[Rossini's Semiramide Overture playing]
Umu: Hi everyone!
Recently, this channel has reached its fifth year anniversary, wooo!
In celebration of our fifth year anniversary
I thought it would be a great idea to drop a little merch collection.
So for the past few months we have been working really hard
on cool designs and picking out clothes that would feel
super comfy and come to a very affordable price.
Since we're unable to monetize any of our react videos
this will be a way to support us
and help improve the quality of our videos
and put them out faster as well.
I can not wait for the day that we are all at a NCT concert
and I see the shirt across the room and I run up to you and I'll be like:
AAAAAaaaah!
hEllO!
However!
This collection is only here for a limited amount of time
and this will be the only time that you will be able to purchase this collection.
So get them while you can, I will put a link to the shop
and the shipping details in the description below.
So without further ado, I hope you enjoy our reaction to 'Punch'!
Owen: Alright, my YouTube also went down, so I'm gonna... (Umu: Okay.)
Owen: NCT 'Punch', (Umu: Yes.) that's what we're doing, right?
Umu: You are now reacting to- Owen: Cool! I sound like my grandpa...
*Umu chuckling* Owen: Sorry.
Umu: You are now reacting to the boy group NCT 127
and their title track 'Punch' from their 2020
NCT 127 - Neo Zone: The Final Round repackage album.
*Breath*
Charlotte: Wow! Umu: Thank you, thank you!
Umu: So, probably apparent from the title,
the concept of this comeback is about boxing.
The rhythm of a fight,
the exhilarating energy you get when you enter a battle,
to fight without regret so the show goes on.
The lyrics explore themes of perseverance and self-improvement
while also proclaiming a sense of confidence with the lyrics
AYYYYYYYY WE BALLIN'!
...
Stephanie: Yeah... Umu: The song is composed by Kenzie,
Umu: Dem Jointz, Alawn, Ryan Jhun and Keynon Moore.
Sam: Let's punch this, 3 2 1!
Sam: Oh wow!
Raffi: Thunder and lightning.
Sam: Woow!
Charlotte: Are we in a video game?
!!!
*excited clapping*
Brianna: That line is so, like...
*imitating synth line*
Cloud: I love how like the background is more melodic than they are,
like, what???
*Henry laughing at Charlotte's reaction*
Owen: Did they say something about the 32nd beat?
and it's on the 32nd beat.
Sam: Wow!
Raffi: Unpredictable.
Sam: Very unpredictable.
Brianna: Oh!
Stephanie: Hmm~
Oh, they did that all the way, the *sings melody*,
the fourths, descending fourths [interval].
Ju Young: Dude, NCT is so good at harmony.
Jason: And I like the bass as well.
Ju Young: Oh, the piano!
Raffi: Oh?
Sam: Oh, there is the big chorus. (Raffi: Mhm)
Brianna: Yes, harmony.
Owen: That was cool! Kevin: Wow. Yeah.
*Owen vocalizing descending harmony line*
Kevin: Huuuhh.
It somehow manages to be relaxing.
Owen: Yeah, it does.
Sam: There was a moment in there where the percussion went out,
and then all of the sudden they went back in with the bass line.
That was really cool.
Ju Young: Oh, I love this part!
Kinda reminds me of like 2000s R&B.
Kevin: So this time they talked about
how they are gonna go hard and loud,
except this is definitely not NCT's loudest song, they're just...
they're just contradicting things.
WWWHHAAAAAAATTT?????
Brianna: Oh my gosh! I love this breakdown.
Owen: What is that guitar, can you hear that? We're back in the 70s.
Kevin: Oh wow, we're in NOT the same key.
Sam: Oh, where are we going with this key?
Oh my goodness!
Raffi: mmmmm!
Stephanie: Wooow.
That does sound like a battle!
Haha, I don't know...
Ju Young: There are so many men.
Why?
(On screen text: *taking mental note to show her Resonance*)
Ju Young: Okay, trumpets? It's probably midi trumpets... Jason: *Imitating low percussion* - That was...
Ju Young: Gosh, okay, harmonyy!
Sam: There is so much happening right now.
Raffi: I was just thinking that.
Brianna: Ugh, those harmonies. Oh my...
*singing upper harmony* "ballin"
Wow.
Sam: I'm trying to like say something smart,
(*Raffi laughing*) but I don't even know where to...
where to put my, focus my attention. I-
First of all, I thought the bass line was really cool,
so or this synth,
I don't know what exactly to call it (*Umu mimicking*) - yeah!
Stephanie: Wait, doesn't that sound kind of like modern jazz players,
just like really angular and edgy and almost like a pattern, you know?
I like how they kept on using, like staying with that idea,
and then it was, I could hear that throughout the whole thing, so...
yeah, and I like..
we're learning in combo class how if you play like one phrase
then you really should keep on using that
because the audience will,
that's what the audience gets attached to, and...
and it's like: "wow, sounds good", so... yeah, that's what I like.
