Umu: What rhymes with "advice"?
...
Hey everyone! Let me give you some advice:
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[BARS]
[(Accidental)] [BARS]
U: The past few months we've been working really hard on these designs
so that they would be cool looking and super comfortable
and also at an affordable price.
Our fifth anniversary merch collection is only available
for a limited amount of time, so grab it while you can.
Hope you enjoy our reaction!
[t/n: Dramatic suspense]
*beautiful chord* [t/n: Scriabin would be proud]
S: Hi, I'm Sean, Reacttothe-
*distracted by Umu*
U: Don't mind me!
S: Hi, I'm Sean, ReacttotheK's channel arranger and host of Classical Composer Breaks Down the K.
U: And I am Umu, also U- Umush...?
S: "Umushroom?"
U: Umushroom!
I'm wearing my mushroom hat, it's been a while,
the mushroom hat is making a comeback,
and I do this channel, I am this channel,
this channel is me.
And so today we are reacting to Taemin 'Advice',
we both heard the teaser, I was like: "Ooh, harmony"
and he was like: "18th century harmony"
and because there's a piano...
...he's a piano player. I'm not.
I tried. I almost failed.
Okay, we ready?
Be my guest.
S: Three - two - one -
U: 'Advice'!
U: Oh!
U: Yes.
*Umu singing along* S: and..
S: Ah.
Wow!
Really quick articulations!
U: Suddenly-
The progression continues in the background, that's nice! In the-
S: Yeah.
U: So smooth and high register,
while the beginning was so quick and lower register. (S: Yeah)
U: WHAT THE HELL?!
Piano back.
I love this section.
That is so nice variation.
S: Yeah...
U: With this deep bass, hip-hop.
We're going from attitude-y classical music to attitude-y hip hop,
that's what we're flipping between *wheezing*.
U: *Tries singing high note* - I can't sing it...
S: Yeah, it's going, I mean it's going up to a C6
although I am guessing he's singing, (U: It's effected.)
S: Yeah, I think he's probably singing the lower octave
and then they've just doubled it up.
U: Oh, adding in the strings.
*Umu singing high descant line*
That (high voice) sounds like possibly one of the co-writers.
S: Hm.
U: Nice!
S: [?????] putting the little cadence at the end.
U: Yeah, sews it together very nicely. S: Wait, there is like still...
S: Oh okay, maybe it's just the SM [logo], okay. (*Umu imitating SM logo sound*)
S: I liked the contour, like the beginning having
almost like the rhythms I would associate with rap,
but he's singing,
and then I think in the prechorus he actually does rap a little bit,
and then, I mean it's pretty quick throughout
but a little bit more fluid in the choruses.
I felt like it was too much of the same progression
for the progression not being any more interesting (U: Mm.)
S: Like when it's a really colorful progression
I can be fine with it just being the same one...
Which is sort of the A minor, a bunch of I-V-I, and then VII,
like major VII, tonicizing III, the relative major, [V/III]
and then VI and then iv. [t/n: Sean is talking in "Roman numeral analysis", describing chord functions.]
U: Basically, at the beginning of the progression
we stay in this very comfortable area,
we kind of know where it's gonna go,
we're able to predict where it's gonna go,
and then we have like this little lifted feeling,
and that's the V of C (III),
that's where we escape a tiny bit from the original key,
but still it feels pretty comforting,
and then we kind of like travel up, travel up,
and then we go back to that comfortable area,
and so what we mean by a more colorful progression,
that would be escaping the tonal area that we are in,
this one we are mostly consistently in it.
And so basically that progression repeats throughout the entire song,
even when the piano disappears,
even when we go into that more hip-hop electronic section
we still have that progression, and so because -you're right-
because they kept playing the same progression over and over
I didn't really feel quite any dramatic energy rise or fall,
it was just kind of consistent throughout. (S: Yeah.)
S: Like I'm used to... I mean there are plenty of things
that start out pretty harmonically straightforward in the verses
or perhaps in the chorus, but it's like,
I like something that goes a bit further afield at some point,
whether it's in the prechorus or in the bridge,
like those are the most common places to do it.
It just kind of felt like it was the same progressions
with very sort of straightforward functions.
U: But it's beautiful to listen to,
and I really want to dive into the rhythms of the first verse
and what he did with his voice because there was a lot of...
*constricted sound*
You know what I mean? Like *demonstrates*,
squeals and clenches and growls, that type of stuff,
which just added so much more personality to that first verse.
3 2 1 !
So dramatic.
S: Oh, it's [?????] pattern.
U: I love that syncopation there.
S: That is the one thing that I think does take it out of that here,
is like anticipating the F chord
*Umu imitates rhythm*
S: Yeah, *mimicking rhythm, too*
U: Where originally, how harmonically it progresses,
it is more 18th century?
S: Well, okay, I don't know-
U: Teach me, teach me.
