February Wrapped
Fighting, Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2, GAM3 BO1, etc.
I had a really long intro written about how our music listening habits change when music consumption takes the form of statistics crafted for sharing on social media (aka a thought about Spotify Wrapped and the “Friends Activity” sidebar)—but I scrapped it.
I have decided to approach this month’s listening wrap-up with a bit more ease, to pause existential deep diving for once and just let the songs continue to play, and play again.
Here are my ruminations on the songs I’ve had on repeat this past month. :-)
Second Wind, BSS
Composed of three songs, all the songs off Second Wind have managed to top my most listened to songs of February. BSS is a sub-unit of Seventeen (my favorite K-pop group, if you haven’t heard yet), and the songs are meant to represent different times of the day: “Fighting” for the morning, “Lunch” for the afternoon, and “7PM” for the evening.
In sports, a second wind is described as a sudden burst of energy after tiredness—the moment when you continue to go on after feeling like you can’t anymore. The songs off Second Wind are meant to serve this purpose.
There were many days of this month when I would wake up and immediately put on “Fighting” before getting out of bed. (In Korea, ‘fighting’ is used as a term of encouragement, often said to cheer someone on or wish them luck.) I would listen to “Lunch” during the middle of my day, a song about eating with loved ones that’s meant to fight off post-lunch drowsiness. And when the sun sets, I would listen to “7PM,” a calming track about releasing the burdens of your day.
One of my favorite parts in “Fighting” comes after the featured rap verse by Lee Youngji. After Youngji’s verse, the song, which has been loud and upbeat and energetic, shifts, stripping back much of its instruments to just a piano and Hoshi’s voice, as he sings, “Just like the way stocks go up and down / Feels like you know life but you don't know, it's crummy.”
But then another member, Seungkwan, joins in, singing, “Get a sip of water and slow the tempo / Okay, here you go, vitamin A-B-C,” before all three members launch into the explosive chorus again.
This slow down before ramping back again feels reminiscent of a second wind—reaching your lowest point and wanting to stop, before continuing on despite it all.
My love of the group aside, Second Wind is such a fun collection of songs with a cohesive theme at the center of it all. It’s been a bright part of this month.
“Boy’s a Liar Pt. 2” by PinkPantheress and Ice Spice
Much like everyone else, I am addicted to listening to this song. This collab between PinkPantheress, an alt-pop/hyperpop artist and producer, and Ice Spice, a drill rapper, is honestly a no-brainer. At just over two minutes long, it has the catchiest beat that makes you want to listen to it over and over again.
At the end of PinkPantheress’s verse, she says, “Did you ever want me? / Was I ever good enough?” The post-chorus of the song repeats the words, “Good enough, good enough.”
In a song that’s spent lamenting over a man who’s untrustworthy, the repetition of those words feel like a mantra. The boy’s a liar, he doesn’t see you, and you’re good enough without him.
“Ay-Yo” and “Skyscraper” by NCT 127
I like songs with interesting music production, and NCT 127 always delivers on songs with great production and vocals.
In the K-pop community, the songs by NCT 127 can be quite divisive. Not everyone “gets” their music, viewing their sound as dissonant, different noises brought together that don’t work.
But I think the opposite—it’s so fun listening to their songs because it does work. It’s like that Nicki Minaj meme: “You're not gonna get the song the first time you hear it. After the second and third time, you're gonna be like, 'Whoa, what is this?'”
The part that sticks out to me the most in “Ay-Yo”: the piano in the pre-chorus.
The part that sticks out to me the most in “Skyscraper”: the bridge.
“GAM3 BO1” by Seventeen
Released in 2021, this is a song by Seventeen’s hip-hop unit and it’s one of my favorite tracks by them. It’s a hyperpop track imbued with sound effects reminiscent of 8-bit music, and it’s such an earworm.
The song’s about being online. Presumably, “GAM3 BO1” was a track created during the pandemic, which makes the topic that much more relatable. We were nothing but online, as the chorus goes, “So turn the computer on, Nobody can stop us, 24 hours,” before repeating, “Game, game, game, game / Game, game, game, game / Game, game, game, game, game boy / Game, game, game, game / Game, game, game, game / Game, game, game, game, game boy.”
There is something to be said about this repetitiveness in a song that also talks about how fast technology changes. It mentions NFTs, bitcoin, Zoom, and Vernon says, “Times are changing fast / But in order to adapt we change too.”
To keep up with all these changes, we have to remain chronically online, and the repetition of “game boy” and the outro lyric, “I don't need new buddies,” feels like a trap to me. It’s convincing yourself that there is nothing to life but being online. As video games are meant to keep you playing, the usage of video game sound effects immerse you into this addictive environment. It feels like you’re trapped in a screen, consuming and experiencing things only virtually.
Despite me talking a lot about the song’s meaning, I just love how this song sounds. The autotuned ad-libs, the 8-bit sound effects, the Roblox sample. Scratches my brain!
“Moonlight Sunrise” by Twice
I wrote about this song last month, but it’s once again in my top ten most listened to songs of this month. Apparently, I still really like it!
The group’s next mini-album, Ready to Be, drops on March 10th, and they’ve also announced a world tour for later this year. I’m very excited for both things, and excited to hear how their sound develops!
Some recs:
Thank you for reading! Sorry for the delay (again). I changed the title of this monthly series. Maybe I’ll talk about movies and TV shows and books one day!
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