Former YG Entertainment trainee Youha debuted last year with Island, which honestly wasn’t anywhere near my radar. But… introduce synthwave production and you’ve officially got my attention! Similar to Yubin’s Perfume (also released today), comeback track Abittipsy (오늘 조금 취해서 그래) brings Youha’s sound right in line with K-pop’s retro synth craze. And, it does a fantastic job of it.
Abittipsy is short and sweet, coming in at under three minutes but making the most of its limited time. Right from the start, the throbbing electronic backbone makes its presence known, providing a constant underpinning for the track that lends it a surging – almost majestic – energy. This isn’t a new or novel production technique, but it’s one that almost always appeals to me. Call me predictable if you’d like. I just love this hearty synth sound.
Before Youha’s vocals take us into verse one, the instrumental hits with a gorgeous crest of bright synth textures. The rest of the song flirts between these two elements, beefing up the track during the chorus and pulling back for the verses. Again, this is nowhere near original, but it’s tried and true and ultra-satisfying. Youha delivers an assured vocal, building toward a cathartic power note that brings us into the final chorus. The melody is simple and uncluttered, but brilliantly traces the structure of the instrumental. If this is the kind of material Youha intends on delivering from now on, I think we’ve just found a new, compelling K-pop soloist.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 9 |
| RATING | 8.75 |
Hahaha we underestimated your love for everything retro! Honestly, I feel like I need to make a k-synthwave playlist sooner than later! These last months have us spoiled for choice, really.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! I agree; Abittipsy doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it does a great job nonetheless.
LikeLike
Aw, this is really fun! Super cute concept and the production actually feels nice and full and playful. The instrumentation reminds me of Robyn’s legendary “Call Your Girlfriend.”
LikeLike
Great song!
Nick, what do you think of Spyair’s Wadachi? I gave it a 9.25, so did Arpydarpy, and StillBangtan/Deforested gave it a 9. It really has a timeless melody.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It really is. Indeed, we love to see your thoughts! I will update the TrackScore sooner but it already is the best of 2021, with a 92.
https://deforestedmusic.wordpress.com/2021/01/13/track-spotlight-wadachi-spyair/
LikeLike
Eh… I like it, but not nearly as much as you all seem to. It’s a solid rock track and I love the strings, but the melody isn’t quite there for me.
LikeLike
Oh well, to each his or her own! 2021 has been a great year for J-Pop so far! YOASOBI, Spyair, LiSA, SIxTONES all had great comebacks. And the Snow Man one may triumph over them all!
LikeLike
Ooh, thanks for mentioning this. I love it!
LikeLike
Thank you for bringing up Spyair! Some Like it Hot!! is one of my favourite songs of all time but they disappeared off my radar somehow.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes! Love the Some Like It Hot!! appreciation. That alongside Sakuramitsuki are right up there for me
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here we are again, an hour later, another retro 80’s pop song.
This one doesn’t work as well as Yubin’s because all it has are those four bars of synth, which repeat through just about the whole song with minor additions and subtractions which to me are just decorative elements grafted on top. And repeat. And repeat.
Even the chorus sounds like the exact same four bars chord progression. (There are smarter people here who will be able to tell more readily and definitively – Gabriel?) I myself don’t like the song well enough to bother to figure it out.
And its over by 2:42 because the four bar one idea song has worn itself out already.
Also, since I tend to skip most of the current retro trend, I can’t tell what song it is copying which itself was copied. It’s a bit Blinding Lights, but probably something else.
mid 7’s at best for me.
LikeLike
I think the appeal of the song lies in the simple chord progression. It does not do too much, so the listener does not care to analyze it. In that way, it is a simple feel-good song.
