Kevin: Oh HELLO!
⚡️ MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE ⚡️
[Rossini's Semiramide Overtune plays // Subtitles by youtube @anisian]
[BGM: Meiko Nakahara's "Fantasy"]
Umu: so you are now reacting to the Chinese subunit of the boy group NCT, WAYV
And their 2020 release, "Turn Back Time"
Turn Back Time's concept continues the space and time travel themes
That were set up in their past title tracks
The lyrics of the song talk about wanting to fly high and overcome challenges,
But in order to do so, and to become truly limitless,
they need to stop, rewind, turn back time and make things right
The song is composed by Moonshine, Yoo Young-Jin, Adrian McKinnon and Tay Jasper
Kevin: Welcome to Kevin's Chinese corner
[BGM: Masked Wolf's "Astronaut In The Ocean"]
Ok, so the last time we reacted to something called...Kick off?
Umu: Kick Back!
Kevin: KICK BACK- Umu: But it's gonna be released the other
way around...
Umu: This is gonna be released first- Kevin: Oh okay, (Owen: In the future-)
Owen: Before we turn back time Kevin: In the- ayeee haha (U: In the future
we-)
Umu & Kevin: In the future- Owen: Before we turn back time
Kevin: In the- ayeee haha (U: In the future we-)
Umu & Kevin: In the future-
*Star Trek reference* All right, let's have a look
Lantree bridge monitor engaging
Kevin: Okay, okay
*beep sfx*
Kevin: We will react to a song called Kick Back,
and that song has the Chinese name
"Secret Realm", (Owen: Mhm) This song is a little closer,
but I figured that you know, everyone should know
"Turn Back Time", is the English name The Chinese name is 'Beyond Space Time, Return'
Kevin & Owen & Umu: HAHAHAHAHAHA
Kevin: And no, that does not even make sense in Chinese grammar
Like so they deliberately, mixed up- yeah the stuff
Owen: Made it bizarre
Kevin: 5, 4, 3, 2, Hit YES
Oagh felt so good!
Charlotte: oH Henry: ai yahh
Henry: V! da- is it da?
what is that supposed to be?
Ah 开始, 加油 (Kāishǐ jiāyóu) Start!
Hwaiting!
V...
Jason: Yeah, it sounds like a clock rewinding time, yeah
Ju Young: Wow that's a lot of chains
Jason: Yeah, and so they're panning it really nice going back and forth, left and right
oH, woAH
Kevin: That bass...that bass be movin...be glidin
Sam: There's so many patterns on their clothes
Raffi: That bassline (Sam: Yeah) you could drop it like it's hot
You know what I'm saying?
Sam: Yeah
Kevin: oH woaH...E flat
Jason: Ok
Ju Young: Descending
Henry: oH... major chorus
Raffi: Those harmonies are tigHT Sam: They are~
Henry: I like that use of vocal fry- Charlotte: AHH
Henry: *reading lyrics* -turn back time... rewind...
Cloud: I feel like there's a lot of really interesting sounds
that are like buried beneath each layer
Kevin: Man, Chinese rapping sounds so cool, and maybe it's because I-
I dunno, it's just nice
Sam: oOooOh~ did you hear those harmonies?
Those low ones?
Raffi: Mhm, he also has like the most lifted tone so far
Sam: Yeah~~ Raffi: It's been a very kind of-
Sam: Yeah, everything has been- the tone has been very brash,
Which fits the atmosphere you know Raffi: Mhm
Kevin: wubwubwooahH that didn't happen the first time haha
Like the foreshadowing of the next section wubwuBWub
Raffi: oh?
oH?
Oh?
Sam: OH~ oh~ ohh?
Kevin: Oh hello~
MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE~!
Ju Young: It's very waYV Umu: *ayee*
Jason: Yeah this is making me a little dizzy Ju Young: Very wavy
Ju Young: wOWWwwwW Jason: Mmmhmm
Ju Young: They're really hitting it Jason: OooO the bass on that scale degree
was crazy
Jason: *mmm*... *mmm* I think it was 6
There's some strings now
oOOOhOoooO YEAHH!
That was SATSIFYING~
Raffi: He said...beLT~
Ju Young: oH HOOHOHO OKAY~
Henry: oH I LOVE that look!
