ALL NOVEL Chapter 303
The day after the highly praised review of Debonaire was posted on the largest domestic pop music critique site.
[Reviewing DEBONAIR’s album ‘Joy, Anger, Sadness, Pleasure (RNBD)’ by two active Producers]
Finally, the K-pop specialized review channel with 340,000 subscribers has uploaded their episode on Debonaire.
[Rio: What’s up guys. This is Rio from the composition team Double-G active in Korea and the US.]
[Noah: I’m Noah from Double-G. Who are we talking about this time?]
Generally, the producer team Double-G tends to review one or two tracks from an album, but they decided to review the entire album this time for a simple reason.
A large poster of the five members appears on screen.
[Rio: Debonaire can confidently be said to be the hottest group right now. This album was worked on entirely by the members, but how is that even possible? Their schedules must have been packed.]
[Noah: Exactly. In fact, I think it’s the first time in history that an album has been produced solely by the members themselves. Nowadays, in K-pop, it’s normal for at least 3 or 4 people to be involved in composition and arrangement, right?]
[Rio: That’s true. So before we start, I must mention that this review might turn out to be an overly appreciative one. We really talked about this album all week long…]
[Noah: And the fact that this member is at the center of this album is something we’ll get into soon, but it’s certain. How is this person even a minor? They’re a high school student!]
[Rio: As we mentioned in our last ‘Sweet Demon’ review, Do-hee and Chae-rin composed ‘Fantasia’ during the Seven era, and they’ve made incredible progress since then. The speed of that progress is astonishing, but… this album really is something.]
[Noah: They’ve broken through the ceiling of parameters.]
[Rio: There’s no end in sight. Let’s start the review. First title: SAME.]
[Noah: Let’s get it.]
Then the two began reacting to the music videos one by one.
Starting with the first title, SAME.
[Noah: This track is seriously insane. The way the song contrasts is truly textbook but really sophisticated. How can it be like this?]
[Rio: We will be reviewing a separate performance version of this. The stage is really even better, right? It’s already hot as a challenge. Simple is the best. I’ve heard this point was made by Miss Woo-ah. This group is truly artists, artists.]
[Noah: Sigh~ But what should we do about this? The music video is just so perfect. As soon as we watched the music video, the unity of the image was so clear that I thought a producer must have been involved, and indeed, Do-hee made the plan as the producer. Truly versatile!]
The second title: Euphoria.
[Noah: Are these members the same artists who were a bit bizarre earlier? They instantly became cute girls. Do-hee even has her hair in pigtails.]
[Rio: Haha, isn’t this the privilege of the youngest? Of course, I’ve heard that Do-hee expressed some reluctance about that.]
[Noah: Wow, but Na-eun’s voice especially shows a refreshing tone.]
[Rio: I think her clear voice perfectly illustrates that uniqueness.]
The third title: Do it anyway.
[Noah: I need to review the song, but I keep getting drawn to the lyrics. The overall vocals come out through the members’ voices, and it seems Do-hee wrote the lyrics all by herself for this track.]
[Rio: Yes, it feels like Do-hee is expressing her own thoughts. It’s a calm song, but the harmonies that build up at the end are really impactful. Personally, I like this song the most. What kind of idol would release a lyrical song with just a guitar accompanying the harmonies?]
[Noah: The music video is just them singing while playing guitar on the beach… It seems to convey the concept of the idol group Debonaire. The catchphrase says it all, right? To not be trapped in any image. Everything is groundbreaking.]
The last title: Just Another Day.
[Rio: It was a twist. Everyone was guessing what special day it is today, and it turns out to be just another day.]
[Noah: Aren’t the lyrics so cute and fun? “You came, and it’s clearly a new day, but why do you feel like yesterday?” Haha. We all have times when our repetitive daily lives feel boring, right? I guess that’s why it’s just another day.]
[Rio: This is also, in contrast to Do it anyway, a lively and light indie song, right?]
[Noah: Exactly. Oh, and I’ve been saying it since Seven, but I’m totally a fan of Kim Seo-yoon. When her vocals come in idol music, it’s so stable, but once she goes indie, the song really comes to life.]
When Seo-yoon’s vocals came on, it was so stable, but once they went indie, the song really came alive.
That runtime alone is around 15 minutes.
But still, the video was only halfway through.
