Fiona: You know it's gonna get lit when the beat goes like this (clapping the beat)
Umu: You're now reacting to the boy group Monsta X and their 2018 title track
called "Shoot Out" from their album Take 1: Are You There?
The song is about emotions they feel after a toxic relationship ends, but the
overriding concept is that the end of the relationship is like a shootout.
This song is composed by Daniel Kim, Stereo14, and Ti.
Isaac: (whistling) Kevin: Alright. 3, 2, 1. Go.
Melissa: Oh that was scary. James: oooo. Yeah, that's good.
M: I'm really scared. J: That's really smart.
Henry: Whoa!
D: I love this flat two. F: I like (sings). It's like harmonized.
I mean harmonized. D: Yeah, It's like stacked like fourths.
A: This makes me so happy.
N: I like how rhythmically motivated the rap is.
It's not just like let me show you how fast I can spit out syllables. It's like
here's where all the beats are that I want to hit.
K: Whoa.
K: Yeah we ended up here. I: Why?
K: Ooo, I like that, that head voice, that falsetto.
F: You know it's gonna get lit when the beat goes like this (clapping the beat)
K: OHHHH
How do we describe that major seven?
I: It's so different from the beginning. K: Yep.
F: Longer melody for this chorus.
F: (singing) It's more singing than angular bass drops than the beginning.
H: Alright then.
James: Why do they look so perfect?
M: It's their job. (laughing)
Oh my god.
J: Oh! (Imitates Jooheon) M: (Imitates Jooheon)
J: Oh this rapper's so good! M: Oh my god!
K: Oh nice.
K: (singing)
J: (while clapping) Why do these men look perfect?!
K: Ah...What even is that? Tritone major seven?
Why is there a major seven on the tritone degrees?
N: It sounds like they took the bass up like an octave or something. A: I think that's what it is.
N: So everything's just like a little bit more compact
N: and more available. A: Ugh, I wish my skin was that clear. My god...
K: I like how all the dominant chords are minor.
H: Oh I like that ascending harmony line. Cloud: Yeah, this is an interesting section.
H: Oh, that's all they had in there. You should've repeated it.
C: Can we have that again please?
M: Oh now there's like a countermelody.
H: Yeah! I liked it!
U: So, what was it like playing this first on an instrument, and then hearing the original thing for the first time?
A: (singing the guitar part)
Wait! We've played this! Oh my god!
I wanna say there are some definite similarities I expected
I feel like even on our instruments like unless we had
like a tuba...but oh I remember the video now. You had horn like quintet?
I think that that was an accurate representation because you could still get that edge to
the sound even though it's not as low. But I'm just I'm thanking you for not
telling me that like it was that like that we played this because it just I'm
so charmed by the actual video. But what I do have to say is it it reminds me
a little bit of gun violence and I don't like guns at all quite frankly.
F: GUN VIOLENCEEEE
A: So, there's just like *that* element to it. But it definitely is
grungy type. Which is something I feel it's harder to capture when as classical
musicians playing a different genre. I think that you know we could do a better
job at that. You know, getting that crossover and putting that like extra
dirt your sound. Cause they definitely-you know really going for instead of like
playing with this refined classical thing that we're all trying to attain.
N: Even the harmonized sections where they're singing together the
harmonization is so much quieter than the top, than the melody and I think that
that actually goes with the song really well. A: There's a ringleader.
N: But no, there was a ringleader, and then he's like...what's the word not lackeys but his...
A: Cronies N: Yeah his squad. (laughs)
A: His squad. That's the word: squad.
U: Yeah, what did you think about it other than these men look perfect and wow it's so good? And laughing hysterically?
M: Okay so the reason I was laughing is...I don't know why I was laughing but it's just like there's
like a certain type of kpop that's just like it has the checklist of like the
things that I'll be like I'm gonna love this so much like like if: it's in minor,
if it's like hype but in minor, if it's like really fast upbeat, and there's like
lots of low bass lots of synth. Yeah so there's just like it checked all of
those boxes like immediately and I just like laughing at that. I'm laughing at myself.
J: You're like oh well I'm easy to please. M: Yeah. I was just mostly laughing at myself.
J: I really liked the use of silence at the beginning at the beginning. I thought that was really cool.
Like the breathing and just like the sounds they were using in general like I've heard before, but
the way they use them in this particular song was interesting. The walker walker and that
low like low brass like (vocalizes) like that
I've heard that sampled before too but I just liked how they used it in this
context in particular. And that rapper was fire. M: Yeah!
U: The low voice one or the one with the higher texture voice? Because they have "excuse me I'm walking like zombie".
J: Yeah
U: And there's the (imitating IM's part) dude.
J: They were both fire. M: Also like the singing was also fire but it's underrated and you won't notice
it because of the lit ass synths. But like the singing was also really good. Good job guys.