Raffi: As I was listening to that I felt like it was very modern
cuz I was like I can't...
it's definitely pushing the boundaries beyond our current pop music -
K-pop music,
you know, I mean it's designed to
be a little bit more revolutionary and unique.
Sam: I think it also is very interesting that the -
sort of the context of the song is about boxing
because when you are in a match there is just so much stuff
that you have to think about and flying at you
that if you focus on one thing it's already gonna be passing you by,
and you're probably gonna not have a very good time,
so I think putting those two elements together,
that was really interesting.
Umu: Did that feel like a journey of a fist fight?
Stephanie: Yes, yeah, that was very intense. (Leon: Yeah.)
Stephanie: Pretty scary vibes.
Umu: Why scary? Cuz minor? Stephanie: Um...
Stephanie: It just sounded, it's dark, it feels dark, or I mean sounds dark?
Yeah, to me that's the instrumentation, too,
and the way it starts, to me it just sounds like very electronic
and like no warmth at all.
And also like that in the video, the tone is all like blue, dark blue, so...
that definitely contributed.
Leon: I think the sound of the synthesizer
sounds like really like old-fashioned, yeah,
it sounds like the sound is from 2000, not like recently.
Umu: Oh damn! (Leon: Yeah.)
So did you overall find more 2000s sounds in this,
(Leon: Yeah) or did you find a mix of modern and 2000s...
Leon: Of course there are like some transitions that
contains like dubstep sound and then just some like growls,
but overall the synthesizers sound like pretty vintage,
especially like the pattern synthesizer,
that sounded like really old,
because they didn't do a lot of modulation on the sound.
Umu: Oh, like *imitates pitch bend*, like that kind-
or like pitch bending? *demonstrates*
Leon: Not... yeah, something like gliding, like portamento stuff,
or more like filters or like flangeral phaser
that you can make the sound more interesting with. (Umu: Right,)
Umu: So it was too clean and simple for you? (Leon: Yeah yeah yeah)
Leon: So it sounds like really old synthesizers,
cuz like the old synthesizer can not do a lot of stuff.
Cloud: It also sounded like the bottom instrumentals
were almost like on a different phrasing pattern
Cloud: than them at some points which is really disorienting, Brianna: No, yeah, no,
Cloud: but it's so effective. Brianna: No, I thought they did that on purpose,
Cloud: Yeah(x3) Brianna: like I thought when there was like heavy syncopation
Brianna: and it was more like, I guess the syncopation was more like
I wanna say it was just longer,
they would do subdivisions within that syncopation,
within their beats, like the "Ha ha ha ha",
likea that was very strict eighth notes,
whereas the bass line was doing a lot of syncopations like *demonstates*
and they go "ha ha" on top of it,
and that creates like a polyrhythmic type feel,
cuz you have the subdivisions and this other type of feel. (Cloud: That's cool rhythmic stuff.)
Cloud: Yeah, I remember the first time I played
the 'West Side Story' symphonic movement or something,
the basses, at one point, have like -
god, I don't remember how many measures it is,
but it's like you're playing a five measure repeated line
over and over and over again,
but nobody else is in a grouping of five measures,
they're doing like four measures, so it's like,
(Brianna: Exactly.) it's just really disjointing but it sounds so cool,
when you do like polyrhythms like that. (Brianna: Yeah.)
Owen: Well I wanna figure out where- cuz the *sings main synth line*,
that, and then it continues down, but I don't know what it is,
because the first part is more memorable,
but it came in the chorus, and I don't know why,
cuz it felt way different and also subdued.
Where does it appear? Why did it appear there?
Alawn: The main thing that I did that kind of changed the whole vibe
was adding the chords to the chorus,
cuz at first the chorus was just on the synth bass,
(Umu: Oh!) it was going back to that, with the drums, and it didn't,
it was missing that kinda, yeah, chords and melodic section around it,
(Umu: Yeah) so I came up with the chords and that just like
took it somewhere totally different.
Umu: Anyways, yeah, summarize your thoughts, guys!
Kevin: It's great!
Owen: I love the vocal harmonies.
I love the vocal textures, how when they all came together,
especially at the end, like the *vocalizes*,
all do the notes that came together,
kind of like a Mr. TalkBox sort of vibe.
Kevin: And there were sections, like the beginning of the bridge
or I think the beginning of the second verse, too,
where they explored those extensions,
they had complete vocal lines that
started and probably spent their whole time in those
like 9ths, 11ths and 13ths territory, (Owen: Yeah)
and I think that was super cool.
Somehow the vibe of this song just really captivates me,
it's very legato, everything is kind of...
it's very smooth, "Ayy we ballin'", like it's a hype song,
but I don't remember a hype song where,
it just feels like there is no space as in I feel like,
it feels like a bed instead of a net?
