IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU - JUNE 2020

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Sometimes execs and labels just fuck it up and pick the wrong song to promote a debut/comeback.
And it's up to us to find those hidden gems, that might otherwise be burried under countless songs.
Every month I'll try to look back on girl group and female soloist release (I don't have time to waste on boys) and try to find out the song that should have been "IT" but was overlooked.

What's my expertise on this?
None whatsoever.
It's just fun & games but to paraphrase the great Eugene Lee Yang

"I'm right, you're wrong, shut up, discuss in the comments".

TWICE - More & More
Title track: "More and More"
It should have been : "Sweet Summer day"

"More & More" follows the usual Twice formula : Fun, upbeat, efficient but ultimately forgettable. The mini as a whole is very upbeat and easy to listen to but also very bland (ngl I got bored around Shadow). Every song follows the same formula, which is why Twice doesn't enter my ipod. They're the equivalent of fast food. I love to indulge every once in a while but it doesn't sustain me.
That isn't to say the songs are bad, they're good, but will they survive the test of time: probably not.
But they sell extremely well, so JYP isn't about to change such an easy cash grab.


Cosmic Girl - Neverland
Title track: "Butterfly"
It should have been: "Our garden"

"Butterfly" is a bit too much for me. It' s the type of song I can only listen once every week or so at the fear of brain exploding. The whole mini is too high energy, I get exhausted just listening to it.
Imo "our garden">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>"Butterfly".
It's a lot closer to their signature sound and a lot more palatable.


Dia - Flower 4 Seasons
Title track: "Hug U"
It could have been: "Daily"

IMO "Hug U" is the perfect DIA track. It's a perfect fit for the girls image, but I also really like "Daily". (If we're being honest, both are interchangeable so it doesn't really matter).



Heize - Lyricist
Is there really one title track?
Either way, listen to the mini on spotify, it's really good.



Momoland - Starry Night
Title track: "Starry Night"
It could have been: "Chiri Chiri"

"Starry night" doesn't feel like a Momoland song, but it's cute and a nice gift for the fans.
"Starry night" being the only original song it's a bit difficult to pick an alternative, but I personally like "Chiri chiri" a lot more


Weeekly - We are
Title track: "Tag Me"
It should have been: "Hello"

"Tag me" is a bit too busy for my liking. Just like Cosmic girls I'm pretty sure I'm too old. It's very fun and catchy but will ultimately make me feel dizzy (also the chanting.., please make it stop).
I would favor "Hello" (perfect title for a debut), just as high energy as "Tag me" but a lot less dizzying (is that even a word?).



IZ*One - Oneiric Diary
Title track: "Secret story of the swan"
It should have been: "Merry go round"

"Merry go round">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


Nature - NATURE WORLD: CODE M
Title track: "Girls"
It could have been: "Dive"

I actually really like "Girls"; my only issue is the annoying chanting (again MAKE IT STOP).
"Dive" would have been my pick. Although, it' s a bit "been there done that" and not as distinctive as "Girls". I fear the girls might have been lost in all the comebacks/debut.
"Girls" has more of an "it" factor.



Weki Meki - HIDE & SEEK
Title track: "Oopsy"
It could have been: "The Paradise"

"The Paradise" would have been such a cute summer release.
It had that end of the summer vibe.



3YE - Triangle
Title track: pretty much the whole mini
It could have been: "Stay with me"

They have a lot of songs that must be fun to watch on stage, but nothing really memorable that I'll want to replay in a few years, not even in a few weeks.
As far as title track are concerned, "OOMM" is probably my fave.
In terms of B-side, you should check out "Stay with me". It departs from their usual sound, and showcases the girls softer side as well as their singing (which is quite decent imo).


Hwa sa - Maria
Title track: "Maria"
It should have been: The intro

It's always sad and annoying when the best song of an album is the intro.
Mamamoo solo efforts are such disappointments.

Source: TWICE, COSMIC GIRLS, DIA, Momoland, weeekly, official Iz*one, nature official, weki meki, 3YE, MAMAMOO

Comments

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

I only agree on IZ*One LOL That Nature track is nice but I do think the boldness of 'girls' is really interesting for them

As for the others, you are INCORRECT (lol) with Twice since I wanted firework instead -



Still them but maintains their mature track record. While for WJSN I want Pantomime but that's because Dawon fucking EATS UP lines on this:



I mean, starting BOTH verses and that extended bridge part? She DESERVES!

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

How are you?
I know you've been stressed out about your mom? how is she doing?

