Collin: Dude, these textures...the textures are nice. Jarod: Yeah. It's heard and felt, you know? Collin: Yeah.
Jason: Now you're reacting to the seven member boy group BTS.
Charlotte: Who now?
What?
Who are they?
Bahtusss?
Peyton: You did not just say Bahtuss.
Umu: First you'll be reacting to a b-side song of their 2015 'The Most Beautiful Moment in Life, Part 2' album.
Jason: This song compares Autumn leaves to a dying love.
Melissa: Oh, my God, like Letzte Hoffnung! Oh, my God, wait, wait, wait!
So, in Winterreise, one of the songs is called Letzte Hoffnung, and it's about a dead leaf on the tree in the middle of winter and
the dude, he says he hangs his hopes on this leaf, and when the leaf falls to the ground his hopes also fall,
Jame: That's really sad. Melissa: and he cries on the grave of his hope. Okay! Jason: Wow.
Umu: The singer holds onto their fading memories, even though all the things they thought would last forever are beginning to leave.
Collin: Whoa, that's so sad, God!
Umu: The song is composed by Slow Rabbit, Pdogg, "Hitman" Bang, and the BTS members Suga, Jungkook, RM, and J-Hope.
Kevin: So, you're saying that leaves here is a pun--dead leaves,
because you mentioned leaving and stuff.
Isaac: (making pop sound)
Kevin: Hey, you never know, that could be it.
James: Ready, get set, go!
Ooh!
Melissa: Oh, yeah, this sounds like Schubert.
Melissa: I'm kidding. It doesn't.
Collin: Doesn't sound like dying love yet. That's nice.
Isaac: Ooh!
Wow, okay.
That was good copy and paste. Kevin: *imitates Suga's rap echo*
Kevin: Ooh,, I love the rhythms they do with the mapping.
Peyton: Okay flow. Charlotte: Good.
Charlotte: I'm really liking this hard-hitting beat Peyton: Um-hmm. Charlotte: that's underneath--this very ethereal melody.
Peyton: I see you stole my word.
Charlotte: Ethereal? Peyton: Um-hmm.
Charlotte: It's a good word. Peyton: It is a good word.
Kevin: Ahh!
The rhythm is just so engaging.
Wow. There's some major/minor action goin' on.
Jarod: Are these like fivetuplets? Like, 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5, 1-2-3-4-5. Are they like...
Lindsey: It almost feels like there's like a half time thing going on in the voice as in comparison to the background instruments. Fiona: Yeah.
Lindsey: And then it kind of switches, like...
Fiona: Like now it's more (snapping fingers to beat) Lindsey: Yeah.
Peyton: Girl, our love's like dead leaves.
Charlotte: Yo.
Peyton: I'm gonna write you a Valentine's Card
Charlotte: Yeah.
Peyton: and cut it out in the shape of a leaf.
and write, "To Charlotte: My love for you is like dead leaves."
Collin: I like this thing in the background. It's like this really nebulous wall of sound thing, but it acts like the harmony.
Jarod: Um-hmm. Collin: I guess it's a synth. I don't know.
Dude, these textures. The textures are nice. Jarod: Yeah
Jarod: It's heard and felt, you know? Collin: Yeah.
Jarod: You feel it in the chest. Collin: Thanks to the head phones.
James: Ooh! Melissa: Ooh! James: Interesting.
Melissa: I feel like the water sound effect is like the leaf is falling into water, maybe.
Fiona: Oh, his voice is cool Lindsey: Okay.
Isaac: Oh! Kevin: Oh, I love that delivery.
Isaac: Yeah, yeah!
Isaac: (singing)
Kevin: Oh, quick sixteenth notes--ticka, ticka. And then triplets.
Isaac: Wow!
Collin: Dude, what this synth is doing is super sick. Jarod: What's up?
Collin: So you hear it? It's like (mimicking synth)
It like grounds the whole thing. (mimicking synth) There...Yeah, that's it. It's so interesting. That's....
It's so simple. Jarod: It just adds depth, you know?
James: Somebody's got good vocal agility way up there in the stratosphere. Melissa: Yeah.
Melissa: It's interesting, cuz if it's that high and the message is never fall,
it's an interesting comparison. James: Just staying up... Yeah. Um-hmm. Melissa: Yeah.
James: Piano.
Hmm. Interesting.
Melissa: I thought it was interesting how the vocal lines were so high and
there was that little shimmery sound effect at the end of like wind chimes or something, James: Um-hmm. Melissa: and it was
as they were repeating never fall, and it's kind of like a higher like, it's like the leaf is blowing upwards in the wind.
