Daisy (데이지) holds a special place among Pentagon’s comebacks for a variety of reasons. It’s their first single since participating in Road to Kingdom, their first without main vocal Jinho, and their first in a long while with member Yanan. The one thing that hasn’t changed is leader Hui’s participation in Daisy’s songwriting. His style has given Pentagon their own sound, even if I’ve found it to be pretty hit or miss.
For every Sha La La or Shine, we get a Humph or Dr. BeBe. Recently, Hui’s output has embraced the angstier side of pop. Even when his songs go big and brash, like JO1’s great Oh-Eh-Oh, they’re buttressed by layers of pathos. So, it’s no surprise that Daisy is a full-on, crying-in-the-rain emoto-thon. Your tolerance for this level of angst will likely color your opinion of the track. When it’s this overwrought — even incorporating a poetic, pseudo-philosophical tag at the end of its music video — I must admit my eyes tend to glaze over.
Other than that, Daisy is a perfectly competent track. Pentagon pump up the guitars (and church-like synths) during the chorus for maximum bombast. I find the melody to be a little too predictable, and the obvious rhyming of “daisy” and “crazy” turns me off a bit (which should give a pretty good indication of why I rarely listen to English-language pop music anymore). But, I appreciate the commitment to the sheer emotion of it all. Things become more compelling as the track moves into its chant-heavy climax and the instrumental conjures a satisfying stomp. However, much of Daisy feels just too indulgent for my taste.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
~
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
It’s just one of those songs. That song that you already love on the first listien. It wont ever be my favorite song and I wont listen to it every day, but it just has that vibe that makes me feel so happy but sad at the same time.
LikeLike
I have listened to this song a half dozen times this morning, and I have no idea how I feel about it. Which means its neither here nor there for me. Not bad. Not great. Its just not compelling to me. Rating is probably about right.
Although a lazy rhyme, at least daisy and crazy do rhyme. Maybe he wrote the lyric in those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer, surrounded by daisies. For that, Hui gets half a point extra.
Right now, I really don’t know who Pentagon are musically. I know I stan a lot of groups who evolve their sounds, or dart from this to that (ahem, Super Junior), but at this point I usually have to read the label to confirm that this is Pentagon. This is so odd to me because they have released songs that I have loved dearly, Shine, Cosmo, both in my year end top 10’s. I don’t know what it is. I am at a loss.
LikeLiked by 1 person
(I’m 0 for 2 today for “telling things apart”, sigh)
LikeLike
Nick!
I am asking a little favor for you.
I desperately want to get into Jpop……..
So can you pls recommend me 5 Jpop Songs to get into…….apart from the 90’s era.
I really want to know what 00’s Jpop sounds like or 2011-2015 Jpop era.
LikeLike
Lucky for you, I keep a pretty organized J-pop playlist for each year, so I went through the range you gave me and picked out a couple of legends from each year. Let me know if you find any favorites!! There’s plenty more where this came from 🙂
2009
KAT-TUN – Rescue
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Vt411M7W7
2010
AAA – To Meet With A Reason / Dream After Dream
2011
Kis-My-Ft2 – We Never Give Up
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q77w6Dg0od8 (horrible video quality, unfortunately. But the song is an absolute legend)
2012
The Second From Exile – Think ‘Bout It
News – World Quest
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV154411o74J
2013
Exile – Exile Pride
Generations – Hot Shot
KAT-TUN – Kusabi
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Gt411M7cQ
2014
Da-iCE – Toki
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Js411a7SK
Arashi – No One Knows
https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Y54y1d7NG
J Soul Brothers – R.Y.U.S.E.I.
2015
KAT-TUN – Dead Or Alive
http://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Pt411M7nz
Nogizaka46 – Life Is Beautiful
Perfume – Pick Me Up
Nissy – Never Stop
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hey, you, Nick, where are the Sexy Zone?!
LikeLike
I almost threw in 2011’s self-referencing “Sexy Zone,” but most of my favorite SZ songs are post-2015 😉
LikeLike
Thank you so much , Nick!
I was listening to this playlist for 3 hours straight and after some listening I decided to take my Top 5 of all and the reasons why I love them:
5. KAT-TUN – Dead Or Alive – I actually listened to this before and I absolutely love this song! I love the orchestral and bombastic production of the song , KAT-TUN’s vocals only elevate the song and the chorus is absolutely majestic!
