Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
VIXX have always been a group that never managed to catch my attention musically. I never disliked them but I never got into them either, mainly because I guess nothing has stood out aside from doing stuff like having BDSM contracts. Well, with ‘Zelos‘ and “Dynamite” they’ve managed to finally bring me on board.
I’m already on record as saying that thanks to their George Benson-esque hook on “Dynamite” and the pop-disco instrumental all VIXX would have to get me on board with “Dynamite” was not screw it up, and I think they accomplished that to varying degrees.
For starters, the part that I assumed was the hook was actually the hook, which means the rest of the song could’ve been sounds of them taking a shit and I still would’ve jammed to this. The whisper effect in the post-chorus allowed the song room to breathe some after a busy hook, the pre-chorus harmonizations adequately hype what’s to come, and the stripped down verses allow for an effective build without feeling out of place or killing momentum.
On the other hand, while Ravi has the sound for rapping, I just don’t think he’s very good at it. Ravi seems like a cool dude and all, but his inclusion on songs like this just sounds shoehorned in, and I found myself just wishing they Minho‘d him as a rapper like SHINee does in these types of tracks. Additionally, the bridge that follows actually does momentarily kill the momentum of the song, ostensibly to setup the epic high note, but I thought the snail’s pace to get there wasn’t a direction they needed to go in given how the rest of the song was constructed.
“Dynamite” is born in the vein of SHINee’s recent releases, which is definitely a positive in my book, but they manage to approach songs in a little darker and more serious way that manages to avoid sounding the same.
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While the music video is actually impressive artistically (as Betsy mentioned before), it still clashes hardcore with the sound/concept of the sound, which is definitely in the fun-loving summer vibe.
So the music video is quality, because those visuals and set designs are great, but it just doesn’t match the song for me. It’s like they made the music video and then decided at the last second that “Dynamite” was the best song to promote and just laid it over a MV meant for a more serious, aesthetic song.
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While “Dynamite” could’ve been streamlined in some places and the cohesiveness of the concept isn’t all there (yet), the strength of the song’s hook, the artistic qualities of the music video, and the sound that the instrumental recalls were all more than enough to get me on board. I know VIXX’s past releases have already gotten others to recognize them, but personally, this is VIXX’s most memorable and effective comeback, and I’m pretty excited to see where they take this concept from here.