James: But it's interesting too, because their choice of genre, at least for the most part, especially coupled with the theme of the song,
they're kind of like polar opposites.
Like you've got a theme that's like pretty sad and depressing, and the seasons are changing,
like there's change in the air, things are falling and dying, and like sad and stuff.
But usually you would expect like bare vocals and maybe a piano Melissa: Right. James: to write a song,
you know, conveying that kind of message. But instead they went with like clubby kind of feel, which is which is interesting to me,
especially the way they ended, because they ended in the way we would have expected them to start with. Melissa: Right, that's true. James: With
James: just like the piano that like fades out, but I think the reason they might have chosen to use this particular genre
to convey the message is because
a lot of that pain and sadness starts with anger, and sometimes, since sort of some of the really fast rapping stuff,
I was kind of getting like, grief, in
the sense that like you're sad and you just go and lay down some words or like whatever, you know.
Melissa: Yeah. James: I was kind of getting that vibe. So I thought that was interesting that they did that.
Jarod: I think Collin nailed it, saying that the background is like this nebulous, but the same time very grounding. Collin: my favorite word
Jarod: Because it's uh, yeah, there's like that pulsating feel. You're feeling that while hearing the...you know, cuz they have, you know,
they have relatively high voices. So it's like, you know, pulling the range. And then yeah, because it's like you get that (singing).
Collin: What that reminds me of is like in the 70s, there was,
I think it was like space music or something, but they'd always use a wall of sound. Well, it's very different here,
but it's really cool because like from what I remember hearing of that music it was just like this constant background thing. Here, they
used it in a different manner, and like especially towards the end,
I mean, it's it sounds like, if you visualize it, it almost sounds like there's like this
flatness to the sound that this thing creates, like boahhh,
and everything else is on top of it. But it's really interesting because the depth it adds is so palpable.
So that was really cool.
Keving: I don't know if this is intentional, but like with the whole autumn leaves
theme, the song does paint a very nice instrumental picture of just all sorts of leaves moving at different
speeds, and the wind causing different effects on these leaves, and it's just a...it reminds me of the rustling of leaves and autumn.
Isaac: I thought about in a different way. I was thinking about how expansive some parts are.
It's like when all the instrumentations are coming, and when they're singing harmony, it really creates this large space and then all of a sudden,
they go into the silence, and then it's all thin; all the instruments are just...
pop!
Some parts, they thin out, which is quite nice. I don't know, it's almost like ASMR--just like everything just...you're so focused on the
the small sounds that you hear side by side, and then the transition between these. The relation's really nice
They'd have these cyclical thirds, the triplet rhythm, so it's like it really just keeps rolling and rolling, and
it could be boring. If you're not in the right mood,
it could be boring. But it's like, if you are in the mood - cuz I was in the mood - so it just keeps bringing you
on this trip, and you keep going, the thinning and then the expanding of texture--it's quite nice.
Umu: Okay, next you're reacting to the full-length version of BTS's b-side song called 'House of Cards' released on their 'Young Forever' album.
This song is about pursuing a fragile dream, even if it might collapse.
Jason: It's also possibly an homage to Yves Montand's 'Les Feuilles Mortes'.
The song is composed by Slow Rabbit, Charlotte: Les what? Jason: 'Les Feuilles Mortes', which means dead leaves in French.
Peyton: Hmm. Charlotte: That's...okay. You almost sound like you're saying the dead fruits, FYI.
Jason: And the song is composed by Slow Rabbit, Brother Su, and "Hitman" Bang.
James: Okay.
Jarod: B-T-S.
Collin: We're far away.
Ooh!
Lindsey: Bass? LIke, upright bass? Cello? Fiona: (mimicking bass)
No, that's definitely upright bass. Fiona: The bass is like buff. Lindsey: Yeah. Fiona: They're buff.
Fiona: Imagine digging into that.
This already is so heavy, with that huh! Huh! Lindsey: It's very heavy
James: Ooh.
Melissa: This is badass.
Kevin: It's like one of those very cinematic songs. It's low-down, and a little jazzified. Isaac: Someone walking down a street.
Melissa: More triplets.
James: Triplets and tremoloes in the strings.
Melissa: Actually, fun fact: The "T" in BTS stands for triplets.
Fiona: Those strings just add so much spicy sadness.
Lindsey: Yeah.
