Umu: Hello everyone, my name is Umu and i'm ReacttotheK's channel creator.
Henry: Hey, what is up everybody?
This is Henry from Classical Musicians React and today
Henry: we're going to be doing some reaction to NCT Umu from a distance: uwaahhhhh
Um: ready for Punch
I've heard so much about this song
We will check out the three new b-sides released on the repackage album
but now I
Know that there are quite a few questions from nctzens that got tweeted at me that we will try our best to answer
in some part of this video.
Henry: This is gonna be sick
"Sick to the thick" -Henry 2k20
Okay ready?
I'm ready.
we- "jumpin and poppin' we joppin"
Henry: punch!
Umu: ayyyy
[literally my exact reaction]
Henry: Oh that's really sick
I like how the pitch, even though they're not really singing,
is dropping so it has sort of a melodic contour to it.
Henry: hey!
Oh my god, that's actually that's really sick I like the whisper
[Umu shookth out of existence]
[are you okay umu?]
Henry: Oh
[Umu's first words are...]
Umu: PIANO
Oh my gosh
That's such a beautiful line
It's such like an improv-esc line
"Ayy we ballin'", okay
Ah and the intro guitar-like synth is back
Henry: Dang the harmonies on that.
I like the upper vocal harmony that's like closed chromatic
Umu: This prechorus is so beautiful
I think I believe the piano is riffing off the pentatonic scale (no)
And I feel like it was
half
Wait i'm so
ohhhhHHHHHHh
I think they totally skip the second chorus wait, I'm so confused.
Henry: I think this is our bridge but
Umu: oH mY GoD
Aw yEAH BAby DanCE BReaK
WitH bRAsss?!
Henry: There's so much going on
What is this brassy...
Umu: Final chorus
Henry: Oh my god
Umu: Okay, one final go- oh my god,
oH mY gOd,
Oh My gOD.
hhhhOOLLY SHIT
There's a lot to unpack here
I'm really glad that we could get to have a little second listen
because I feel like I didn't really catch everything that happened
Umu: I need some time to like
[it's okay take your time...]
*breathes to calm thyself*
Umu; But let's go in for a second listen,
oh my god [should i start a counter?]
[umu omg counter: 5]
NCT. All right, three two one
Henry: One punch [ONE PUNNNNNNNNCHHHHH]
I love that intro
I love this intro. Where just like
you- you still have a contour
*sings line*
And they kind of go a little bit higher and more intense
in vocal energy each time, which has the natural crescendo to it
That's our intro
Is this a verse? *hot hot hot*
Umu: And then he crescendos he starts to whispering and ends yelling
Umu: UUuuUUUUuuUUUGH
They're like playing with dynamic level of the vocals, it's so great
[as kevin says it could always use more dynamics]
low hit in the piano and then
it flits down
Henry: and of course yeah, we repeat it "ayy we ballin'"
Umu: The major (modal mixture)
UmU: Okay, so eight measures of four is the first chorus.
first two (choruses) are completely different
I love a little vocal riffing in the background
That's cool as high as we can get as loud as we can get
and he starts getting louder with his voice
Nice text painting. Okay the pre-chorus
Henry: oh, I like that
[henry already singing it welcome NCTzen]
Umu: Okay, there's only three measures of the second chorus when we had eight measures before
It's so we could have extra time
both verses were pretty long and so we can have more time for the dance break
That was.... WOW. They cut five bars off
Marching band,
there's so many interesting percussion sounds
Because because the new brass part is such a new motif in this part, too
Henry: Okay, that's that's really cool if it's like they have the little dance interlude and they do
Hey we ballin in a couple of times and they subvert your expectations where like, "are we back into it?"
And you're gonna ride that high of like what's gonna come next?
Umu: k time to call henry
Henry: Hello? Umu: hey
Henry: that was something
Umu: That was so are you all set up? You got stuff running and everything.
Henry: I do got stuff runnin. Oh, I'm trying to figure out
[serenade us with melodica]
Henry: I'm trying to figure out you know, that bass ostinato at the start Umu: at the very beginning
Both: Yeah, Henry: it's so wild and I really dig it. I like the sound
it's so industrial and I like that it kind of noodles around here and there and repeats
Umu: it sounded like
organized improv
Henry: Okay, that's a good way to describe it Umu: if that's even a thing
Umu: Does that make any sense at all?
