SINGLE REVIEW: Tohoshinki- Close to You
Here is the fourth, and second to last, single in the TRICK series. So far these singles have been decent, but really not a whole lot more, with the exception of a couple of songs. I’m hoping Yunho steps it up, but you never know. He might just suck. I’m hoping that trend died with Changmin, however.
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What to say about Close to You… Well, the introduction was very unique for a Tohoshinki track. The use of acoustic guitar and a really unique melody made for a good start, but from then on it kind of sank into nothing more than decency. The music is still made up of acoustic guitar, but you can barely hear it over all the percussion and synth. I don’t know if it’s just me, but all of these singles are sounding unfortunately similar, or at least within the same area. Maybe I’m crazy, but I’ve noticed that there isn’t a whole lot of variation. Although this isn’t a Yunho solo single, they did focus quite a lot on him. I have never been all that impressed with Yunho’s vocals, and here isn’t an exception. He has like two different registers and then no middle ground. He’s either obnoxiously high or ridiculously low. I want him to find that nice place in between the two. He’s not a bad singer, but he’s certainly not Tohoshinki’s best. As far as composition, the song wasn’t all that bad. The melody remained consistently entertaining, if not a bit repetitive throughout the song. Once again there was no climax, but I guess it wasn’t super necessary because of the consistent intensity. Overall, not a bad track, but obviously not a great one. It’s not all that catchy, and it’s really mediocre compared to the rest of their discography.
Vocal Performance Grade: B+ — Musical Performance Grade: B+ — Composition Grade: B — Harmonization Grade: B+
Overall Grade: B
Thankfully the solo songs seem to manage to be consistently better than the actual A-Side tracks. Crazy Life is a great deviation from the other styles featured on TRICK. That is one thing that has managed to remain constant. Each solo track presents a different musical genre, which keeps them all fresh. This particular song is in the dance category, which I know isn’t very specific. It’s quite filled with synthetics and a nice percussion track. The introduction is a bit cheesy because of the English chosen for this particular track, but the music is absolutely catchy. Composition-wise this track is very well forged. Every twist in the melody seems logical and motivated. I do feel like the song is climactic, though the note that appears to be so isn’t particularly incredible. It simply stands out because it’s the only one. Unfortunately, the quality of the song is brought down by the rap, even though it’s not absolutely dreadful. Just a regular level of crappiness. He’s not even really in sync, and he just sounds like he’s trying way to hard to be ‘cool.’ However, Yunho gets extra points that make up for it because he has found that middle ground. His vocals are near impeccable, and fit the tone of the songs wondrously. His tone is fantastically edgy, and he goes through the entire song managing to make every note sweet and listenable. I absolutely hate the second rap which ends the song because it doesn’t do everything that came before it any justice. There should have been a lot more. However, I do enjoy this track because of the strong music and vocals.
Vocal Performance Grade: A- — Musical Performance Grade: A+ — Composition Grade: A
Overall Grade: A
SINGLE GRADE: B+