4. Kis-My-FT2 – We Never give up – I love that melody in the main chorus , and I love the anthemic and emotional chorus. I am a sucker for guitar and fall for any song which incorporates that element and “We Never Give Up” is an absolute masterpiece which certainly be on replay for weeks to come.
3. AAA – To Meet A Reason With – This was super hard to do! Third and Second place kept shuffling but in the end , Second place had better staying power but that doesn’t dull Song’s Achievement. It’s a MASSIVE POP Moment! It’s emotional and massive , but that CHORUS! It’s synths , it’s melody and the way how it utilizes all the group’s vocals (male or female) to give an impact!
2. KAT-TUN – Rescue – Bigbang’s Monster is awesome and truly laid the groundwork for the angst formula but for me , Rescue had already perfected it 3 years before! It takes everything good about that angst formula and makes it better! The production is top notch , but the melody is much , much better. It’s so polished and bombastic and kat-tun’s vocals really seal the deal on this one! From start to finish , “Rescue” is a piece of art and truly a masterpiece in the Jpop Industry.
1. News – World Quest – “World Quest” might be the only Jpop song which didn’t come from the era of 90’s techno to come to my Top 5 Jpop Songs of all time!
Thank you so much , Nick!
I was listening to this playlist for 3 hours straight and after some listening I decided to take my Top 5 of all and the reasons why I love them:
5. KAT-TUN – Dead Or Alive – I actually listened to this before and I absolutely love this song! I love the orchestral and bombastic production of the song , KAT-TUN’s vocals only elevate the song and the chorus is absolutely majestic!
4. Kis-My-FT2 – We Never give up – I love that melody in the main chorus , and I love the anthemic and emotional chorus. I am a sucker for guitar and fall for any song which incorporates that element and “We Never Give Up” is an absolute masterpiece which certainly be on replay for weeks to come.
3. AAA – To Meet A Reason With – This was super hard to do! Third and Second place kept shuffling but in the end , Second place had better staying power but that doesn’t dull Song’s Achievement. It’s a MASSIVE POP Moment! It’s emotional and massive , but that CHORUS! It’s synths , it’s melody and the way how it utilizes all the group’s vocals (male or female) to give an impact!
2. KAT-TUN – Rescue – Bigbang’s Monster is awesome and truly laid the groundwork for the angst formula but for me , Rescue had already perfected it 3 years before! It takes everything good about that angst formula and makes it better! The production is top notch , but the melody is much , much better. It’s so polished and bombastic and kat-tun’s vocals really seal the deal on this one! From start to finish , “Rescue” is a piece of art and truly a masterpiece in the Jpop Industry.
1. News – World Quest – “World Quest” might be the only Jpop song which didn’t come from the era of 90’s techno to come to my Top 5 Jpop Songs of all time! It’s an absolute sky-high single , filled to the brim with bombast and classical music instrumentals. It starts out with that emotional piano only to end with it! It’s production might not be as good as the others in this list……but the melody of the chorus gives me LIFE! When the euphoric chorus comes to my ears , all best are off , this absolutely soars!
This is probably one of Jpop’s best songs and I bet it will ever be replaced in my Top 5 list considering it’s one of the few songs which can compete with “90’s-techno era”
There was my list! I hoped you really liked it
😀
LikeLike
what the frick happened to my comment?
LikeLike
Good Picks Yan Zaman!
(Oh and NIck, how did the Perfume song make it in with those vocals? It is good, but the vocals threaten to derail the entire thing)
Oh and Nick, what are your thoughts on these J-Pop songs from the same era? I love all! For those new to J-Pop, check these out too (I am surprised you did not put them in, considering you have lauded some of these songs before)
Japanese Soul Brothers by J soul brothers
Break Out by Tohoshinki
Triangle by Kat-Tun
Chumu Chumu by NEWS
Survivor by Tohoshinki
LikeLike
I’m generally not a fan of the vocals on Perfume’s tracks, but Pick Me Up just has such an intense build to it. It’s one of my favorite workout songs.
As for your other picks:
Japanese Soul Brothers by J soul brothers – I like it fine, but it’s not one of my favorite JSB tracks. I tend to be a bit hit and miss with them, but they have a ton of songs I just love.
