Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
PLAVE are deservedly exploding, and as an early adopter of them, I couldn’t be happier. They’re just a lot of fun, and their music has been quality so far as well. Most of what they’ve showcased so far is average at worst, and they already have a standout in “Wait For You“, which has grown on me as basically a rock ballad that hits most of the right notes.
Anyway, “The 6th Summer” is their latest release and is something like a softer “Wait For You”, and it too has surprisingly grown on me after repeat listens despite not typically being the kind of sound I enjoy.
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An ode to the hardships of the members and the quintet overcoming them in order to greet fans again, the soundscape of “The 6th Summer” is nicely weighted, delivering a pensive tone in the verses and utilizing the jubilant chorus to represent the theme in the lyrics well.
It’s the soft rock kind of ballad that’s able to win me over, partially because it sounds like an anime closing song, but also just because it picks up momentum and builds to a soaring chorus that injects life into the track via livelier percussion and guitar instead of turning to meandering vocal theatrics to carry it. The execution is another selling point, as the vocals are measured and gentle when they need to be, but powerful enough to hit those peaks the song requires. I guess it would take a group of virtual idols to get a boy group with quality vocals again. With the rapping on idol tracks, I’m usually just looking for the bars to not ruin songs like this, but the verse in “The 6th Summer” actually contributes, using a simple flow but delivered with conviction and through a rhythm that doesn’t mess with the momentum.
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While I’m not sure exactly how much I’ll actually end up loving this by the end of the year, it’s certainly trending in the right direction. For a rather standard ballad with a rock edge to it, “The 6th Summer” has been on replay for a bit and has held up well so far. It’d be hard to begrudge anybody who doesn’t like ballads to write it off as being too stylistically familiar, but as somebody who unironically wouldn’t mind more anime OST vibes in K-pop (“BON VOYAGE”, hello), PLAVE’s latest is just about up my alley.