Instead of a hammock?
Owen: What do you mean net? Wait, explain 'net'?!
Kevin: I'm trying to explain, basically, what legato,
(Owen: Ah, okay.) the little legato that I feel in this,
(Owen: Yeah) where like throughout the chorus,
when they get to the "ay we ballin" section,
it just feels like it's very supported,
(Owen: It's very supported) I feel extremely supported and
there is almost like an ambiance to it.
Owen: I agree.
Also that in contrast to the whispered section,
*imitates whispered rhythms*
you know, that's really short and articulate,
so that when it comes in the longer:
*vocalizes 'ay we ballin'-section*
you know, that's when it feels like longer and more supported and vaster.
Jason: The bass was just...
I could drink that.
I can drink it up.
Ju Young: I don't know, this might just be a personal thing,
but I like it when, I feel like a lot of NCT 127 songs,
a lot of the songs that we listen to from them,
there is no like clear melodic line going on in the beginning,
until like maybe the second verse or the pre-chorus,
and I think that showcases the vocals, cuz it's like:
"Uh, when is the melody going to come in? I don't know!"
And when it comes in it's like: There it is.
Jason: Yeah, well I agree with that, but I also liked that
this one actually had a melody, it wasn't just:
"BRUCE LEE"
*Ju Young laughing*
[t/n: RIP 'Kick It']
*playing on keyboard*
Jason: Ah, so that was it.
*plays bass line*
Or no.
Okay, so then the vocal part is:
*figuring out*
Right?
*playing vocal part*
That was the vocal. Okay, so then that's:
*bass + vocals*
um, and then...
*G♯ in melody over A♯ bass* Ah, that's so nice.
*bass up to C♯*
*A♮ over A♯ bass*
*Umu laughing* Jason: Did they really do that?
*vocalizing*
*checking*
They did do that.
Umu: They did it!
Jason: Oh that's sick!
Okay, so like the reason why it sounded so crunchy was
because it is crunchy, cuz like that *sings melody*
that's the minor second interval.
*clapping*
Jason: Wow, that's like nasty (Umu: Naasty!) but in such a good way,
intervals like minor seconds, and like using things like
bringing in like a ♭7 from the relative minor key to something,
it's like incredibly successful in building anticipation
to like a final ending of an entire piece, so it's just like,
even more prolongation and anticipation,
just till you get to that final tonic, and so it's like...
it's very well done.
Umu: But yeah, other highlights of the song?
Cloud: I liked that they like built on instrumentals,
(Brianna:Same, same!) how it like started very simple and then by the end we got like brass,
I was like: "okay",
also I'm such a sucker for like the power-in-togetherness-motif
or like theme that people do, like I loved when -
I think it was 'Miroh' - like when it's like:
"Oh, we're stronger together, we fight together",
I'm such a sucker for that.
(Brianna: Oh my gosh) Cuz like, that's one of the things that I love about orchestras,
I'm like: "There's like a hundred people on this stage,"
"and we're all music together and it sounds so cool!" (Umu: Yeah!) (Brianna: In a panoramic)
Brianna: In a paNoRamIC?
Brianna: Yeah no, and I was gonna say that, too,
I felt like they really utilized their group sounds
and like blend and they use a lot of intricate harmonies,
it was more than just three part,
I could tell that it's like using five or even six,
and I liked how like when the music itself was stripped down,
like where it was just like a beat and a little bit of bass, like that -
like that weird bass line that was going throughout was so cool,
like I thought it was super like kind of like dissonant,
but also like more like - yeah. (Cloud: The really like tech-y robot one?)
*all imitating the bass*
Brianna: Yeah, it was, yeah. Umu: Ya, ya, yeah, ya...
Cloud: Dude it was so weird how that was like
so much more melodical than they were in the beginning,
I was like: "They are not singing notes,
but the bass is singing notes, okay..." (Brianna: Exactly, yeah.)
Brianna: But then when the texture itself got thicker,
there they started harmonizing to fit that texture.
Cloud: And then they took it all out in the end and be like just:
"Ay, we ballin'"
and I'm like: Ah, unisons, ah...
Cloud: ...with so many people, it's cool. Brianna: And even when they did get to a deeper texture,
Brianna: it didn't stay in the sound, it went to an R&B like shift,
which I, I love my R&B, I love me the spicy chords, I love me the feel,
you know, it was so, like and especially with R&B I feel like
it can get really laid back,
but they kept that syncopation within the bass
and that melodic line still going on, but they just added
really out like substitution chords within it,
and it was just so interesting and intricate,
I thought it was really nice.
Umu: You are now reacting to the boy group NCT 127
and their title track 'Punch'
Umu: HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Raffi: Huaaaaaaaaaaa!
Sam: Wow...