Hi! It’s Annie!
I would just like to thank ONEUS for one of the best birthday presents I could have ever gotten this year. A comeback the day before my birthday? First a concert near Valentine’s Day and then a comeback almost on my birthday? Seriously, I feel so spoiled by them. And this comeback is just as amazing as I knew it would be. This release was heavily anticipated by many for so many reasons, one of them being that this is their first comeback after they’ve all been through so much. They already had to tour as a recent five member group and they discussed how difficult that was for them. That aside, they were all extremely involved in this mini album! More so than they have been in previous releases. They really moved into an era where they are all more involved with every piece of their music and I’m so happy for them! Not only that but they’ve already gotten millions of views on their newest MV and this album actually also included a pre-release song that also had its own MV. Meaning, we have two MVs for one mini album and I’m so all over both of these! I’m going to get into this amazing album because the songs have been running in my head for the past few days! If you haven’t listened to this album yet or seen the MVs, go and do that already! What are you still doing here?
Intro: LETHE:
This intro is far too good and it gives a pretty solid taste of what the album is like. For this album they really went for more emotion evoking sounds and pieces. It seems that to do this they took a bit from movie soundtracks and really went for more epic pieces and a mix of orchestral sounds. This is pretty clear in the intro. This piece feels mysterious, almost noir, in sound and has a darker and more playful tone to it. The message of the intro also begins a trend throughout the album. This song talks about being tormented by the memories of someone and the desperation to erase those memories. This message is powerful and the desperation in it makes it well deserving of the more epic sounds for it. While this is still a short song, it absolutely packs a punch.
ERASE ME:
When I first heard this song, my brain wasn’t exactly sure how to piece it together. The verses are a bit slower and have a more sensual sound, while the chorus pieces are epic and loud. The chorus itself absolutely continues with the epic soundtrack feel and orchestral sounds. The use of emotional sounds like this was one of the things that brought me to ONEUS in the first place. This absolutely isn’t uncommon for their music and is probably one of the things they do most to convey specific emotions in their songs. This song is about wanting to erase the memories of someone and your time with them, and the torment of getting over that person. They even evoke emotions specific to TOMOON in this song by mentioning the severing of a red thread. If you didn’t know “Red Thread” is one of their most emotional songs describing their deep connection with each other and with TOMOON. So this mention was purposeful and adds to the deep meaning of the song. But the orchestral bits also give way to some EDM style beats for the dance break that seamlessly blends back into the orchestral sound. It is absolutely addicting. Something about it just clicked with my brain. I’ve had this song stuck in my head for two days now and it’s showing no signs of going away any time soon. And Seoho’s vocals in this song are insanely good and satisfying. This firmly cements him as one of the best current vocalists in K-Pop. And I liked that we got some of Geonhak’s lower harmonies back for this too.
ERASE ME MV:
ONEUS usually bases their MVs off of a certain aesthetic more than anything else. For this MV they went statuesque to fit with the theming. They also went for an icier feel to the background and a good mix of black and white outfits for the boys. My favorites of the outfits that they show in the MV have them all in flowy white shirts with suspenders. Keonhee specifically looks amazing here with his sleeves partially rolled up. Apparently their designers listened to all of the women who rightly say that a partially rolled up sleeve is one of the most attractive looks on a guy and absolutely ran with it. They all looked like various versions of Prince Eric from ‘The Little Mermaid’ and I am not quite sure how I survived it. It was also so nice to see Hwanwoong so easily slip into his new role as one of the main rappers here. He absolutely killed it and the emphasis they put on him made me so proud! I was worried about how the choreography would look for this song because it can be really difficult to choreograph for orchestral sounding pieces. I’ve only seen a couple of groups do it successfully and while ONEUS has done it before, they haven’t used such an orchestral impact in the chorus before. Obviously, ONEUS killed it here too. They have a more graceful style of dance that incorporates more lifts than other groups and it fit perfectly here. The dance didn’t feel clunky and it kept the flow of the song going very well. And oh my gosh Geonhak’s hair is so long, I absolutely love it! Can we also talk about how pristinely beautiful Xion looked in all of the mirror scenes? And Seoho at the end of belting that note? So satisfying. They all looked so damn good in this MV! How is this legal?
