[Rossini's Semiramide Overture playing]
Umu: So you are now reacting to the boy group SuperM
Umu: which is a K-pop label called SM Entertainment's...
Steve: Do you want one of my shoes on your head?
Umu: ...supergroup... Josh: No, I'm okay.
Umu: ...consisting of members from EXO, NCT and SHINee!
You are reacting to the title track of their 2020 album Super One,
the song 'One (Monster & Infinity)' is a m-
oh sh*t, spoilers!
This song expresses determination to overcome difficulties
and to continue the message of encouragement
that SuperM has been trying to spread during the pandemic.
The music video is an extension of their debut song, 'Jopping',
which has a futuristic theme
and shows them each with their own superpower and just like,
doing super rad dancing and it's very grand and avengers-esque.
Through imagery SuperM wanted to show
how the members have overcome hardships to keep reaching higher.
The song is composed by Kenzie, Moonshine,
Adrian McKinnon, Wilbart "Vedo" McCoy III and Bobii Lewis.
Kevin: 'Monster & Infinity' is a good name for like
a direct-to-video movie that's like a cult classic
'Monster and Infinity'! [in "epic" voice]
Owen: 3 2 1 !
Kevin: Woo! That's a dirty sound to start with!
[t/n: Moon-shine!]
Henry: What is that sound in the bass, that's so ... unique?!
Cloud: His voice is interesting.
Brianna: Yeah. I feel like they are more dark.
Josh: YEAH
Josh: TIME
Brianna: Are they all rappers?
Oh okay, never mind.
Kevin: Ooh, those chords came out of ...
somewhere, and I liked it.
Henry: I'm so excited for what they are gonna do in the chorus.
*Umu loling*
Ju Young: WHAT?!
Brianna: You better.
Kevin: Uh.
Owen: G major!
Sam: Oh wow.
Charlotte: I wasn't READY!
Cloud: But it's so major?
Charlotte: I thought it was gonna be so much darker.
Henry: Oh, we're gonna go back now?
Charlotte: And we're back!
Cloud: And now it's dark again.
(Kevin: And then...) Owen: They went from B♭ to D minor.
C major.
So then they play with the idea of going to G, but in a minor version,
and then repeated the cycle, and now we're gonna go the major version.
Kevin: This chord *sings*
(Kevin: WHAT?) Owen: Yeah, I think that's what they are doing.
Ju Young: That's so unexpected, I can't -
What is this chorus? Oh my god...
Charlotte: It's...
Henry: Where?
*singing along with the instrumental*
Brianna: Oh, I like the layering in this.
Ju Young: Oh my god. Oh my god.
Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod.
*Deep breath*
Steve: Oh
Nice pipes.
Sam: Raffi liked that one~ Raffi: That was a lot to take in.
Sam: Oh, it's back. He's just gonna keep holding that.
Raffi: He's just riffing.
He's just...
Raffi: Oh, smooth. Did you see the body roll?
The body roll... just saying...
Brianna: Oof.
Okay, this is hitting.
I like this.
Henry: Dang, they keep dropping BANGERS!
Josh: Woa.
Steve: We're in the mountains now.
Josh: Yeah, I was gonna say, we're in the mountains.
Um.
(Kevin: Ah, why is he...) Owen: Am I developing tendinitis, or is this the song?
Kevin: Tinnitus?
Owen: Thank you.
Henry: I don't have to read into it, that's not my job.
BANGER!!!
Umu: Yeah, the logo on the phone is hinting at
the labels next upcoming girl group.
(Josh: Wow.) Umu: So they somehow have a connection to this.
Josh: Hm. That's cool. Umu: They're building a whole world for the fans.
[shoes dropping]
Umu: OOF
Charlotte: I'm sorry, can we just admit the fact
that you just fcking lost your sht when we hit that first chorus?
Umu: No, you were in PERFECT F*CKING SYNC!
It was SO HILARIOUS!
Henry: what can we say...? Charlotte: we're SO GOOD
Umu: So you made a face when they went into the chorus,
why was this face made?
Cloud: Okay, 'cause it's so dark for the verses,
and then they're like: Rocketship, up to the sunlight!
Cloud: Here we go! Umu: Well,
Umu: Fun fact, that was a combination of two songs!
Cloud: Wut?
Umu: Do you guys have a guess for
why there are so many drastic changes in the song?
Henry: Oh, lyrically I wasn't paying attention
Henry: so I actually don't know. Charlotte: I kinda guess it has something to do with
Charlotte: fighting a monster of some sort and...
Kevin: There is a correct answer?
Umu: Well, why does the title say Monster plus Infinity?
