Umu: Hello everyone, my name is Umu and I'm reacttothek's channel creator.
Brianna: Hey you guys, it's Brianna from classical musicians react.
U: Welcome to our reaction to the highly awaited Blackpink comeback 'How You Like That.'
B: I actually discovered Blackpink my junior year of high school, when they dropped their 'Ddu Du Ddu Du.'
And I can promise you everybody and their mama learned Korean because of that song because it was a bop, period.
I just haven't heard anything else from them since since kill that love.
I am aware that Blackpink will be coming back later with a full album and another title track,
so this is just kind of like a teaser to get blinks hyped up.
B: And I've been hearing tea about this song, and how it's similar to the other song.
U: And boy have there been mixed reviews
Right when the song was released I received many messages to talk about this formula that Teddy has created for Blackpink
with 'Ddu Du Ddu Du,' 'Kill This Love,' and now 'How You Like That.'
And so, before filming this reaction, I was dying of curiosity and I did take a sneak peek of the chorus,
and I can see where people are coming from both sides.
This formula, you know what to expect which can be either good or bad, just depending on what you like to hear in music, right?
Are you hoping that your favorite idols, every single time they come back, to explore different genres and styles and experiment?
Or is there some sort of satisfaction that comes with being 100% Confident that you'll like the next come back because of a repeated formula.
I'm definitely curious to see what the comments section has to say about this song, and other groups who do have repeated formulas.
I personally do like repeated formulas, to some extent,
so I am very excited to dive into 'How You Like That.' Three, two, one Blackpink!
Nice~
B: Classic.
U: Sounds we got some brass, some strings, woodwinds in the opening.
B: I love the arpeggiation in the bass (synth).
Descending fifth sequence (in the instrumental).
It feels like we're floating.
'Cause we don't have any very short, fast rhythms yet, everything's muted and flowing.
Here we go!
B: Classic EDM beat drop
U: Oh, it's very teasing!
Chorus part two?
B: [singing along] Like that.
Look at you, look at me.
Girl, I'm looking!
I like it a little.
U: Ohh, kinda soundcloud rap-esque with the-
Middle Eastern scale in the background.
Which is reflected in the music video too, Middle Eastern aesthetic.
Is this the prechorus?
B: -you like that [singing along]
I really how- I really like how like, the arpeggiation slows down and then
the beat just completely drops and it picks up back again for the chorus.
B: Nice change of sample of the bass part second time through.
We're changing the rhythms~
B: [humming] it's like a tritone sequence thing.
It's cool. It's different
U: You can feel this part building to something big.
the energy just went down so much, and then we have subdivisions.
Oh- Ohhhhh.
Harmonic minor scale???
[humming] This is tonic. Oh Phrygian?
Why does that feel so goddamn quick?
Oh yeah, 'cause it was 2 minutes and 58 seconds, that's why.
Songs keep getting shorter, shorter, and shorter.
Wow. Like I felt like I blinked and the song went by already.
I do understand where blinks are coming from. We're like, yeah, this is a great song
It's exactly what we need when we miss Blackpink is we need this kind of, we miss this empowering catchy vibe,
and then I also understand for those who wanted to their minds be blown,
that they were disappointed with this comeback because
once it started they're like, okay we know where this is going.
I loved the beginning I almost wish that they
came back at the end or something to complete full circle.
I liked the layer of- layers of textures.
Three, two, one.
Cuz you hear a trumpet, you hear some sort of low brass.
There's a lot of reverb.
In that swell, I heard something that's kind of sounded like a bass clarinet. I could be totally wrong.
Pretty sure these instruments are either synthetic or midi.
Three, two, beginning again.
I like how the upper Instrumental line and the lower instrumental line are moving at different times.
So we've got, in the lower part, it's
Duh da dut
Duh duh dut. [singing the lower part]
And while the lower notes are hitting duh duh dut, the higher goes
duh dut duh dut.
So they're- they're playing the same rhythm, but their notes are changing at different times.
So that creates nice harmony that isn't parallel when it moves forward.
Three, two, one.
I just really like the beginning.
That's tonic, tonic is the first note of the scale, and a scale creates the key that the song is in.
