Umu and Sean: Hello Everyone!
Umu: My name is Umu, I am ReacttotheK's channel creator
Sean: I am Sean, ReacttotheK's channel arranger and host of Classical Composer Breaks Down the K
I am mostly hair at this point...
It's... just... so much of it.... going everywhere
Umu: Welcome to Sean's and my reaction to NU'EST W-
*standby for technical difficulties*
Sean: And we're about to listen to NU'E-
*technical difficulties part 2*
Umu: Welcome to Sean's and my reaction to NU'EST "I'm in Trouble" react- *sigh*
*standby for techni-*
Sean: And we're about to listen to NU'EST's new song-
*standby-*
Umu: Welcome to Sean's and my reaction to NU'EST's "I'm in Trouble" *yaaay*
I have seen the teaser for this
I am really excited because the bass part sounds like NU'EST W's "Dejavu," which is one of my favorite tracks by them
So yeah, let's dive into it.
Sean: Three, two, one...
I should say I've heard the preview of this
There's a nice baseline- and another nice baseline!
Wonder if this one was the- at least similar to what's in the trailer
Umu: Woo!
Already so many fun sounds! I love...
... the high percussion sounds, (they) sound acoustic
Sean: I like the variety of percussion sounds, like there are a lot of sort of high,
high register little clicky, tappy ones, but they're not just generic hi-hat sounds
Umu: OH YEAH
Oh, the track!
Ohhh...
So we're taking the original melody, but spreading out the rhythms
And singing it in a much more
soft...
sexy way
Okay, so we're back to the first verse instrumental, but different vocal melody
S: I like the little "doot!" sound
Oh that was nice just having it go to the vocal harmony and drop out pretty much all the instrumental
U: This part of the phrase is nice because we add repeating of the same notes
And now- then, we had a different phrase, and now we have-
Oooh, this is di-
That was shorter than before...
and different
Oooh, that was nice
S: It's an interesting choice, you just have it go to the bass alone
Yeah, I guess that was just like a sort of short bridge
But no, this is the- this is a post chorus
U: Yeah...
Okay!
That- that did not carry out how I expected it to carry out at all, because of the way they placed the hooks and
Just the overall form
S: I like the sound they use for the bass
Like it has body, but it also has a pretty high
High transient on pretty much every note which makes sure like, even when there's a lot of stuff going on
It has a clear rhythmic articulation every time it's played, every time it plays a note
So for a bass to just sort of have its function supporting the harmony, it doesn't need to be very loud
It needs to be loud enough to be audible, but it can be quiet enough
it doesn't really stand to the fore of attention. It just
is there, grounding the harmony.
But to have something with this, like with an active bass line,
it helps to have something to articulate it.
So the "boom, boom ba doom, doom"
and such really comes through, and so having more of a high end on it,
even just at the very beginning of the note, so it doesn't constantly take up that high part of the sound spectrum
It just pops in
Right as the note begins, and then it's out of the way.
Going in for a second listen.
Three, two, one...
U: So this bass part repeats almost throughout the entire song, maybe not the pre-chorus
but
It's a good riff
It switches between guitar and bass
But because it's syncopation, I really don't mind its repetition
We have like these little "woop" and "tah," like all these different sounds on syncopated beats
S: They're really- like, obviously, it's normal to repeat the
title of the song, but I feel like both the chorus and the post-chorus are based around the phrase
"I'm in trouble," which, I feel like often it's just- like the post-chorus will be the one that's repeating the title a lot
U: Three, four... okay
We have the "doo-doo-doo doo-doo"
"doo-doo-doo doo-doo"
I think that's new. Let's go double check that
Yeah, it is different! The post-chorus the second time is different
But we still have the same vocal, "Oh-I'm-in-trou-ble"
'Cause "Oh-I'm-in-trou-ble-I'm-in-trou-ble" like that part
immediately started- oh, but we don't have that- wait. Where's the "I'm in trouble"?
