Henry: The power of octaves...
Major!
[Rossini's Semiramide Overture playing]
Umu: Before being slayed by queen Lisa
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Now let's get this reaction started.
You are now reacting to the Blackpink member Lisa
and her solo debut track called 'LALISA'
In her online press conference Lisa says that
she wants to show the strength of her name
as well as her confident, cool side through her debut.
She hopes fans will think:
"Wow! This is it. This is something only Lisa can do."
She also made sure both the song and music video
would include some elements of her Thai heritage,
so you'll see Thai elements in some of her outfits,
the set, the dance, and instrumental.
This song was produced and written by 24, Bekuh BOOM, and TEDDY.
They also use, I think, different Thai percussion,
so I'm curious if you guys recognize any of the sounds used,
and then of course it'll be mixed with more modern
trap and hip-hop and stuff,
cuz she's the lead rapper of the group.
Henry: Awesome, I'm excited! Ready?
LA! LI! SA!
I hear it!
That's a really rough sounding cymbal.
Cloud: I'm so excited!
Sam: Oh, pan.
Raffi: I love it.
Rachel: That bass! Liam: That was a good drop.
Kevin: I like how it turned into that synth, the main riff.
It's a nice passing down.
Raffi: *Mimics droning note.*
Umu: Okay, a little major. Kevin: The major.
Kevin: I like how she did the major though.
Jory&Will: Hmm~
Jory: Woah.
Will: That's kinda trippy
Liam: The like alarm sound is pretty sweet.
Henry: That sharp breath?
That was so powerful!
*Imitates*
Kevin: Oh, the bass going to the 4 is super weird.
Raffi: The droning is effective, like that...
siren at common tone, you know?
*demonstrates*
Jory: "Huh!"
Rachel: Oh, I like that. The silence.
Henry: Oh, I love that vocal fry at the end.
Rachel: It's like so bass-y.
Oh?
Henry: Holy sh*t!
Cloud: Triplets? Don't need 'em! We're going for 16th notes.
Jory: Wohow
Henry: I hear that like reedy instrument...
That Thai influence, I suppose?
Liam: I love what the bass is doing there,
(Rachel: Yeah.) I like this space, it's cool.
How it's like more staccato in that.
Rachel: Yeah, I like that they use space at the end of the chorus as well,
going into that section.
Henry: The power of octaves.
MAJOR!
Cloud: Did you see that color shift in the visuals?
Kevin: Wow, the major 6 adds a whole new color.
Kevin: - Aw okay, I wish we repeated that.
Jory: Oooh~
Will: Oh!
Henry: Where are we!?
Sam: Oh sheeeee...!
Jory: This just got way cooler.
Umu: I love hearing the traditional Thai percussion,
the pitched percussion.
Rachel: Okay.
Henry: That's so catchy, "Lalisa love me, Lalisa love me"
Kevin: The transition there is smoother than the transition back
because of music theory reasons, which I'll talk about.
Liam: Yeah, see the low brass hits
that are added in and out of the bass?
Cloud: Wow, we went places.
Henry: I think I have a crush...
Rachel: Oh my gosh.
That was kind of a bop.
Rachel: I liked it a lot. Liam: Yeah, it bangs.
Umu: What beat did that end on?
Umu: 1-2-3-4-1... *counting along*
Two!
Kevin: Two....
I like the "Huh!" as the ending note.
Umu: And the reverb ends, I think, until 4. (Kevin: Yeah)
So it goes like 1-2... *fade out until 4*
Kevin: Yeah.
Will: The things that stuck out to me were the-
kind of just the way the groove felt.
I feel like for these types of songs,
just like dance-y, kinda trap-y beats,
the thing that makes them really good is the time feel,
like the little details in the time feel in the production
and in the singing and stuff,
and this was, there were several moments where I was like:
"Oh yeah, the time feel on that was sick!"
and it's cuz like the way that drums are -
I think the hi-hat, or like, it's probably not actually hi-hats,
it's some other sort of percussion,
it's something, there's some layer in there
that's kind of doing the subdivision
and it's like a little bit behind the beat.
And so it kinda lets you like...
I don't know, it makes the song breath a little bit and flow,
cuz it's like *demonstrates*,
you know, it kinda has that,
(Jory: Actually yeah, now that you said it [?????]. Right.) Will: instead of being like totally square.
Will: And then the way the vocals are, it fits right into that,
there are so many times where the vocal melody
just lays back a little bit and fits into that
kind of behind the beat subdivision
and it just is like: "Oh, that felt really cool".
And so I feel like that's what makes this type of music work really well.
