Review: IVE - Eleven
IVE's debut this December was an expected success. It featured members of former mega-hit girl group IZ*ONE, and it was also highly promoted by their Starship agency. However, it has been a break-out hit beyond most expectations. It rose to the top 10 of Gaon and received a music show win within record time, while also gaining nearly 45 million views on YouTube within 20 days.
However, their debut single Eleven is also surprisingly unique. The song is driven by a rhythmic, almost tribal, percussion loop. It slows down and speeds up and random yet precise intervals, creating a surprise at each moment. It is a little glassy, but also echoes at times, with various drums acting in cohesion. Cowbells, congo drums, and more make a definitive percussion landscape, one wild and open.
Other elements through the song also build with this tribal percussion loop. Rhythm guitars and building atmospheric loops provide a shelled and oceanic assist to the open percussion. This all is a strong assist for the song to build.
IVE's members all turn out to be competent vocalists. IZ*ONE's arrangements did not allow many vocal moments, but Wonyoung, in particular, stands out as a surprise. While far from a spotless figure, Ryan Jhun is a talented vocal arranger, and he certainly knows what he is doing here. The vocals spotlessly flow over the percussion loops, working in tandem.
All of this would be for naught if the melody of Eleven was not fantastic. From the slow down right before the chorus' explosion to the chanted post-chorus, Eleven is never without a surprise. The yearning and hopeful melody is surprisingly well-made, even if it lacks a bite to give it an edge over some of the best.
Off-topic as far as the song, but my biggest worry with IVE has nothing to do with the music. The choreography and styling for Eleven is vaguely sensual, with only two of the members being full adults as per international age. At certain ages, idols should not be sexualized, and some listeners do that at times, especially in an industry notorious for its saesangs and not-so-occasional perverted executives. With OnlyOneOf and Sunmi, the artists are old and mature enough to know what they are doing, and the consequences of that. The members of IVE could or could not know. I know long-time readers have heard enough of this, but the idol industry is not a place for children. It is unsafe and dangerous. No one should be judging fourteen-year-olds.
Despite this, Eleven is a fun listen. With success guaranteed, I hope Starship takes care of the members as they launch into fame.
'Eleven' is actually a pretty solid song. It has been stuck in my head all week. Let's hope 'IVE' continue to bring good music because this is a great start.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I hope they return with something musically like this, just with a few fixes.
DeleteYeah my issue is not the song itself because of course the song is good but the concept. Although the dance and concept aren't really sexual or whatsoever it still feels matured that's why them doing this feels premature and contrived for me. I see all of them as really young girls because the adult members are not even in their 20s yet, let alone a literal 14 year old. I thought their concept trailer fits their group better and I wonder why they went for something like this. I feel like this debut made them skip the rookie phase and I'm usually looking for either freshness, vulnerability, or just some awkward adorableness in debuts and I sadly didn't find any of these there. I hope I don't sound that negative here because I really have nothing against the girls but I just don't agree with the concept and image given to them because it's at odds with their ages and even how young they look without these styling and makeup. It's one of those songs I just simply don't vibe but it's just my reservations and maybe some slight ethical concerns.
ReplyDeleteYeah, this perfectly sums up my thoughts. It does not feel sexual necessarily, but sultry in a way that it gives enough room for creeps in the fandom. Yeah, the girls being like basically children does make this even more creepy. All freshness is replaced by forced maturity.
DeleteI get everything you are saying, the ethical concerns bug me too, glad to see someone agree on this!