NCT’s HAECHAN (dance)
So first of all what I need to say about this talented young man is that he has stage presence all right. Have you seen the difference of him on-stage and off-stage. SO ANYWAYS LET’S GET TO THE ACTUAL REVIEW.
smooth; the moves flow into one another
none of his moves seem cut-off or hectic.
clean; you can see each move very clearly
strong; he puts the required amount of strength into the right moves
energetic; he performs very enthusiastically and pours his energy into the performance itself
light; he moves like a feather
I mainly mean his feet with this. Also this is a very important feature concerning a dancer, to be as light as a feather while still being able to highlight the dance moves with enough power to make it impactful.
expressive; his facial expressions as well as what is expressed with the dance moves
so this is definitely an asset for a dancer because a dancer never just dances. Expressing especially through dance moves rather than facial expression can be very hard to do. Also this takes a lot of energy.
control & technique; he controls his movements very well and uses every technique he learned efficiently
he doesn’t waste unnecessary energy on movements that simply require the right technique to be executed properly. This is also the reason why his movements look so elegant and graceful.
~ ~ I hope you enjoyed my first review on this blog and I have to say I enjoyed reviewing Haechan’s dancing very much, also because when I cover something from NCT, he is my first choice to look at and to cover from. His unique style combined with everything that I have mentioned above makes his dancing very appealing to me as a dancer myself ~ ~
please don’t repost anywhere without credit!!
My thoughts on Loveholic. Inspired by @oneletterelliot and their review, I promised to myself to try to put my thoughts into words as well. I am not a professional music critic, I have no musical expertise, these are solely my thoughts and how I feel about the individual songs and the album as a whole. Please understand that I am not hating on NCT 127, nor is my intention to offend them or their fans. Thank you.
This review consists of only the first three tracks (I will do a second part later). I put it under “keep reading”, because long posts are annoying. Feel free to reblog/tag/send an ask and share your own oppinion, there’s not nearly enough people talking about the actual music here.
A Moonshine production nearly always means automatic success. “Gimme gimme” is no exception. Opening with Taeyong’s powerful rap, you’re instantly filled half with rage, half with lust. It makes you an addict with the first beat, this spicy disease builds a desire within you to manifest your feelings through dancing and powerful gestures. This demonstrates for example when the members sing “boom” and their voices are boosted by the dubstep laser noise underneath, and together they create a great mighty sound.
The beat that carries throughout the whole song (much like in Kick It) is only interrupted during the vocal parts before chorus. Haechan’s and later Jungwoo’s “Loveholic~” parts are cut out off a witchcraft incantation and it’s a shame they don’t last longer. The main beat then returns in the chorus and it’s that familiar sweet feeling we’ve been waiting for.
The instrumental dance part is where you can let all your accumulated emotions run free. The song could end in here and none of us would feel like anything’s missing. Instead we get another chorus, this time properly “noisy”, with Taeil’s high note that unfortunately only reminded me of Baekhyun’s vocals in SuperM. It works in “One”, but it’s completely needless in “100″. There isn’t a single person on this planet that doesn’t know that Taeil (or Baekhyun) can hit the high notes, but surely we could utilise their vocals better? Taeil’s part doesn’t serve any purpose and to me it’s actually slightly intrusive.
I can picture the instrumentel version playing in movies with fast cars/crowded parties/badass fighting action scenes, and I would love to see just that. I feel like the beat is so simply done that it just forces you to rock your head from the beginning to the end. After a few days you might forget the lyrics or the melody of the song, but I don’t think I could forget that „pwamm bam bam bam bam bam bam pwammm“. It just stays on your mind.
When I’ve heard it for the first time, I almost immediately got reminded of “Kitchen Beat” and SuperM’s “I Can’t Stand the Rain” and at that moment I knew that this song will not do it for me.
Similarly to “I Can’t Stand the Rain”, it opens with an oriental vibe, but it loses to an overwhelming electronic sounds and chaotic rhythm, which fortunately isn’t nearly as confusing as in “Kitchen Beat”.
Another aspect that I can’t help but focus on, is how the line between rapping and singing is kind of blurred in here. I am a huge fan of those few moments, where rappers sing and singers rap, however when they try to do both at once, it doesn’t seem to work. You only end up with hurried sing-songy lines without clear melody, sacrificing the flow of the whole song just for the sake of a few “cool” foreign words and phrases.
When we do get “proper” vocal parts, they seem to be in a rather high key (another similarity with “I Can’t Stand the Rain”, where it was driven to extreme).
I would very much like this to be an interlude instead, or maybe just a rap song through and through. The dance break again is on point.
I’ve listened to that song four times within the last twenty minutes and if you’d ask me to sing a part of it, I wouldn’t be able to do it. The melody just isn’t there. Frankly, the only thing I do remember, is Haechan’s “your lipstick got me”, which makes me laugh every time.
As much as I love “gimme gimme”, it is actually “First Love” that will, much like its title, forever be my favourite on this album and the first (hopefully not last) Japanese song that I’ve fallen in love with almost immediately.
It is a much needed relief from the urgency and insistence of the previous two tracks. With its happy and upbeat rhythm, the song makes you unclench your fists and smile instead, maybe even clap your hands to its beat. I know I found myself just happily vibing and singing right after I hit play and it was hard for me to focus on what to put up into my review. No thoughts, just vibes.
The synths in the background reminded me of MAX’s “Closer” or maybe even more of TVXQ’s “Truth” (I adore both songs). And it’s those retro vibes that make this song so special. This track also gives the necessary room to NCT’s vocalists, and with Mark and Taeyong keeping their distance, it’s the vocalists time to shine. The harmonization is beautiful and genius, the melody is clear, the flow doesn’t break because there’s no unnecessary dance breaks, and the few rap parts that are there are incorporated so well, you don’t even realize they’re there.
The melody is easy to follow and remember, and if (in the very few cases I believe) you would struggle with it after the first listen, I’m pretty sure you’d still remember at least the “hey, hoo” part, which complements the track excellently.