Break Out by Tohoshinki – Of course I love this, but I didn’t want to include J-pop tracks by K-pop artists in the suggestions.
Triangle by Kat-Tun – If you read my write-up about this track you’ll already know how much I adore it. One of my absolute favorite Kat-Tun songs (and they have a LOT of favorites!)
Chumu Chumu by NEWS – Love this one too, but I love their Kaguya from the same year even more. I almost included it on the list.
Survivor by Tohoshinki – Same as the other Tohoshinki song.
LikeLike
Good Reason for not including K-Pop tracks.
Of course I read your Triangle review! I cannot lie and say I knew about that song before the review, that is why I was shocked you did not place it here.
As for the JSB song, its my first J-Pop artist J-Pop track. Back in the early 2010s, I took a dance class and the teacher made choreos for JSB, and years later, GD X Taeyang, so I have some bias for these tracks. She was also a TVXQ fan (like me), so I payed extra attention 🙂
LikeLike
I’m happy that a lot of these resonated for you. They’re seriously some of my favorite songs of the past decade, and I’d suggest diving into the discographies of each and every artist mentioned. Kat-Tun’s 2009-2015 era is especially fantastic, as are Kis-My-Ft2, News and AAA’s discographies.
LikeLike
Nick , can you tell what is your Top 3 favorite among all these Jpop Songs you gave me.
I’d really love to know
LikeLike
That’s a really, really tough question. The ranking might change depending on when you ask me, but of these songs I’d probably say:
1. Rescue
2. To Meet With A Reason
3. We Never Give Up
With World Quest a very close 4th.
LikeLike
Fuck Jpop!
This happened:
GOLDEN CHILD GOT THEIR SECOND WIN FOR PUMP IT UP!
LikeLike
You already know how over-the-moon I was with this 🙂
So well deserved.
LikeLike
I feel like Pentagon really excels at quirky concepts like Shine & Naughty Boy (my personal favorite). Daisy falls somewhere between those and Dr. Bebe. I think it’s a little closer in style to Dr. Bebe, but definitely not as angsty. I miss Jinho’s voice, but I’m glad Yanan is back. The hook right after the intro reminds me of some of their lighter material, and it’s really catchy. (It’s been stuck in my head all day, & I’m not mad about it.) I enjoyed the vocal harmonies in the chorus a lot. They support the melody well, & I personally didn’t find it to be predictable. Yanan also has a really nice vocal moment in the second verse.
I have to say, I think you’ve missed out on a lot in this track by overlooking the lyrics. I liked it on first listen, but I enjoy it even more now that I’ve listened to it with the translation. The angst is just a cover for sadness, & lyrically it moves through that angst so that the last chorus is their true feelings. That kind of progression it really appealing to me. I think I would give this an 8.25 and NCT U’s Make a Wish a 7.5
LikeLiked by 2 people
Disagree with your assest of this song in various points.
1. The use of “crazy” in the lyrics may be off-putting (which is fine), but it actually alludes to the use of it in Dr BEBE. IMO, Daisy is the continuation and redemption of the feelings in Dr BEBE.
2. This song is “overwrought” with angst because it is Pentagon’s own experience. This group has gone through so much unfair and undeserving criticism for a situation they had no control over by the Korean GP and international fans. A bit more research into this album and Pentagon themselves would’ve revealed the inspiration and feelings behind it all. They have fought for the last 2 years against being put in the SHINE/Scandal box, over and over. The video itself shows how they overcome all those angsty feelings as the whole group is wearing white by the end. This imagery ties into the words at the end of the video, “Emotions are petals, each with a different shade, and these petals together bloom into a pure white daisy. In the end, we return to our most innocent state, which can lead to another beginning. Sorrow lasts a second, but what we share in our universe is eternal.” Daisy’s concept is them finally letting their past go so they can start again. I would agree with it being too angsty if it was just that. This song doesn’t do that though. Pentagon grow throughout the song until the end. Personally, I think the chanting is the moment they reach that “new beginning” as it starts with the members hands clasped in a way that makes it look like a flower bud about to open. It is where they find the empowerment and freedom.
3. There is no mention of the impressive backing vocals and harmonies throughout the whole song. No mention of the hidden synths or the fact that even though it’s an alterative rock song, there are what sounds like conga drums in parts of it. Or the way it starts with a melodic guitar and harmonies.
