Stray Kidz mini Album Clรฉ 2: Yellow Wood Review
*not lyrics because I couldnโt be bothered and because somehow I spent three hours today writing two other essays that are not this and three hours making playlists on Spotify and got nothing done I was supposed to*
Road Not Taken
That intro is a very well-known sample cos itโs in an Avicii song isnโt it???
You know, I feel like Chan should be a DJ. Why isnโt he making money off being a DJ TMT
Oh that just went two places really weird.
Itโs interesting but I donโt think I like it.
Too heavy on the synth for me this one.
It also really didnโt hold up on second listen. Too much going on.
I know all the pieces to it were intentional, I just donโt like them altogether. Kinda made me want to drill a hole in my head. Sorry Chan.
*insert link to my breakdown of Side Effects on the post below here*
These are gonna be hard to judge, because theyโre mixtape songs and Iโm super 3racaha bias and so I will be comparing. Deal with it.
Mixtape 1 Placebo —
Now, I really like the mixtape one. Itโs heavy on the rapping and the beat style is quite unique; itโs heavy but not overpowering.
I donโt really like the group version nearly as much.
For one, itโs way tamer. More mainstream EDM than experimental. Especially in the chorus. The chorus in the mixtape version is way more unique and I like it much more.
Secondly, itโs also cleaner. It just sounds more like something anyone could release- 3racha have a raw feel to them that I really like. Tis what makes mixtapes so special.
Thirdly, not that the rest of them canโt rap ok or even well, but Jisung and Changbin are SO good, theyโre really hard to beat. Iโm super into the verses in the mixtape version; not so much full group.
Less people is a good thing sometimes. I sometimes wonder if the reason I donโt like the group songs as much is because Chan is still learning how to write for so many people.
Skidz should learn the brilliance of SVTโs unit system and have B-tracks that focus on different team memberโs strengths.
Mixtape 2๊ทธ๋ฆผ์๋ ๋น์ด ์์ด์ผ ์ฆ์ฌ (lit. translation: If there is a shadow, there must be light) —
Now this was one song I hadnโt heard the mixtape version of before because it was deleted for some reason, and I havenโt seen the MV, so I listened to that first.
Mixtape Ver:
Ahh this is much more the chill hip hop I like. Apparently they didnโt write this beat though, they must have sampled it. Does drag a little.
Skidz version:
Okay first of all I totally called them all singing together at the end and all the music cutting out. It was just where this song had to go. It was predictable. Because this is to Skidz what Love Letter is to Seventeen.
Itโs just nice. Chill and mellow and thoughtful. I feel like I can hear what the lyrics are about even though I havenโt read them.
The back beat is entirely different to the mixtape version and is less hip hop, but I may actually like it more?
The cleaned up sound works much better for this song than the last one.
Itโs probably still 50 seconds too long though and I feel like I donโt have quite enough investment in Skidz as people or as vocalists to really love it. Itโs THAT song that fans will love and adore but Iโm just like โcool itโs niceโ for now.
Mixtape 3 For You–
NO THEY GOT RID OF THE COOL GUITAR FROM THE ORIGINAL WHY
Iโm conflicted. The bridge is better in this and there are a lot of cool details to the music throughout the whole thing which are nice, a guitar riff here, a sound effect there, some maracas there, a drum line here, but itโs lost some of its PIZAZZ that the mixtape version had with the driving Latina style (?) guitar throughout the whole thing.
Itโs not technically BAD, itโs just that with the original I automatically start jamming and then with this one I go, โoh, itโs nice, I guessโ.
The original was more indie; this is cleaner, tamer, more kpoppy and somehow more boring and that makes me sad.
Also, Skidz Version has 17 seconds of Changbin rapping vs 3Racahaโs 36.
Any version that gives him fewer lines is automatically not as good as the version that gives him lots. Sorry but itโs true.
Mixtape 4 Broken Compass โ
Ah No. This version has, and yes Iโm saying this, Too Much Going On.
Too much. The original is good because it is kept simple and that gives it impact. The minimal beat and percussion puts the emphasis on the lyrics and the rapping. In thisโฆ the music detracts from everything. In attempt to make this different and remixed, they took away what made the original good.
The middle bit is overproduced. Itโs hard to hear whatโs going on, and I actually stopped before the end because it was too much. Sometimes less is better.
I also think this is one of those songs that doesnโt lend itself to lots of members. Breaking it into 9 just makes it sound more incohesive. It shouldโve stayed as a 3racha song.
Alsoโฆ The original has like the best Changbin verse in it ever, no 9 member version is gonna top that. Theyโre just not.