S: Well okay, I guess it could be late 18th century,
late 18th century or early 19th, um,
like I feel just kind of around 1800 on either side of, like,
late 1700s or early 1800s (U: Okay) would be appropriate,
I don't know, here I feel like I think most of Schubert or so?
U: Okay, is that who you'd recommend people to listen to
if they enjoyed this piano playing? (S: Maybe, yeah, probably.)
S: I think that's probablay- U: Schubert!
S: That's what it makes me think most of, [t/n: One of the producers updated Umu: The piano IS inspird by Bach!]
I'm not placing it with any piece or anything, but... [t/n: One of the producers updated Umu: The piano IS inspird by Bach!]
U: That's the general area, okay, ready to continue. 3 2 1 [t/n: One of the producers updated Umu: The piano IS inspird by Bach!]
[t/n: He says: "I wanted to make a fusion of trap and classical Bach over the courts we had in the verses. Kinda original and fun 🤩"[?????]]
*Umu imitating vocal inflections*
I love that part where he goes *vocalizes*,
descends while the piano ascends, it kind of tricks my brain (S: Ah)
U: It's like, my brain is like: WhAT?!
S: Yeah.
Yeah I like how even when he's just sort of just flicking his voice
it's still like landing on something, *imitates*.
It's not just kind of going into noting,
like it's going to a particular note that has a role in the melody.
U: It kind of sounds like a french horn exercise, *sings leaps*
we call those notes two connected notes slurs.
3 2 1
And now we're less syncopated.
Lots of subdivisions, very comfortable rhythm, rhythmically.
Very downbeat-heavy.
An AA chorus.
I think it might change the end of this phrase,
similar to 'Criminal's' chorus.
Yeah.
It looks like a duck!
(S: Oh.) U: Duck! Like a duck bell.
U: So these rhythms are just a little variation on the first verse
but otherwise the instrumental is the same, plus the claps?
Nice. I think there is a little bit in after this first chorus.
We didn't have to much of a bridge, or departure for the bridge.
S: No.
U: 2:02 [time in MV], 3 2 1
U: Yeah, same progression as before.
Even the same notes singing, except less rhythmic, it's just...
(S: Yeah) U: smoother but the same notes. 2:11, 3 2 1
U: And plus strings.
I love the bass drum rhythm here.
Here, live we could venture off into a piano virtuosic solo,
like they did in 'Don't Call Me'.
I was expecting that to happen! (S: Yeah, yeah.)
U: Noooo! S: Yeah, it's sort of a good setup for a cadenza.
Oh we want a cadenza, I'm gonna just look up,
see if Taemin did 'Advice' live.
NOOO!
We want a cadenza!
Just copy-paste the 'Don't Call Me' cadenza
and put it in here and change the key.
U: 2:43 of live, 3 2 1
That's hard melody! *vocalizes*
*Sean tries melody, too*
U: Good try, good try, good attempt,
it's hard to get the direction and be in tune with that.
S: Yeah that's, I mean it's sitting pretty high.
*Umu singing along*
*very high notes*
U: Okay, he does sing [?????]
*close to ultrasonic*
S: Yeah. Yeah, he's singing the lower octave and then...
U: I think I might get a little bit addicted to this song.
The piano rhythm is, even though that progression repeats throughout,
I'm just obsessed with how it's mixed,
I'm obsessed with its sound, I'm obsessed with its rhythms,
I don't know, first off not like the biggest impact on me, but
I like that mix of more throwback classical piano
with this new, more modern hip-hop sound.
I think that's a cool idea.
And they definitely could have gone to other areas
to keep us more engaged in this song but I think,
I think it's pretty great for what it currently is.
You not so much?
S: Yeah, I mean I love Taemin,
but I'm really pretty lukewarm on this song.
I just, I feel like there is nothing...
Like it's all competently made, right?
There is nothing that I listen to where it's like: "Aw, that was bad".
There is some nice contrast in how the vocals work,
and the production was like,
there isn't, there's nothing that seems special,
there's no timbre that stands out,
there is no moment the harmonies stand out,
it's just like the whole thing is fine,
and I expect more from Taemin,
like I expect some outstanding moments.
U: Would it have been more outstanding
if they chose a more colorful progression?
S: Yes.
U: But can you name another K-pop song
that has an 18th century piano inspired pattern in it?
S: I can't think of another one.
I don't know, maybe it's just that
I've been in classical music long enough that like,
things that just sound very plain in classical music,
they just like don't strike me anywhere, cuz I've heard them. (U: That makes sense)
U: But for those who haven't been in the classical music world
U: for forever, this is pretty cool. S: Yeah, maybe it sounds new, it probably does sound newer.
U: Yes. Pretty cool. S: Or fresher.
U: So, let's end this video, what was your favorite moment of the song?
S: The verse, just 'cause I thought
the way they handled the rhythms was probably the most interesting to me.
U: Yeah.
U: YEY, thanks for watching, everyone,
we will see you in a future video, bye bye!
U: Are you gonna say goodbye? *lol* S: Oh, bye, bye!