Classical & Jazz Musicians React: aespa 'Drama'! - VoiceTube: Learn English through videos!

Subtitles section Play video

?
You guys are now reacting to the four member girl group aespa and their title track,
Drama, off of their 2023 mini album of the same name.
They sing about having total confidence in themselves and the strength they feel with support from each other and from their fans.
aespa use this power to bring drama and break trauma.
Dang.
But they are more than just the main characters of this drama, they are also the writers.
They sing,
You and I, together we write this story, pass hurdles no more, push boundaries every day,
I'ma make it my way.
The song is composed by NoIdentity, Waker, EJ, and Charlotte Wilson.
This video is brought to you by you, our YouTube members and supporters on Patreon.
Patreon and YouTube memberships are how viewers like you can support us and also gain access to exclusive content like extra reactions to both old and new K-pop songs, early access to every ReacttotheK video, and a weekly podcast.
I think Trick or Trick is one of those tracks where like,
I still think it's probably the best one in the album.
When I first heard it, yes, I think it was very fun to discover the journey that this song had.
We also started a new series where we'll be ranking every song in an artist's discography every month.
I'm surprised it's not God Tier for you, I was pretty sure a***** was like amazing for you.
It is, but I'm being sparing with God Tiers.
If you want to become a Patron or YouTube member to help our channel grow and to access over 1,000 exclusive videos, check out the description of this video for how to join.
Thank you to all of you who already support us.
We really couldn't do this without you.
And now, back to the video.
Let's go.
Are we ready for the drama?
Yeah, yup, yup.
3, 2, 1.
Welcome to the drama. Please follow rules.
Wait, can we pause this and read the rules?
Welcome to drama. Please follow four rules.
Look back immediately when you feel a presence in the dark.
Are we in the dark yet, though?
It's opposite day, so yes.
Okay, then I'll look forward.
Oh.
It's opposite day.
It's because we're, yeah, we're looking, okay, okay, right, right.
If your reflection tries to shake your hand, don't let it.
That's crazy.
Let it.
Yes, we let it.
Light can blind your eyes.
Run away at full speed.
Run to the light.
All of the above is false.
Oh, yeah.
The only way to escape is by doing the opposite.
Okay.
Yeah, you were right.
It is opposite day.
I had not read that far.
Me neither.
I called it.
Let's get it.
3, 2, 1.
Great scary music.
This is scary.
Sounded like an eggshell.
Great noises.
Yeah, yeah.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Oh.
Wow.
I love that percussive instrument.
Those triplets.
I like the mix in their flow.
There's that major.
Ooh.
Wow.
That's traumatic.
Ooh.
The bass.
Silking that really dark heavy sound in the pre-chorus.
Yeah.
That organ.
Yeah.
That was a nice-
Look at that.
That was a nice use of triplets actually.
Damn.
Was that the reflection?
Ooh.
Wow.
Wow.
Whoa.
I like that.
That was a nice subversion.
I didn't think that's where I was going at all.
Okay.
Nice little line.
Now major third.
This feels so like, lead-coded, you know?
Mm.
Mm.
Was she counting all the off-beats?
Nice.
That's super nice, yeah.
Oh, this is cool.
Really glad that they're bringing in this new melodic motif in the second verse.
Is that Gucci?
The bass drum is cool.
Yeah.
Gucci's so powerful.
Ding-ding rap, that's unusual.
There's a lot of counting in this song.
Wow.
4 to 1.
What?
What is going on?
Whoa.
Yeah.
Nice.
That one measure where they drop everything out.
Yeah.
Variety is important.
Whoa.
Where did this come from?
Kardashians are cowering right now.
Hmm, interesting.
Whoa.
It's like using the- the b2 chord as the pivot chord.
God, the vocal harmonies are so thick.
Mm.
Dance break?
I want a dance break, please.
Oh!
High note.
She's still going.
And ad-libs.
Sick.
That was sick, yeah.
You're still hanging?
That's hella like upper body strength.
I want a little outro.
Oh!
Whoa.
This is so interesting.
Intense.
It's really intense.
Oh, nice.
I love that.
The texture of that sound is really nice.
That was so satisfying.
I like how they brought back the talking, like the kind of rap thing at the end.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's like close harmony.
Did you hear that?
Ooh, some of their vocal harmony there is really cool.
It's close, the timbre is so similar that it just really sounds like one chord, not like a couple voices at the same time.
That sounds out to me as like, that probably the most like musically exciting and interesting thing for this.
And then the drama vocal fries also stands out like, oh, that's unique.
All in all, I think it's a pretty good song.
