DAVIS: F(x) or Philip Glass, who knows?
PEYTON: Yeah, I was like (vocalizing). DAVIS: Minimalism.
♪ (epic classical intro) ♪
UMU: Over to the next song. LINDSEY: Walls.
UMU: Yeah, 4 Walls. LINDSEY: 4 Walls.
UMU: By? LINDSEY: It doesn't say.
FIONA: Character, character, character, character, underscore.
UMU: Oh. This is by F(x).
LINDSEY: OHH! I commented and a lot of people liked my tweet.
UMU: Yes.
Yayy! Okay. So F(x) is a girl group that is under the same company
as Red Velvet, EXO, Shinee, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
HENRY: Ooh. UMU: And we reacted two songs
by them already and Amber as a solo artist.
So they used to have five members, but before this comeback,
their fifth member quit in order to concentrate more on her acting career.
HENRY: Oh, whoa! Good for her. UMU: So now there's--
This is their first comeback without her and as four members.
And then this is also their last comeback ever.
Like, it's been two years since they've released a song,
and we're like, "What the fuck?!" FIONA: I'm... angry!
Come back! LINDSEY: Excuse me, F(x),
can you please come back? FIONA: Knock, knock. Who's there?
It's us. We want you-- UMU: It's not them. Say SM.
Say, "Hey, SM."
LINDSEY: Hey, SM. FIONA: You suck.
LINDSEY: Get them back on here, please!
We want new content!
FIONA: SM equals su-- stupid minions.
(Umu laughs) LINDSEY: Go ahead.
FIONA: Five, four, three, two, one.
KEVIN: I mean... Solid F(x) start.
NAOKI: Dude, the glockenspiel, though. STEPHEN: It's different.
NAOKI: Oh, I was expecting more of a drop-off from there.
STEPHEN: Yeah, I really like the off-beat stuff that she's got
in the vocal line. NAOKI: Yeah.
GWEN: I like this. Very little melodic instrument, only a beat, voice.
RACHEL: Yeah. GWEN: Like all of the instruments
are atmospheric right now except for the beat. RACHEL: They're about to show up.
Oh, but not too bad.
DAVIS: F(x) or Philip Glass, who knows?
PEYTON: Yeah, I was like (vocalizing). DAVIS: Minimalism.
STEPHEN: Nice. Dotted with the quarter note
like hemiola thing. NAOKI: Mm-hmm.
STEPHEN: That's super common in American pop music.
NAOKI: Yeah.
DAVIS: Ohh. PEYTON: Oh yeah, baby.
DAVIS: That's not really where I expected it
to go with the beat. PEYTON: Yeah.
DAVIS: Like, once it dropped, it actually stayed chill somehow.
I was like, "A chill drop, okay."
KATIE: But it's really smooth. It wasn't like a break.
It just kind of flowed into the downbeat. JAROD: Mm-hmm.
LINDSEY: This is very much like American house music.
FIONA: I feel like I just walked into, like...
LINDSEY: House party, house music. UMU: Forever 21?
FIONA: Yeah, I walked into Forever 21
and this is playing. LINDSEY: OH, it's Amber!!
FIONA: Oh! Ow.
HENRY: I like the way that it's being filmed.
Can't say I like the music much.
LINDSEY: Amber's hot. FIONA: I like this part.
LINDSEY: I'm still straight, though.
...Sorry.
FIONA: ♪ OOOH AHHHH ♪ I like that. LINDSEY: Yeah, that was pretty cool.
FIONA: That was nice. LINDSEY: ♪ Wahhh ♪
That was a non-harmonic tone. FIONA: ♪ Ahh ♪ Wow, modal mixture!
That just went... to minor. LINDSEY: Am I right? What the?!
FIONA: Stop that! LINDSEY: She stepped on broken glass
and her foot was bleeding.
KEVIN: What? YUNYI: So the chorus, "Love is 4 walls"...
what does it mean? Love is a dead end?
KEVIN: Maybe. Love is a...
UMU: Box that you're trapped in. KEVIN: ...room.
YUNYI: I guess everything is a dead end eventually.
KEVIN: Yeah. Oh gee. (chuckles)
GWEN: I like that drop out of the instruments, though.
That's cool. RACHEL: Yeah, there aren't many.
It's very... What do you call that? GWEN: It's very... Yeah.
