Rachel: I like that! Liam: Oh yeah!
[Rossini's Semiramide Overture playing]
Umu: Okay, you are now reacting the the boy group Astro
and their title track 'One' off of their 'All Yours' 2021 album.
'One' is Astro's most bombastic, in your face title track until now
(Liam: oh boi)
Most of the people on this reaction series
are more familiar with their kinda sweet, cute side.
As Tássia from Seoulbeats writes,
"Lyrically, [this song] makes use of broad metaphors that can be interpreted through multiple lenses."
So in the lyrics Astro refers to "we",
meaning it could be they're talking to "their lovers, their fans, or themselves as a group."
"Through [...] fusion with an other, Astro hopes to make their “monotone world” more vibrant"
This song is composed by Val Del Prete, JJ Evans, Willie Weeks,
and the Astro members JinJin (진진) and Rocky (라키) contri- con-
-wrote the lyrics.
Sam: Ah, I see.
Umu: Yes.
Jason: Is there like a sequel, and is it called 'Two'?
Umu: Haha.
Jason: That wasn't a joke, it was a question- oh. Umu: This only came out a few days ago, I mean a week ago...
Ju Young: Oh, so this is like recent. Jason: Well hey, I'm looking forward to seeing 'Two', 'Three', and 'Four'...
Jason: ...and possibly 'Five'.
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Now time to get back to-
Owen: One!
Owen: One! One!
Owen: One! One! One!
Owen: One! One! One! One!
Owen: One! One! One! One! Cool.
"We come as one..."
Liam: Whohoho! Okay.
Sam: That synth in the back is dirty. Raffi: Yeah, flash.
Sam: Oh! Raffi: Uh!
*Both imitating loud breaths*
Raffi: That was a nice organic sound made with pharyngeal space.
Sam: Oh my goodness...
Kevin: Oh nice.
Tones are a little darker for Astro.
I usually associate Astro with super happy.
Sam: Also what they're doing with the affect of the piano is really cool,
it almost sounds like celestial.
Rachel: I like that! Liam: Oh yeah!
Kevin: Now it's in F major.
Sam: This is crazy.
Liam: Ah, this is so cool.
Ju Young: ~Okaaaayyyy~
~Mixture~
Sam: It's creating such like a-
it's creating such like a fuzzy color.
Owen: Now the triplets are explicit.
Raffi: Ah my gosh!
Sam: Give it to us!
Ju Young: Why is he so fast?
Jason: How does he fit so many words in life and language?
That doesn't make sense.
Rachel: Pocket!
Jason: These synths are like super heavy in the back!
*Imitates synths*
Kevin: I like the way they do the VI-VII-I,
it's a chord progression I've heard a lot before-
-oh, the G major is nice-
-because like, *mimics hits*, there's a style to it,
I really like grooving with it.
*humming along*
Kevin: Nice. Oof.
There's a good sense of space here... yeah.
Raffi: Oh?
Ju Young: Ah, this guy is killing it!
Stephanie: Oooh?!
Rachel: That- that- oh my god.
Liam: What the hell?!
Raffi: Mmm. Descant. Sam: Ooh. Give us that descant.
Kevin: Oh, there's some major-minor clash right there.
He sings *minor line*,
but then there's like a hint of major in the harmony-
uh!
Liam: MMMMM
Owen: Like the synths, *wouwouwouw*,
Owen: I think those are really interesting cuz- Kevin: They really pop.
Ju Young: Wooow!
Umu: *meow*
Ju Young: Wowwwwwwwww Ho ho ho ho (etc)
Liam: Dude.
That was.
INSANE!
Stephanie: Mmmm~
Umu: What did you like about that song?
Stephanie: Oh, this part!
Throughout the whole there weren't like that many texture changes, I felt like,
that dance break felt like it was a completely new sound to my ears.
Sam: Going off of that, they were able to create moods,
while not necessarily changing what instruments they used to orchestrate with,
in a lot of other different songs that we look at,
the way that other people or producers create different affects for their songs
is that they introduce different instruments that would have a lighter tone or a sort of softer texture.
For what they did, they used the same instruments throughout
and that really contributed to creating a consistent atmosphere
and allowed us to really be transported into the song
while also by selecting which sort of,
which octaves of the synth to use at which time,
along with when to use the digital percussion and which parts of the digital percussion,
it allowed us to sort of be able to feel what emotions we should be feeling.
Leon: The rap, oh my god. Stephanie: Yeah!
Rachel: When the rap started, I was like:
*mimics rhythm* OH MY GOD!
*Liam drumming*
Rachel: It was SO FAST!
