Umu: 'Pushin' N Pullin''
Sean: Pushin and Pullin~ we pushin~ [to the melody of 'Ridin'']
U: Kenzie, Mike Daley, Mitchell Owens, Nicole Cohen...
Okay, I think we've seen all these names for Red Velvet before, so...
Pushin' N Pullin'
S: 3 2 1
U: Push, Pull!
U: What are these sounds?
Sounds like a coin is being flipped?
Whoa
U: They're adding a lot more depth with this bass and the percussion. S: I'm really wondering how they're gonna tie, like pull this together.
S: Cuz like that bass at the beginning was really fascinating, but...
U: The little delicate sounds are gone.
I love the syncopation of the vocal line, the DadadaDadada
Oh, there's a little lift.
Is there gonna be a lift?
The instrumental lifts at the end.
There's some beautiful strings in the back, I think?
S: Okay, a little bit of the sort of clicking or tickings around
but it's really- I wonder if that's gonna come back more in the bridge.
U: I doubt it. I think it's a verse thing.
S: But it wasn't in the first verse!
Like... it was...
I guess it was a little in the verse, but like...
I wonder whether more of it's coming back in.
U: It feels like they put some sort of filter on the piano.
Cuz it sounds like an acoustic one almost,
but then with something that makes it sound a little more retro.
Yeah we've got some high strings filling up the upper register.
I wouldn't be surprised if Mitchell added them,
he does a lot of orchestral arranging, and for choirs too.
Complete keyboard sound change! (S: Yeah)
Oh, we got some of the wind chimes, right?
Woo, I love the riffing of the "Yeah yeah yeah"'s changing
as it switches between members.
Oh.
S: Abrupt, but alright. U: Yeah, I was half expecting one more- [t/n: hypermeter?]
U: four or eight bars of "yeah yeah yeah"'s
and for the rest of the members to do their own "yeah yeah yeah"...
S: Yeah.
U: But that was so cute! (S: Yeah)
S: I do wish they had paid off the beginning a little bit more.
U: Like with more of the "tickitick" sounds? S: Yeah, that was a really intriguing beginning,
S: and then it was a nice song, but it felt-
it didn't feel... it felt minimally connected,
like if I really stretched I could maybe hear
some of those sounds in the beat
but all of these sort of mysterious -
I almost got to close to say "mysterious ticking noises"
and then I stopped myself.
[t/n: too late...]
U: HARRY POTTER! HARRY POTTER!
S: Dumbledore.
U: Oh my god, okay.
I'm really curious if the producers actually made those sounds themselves
or if they bought it somewhere in a library.
S: Yeah. U: Cuz it sounds like they could have just hit their table and record it,
U: and then flipped the coin and then hit some other things... (S: Yeah)
S: Yeah, and also, I think the note in there is sort of an E♭,
which doesn't really play a large part in the rest of the song,
like it feels like it's the intro to a different song, (U: right) is the thing,
and I love a song with a good whiplash change,
but I like it better when there is a sense that
these two were integrated, not:
There was the beginning of one song
and then there was a different song.
And I like both of them, (U: That makes sense)
but I feel like the intro should have had a different song with it
or there should have been switches,
maybe the Pushin' N Pullin' is between those two sorts of sounds.
U: But you know how 'In & Out' doesn't really have a switch
between two different sounds? (S: Yeah)
S: Yeah, 'In & Out' also doesn't have-
U: This is a cousin to 'In & Out'!
S: Yeah, 'In & Out' also doesn't have an intro that
S: sounds like it belongs to a different- like *sings I&O intro* U: ...that's so drastically different, yeah.
S: It completely fits U: Cuz it feels like we start off with this very dainty,
U: almost cold soundscape with all of those sounds in the beginning,
and then we go to this very lush and warm Velvet side, right?
S: Yeah, I would say this is, yeah. U: This is more Velvet side of Red Velvet, so...
U: yeah, those are two very contrasting sections
but I think they included it enough in the verses (S: Okay)
but I definitely understand what you're saying. (S: Yeah)
U: This was so enjoyable, I really love the vocal part for this
and how the layers are contrasting
between the chorus and between the verse as well.
Yeah, this almost feels like a Christmas song!
Okay, I guess we'll just keep the lights off for this
U: cuz they'll turn off, probably, in the middle. S: Yeah, and also it's 'Hello Sunset',
U: Oh, 'Hello Sunset', yes! S: so it's darkening for the sunset.
U: We planned this.
. . .
S: Yup. 3 2 1 Hello Sunset~
U: Oh!
The body rolling song we're ending with!
This is the serenade.