That was sexyyyy~
Brianna: I dunno why, but the way he's moving his neck matches the music to me
Cloud: woWWWW~
Umu: I love that the first thing you said while listening to this song was.
WHERE ARE HIS SHOES HAHAHA Brianna: Where are they?
Sam: The affect of this song was- there was much more attack on all of the instruments
And in the way that they were speaking and singing
You can hear in their voice that even their consonants were so-
I don't wanna say brash of forceful, but it was mirroring sort of the intensity
of the instrumentals
So, it made for a very high octane song
And it allowed for when it went to the bridge, that Raffi and I really enjoyed
It just allowed for those like beautiful moments to really be the spotlight and shine
I thought that was really cool
Raffi: I think time is like a very stressful concept,
and so like the word that actually comes to mind is intensity
And I think the distortion played a lot into that,
like it was hard for me to perceive some of the progressions I think
Because they were just- it was so loud, but that's-
The feeling of the piece, it's a good thing
U: Yeah, did you want to talk more about the differences in timbre and tone
You talked about lifted, you talked about brash
Rf: Yeah, that's one of the things I loved about it actually, because when you have an-
Like an all guys group, that's all gonna sit lower in register,
And so you have to explore ways to- (Haechan's HBD high note)
I mean some guys have naturally higher voices and that doesn't matter
But you have to figure out a way to bring some new extreme I guess in terms of the voice,
And so there was a lot of use of falsetto and then a lot of use of belting
And I think that kept us captivated as listeners with the voice
And then some stuff was way more shouted like harsh,
and other things were really soft, there's a good combination
Sm: For those brash moments it's super easy to have an unhealthy way of doing it, you
know what I'm saying?
Where your intensity from your sound originates from the tension that you hold in your larynx
And that sort of creates like this uagh- like an artificially lower sound that also just
sounds so clenched
And so, just restricted, I didn't hear any of that,
That's just something else I wanted to note because
Vocal health is important Rf: Yeah!
Rf: Well yeah and I mean the whole thing did feel sung to me (Sm: Yeah!)
Which I think there's a difference of singing through that timbre or just shouting
JY: I don't- hehehe Js: It was loud
*beep sfx* JY: It kind of reminded me of "The Matrix"
a little- the color scheme kind of reminded me of "The Matrix" it's like green
U: And then they had the pills too
JY: Yeah oH- Oh the pills and the water Ma-matrix Js: Yeah, yeah that was very matrix like,
yeah more dystopian
Js: And even just like the entire color scheming and grading and the filming
Yeah just like everything about it and the- the atmosphere
The outward atmosphere and even the ending too,
It's just like very dystopian style
Just like, different world that's got lots of social problems
JY: I feel like all the SM groups that we listened to so far, like the boy groups
The beginning is always unstable and then they hit like some type of tonic-
Js: Ah, this musical part was really good
Js: ...sorry U: Jason let her talk
U & JY: HAHAHA
JY: I think it was good that they didn't establish like a tonic at first because like
It wasn't annoying, it's just- I was like really thrown off
Js: I think they were supposed to do that
That was like what the beginning- like it wasn't even music in the beginning
Js: It was just like sirens JY: Yeah it was just- yeah
Js: And then, you do get a tonic when like the beat comes in, with like the ticking backwards
But the beginning was just like ambient sketchy sounds
The bass was so...
Floppy U: flOpPY?!
Js: That's the only way I could explain it haha it was like *oowoowooooo*
U: Well floppy in my mind is like *uagh uagh uagh* this is- this is-
Js: No floppy to me is- U: It's wavy!
Js: That's not floppy, floppy's like... that's floppy!
Js: No floppy to me is- U: It's wavy!
Js: That's not floppy, floppy's like... that's floppy!
Js: *oOoOOOOoooOOoOO* right?
U: The snare drum-
U: Well no in my mind floppy is like- that's bendy!
(Js: Really) That's bendy
Yeah, floppy is like *huhhhhhuhhhhuhhh*
Cause floppy is like quick motion and this one is like *uuuuUUUuUUUuUuUUU*
Js: I didn't- I thought floppy was like like-
Js: To me floppy is like *woOOO*
U: IN THE COMMENTS, DOES THIS BASS MAKE YOU PICTURE FLOPPY??
