Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
In the latest Rundown I alluded to songs I was going to cover later, and well, I decided to do it now. These two tracks sorta encapsulate the high-end of what I’d label as playlist material.
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Zhang Hao (ZB1) – “I WANNA KNOW”
I never expected to be covering a song from the OST of Transit Love 3, but its soundscape is absolutely dead on for the theme of the show of former lovers trying to rekindle a flame. It’s the perfect kind of warm, gentle, melancholic track that goes nicely over … well, exactly the scenes you see in the clips above. Most importantly the “I wanna know everything about ya, I wanna tell you everything about me” hook from the chorus is surprisingly catchy and grows on the listener. It’s simplistic, but it works.
Honestly, it’s just one of those generic songs, but generic doesn’t have to mean bad, necessarily. It’s well executed by Zhang Hao vocally and has a timeless ease to it. There’s nothing necessarily fresh, and yet I could see myself listening through it whenever and wherever it pops up. One of those tracks that would be somewhat uninspiring as a solo debut or something, but is situationally perfect for moods and playlists. I enjoyed it, basically.
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Moonbyul (MAMAMOO) – “Think About”
One thing about Moonbyul is that she tries such an eclectic style of stuff that you never know what’s coming. It’s been more jack of all trades and master of none to me so far, but because she’s always moving, it at least keeps you on your toes. Needless to say I didn’t expect this, but “Think About” is a Moonbyul pre-release from her upcoming Starlit Of Muse album whose chorus has also been oddly sticky for me.
Backtracking a bit, the track’s subtly busy instrumental is grounded in a foot-tapping combination of percussion and guitar, which builds out to result in a playful, funky, and groovy bop. That said, it’s definitely highlighted by the aforementioned chorus. While the “do you think about, think about, think about me, I think about, think about you” hook is enticing in itself, the following “are you down, down, down, down, da-da-da-da-da-down down” follow-up is where the track excels with the help of some background strings, and that’s what ended up embedded in my brain for way longer than I was comfortable. The name-checking of Hongdae, Seongsu, and Itaewon was also a nice touch that was kind of a hip-pop throwback for me.
“Think About” is basically the latest in K-pop’s easy-listening adventures, and for better or worse, it’s probably my favorite release from Moonbyul to date. It mostly revolves around whether you like the playful chorus or not, and I did, so it was an instant playlist add and I could see it growing on me further with time as I haven’t tired of it yet.
