Jamal: Ooh
Henry: Before we react to Stella Jang
we want to take a minute to let you know that we were able to film and edit this video thanks to our Patreon.
Cloud: Since we are unable to monetize any of our react videos that we upload to this channel
it's really our Patreon that keeps this channel running, growing and improving
H: Our supporters on Patreon have access to a whole lot of interesting and exclusive content including
uncut reactions to this song, reactions to japanese releases, live performances, and much much more
a link to the full list of exclusive content is pinned in the comment section below
C: If you enjoy our content we would really appreciate it if you could support us on patreon at patreon.com/reacttothek
joining our patreon is optional you can also support us by leaving a like or a comment on this video
now let's get to reacting
Umu: Okay, 'Villain' right
Josh: I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you
my beard was too loud
U: You are now reacting to the solo singer-songwriter Stella Jang who debuted in 2014.
Ju Young: Oh my god I love her, she sang- she sang the Ratatouille song
U: What Ratatouille song? Ju: 'Le Festin'
It was so good U: Demonstrate for us?
*Ju tries (and fails) to sing it*
and then, what's the chorus?
U: She has gained attention with her 2020 album, Stella 1, which features this song 'Villain'
in an interview she said villain relays the message that there is a light and a dark, an angel and a demon in all of us
the lyrics explore the idea that we all believe we are the hero, unwilling to look at the villain that lies within.
The song is composed and written by Stella Jang
Stephanie: Three, two, one, go.
Rafael: Get a vibe J: Definitely
Kevin: Ooh there's a little dissonance on the higher chords... it's a little spiky.
J: Ooh
eyeballs
Jo: Woo! Steve: Woo!
Ju: This is so like, 50s, and like retro
K: I like her- Owen: That's a more musical theater thing- K: I like her half-assed dancing intentionally
H: Oh because of the villain
*singing along* I like that a lot
oh the other (going up) that's cute
Raffi: That's a good question Sam: Mhm *R laughs*
That is a good question, it's deep, she's asking the deep questions
J: I like (RE: Ooh!) that's cool today they're like mixing the uh like some modern uh
like producing elements, like the trap drum pad with like Trad jazz
H: Ooh
Ju: This is literally... me, can't dance more than this
K: You can hear tiny bits of freedom within the instruments
R: Got that bounce, bouncing rhythm
Sam: Mhm, it's bouncy it's fun
R: Yeah
K: Ahh those chords
villain and killing, oh she's killing the rhymes
especially after saying villain villain so many times but then I'm killing someone
The syncopation really works well here
R: Beautiful glottal snap Sam: Mhm
Oh big fan, big fan R: I love it
Ju: Damn Ja: I like how the main point it stays on the same note Ju: I love this asmr that like all these Korean artists put in
I love asmr oh my god U: Like the track or the fact that their voices are whispery
Ju: Their voices it's like, I love asmr, and like I think- Jason stop (Ja: I don't) god, no it's just it's very Ja, whispering: Welcome back to part two
Ju: It's very sweet to the ears her timbre and the texture of her voice and it's just very, very nice to listen to
H: We all pretend to be the heroes on the good side, it's just um I guess kind of staccato
it's just kind of broken up when you would usually say that bit more legato, we all pretend to be the hero
ST: I re- I noticed that I mean it's in like like one two three four but you can hear kind of like the subdivision like the
*gives example of what she means*
It was like that, the main melody in the very beginning it's really um articulate how she sings it
and it's kind of square rather than just saying it all the same way it's like really squared and I thought that was really interesting
H: I like that it repeated all throughout like what if we're the villains on the other
the other being like kind of a question you know you kind of ask, what if we're the villains on the other?
but musically she just kind of kept that one note and then other
made it sound like you're asking a question, I also really like the sentences
Ooh that's a sentence! Are you good ay, are you good ay- Again! Do another sentence, do another sentence!
*excited Henry noises*
SENTENCES!!
but she even keeps that ay, ay, say at the end to give it some like groundedness
I feel like that's a really great example of a sentence structure that's also really catchy
U: Yeah, for non-musicians if you were to explain why elements of the song kind of reminds you of, you said like older jazz, what would they be?