I don't really know why it's not like resonating with me as much yet.
Maybe I'm just too full from Thanksgiving dinner.
Very beginning and very end were my favorite.
Yeah.
Ooh, I think I like it when like things sound like atonal or like when you, when there's sounds, but I can't really hear the exact pitch.
The pitch, yeah.
Yeah, I like that effect a lot.
If you listen to at the end of the song.
Oh, the sound develops.
Yeah, like it's much more clean.
What I'm guessing, again, this is speculation on the production methods.
If you run a sound like a transient through a resonator, but then you can turn it where the harmonics aren't, like you have the harmonics lined up and that'll tend to give you something like kind of like a string pluck or lined up another way.
It'll give you kind of like a clean, like tuned metal sound.
But if you turn them to like weird, like not clean fractions, you'll get this sort of bizarre, like metallic sound.
There's like, it's hard often to even hear what the fundamental is.
And I'm guessing that's how this is done is running a transient through a resonator that's set someplace weird.
And maybe even like, given how some of these sound, the harmonics or partials of a sort are moving contrary to where the note is, it might even be like randomizing or just like resetting where it is each time they do a new note.
Future K-pop producer people.
Hopefully.
How do you feel listening to that song?
It's definitely giving drama.
How do you feel like their vocal delivery added to the drama?
It was very like bold.
Like they have pretty voices, but there was nothing like wispy or like quiet about what they were doing.
Like it was all very much like, let's get down to business, which you can hear, I feel like you could hear in the vocal delivery.
There's this kind of bright, forward feeling.
There's not a lot of like breathy singing.
Or just speaking in your chest voice.
But so the vocal energy seems pretty high.
The syncopation in their rapping, it's like really syncopated when they talk about drama and trauma.
And there were particular vocalists that stood out to you guys?
I like the black curly haired girl and the blonde girl.
There are two black curly haired girls.
The one that didn't have a veil.
Ningning.
Hers was very pretty and dreamy.
And I'd like the power behind the blonde one.
What was her name?
Her name is Giselle.
Giselle?
Yeah, also it didn't look hard when they'd sing, which has like another flare of like,
I feel like excellence and like, kind of like, yeah.
When they're like, the one girl, I don't even remember what she said, but she's just like, but it's like literally her face is like, yeah, she's just like, yeah, yeah!
Like as if, like half the time I feel like you see like a pop star singing high, and they're like, yeah, high, yeah!
You know, and she's like, yeah, yeah!
Like it's so easy.
How was that high note at the end?
Hehehe, that was so good.
Where does it rate in aespa high notes?
15 out of 10.
I like how the high note like, bled into the ad-lib right after.
That was pretty good.
I feel like we always talk about the drop off that goes in the last chorus of the song, but actually they put like a little bit of a, they put the drum beat on downbeats, so it's just like the vocals and the drums, and it sounds super cool.
It's right at two, dun, dun.
Oh, but then it doesn't, it drops out four.
Mhm.
And then she tops his head off.
Yeah.
It's like, boom!
It kind of reminds me, the way that there's like a pretty boomy downbeat, it kind of reminds me of like when you just hear like your heart beating, when you're really excited, and then it completely stopping.
Out of the way, yeah!
It's like, you stopped breathing.
That's really fun.
Were there any like textual or harmonic changes that you thought was an interesting choice?
The timbres that they went for were just like kind of the hardest that you can pick.
It's very much similar to like the very recent Doja album, like there's ouchies on there, it's got kind of very similar sound, it's that classic like, like yeah f*** you kind of rap sound, it's badass, and when there's like just kind of heavy hitting subwoofers going that don't really do that much complex stuff, and then they're jumping around the beat like very gracefully with their bars,
I think that contrast is like, yeah, like you said, that's hard.
I really appreciate how they varied it, like they don't spam your ears, they know when to cut things out in a way that feels satisfying, and makes the beat drop afterward feel satisfying, which is why I was hogging like the whole time.
It's like it goes back to that whole thing that people say about Beethoven, like he's so good at using silence that like his stuff hits harder.
There's so much power in the drops, because of that, like they always highlight this vocal fry,
DRAMA!
BOOM!
And you're like, oh!
Holding onto my seat!
Like this song, it's also memorable, because the hook is crazy, the drama, trauma ma ma ma ma, you know, trauma is a word that I'm just like, ooh, it's like a very hard hitting word, and I feel like maybe they deal with it a little too lightly, like I think drama, you know, we've heard different groups do drama ma ma ma ma, ra ma ma, ra ma ma.
