No, it’s not a cover of the least terrible Eagles song, but there’s an idea…
[Video][Website]
[5.50]
Madeleine Lee: This sounds beautiful, but I have none of the patience required to let it sink in at the pace it’s trying.
[5]
Leonel Manzanares de la Rosa: Those chord changes and structural progressions feel like a constant opening of doors into new worlds, but more impressively, the way they resolve the chorus — with Yeri’s “kkumsogirado gwaenchanheunikka” line (F#m7 – G#m7 – G7sus4) falling into Joy’s “uri dasi manna” (C#m9) — is just masterful. And so is the transition into the major-key bridge. It confirms that they can still be a bit adventurous, even when singing the smoothest of ballads.
[8]
Jessica Doyle: Oh, SM. Joy could’ve been the daughter of the devil himself, future soloist Wendy the angel in white, and Irene the woman who’s a little of both. The ballad’s okay, as they go, but why’d you have to waste the concept?
[4]
Micha Cavaseno: Just not sure that MOR balladry was the place to send Red Velvet after such a fantastic run of singles to help them stand out from the pack. Sure, there’s the slightest touches of R&B modernity after the first chorus, but compared to the other times they’ve dabbled in this field, this is just a bit too limp for my tastes.
[3]
Iain Mew: It’s a long journey, but the scenery changes smoothly arrive to keep it from dulling, and the destination is a fine one. “One of these days, one of these years…”: a fleeting moment of hope stretched out to galactic size. For all that, “One of These Nights” is a bit ponderous and not really what I’m looking to Red Velvet for — as far as orchestrated songs go, I’d prefer more of the Katamari soundtrack sweetness of “Day One” by a long way.
[6]
Cassy Gress: The video touches on this, but this is a song for floating down a river on a starry night. Red Velvet’s voices are soft and soaring, and the percussion clicks and pops as the wind chimes twinkle.
[9]
Alfred Soto: I’m sympathetic to this MOR move, despite my unease as those strings kicked in. These women do things wholeheartedly. The verses are sung without affect. The chorus is pure maple syrup.
[5]
Thomas Inskeep: A gorgeous, string-laden track underpinned by almost jazzy piano, that keeps threatening to turn into an R&B slow-jam (but never does), this is cinematic in the best way.
[7]
Brad Shoup: There’s a surge at the end of the first chorus… I keep thinking I’ve opened a tab with autoplaying video. I haven’t, but I’m distracted enough to. They clomp the jazzwise vocal steps, a trap drum skitters in the middle of the mix, waiting to be told why it’s here.
[4]
Jer Fairall: The harmonies briefly hint at the lushness that the whole thing reaches towards, but both the strings and the singing lack much conviction beyond “well, I guess we should do a ballad.”
[4]