Review: A.C.E - Higher
One of the first songs I reviewed on this blog was A.C.E's Favorite Boys. It was the first single that I gave a 9 or higher. It also was the second or third post of mine to hit 100 views. That may not seem like much now, but it was massive back in the day. Thus, I have a bit of an A.C.E bias. Thankfully, their music has been worth it so far. Higher is probably one of the weaker singles but is solid nonetheless.
The lyrics are basically typical love lyrics, led by a clever but common analogy of water and the oceans. There is a reason the seas keep coming in our analogies, it is so universally applicable.
From the lyrics, the song focuses on emotion. Although the melody sometimes falls flat, the atmosphere itself allows the song room to build on. The first verse opens with this atmosphere, building with EDM production. The pre-chorus here is central, with some great hooks, and a building atmosphere.
The chorus, on the other hand, is driven by a Sci-Fi EDM drop. It is like old-school NCS, just more K-Pop-esque. It works solidly, even if the momentum is halted quite a bit. A.C.E provide a solid vocal performance, even rappers like Byeongkwan sing well enough. The best part of this is the strong cascading production, adding a level of dynamism.
The second phase of the chorus pulls the production together for the "Yeah I'm going Higher" hook, which works fine enough to add a level of energy. Unfortunately, the next verse slows things down again. The odd and out-of-place vocal effects certainly don't help. At least the pre-chorus is as solid as ever, same with the chorus.
The bridge is shoehorned in, a frustration I have with a lot of modern K-Pop, thankfully it works on its own well enough. From around 2:55 (in the MV) we get a brief build to improve the tune. Then, the final chorus adds some add-libs to drive things to their conclusion.
Higher is not the most ambitious A.C.E song ever, even if the sci-fi soundscape is great. Thankfully they are back. Higher is a middling A.C.E song, and that means a great song.
Indeed! Very well said. I'm glad that A.C.E are really starting to get noticed by a lot of people. Especially after Favorite Boys, that song was just top-notch. Higher is indeed middling and even mixed, however, this only means it is greater than most K-Pop singles. A.C.E is a really surprising group. Wish we see more of these directions in the future.
ReplyDeleteThe chorus is very NCS, that was the term I failed defining in my review. Anyway, the single is still miraculously overwhelming and very gargantuan to the rest. It is quite frankly a reach to really experiment and delve into the waters but A.C.E kind of succeeded. Wishing all the best!
Yeah, Favorite Boys garnered them attention. As a long time fan of theirs, it is good to see that finally happen.
DeleteThe NCS comparision actually came as a family member was listening to some Y&V and Elektronomia when I was writing the review lol.