*beep sfx*
Js: It was cool, in the sense of thinking about rewinding...time
Concept of turning back is kind of an unhealthy concept, you can think about it and fantasize
about it but,
You have to recognize your present moment
U: Well, I think that this is just supposed to be- a magical-
Js: It's nice though, no like the concept of it is really like a yeah-
Js: Cause everybody wishes they can turn back time
Js: *To the tune of "Stressed Out" by Twenty One Pilots*
~To the good old days~ (JY: Oh my god)
H: Aiyyy 不错, 不错 (bùcuò, bùcuò) Not bad, not bad
U: What did you just say in Chinese though H: Sound good
U: Oh YAY~ Yay!
H: 好听 (Hǎotīng) Nice
U: Why sound good?
H: Cuz it sounds good!
U: But why does it sound good?
H: Uh, because they're singing is bomb AF (U: Mmhm) and then um
I'm a sucker for that bass that they keep using through the whole thing, I love little
bass
Ch: Yeah the electric guitar threw me- That-that's what threw me
H: Yeah um- I didn't- the electric guitar was unique
Ch: I thought we were ending- H: Yeah, I knew the bridge was coming
I thought we were gonna have a regular chorus at the end and then I was like *ahoAAAAhoOw*
H: It didn't feel outside of their style, it felt like it fit pretty well
Ch: Also it was just like the play of feel with regular time vs half time
Was nice too H: Oh, I didn't pick up on that, that's good
Ch: And I also liked that the prechorus is more lyrical
It allows you to really feel the full impact of the chorus, I feel like if you didn't have
that as like so
More mellowed it, then it wouldn't have the same effect as the chorus
Yeah, I definitely feel more of a heavier half time feel, when they get there
H: I liked a lot of the rhythmic variety in their versus that *turn back time* part is
really fun with the 16th notes,
*sings stop rewind, turn back time* it's really catchy
And their versus, they actually have some really nice complicated flows
I've never- I don't listen to a whole lot of Chinese songs so this is-
It's really cool to hear them weave in together
English words and Chinese words, I know Korean artists do that to
But I don't pick up on them as easily
But like once- one part he says like I say no, 我说no (Wǒ shuō no)
Like I don't know, I just really like that inter- interlacing of culture
They've really taken a lot of great like hip-hop idioms and devices and made it their
own
U: You looked like you're really concentrating on the different layers
Cl: DUDE I was trying so hard, I feel like at the end of the last chorus when they were
back in that major area
It felt like some of the higher timbres like, they had like this xylophone kind of chime-y
sound
That sounded like it was still doing the drone that it- well it's not a drone but the loop
it had been doing before
That was kind of in minor, like it felt like that was there, but it was kind of hard to
pick out
And I don't know if it's that my ears were broken, or these headphones or like my computer
or whatever
But like it was kinda hard to pick out, and it was like I feel like it's there and I can
hear it
And like the last chorus was just so full of things, and you're like-
Trynna move things (U: Haha) like hello haha
What is that
And then the bass is going like *nyaAAHHoWWWoOoOoWWyaaooo*
And I'm like, can you just haha, I'm trying to find out what else is here
U: *laughing behind camera*
So it'll definitely take me a few listens to like pick apart each different like sound
and timbre and everything
They did have some timbre changes that I picked up on like the bass, it starts very zipper-y
In the beginning, and then there was one moment where it was a bit more rounded of a sound
And then when back to the zipper-y
This also just went... so much harder than I first expected it to
I feel like this song could easily give me a headache (U: WHAT-)
if I came into it for the wrong-
I don't mean- I know that sounds offensive, (U: Haha It's a lot)
haha it's just kind of overwhelming
When you're just like- your eyes are just kinda going everywhere and you're like-
Ahhh I can't focus on all of this, and now my brain just hurts
Ow: I liked the transitions, how they felt really clear and delineated,
there are two ways to go about a transition
One is to really make it clean and sort of go from A to A.5 to A and 3/4 to B
And the other one is to have very nice creases, and to go from one side to the other,
and have it really be nice, and I feel like it kind of did both
And that the transitions felt nice, in the very small segment of actual transitioning
But the two segments felt so... unique and like they understood themselves in terms of
their character so well
Especially in relation to each other, that the crease also felt there
And I thought that was really well done
K: So basically there's this one chord progression early on
Where they do an E- they do a 1- so the song is in minor
So it's 1, and the bass moves to major 6, and then minor 6
Right? so that initially sounds cool already but then later,
They do it sort of the other way, the chords are a little different, but it's 1, the minor
6 first, and then up to the major 6
But the chord that involves the minor 6 is the relative major,
so it'd be the 6th chord, because in a minor mode, the 6th chord is a majored chord,
While in the prechorus was- the way they use the minor 6 was-
Ow: But it's not the relative major- K: the minor 4 so huh-
Ow: It's not- K: Relative minor, relative major
K: Relative minor, relative major shenanigans
Ow: No it's not cause 6 of minor isn't the relative major, 3 of minor would be
K: Right, but I'm saying that (U: Parallel) the use of minor 6,
In the 2 different sections are relative major minor of each other
Ow: Sure
brian david gilbert 'the 19 ways you can say "haha, what": haHaha, what?