[singing tonic] So when we have, whenever we hit this note in this song, it feels like home
I was really surprised when we did start the first verse immediately off with such a...
gentle smooth flow-y line.
Because we've got to have some sort of energy change throughout this song, right,
so when we start off it's really hard-hitting and it grabs our attention, and then we go to a lower energy.
And we don't have like the typical
pre-chorus subdivisions in the percussion, where you get really- a really big energy lift through
Da da da da dadadadadadadada drrrrRRRRR HIT IT!
It just smoothly just moves into the course through Rosé's, "how how you like that?"
Because she's the one who's changing the energy there.
You kind of know it's the pre-course because that's when the harmony comes in, in the vocals.
Yeah, a lot of the energy is coming from her, not the instrumentals but we do have a rising synth here.
And then this is, this is the formula right? We have...
a catchy single phrase said and
then like a bada bing bada boom is the answer, or something in the instrumental fills up this space.
So this is the post-chorus.
So this is when the-
na nah na na na nuh
I can't tell if it's phrygian or just harmonic minor.
The connections to 'Boombahyah' through this section, I know a lot of blinks were pointing that out,
it's because the use of scale degrees of the scale in the background 'Boombahyah like
and then this is also
So it's like similar rhythm,
and similar usage of scale degrees of this scale. Okay, time to call Brianna and discuss.
Yeah, okay. I'm curious just right off the bat, what are your thoughts? 'Cause you're a huge fan-
did you like 'Ddu Du Ddu Du' or 'Kill This Love' better?
B: Mm... 'Ddu Du Ddu Du.' U: Mhm.
I remember that was like the start of kpop, like for real like that was when I'm- like people were like- It was trendy it was like kpop
U: Mm I see. Okay and then, your thoughts on this song?
B: It remind me of 'Kill This Love.'
U: Mhm and...? B: It really-
I heard some- I- so they did this thing was like dada dada da.
U: Yeah. B: And it was the exact same rhythm of 'Ddu Du Ddu Du' now looking back at it.
That's why people say it's so similar. U: Du du du du. Mhm.
B: Ddu du ddu du du is kind of like the subdivision within the du du du du 'cause if you subdivide the ddu du ddu du du,
ddu du ddu du du, (U: Right) du du du du.
Mhm. So if you- yeah if you subdivide da da da da you get ddu du ddu du du
and that's why people are saying that similar, but I thought it was kind of just like paying homage to their songs
like to their old songs (U: Yeah), like so I didn't see that as like ripping off
I just thought it was kind of like, they were like hinting at 'Ddu Du Ddu Du', I- which I thought was cute,
but people I- I see the- I saw the comments and I was like ooh, oh.
U: Lots of yeah, lots of- I can see both point of views because
I think a lot of people also didn't like 'Kill This Love' for first few listens because
they felt like the drop wasn't hard-hitting enough, and I think it's because
we moved from this very luscious harmonic spot in the pre-chorus to just
tonic prolongation and we kinda- it kinda becomes stagnant in that way
where we don't have like a lot of movement going on, right? (B: Yeah) We just got baaaaa
baaaaa in the bass and then dada da dada da, like very spacious
repeated shouted catchy phrase. There's something so satisfying, you know- okay, so
you know in the hook where we had this synth that sometimes just did its own rhythms,
and it moved into unison, melodic and rhythmic unison with the voice, which is like the how you like that.
B: Mhm U: So it's like [all over the place] dada da da, just an octave below the actual vocals.
There's something so satisfying (U: Mm) about instrumentals just ignoring, ignoring the vocal line
and then suddenly moving in unison, in complete unison (B: Mhm), and then breaking off again.
B: I think why 'Kill This Love' sounded so similar, is because the beat
like I don't know but the bass beat that they used sounds exactly like the bass beat that they use in 'Kill This Love'
and I don't- it's like a type of like synthesized like electronic beat that he used and it was exactly the same.
And are they in the same key the key sounded really (U: Are they?) similar.
U: Okay, let's check this out,
'Kill This Love' is in D,
and (B: yeah) 'How You Like That' is just a half-step up (Eb)
So there's some sort of similarity there just tone wise. B: Yeah, tonally.
U: But yeah, I mean this is- this is a formula that I do enjoy.