That said, I agree with your score. I prefer it when the 80s are channeled with creativity and uniqueness, something like Night D by Eill, or the more authentic Midnight Romance songs.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What can I say? Sometimes I’m a basic b****! (especially when it comes to synthpop)
haha
LikeLiked by 6 people
OK I’m here
So the start of it is actually I IV chords as I understand it:
F♯ major, C♯ F♯ (power chord, omitting third which is A♯) -> I chord
B, D♯, omitting fifth which is F♯ -> IV chord
A♯, C♯, omitting root which is F♯ -> I chord
B, D♯, omitting fifth which is F♯ -> IV chord
However during the song some passing melodies can give the B, D♯ an F note, which turns it into a iii chord.
This is a very guitarist writing to me so maybe guitarists on this site can correct me if I am wrong.
I guess this kind of thing is already complex enough to have a pop song especially in US, my problem with the song is that with the anthemic bass I expected some Gaga-ish powerful sound paring with it, instead we have what we got, not ideal to me
LikeLike
So in other words, it is just about a two chord song, F# major and B major, with occasional flirtations with F minor.
And keeping those chords open or inversions or otherwise missing notes so that it sounds more mysterious when it really isn’t.
… I just played those scales on the piano. Boy that’s a lot of black notes! That either makes it fun to play or a pain in the tuckus.
LikeLike
I IV is pretty cool to me though.
Like those modern harmonic theory books say perfect fourth is “consonant among dissonance and dissonant among consonance”, and I really like it, especially IVadd2 -> I
I brought my memory back to “Free Somebody” which I thought the verse was that, turns out it wasn’t, it was Dadd2 -> E7 (V/V7) omitting B(fifth) which was I guess too cool for disco
LikeLike
You guys are so much smarter with music than I am…
Me just try to rite gud.
LikeLike
The instrumental is just so full and anthemic. And that power note!
I don’t think I’ll be tiring of this anytime soon – always worth celebrating when something this good comes out of nowhere.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am super excited about the comeback!
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSNhJoLLrDk”
LikeLiked by 1 person
My apologies…. I don’t want to cause any inconvenience to Mymagoogle or any readers in the site… but this is just to surreal for me.
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpOKD_WCSHU” This is a cravity song, but sounds like a developed ONEUS song.
“https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kx1D9w_byDY” This is a Oneus song, but sounds like a developed CRAVITY Song.
I don’t know, this is just so weird to me…
LikeLike
Can anyone on this blog tell us how to embed clickable links without the thumbnail showing? There is some magic way that I have never figured out.
So many teasers out these weeks! Allkpop has most of the top of their postings filled with just teasers. The Golcha, skeptical if that will be an actual song content or just the intro music, in any case mho there are way too many teasers their people are doing. The cravity, also skeptical if that is the sound of the song itself, the vibe feels like last year SM’s boys+cars theming. The Oneus song, based upon that 30sec, not really looking forward to that, it sounds like noise so far.
LikeLike
To be honest, I shouldn’t have expected much from a song called “No Diggity”……
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah… none of these teasers are really blowing my skirt up.
But, we shall see…
LikeLike
what about the cravity teasers?
LikeLike
Honestly, I’ve been so unimpressed with Cravity thus far that it’ll take one hell of a teaser to get me excited. The visuals in this point to retro. I’m doubtful that the actual song will follow suit.
With that said, I always hope to be surprised!
LikeLike
As the owner of this blog? No clue. I think that html editing is enabled in comments, but I’m not sure what code to use. I’ll look into it when I have a moment.
LikeLike
This is giving me Carly Rae Jepsen vibes. That’s to say: I feel like I’ve heard it before, it’s not that inventive, and..I really like it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
My thought too. And given that Yves’ ‘new’ is what got me into Kpop in the first place, this is like a CRJ full-circle moment for me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I still mantain Yves’ song is one of the best pop tracks of the last decade!
LikeLike
I like the retro vibe. It’s something I would listen to in the summer with the windows down in the car. But it just too simple and straightforward for me. Which isn’t BAD- she does it wonderfully. That style just isn’t my taste.
LikeLike
I can’t stop thinking ’bout THAT power note. Just euphoric. Her ad-libs game on this song is so, so on point.
Give us a synthwave album queen!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have to point out how this can easily crossfade into highway to heaven 😂
LikeLike