Kevin: Cuz the I in 'Infinity' stands for I major.
Owen: It's for Inc. Kevin: The ultimate key.
Umu: 'One' is two songs combined.
Kevin: Ooh!
Umu: So the pre-chorus and the chorus are literally two different songs.
Owen: Oooh!
Sam: That is bold!
Do the songs exist, like individually, as well?
Umu: Mhm, and they're f*cking great! (Sam: Uh, whaaat?)
Raffi: Mmm.
Umu: Mhm.
Raffi: Mmm
Charlotte: See, but why does this work better than some of the other ones that
are the same song, but then they try to do something totally different,
like in their chorus and their verses, and it's like:
"Nah, that don't work so much"
but this one does and grows on you,
it's like the first one throws you for a loop
and then you're ready for it and you're like:
"It's still freaking cool!"
and then the last one is totally within it, and you're like: "YES!"
Henry: I wonder if they wrote those songs and tried to combine
or if they wrote 'One' and they were like,
Henry: with the purpose of having two songs together, right, Charlotte: Having a duality in it?
Henry: because if you're writing a partner song... Umu: They wrote 'Monster' - I have an answer.
Umu: They wrote 'Monster' first and then they wrote 'Infinity'...
Ludvig: And they said:
"Hey guys, we really want 'Infinity' and we really want 'Monster'"
and we're like:
"Great! Which one is the single?"
and they're like:
"YES. Both."
and we're like:
"Oh cool, so it's gonna be like two more singles,
you already did like two..."
"Nonono, they are gonna be turned into One song!"
and we're like:
"Huuuuuuhhh?"
and then they're like:
"Yeah, we want to combine them!"
Jason: This kind of reminds me of ...
in the recording of "Strawberry Fields [Forever]" by the Beatles
they did two different takes and when they go:
"Let me take you down, 'Cause I'm going to-"
that right there, that downbeat, is a different take
and it is a different pitch
so it sounds actually psychedelic because the pitch changes,
so it's like: *sings*
(Jason: Kinda crazy) Ju Young: Oh that's so creative!
Brianna: But I liked how they did it because one sec- you could hear
the timbre differences on the verses versus the chorus,
which was more like major-y and more like hopeful
while the verses where dark.
(Brianna: But I thought that was like a -) Cloud: I think the hardest part for your ear for this song
isn't necessarily the transition from the first verse to the chorus,
it's from that chorus back to the next verse, (Brianna: Yeah)
cuz you're in this and then they bring you back and they're like:
"Oh, we're dark again."
Cloud: So for me that was like the hardest- Brianna: I like that. I like that.
Cloud: It just made me feel like I was having a really good day
and they're like: "Hah, you're depressed again!"
so I'm like: "Aw. Okay."
Brianna: I liked it. I don't know, I felt like superhero vibes,
like the brass section, when it would come in in the chorus,
Brianna: I was like: "That's superhero vibes." Cloud: You know what the brass reminded me of?
Cloud: Not quite sup- it reminded me of like Olympic theme music,
(Brianna: Mhm, yeah, I, yeah.) like literally the f*cking Olympics with their trumpet, like:
*Cloud imitates trumpet*
and like that like opening, that's what it reminded me of,
Brianna: It was more fanfare. Cloud: and I was like - yeah, I was like:
Cloud: They're like fricking just gonna go win gold medals
and be awesome athletes.
Henry: As a standalone song it's a little jarring,
but I don't know, it's just so cleanly put together,
(Charlotte: I don't think it's jarring.) as far as the sounds and their singing,
that like it sounds really good - Charlotte: I don't think-
Henry: harmonically it was jarring! Charlotte: it's jarring, I think it worked!
Henry: look at - run back to our faces! Charlotte: For a moment! For a moment, yes,
Charlotte: because I think we are waiting for it to drop
into the chorus of whatever 'Monster' is,
(Henry: That's true) and then all of the sudden it was like: "Just kidding!"
Henry singing
Charlotte: So like what we know or we expected was totally...
thrown away. Which is cool, I enjoyed that.
Owen: There is also something satisfying about having a
melodic line that feels like it could be placed,
should be placed in a different part of the meter, like
B C - B C D [melody],
that they had on beat 1, as opposed to on beat 4,
which, where it would sort of melodically make sense.
*Counting in the meter*
Dada-Da!
Umu: Are you talking about the instrumental? Owen: Right? Yeah, the instrumental, you know, as opposed to:
3, 2, 3, 4...*ada daaa*
Owen & Umu coming in on 1
Owen: You know, that's this like... I thought that was kinda cool.
Umu & Owen: Yeah.
