Crush and “Cereal”
On July 13, 2018, Crush released his third mini-album wonderlost and the music video for title track “Cereal” featuring friend and FANXY CHILD member ZICO. In fact, all five tracks on wonderlost feature one or two other artists, including penomeco, punchnello, Sik-K, and Hoody. Among all of the exciting features is a fresh, summer-inspired tracklist; wonderlost is a more playful release from Crush, the opposite of his more sentimental 2016 mini-album wonderlust. Almost a month after the release of wonderlost and the “Cereal” music video, Crush released a music video for “RYO,” featuring CIFIKA and Byung Un.
The Music Videos
The music video for “Cereal” opens with one of the dancing dresses standing up and placing a cassette into a boombox before dancing away. After panning up from the stereo, we’re treated to Crush with bright blue hair sitting in a white chair before the track truly begins. He and the two dresses dance in a bright white room before ZICO comes in. Both artists play around with the different pronunciations and spellings of “cereal” and “serial,” and there’s even some clever word play with “see real” and “she’s real” in the lyrics, showing the analogy between cereal and spending time in the morning with a loved one. Three days after the release of the “Cereal” music video, a clean version was dropped, with the only difference being the cereal box featured on the table at the very end is no longer blurred out.
The music video for “RYO” stands in stark contrast to the lighthearted nature of “Cereal.” In fact, the track itself feels like an outlier on wonderlost, but is equally as good as the other songs. Byung Un opens with a verse in full English and name dropping celebrities like Steven Yeun of The Walking Dead and Minari fame before it goes into the chorus and we’re offered different meanings as to what “RYO” could stand for. After the chorus is Crush, who opens his verse with, “Why do you always want me to be fluffy? Life isn’t beautiful and I’m not your cutie pie,” before launching into an impressive rap that proves he’s indeed not always fluffy. CIFIKA’s verse comes after the second chorus and is beautiful, her voice soaring and her appearance almost alien-like in the video. There’s a big arthouse vibe to the video, which is mostly shots of the three artists in black rooms with lights behind them. While not anything expected of Crush, this music video may be even better than that for title track “Cereal.”
The Performances
Crush performed “Cereal” on ONSTAGE 2.0, an online platform created by NAVER, with his live band Wanderlust, featuring producer and FANXY CHILD member Stay Tuned. Crush’s performance of “Cereal” is beautiful; the addition of live band Wanderlust for the performance brought an extra pep to the performance while also making it feel jazzier at the same time.
As well as performing “Cereal,” Crush performed “Stevie Wonderlust” and “none.” Both tracks were released in 2018 as well and, interestingly enough, came either before or after the release of wonderlost. “Stevie Wonderlust” is from Crush’s time on the Mnet show Finding Heroes: Geek Tour, where Crush followed in the footsteps of his heroes Stevie Wonder and Chet Baker, while single “none” is about a lost love and was released after wonderlost.
The Legacy
wonderlost peaked at No. 18 on the Gaon Weekly Album Chart while “Cereal” peaked at No. 20 on the Gaon Weekly Digital Chart, No. 12 on the Gaon Weekly Download Chart, No. 21 on the Gaon Weekly Streaming Chart, and No. 30 on the Gaon Social Chart. The track also charted on the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100, peaking at No. 26.
Many of the other tracks from wonderlost also appeared on the Gaon Weekly Download Chart, with “Chill” featuring Sik-K peaking at No. 54, “Endorphin” featuring penomeco and punchnello peaking at No. 77, and “Close Your Eyes” featuring Hoody peaking at No. 81.
While not something out of the ordinary for the R&B crooner, Crush also featured on numerous tracks in 2018, including “Your Dog Loves You” by Colde, “Slip N Slide” by SOMDEF, “One of Those Nights” by Key, and “Sunshine” by Hoody. At the end of year awards, Crush took home the trophy for “R&B Artist Award” at the Soribada Best K-Music Awards. This was only the second year that the award ceremony was held, and Crush was the first artist to ever win this award.