Fiona: Oh, I like this electronic keyboard sound. It sounds so modern. Yes, give it to me!
*Introducing the best intro of your life*
Umu: So, the first group that we're going to be reacting to is a group called SNSD or Girls' Generation (make you feel the heat)
They are one of the most iconic girl groups in Korea. They changed the paradigm of what females were thought to be capable of.
'cause they - *Gwen unleashes her battle cry* Hugo: Oh sh*t son!
Gwen: F*ck me up with changing some paradigms of what women were expected to do! *High 5*
Hugo: #paradigms #piano #kill me #what
Gwen: I was talking about the patriarchy so uh
Hugo: Patriarchy too.
Umu: So, they debuted in 2007 with nine members with this song that we're about to react to called "Into the New World" and-
*Fiona singing Dvořák's "New World* *Lindsey laughs*
Umu: They use that. (wait what O_o)
Lindsey: Do they really?
Fiona: I called it! Umu: but they change the rhythm, see if you can find it.
*Fiona switchin' it up*
Umu: So, this song that we're about to listen to was used as a students' protest anthem against corruption.
Gwen: Oh, fuck yeah.
Umu: And then afterwards became the song for new change, so it was used at multiple protest rallies, pride parades, and a presidential impeachment.
Gwen: So, what you're telling me is that Girls' Generation is the best (confirmed by Gwen)?
Hugo: Yeah, they're some badass bitches (confirmed by Hugo).
Katie: You wanna do it together? Jarod: I feel like we should. Katie: I think we should.
Katie: 'cause this is our first, like, together Jarod: yeah, yeah. yeah, Yeah, YEah, YEAh, YEAH!
3, 2, 1 *hits spacebar*
Gwen: Well I can tell this is from ten years ago.
Hugo: Yeah, I know the 2007 vibes are real.
Gwen: It's just, it's just like *laughs*
Kevin: Wow. Khanh: Holy crap.
Kevin: Nostalgia, baby.
*more Antonín Dvořák*
Jarod: I don't know. I don't think I should be meme-ing this really heavy tune but-
Hugo: Oh yeah. Gwen: I'm lovin'- Hugo: the arpeggiation? Gwen: [Headphones are] too loud.
Naoki: That sounds like Frozen, a little bit. (Right after Hugo finished Gwen's sentence!) *Shimon's wtf face*
Henry: Wow. Emiel: Is that quote from something? *singing*
Hugo: Electric guitar, nice.
Gwen: Yeah, it's like really pangy synths, but then like, a rock-
Hugo: Yeah, you got the rock drums. Gwen: It's like The Who with a synth on top.
Hugo: Exactly.
Fiona: This is a long intro.
Now she comes in.
Gwen: There's a Clavinova in the back that I'm diggin'.
*the search for the "New World"* Naoki: Was that it?
Hugo: I love their singing. It's more natural.
Shimon: That was the Dvořák? Naoki: I didn't hear it. *return of Shimon's wtf face*
Jarod: See they do a good job, of like, making, like, such a heavy topic, like,
pretty upbeat.
Katie: But they definitely throw in those minor chords, and it makes it more real. Jarod: Oh, yeah.
Katie: because it does still show that it's a heavy topic.
Emiel: I mean, it's kind of catchy. Like the way the beat moves.
It's like kind of keeps rolling, and you kind of just like bounce your head. Back and forth.
Kevin: Like it's playing with like whether it's in E Minor G Major.
It's like somewhere in between.
Emiel: Have you been paying attention to the words?
Henry: Yeah, I'm trying to like pay attention to what they're saying, man.
Jarod: I like how for like the "they don't give up", there's like this suspension.
Emphasis to the lyrics.
Katie: That's a typical bass line.
Henry: Wow. Emiel: Oh, wow. Henry: So much unending saddness that they're all leaving behind. Wow.
Hugo: I'm digging their unison singing. It's really good. There's less autotune.
Emiel: One thing that's confusing me. It's a little bit of like an upbeat, like, kind of like, happy key to be singing, like, these lyrics to.
Those are Vans. Oh my god.
