Review: Onew - Dice
Of all of SHINee's five members, Onew has perhaps had the least eventful solo career. Jonghyun was a fantastic songwriter, Minho a well-reputed actor, Key a bonafide electronic star, and Taemin the modern Michael Jackson. Onew has a few strong solo tracks, but nothing incredible just yet. While Dice is not the new Danger or Bad Love, it is more than a solid song.
The most ear-catching element of Dice upon opening is the funky bass line over the descending electronic synthline. Onew's nasal voice is a fantastic contrast to the sharp instrumental. The melody may be simple, but each hook is instantly memorable. The verses certainly do their part, with each hook coming together well.
The central highlight is certainly the chugging chorus, with its fresh nu-disco production. Sure, every other K-Pop song has such a centerpiece in modern times, but Dice sounds especially ready for the summer, and will likely only grow more addictive with time. As shown in the music video, Dice feels like a fresh glass of lemonade, sugary, but with a grounded taste, served cold under the hotter-than-normal sun.
If I have one issue with Dice, it would be that the transition from the verses to the chorus is rushed and nearly nonexistent. The verses are strong, and so is the chorus, but some breathing room, and a slow airy refrain might actually support the song. Perhaps a repititon of the "I could never let go" hook could work?
While Onew has yet to establish himself in the same way as his bandmates, Dice is easily his best track yet, and a potential song of the summer, and a fantastic example of how K-Pop can and should do this City Pop-meets-Nu-Disco sound.
Rating: 8.5/10
Image and Music belongs to SM Entertainment
A repetition of the hook would've been interesting, you're totally right. Glad you like it! *-*
ReplyDeleteOnew is THE k-pop bias for me (and the one I've followed the longest as SHINee got me into k-pop) but I was hoping so bad that we wouldn't get more and more ballads so the fact that the entire album goes in a different direction was a pleasant surprise honestly. I think this is upbeat and fun enough for him especially since he's promoting it actually this time around LOL.
Yeah, a hook repetition would work, but I think the song does well enough on its own.
DeleteSHINee also were one of the groups that got me into K-Pop, and Onew, Jonghyun, and Key's voices were a good part of that (remember when Taemin and Minho were kind of the less-famous members lol, reminds me of the Ayominho spoofs haha). But yeah, Onew's voice is instantly iconic, and I love the whole album.