[pikapika217.livejournal.com]

I'm doing as ok as one can, thought over the weekend emotiional exhaustion became mental exhaustion, oof. My mom is good, still staying home and not fighting anyone on that - just going to either the store or to her doctor appointments and that's it for her mostly. thanks for asking 😊

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

It's good that she's staying home (people here start 'forgetting' about the situation, dspite countries progressively goign back on lockdown).
I hope you can rest a bit

[frequency.livejournal.com]

completely agree w/ you on firework and pantomime. the latter is especially just such a killer song.

[aridnili.livejournal.com]

I second Firework!

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

you're the first person i've seen who liked/praised "Hug U" 😮 i still find it disappointing as a whole but it did end up growing on me a bit

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

really?
I think it suits them so well. It's not groundbreaking or anything but it works

[myrrhcat.livejournal.com]

i actually don't feel that it suits them at all, or at least, it would have several years ago but after woowoo and woowa i think most fans wanted them to continue in that direction. especially woowa, it was so catchy and memorable, but unfortunately i tend to agree with the popular opinion that "hug u" sounds like one of gfriend's more forgettable b-sides.

i also haven't listened to any new b-sides yet this year because my music collection is getting too overwhelmingly large so i've had a moratorium on new stuff since december. i sort my music by decade and it'll feel so weird to type in "'20s" lol

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

It does feel like their older sound. The B-side sounds pretty much the same as "Hug U".
You could say its very cohesive or that it's very boring (depending on how you wanna see it XD).
Imo it's a bit too similar so it leans more towards boring than cohesive

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

I think Nature and Weki Meki picked the right song in the context of kpop singles.
Girls grew on me, not their best and I didn't like the bridge, but definitively an interesting song, and I love the pre-chorus.
Oopsy is fun and in line with their previous singles. The Paradise is overall my favourite song and would have been a bold choice but I understand why the company didn't pick it.

Dia's Hug U is fine, I guess? It's not very memorable. It also feels like a step back, it's reminiscent of On the Road (which was already called a GFriend song...) or Can't Stop (my favourite single by them) but they have done very different styles since and I expected them to follow Woowa, it fit them well. Idk I'm just sad when I think about them :(

As for my picks (different from the title track) :

Twice : Sweet Summer Day instead of More & More
It's just such a fun, sunny song. I love the new jack swing and retro elements of the instrumental. But probably cuter than what they want to be right now.
My second choice would be Firework, more mature than Sweet Summer Day (so in line with their strategy) but more catchy/melodic than More & More.
Overall, I loved Twice's mini album, their music sustains me lmao.

WJSN : Hola instead of Butterfly
Butterfly is a miss for me, it has energy yes but it never really change much. By the end of the first chorus, you've heard most of the track. Hola isn't their most daring song either but it's just so catchy and upbeat!!! A true summer jam.
I love Our Garden and Pantomine too, both would have been nice as alternative title tracks.

I do agree about IZ*ONE, I love Merry Go Round. It's not as busy and flashy, and because of that, it focuses more on the melody.

I still need to catch up on Heize's release oops T_T
Also second oops : I forgot Momoland had a release this month...
And I've only listened to Weeekly's release twice, I think? I need a second listen to really judge. I do remember Hello catching my attention though. Same with 3YE, I need to have more listens before deciding.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

On Air is the better album track by far tbh periodT yadda yadda. Had they been a bigger group then Yessir main promos + a week of On Air promos would have been the way to go 100%. It's more in line with musical trends in SK atm (makes me think in different ways of (g)i-dle's Maybe, Bvndit's Children - even if it sounds a little outdated to intl fans). They could continue to show great choreo as well as show off more vocal abilities (especially for Haeun). Stay With Me is generic and basic even as far as usual b-side ballads, and isn't a ballad that relates enough to their title track history to make sense as a promo.



Generally for the promos that I paid attention to (WKMK, Nature, 3YE, Hwasa, WJSN) I thought each band picked the right track for a lead single. There might have been a track I enjoyed more in the album but the promo track was selected correctly. Regarding The Paradise though, it's their first track composed by a member and they performed a snippet of it on Idol Radio (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NocvO0csYA)! I hope we get to see more of Suyeon's composing, she's got such an interesting style! Maybe next time we can get some special stages for a Suyeon song.

[myungung.livejournal.com]

I definitely agree on the iz*one choice, merry go round is objectively the better song tbh.

The Paradise and Our Garden are nice songs, but I feel they don't have the oomph factor. While Weki Meki chose the right title track (or maybe choose Dazzle Dazzle, haha), WJSN had a weak title track.