I don’t mind people not liking the song. Music is incredibly subjective when it comes to taste and that’s the beauty of it. What irks me is criticism with lack of research and the lack of objectivity in reviewing music according to solely a person’s taste.
LikeLike
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. With all due respect, I feel like your explanation just strengthens my feelings that this song is indulgent (which isn’t automatically a weakness).
I think we’re just coming to this track for different reasons. I’m well aware of Pentagon’s story and struggles, and wish them well. I’ve been following them since debut and was overjoyed to attend their most recent world tour. But personally, I just don’t come to title tracks looking for deep meaning/symbolism/etc. That’s why you rarely see me write about it.
In fact, more often than not those qualities actually turn me off. I think that’s because I tend to enjoy getting lost in the music itself, and appreciate songs that feel more universal rather than closely tied to one group’s story/background. There are brilliant exceptions, of course, but in general I’m an “artifice over authenticity” kind of pop music fan, and that’s only become more hardened as I’ve gotten older.
Fair enough about the musical points. But, there’s only so much you can fit in a 250-word review. I’m glad you love the song!
LikeLike
“I don’t mind people not liking the song. What irks me is criticism with lack of research and the lack of objectivity in reviewing music according to solely a person’s taste.”
“Frogs&Daisies” your whole comment lacks objectivity and it’s based on your opinion.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pleasant. Not a song I’d listen to on repeat but one I’d probably never hit skip on if it came on shuffle.
LikeLike
I really enjoyed this song when I didn’t watch the music video. The video just feels like peak angst and I can appreciate the visuals, but they seemed so off kilter with the actual tone of the song? And I feel like this is something I’ve been seeing from a lot of kpop groups lately. It’s the same feeling I got with WEI’s Twilight. The song was mostly upbeat but them the video went so hard on trying to be -cool- and -sexy- and it just left me confused.
LikeLike
It’s a pretty pleasant song tbh. However, unlike songs like Humph, this song doesn’t really spark any interest for me to watch it again. (I will keep defending humph until the end of the world lol)
The thing is, just like the comment before me said, the visuals used in the MV didn’t go that well with the song. The song is not as angsty as what the MV makes it seem.
The chorus is good though, and that’s what makes up the song for me. “Daisy” rhyming with “crazy” doesn’t bother me, and it matches what the song wants to tell us. “No mercy” rhyming with “privacy” bothers me more though for some reason lol.
LikeLike
Also ngl this site kinda makes me want to start my own kpop review. But then it would be pointless since Idk anything about music and is too kind to rate any song below 7 unless necessary. XP
LikeLike
The chanted hook of “it’s a lie” is actually pretty nice other than that, it’s not really memorable
LikeLike
Your comment about the level of tolerance for angst is spot on, and I guess mine is quite high. The fun little… eh, let’s call it “bridge” between the first whispered singing and Wooseok’s rap got me curious, and with that fresh in my mind getting to the pretty explosive chorus feels amazing. Self indulgent? You bet. But this thing is made for blasting it from speakers (or just to blast your eardrums with.) If the volume gets anything lower than that it quickly loses its charm, though. I’ve tested it. Definitely something I’d put in the car on a rainy day, because I like making them not only depressing, but depressing in an epic way.
LikeLike
I think “self-producing” groups always end up being hopeless. I’d highly suggest groups like this or Seventeen to just work with different producers. That’s all I’ll say.
LikeLike
It works occasionally. B1A4 is a sterling example. But I agree that opening yourself up to collaborating with a diverse set of producing partners can really pay off.
LikeLike
I don’t think it’s fair to write off Pentagon as this overtly angsty group, when lyrically, it’s just their version of ‘So-So’ or ‘Fake Love’.
Hui is a fantastic singer, but he does over-sing or ‘over’ adlibs — which seems indulgent (unlike DK who uses sparsely in order to intensify the point of climax, if it makes sense to anyone). Not that I mind self-indulgent songs; after all, singer-songwriters use music as a form of catharsis. But excessive singing is a different matter altogether for me personally.
In short, Daisy > Dr. BeBe
LikeLike
I agree with a lot of this. Hui is a real show-boater when it comes to singing, which is generally something I like. But when coupled with a song like this or Dr. BeBe, it begins to feel indulgent — at least to me.
I still think Daisy is solid, though.
LikeLike
No poll for this? 😦
LikeLike