel like I'm floating around. And then
the outro kind of makes like a palindrome quality where it's still
again very spacious. And it's just a very well-constructed song that makes me want
to put it on loop.
Hugo: I really dug that. Rachel: Yeah, that was cool. I liked her voice for the style.
I liked that it was different from typical... Hugo: Well, the different singers had different,
like the one girl who was like full singing for
the bridge Rachel: Oh, yeah, she was good. Hugo: that was right before the rapping section, that was awesome. She sounded
really good. There's a little bit of air pressure, like a little bit too much
pressure, a little bit of pushing, Rachel: Yeah, I felt like she was like, very, in a strong alto range, but if
that's not where she was incredibly comfortable, it's gonna get airy. Hugo: But then
the rapper, who, I just don't know her name,
Umu: LE Hugo: LE? She was awesome. Rachel: Um, hmm. Hugo: She was great.
Lindsey: Oh, this is so different. Up&Down was
more like 'Ah Yeah' kind of vibes, where it's just kind of very empowering, and
upbeat, and stuff, and this one it's literally the opposite because the other
ones are like, I'm just me, like I'm a woman, and this one's like, I need a boy. Fiona: Yeah.
Lindsey: So it's literally the opposite. And also, musically, it was totally the opposite too,
it's just very chill and laid-back, and yeah.
Collin: That's my favorite. That was my favorite. I'm gonna go listen to that. Jarod: That was really cool.
Umu: Why was this your favorite? Collin: Because the syncopation, the instrumentation
was odd, I hadn't heard things like it, but
it worked very well. And I mean like really, they like
developed the like, "I need a boy" well. And like, the chorus was unique.
Yeah. That was very, that was impressive. Yeah.
Hello, everyone, I'm Umu, and I'm the
channel runner of React to the K. I really hope you enjoyed watching this video. If
you're curious about the videos that we'll be reacting to in the future, I put
a link to a doc with our release schedule in the description.
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