Josh: The reason why I liked it so much, cuz it goes to the sus chord, [t/n: sus chord -> suspended chord]
in the melody vocalizing [t/n: Usually, the third is replaced by the perfect fourth (sus4)]
*Figuring out on piano* [t/n: The second between the fourth and fifth already creates tension]
*Figuring out on piano* [t/n: But here we have the minor third in the chord as well]
I really dig that, just that sus sound on,
especially on the guitar, which is what I play,
the major second or the whole-step between the C and the B♭
[t/n: In G, B♭ is the minor third, C the fourth]
cuz that, this is what's happening in the chord,
(G minor add11) [C is the 11th of G minor]
*singing melody on top*
*Playing chord with C in the vocals*
like that's found in a lot of R&B music,
but mainly because there's a crunch on the top of the chord, [t/n: crunch = dissonance]
so the piano second between B♭ and C,
and that is the melody note, so they're landing on the C,
and then playing a G minor chord under it,
so that just sounds really pretty to the ear,
and especially I think there was a 9 in there,
so there was like a big rub, so:
(G minor add9 add11) [A is the 9th, C is the 11th] [t/n: The 9th rubs against tonic and especially the minor third]
[adds the 7th, F]
you know, like just adding extensions to the minor chord [t/n: Extended chord - notes beyond the 7th are added]
is super effective, and they had it, [t/n: Extended chord - notes beyond the 7th are added]
the extension was in the melody, which made it super effective, [t/n: Extended chord - notes beyond the 7th are added]
which makes the top voice being a C, which is an 11th,
so it's just a pretty sound.
Steve: I think at one point I commented, I said:
"Pipes"
because he was just like really nailed that upper -
Steve: I think he took the 9th, the 11th of - Josh: Yeah, there was a - I think it was,
Josh: it was on that chord, that's why you reacted to it,
I remember exactly what you're talking about,
so they're going:
singing lower harmony (A and C to B♭ and D)
and, so those are just thirds, Steve,
but that's the 9th, the 9th and the 11th.
Steve: Yeah.
Josh: Oh wow, he sings even higher than that!
bat sounds to figure out Baekhyun's part
That's exactly what I was playing,
but he's just singing it up the octave cuz he's a cat.
Umu: HEH!
Rafael: That was good. That was cool.
Umu wheezing
Umu: You killed me!
Cuz it literally took like 5 seconds for you
to register like the key change.
Rafael: It just sounded funky to me, like,
I think it's in D minor, right? (Umu: Mhm.)
Umu: And then it goes to G.
Rafael: Yeah yeah, but the way it does it is weird
and it goes to like full on G minor,
like it goes to the key of G minor,
it doesn't go to like - it's not like it's going to the iv chord
but it's staying in D minor, which is the common one
cuz then it hits you with the E♭ major right away,
which is just ... so like,
I heard the G minor and I wasn't like totally like taken back,
I was like: "This still sounds like we're in the right key"
and then the next chord came, and I was like:
!!!
"Okay! I hear that."
So ... yeah.
Umu: Too much? Too little?
Raffi: A lot.
Umu: A lot?
Sam: A lot. Raffi: A lot.
...
Sam: But just right.
Just the right amount.
Raffi is like: "NONONO, that was too much!"
Raffi: So with the rapping there was like a lot of vocal constriction,
which is like *demonstrates*, you know,
it's actually like constricting the folds,
and that's - I love it, it brings a lot of energy,
I think as a vocalist it's a lot to listen to,
but then like the lower digital sounds, too,
were like quite distorted, too, so it's very heavy, it was very heavy.
(Sam: It's very heavy.) I'm not saying I don't like it, I DO like it.
It's just a lot to take in.
Stephanie: Kinda too high energy for me,
and just too heavy, I guess,
but that's just like personal preference,
although there were elements that I thought were super cool.
Before the chorus, when they suddenly went into this,
use this like kinda swing rhythm, like *demonstrates* [t/n: swing rhythm - pulse is divided unequally]
Yeah! And they just like went into that feel so smoothly,
I couldn't tell how they did it and then just went out of it,
I - it was kind of like the mystery part in this song for me.
Sam: I think something that was really cool is that
each person's sort of part felt different,
it brought a different kind of hype,
so it's not that everything was just HypeHypeHype,
everything was just kind of like...
everyone was kind of playing off of each other
and I thought that was really good.
Does SuperM have like good chemistry with each other?
Cuz it sounds like in this One,
it sounds like they are definitely like close,
like their personalities were able to
play off of each other really well,
and it just, it felt like there was really good energy in that.
Scream 1
Scream 2
Jason: Called that one.