Ju Young: Paganini IN YOUR AREA~~
[Rossini's Semiramide Overtune plays // English Subtitles by youtube @anisian]
Umu: So you are now reacting to the 4 member girl group BLACKPINK
And their title track "Shut Down"
Off of their 2022, 'Born Pink' album
Erica Gonzales from ELLE writes, "Loaded with confident lyrics and high energy
the song lives up to its title, throughout the track, the girls take turns
telling their haters and doubters to tAkE a sEAT~!"
Ju Young: hahaha- Umu: 'Praying for my-' sorry haha
Umu: 'Praying for my downfall, many have tried baby' they sing in one line
'When we pull up you know it's a shutdown'
This song is composed by Teddy and 24
And I know you guys are Jazz musicians, but how good is your solo violin repertoire knowledge?
Leon: Like okay...
Brian: Actually, I was okay- Jason: Actually I was bumping the Brahms today
Owen: I know concertos really well
Liam: If it's like pretty popular, we should know it
[BGM: Kevin MacLeod - "Scheming Weasel (faster version)"]
Rachel: Someday Liam, there's going to be a K-pop video
And it's gonna- it's gonna sample from Khan- Liam: It's gonna sample like Porgy or some shit
[BGM: Porgy and Bess (Xylophone Excerpt) - Performed by Douglas Gutjahr]
Rachel: Khan Variations haha [BGM: Alejandro Viñao - "Khan Variations" performed by Ji Hye Jung]
Liam: Oh no, God I hope they- Rachel: Mirage-
[BGM: Yasuo Sueyoshi - "Mirage pour Marimba" performed by Jiyeon Kim]
Liam: I hope we never get to that
*beep sfx*
Umu: Before we get into today's reaction a huge thanks to our sponsor, Fashion Chingu [BGM: Blackpink - "As if it's your last"]
Fashion Chingu is an online store that recreates KPOP and K-Drama clothes on a budget
They have a variety of clothing collections from BTS to Blackpink, Aespa, IU, Girls Generation, Stray Kids
Items of clothes that the Idols wear themselves in their everyday life
To photoshoots, and even stage performances
But at a much lower cost, the quality of the clothes from Fashion Chingu are still great!
Look at how in love Jason is with his shirt that BTS Taehyung wore!
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You get worldwide free shipping
Check out the link in our description to go to Fashion Chingu's website
And use our discount code: reacttothek10 at checkout for 10% off your order
Now that we're all fashionably styled up, let's get back to the reaction!
So without spoiling the name of what piece is
Maybe or maybe not played in this song
The violinist on the piece who recorded it is Lee Chae Kang
And she went to Berkley College of Music
Jory: 3, 2, 1
That's a violin...
Oh what the f*ck-
All: HAHAHAHA-
Ju Young: Paganini IN YOUR AREA~~
Rachel: Paganaenae- I don't know what I'm saying Liam: It's La Campanella yeahh~
Jason: I like the sub-bass
Rachel: This is the wrong key though isn't it?
Liam: Yeah it's like- the original is in B minor I think
This is...
B Flat
Kevin: For a hip-hop standpoint, I think their use of the expert is-
Excerpt is expert...yes! Umu: Ayee~
Jason: This is a very in one... type of thing, yeah
*vocalizing*
Arpeggiating chords, pizzacato all in the back
Ali: I really dig it honestly, I'm such a slut for 6/8 haha
Umu: SLUTS FOR 6/8~!
Jory: They're not even using the cool part of it
Liam: They're kind of like chopping the sample up
In kind of a weird spot
Jason: Production's really clean
It's really well balanced, really well done
Jory: Oh, there they used the...
They finished it that time
Jason: It definitely slaps I will say it definitely does slap
Ali: This beat hits, it's like really playful Ju Young: Yeah~
Jason: Her voice is interesting
I like it actually a lot
Kevin: Ganpan Naeri? Is that something in korean that sounds a lot like Campanella?
Ali: Also I sorta like how the string like slides into the pitch
That makes it even more playful Ju Young: The bass?
Ali: No, no, no, no the Paganini thing Ju Young: Ohh
Jory: What's this instrument?
Is that a synth?
Liam: Aye finally a different chord haha... hey~
Jory: The bass is kind of cool Will: Yeah
Jory: hmnh Hmnh HmnH hMnH hMNH~ h- *sniff*
Liam: Kind of like the ambient vocals at the end there
Jason: I fuck with it~
Umu: Do you recognize this piece? Will: I- I no, I have no idea what this is
Jory: *cracks knuckles* It's "La Campanella"
First of all, it's in the wrong key *violin playing*
That's like the beginning of the violin verse
This is- *violin playing*
And then it just keeps repeating I think
*violin playing*
And then finally at the end *violin playing*
I'm torn as always because it's a gimmick but they did it pretty good...
