And the theme for today is duos. Sort of. This counts…
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Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: If there is a vanguard of modern pop music from South Korea, Western press usually determines it over an act’s tweaking of American or European music, from Hyuna’s wobbly dubstep through to the “Korean Migos.” Mixed with a country’s distinct thread of pop history and lyrical content, the best of these tweaks can feel wholly original; sometimes, they’re exciting in spite of an incredibly Xeroxed feel. Crush — one of the most promising R&B artists currently working, full stop — has been called a plagiarist with “Oasis,” which has unarguable melodic similarities to Eric Bellinger’s “Awkward.” The Korean song is uptempo, the American one mid-; the former is full of energy, the latter dour. That “Oasis” is a great song doesn’t excuse or do away with such accusations, but by God this is a great song: an amalgamation of this decade’s entire R&Bass movement into a tight four minutes of sunbeam sonics. Block B’s Zico understands the smooth/rough equation of the best singer/rapper duets, and Crush’s military-precision harmonies sweeten his transition from thinly-veiled innuendo to loverman persona with ease. The difference between a tweak and a copy is hard to call, and harder still to know when it should affect your listening pleasure and how. When it’s something as joyous as “Oasis”, it’s up to you whether to shut out the question: Do you care to find out where your pop music comes from? And does it matter?
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Alfred Soto: The Nelly of “Ride wit Me” would join in the chants.
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Patrick St. Michel: Oh, was I bracing myself for Zico’s entrance, because up to the part where he swings in “Oasis” is a breezy bit of summer pop, perfect for walking around aimlessly while the sun beats down. But a rap interlude posed the possibility of introducing some rain storms to this song — it could work, sure, but K-pop rap can also turn awkward really fast, and that’s before considering Zico has had his fair bit of controversy in the past year. Thankfully, his verse here fits just right and adds a weird charm to the warm weather jam (even if the part about a “drinking battle” should have used another layer of PR inspection).
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Thomas Inskeep: Crush is absolutely killing the R&B game right now. His 2014 album Crush on You was one of the year’s best, and this one-off single featuring Block B’s Zico keeps the heat up. The gorgeous, smooth production is accented with a “boomin’ system” bass and topped with Crush’s perfect-world-boyband vocals. No complaints here.
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Madeleine Lee: There is no denying that Crush has a gorgeous voice, but it’s not enough to lift the overall flatness of this song. The brief appearance of Zion.T (former funky jazz weirdo, now café ballad singer) at the end makes me wish they’d split the whole song between them. They did this live one time, and you can hear how Zion.T’s peculiar vocal styling works to decorate the melody. I’m baffled and intrigued by Zico’s decision to put his audition for the “It G Ma” remix in the middle, as I am by all of Zico’s decisions, but as a centrepiece for the diet trap production, it shakes up what would otherwise be a pleasant café ballad at a faster BPM.
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Micha Cavaseno: Crush make the kind of League Of Starz-style softcore ratchet roller that would sound perfect next to any Eric Bellinger- or Rossi-assisted second stringer in a club set, while Zico comes in with the Chance The Rapper honks and kazooing to perfect peaks and valleys of show-offery. Whatever comes after this would be hard-pressed to keep the party rocking.
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Ramzi Awn: The soundbite uncannily resembling the “like” vocal sample from Tinashe’s “All Hands on Deck” does not fall on deaf ears, but the vibes are right and the beat is on point. Definitely a back porch song at a bar with smoking allowed and cute boys around. There isn’t much to complain about on “Oasis” — the concept is pretty basic: put your hands in the air, and feel the love. They may be rudimentary lessons, but they’re not old. Yet.
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