Review: Song Ga-In - Dream
It is lamentable that Korea's trot genre often is reduced to meme music or old-people music. In reality, the trot vocal style is quite diverse and unique, deserving more appreciation.
Thankfully, 2020 was a great year for trot fans, with the genre returning to glory in its native Korea. A lot of this was due to the Miss/Mr. Trot shows reigniting interest in the genre. Song Ga-In won the first season of Miss Trot and is thus one of modern trot's major starts.
Dream is a single from her late December album Mong, and technically a 2020 release. Nevertheless, it promoted this year, and thus is a 2021 single in my eyes.
I love when traditional elements of a culture are blended into pop music. Dream includes several pieces of traditional Korean instrumentation with the vocal performance for a massive and epic piece. Co-composed by MC Mong, the production drives the song. Despite the traditional instrumentation, guitars are present throughout the whole track. The fusion elements here remind me of last year's Samajavaragamana, sung by Sid Sriram.
Anyway, the chorus is surrounded by a massive refrain. Ga-In's vocals are great, starting the chorus with a high-note, before blending into the massive refrain. The "Aigoo" repetition closing things out could be cloying but is performed convincingly enough as to not derail the song. The backing vocals through the whole chorus are a song highlight.
When the second chorus comes, the high-note and guitar are doubled, to modernize the whole thing. Before the whole thing finishes, we are thrown into the chanted bridge. The final chorus is epic, and one of the top musical moments of the new decade.
Good job Ga-In, you have gotten me really interested. This song is a gem. It is fresh, unique, and massive.
Well I'm going to be very honest, Dream by Song Gain is like a 7.75 to me. It's great but it isn't there for me. Maybe I'll reevaluate it. The performance in KBS the other week was amazing though.
ReplyDeleteWell, to each his or her own. I love it a lot. Glad that you enjoyed the KBS performance though!
DeleteAnyway, I'm happy we got 2 synth pop hits. It really made me happier about the state of music. Hwa is gaining critical praise and already critically-acclaimed, 82. YOUHA and YUBIN are both 80s so there is hope.
ReplyDeleteIf by Hwa you mean the (G)I-DLE song, I don't think it is synthpop. It is a somewhat nice song though. Youha and Yubin had good songs too, wondering how their next releases will sound.
DeleteBut it is interesting. Yubin's song expiramented but lacked polish, Youha's song was straightforward yet polished.
Well not the Hwa song that was a sidelined comment, I'm so sorry if you misunderstood. I was saying the YOUHA and YUBIN. To be honest I loved the Yubin song more because it had more challenging arrangements but the mixing was overdone. Youha was a quintessential hit, but it feels standard. Well it just goes down to longevity I guess. K-Pop really has a big problem with mixing and mastering, this is not new. I'm sad they still haven't fixed it.
DeleteMinority opinion here: Instead of Mixing, why not record everything together as if it was live? Handel and Beethoven certainly did not have mixing, which holds true for even mid-1900s songs at times. I get that it is useful in a pandemic, but otherwise not too much.
DeleteIndeed! You're not in the minority since I support your idea, it sounds amazing. It's the simple things that make complex techniques work. That is a phenomenal idea. Well that is the best idea!
DeleteGlad someone agrees with me on that :)
Delete