Davis: Oh! Peyton: Oh, break it.
*both breaking it down*
Khanh: What is that, rounded binary? The chorus?
Khanh: No, it's not. The second phrase was not the same as the first. Kevin: I've been out of Eastman too long, man.
Gwen: I was really not expecting like a full-on dance break.
Like all melody dropped out. It was literally just- Hugo: Drums and dance break.
Gwen: The purpose was dance break.
Naoki: I like the change in the timbre of the voice though.
They're using that pretty well.
Jarod: Sounds cool cause you could develop a song without like sounds because you take away the piano,
so it's just like solely rhythmic, but yet, you still feel it going forward. I really like that.
Katie: I feel like that's a really popular trend in today's music.
Jarod: Yeah, I mean. Yeah, just like cut everything out, and you have this break in the texture.
Less is more
Peyton: Seems like the story is kind of like girls being girls doing whatever they want to do.
I can be a ballerina, but I can also like, breakdance.
Davis: This definitely puts the evolution of the music videos into perspective. A lot.
Henry: The influence that these guys have had on modern K-pop. It's so painfully obvious.
I mean, I know it's the same genre and know that not a lot of time has past, but like
In this day and age, music changes rapidly
And the fact that there's so many common threads just speaks to how iconic these guys are in this culture.
*singing* Katie: Because you expect it to go
*both singing* IV, V, I
Katie: But it's *both singing different chord progression*
Jarod: Oh! The chromatic! It's like up a half step! There it was!
*hype* Khanh: OH! There we go! Kevin: Oh!
Khanh: What was that? A whole step?
Kevin: I can't-*listening* Yeah, it's a whole step.
Fiona: I noticed that there's no definite drops in this. Where is current music builds and is like *dropping noise*
Lindsey: I never heard "New World" Symphony in it.
Katie: I'm still waiting for the clip of Dvořák 9.
Jarod: I'm waiting for it.
Umu: Already happened. Katie: What? Jarod: It already happened? We missed it?
Was it the *singing* No, probably not.
Katie: No, we were singing that.
Umu: No, it was in the vocal melody. They totally changed up the rhythm.
Jarod: See, rhythm is key. That's honestly what is like the glue to a quotation is rhythm.
'Cause if you play the wrong notes but in the right rhythm, you can still kinda get it.
It's when you change the rhythm where it gets a little
whoa
Umu: Were you able to hear like any clips of "New World"?
No
Kevin: You're not gonna believe when it's revealed.
Khanh: *determined* I wanna find this.
*no longer determined* Ok, I give up.
Kevin: It's actually the very first line of the song.
That's it. Because if you manipulate the rhythm it turns into *singing "New World"*
Khanh: NOOOO.
That doesn't count!
Kevin: But the emphasis is totally wrong 'cause in Dvořák *singing*
It uses the E as the first note, but in this one it starts with the D. So *singing* That's why you can't hear it.
Khanh: OHHHH. Oh man
Kevin: 'Cause the emphasis is totally in the wrong place. Khanh: Oh man. Oh man. That was a lot.
*Umu and Kevin laughing*
Umu: Yeah, so what do you think of the overall composition of this song?
Emiel: Honestly? Yeah, it sounded a little bit monotonous, but
monotonous not necessarily in like a negative connotation
that usually you would associate with when you talk about music. Like, it was just
I didn't necessarily notice different sections during the song
because the overall like prevailing beat and melody was just like so
prominent, and it was five minutes long.
It's just like
that's the only melody I could like hear, you know, even when it diverted for a second onto like a different section.
Hugo: I really appreciated the pure vocals.
It just felt like the people were singing what was natural for them to sing
I never felt like the singers were strained at any point, and I think that that happens a lot more.
I mean because of where pop wants to go these days, just the cultural shift in the music.
It was so 2007. Like the quality of the sound.
Fiona: The synth sounds and their like chime-y sounds and just like the *Fiona's guitar noises*
of the guitar. It wasn't like that kind of like seventies *Fiona's other guitar noises* that is popular now.
Just like how they did the vocals, like they echoed each other in a certain way that just made it sound 2000s.