They're like doing their own thing, too. There's a lot of
you know, blue notes, but not like, the blue note, you know, like, blue notes in general
coming from the strings, that don't necessarily fit exactly in with the melody.
Peyton: Ooh! Charlotte: Get that shuffle!
Melissa: Oh, the "S" in BTS stands for strings. James: Oh, wow. Melissa: Yeah.
Peyton: Yeah.
Charlotte: (singing)
Charlotte: Nice use of string techniques there. Peyton: Yes.
Isaac: Woo!
Diminished sevenths!
Collin: You've got instrumentation coming and going.
Who thought that was gonna happen? What?
Kevin: The question is, what kind of diminished seventh is it? Let me figure it out.
Isaac: C sharp! Kevin: It's a 4-3. Diminished seventh, 4-3. Still got my Bachelor's theory.
Lindsey: Now we're like, almost a capella, but not. Fiona: It sounds like a clock ticking.
Clocks are everywhere.
James: Oh.
Cool.
Peyton: I love me a good whisper-sing.
Fiona: If you can imagine someone like digging a hole. Lindsey: Yeah.
Lindsey: Digging their own grave.
Fiona: Yeah.
It's just relentless.
Melissa: There should be an "H" in BTS for high notes.
James: Um-hmm.
Melissa: Cuz that's what they're singing James: It's a silent H. Melissa: Okay, yeah. BTSH.
Collin: This is really... Jarod: I love the additions... Collin: And they still have that delicate thing in the background. That's so cool.
Yeah.
That was cool.
Fiona: I like how that ended (singing). It sounded like a video game. Like you're about to find an enemy in this cave.
Umu: Okay, yeah. So, summarize your thoughts?
Fiona: Persistent.
Lindsey: Jazzy.
Fiona: Strings were cool.
Lindsey: Heavy.
Fiona: Mood.
Lindsey: Real heavy. Fiona: Winter is here.
Shed a tear
BTS. 'House of Cards'.
Jarod: That was wild. Collin: That was interesting.
Collin: Oh! Jarod: That was cool. There was like so many like cool things going on with the voices,
like there was so many different like...obviously there's like the main line that's going,
but there's like so many other different descant kind of lines dancing around it. I just wish
that they were a little bit more
pronounced, if that makes sense.
You could barely hear some of the lines that were doing some really cool stuff
around the melody. And it's like since they're all in the same range, you don't even have the okay, one voice is low,
but at least it's higher, so it's like, because they all kind of blended together.
So I just wish it was easier to differentiate what was happening,
but maybe that's the effect they were going for with this whole 'House of Cards' thing--
just like, nothing is really set or concrete, there's just still kind of like an
anxiousness in the air, so I don't know.
James: I especially appreciate some of the techniques the vocalists were using to kind portray the emotions of the song.
There was a point where the member who was singing was like really breathy and it was kind of like, "hahhh", Melissa: Yeah. James: and it was kind of like up high,
and then he had this one moment where he went like, "huhhh",
and he went lower in his register Melissa: Yeah. James: almost like it was like,
like slouching over, just like oh, I need to take a break, and now we're back to the grief and the pain and whatever.
Isaac: They do the traditional thing that's like you have the rhythm pulsing. They set it up, but then they use
syncopation, which is using the off beats to get people's attention. It goes against
the rhythm that's set in the beginning. And then the aspect of duple--just like, the beginning, it's like da-da...
Kevin: No, I think the instrumentation is in sort of like a swing: da da da da da da da.
But sometimes they with deliberately sing da da dee dee,
da da dee dee. Because of the way it's well mixed, and because of how the vocals also switched from duple to triple and back,
there's always a feeling of, this is a swung song, but it's not really a swung...
it's also has the serious nature of the duple song. Isaac: Um-hmm.
So it's kind of a chameleon in a way, because it can be both, you know.
Isaac: Oh, man, there's that really...was it this one? It's like, they mixed in a water droplet with a bass. Man, that's so...that's a combination
I haven't heard in a while. Kevin: Is this one the water droplet one? This one had the little ticking. This was the one with the
tiny ticking at the back. Isaac: (making ticking sound)
Both: (ticking sounds)
Kevn: It's the ASMR BTS duo!
Isaac: OHHH!
Isaac: They're going for the sensation. Autonomous... Kevin: Meridian Sensory Response. Now, let's go. Sensory response.
Isaac: ASMR. ASMR.
Hello everyone. I'm Umu, React to the K channel creator, and I'd like to thank you for watching this video.
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