If you didn't see my comment on our Peek-A-Boo reaction video, the song will be added to our to- react list ^^
Yunyi's thoughts on the album:
Look: I actually REALLY enjoy this song -- it has wonderful punchy chords and great use of its funk influences. However I think it falls short in the sense that the melody goes halfway between sounding "composed" and "improv'd" and instead sometimes just sounds poorly written. I think the composers tried to go for a laid-back club vibe with the melody lines and tried to draw from a kind of cabaret jazzy syncopated feel... However the instrumentals are just too active and organized for that to be convincing imo. Also the percussion is slightly drowning and static throughout the track, although that is more a pet peeve than anything. The vocals on this track are great tho
I Just: I'm not a big of a fan of this song. I think it tries to be too trendy -- the kick drum, the reverb, club beats... it sounds like every other song I hear in Forever 21, minus the speech over the vocals, which are nice and catchy the first time around. Not much to comment on this song otherwise.
Kingdom Come: After the first few seconds, I already feel that it's gonna be good. I think this is Velvet side RV at its most iconic. Beautiful harmonies and lush lines. Classic hip hop beat overlayed by a progression that doesn't dazzle on its complexity or flashiness, but only through its simplicity and passionate vocals. Classic and kind of reminiscent of Beyonce in the mid 2000s for me.
My Second Date: The placement of this track is so good. The contrast with Kingdom Come is so so so good -- kind of like RV is saying "We can do classic, we can do new. We can be deep, or we can just play." I love the bubbliness of this track that RV pulls off without going fill Red-style bubblegum. However I think the chorus falls seriously flat, it really doesn't feel like this track peaks or climaxes anywhere. It's all a little flat, but the different timbres and cheerful rhythms are at least enough to make this track pretty entertaining.
Attaboy: I'm usually a sucker for mixolydian and variety within the track... but I don't know what to make of this track, really. It sounds like a huge potpourri of ingredients that I'm not sure work with each other. The song is so sectional and fragmented... yet, somehow, it also seems to flatline. There's no lead-up to anything. The song seems to be made up of a lot of good, but unrelated, ideas. I wish they took one main thing and stuck with it and developed it. Also, the fact that it's just on one pedal tonic chord doesn't quite help its case.
Perfect 10: Another gorgeous track. I'm a big fan of the airiness of the melody lines, floating around the magical extended chord tones instead of anchoring onto the tonic. The instrumental layers changes QUITE a bit throughout the song, but the mixing is always neat and never overbearing. My only qualm is that i wish the chorus was a larger climax, or in some other way melodically distinguished itself more from the verses. bridge key changes are lovely, although I don't know about the modulation back to the tonic at the end of the bridge... I'm sure they could have used a less jarring dominant setup. Anyways. It was a nice listen.
(and she didn't tell me anything about her thoughts on Moonlight Melody)