Lindsey: Yeah. I agree.
Katie: It was a very
standard bass line, but they definitely threw in
some really nice minor chords in the major song, and I do think that it was to reflect the heavy topic since they
definitely put a lot of thought into every single
note that they picked for the melody because I honestly didn't even get the fact that that was Dvořák 9. And I was listening for it too.
Henry: If you had just been like, "Here's a song," I would've been like, "Yo, boring." No, but as like a
symbol in a movement, I think it's perfect. I never need to hear the song
"We are the World" ever again, and I think it's like just a stupid catchy pop song.
But I also think that it has a place in global change, you know,
as being like a form of art that a lot of different artists from everywhere can rally behind. Music is like a
language to everyone, I mean no matter where you're from. I think very highly of music that has that effect on social change, so kudos.
Umu: Ok, well now we're gonna compare it to "All Night", which is their latest comeback.
So we're comparing their debut song with, ten years later, their latest song. Jarod: Ten. Years. Later. Oh my god.
I feel like it's gonna be like a completely different group.
Katie: I'm actually really interested. Jarod: As far as like the sound
they're about to come out with, you know. 'Cause pop music is very calculated.
Katie: Not only that, but the times have changed, so like the pop music of today is very different in 2007. So, I wonder if they're gonna change
to those standards. Jarod: Yeah
Khanh: Okay, "All Night", let's do it. "All Night". Woo! 5, 4, 3, 2, 1! Go!
Emiel: Oh, wow. Henry: Oh my god. What the fucking hell? This is so different.
Emiel: Very different
Hugo: So, did they just like put themselves in times capsules and like not age at all.
Gwen: Korean skincare!
Davis: Yeah, like all this percussion and stuff. This is super modern.
Henry: This definitely focuses way more on groove than it does on melody.
Hugo: It's got more of a hip hop vibe too. Gwen: Yeah. Hugo: And a bluesier, the vocal line is bluesier.
Gwen: It's more inspired by R&B, which makes sense because most things are nowadays.
Hugo: Yeah, most things have been inspired by R&B in pop. And you can see that!
Lindsey: Their outfits and stuff are so much more modern. Fiona: Yeah, like they don't match.
Lindsey: Oh! Oh! Oh my god that was awesome.
It seemed like it should be a drop, but then it just went into like *grooving*
Peyton: Ok yeah, this is like modern sound. Like that bass sound? Davis: Yeah.
Umu: Synth drums.
Naoki: It's very common these days. Shimon: That felt- Ok, now it feels better, but before
like now with the cymbals. Not cymbals. What do you call it?
Naoki: Oh, the high hat? Shimon: Yeah, with the high hat it feels better, but before then like without it, it felt really empty.
There was the voice and there was this really low like bass-line-ish type thing.
Katie: But it's still the same idea, I think, like the same chord structure. Kinda. Jarod: Yeah,
It's just like I think the chord structure is roughly the same, but the choice in synth sounds.
Katie: Yep, well I mean that's definitely evolved in the past years. Jarod: Oh yeah, of course.
Gwen: There's less instruments in it, actually. There's the bass, the drums, and then there's a tiny bit of strings,
but versus the other song was super layered.
Hugo: Uh, yeah girl. Shit.
Davis: Yeah, this bass is killing it. Peyton: Yeah.
*bass noises and jamming*
Khanh: Oh my gosh, confetti. Kevin: See, for me, the verse sounds particularly 80s, but then the chorus comes
*vote below: who danced better?*
Emiel: I like this beat ten times better than the other one, but the melody is.... Henry: Yeah, the melody is nothing special, and to be honest
I'm just ready to get like bored of all the shit.
Like it was like cool at first because it was a change, but like now it's just kinda like
Emiel: There is like a lot going on right now. Henry: It's just like too much sensory overload, like I don't dig it.
Fiona: Yeah, I like the continuous like Lindsey: The bass ostinato? Fiona: Yeah, I think it's cool.
(same Khanh) Kevin: Oh, OH! Interesting.
Khanh: Took out the synth for a bar.
Kevin: Yeah. Khanh: The low synth.