Like (B: Mhm) I totally understand those who felt completely let down by this but I also understand those who are super hyped by it.
I personally, I do enjoy this I-
I think (B: Mhm) what draws me to Blackpink music even though it's so- it is catchy, it is trendy,
but I just love their use of modes. So much.
I love that, like that giant orchestral beginning,
and (B: Mhm) I love the timbre of their voices, and it's it's high production in my mind.
Like I know there are many who may disagree. B: And it's like
It's just a hype song, and I feel like that's what their brand is- not brand but just necessary-
they make songs that are fun, and like people are gonna dance to, and like that's them,
and I feel like... I don't know people say a lot of jazz music sounds the same,
and it's like tea, because they use the same 12 blues form and they just put a different hook on top of it, and like...
But does that take away from how
they like add their little nuances to it? And does that take away from them being as artists?
I don't think it does because at the end of the day, they're delivering a
performance that is in essence just as good as their last one.
U: Right and yeah looking at the full package, too- because I remember when I did take a sneak preview of the song,
It was just the chorus and I was like, ooh, I don't think I'm gonna like that but then just listening to the song as a whole (B: Yeah) package.
I really do like it. But, yeah. Last last thing that I wanted to touch on is that in both
Well, okay in both the video and the song it's a marriage of cultures, right?
We've got like the soundcloud rap-esque track, B: Mhm
U: hip hop, and EDM. And then the video
we had some Asian clothes cut up to be super modern and cool-looking,
as well as a Middle Eastern aesthetic, and I know some people love
cultures clashing like this. So I'm also curious, people in the comments section, do you also
love the joining of cultures or is it offensive for some of those cultures to be used
in, you know in music videos without any more explanation, I don't know.
It's just something that I'd like to talk more about (B: Yeah), on this channel, is cultural appropriation like totally dismissive is it fine?
Is it great to be sharing cultures or is this something that we should bring more- talk about more?
Is it something that we should educate ourselves about more
B: Mhm. U: I'm curious what everyone thinks. B: It's super weird
Yeah, and I was reading the comments from our last video where we talked about cultural appropriation some- it was like mixed
and (U: Mhm) I feel like some people like miss what I said will misread what I heard or misheard (U: They skipped around and then typed) what I said.
Yeah, and like I didn't mean that nobody should use, like I'm not saying don't use the beat, see, and if you just use that part of this conversation
They would be like, oh they said yes U: Right B: Mhm.
But I'm saying that you should, I feel like- you remember- I feel as though you should
showcase different cultures and like recognize that and if you're paying homage to them, but I just think
you should highlight that in a way or like try to educate your fans and like if your and even if you don't know,
okay, you don't know you know, but if you do and like you do it intentionally
I feel like that's something you should outright say. Like Beyonce, she
pulled inspiration from like Indian culture a lot and she would talk about it, you know.
But (U: Yeah) it's okay if you don't know when you just yeah, but that's nothing is it okay to be ignorant.
U: Yeah, we'll for sure have a conversation about it. B: Yeah it's hard.
I'm, I'm hoping to put together a panel and just talk about it, like not pointing fingers
Nothing derogatory (B: Mhm), nothing negative, but just a general like,
discussion about cultural appropriation and music because
a lot of kpop is based off of black music, a lot of kpop is taken from Middle Eastern scales like phrygian
And then also Western scales like major and minor, like that's music, right?
And then they pull from their own panettone, you know. B: Yeah.
U: It's just I want to talk about and I would love to talk about it more on here. So. B: Yeah
U: Whoooo (B: Yay), looking forward to Blackpink's comeback album.
There's the crashing (B: Yeah) the crashing is also excited in the background of Brianna's video to welcome Blackpink back.
B: Oh wait, I'm so- so what when was awesome they dropped an album?
U: 2019 was a mini album. This is their first real, full album
B: They've never made a full album?
So is it really a comeback or a coming? (OOOOOOOOOO)
U: But we're excited to see more Blackpink.
B: Yeah, I am. I liked it, I love them I stan, I don't care.
U: That's the attitude! Alright thanks so much for watching guys, I look forward to reading lots of
respectful comments in the comment section just discussing what you guys want to discuss and,
sending everyone a lot of love.
B: Yay. U: Bye~
Whoo B: Bye!