Umu: Right, what were you listening to your first listen, Jory?
Jory: I was mostly paying attention to actually how
not bare but stripped back the instrumental seemed to be.
Mostly just in that it wasn't like jam-packed with ear candy
and everything trying to catch your attention,
it was just
Lisa.
You know, it was obviously more than that,
it was very well produced, but it was produced to focus on her,
which I guess was the exact point of this, right?
Umu: Do you recognize any of the specific Thai elements,
did music history ever go over that kind of stuff? (Jory: No.)
Jory: Absolutely not.
Umu: But when that happened, was there a color change for you?
Jory: Yeah, well the music video immediately, obviously,
the flashy jewelry and the kind of belly dancing kind of thing.
I'm Pakistani, so that felt very, hit pretty close to home.
But like the, was that melodic minor, harmonic minor?
That little lick coming in, it was really cool,
that was the coolest part of the song, I think.
Liam: Ugh!
Rachel: What is the - is there like - what is the modulation there?
Henry: I don't even know what happened on those key changes,
I was just too mesmerized.
We didn't go in there from the normal song's tonic
cuz we went, like, I don't know what section it was,
but we went to like major for half a minute, and then right after, (Cloud: It's where you see all the pretty colors)
it went from like the dunes [?????]
Henry: into this like summery west coast looking thing... Cloud: So it's like aeolian...
Cloud: into ionian into phrygian?
Henry: Yeah, it went from E♭ minor
*plays E♭ minor scale*
to E[♭] major!
Cloud: To E♭ major?
Henry: *plays melody*
Henry: You know, very major. Cloud: And then is it phrygian?
Henry: I don't know.
*More Melodica*
Cloud: But it's not E♭ phrygian, so that one is a key change.
*Even more melodica*
. . .
Henry: What the hell?
*Plays scale*
Henry: So they have a raised 3rd and a ♭2, Cloud: So harmonic minor and phrygian?
Henry: and it's this very - I don't know what the heck it's called...
Huh?
Umu: Phrygian dominant.
Henry: What is that relation though?
Cloud: It's a third below the key that we're in.
Cloud: So it's like the relative minor. Henry: [?????], cuz she goes from,
Henry: She goes from the...
Both: E♭ minor to E♭ major
Henry: which is a parallel modulation, which is modal mixture, Cloud: Yeah, and then to the relative minor,
Henry: and then the relative of that but she made it phrygian. Cloud: and then phrygian dominant.
Cloud: Phrygian dominant.
Henry: It does guide your ear a little bit.
Cloud: So that's why it's not super jarring,
and all those transitions are back to back with no transition...
yeah.
Kevin: And so when the change happens
we first hear open fifths of C,
which is the relative minor of the original key, which is E♭,
so we go down,
but then we're not sure if it's major or minor yet,
and we think it's minor because that's how our brain,
even if you don't know music theory,
that's how our brains lead us to believe,
because of how much music we have heard in the past,
but then we hear the *plays line*,
the major third come in, and that's pretty mind blowing,
I think the pacing of that modulation is super good (Umu: Right)
but then, to return back to the original,
I can't think of an immediate way to make it smooth
but maybe the intention is to not be super smooth.
I definitely appreciate the modulation into it
more than the modulation back,
but it's an interesting exercise for me personally
to figure out "Oh, how can I make the modulation back smoother"
because this is becoming a trope in K-pop,
of the brand new section.
And I think the missing link
between all the songs that I've hear that have this
are "How do we modulate back, how do we change back to it".
Umu: A lot of people just go with a creative way of getting into it
and then, on the way out, they just go like a *slide*,
or they have silence.
Some sort of like a few beats production transition...
Kevin: Yeah exactly, a production transition, exactly. Umu: where they just - right?
Umu: Instead of actually taking the harmonic route.
Umu: You wanted to re-listen to the bridge?
Liam: Where is that? There it is!
Liam: I don't know what that metallic kind of sound is, like *imitates*,
Liam: like that, (Rachel: Oh yeah) it's like almost gamelan, kinda.
Oh, you know, it could be kinda like,
does it kinda have that rattly kinda sound,
like the African marimbas, like the gourds,
like they have the little rattles on them.
Rachel: It's hit but it has like a... what is it called?
Liam: It has like little rattles, kinda, around the resonators.
Rachel: So it kinda makes this metallic sound.
Liam: And I really, it's a really cool sound. Rachel: It does sound kinda like a kalimba.
Sam: It's really impressive how
they incorporated the Thai instruments,
the Thai influence instruments, because
were those sort of like usages, were those samples?