Henry: Yeah, I'm just trying to like figure out the sound with a melodica
But the melodica sounds way too
Way too freakin goofy for what we just experienced
Umu: No, please by all means continue to do so [serenade us]
I just asked on Twitter if anyone had any questions that they wanted to ask us
people are confused at why they forget what that
Sounds like immediately after they listen
Henry: okay,I know exactly Umu: why what what's your take
Henry: my take is that there is
Little to no melodic material in this at all, (right)
You know like you only have the only thing that repeats consistently is
Both: AAAAAAAND WE BALLIN'
Henry: That's it that's it
like there's the bridge where I forget which member it is sings (thE PrecHOrUS) and it's actually kind of umu: the prechorus has singing too
Henry: The pre-chorus has a bit of singing and like classical piano
And then the bridge later has a even more like vocal show-off, but it's it's literally that it's vocal show off. It's melisma
it's building up that hype for...
AAAAY WE BALLIN'
Henry: And that's all there is to it. Umu: also... I feel like the rhythms using this song
aren't the most easy if that makes any sense at all, like as I was listening to the pre-chorus it was like
*sings a lotta notes of the prechorus*
like it wasn't like
the most immediately catching Henry: yes they had some syncopation
Umu: catchy immediately being able to repeat back
Henry: No, I totally agree. it's not-it's not like a simple thing
repeated to catch on it's just there's only a we ballin' that comes back and the song structure itself is also kind of
it's a little bit different from our standard pop song like
verse pre-chorus chorus
verse pre-chorus chorus bridge chorus
Umu: the second chorus basically doesn't exist
Henry: Well, no the second chorus is like a half chorus right? it's this we ballin'
Umu: no okay so- the first time
Henry: And then they go to that like bridge
Umu: into the bridge
Henry: And then the dance interlude
I'm calling it a dance interlude because it has that I think the same a we ballin like harmony underneath but then they throw in
a couple random ay we ballins but not in the same like we fight together kind of structure and
They are showing off their dancing then two and then it finally comes back to the chorus that repeats
Hey, we ballin we fight together lyrics lyrics and we ball and we fight together and then it finishes a song
so it's like it's a little bit different and the the beginning - it's like there's the intro that doesn't come back where they're like
That they're speaking but their pitch is dropping and then they they do it again
and again
It kind of builds up and then they jump into a verse that's like hot hot hot and it's whispery
Umu: another reason
why one may not be able to remember the instrumental as well is because I feel like all the
Instrumentals combined and at least the chorus
That's what I was paying attention to the instrumental the most
was we had it like it mushed together to create one
Like atmosphere.
Henry: Yeah. Yeah I was feeling the same way Umu: so it wasn't necessarily a single
instrumental that was poking out in order to support the vocals
Like I heard a tiny bit of that intro synth in the chorus and then I heard a bunch of other
Since just mushed together to create that track for the vocals
So like I can't necessarily remember it because it wasn't like several different things clearly poking out. It was just together
Henry: It's almost like they're creating (u: like a cloud) I know this sounds like cliche like creating one sound.
Umu: Yeah [i respect your cloud]
Henry: through all the mixture but everything is so Umu: monophonic~
Henry: Mixed up that it really does sound like one big
(Fluffy cloud) ambient noise that (running river) they use as an instrument
[umu creating a calm scene for this wild af song]
Umu: Ocean wave. [we're being swept away by visuals]
Henry: It's wild.
Umu: Yeah, whenever a section returns, it's a variation of the first yep
Oh this person- I could see it kind of as through-composed if the hey we'd ballin' didn't
appear
Henry: nah I wouldn't call it through composed
it's it doesn't fit the the regular pop song structure that it feels that way but because the chorus does come back it feels
Umu: But it is slightly different it has you know the background
Vocals the third time but it's so much of it is repeated material that yeah (that's a good point)
It's like almost through-composed.
Okay. Next question is how would you notate the second verse?
rhythmically,
Henry: i need to listen to it Umu: let's go back!
