To give you a perspective of what’s going to come in the next few paragraphs, I must tell you that this piece is subjectively the perspective of the author only and not of the whole HallyuLife team.
Before I went full-time on media and publishing, I was once a music producer and sound/mixing engineer. I produced several songs which are published. In short, I know how a song was created from start to finish. Think of it as a ‘producer reacts to <song title> video‘ you can find on YouTube but delivered in a written fashion.
Without further ado, let’s debunk MOMOLAND‘s latest single ‘I’m So Hot’, and why it ended up playing on my head non-stop despite the hate I initially gave on it at first.
The Intro
The song starts up with a sound that is seemingly coming from a film projector in the 80s, giving the music video that old vibe as an effect. A loop of the melodic sequence or riff is also present, which ended up being used ultimately on the entire song with different instrument and/or effect filter setting.
What I mean ultimately was aside from the pre-chorus part, the riff was used in the intro, verse, chorus and everything else – making that memorable and stuck up on your head.
That first ten seconds became a significant part of the song
The Verse
While I said earlier that the riff used for the intro was used ultimately on the whole song, I was glad to see that the mix made by Shinsadong Tiger didn’t ended up completely relying on the riff itself to fill all the spaces and loops. He incorporated some synths, which are broken into several chords during the verse. The gaps between the riffs and the synths are noticeable and you don’t need to have a producer’s ears to know.
I must also say the choice of drum and percussion loops really suited the song. A typical electro-pop that intends to be a dance song, which in my opinion, would be great IF and ONLY IF the choreography accompanying the song was great. Perhaps the hate this song had received was from the uninspiring dance steps, not the song itself.
Would be great IF and ONLY IF the choreography accompanying the song was great
Pre-chorus
The interesting part.
Seems like instead of that trumpet-like riff loop, Shinsadong Tiger decided to change it to a hard bright piano, making the part separated from the rest of the song. It might be less groovy because it don’t have the groovy beat the verse and the chorus had, but trust me, this part is the most well-thought among all parts.
Chorus
Surprisingly, the chorus was great. The main highlight of the song should be all pumped up and the song didn’t fail to deliver.
It was also lengthy enough and the beat sequence change from the kick drum to kick and clap/snare combination is also applauded, as that sequence gives more excitement to the next part, which unfortunately, was not exactly what we wanted to hear.
Break/Hook
This part, just like Bboom Bboom and BAAM, also existed on I’m So Hot. The beat flow was apparently notable and it might be just me, but this is perhaps a way to set MOMOLAND’s trademark when it comes to song flow. Some people are tired of it, however.
Again, the intro riff (I’d call it that) was used on this part but not all of it. Sliced enough to give the sequence some gaps and some space, it becomes blank and you’ll only hear the boomy bass droppin’.
I’ll bet that we’ll also see this on their next song, too.
Conclusion
As the following parts goes on repeat like this: Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus and Chorus again, we should just go to our conclusion, then.
But first, let’s discuss the vocals. MOMOLAND’s vocals undoubtedly suited the song, and to be honest, the intended sexy concept wasn’t shown on the song – in fact, it still comes out of their cute and lovely side, only with a twist of electro-pop.
The riff was nice but I think it would be eventually tiring
I just want to emphasize these parts: the drum beat and percussion selection was great (it’ll make you groove to the beat), the riff was nice but I think it would be eventually tiring if you decide to listen to it non-stop, the music video was also great and I already ran out of words to say.
And to explain why I hated it at first, I thought this was just Bboom Bboom 3.0 (BAAM was 2.0), but I later found out that it’s a no and a slight yes (because of the break/hook part that does exist on their title songs since the Bboom Bboom era), but this song, without that, could be a different story in itself.
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