Conclusion: In a feat of irony the title track was my favourite off this mini album, and now, brb Iโm gonna go listen to 3RACHAโs mixtapes on repeat again.
Haha. I’m not super familiar with the original tracks tbh. I need to go relisten. 3racha is more niche for sure, and I love their sound, but I’m not sure their sound could even translate over to SKZ. And I don’t think it should (I don’t think that’s what you were arguing, either, I think you were just saying the 3racha sound is better than the SKZ sound). Good point on wondering if Chan knows how to write for that many voices, still.
“Skidz should learn the brilliance of SVTโs unit system and have B-tracks that focus on different team memberโs strengths.” I’ve thought this a lot (I’m not familiar with SVTs system at all). There are times SKZ gives someone an entire verse and I think “This sounds great, why don’t we do this more kids?” I wish they’d pick the couple voices that work best with that particular track and let them shine.
I have gotten to know the boys a lot and feel invested in them so the music definitely has an impact for me. I liked all the mixtapes. Also, it’s hard to fully get a song without at least glancing at the lyrics. They add a lot of meaning for me.
I liked TMT on the first listen and have liked it less each time. Side Effects has been the opposite.
(I did go relisted to make this essay if it makes you feel better lol)
I’m not sure it should translate either. Maybe be that’s my point. I think 3racha songs should stay as 3racha songs, and not be remade to try and fit Skidz. Unless you’re gonna release them as a unit song.
SVT has this unit system, they have three units. They don’t promote separately but they do sometimes get separate MVs.
There’s the Hip Hop Unit, which is their main rap line, the Vocal Unit, and the Performance Unit which is like their main dance line.
In every single album they have maybe two to four whole group songs, one song for each unit, and often a couple of B-tracks that are made up of not the whole team, but whoever fits the song best.
This means that everyone gets a chance to shine. It is and that they all get to try or help with producing and lyric writing, and their differences are spread over the whole album and since there’s 13 of them I think it’s a great way of doing it.
Even smaller groups like Block B and BTS have “unit” or solo songs to show of members strengths in albums. I think Skidz especially with so many people needs to do the same.
I need more full rap songs to show off Changbin and Jisung’s strengths, instead of just treating then like a gimmick, I need a different kind of song to show off the vocalists. Etc etc. Hopefully as he grows we’ll see more of that idk.
Agree with you about TNT and Side Effects haha.
I really should look at lyrics more haha.
Truth be told I wrote this whole thing and then realised I hadn’t even looked at lyrics at all and was just like “screw it I’ll just post this I don’t have time” hahaha
I will probably go back and skim through them though.
I’ve tried explaining to Hades how my interest in lyrics works but I dunno if it makes sense.
For people like Jiyong and Zico and Block B I’ll 100% read lyrics. For BTS I used to.
If something in the song makes me want to check them out I’ll go find lyrics.
And I love lyrics. I’m a poet.
But often the music is enough of a draw that I don’t bother because part of the reason I listen to Kpop at all is because it’s not in English lol.
“I need more full rap songs to show off Changbin and Jisungโs strengths, instead of just treating then like a gimmick” Yess, this. Though I disagree they’re treated like a gimmick, I think skz usually does a good job of incorporating the rap well into the songs, and often make the raps the highlight, while so many other k pop groups jam it in. (I think I’ve said this before like 10 times, whatever). There just isnt much song per person to go around.
I love the idea of having different groups–having a rap line and a vocal line, having them come together on some tracks and split up on others. But some do both often, like Chan and Han and Felix and even Seungmin on occasion, (Also I think Changbin has a good singing voice but we rarely hear it) so I don’t know how they’d work that all out. Though the one thing I love about kpop is that we get solid rap and vocal lines in the same song, so I’d hate to lose that. I would miss the rapping in the vocal songs for SKZ
I really like the NCT U idea, where they pull whoever is needed from the main NCT groups and it’s not a fair distribution. But I worry fans would get upset that their bias isn’t in enough songs.
eh better to get it out. I like getting a feel for the song through the lyrics, though even after reading them it’s hard to actually hear or think of that lyric when it’s in another language. But I have liked songs more when I understood the meaning behind them and it makes the song feel more intimate if the lyrics are also intimate and expressive. (Skz does this a lot for me, the mixtapes really spoke to me in parts). I still always feel like I’m never quite getting the meaning since it’s translated (often unofficially). It’s nice Korean songs have English bits so I can at least sing along to something.
In English-language music, lyrics are so important to me, almost more important than the music itself, so it’s an interesting contrast.
