Twice, Once a day #124 - Jihyo "Stardust Love Song "

Quote from Rainbowlicious

I feel like in order to really appreciate ballads, you have to find the emotion. If you can't find that then I can understand why you can find them boring. I always try to find the artistic creativity, meaning and emotion before saying it's something that bores me.

I love ballads and I'll admit that there are some ballads that actually do bore me such as Someone Like Me, Say Yes, Jaljayo Good Night, and Sunset (Nayeon) is a song that really hasn't settled for me yet.

But the really meaningful ones are special to me like Like a Fool, Promise, Be As One, One in a Million, Wishing, The Reason Why, Stardust Love Song, Cactus, and songs like those. So I recommend for you guys to not just hear what's being played but really try to read the emotion of what you're listening to.

I'm ok with some English ballads (even in English songs, I'm still not a huge fan of ballads) but it helps that I understand English so I can just listen to the song. I think the issue with Korean ballads is since my brain just can't directly translate it, if I ever listen to the song without looking at it from a lyric video or something, then ballads just becomes very slow songs with lyrics that doesn't mean anything to be since I can't understand it. I'm sure if I was Korean, this song is probably a lot more meaningful.

With the above said, when I listen to ballads then, the ones that I like will usually depend on speed of the ballad, some are faster and slower than others, the beat/instrumental track, and just the overall phonetics of it.

The funny thing is most the ballads you mentioned I actually love. I can't explain exactly which ballads I like or don't like but I have some idea.

Like A Fool is my absolute favorite ballad, I like it more than over half the title tracks Twice has. But this song is much quicker than regular ballads, there is harmonica, drums, bass, in it and the chorus is much poppier than regular songs.

Be As One - Same, very strong instrumentals and beat, I love piano, 3rd-4th gen doesn't use much piano much anymore which makes me sad.

One In A Million - Also one of my favorite b-sides, the song is and beat is much quicker than some ballads.

Wishing - One of my favorite tracks too, same reasons, interesting string instrumentals, song is quick, very poppy chorus.

Cactus - The instrument and build up to the chorus is great.

I think by now it's a little more clear. Most of the balalds I mentioned above share a few characteristics in common. I like songs that are quick, at the very least, I don't like song that spends too much time in between each words, I like song that really builds up and have a release, and songs with interesting instruments and tracks.

So it's not that I dont like ballads but I think the only ballads I like are essentially "slowed down pop songs" Emotion alone isn't enough for me, I need that and everything else too.

Quote from Rainbowlicious

Yep! Y'know what? Maybe at least 2 of these points come from it being sung by Jihyo but I enjoy this ballad overall. But listening to her voice is like an early slice of what heaven sounds like

Who knew having a bias can be so hard. I feel like if I ever saw her in person, I would be done for...

Bias factor definitely exist. Like you mentioned, there is the "emotion" factor involved.

For example, Pop! is honestly the best song I've heard in kpop but I'm very well aware the bias factor adds like 3 more points on top of it. At the same time, I can understand from an outsider perspective on why the song probably isn't as good as it is for me as it is for them. A lot of the reasons I love the song and likely why most stans like their bias group's song deals with the following:

1.) Familiarity, we often feel more comfortable when we hear a families of friends voice because we know them and feel safe. Over half of what I like about Pop! is just how Nayeon pronounces her words. For example, the rap part in the song I'm sure is very cringey for a lot of people but I love it probably because it's Nayeon's cute voice.

2.) Emotion - It's our bias, the song automatically releases all kind of happy hormones the moment the first note comes out. As you've mentioned, there are an emotion factor involved. There are some groups I fell out of love for and I noticed when I relisten to some of the songs I used to love, I just don't like it as much anymore.

Quote from Rainbowlicious

Ohhh, I see what you mean. Even so, language isn't a huge barrier for me when it comes to enjoying songs, especially in this case, ballads. If I can hear the emotion that's being conveyed in the song, there's a high chance I can enjoy it more than not. The lyric translations for some of these are perfect too. For some reason, I have a soft spot for any songs about non-romantic relationships (as in relationships with family and good friends) or songs that are made to lift you up and are a word of encouragement. So any song that's a mixture of both, you can imagine my feelings for those. (i.e. Be As One, Promise, maybe One in a Million). But there can be a lot of different ballads with different concept meanings. Like being in love, loss, ending relationships, self-love, sad songs, encouragement, happiness, people you can depend on, etc.

