안녕하세요 fellow K-pop fans,
The boys are back! (High School Musical reference for any of you Disney fans!) BEAST has comeback with their latest mini album, a year after the very upbeat and electronic feel of “YeY”. There has been a major lineup change since then, as the departure of Hyun-seung has allowed other members to step up to the plate, making the group dynamic more interesting.
Now, for those of you who don’t know what I am talking about at all, here’s a quick background on BEAST. The group formed in 2009 under the company Cube Entertainment, which houses artists like 4Minute (disbanded recently, sadly 😢), BTOB, and CLC. BEAST started gaining traction and recognition with the track “Fiction” and went on to release tracks such as “Beautiful Night”, “Shock”, “Bad Girl”, “Shadow”, and many more. BEAST has been recognized with many awards such as Artist of the Year at the MelOn Music Awards and Album of the Year at Gaon Chart Music Awards for the album Fiction and Fact. They are considered one of the leading groups that helped the spread of the Hallyu Wave. Now let’s see if this track lives up to that name.
Song Review:
For this title track, BEAST seems to go back to the sound that has brought them up to this point. The song starts off with a half speed backing track that does miracles by slowing down the overall pace of the song and gives off a very sad feel. When the violin comes in, the tempo goes up a bit and creates a perfect blend of contrast between the two sounds. Once we enter the rap, we can hear a brief moment of the acoustic guitar, as well as the introduction of the piano in the background, which persists throughout the rest of the song. These elements make the song sound more dramatic than it did initially. Overall, this was a very well-produced song, and it was great to see BEAST going back to their roots. This song was also produced by Jun-hyung, whom we can’t wait to hear more from.
Talking about the group’s vocals in the song, it was a pleasant surprise to hear Jun-hyung sing at the beginning even though he is a rapper; he has a very unique tone. The vocals in this track are very strong, exposing each of the member’s vocal ability, which does not disappoint. The members’ vocals blend very well together, and the vocal range keeps getting higher with each member as the song progresses. We start off with the low, charismatic voice of Jun-Hyung, then Gi-kwang, Dong-woon, Doo-joon, and end with the high notes from Yo-seob. Despite the loss of one member, BEAST still can fill the gaps with ease.
Overall, the song was a very fresh, throwback to BEAST’s old days. Can’t wait to see more stuff from them in the near future!
Song Rating: 9/10
MV Review:
The song MV was as good as always, keeping up the Korean music industry standard for high quality videos. The color of the video was dark which fit the pace of the song perfectly. The dance break and the choreography was surprising, as I didn’t think that they would be able to create a dance for such a slow-paced song. (That Gi-kwang hip thrust though, right ladies? 😉). Nothing much to say about this MV, just an all-around really good MV from a great K-pop group!
MV Rating: 9/10
This post was written by our guest blogger, Hallyu Dongsaeng.