I don’t know if you will check this or even get this @ultramafic
But I just had to comment on a few things coming back to this haha
1. Sometimes to me it feels like because the rapline isn’t given enough time to shine, and because they have to spread a song over everyone, and because there are still ultimately kpop structural formulas that are “required”, I feel like they come across as a bit gimmicky, even if it’s not the intent, just because so much other stuff has to happen in the song. I don’t think this is the case for ALL skz songs but for a few, and possibly more so their title tracks I think the rapline can get sidelined and to me it just feels like they HAVE to use everyone and so it sounds a bit like the rapline is just there because they have to have a rapline because they’re kpop and no other reason.
2. Just have songs that showcase both their singing and rapping ability haha
“we get solid rap and vocal lines in the same song” see to me this is the gimmick of kpop, and sometimes I feel like it should be broken more but idk hahaha or just done better overall, which I’m finding less and less of these days.
3. the Lyric thing in regard to English vs Korean…
In English, the lyrics are definitely important to me, often more than the song too to be honest, there are many songs I like the beat of but hate because of the lyrics.
But what I meant about listening to Kpop because it’s
“Not English” is that I am drawn to songs in other languages BECAUSE of the language factor. The way that linguistically and phonologically Korean lends itself to rapping, the way Spanish and Finnish are extremely musical in their structure and therefore even the tackiest song sounds beautiful in them, the way other languages sound when sung is a draw for me, I like listening to other languages. It’s hard to explain and some people don’t get it but like for example- half the Korean songs I like I wouldn’t listen to if they were in English, and over half the Korean songs I like I’d like MORE if they were in Chinese… *shrugs*
However I do completely agree on the fact that upon reading the lyrics I can like a song 100 times more, and feel much more connected to it. I just don’t honestly have enough emotional investment I think these days to look at lyrics beyond a select few. And more and more these days if the music doesn’t hook me at all then that’s it.
๐๐โ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia โ ๐๐
June 19, 2019 at 10:51 PM
Stray Kidz mini Album Clรฉ 2: Yellow Wood Review
*not lyrics because I couldnโt be bothered and because somehow I spent three hours today writing two other essays that are not this and three hours making playlists on Spotify and got nothing done I was supposed to*
Road Not Taken
That intro is a very well-known sample cos itโs in an Avicii song isnโt it???
You know, I feel like Chan should be a DJ. Why isnโt he making money off being a DJ
TMT
Oh that just went two places really weird.
Itโs interesting but I donโt think I like it.
Too heavy on the synth for me this one.
It also really didnโt hold up on second listen. Too much going on.
I know all the pieces to it were intentional, I just donโt like them altogether. Kinda made me want to drill a hole in my head. Sorry Chan.
*insert link to my breakdown of Side Effects on the post below here*
These are gonna be hard to judge, because theyโre mixtape songs and Iโm super 3racaha bias and so I will be comparing. Deal with it.
Mixtape 1 Placebo —
Now, I really like the mixtape one. Itโs heavy on the rapping and the beat style is quite unique; itโs heavy but not overpowering.
I donโt really like the group version nearly as much.
For one, itโs way tamer. More mainstream EDM than experimental. Especially in the chorus. The chorus in the mixtape version is way more unique and I like it much more.
Secondly, itโs also cleaner. It just sounds more like something anyone could release- 3racha have a raw feel to them that I really like. Tis what makes mixtapes so special.
Thirdly, not that the rest of them canโt rap ok or even well, but Jisung and Changbin are SO good, theyโre really hard to beat. Iโm super into the verses in the mixtape version; not so much full group.
Less people is a good thing sometimes. I sometimes wonder if the reason I donโt like the group songs as much is because Chan is still learning how to write for so many people.
Skidz should learn the brilliance of SVTโs unit system and have B-tracks that focus on different team memberโs strengths.
Mixtape 2๊ทธ๋ฆผ์๋ ๋น์ด ์์ด์ผ ์ฆ์ฌ (lit. translation: If there is a shadow, there must be light) —
Now this was one song I hadnโt heard the mixtape version of before because it was deleted for some reason, and I havenโt seen the MV, so I listened to that first.
Mixtape Ver:
Ahh this is much more the chill hip hop I like. Apparently they didnโt write this beat though, they must have sampled it. Does drag a little.
Skidz version:
Okay first of all I totally called them all singing together at the end and all the music cutting out. It was just where this song had to go. It was predictable. Because this is to Skidz what Love Letter is to Seventeen.
Itโs just nice. Chill and mellow and thoughtful. I feel like I can hear what the lyrics are about even though I havenโt read them.
