Collaborations between Japanese and Korean acts have become more common, and as a fan of both music markets it’s fun to see the artists interact. ReawakeR is a big one, bringing together anime theme queen LiSA and Stray Kids’ ultra-popular Felix on the new OST for season two of Solo Leveling. Though the song has been available for awhile now, today sees the release of its music video.
Like TXT’s excellent Solo Leveling entry last year, ReawakeR is composed by prolific talent Hiroyuki Sawano. He’s long been one of my favorite J-pop producers, but it feels like he’s being stretched a bit thin lately. His sound is instantly recognizable and with so much music flooding the market that strength threatens to flip into a weakness. All of his songs are starting to sound the same.
True to form, ReawakeR bounds along the dramatic percussion Sawano prefers, giving it a very cinematic quality. This works well in the context of an anime and gives the track plenty of momentum. It’s especially effective when paired with Felix’s aggressive verse, replacing what might have otherwise been sluggish trap beats in a different arrangement. LiSA sounds incredible as always and her voice contrasts Felix’s deeper tone in an engaging way. But when it comes down to it, my ear will always be tuned toward melody and Sawano has much stronger melodies in his arsenal than the ones we find here.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 9 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Unrelated, but we might be getting Monster 2.0 👀 from G-Dragon???
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I don’t dare get my hopes up, but wouldn’t that be nice?
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I saw the mv teaser for Drama and the piano chords instantly took me to Monster, but I heard it’ll be 4 minutes long? Hopefully it’s not a mid-tempo ballad-adjacent song.
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Amazing collab!
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This sounds like a NAQT Vane song; had to check to confirm that’s his band as well. It’s a great sound, no doubt.
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I might like it more if Felix’s vocal didn’t sound so horribly autotuned here. If the producer’s were aiming for “robotic”, they overdid it.
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Thanks for this sharing! Now I was wondering that what is your Top few picks (perhaps 3?) songs/releases from Sawano. Yes they might sound similar, but this song that Sawano collab with League of Legends stands a spot for me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zz5X1uwKcM
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Hmm… definitely these:
Not sure about a third right now…
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I’m surprised I didn’t recognize it with TXT’s LEvel last year, but after listening this I can absolutely hear Hiroyuki Sawano’s signature production sounds all over these Solo Leveling OPs.
I’m more partial to his soundtrack composition works (his sound goes really well paired with dramatic, do-or-die sci-fi settings). He composed the OST for Xenoblade Chronicles X, one of my favourite video game OSTs, for which he made some wonderfully melodramatic vocal tracks.
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