We got "I got you on my" instead of "I'm in trouble." Ohhhhh!
and this is the
Would this- would that have been considered the bridge? But we had the same-
Wait, I'm so confused, that was-
Probably just a new
section but the same instrumental, so we can't call that the bridge necessarily
S: Does an unusual take on the...
On the sort of, two arch form that we've been seeing rising for the last- eh, about year and a half, if you like, in pop
U: That's groovin'. That's so groovin'
Yeah, that's fun to predict! Once you get the hang of that bass hook, "dum, dididum,"
"bah, bah bah-da-da, ba-da-da,"
'Cause you want to fill in the downbeats, the strong beats with like your head bobbing
But then your head bobbing doesn't line up with the syncopated rhythms that the bass plays. So then you're like-
But then it's fun. It's like once you are able to count it
Then you're like able to head bop to the syncopation and it's extra fun.
Sean: Hello! Umu: Hello!
U: So why did you go in a second time? Like, what were you trying to listen for the second time around?
S: I was trying to figure out what was happening formally.
U: Yep! S: Because- U: Formally, you mean like, form-wise?
S: Yeah, I thought I had an impression of what it was the first time, but then I was kind of confused and not sure if I'd just
forgotten something, 'cause sometimes I do just forget sections of songs and then when they come around again
I think they're new because I've just paid attention to something else the first time
U: Mhm
S: But the second time I did- I feel like I did understand what was happening with it.
U: What's your take on it?
S: My take is that it's basically
It's basically this hybrid between the sort of two arch song that we've been hearing rising with just two choruses
But still kind of having a bridge where it basically has just two choruses
But there's an interlude in the middle of the second chorus
U: Yeah, that's definitely one way to put it. I'm not- I don't have any official terms for anything but I just saw it as
the post-chorus changed the second time around and then we had two counts of eight that was the bridge even though we kept the same baseline
But the instrumental changed enough for it to be called the bridge and then we went straight back into the post-chorus again
but the original post-chorus
S: Right. That was the thing
I was trying to figure out because the first time- the thing that comes immediately after the second course
I thought I hadn't heard before
and so I thought that that was- but then I was trying to remember like, was this a three part chorus, and I had just
forgotten, but no, it wasn't.
Yeah, you could say
It's a chorus and post-chorus and then of course, in a different post-chorus and a bridge, and then it's the last post-chorus
without the sort of main or the first
chorus (U: Yep) because the thing that's kind of a post-chorus on the second chorus doesn't happen elsewhere
I felt a little bit odd calling it a post chorus?
Just because it seems like (U: Hook?) it only happens once
U: I don't know, I'm curious what our viewers think because all of us are versed in different ways and
Basically some information about our schools, or at least my years
We had like a few weeks on studying pop music, but we didn't go quite into depth
So honestly, some of our viewers might be more educated in pop form than us, so I'm really curious what everyone else thinks
S: Yeah, and I didn't have any classes that went over it. Like pretty much everything I know about pop form
I just picked up from the channel or from just paying attention to the songs
once I knew- had a sense what the established terminology was
So I don't have any class experience in what things are called.
U: Yeah. I'm curious what else you liked about the track?
S: I liked the variety of percussion sounds
U: Yes! S: Especially in the verses, there were a lot of different ones and they avoided sort of the most...
