Review: Oneus - Life is Beautiful
Compared to other fourth-generation K-Pop groups, Oneus took their time to build a solid discography. After an A-grade debut, they wandered from style to style, featured in a disastrous attempt at the crown in Road to Kingdom, and jumped from trend to trend. However, the group as performers grew immensely through these failings, as did their A&R team. The end result has been 2021 I have not covered nearly enough.
First, they opened with a mid-tier mini-album, led by a mid-tier single. However, they followed it up with the amazing Black Mirror. Its funky beat basically reinvented and revived Oneus. From the stylish MV to the unbeatable hooks, it provided a strong level of polish. It was paired with an excellent b-side with the Valkyrie remix, continuing Oneus's legacy as excellent remix artists.
With the Oneus Theatre project, they have continued their legacy. Shut Up Bako Crazy Hot! is the best Kingdom performance song that never was, for example. However, the peak of the project would be their remake of MJ's Thriller. I did not review it, but let it be known that it is amazing. Seriously, Oneus currently have the two best remixes of the year. Every element of the Thriller remix works perfectly.
With Life is Beautiful, Oneus have released a summer song... in September. Seriously, quite lame RBW! Do you WANT me to now consider EXO's Power a summer song? Who bribed you to delay the song, I am betting on Lina and Una of Hallyu Reviews.
Jokes aside, Oneus' Life is Beautiful is way out of season. It also is the latest example of the long-running reality show 'K-Pop lyricists who are out of ideas for English lines and places to put a random Spanish line in their songs'. No really, the song's second verse opens with 'I sing a song like Greenday, Viva la Vida like Coldplay'. Normally, I'd go on a long rant, but I am still recovering from last month's 'You smell better than a barbeque', so I'll give a pass here.
Musically, Life is Beautiful is driven by summer funk. It is all very One Direction-esque, but it comes off as just enough of a K-Pop track for it to stand out. Its centerpiece is its chorus, driven by a chugging funk beat along with the song's best hooks, before dropping into a flute sample segment. I love flutes, but I must admit the flute here comes off as a little squeaky. Nonetheless, the chorus comes off as a strong centerpiece to the song. Oneus provide a strong performance, even if there is not much for them to grab onto for memorable vocal moments.
The verses, with their slower tempo, are a little more wayside, but never enough that they detract from the song. Instead, they come across as supportive material to the central refrains. It is not new, but it works.
Overall, Life is Beautiful is another strong entry to Oneus' growing discography. With them potentially coming back near the end of the year, I am curious to see how they end this strong year of theirs.
One of the best reviews I've seen yet again. The punchline is perfect in this one. I have yet to listen to the song but I know it will be very good again. ONEUS is very great this year I have to say. The ONEUS Theatre project might be the best project this year for all I know. I mean we have yet to see it conclude but for now I have to go back to my deforestedradio (shameless self-promo).
ReplyDeleteThanks so much StillBangtan!
DeleteI think you might like this one, though it may knock you out of the park. This project has been great.
I so want to check out Deforestedradio, back to trying to figure out how to turn it on I guess lol.
I've been seeing you a lot commenting on other people's review blogs (so cool that you guys read each other's thoughts!), and now I got the courage to finally mark my debut in 10/10 Music hehe. So, hi there! Nice to officially meet you :)
ReplyDeleteYou know, I was going to comment on that barbeque line here, but I think that's better off in sharing my thoughts in the song you linked. (P.S Thank you for exposing me to the song. Really!)
I'm so glad I wasn't the only one who thought the flute sample sounded a little too squeaky for such a smooth, vibrant summer track. It's a small nitpick though but regardless I'm glad to know someone share similar thoughts. I agree with your closing statement: this is such a strong entry to the ONEUS' 'Theatre' project.
Can't wait to see what they have in store for us later this year!
Hello Haruko!
DeleteNice to meet you too! While I can't officially follow your twitter account (I don't have Twitter), I have been reading your tweets and comments for a while, you are very articulate! Also, we both like KNK's Ride, so that is great. Honestly, looking forward to you eventually starting a review blog, your comments are basically full-fledged reviews on their own already.
Yeah, we all read each other's blogs a lot. I am super-glad there is a sense of community in the K-Pop blogosphere, it even led to our first collaboration last month!
And I'll share my thoughts to your thoughts on that song in that post's link lol.
Also glad to find someone who thought the flute was a bit squeaky. Indeed, it did tick the score down a bit haha.
Also cannot wait to see where they go next!
Oh, wow. I'm really flattered by your kind words... Really!
DeleteI'm grateful for people taking the time to read my thoughts (especially for something that is ultimately subjective), so it means a lot coming from you. Thank you so much 108ent!