To do the drama ma ma ma, trauma ma ma ma, it feels like the song should be a bit more serious, but it is just kind of a-
Badass.
Yeah, romp.
Girls in the back, I break trauma ma ma ma.
I think that's a nice hook though, like where-
It's a pretty, it's a really catchy hook.
The lyrical content aside, drama ma ma ma ma,
It's gonna stick in your head.
And that's why I really like that.
Like it could have very easily been drama ma ma ma, you know, but instead they do like dotted rhythms, drama ma ma ma ma.
There are dotted rhythms like all throughout the song,
Sweet dog, there's a dog!
There's a dog outside.
Those dotted rhythms like hit you harder, and they make you like listen more, because those like sustaining, sustenance, kind of leaves you like on edge.
And it helps you feel like you're falling in more like exponential kind of path, rather than drama ma ma ma, that's linear.
Drama ma ma ma ma, that's exponentially increasing.
Not really, but like you have the feeling of like,
I do get what they're going for though, because it says, you know, they're like relieving trauma.
They're like, they can combat trauma.
So by doing it like this, they're actually saying that, you know, trauma is a light thing, and so that we can easily conquer it, which is a good message, but it does still make me feel a little weird, because some people's traumas are a little more deep than that.
They go a little deeper.
And so it's that approach to it, which I get, but I don't really think works.
I do feel like there were a number of interesting details, and also like I think they did a really good job getting that feeling of heaviness.
Like there's enough, there's enough heft to it, because like sometimes I hear things that are trying to be like badass, but it's just like, it's just sub, and there's not enough, there's no heft on it, and this feels like it really has that weight.
I think most of it is in half time.
And that's probably what makes it feel...
It's a great point.
You don't really ever hear like the beat emphasizing two and four.
It's always just one and three.
So I think that's one reason that it feels heavy.
It does a good job putting a big tail on kicks, even when they're like not, and not like an 808, yeah, like the big, a reverb tail to give space, like it really has, like it is produced to have a sense of weight for most of it, and like occasionally they'll drop it out and get...
I bring all the...
And like, I feel like this, the production supports the rhythmic feel here.
It's also the contrast between the vocal lines, because everything is kind of relative.
If you just had the back track, it might not feel as heavy, but the fact that clearly there is more of a, not simple, but maybe more airy kind of line going on, it makes the back track feel even more, even more fat in comparison.
Umu and Ju Young in unison in unison
That's badass though.
Cinematic.
This, I think I'm going to enjoy more in a setting of just like, like off-camera, just feeling the slow heavy beat, and like all the vocal growl and attitude coming from the vocals.
I think this is a very like empowering song, but when it comes to analysis,
I'm definitely not as excited to break down as some of their past discography.
Flashback.
Pfft, what the f**k!
End of flashback.
Because for me, this was too consistent in feel.
I feel like the sound is pretty consistent, yes.
But they also go from like less tonal areas to more tonal.
Oh yeah, yeah, definitely.
And so they need some sort of transition.
Yeah, and then that's like what surprised me.
Like it's like switching between the different kinds of arpeggios that it's hitting, and like going in between different modes and stuff.
It's really unsettling.
Something like that.
And then it sounds like a Db, C sharp minor major, I don't know.
It's like with a flat 2, so I can't really tell if it's a minor or a major.
But then it goes to F sharp minor in the pre-chorus.
It was kind of surprising at first, but then if you really think about it, it's actually- like it makes total sense.
Because they are using this- it's like a V dominant of F sharp minor.
I don't know, it plays with the leading tones when it does that, and so you start feeling it wanting to go in different directions a little bit, but it has a very clear tonal center until that one part.
Umu.
That's so good.
You said they used the flat 2 as the pivot chord?
Yeah, that's what I thought, but then I realized, oh shit, it's actually not the flat 2, it's actually just the 6.
Because if you count this as the 1, then that's the flat 2.
But in F sharp minor, this is just the 5 and that's just the 6.
Oh my.
They got some funky suspensions in there.
Yeah, they go-
Ba ba da da da.
And I just like that major 7th sound, it kind of like mellows everything out a little bit more, and the timbre of their voice reflects that, and it kind of slows the section down, makes it a little bit less dramatic.
I think a major 7th always kind of comes off dramatic, you know?
I always see a major 7th as like dramatic, just more like, like sort of dramatic, you know?
Like leaning, it wants resolution.
Yeah, if we stopped this song right here, we would probably explode the universe.
So chic, hushed, high class.
Did we just modulate to G? What?
That was insane.
Her arms look like um...
car wash, like you know when you go to the car wash?