Or were those in... yeah. (U: I don't know if they hired a musician.)
Cuz I think if that was a sample,
that, those two snippets, especially the one in the B section,
the section, was handled so well
cuz there was a clear like hook to it
and there was such a great flow that was used within it,
I really, I think the hook was really strong
and I also think that there was just so much energy
throughout the entire song...
Umu: What aspect of the song were you getting the energy from,
was it Lisa herself, the instrumental, the 808s?
Sam: I think it has to do with how,
even though it's a very repetitive song,
they were sort of introducing things at different times,
they were taking things away at different times,
and how they were sort of like -
they kind of went into the song knowing:
"Okay, our song is literally gonna be only two notes.
How can we sort of develop this in a way?"
Like there were times where they extended that beyond
dropping everything out except for the strong beats of every beat.
They used, they incorporated like pan,
there were some things happening here, some things happening here,
there were some parts where there was
a lot more silence than in other parts.
I think that's where it gets its variety from.
And then the second section, that was just pure adren-
high-octane adrenaline.
That was a lot of fun to listen to that second part.
Kevin: Man, okay, I'm gonna spill the tea.
I feel like this chorus is gonna be divisive.
Umu: Okay.
Kevin: It's gonna be divisive.
Umu: What side are you on?
Kevin: I am in the slightly less favorable side.
The first time through was, it was okay,
but I wish the second time through she didn't have to repeat it,
like copy-paste it one extra time, you know, because the-
the chorus is pretty chunky,
it's a big part of the song every time it appears...
Umu: They know they're really milking the earworminess of "Lalisa..."
Kevin: Which I actually like it, I think it sounds good,
but I do think there should be a little more to it.
Henry: It's so freaking catchy,
and the fact that she uses this motif, "Lalisa",
just those words and the different parts of it,
"La la la Lalisa" and then "Love me", like that same "lə",
it's really a super strong statement and super empowering message,
well not like empowering for other people
but empowering for her, and I like it a lot.
Cloud: Is it just me or did the first chorus,
like the very first thing that she opened with,
have the most bass and hit the hardest out of all the choruses?
Cloud: Like, I was like: "This is going so hard!" Henry: I think cuz it came out of nowhere and it was like "Yeah".
Cloud: And then when she went into the-
cuz I was expecting the same chorus,
and then she went into the chorus and it's a little bit chiller.
Henry: Ah. Gotta make a strong first impression. Cloud: And it worked up from there. Yeah.
Cloud: It's hard to start songs with the chorus, in my opinion,
cuz then you're very - I've said this a million times -
but you're liable to have an energy drop and make it boring.
Henry: Oh well, but she didn't, sooo Cloud: But it wasn't a problem, so...
Henry: We're good~
Umu: I was thinking, could we break down the rhythms
of her main melody in the chorus versus the intro,
because I believe she does downbeats like "LA-lisa love me LA",
and then in the intro it's almost swung, maybe.
Rachel: Okay.
Liam: Yeah, she does swing that, oh my gosh, Rachel: Oh yeah, she does swing it, yeah.
Liam: I didn't even notice that.
Rachel: Ooh~ Yeah, I didn't notice that.
Liam: But the instrumental in the background is still straight 8th notes. Rachel: [?????] Yeah.
Liam: It creates a cool kinda polyrhythm effect.
Rachel: Yeah she's kind of swinging everything right here.
Rachel: *Imitates* Liam: Yeah.
Liam: Yeah, then it's just straight 8ths, yeah.
Liam: Swung feel, like it is in the beginning, kinda sounds like:
and then when it gets to the chorus it becomes kinda more square, like:
like it just changes the feel,
it makes it feel more, I guess, grounded,
and it's kinda easier to dance to, in a traditional sense.
Raffi: My favorite part was probably- Well, besides the voice,
I mean that, there is some really cool stuff going on,
I mean she used a ton of vocal fry in some of the rapping,
closing off to like
[t/n: Vocal fry level 100]
and then just like holding that,
[t/n: lol]
You know? And it was effective... (Sam: Yeah, she did do that.)
Raffi: I liked it, she did, she went
[t/n: No comment.]
But the *vocalizes droning note* I really enjoyed
because to me it brought like, I said it while I was reacting,
but like a steadiness to it, you know,
and I mean it is a song about "call me this, call me that",
and I think in the midst of all the different elements
that you were talking about there was a grounding of steadiness.
Raffi: Is that a 129 million?!
Sam: And it was released 3 days ago!
Sam: Ey, if this video gets 100 million views...
...then...
...I...
Raffi: Sam will strut.