The communal relationship you guys share is beautiful. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw Nick shared the post about the summer collab (and there were even a few blogs I did not recognise). I'm grateful for that collab 'cause it allowed me to expose myself to more people's thoughts of songs; new perspectives :)
Ahh, I hate to break your bubble but I don't think I've mentioned about KNK's "Ride". Though, when I checked your review out, I was very pleasantly surprised at the high score you gave this song.
So, I decided to have a listen to it, and you know what? The song did not disappoint.
The electronic influences in the chorus and how it was constructed sounded so satisfying to me? Plus the vocal layering echoing the lines is just so, so nice. Like when they repeat the last words of a phrase like "bowowow" (that looks so ridiculous on writing haha) and "take a ride-ide-ide-ide".
I don't recall listening to this song ever since it was released, so thank you for the reminder! It's now an instant addition to my Spotify playlist.
Hopefully you could find that fated person you're think of who shares a mutual love for the song though! KNK's "Ride" is such a fun song.
No problem, thank you for reading my subjective thoughts!
DeleteThat was the whole point of the summer collab. I wanted to introduce more people to some of the lesser known blogs, and I think we succeeded greatly in that aspect. Due to various issues, I was not able to have 555 Reviews and K.Kive join us, but they deserve a check out too!
Oh gosh, this is so embarrassing. I honestly don't know where I goofed up. I think another Twitter-reviewer may have mentioned KNK's Ride around the time I started reading your writings, and thus I messed it up. Ugh, my bad. Perhaps I got mixed up with Bobby's Rest Ur Bones, which you did mention, and I like too? At east I introduced you to the gem that is KNK's Ride, so that is something.
Some good songs you did introduce me to (and I double-checked this time!)
- FreezyBone - FreezyVogue
- BZ Boys - Close Your Eyes
- Park So Yeon - Flower and Beautiful Night
- Taewoo - Hit Me Up
- Ha Hyunsang - Burning Sunset
And many, many more, thank you!
(Ahh as much I'm enjoying this conversation, I don't want to clog this comment section up. I'm glad we got to converse though! This will be my last one in this particular review. Thank you for taking the time to reply and read through, 108ent!)
DeleteAww, that's a shame 555 Reviews and K.Kive couldn't join the summer collab. Hope's not lost though! You still gave them a shoutout in your "Celebrating 25k Blog Views" post. Any kind of exposure helps for small channels/blogs greatly.
That's really cool of you to do that, both the shoutout and you starting up the collab :)
You went through my threads! (That means you must have saw the early days of my Twitter undergoing an identity crisis: fan stan account, promoting songs, art account, and some more haha).
Wow... you're really taking me back to the good 'ol days. Bobby's "Rest Your Bones" was a song I really love back when I just got into K-pop. It's simple, but at the same it's beautiful that plays to Bobby's strengths, especially the chorus.
I'm glad that some of the songs I've recommended via Twitter you have enjoyed them! It's always a pleasure recommending songs, and vice versa when I'm also given a recommendation. Any and all song recommendations are welcomed (whether it's indirectly in the form of reading reviews or when I go and ask fans of artists or genres on what songs) :)
Okay, makes sense. But I don't mind long comment chains haha.
Delete555 Reviews was on hiatus during the feature, and I was not able to get K.Kive's email in time. However, I am glad I included them in my 25k celebration (thanks for reading it!). Maybe I could include them in a sequel post?
Yeah, I went through your initial threads. It was really fun reading, I love seeing how every starts their writings!
Rest Ur Bones truly is fantastic, especially the chorus. So underrated, unfortunately. I would not call it from the 'good ol' days', you are making me feel ancient.
Song recommendations are great, aren't they? I'll continue to review underrated tracks as recommendations, and your Twitter has introduced me into so many of them!
Thanks for the thoughts Haruko! Looking forward to more great conversations!
Another truly fantastic review as always. I love that you termed ONEUS' career to date as a 'legacy' because that feels truly fitting at this point.
ReplyDeleteI'm 100% not a hater of a summer song in September *glances around nervously* so I'm with Lina and Una on the summer vibes all year round haha! Though your point about the lyrics did make me laugh because that is the exact lyric that I also picked up on.
On the whole I just like how refreshing it feels amongst the backdrop of their varied discography - very intrigued as to what style they will try for their next official comeback!
Thank you so much Jei!
DeleteInteresting, someone else who likes late Summer songs. Not one for Summer all-year-round here, but I guess that is me as a Winter guy!
I think that line is generally agreed as the worst, even TheBiasList pointed it out, so I also noted it!
Looking forward to their next comeback so much!!!