Peyton: Whoo!
Davis: This is really different now. Peyton: Yeah, this took a left turn. Davis: The right section.
Fiona: Oh, I like this electronic keyboard sound. It sounds so modern.
Yes, give it to me!
Lindsey: I like the halftime. It's so like
Fiona: Oh, it's like, do you hear that? You're in a big room right now. Lindsey: We're in a field.
Both: Ohhhh. Naoki: There we go.
Kevin: I knew it! There wasn't going to be a key change. It was like, one of those misleading things.
Khanh: Oh, that's really interesting. It probably could have worked a step up too.
Kevin: Oh yeah, exactly. It could have went anywhere with that.
Fiona: This keeps you interested. Lindsey: Yeah! It's like
Like the drops are different each time.
It's like it starts out like calmer when it drops and then it builds and builds. Each time it drops, it gets like a little bit more like-
Henry: It feels like I will dance to this at my 8th grade dance.
Emiel: Which is not necessarily an insult.
It's just a different vibe, you know? Different generation, so. Henry: Sure.
Umu and Emiel: Girls' Generation!
*welcome to season 2 of excellent puns*
*Emiel dabs*
Katie: That was cool. Jarod: That was that was awesome. If you're gonna come back to something, Katie: Come back with that.
Jarod: Yeah, if you're gonna do a comeback, ladies and gentleman, that's how you friggin' do it.
Umu: Um, so yeah, what were your thoughts about this one overall musically?
Davis: Well, I really thought they certainly embraced a newer sound.
Peyton: Yeah, I think it was more geared around the sounds that are
Like the harmonic structure of it all 'cause it's pretty
straight up pop music, you know? A lot of it wasn't like you know going all over the place
But it kind of allowed for the section that was like very different to seem VERY different. Davis: Oh yeah.
Emiel: That beat was so much better in the second one, but the melody was :/
It was just like they have good voices like even between like the choruses
they were doing like some solo stuff where the beat dropped out,
or like either an instrumental sounded good, or like their voice sounded like really good.
It's just like when they came back in like all together, their other melody was more catchy than this one.
Henry: *singing chorus* Yeah, whatever. At least the last one had like way more melodic substance,
Emiel: Word. Henry: and I guess like even though the groove was good
In my opinion, it did not make up for the lack of melodic content.
Hugo: It was more complex than the first one. 'Cause I think the first one you could like, you said you can break it down to like
drum set, synth, glockenspiel, and um,
voices!
This one-
- and this part of it too, and this is part of how music and especially pop music has been going is
using tonal instruments, like a synth,
as percussive instruments, and same with voice vocal lines. If you listen to the vocal lines of the song from 2007,
you're gonna have longer sustain notes. You're gonna have melodies that have longer phrases that are more sustained and more legato.
Gwen: Yeah, it's ultimately just gonna be more sung. Right?
Hugo: Exactly.
It's like instead of having a lot of things going on at once, it's like having everything more homo-phonic.
Gwen: These girls, what's so impressive is that they are just singing
exactly how it comes out of their mouth, which is
harder than it sounds.
Hugo: Yeah. *Gwen laughs*
I think vocally, if I'm if I'm gonna go purely off vocals,
I am most impressed with them and AKMU because I am the least concerned about them and AKMU.
I am most vocally satisfied with their technique. I don't wanna be like that pretentious guy who's just like-
There's different techniques.
Gwen: Yeah, someone like MAMAMOO, they have a completely different singing technique than we do.
Hugo: Exactly.
Gwen: And it sounds fucking awesome.
Hugo: It does.
Gwen: But it's a completely different world, right?
'Cause we don't, to our ears, and our ear is trained to
no tension, no adding anything, natural vibrato, like all of it just like
*More Gwen noises*
A lot of of pop, what you'll have is you'll have, they'll go up to the high note, they go *Hugo singing* and they'll sustain it on.
Gwen: And then they'll add vibrato, instead of release, which is like, iffy.
But again, completely different technique, so to our ears we're attracted to stuff like this because it's
simple and it
nothing stands out as even remotely unhealthy.