There are a lot of high sounds spaced around, but they-
U: And they didn't use the very generic trap hi-hat sound. (S: Right, exactly!) It sounded like they actually used an acoustic one that they messed with
S: Yeah, like I think there was a little tap in there
U: There was some tap S: There was something that was drier, and that didn't have the little rattle of a- the slight rattle of a hi-hat
And yeah
It didn't- I mean the sort of generic hi-hat can work, but it's much more interesting when they're finding other
sorts of high sounds that sit in the same general part of the frequency spectrum, but
But don't just sound like every other hi-hat
U: Yeah, and what I loved a lot about this track was the mix. So fun fact, I actually had my Grammy award-winning
Audio professor- wait, what is he called? A recording arts professor?-
actually analyze their past track- or, NU'EST W's past track "Dejavu," which
that content is like locked in my content dungeon because I can't edit too much right now and my assistant editor just stopped editing for
me! Soooooo umm *laughs*
My hands are a little tied getting that out, but that will come out eventually
But he talked about- he actually reviewed both a Seventeen song and a NU'EST song and he liked the NU'EST
mix for "Dejavu" the best because he said, "Man, kpop always has the best bass lines" and this song just continues to prove him
correct. It's that I love the sounds and also how the layering of the bassline changed throughout
like it switched between a guitar and a bass and synth and
Sometimes the synth was just outlining the main notes and not quite as syncopated as the bass part
And I just thought that was really creative because while I was listening to the vocal part
and I was like- I started to complain that the vocal part was so repetitive, but I was like
You know what? I should listen to the track, and then I realized there was so much going on in the track
That was very very, like, hard to notice unless you listened really closely. And so I'm ready to go back and just
Listen to it again and just see what else I can discover listening to the track
S: Yeah, I spent, I mean, pretty much all of both listens
focusing more on the track 'cause I feel like the vocal melody would have benefitted from
something a little catchier at the chorus. U: Oh, really? I thought it was- catchier, as in like using more notes? Other than "da-da-da-da"-
U: "da-da-da-da... da-da-da-da" S: Just something- well, something with more...
contour or a little more rhythmic profile U: Mmm
S: Like, it's just- I mean it repeated enough that I kind of remember it, but-
U: Yeah S: It was just static-
The "duh-nuh-nuh-nuh"- is obviously static U: Yeah S: But even the sort of chorus proper, not the post-chorus, I feel like was
"duh-duh-duh duh-duh" a lot? Or something like that. U: Mhm, yeah
S: Even if the repeated notes had had a different rhythm
Maybe if they'd been like, *singing rhythmically* "Oh, I'm in trouble, oh I'm in trouble"
No, that was- the rap, so- U: Oh, I- I see your point
S *singing rhythmically*: "Trouble... oh, I'm in trouble... oh, I'm in trouble"
Or something like that, like if something had just been like offset by a sixteenth note on occasion
Based on where I am imagining there being quarter notes, even though this is not notated. U: Ohhh
S: I don't know. I'm a terrible singer, so me trying to demonstrate all of these is making them sound stupid, but
I feel like just a little bit- even if they wanted a fairly...
Something with a bit of repeated notes, a little more rhythmic variety in it would have made it more
memorable? But yeah, I think it's a well- I think the track itself is really well crafted
There are some times in the synth that I-
Or not the synth, in the chords of the track where I think it was just like
Either a beat-reversed piano, or just sort of the middle of a piano sound, but then like one-
It would be like that three times, and then the fourth time just sort of "waaOH" in a synth
U: Yeah S: So it kept switching, not just between sections or even within a section, what sound was used
for the chord
U: Yeah, I think they've found their sound
Like honestly, I love their sound starting with "Love Paint" and "Overcome," but it's developed to be this really
mature, smooth, confident sound I feel like. S: Yeah U: Even though we're like
"Oh, the melody should be like-" I still really appreciate what they're going for
and I know that with every release I'll probably like it
S: NU'EST have become a very- like, not consistent in that they keep doing the same song, but consistently good group
U: Yeah, and that's thanks to the members who are contributing to creating the songs
And of course Bumzu, Pledis' in-house writer, so...
S: Oh, okay U: Thanks to everyone who worked on this track and their past tracks.
U: Cool. (S: Uh-) Thanks so much for watching- bleh??
S: Sorry! I chirped for some reason then-
*standby for te-*
U: Thanks so much for watching everyone! We'll see you all later. Bye bye S: Bye!