RACHEL: Like bass drums.
GWEN: Horse. RACHEL: Hi!
I love horses.
HENRY: Okay. The interesting thing about this to me so far
is actually the opposite of what I thought it was gonna be.
This is not interesting because of the way that the beat works.
This is interesting because of the melody.
Usually the melodic content is kind of threadbare,
'cause it's pop music, you know?
YUNYI: There's a lot happening in this song, but it's all super subtle...
KEVIN: Yup. YUNYI: ...and in the background,
which is really nice. KEVIN: Yup.
NAOKI: I'm liking the harmonies in the vocal line.
STEPHEN: No, definitely. NAOKI: That with the vibe
is just like... STEPHEN: Yeah.
NAOKI: It's good. STEPHEN: Chorus is really, really--
like, nice and catchy. NAOKI: Yeah.
STEPHEN: I also like the effects that they're using
at the beginning or just... NAOKI: Yeah.
STEPHEN: ...what they're doing in the vocal line.
GWEN: Yeah, it's one of those songs that enough is happening in the back
that I almost-- ♪ (awesome high note) ♪
RACHEL: ♪ (squeaky, playful high note) ♪
GWEN: That was good, though. RACHEL: Yeah.
GWEN: That was float-y and... (speechless) RACHEL: That was really good.
It sounds great.
KATIE: It's really groovy. I could see a saxophone...
JAROD: (gasps) Hey, she caught it!
4 Walls. That was cool.
That was very... That was like an experience, you know?
KATIE: It was just like... Nothing really like--
I don't know if I would say surprises is the right word.
It was just very-- UMU: Jumped out?
KATIE: Yeah, nothing jumped out. It was very flowing.
JAROD: But at the same time, I really liked it, though,
because of that. KATIE: Yeah, no, no. It was great!
I really liked that the drop wasn't in your face,
like (imitates explosion). It was just... It just flowed right into it.
JAROD: It was super subtle, and I'm-- that's [inaudible] in itself.
KATIE: Sometimes that's better. Less is more. We've said this before.
(softly) ♪ I'm rhyming all the time. ♪ JAROD: But it's like, at the same time,
this wasn't necessarily less. It was just different.
I felt like this was a caress of the cheek.
You know, just like nice and smooth. you know, starting from the top of the ear
to lower ear and then to the jaw and then slightly faded off your chin.
You know what I'm saying? That's what this song was for me.
UMU: Yeah, so what'd you think of that song overall musically?
DAVIS: Overall, yeah. Chill. It was good.
PEYTON: Yeah. DAVIS: Yeah. Chill.
That's how I feel about it.
GWEN: It was going for a vibe, and it stuck with that vibe.
RACHEL: Yeah. It was very vibe-y. GWEN: Successfully, but...
RACHEL: Not my fave. It sounds like a track.
You know? GWEN: Yeah.
RACHEL: I don't even know why that makes sense,
but it makes sense in my head. GWEN: No, it feels like it makes sense
to me too. RACHEL: Yeah.
GWEN: In my heart of hearts, track feels different than song.
RACHEL: Than song, yeah.
FIONA: So this song, it's just such a feel good song in a different sense
that it literally makes you feel kind of good about yourself.
You're just like, yeah, I'm doing the thing and it's cool.
Like, great music going on, and you're like, I'm in the shopping mall
and I'm buying these clothes and I look so good and I feel so good.
It's complementing the experience. It's just a really feel good song.
Not as in like, (in high pitch) "Oh yeah, we're so happy!"
But it's just like, "Mm. I'm cool."
STEPHEN: I thought it was great. I mean, I really loved how
in the beginning, for example, when she first came in with the vocal line
that was all-- yeah, highly syncopated, all in the off beats.
Just that juxtaposition to where if there's syncopation in the groove,
then the vocal line's simple, but if there's syncopation
in the vocal line, the groove is more simple.
I really like that back and forth thing.
NAOKI: This was completely different
to anything that I've reacted to. And I think it worked really well
in that aspect. It was really nice and chill, but it still had
that grooving kind of aspect, that vibe, which was pretty chill.
STEPHEN: Yeah, totally made you wanna dance, which is great.
EMIEL: That was really good. They should definitely come back.
(Umu and Emiel laugh) EMIEL: I really like the whole thing.
