CURRENT #2: ONEUS- A Song Written Easily

Released: March 24th, 2020

Having just kept up with Oneus, I was very impressed with them since their Valkyrie days and I couldn't wait to see what else they had up their sleeves. "A song written easily" is definitely not a song that could have been written that easily, as there are lots of instruments layered together that could have evolved to produce a mature, complex sound. Unfortunately the result is rather a familiar scenario we've heard from too many songs that simply falls flat on its face.

Something that hasn't been heard in K-Pop for a while is a whistle paired with guitar and a tropical synth hook and they work well together. The verses quickly take a turn for the better with ascending and descending synths in the background, until the squeaky-like synth appears in the rap, which I personally don't like. It's a devastating blow to the song's rise to the chorus and I wished the same synth and beat had kept playing on, instead of going from getting hooked back to what the intro sounded like. The chorus, like any other tropical-house inspired tune is vocal-less in the first half, but the bass synth at least keeps the momentum going. I would expect some vocals to carry on that same energy, but the "woah-ohs" don't do it justice, resulting in a chorus sounding promising to only turn bland later on. The verses are certainly my favorite part of the song, but the beautiful, gorgeous synths in the background are ruined by the autotuned vocals, which is a damn shame because I thought all the other vocals were good. The bridge is nothing special either, with just a couple of high notes randomly placed at the very end until the ACTUAL chorus plays, with ACTUAL vocals sung throughout its entire second half. Why couldn't they do this for all the other chorus parts?

ONEUS has delivered a song of a genre that has been used a lot in K-Pop the past couple of years, and I can certainly hear some outside-the-box elements to make sure this tune doesn't go unheard. Unfortunately, it's not enough for it to deviate from all the other songs of this genre, as it makes the same mistake of letting off steam too early when there's still so much energy left to be desired.

RATING: 7.3/10