The back beat is entirely different to the mixtape version and is less hip hop, but I may actually like it more?
The cleaned up sound works much better for this song than the last one.
Itโs probably still 50 seconds too long though and I feel like I donโt have quite enough investment in Skidz as people or as vocalists to really love it. Itโs THAT song that fans will love and adore but Iโm just like โcool itโs niceโ for now.
Mixtape 3 For You–
NO THEY GOT RID OF THE COOL GUITAR FROM THE ORIGINAL WHY
Iโm conflicted. The bridge is better in this and there are a lot of cool details to the music throughout the whole thing which are nice, a guitar riff here, a sound effect there, some maracas there, a drum line here, but itโs lost some of its PIZAZZ that the mixtape version had with the driving Latina style (?) guitar throughout the whole thing.
Itโs not technically BAD, itโs just that with the original I automatically start jamming and then with this one I go, โoh, itโs nice, I guessโ.
The original was more indie; this is cleaner, tamer, more kpoppy and somehow more boring and that makes me sad.
Also, Skidz Version has 17 seconds of Changbin rapping vs 3Racahaโs 36.
Any version that gives him fewer lines is automatically not as good as the version that gives him lots. Sorry but itโs true.
Mixtape 4 Broken Compass โ
Ah No. This version has, and yes Iโm saying this, Too Much Going On.
Too much. The original is good because it is kept simple and that gives it impact. The minimal beat and percussion puts the emphasis on the lyrics and the rapping. In thisโฆ the music detracts from everything. In attempt to make this different and remixed, they took away what made the original good.
The middle bit is overproduced. Itโs hard to hear whatโs going on, and I actually stopped before the end because it was too much. Sometimes less is better.
I also think this is one of those songs that doesnโt lend itself to lots of members. Breaking it into 9 just makes it sound more incohesive. It shouldโve stayed as a 3racha song.
Alsoโฆ The original has like the best Changbin verse in it ever, no 9 member version is gonna top that. Theyโre just not.
Conclusion: In a feat of irony the title track was my favourite off this mini album, and now, brb Iโm gonna go listen to 3RACHAโs mixtapes on repeat again.
๐๐โ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia โ ๐๐
June 19, 2019 at 10:54 PM
@ultramafic @hades
I have no lyfe
quite literally at the moment
Nam Joo-hyuk is Tall
June 20, 2019 at 9:29 AM
Haha. I’m not super familiar with the original tracks tbh. I need to go relisten. 3racha is more niche for sure, and I love their sound, but I’m not sure their sound could even translate over to SKZ. And I don’t think it should (I don’t think that’s what you were arguing, either, I think you were just saying the 3racha sound is better than the SKZ sound). Good point on wondering if Chan knows how to write for that many voices, still.
“Skidz should learn the brilliance of SVTโs unit system and have B-tracks that focus on different team memberโs strengths.” I’ve thought this a lot (I’m not familiar with SVTs system at all). There are times SKZ gives someone an entire verse and I think “This sounds great, why don’t we do this more kids?” I wish they’d pick the couple voices that work best with that particular track and let them shine.
I have gotten to know the boys a lot and feel invested in them so the music definitely has an impact for me. I liked all the mixtapes. Also, it’s hard to fully get a song without at least glancing at the lyrics. They add a lot of meaning for me.
I liked TMT on the first listen and have liked it less each time. Side Effects has been the opposite.
Thanks for the essay!
๐๐โ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia โ ๐๐
June 20, 2019 at 2:27 PM
(I did go relisted to make this essay if it makes you feel better lol)
I’m not sure it should translate either. Maybe be that’s my point. I think 3racha songs should stay as 3racha songs, and not be remade to try and fit Skidz. Unless you’re gonna release them as a unit song.
SVT has this unit system, they have three units. They don’t promote separately but they do sometimes get separate MVs.
There’s the Hip Hop Unit, which is their main rap line, the Vocal Unit, and the Performance Unit which is like their main dance line.
In every single album they have maybe two to four whole group songs, one song for each unit, and often a couple of B-tracks that are made up of not the whole team, but whoever fits the song best.
This means that everyone gets a chance to shine. It is and that they all get to try or help with producing and lyric writing, and their differences are spread over the whole album and since there’s 13 of them I think it’s a great way of doing it.
Even smaller groups like Block B and BTS have “unit” or solo songs to show of members strengths in albums. I think Skidz especially with so many people needs to do the same.
I need more full rap songs to show off Changbin and Jisung’s strengths, instead of just treating then like a gimmick, I need a different kind of song to show off the vocalists. Etc etc. Hopefully as he grows we’ll see more of that idk.