It was exactly-- it's just a completely personal thing for me,
but I really enjoyed that vibe of not in your face, like,
(aggressive) "Mm, here's kpop!" It's like, (relaxed) "Hey, here's kpop."
(Umu and Emiel laugh) HENRY: It could've been in English,
and I still would've gotten the same vibe. EMIEL: Yeah.
HENRY: The language barrier-- and this is just a side effect
of having listened to so much kpop that now listening to someone
speaking Korean literally just-- even though I don't understand
a word they're saying, it just sounds natural.
UMU: Anyways, yeah. So you started off not liking it.
So now what do you think about that song overall musically?
HENRY: I think the video helped bring it into perspective.
Also, the ♪ Love is 4 walls ♪ didn't come in till a little bit later.
Sorry, I'm a terrible singer. That weird, like--
the way that that moved and paired with the visuals,
the way that the video screen got wider-- I mean, it suddenly--
It's sort of like when you're listening to a song
and the bass hasn't come in yet, and it feels kind of high,
and kind of like in this small headspace and then the bass comes in
and it just fills it out. That's what it felt like,
like the part that it needed just got filled out.
UMU: How do you feel the music represented the visuals in the music video?
HENRY: It was cool the way the two were paired.
Usually, it's very literal. And this is literal,
but it just definitely focused a lot more on the artistry.
NAOKI: What happened in the video was a bunch of flatmates living together,
but then they dropped a cup at the first line,
but then they caught it at the end. STEPHEN: So I totally did--
I was focusing more on the music. Maybe it was the Oreos getting to me.
Yeah, I did not understand a whole lot of what was going on. (laughs)
UMU: Okay. NAOKI: It just seemed
like a house. STEPHEN: Just to be honest.
NAOKI: And things happening inside a house,
and then people getting changed? Yeah, so...
STEPHEN: And then there was a horse, I think.
NAOKI: Oh yeah! She gets a horse! STEPHEN: There was a horse!
NAOKI: Yeah. (both laughing)
NAOKI: Yeah, there was a horse. STEPHEN: And people were frozen in time,
like, outside. NAOKI: Were they? Oh.
STEPHEN: Yeah, in a forest. NAOKI: Oh, well...
I don't know how that relates to the music.
JAROD: I mean, the visuals were definitely kind of dream state
kind of thing, you know? With the time-- like,
their time stopped, they're frozen. KATIE: That's true.
JAROD: So you just kind of feel, like, in the ether.
KATIE: And I thought that the music did portray that really well,
because it was very-- not quite ethereal,
but it was just really laid back, and relaxed. Like I said,
nothing really jumped out at you. I felt like I was in space,
moving very slowly. And that's kind of
what was going on in the video, too. Not space, but time stopping.
GWEN: Well, because we were talking about the vibe of the song was not, like...
RACHEL: I would've expected them to be a studio.
GWEN: My understanding of the music video
was probably more nervous than most... RACHEL: ♪ I'm so itchy ♪
FIONA: ...because I'm an anxious person, and breaking glass is one of the things
that freaks me out. RACHEL: But the song also wasn't
anxious or angsty. GWEN: Yeah, yeah.
It wasn't-- they felt like-- the video was almost finding yourself
in a bad situation and getting stuck there
with all the freezing stuff and the general vibe.
And then the song was more chill. RACHEL: I don't know what I would've
come up with conceptually for a video listening to that song either.
GWEN: Yeah. RACHEL: I mean, I don't know.
FIONA: It just made it such a fantasy, because yeah, you have all this
techno beat going on, then there's no technology.
You have this old teapot, and this teacup you're trying not to break,
and the forest and this fancy, weird mansion place
with the forest. LINDSEY: I think--
FIONA: It's such a disconnect. It makes it feel other-worldly.
This song is not just a song. It's an experience in a way.
LINDSEY: Yeah. No, I definitely agree. FIONA: Yeah, I like that.
LINDSEY: Hey, guys. Thanks so much for watching.
We hope you enjoyed the video.
FIONA: If you wanna see more of our kpop reactions,
check the link in the description below. LINDSEY: If you're curious about what songs
we're going to react to that aren't on the schedule yet,
click right here or check the description.
UMU: And of course, thank you to all of our wonderful Patreons
for making our content much better. If you want to support us
by being a Patreon, check the description or click on this box right here
for more information. ALL: See you guys next time!