Liam: So fast, and it was so clear, oh my god! (Rachel: Yeah!)
Leon: Way too fast.
Stephanie: Oooh~
Leon: What?!
Stephanie: *trying to match rhythm*
Leon: Like a machine gun.
Rachel: I noticed how they kind of like-
he changed his pacing to get into the other person's rap,
because he started it super fast
and then right at the end of his section he went *demonstrates*,
and then he started with the same pacing,
so it flowed together very well.
Liam: Yeah, just metrically the changes made that transition pretty seamless.
Rachel: And also the *imitates*, or whatever it was,
I thought it was gonna go:
Instead it went:
Liam: No, and the that tripped-
Rachel: Or whatever happened at the end.
Liam: The thing that tripped me up both times is that like,
when they get the eighth note going, like
that buildup going with the quarter note,
they drop out the last one before they go into the triplet feel, like the *demonstrates*,
so it's like:
Like...
and that just tripped me up. (Rachel: Yeah)
Liam: And it's so cool! Rachel: It was so cool, it was super effective.
Ju Young: They like their closed intervals in this song,
like especially *vocalizes* -
hng, I can't sing today!
At 2:38, that underlying the-
Like I think vocally, just how the intervals are so close,
I think that's what got me interested,
and I think they play around with modal mixture here too,
which is always good.
Kevin: I like that there seems to be two worlds to this song,
there is the very D minor and slightly dark tone,
and there is that, call it a pre-chorus or a chorus,
but it almost wants to go to F major, because like *mimics*,
it's just so sunny all of the sudden,
but then it ends up back in that D minor or the really edgy D major type of tonality.
Liam: I kinda wanna break down the harmonies that they use in the chorus.
Just like the chords, cuz I remember it going to the major IV.
Like when I expected it to go to, like go back to I,
and I was like ~damn~
Owen: What was that chord, so the *vocalizes*?
That, it felt, it didn't feel like a regular major I chord?
There was something else going on there.
Kevin: So you know, we got the *plays D minor*
you know, and then it gets into this D major,
instantly D major is introduced, and I can't remember the melody right now,
but then afterwards it goes into:
*plays chord*, which is, um...
Owen: B♭ major [t/n: with maj7]
*B♭ major - C major - D major* [VI-VII-I]
Liam: And just the fact that it's major,
Liam: it gives it such a bright, triumphant kinda feel to it. Rachel: That's a good stopping point, he's just flying right now.
*Liam shows frame* Umu: Thank you.
Kevin: Oh, but then it goes to G, no no, you're talking about the G, yeah!
*B♭maj7 - C - Gmaj7* [VI-VII-IV]
Owen: That's- that's not what they did!
Kevin: There was a G major in there!
*B♭ - C - G* [Gmaj7 to G7, upper voice moves F♯-E-D-E-F] (Owen: Yeah, that's what...)
Liam: It set up the expectation, that VI-VII-I in the first four bars,
but then:
instead of doing it again:
*B♭-C-G*
they rest on this.
Jason: And let me see what they're saying really fast within it,
then I'll be able to get a whole read on it...
I'm trying to figure out, like the rationale.
Why would they be focusing on somebody like solving that
and using these chords and speaking- okay, so-
The rubics cube is called a mirror cube,
and so I think what this is symbolizing is that we all mirror one another,
we are reflections of one another, we are reflections of our inner selves,
and that's how we relate to each other,
and once we realize that all those differentiations can be solved
just in the same way that a regular rubics cube can,
just in that metaphorical usage, just,
we can solve all the issues with humanity by mirroring ourselves,
understanding that what's within is without as well,
that then, we can then join together as one, we can,
it's in our abilities, in our power to be able to join together,
we are mirrors of one another and
that jumbled idealism of the universe that we have is up,
it's up to us to put it together and come together,
and so what he's saying at this chord, where we get,
this beautiful D11 [t/n: He plays a Gmaj9, which does appear in the song.]
it's like "This world gets bigger than the universe".
It's English translation but
that's speaking about the spiritual connection between all of us
once we kind of recognize that we're mirrors of one another
and that once you solve this rubics cube it's completely different
and looks so out of shape and out of place
where once we all sit and work together and come together within our mentalities,
finally if we do come together in that brightest moment that was foreshadowed before, with just regular D major,
*B♭ - C - D* and then you get *B♭ - C - Gmaj9*
that kinda to me just symbolizes that
there is something vast, there is something unknown that is comforting,
that will only become once we all do join together as one.
Yeah.
*Loud breathing sounds*
*Raffi laughing* Sam: So good.
Raffi: *Deep breath*
Raffi: AAAAAAAAH!