Another Late Report, yay! Hope you weren't used to the August edition and the extra credit there, because this month has slimmed down considerably and is more in line with other previous installments. Wonder what is in September's grab bag of goodies.
Presidential BTS
Really seems like BTS are doing some groundbreaking worth every month or so. Granted I haven't really listened to any of their recent music, but still. To get a letter from the president is pretty rad - doesn't matter if you follow, love, or hate them. They really are on another level by this point, and not even the worldwide pandemic has been able to slow them down in any capacity. Scary shit.
Choa - Girls Like You
Amidst all the depressing news revolving AOA (and the rest of the world), it's nice to have some good show up. Choa has been out of the spotlight for a while now and I'm glad she is back. Her voice is delightfully refreshing and this Maroon 5 cover does a great job of that. This should be a slow but steady return to at least singing in the public sphere for her. Welcome back, Choa.
Jay Park was still wearing shirts in 2013 ha! That's how you know this shit is throwback. Throw in Clara making a main appearance in the music video and that's vintage 2013 Kpop. The original review was published about a month later so let's see how it differs from some of my more reactive reviews. Also since it's from that long ago the review was segmented by category but I'll manage.
I’ll be honest with you here. I never liked Jay’s voice. I found it higher in range, less flexible than most, and usually tend to gravitate more towards his rapping than singing. I considered Taeyang from Big Bang a better vocal substitute for pretty much all of his solo work.
To this day I still stand by these sentiments. Not only is Jay better off in the rapping / hip-hop sphere, but Taeyang basically does what he does singing-wise, except better. Come to think of it, if you fused Taeyang's emotional softer voice with Jay's more intense rapping voice...hm.
I’ll be honest with you here. I never liked Jay’s voice. I found it higher in range, less flexible than most, and usually tend to gravitate more towards his rapping than singing. I considered Taeyang from Big Bang a better vocal substitute for pretty much all of his solo work. The only instances I’ve enjoyed his vocals were when he was just starting out solo (“Nothing On You”) or when he was being carried by Junsu (“Again & Again”). With this, however, I am pleasantly surprised. Excluding the short spread of falsettos which I will pretend didn’t happen, this is a good showing by him throughout the verses and chorus. However, those falsettos were really unsettling and also unnecessary and so bring this score down a significant amount.
Music Video: 25 / 25
As far as artful goes, this music video brings it all. Creativity, colour, realism, and simplicity combine all together for a fresh music video. Everything is filmed outside (or at the very least not in an obvious decorated box) where the scenery is nice and gives you room to breathe. The clothes Jay has are pretty average, adding a sense of connectivity (that’s a word right?) or familiarity with viewers and fans alike. Walking around, being with the girl of interest, hanging out with people, are all elements modern music videos lack. Even the ones that are filmed outside usually don’t have this level of flavour (Big Bang’s “Bad Boy” for example). I don’t really care about production, this type of music video will look better than any enclosed room other entertainment companies can conjure. Oh yeah, and the girl is super cute, too.
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Overall: 90 / 100
A bright message, coupled with light vocals and a fantastic music video make this one of my favourite Jay Park songs. I wasn’t too moved by really anything he had released since his departure from 2PM but this turns things around. I hope Jay will release music similar to this in the future, because it seems like it’s very well received thus far.