I'm also gonna hard disagree on Sweet Summer Day, it's my least favourite track on that album, and the live performance is not helping. it was a weak release for Twice sadly.

my favourite track from DIA this time was Nobody Knows, but it was a non-title track album for them I feel. Mr Potter/Will You Go Out With Me style would have been better than this gfriend b-side

[mortkero.livejournal.com]

Just reading that Yebin wrote this song. Very cool. No wonder she was feeling it so much during performances.

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

-Twice: I am 130% in love with More&More so I don't get the hate asdfghjkl. From the b-sides, Make Me Go and Shadow are definitely my faves. The former would make a sexy killer single....

-Weeekly: yes, agreed on Hello! That's my fave on the EP. I guess this mini album throws my back to being 15 and loving all things Disney put out. Actually, that sound still makes me go hard even though I'm almost 30. Just don't mention that lmfao.

-Nature: Yup. Dive. Divine. I like both b-sides from this single more than the actual single to be honest, even though that one isn't bad at all.

Both WJSN and IZONE's releases were really bland for me, I don't remember these albums at all....

[thebloomroom.livejournal.com]

I need to be better at listening to full albums. I don't fully stan any group rn, like I would listen to VIXX's albums in full but now listen to kpop as mostly singles unless it's someone I really like, like WOODZ or ChungHa, or if vintage_boom tells me to listen to something LOL. I think I miss out on most of the actual good tracks lol.

[frequency.livejournal.com]

twice: sweet summer day would've been cute, but if they're trying to keep a more ~mature~ image going, firework or make me go would've been good choices.

wjsn: i actually love butterfly now, lol. our garden would've been a safe choice, though. pantomime would've been interesting if they wanted to do something different!

weeekly: i love tag me; i think it's pretty much perfect. 😂

iz*one: 100% SHOULD'VE BEEN MERRY-GO-ROUND. that song absolutely slaps.

nature: i think girls was the best choice for a title track. dive would've made for a good follow-up, though.

weki meki: again, i think oopsy is perfect, lol. though i would like to see fantagio let the girls promote some of the songs they've personally worked on.

3ye: stay with me is so... boring imo. it's pretty much the typical generic kpop ballad. i've enjoyed all their title tracks tbh! i feel like people would've eaten yessir up if it had been a release from a big 3 group.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

if 3ye had released 'how you like that' and blackpink had released 'yessir' we'd be seeing very different comment sections
(i mean people would be complaining that yessir's throwback-ness is just another reason bp are 2ne1 2.0, but they wouldn't be complaining about the lack of a melodic chorus again, and 3ye would have been forgotten instantly)

[frequency.livejournal.com]

you pretty much nailed my thoughts! it probably would've had very different choreo too, lol.

[mortkero.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs and the thread.. I don't really seek out album tracks ask it is nice to get recs

So far from everyone's recs

I like
Nobody knows

Merry go round - I dig that funky sound. Reminds me of Suga Shikao

And Pantomime has a lot of interesting parts and lyrics
I like the I hold my breath mute bit.
And vacuumed inside a castle
Exy's rap always sounds the same to me.

[kimbafierce.livejournal.com]

I see that a lot of people are loving Sweet Summer Day when I deleted the song after one listen. Shadow's the only good song on that Mini.

"It's always sad and annoying when the best song of an album is the intro."
Hello Sunmi's Addict, Secret Tape

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

That Black pearl erasure

[kimbafierce.livejournal.com]

Oops! Totally slipped my mind

[adenar.livejournal.com]

They're right and they should say it

(Black Pearl is a lovely song though)

(ง'̀-'́)ง

[benihime99.livejournal.com]

Black pearl>Curve>addict>secret tape>>Siren>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>those teddy songs that don't belong in the album

Re: (ง'̀-'́)ง

[adenar.livejournal.com]

i said what i said!!!!!! i only wish that the choreography for addict had a bit more oomph

[thomaswilmoore.livejournal.com]

[jaequeeragenda.livejournal.com]

bloop looks like im way out of the loop i havent listened to any of these songs but hwasa's intro sounds good! but now u got me nervous for the actual song lmao

edit: ohhhh nOOOOOOOO maria IS NOT GOOD and considering i just listened to the intro to ...the actual song wow what a let down :( :( i didnt even finish it D:

[aridnili.livejournal.com]

I want to commend OP's good taste and ̶m̶i̶s̶a̶n̶d̶r̶y̶ with this post. Keep them coming.