Henry: yeah we ballin'
[1 e + 2 + a 3 + 4 (+)]
Henry: Oh, Umu: oh that's hard,
Henry: okay, I'll tell you right now they didn't notate any of that.
Yeah. So pop music is recorded by the
songwriters recording the demo and then the artists themselves listen to that demo and sing it so there is no
Sheet music usually in that process
Henry: You know how I'd notate it? with a bunch of twoplets
He kinda lands on the five on the on the beat
Umu: but it changes every time he repeats
So like switches between triplet and duple, (yeah)
Henry: This is one of the beauties of learning and listening to music in other languages
Is that the the cadence of all the rhythm is gonna change based on what language you're speaking or singing in
because the the way you speak a language has different rhythmic qualities the way I speak English versus Chinese versus Italian or German like
You all you stop and you give accents on different parts
So I don't know if if he is giving like proper speaking syllabic stress in the Korean for this
But I imagine that's a lot of the influence like what rolls off the tongue naturally is gonna come out this way
Umu: makes sense
Okay, Continue
Umu: It's like it's like they're like sing a bunch of fast notes and then
Land on the scale degree five on this certain beat it sounds it like I said, it sounds so much like improv
Umu: But it feels free Henry: they totally nailed it
Henry: here's how here's how I would like instruct you if I was like if I give you this music to try like
Sing right I'd say
"okay. You need to make your way to this syllable on scale degree five
and everything else is on here" *sings rest of rhythm*
and then uh
You give it some feeling
Umu: yeah
give it feeling hahahaha
Henry: Yeah, and then you you do it and then maybe you do the same rhythm each time
You're like, "that sound a little stiff,
do you think you could vary it up a little?" and then you do that or you giving your best shot and
Eventually, you get a take that you like and that's it
and if you're super experienced and you've done this a lot and y'all ready know that oh
I should like mix things up a little bit or it would sound a little more neat this way
Then you just do it that way. That's how that's how they make the big bucks.
Umu: heck Yeah
Henry: That's my cop-out answer for saying
I have no idea how to notate that
Umu: yeah. People are saying, how would you define the structure?
I don't know man.
I only had like half a semester that focused on pop music at my music school
So I'll leave the structure defining up to you guys
But what I mainly figured out was there is an intro verse pre-chorus chorus
verse pre-chorus
One-third of the chorus, bridge, dance break, chorus --esque
Form that's what I see it as but
yeah like the verse changes each time and the pre-course stays the same I belIEVE
Maybe
can't remember the if vocals repeat or not.
Henry: I really do think like the pre-chorus and the interludes there
They're showing off their voices
But it's not like a motif you stick on to it's just kind of "we're going somewhere" instead of "this is the message"
I don't know. I'm really satisfied with just
ayyyy
We ballin we fight together. I think it's uh, I think that's super catchy in itself
Like if I heard this in a in a club, I would we would all be screaming
Hey, we ballin whenever it comes back (true), you know (true)
Umu: Yeah, so this song is definitely going in the classical musicians react like no. No second thought
I mean
I already ran it by some we have a voting panel that we run songs by and we already had three let yeses
So there's a yes for me makes four yeses, and I'm guessing a yes from Henry which makes five. Yes
So that'll appear on classical musicians. React season five Whenever that starts it'll start after COVID-19 is over which
[we all cry]
I'm not sure when but yeah. Thanks so much for watching. I hope we answered most of your questions and
Without further ado, please enjoy Henry attempting to play once again.
Henry: Oh my god. I- umu: the song
Henry: I'm still trying to figure this out
Kind of seven chord
[so beautiful... i cry... do any of you have tissues... i'm moved...]
Which which brings us back to
So it's a good ostinato that repeats, I don't know
I think the the cool thing with the ostinato too is they-they don't just play the pitches
They also kind of distort the sound so it sounds yyuuueww and that way it can sound even deeper than just a normal descent
I don't know. There's a lot to unpack here a whole lot to unpack here
I'm really excited to hear what
the rest of the classical musicians
React has to say about
The little sounds that they pick up here and there.
Umu: Yeah. Alright. Thanks so much for watching guys.
Henry: Thank you
Umu: bye bye henry: we fight together
Umu: wE BALLIN'