J: Like just the tone of voice they added grit and certain parts, and
just like the raps themselves, the phonation of all of it and the delivery
was just like like that's what I want to hear from a rapper. Like it was just impeccable.
H: I want more Wacka Wacka Wacka.
(talking over each other) C: I almost felt like the refrains kind of like bored me. Like like the third time...that we did it. H: The shootout refrain?
C: Yeah. Yeah cause you said like earworm and
I'm like maybe. H: Yeah I mean...
(talking over each other) H: Earworm doesn't have to be a good thing. C: I was honestly more interested in the dance
C: than the music. Like I was like those are some cool moves. You know, like yeah. H: Yeah.
H: There was a moment right before the last refrain I think I guess it was maybe a
pre-chorus where they had some cool vocal harmonies. And one of the middle
harmony started stepping down and kind of crunched with the upper and lower
other harmonies, and it sounded really neat but I wish they had done that again
cuz I hadn't heard it before and I wanted to hear that more.
D: It was harmonized downwards rather than outboards a register really, which is I think kind of
atypical because usually when you hear harmony people harmonize upwards but
it was going the opposite direction. F: That's harder.
D: Like the melodic movement if it was chromatic it would just go: (plays piano)
Right?
But its moving chromatically then (plays piano)
Right? You know what I mean?
U: Right, right right... D: Or it's like they add voices.
F: Yeah, it adds like more stretchy tension.
D: It doesn't waiver the same way that
or doesn't change or move the same way that it does in the guitar. F: It's not in the same...they're not in sync with each other.
D: Yeah the harmonizing is not in sync with the melodic movement.
So you're still aware of like you know the establishment.
H: Also I think just as far as like form I thought the stankface Wacka Wacka rap
part had more power. C: Like it was like the song was backwards where like you're
supposed to be like really into the refrain. H: Yeah. C: Like yeah but like they gave it to us in
the beginning. And we're like dude this is so swaggy. And then we got to the refrain and we were
like and now it's like mellow. And like we kind of wished that was like (hand gesture)
H: In the words of one of my mentors like you have a scale one to ten to in this case it was
like how disciplinary you can take it. But in everything if you start at like a
7 you can only you have to go up to 8 or higher, but you start at like a 3 you
have so much room to go and if they started they started this with like "wow
this is awesome" and then they hyped down way back with that way higher and softer
kind of verse and I thought if they flip that it would have been a lot more
surprising in a sense and that kind of draws your attention. And it keeps you
keeps you interested because there's there's something more interesting that
you keep wanting to hear and hear.
C: Well the thing that I hesitate about
that scale is like I don't want you to fix it by taking the 7 and being like we
need to make this like chiller and then like bring down the intensity. Like I
would much rather you keep that there and then bring the other one up. I want you
to make them more epic just more epic to match that. So that we're not like you
know going down.
U: Okay sir please explain, when we reached the chorus you said something happened...
K: Alright...
I: Wow the piano got closer!
K: At the end of the pre-chorus I don't know why I don't know why
there's a major 7th chord built on the tritone,
but it gives almost this
rejuvenated quality. Something about it sounds melancholy and nostalgic?
But then we go back there...
don't know would Beethoven have liked that? Probably not, but hey we're in the 21st
century and this is what music is about now! And I really like it.
Yeah, I think this song is very good, but the other thing that I really dig about it is.....
maybe we should go back to the piano...
So most songs that are in minor they you know they usually do the the regular dominant so they have the (plays piano).
But this is something that's very clichéd in kpop it's very typical and I
tend to not like the way a lot of kpop songs use dominants. They're like (plays piano)
Something about that is kind of...
edgy that little leading tone is edgy to me. It's like that it's almost a little too try-hard.
But in this song, it's always (plays piano)
even when the dominant is like very much a leading
leading back to the one. It's in minor and it kind of shaves off the edge and you
know for a lot of people that might sound too boring that might sound too
diatonic but for my personal taste especially having heard so much of that
edgy major dominant this is actually a refreshing nice change-up.
You got that Isaac? You'll be quizzed at the end of the hour. I: Alright...(laughs)
I: No I really like the contrast
well I mentioned the very beginning to the chorus because I thought it would be
more akin to the beginning but that is so rounded, and so there's a higher
ethereal feeling to it and more fluffy. That's supposed to really edge beginning.
So it's like having that contrast taking these short syncopated rhythms or dotted
rhythms from very rough to very rounded is an interesting small difference that
made all the difference.
K: but earlier earlier the better but we'll just see how much we talk! I: TALK!
I: TALK! K: what was that wink for? I: TALK!
U: Did you wink? K: Yeah he just winked at me for some odd reason... I: Monsta X...