Unforgettable and MV:
The memories theme continues here with the idea of missing someone. But this one has more of a hopeful sound to it that feels very summery. It kind of feels like that type of emotional song that you feel like rolling down the windows and blasting on the way to the beach. It has a sentimental feel to it; a background sadness that makes me feel like this is absolutely a song you could shout sing to while crying. Or am I the only one who does that? …Anyways, this MV has a bit more of a story to it. And it’s absolutely unexpected. The MV feels a little bit like “I NEED U” by BTS, but if you didn’t know what was going to happen next because it’s told in real time instead of with flashbacks. We begin the MV with a bunch of shots of the boys having fun together. We do see individual shots of what looks to be them reminiscing, but we see a lot of them having fun in mostly abandoned areas. They added some choreography here which, again, I was nervous about the choreo matching with the song. But they were able to do it perfectly and they have such a graceful style that it matched the style of the song just fine. You see glimpses of sad scenes throughout, but any of the sadness that the boys portray is immediately cut off and you aren’t sure what to think. And then at the very end of it, they all meet up at one of their usual abandoned haunts and look up to find what is essentially the next major extinction event and watch as it happens. There are no clues that it’ll happen before this and I think it’s a very clear and clever symbol for erasing the memories. It was so interesting to have the MV unexpectedly end in that way!
ECHO:
This is the main song that Keonhee and Geonhak (Leedo) worked on. They talked about how proud of it they were in the most recent interview video that they came out with, especially with how the vocals came out. I love how calming and smooth this song feels which adds to the lyrics that talk more about spending time with someone you don’t want to let go of. There’s a feeling of blissfulness with it and the light whistling and humming throughout adds an almost domestic feeling to it. Just adding to the pile of delusions of TOMOON. Though to be fair we already kind of were there after they released the domestic bed teasers of them during the MALUS promo (specifically Geonhak who wasn’t wearing a shirt). They are very good at making us all feel very delusional. I really like the more calming songs that still have a bit of a groove to them and this is one of those. The boys did such an excellent job on this one. I’m so proud of this mini album; there are absolutely no skips to be found here!
Halley’s Comet:
This is another one that really hits hard. I don’t know how to explain the feeling of the song beyond the fact that it really has Disneyland fireworks vibes. It has that hopeful sound with emotionally packed vocals. It makes you feel like you’re watching the climax of a Disneyland fireworks show. I would absolutely die if Disneyland actually did include this, because it would be perfect. Speaking of which, Hallie and I were just there for our birthday so expect more posts about that coming soon! The lyrics also feel absolutely worthy of a firework show. It references the sparkle of a memory of a person and talks about making their way back to that person, including outright saying that they love that person. And, once again, the vocals of all the boys here are phenomenal. The song almost made me cry the first time I heard it because their voices pack so much emotion in such touching lyrics. Thank you for another crying song ONEUS!
I am so incredibly proud of them and proud to be part of TOMOON with this release. To know how much they went through and how much they poured into this mini album is nothing short of incredible. I’m in complete awe of them. I firmly believe that ONEUS is one of the most underrated fourth generation groups right now. All of their songs are bops. This is a no skips group! They’ve all put so much work into each and every comeback, they tour for so long and go to so many events, and they still need larger numbers of fans to get them to stadium level. This is the goal everyone! I’m so glad that their MV for “ERASE ME” already had almost nine million views as of writing this. Let’s keep this going! I know I’m streaming the hell out of this album and their MVs and you should too! They deserve it! And if you haven’t checked them out completely yet, you should. They are all the absolute sweetest and have the most epic tracks as well as the most graceful dancing. It’s a powerful mix! Give them your time and attention! You won’t regret it!
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 