The two producers slowly wrapped up their reviews, calming their previously upturned lips, and finally began to get to the point.
[Noah: This time, the video is inevitably longer. We want to talk in-depth about the album’s interpretation and feelings. Is this truly what it feels like to be a fan?]
[Rio: Didn’t we actually witness Debonaire’s comeback live?]
[Noah: Exactly. When Do-hee revealed the album name and showed the introduction, I was just overwhelmed. Just from that intro, everything felt perfectly arranged. Plus, Do-hee couldn’t even express herself and said to interpret it freely… I mean, what can I say? It’s just so moving for me…]
[Rio: Oh, stop it~ You’re becoming such an old man! Anyway, we also looked into reviews from other YouTubers and a music review site called Banum, and especially this time, we want to share stories we resonate with and stories we couldn’t connect with.]
[Noah: Ah, technically, review channels shouldn’t be talking like this. Aren’t we gonna lose subscribers? Haha.]
[Rio: Well, if that happens, I guess we just have to live by writing songs, right?]
The two showcased the album name, introduction, and tracklist on the screen.
[Noah: The album “Joy, Anger, Sadness, Pleasure” also known as RNBD. Looking at this, I feel like I’m becoming more of an otaku.]
[Rio: That just shows how passionately we discussed and interpreted it. To start with, it must be about Do-hee’s incredibly heated end-of-year stage remarks.]
[Noah: Just that alone got 4.95 million views.]
[Rio: It was certainly a heartfelt statement. This relates to the ‘joy’ in Do-hee’s name (‘도희’ means reaching joy). And thinking about how this album is named ‘Joy, Anger, Sadness, Pleasure’ with the titles themed around ‘Joy, Anger, Sadness, Pleasure.’]
Noah nodded, smiling, and clicked the mouse. Suddenly, highlights appeared on the tracklist intro.
I’ll DO(到喜)
[Noah: The song from Do-hee’s end-of-year stage reveal and the first track of this album being ‘Do-hee (到喜)’, meaning ‘to reach joy,’ is just a perfectly structured intro.]
[Rio: As you said, it starts with ‘희’ (Joy)! It’s an introduction to ‘Joy, Anger, Sadness, Pleasure.’ We’ve reviewed this intro track thoroughly last year, so let’s skip over it for now.]
It’s announcing the introduction of Joy, Anger, Sadness, Pleasure! This intro song is something we really reviewed hard last year, so let’s just skip over it for now.]
Now, this next track has become the highlight.
SAME
[Noah: As we mentioned before, we reacted to this song being so sophisticated and beautiful for many reasons, and now we want to delve into a more conceptual discussion along with the album.]
[Rio: As you said, we’ve seen quite a few reviews, and the consensus seems to be the same. It’s the first track of the title, yet expresses the second emotion of Joy, Anger, Sadness, Pleasure, which is Anger. SAME.]
[Noah: But we want to elaborate a bit more. The term in the album introduction was written as Nettled. I’m not someone who gets impressed easily, but wow, here comes that admiration… Wow!]
[Rio: Hahaha, I didn’t actually know either, but after hearing Noah’s interpretation, I found myself in awe as well at this part.]
Noah still couldn’t close his mouth, nodding vigorously.
[Noah: So, the dictionary definition of nettled is to irritate or annoy, but since I’m a native English speaker from America, let’s talk about what nettled really means.]
He moved the mouse pointer to bring up a certain phrase on the screen.
─under the nettles they were gathered together
Job 30:7 (Under the thorn bush, they are gathered together)
[Noah: Yes, the thorn bush that frequently appears in the Bible is Nettle, the thistle. Isn’t that just mind-blowing? This song came out on Friday the 13th, didn’t it?]
[Rio: I’m not a Christian, but I obviously know that day symbolizes the death of Jesus. Speaking of which, doesn’t the crucified Jesus wear a crown of thorns?]
[Noah: Exactly! This thorn bush signifies suffering in Christianity. As a Christian, I can’t help but wonder how an idol could plan something like this…]
As Noah said this, he seemed to be submerged in deep admiration, continuing to praise.
[Noah: This has to be intentional, and as we’ll see in the following content, if we look at the lyrics of the third title that’s coming out on Ash Wednesday, ‘Do it anyway’, there’s a line that says, ‘It’s tough in the thorny thicket’, right?!]