RE: The instrumentation at a certain point was um it was like an acoustic bass and the piano and the drum set and the drum set was pretty limited to like
I think it was like bass drum on the floor and then like almost like an oompa-loompa feel for like a lack of a better term (U: Mm) yeah
*does example*
and then the bass was on, like playing in a two feel, so like all half notes
and the piano was kind of doing some stride piano which is
just like a very specific thing, and the pianist was kind of doing it but like also
it was like pretty straight too it didn't sound totally like stride piano, but it was like in that vein
U: So like a pop version of stride piano RE: Yeah a pop version of it
K: I think a couple of reactions ago we talked about how like
a lot of songs try to combine the jazz and cabaret and the ragtime and stuff
and sometimes I find it a bit overwhelming, this one very much stuck to the cabaret feeling
and she pulled it off so well not only- because the production is so not overwhelming
there's nothing that was bass-y, there's nothing that was particularly even saturated, I would call it everything's kind of just
it sounds like it's in a box but it's good that way because it sounds old-timey
and it made me actually realize something, the whole song she sang even when there were vocal harmonies like she didn't need to pay any effort
and that's what makes this cabaret style kind of good you know, you- you imagine the singer just walking around this bar this underground bar
and just lightly flirting giving some eye contact to all the all the customers all the all the people sitting, sitting at the bottom
and that's what the vibe of this sort of gives me, and I think she pulled off very, very well
O: I would have liked a more tangible villain in this
this sort of felt like, I-I saw the two desserts and while her two dresses, the um white holding a book and the horns black
with the the cake, the white cake that's kind of how the entire song felt like, like some whipped cream very light
I could have used more of that like brownie, the little denseness
K: This song just feels like she's very lightly philosophizing on these topics
and yet the music video is the thing that gives us more context more creativity but I like that the song just feels like she's like talking about all this stuff
but you're just here to be entertained so if you want to pay attention to it, then pay attention to it
but i really like I-I understand your perspective and I (O: Yeah) think that's yeah
J: I was just, I was just um very like intrigued by the the sets and like
the props used and then it was a cool combination of like weird at times grotesque like scenes
and then like really like dope harmonies and like at times like jazz progressions for sure so, yeah
ST: Actually what stood out the most to me about this was the harmony
towards the end I heard the single line in the guitar and I don't think that was there the first time
and I really liked the sound of the guitar so it really stood out to me, and yeah the harmony was really beautiful
U: Are you able to figure out that harmony? Do you know what the movement is?
ST: Um not exactly, yet Leon: Like the harmony is like not hard although it's somehow like a little bit jazz harmony but-
ST: Yeahhh L: it just provides such a good clarity and then um
oh it's A minor- A minor on G and then F sharp half diminished and then F major and then e7 sharp nine
ST: Wooo!
L: And then like going to the pre-chorus then is like
It's like that I think ST& U: Woo
U: Do you have a favorite section? L: I like the verse more than the pre-chorus, pre-chorus is kind of cliche like it's like
it's like Fly Me to the Moon (U: OHH) a little bit it's like the the cliche progression but like this
it's like really cute and it really represented the lyrics as well it's like
I'm a villain I'm also a hero like it's kind of like evil and justice combined together
Sam: So I've heard the song before and I enjoy it immensely and what, what caught my attention was the instrumentation
and because I- I'm just such a sucker for piano instrumentation and piano sampling any- anything that involves using that
and I just love how it starts so simple so bouncy and then during the build up into the chorus it just blossoms into this... I don't know
it's so alive and so pictorial you can see- you're like right there with her and it's just I love it
R: Right away it grabbed my attention with just voice like just starting like no instrumentation
and then it just layers in a little bit piano, so I'm thinking like okay it's like piano voice ballad but wait there's more
and then it layers in the strings it was grooving
H: Her singing is so effortless, I quite like it she- she freely uses a little bit of vibrato on sustained notes here and there
which is refreshing to hear k-pop when you're listening to like lots of belting all day long
but i think it's really interesting how you can really hear her oral posture the way her
mouth she holds her mouth she speaks very small, not a lot of movement and you can hear it by
how she enunciates her words if i speak like this things are a little less loud a little
less enunciated and it's just a little, feels a little easier when I keep my mouth a little less open and wide because I'm obnoxious
I and I thought that was interesting
Ja: Her voice fit it all together really well (Ju: Right) because she wasn't trying too hard, (Ju: Right) she wasn't doing, she's kind of just speaking half the time
Ju: The way that she like lifted everything because like the song was 'Villain' it kind of made it sound
like she was kind of like the villain, like the texture of her voice and the way that she was singing
like the way that she was lifting up and everything- Ja: It was like ironic i think like the
try- trying to catch the words, as many words as I could um like her idealism that like the dichotomy of black and white, good and bad, villain non-villain
we have them all encompassed in ourselves and I thought that was pretty cool because that's then again you go back to like the Yin and Yang of you know like a lot of eastern philosophies
and um that's really deep rooted in so many cultures and something that's difficult for people in today's society to understand
is that we have to live with both the good and the bad within ourselves and without ourselves, outside in the world
and I think that her, kind of embellishing on that with her nice sweet little french jazz cafe um kind of retro feel
I don't know it was just nice Ju: She's very good at french too, I'm telling you listen to the ratatouille cover oh my god that was so good
it was so good oh my god
Ja: I feel like (Ju: Yeah I feel very) I feel like i can just sit down and stay there
Ju: I need a baguette, Ja: Yeah I need a baguette, I need a beret
Jason: mi pupu (?) Ju: Très bien
U: Lets just throw out all the French we know
Um
Ju: I got a 2 on the AP test *laughs*
Jason: Here we go
seven hundred thousand people are gonna know if I suck