You play this on a boombox up at your crush's window.
And you sing along to it, to serenade them.
Taking the chord progression, but just having it hit all together.
Oh~ I love the sound of this piano!
That pre-chorus is awesome.
I love how long the synth hit lasts after...
oh, not yet?
And the vibrato?
Nice vocal contrast.
Because we had really long, drawn out rhythms before,
and now she's just like- (S: Yeah)
S: Yeah, and it's something, they needed to sort of fill in the rhythmic space
cuz it's a VERY slow tempo. (U: Right)
U: Gotta have something propelling us forward.
Oh, somehow unexpected syncopation there,
but I love the addition of the xylophone, the bells.
Oh and was the guitar there before? It probably was.
*Umu imitating guitar*
S: Yeah, I think so, it's been there for most of the song,
except the pre-choruses.
U: Okay, new bass part, right?
I can't remember if it went *vocalizes* before.
S: I don't remember.
U: Joy! Beautiful singing!
S: Nice, adding a little crunch by having the voices overlap a little there.
U: Outro? Okay.
S: Was there a bridge? Or was it just...
U: I don't think we had a bridge. S: Verse pre-chorus chorus (x2), and now...
S: yeah, we're too late in the song for that to be...
U: I don't know if I would have wanted a bridge
because it's such a slow- usually bridges go to that slower tempo.
(U: So...) S: I mean it's a 3½ minute song,
if you added a bridge and another chorus it would be well over four.
U: Yeah...
S: Yeah... Eh. U: Okay.
U: This was nice. I think this feels like a "and on to part 2",
U: this is like calm down, feel comfy, part 2 soon! S: Maybe, yeah, maybe...
S: Yeah, maybe they might do a repackage, I hope they do.
U: That would be cool.
S: Yeah, I gotta say, I think this is the one weak b-side on this.
U: This kind of song, it sticks within its genre,
has the instrumentation that is with this,
what I call the "sexy serenade body rolling" genre,
it probably has a name, I'm just not good with different genres,
I'm a classical musician, I apologize,
but yeah, otherwise what I would have loved to hear happen is
more additions to when we had repetitive choruses,
like I was trying to be like:
"Was the guitar there before? - It was probably there before."
"Did the bass do this before? - It probably did it before."
I would have loved for more additions to happen in the second chorus.
S: Yeah, also the progression for everything but the pre-chorus
just being I-V7/IV-IV-iv, sometimes iv major7, sometimes iv minor 7,
but it's a very typical progression...
U: So this song might feel extra comforting to you
because you've heard this kind of progression before.
S: It's not damning for the album, like there are 4 really good b-sides...
U: One of their most solid mini albums.
S: Yeah, I think that's fair to say,
I think ReVe Day 1 is still probably the best
cuz every single song on that is good
AND it has one of their best title tracks, like,
S: I think that's... yeah that's 'Zimzalabim'. U: Oh, that's the 'Zimzalabim' one.
S: This one is like, there aren't many weak points.
'Pose' is one of the great Red Velvet songs, I'd say,
(U: Yeah)
and 'Knock On Wood', 'Better Be' and 'Pushin' N Pullin'' are all really solid
and have a lot of good and show their variety of Red and Velvet.
So I still think it's a really good mini album.
U: Right, yeah, to summarize, I think
'Better Be' was the one that had me most lost
and not understanding what was happening,
and that's always so exciting for me to experience,
(S: Oh yeah)
But I think 'Pose' might be my most repeated - will be my most repeated.
S: Yeah, I think that's probably the case.
I love the progression- I love how it really has a sense of arc to it,
and 'Better Be' has some of that,
but 'Pose' really has a large one,
there is so much distance between where it starts and where it gets to,
but at the same time it's, like, every step you can feel the connection,
it doesn't just-
it's surprising, at least when you haven't heard the song before,
but it never feels just like a gimmick of "here's something different".
"And now for something completely different",
which can work but can feel sort of insubstantial if it's overdone,
and 'Pose', it always felt connected, an like-
yeah, 'Better Be' also does a really good job, like having this sort of
enigmatic core progression that sort of guides a lot of it,
at least for me it never feels completely stable
or like easy to parse, so it's always feeling spicy, even when it's-
U: Hot sauce 깊이 dip that!
...twist that!
Yeah, so thank you so much for watching everyone,
please let us know your favorite song
and whether you agree or heavily disagree with any of our opinions
and we look forward to reading your comments in the comment section.
S: Yup.
Both: Bye!
[t/n: Oh, black screen.]
[t/n: My chance to say something impactful]
[t/n: Oh wait, it's already over]