Agree with you about TNT and Side Effects haha.
I really should look at lyrics more haha.
Truth be told I wrote this whole thing and then realised I hadn’t even looked at lyrics at all and was just like “screw it I’ll just post this I don’t have time” hahaha
I will probably go back and skim through them though.
I’ve tried explaining to Hades how my interest in lyrics works but I dunno if it makes sense.
For people like Jiyong and Zico and Block B I’ll 100% read lyrics. For BTS I used to.
If something in the song makes me want to check them out I’ll go find lyrics.
And I love lyrics. I’m a poet.
But often the music is enough of a draw that I don’t bother because part of the reason I listen to Kpop at all is because it’s not in English lol.
Nam Joo-hyuk is Tall
June 20, 2019 at 7:14 PM
“I need more full rap songs to show off Changbin and Jisungโs strengths, instead of just treating then like a gimmick” Yess, this. Though I disagree they’re treated like a gimmick, I think skz usually does a good job of incorporating the rap well into the songs, and often make the raps the highlight, while so many other k pop groups jam it in. (I think I’ve said this before like 10 times, whatever). There just isnt much song per person to go around.
I love the idea of having different groups–having a rap line and a vocal line, having them come together on some tracks and split up on others. But some do both often, like Chan and Han and Felix and even Seungmin on occasion, (Also I think Changbin has a good singing voice but we rarely hear it) so I don’t know how they’d work that all out. Though the one thing I love about kpop is that we get solid rap and vocal lines in the same song, so I’d hate to lose that. I would miss the rapping in the vocal songs for SKZ
I really like the NCT U idea, where they pull whoever is needed from the main NCT groups and it’s not a fair distribution. But I worry fans would get upset that their bias isn’t in enough songs.
eh better to get it out. I like getting a feel for the song through the lyrics, though even after reading them it’s hard to actually hear or think of that lyric when it’s in another language. But I have liked songs more when I understood the meaning behind them and it makes the song feel more intimate if the lyrics are also intimate and expressive. (Skz does this a lot for me, the mixtapes really spoke to me in parts). I still always feel like I’m never quite getting the meaning since it’s translated (often unofficially). It’s nice Korean songs have English bits so I can at least sing along to something.
In English-language music, lyrics are so important to me, almost more important than the music itself, so it’s an interesting contrast.
๐๐โ Sicarius The Queen of Melonia โ ๐๐
January 13, 2020 at 11:37 PM
I don’t know if you will check this or even get this @ultramafic
But I just had to comment on a few things coming back to this haha
1. Sometimes to me it feels like because the rapline isn’t given enough time to shine, and because they have to spread a song over everyone, and because there are still ultimately kpop structural formulas that are “required”, I feel like they come across as a bit gimmicky, even if it’s not the intent, just because so much other stuff has to happen in the song. I don’t think this is the case for ALL skz songs but for a few, and possibly more so their title tracks I think the rapline can get sidelined and to me it just feels like they HAVE to use everyone and so it sounds a bit like the rapline is just there because they have to have a rapline because they’re kpop and no other reason.
2. Just have songs that showcase both their singing and rapping ability haha
“we get solid rap and vocal lines in the same song” see to me this is the gimmick of kpop, and sometimes I feel like it should be broken more but idk hahaha or just done better overall, which I’m finding less and less of these days.
3. the Lyric thing in regard to English vs Korean…
In English, the lyrics are definitely important to me, often more than the song too to be honest, there are many songs I like the beat of but hate because of the lyrics.
But what I meant about listening to Kpop because it’s
“Not English” is that I am drawn to songs in other languages BECAUSE of the language factor. The way that linguistically and phonologically Korean lends itself to rapping, the way Spanish and Finnish are extremely musical in their structure and therefore even the tackiest song sounds beautiful in them, the way other languages sound when sung is a draw for me, I like listening to other languages. It’s hard to explain and some people don’t get it but like for example- half the Korean songs I like I wouldn’t listen to if they were in English, and over half the Korean songs I like I’d like MORE if they were in Chinese… *shrugs*
However I do completely agree on the fact that upon reading the lyrics I can like a song 100 times more, and feel much more connected to it. I just don’t honestly have enough emotional investment I think these days to look at lyrics beyond a select few. And more and more these days if the music doesn’t hook me at all then that’s it.
deadlybaby
June 19, 2019 at 11:44 PM
comparing mixtape 2 to love letter was an amazing comparison I somehow did not think of. sic the queen. truly.