"Forever Yours" by Key (ft. Soyoo), Thursday, February 16, 2023 (partial repost)

 

When I first blogged about BTS, I talked about my gateway drugs into K-pop.   Shinee was one of them. The first song I heard from them was "Everybody" which oddly made me think of industrial rock. Later I heard their song "Stand By Me" when I started to watch the drama Boys Over Flowers. I'm sure I'll talk about my love-hate relationship with Korean dramas later. If you listen to "Stand By Me," don't you hear hints of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up"? Then in 2015 one of the biggest songs in Korea was Shinee's song "View." Some of the genius in Shinee's producers is making hit songs that sound vaguely familiar. Sometimes you can pin a pop song comparison, other times you're left racking your brain wondering where you heard that song before. 

FOREVER YOURS. Key (born Kim Ki-bum) is one of the vocalists of Shinee. As the group's career started winding down, Key started acting and becoming a TV personality on Korean reality shows. His talents stretch beyond music into fashion and philanthropy. In 2018 he released his first solo single, "Forever Yours" featuring former member of the girl group Sista's Soyoo. Key stuck to Shinee convention keeping the music semi-familiar yet fresh. Yet, starting out with the guest vocalist rather than the main singer is an interesting choice. And failing to feature Soyoo on the screen in the music video makes it seem a little lonely and incomplete. Speaking of the music video, if the song doesn't give you early '90s vibes, the video will remind you of a big budget music video from the year 2000. This is not to knock the song in anyway. In fact if you take the lyrics and translate them into English and watch the music video without listening to the music, it would too cheesy. Fortunately there's the salty cracker that is the music.

YOU LOOK LIKE YOU'RE INDIFFERENT TO EVERYTHING. I have many thoughts from my recent trip to America, dealing with the desire to be honest about who I love. I think about the sentiment of forever, and how that really only lasts (in the best case scenario) for as long as the shortest living partner, leaving the other eventually to die alone. Valentine's Day may be over, but that doesn't mean that we can't still celebrate the ones that we love. Tomorrow, I'll see him, but tonight--sixteen hours in the air--I can barely keep my eyes open. 

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