K: So it's, major 6 and minor 4 are the two chords that are used, and they always go up
to a major 4,
Which uses the major 6th scale degree...
GIBBERISH U: Cool
K: Let's do piano- you know- you know what...
So like- you got like- *piano* and then... oh- oh I'm brain fart
*piano* and then *piano* and then *piano* right, that sounds pretty cool
*piano* except like the bass- right right- the bass is the one that moves, so it's like
uh-
*piano* and then *piano* and then *piano*
Which enhances the quality of the *piano* of these 2 chords
Like there's a pull to it
And then in the chorus, *piano* and then *piano* and then *piano*
Which sounds suPEr cinematic, so then they're all major-
Actually, no cause it doesn't sound that way because the second chord- *piano* really,
really still-
It feels like a variation of the minor chord, even though it is a major chord
*slaps piano* whoAAAAAAA
cAn yOU teLL wHiCh cuP hAs thE baLL iNsiDe?
That's feel like- I feel like that's what I'm doing (U: Hahaha)
K: But it is a really nice harmonic development from- from *piano*
And it turns into *piano*
And it keeps it interesting, I think it does-
Even if you don't hear the difference in the chords, like the theory of it,
I think it does succeed in keeping our ears interested
Ow: I think I'm on a different section K: *vocalizing*
Ow: Cau-cause I got something- I got something like *vocalizing 1, 3, 4 or- 6, 5*
That might be a different section (K: That-) That's the chorus (K: Ok)
K: Yeah, *vocalizing 'minute by minute'* boom, and then it's that beat after minute by minute,
Where it lifts up to the major 4
So what happens in the chorus is, it goes to major first of all very surprising *piano*
K: *vocalizing* (U: HAHAHHA) oh I already forgot...
K: *piano & vocalizing* and then the minor turns into 3, which is really cool- or the
3 turns into minor
*piano & vocalizing* it doesn't sound right on the piano but it is *vocalizing & piano*
'minute by minute~' *piano* that's the- there's the interplay
So not only is there a minor 6, major 6 interplay, there's also a major 3, minor 3 interplay
So if we extract all the minor major, it sounds like- I dunno why this is interesting to me
but-
*piano* (U: OH NOOOO) K: YEAH RIGHT!!
Ow: Play the root of 1, then just minor 3, then 6 and-
K: Oh the root?
Ow: Yeah K: Because the minor 3 has a 3 on the root-
Ow: The minor 3 is the- (K: Yeah) G major right?
K: *piano* oh you're right!
You're right, it does have this- *piano*
So the bass itself sounds pretty generic, but when added to the harmonies on top,
There's such- so much interplay *piano*
And then *piano*
U: What we discovered, is that the pre-chorus is 1, major 4, minor 4?
K: *piano* Yes!
(U: Okay)
U: And then the chorus is major 1- K: Is it, major 1, minor 1 but with a 3 bass
*piano*
U: Ok, inversion?
K: Yes, first inversion
K: And then *piano* major 6 Ow: Major 6- well on a minor root
K: Yeah, major 6 of the minor mode Ow: Yeah
K: And then *piano* major 4 of either mode U: wooooo!!
K: So everything is modal mixture, but everything's also not
U: wOoOooOO Ow: I think it- everything is
K: Yeah, across space time return~
[BGM: Mamamoo's "Diamond" // Subtitles by youtube @anisian]
Cl: It's really heavy~
Cl: aNd nOw it'S reAlLy liGhT oOo hahaha U: *wheeze laughing*