Ra: I think that it's really cool that we're seeing like classical music sampling
But when you're doing it in such small clips like this
I feel like it doesn't do like justice to the pieces
If that makes sense?
I'm not like offended by this or anything
But just like thinking about it in that way,
You know like "Feel My Rhythm" for example, they actually like us a-
A much larger amount of the piece
K: I think the philosophies of like how to use the melody,
Are like polar opposites
"Feel My Rhythm" is like, let's make a wall of sound,
And just have the Bach in there and just... yeah
Big world, and it's not- not everyone's gonna like it
But we're gonna do it
Ra: Like this is not even like a phrase
It's like a sentence of- haha you know what I mean?
like it's like- not even a sentence- Li: Not even, it's a fragment of a sentence
Ra: Yeah, it's like it's a fragment of a sentence of an entire piece
They didn't use the entire piece in "Feel My Rhythm"
But they used a good amount of it they pulled from a lot of different sections
And so they were able to utilize the harmony that Bach already made
And then like layered on top of that and then add chords, then add notes
And that was more interesting I think
And I think it like worked a little bit better
I feel like in this context, the sample like-
Confines what can happen because it was so small Li: You get numb to it
Ra: Does that make sense? (Li: Yeah) Like they can only do so much with just that
K: This is very sleek, we keep the violin like audible
And then we make all the other instruments like close to the low frequencies
It almost keeps the Paganini vibe
I do think it's a very tasteful use of it, in like a hip-hop stan- point of view
Because ever since sampling began, people did sample classical music
And hip-hop is no stranger to like using the same thing every bar
And that repetition, is like the perfect vehicle
For it's like- oh it stands out enough
But it does not get in the way of the- of the rappers doing their thing,
Spitting their flow or whatever
Ja: This is something that's annoying sometimes with people who analyze music
Is that, what is the purpose of this?
Like what is this meant to do?
This isn't meant to be incredibly, like thought provoking and complex and intense and this and that
It's meant to be exactly what it is,
It's hype, it gets you, it's catchy, that's not easy to do
To make something catchy and work like that,
There's a pop artist out there today that said
"It's sometimes easier to be really intricate in music and speak to a small crowd
than it is to be large and speak to like millions of people"
Because you could play Brahms with perfect phrasing
And a very small amount of people will go oh~ I saw that!
And then millions of people would be like wut?
But, to be able to kind of connect and make people whistle,
Or make people think of something, or give people something to listen to where it's like oh-
Fuck all you guys I wanna shut you all because you're putting me down
People can see themselves through it and mirror themselves in it
It's also intricate to speak to a giant audience,
It may not seem so analytically,
In the style of this is meant for pop, this is meant for hype
This is meant for a kind of rap-pop song
It did what it was supposed to do, it was good
U: Where does that come in the violin repertoire?
Like what level do you have to be? Do you have to-
Jr: Oh that's the easiest part of the whole thing haha
Um, *violin plays* ... I've never played it-
U: Ok, wait but you were able to just play it immediately, but you've never played it?
Jr: No Wl: Hahaha he's like- he's like yeah 🤷‍♂️
Jr: Again it's the easiest part, I can't do any of the other shit after that
*violin plays*
U: Why this part of the piece? Why this piece?
K: It's catchy Ow: It's... well known
K: Nice, it's a little sinister, it's a little macabre...
Ow: It's virtuosic too K: Yeah
Ow: Not here, but- K: It has an iconic violin type quality to it
K: You can almost hear the bow, the bowing going on
Like the up bow, down bow yeah
Ow: Definitely, and they did record it so that it actually-
It still kept the violin timbre, even though it was like
Still pop-y, that was nice, it was like actually a really good blend between keeping-
K: I think the blend is the best part-
Ow: The classical sound, and also...
Pop instrumental sound
Jr: There's something about like, how like devilishly like hard the-
The show piece is, and like the darker aesthetic of the song,
That kind of works, this matches the tone of the song that they were trying to make
Since I'm not hearing it, I can appreciate it haha
U: But then when you were listening to it, you're like this is such a gimmick, this is such a gimmick
Jr: No, I mean it just fucking completely caught me off guard
JY: I mean, I think the lifts *vocalizing* gave the sense of oh-
We're kind of badass
Al: It gave a really flippant demeanor JY: Yes, yes!
Ja: Well it is a very vocal line, that kind of rhythm as well *vocalizing*
It's got like a pompous attitude to it that's royal in a sense
Al: It had like a lilt to it, because 6/8 is like *vocalizing*
So it was kind of teasing, kind of
Ja: *vocalizing* It's kind of digging in at you
U: Right, and you also talked about being able to conduct it in 1/1?
