Review: Super Junior - The Melody
Super Junior are legends in Korea. They were one of the groups that got me into K-Pop. They have gone from social-commentary filled hard-rock tracks (Don't Don), to iconic noir dance tracks (Sorry Sorry), to fluffy summer tracks (Full of Happiness), to disco party-starters (Super Clap). When all is said in done, Super Junior just might end up as one of Korea's best artists ever. Through all this time, their effortless vocals, their hilarious reality TV show appearances (watch their BuzzFeed episode like now), their boundary-breaking, and their massive fandom, the ELF (Everlasting Friend).
The ELF fans may not always be perfect (ask Henry Lau), but they have been one of the major voices of K-Pop, and have usually been one of the more stable second-generation K-Pop fandoms. 'The Melody' is released for Super Junior's 15th anniversary and is a pre-release for their upcoming studio album. The track's MV invoked heavy nostalgia for little-old me, but now on to the song.
'The Melody' is a fine track. It is as inoffensive as it can get. Driven by the group's solid vocalists, the track follows a simplistic and breezy pop path with lyrics keeping the feel throughout. There is nothing ground-breaking here, but there is some solid execution of a simple idea. I would particularly like to note the moments where the vocalists sing in duets, most notably in the pre-chorus.
The chorus follows this breezy route, with a simple flute sample. The track is far from groundbreaking, but it hits all the checkmarks for an anniversary and pre-release track.
Absolutely, I actually have done a corporate action map ready for the year-end evaluations I will post on December. SM went from Progressive (executive-controlled, artistic merit-first policy) to Conservative (executive-controlled, and maximizing profit-first policy) in its entirety. I am guessing the investors may have influenced this corporate action move. It is very saddening indeed if 1990s-2000s SM were still dominant we would have had a different NCT or the upcoming Aespa. However, I absolutely hate them during those times still because of the disbandment of H.O.T caused by them. And now SM is taking all of the BTS credit because of the new marketing project of SM in USA. Very petty. I just hope NO ONE follows their footsteps.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is sad, I must note that their artist treatment is at least better than before, so that is a plus.
DeleteBut still, I feel that the golden SM era of 1996-2015 may be over... SM, prove me wrong please!
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ReplyDeleteVoted :)
DeleteMay the best songs/albums/MVs/ etc win!