And I also love ballads that are good at conveying a certain tone. It also depends on the singer. I feel like it can be hard to actually sing a ballad. You have to take the meaning to heart and embody it or else the audience will feel like they're getting nothing out of it.

Oh, I love that list! You do have good taste in ballads even though you aren't a huge fan of this type of music in general. I feel like they've had these bright ballads for a while and their more recent ones like The Reason Why, Depend On You, Behind the Mask, Say Something, Promise, Thank You, Family, Cactus, Rewind, Stardust Love Song, Doughnut, and Sunset are much more mature. Am I the only one that's noticed that? LOL. I especially like Like a Fool. It's their first ballad released as group and I love its dynamic. For some reason, I've found that I'm a fan of songs that have maybe a softer reprise of the chorus right before the final chorus and sing both parts again. And then this one just changing the lyrics for the final chorus only adds a sense of dynamic to it.

Be as One is one of my all-time favorites. Not only is it such a good song, but it really reminds me that Once and Twice is something that will be forever. Wishing is so underrated as a ballad too. It's not talked about nearly enough

Oh, I get that! I can see what some people are saying when they think that a ballad is too boring. It might just be too slow for them. But another thing I love about ballads is that there can be so much variety. Turtle and Rewind are very different songs with pretty much different meanings (Turtle is about being afraid she's going too slow in trying to confess her feelings to someone she likes and Rewind is about wanting to rewind to get that relationship back) but they convey a very important message.

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I can barely remember the names of songs lol there is no way I can remember the lyrics with each song.
For example, all the songs that has been discussed here, I've read the lyrics when the Once a Day was done and right now, I can't remember the lyrics and meaning of any of the songs.... not a single one....Maybe One In A Million only but that's because the meaning is kinda implied in the name of the track.

But I'm also the type that would forget a TV show's plot the next season...

I realize it's probably unfair to just group all these songs under 'ballads' because there are so many types of ballads.

Just like even 'pop' songs are broken down into many different genres, same should be done for ballads.

There are definitely some ballads I quite enjoy and prefer over another but Stardust Love Song is just one of the ones that is a bit too slow for me. It's a me issue but I kinda get anxiety when a singer spends too long singing one word, part of me just goes..cmon sing the next word already lol

Quote from Rainbowlicious

Oh, yeah! I can definitely support that. I don't know, but for some reason, things are a lot better when someone you care about whether you know them directly or indirectly does it. I don't know if there have actually been any studies done cuz I can't find anything on it but I think it ties with empathy.

For some reason, I actually like more things released by my faves than other groups. For some reason, all Twice songs get extra points from just being from my faves. There's a kind of joy I get when listening to Twice songs as opposed to most groups and it doesn't matter how much I dislike the song. It's Twice.

Same with watching content. I'd be willing to take the time to watch every Twice-related content because it's TWICE.

I don't really know how to explain it either. Like I've never met these people and they're some of my favorite people on Earth

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Yeah it all ties back to just being familiar with them. If you see a very attractive person, you enjoy seeing them (assuming it's a stranger and there is no emotional connection of any sort) but when I see a good friend (even if not attractive) in a random place, most people feel a sense of comfort and joy just seeing them. This is likely what we're feeling whenever we see our faves appear in a video.

There has been some studies done, not exactly 100% the same but one of them is just showing the more time you spend with someone and more likely you are to like them, the results seem like common sense but people often overlook the reason they like someone isn't necessarily that they're funny, kind, share common interest, etc. Sometimes it's simply just seeing a person a lot.

They've also done this one study where random strangers talk across a bridge. One study group the bridge is stable, the other the bridge sways and move and caused participants to be scared or have adrenaline rush. Results show that the group that went through the scary bridge liked the random strangers they were with more than the other group who only went on the safe bridge. This also explain why you see people in drama or even in real life fall for someone who saved their life, helped them get out of a scary situation, caught their fall, etc. Or sometimes it could just be as simple as we watch some very exciting or funny video with our faves in it and our strong emotion cause us to like them a lot more.

This is probably was probably a stretch but there are definitely evidence that suggest the reason we like our faves the way we do.