Ja: Yes, it's very like *vocalizing*
Which, one, when you're in 1/1, when it's something that's intense
It can like stab you
You see conductors and their whole body will shake when they're doing...1
And that's what this came across, the bass also helped a lot which is like *booom*
Like just really booming out
Br: It was good, I really liked the Paganini violin ostinato
I thi- it kind of turned into an Ostinato, because the whole time they just repeated the same like 2 bars or-
Ja: *vocalizing*
Br: I liked that, and I wonder if they did it on purpose in the sense that
Paganini was very good, obviously, but everybody-
Nobody really liked him that much, everybody thought he was the devil
They were like, this dude is weird, but since he played so well, they were like okay we're still gonna go
And I wonder if this is since, this is kind of their reaction to their haters
I wonder if they did that on purpose if they were like-
Yeah, even if you hate us you still can't deny that we, we are popular,
And we are the moment-
Ja: We are the moment, we're icons, we're the legends, we're the moment
No- that's so true
Br: You can call us whatever you want but you're gonna be sitting at our concert
Just like you were sitting at Paganini's concert
Ja: That's so good
U: I got chills Ja & U: Look at that brain
Ja: That brain... brain~ U: Haha
U: Did you wish that they went to more areas from the original piece?
Le: The first thing I would change is definitely just like lengthen the phrase
Wl: Pretty stagnant harmonically, it's just 1-5 Le: 1 to 5 and it's just like 2 bar phrase
Wl: The entire time, it doesn't even change on the pre-choru- or like the bridge
Le: So at least like the *vocalizing*
Is- like that's the whole phrase in the original piece
U: Mhm, but instead they just used the first half and then they loop the first half,
And then they loop the first half and right- Le: ...yeah
St: Like, I bet musical theorists would be like Le: haha I know right~ no~
Ra: Why did they just use that one sample
Haha, that's my only thing-
Li: It's just like the first 2 bars on a loop haha
Ra: Over, and over again Li: It's like oh man, just go anywhere else
Ow: I would've loved a bridge where they played the major 3rd, went to the 4
Like they do- K: *piano*
K: Yeah in the original it does that
Ow: But like if you were to do like a full *vocalizing* and actually draw out that chord
And then you can like sit on that chord for like- K: *piano*
K: I don't think-
Ow: Like they could do a little bit playing with that chord
And then play around that chord for a little bit K: It wouldn't be-
K: It wouldn't be something that BLACKPINK-
Ow: They could totally do it K: Yeah this sound, is definitely is in BLACKPINK's wheelhouse
Ow: Yeah, they could totally do that as a bridge as something to separate from the simple minor
Li: It's pretty like, strongly in that rhythmic framework too
They don't really like put any duple figures over-
Ra: Yeah, there's not much variation happening Li: The compound meter-
Li: It's- the main rhythmic motive is just the *drum*
That you get from the *vocalizing*
Like that- from the ending from the Ra: From the cadential thing
Li: Yeah the cadential thing at the end of the sample they used
So like, vocally a lot of what they do in the verses is kinda built around the *vocalizing + drum*
Like that kind of thing, so it does kinda- it keeps it moving along
Wl: I think in terms of the beat
Like the main element of intrigue of the beat is the violin
And everything else is pretty secondary,
There's nothing particularly fancy going on in the drums
Which isn't necessarily a bad thing
Because it's drawing attention to the character of the sample
Jr: Which is a level of restraint I feel like we don't really see
We don't typically see that Wl: Yeah (U: Right)
Jr: Cause they have their singular element that one of course is the voices
Because that's what they're highlighting, but they're not subverting it every 5 seconds
U: And then when it comes to production what are your thoughts?
Ra: I really like the voice mixing actually
It was just very clear it like sounded very full
Le: Everything is so clear, and then the high ends-
Like the high frequencies really really crisp, but not like just piercing your ears too
Like I heard some of the trap beats that just like the rolling high hats
And it's just really annoying because it's too high and *jasdhjhkjh* haha
But not this one!
Like the high ends just sounds really beautiful,
Also the violin is so well recorded,
With all the other elements and then the violin still stands out, really awesome
Sounds like a real violin is playing in front of me
U: Do you know how they do that?
Le: No haha if I do, like I'll be working with them
[BGM: New Jeans - "Attention" // Subtitles by youtube @anisian]
U: Why do you think they chose this specific pani-pag-panini hahaha
Ow: Panini~~ (Umu: *Paganini excerpt) K: The Panini
Ow: I'm just gonna call him Panini from now on U: Noo~