ONEWE Returns with Planet Nine : Alter Ego
After six long months, ONEWE is back with their first mini-album Planet Nine : Alter Ego. With all tracks written, composed, and arranged by the members, ONEWE's careful involvement with their own production comes through clearly in their emotional lyrics and intense delivery.
Tracklist:
1. Intro : Spaceship
2. Rain To Be*
3. AuRoRa
4. LOGO
5. A.I.*
6. Veronica
7. COSMOS*
*Author’s Favorites
“Rain To Be”
ONEWE has a decent string of videos featuring somber themes and low-saturated visuals, and their newest title track “Rain To Be” is no exception—though the appearance is a little misleading from artistic intent. Written by member Kanghyun, this song's origins are rooted as a joke among the band that it was always raining while they were working. All members confirmed that the original arrangement was witty and upbeat, especially given “Rain To Be” also contains the fastest tempo of all of ONEWE's current discography. This is not translated at all to the appearance of the music video which, if anything, speaks to ONEWE's ability to make the mundane everyday occurrence into something powerful.
With lyrics that speak of rainfall, fateful encounters, and missing someone who is no longer there, the music video has the band stationed to perform in an empty outdoor pool on a dark and cloudy day. Water begins pouring from their equipment before the rain comes, quickly covering what lies on the pool’s floor as the song picks up the pace with leader Yonghoon pulling us into an unexpectedly high-energy chorus.
The second verse brings on a sudden torrential downpour, which continues for the rest of the song. From here on the imagery sticks to the vocalists’ passionate delivery, dramatic (read: sexy) wet hair flips, and stationary shots of their instruments completely submerged; and the video doesn’t end until they’re all left in water at shoulder-height. As I wrote this, I found myself wondering how this was possible for drummer Harin, but upon closer inspection, he’s set up on an elevated platform.
Planet Nine : Alter Ego
The album opens with “Intro : Spaceship,” which is the first of a few light sci-fi themes throughout the album. By light, I mean they're vague references to space, robots, and time travel with a tendency to wax poetic. Among these references, there’s a slew of romantic mentions of stars, speculated to be referring to fans.
“AuRoRa” compares a loved one to an aurora’s spectrum of colors and metaphorical limitation to shining brightly only during a dark night. Portraying an aurora’s nature of coming and going as it pleases, each verse is strong in sound, and they culminate into an even stronger chorus.
Fourth is “LOGO,” a song originally performed for fans while ONEWE were still trainees, so naturally it’s been prepared with fans in mind. It’s an emotional song, not quite a ballad but still vocal heavy, and it’s otherwise pretty much what we can expect from ONEWE in sound.
My favorite track on this album is “A.I.,” whose Korean title “로보트도 인간에게 감정을 느낀다” translates to, “Robots also have human emotions” in English. Written in part by rapper CyA, “A.I.” has deep meaning (though he also voiced hopes that it’s viewed as something cute), with lyrics that refer to a hopeful—if a little baffling—unrequited love. As a pop song with jazz influences, “A.I.” has some of the most interesting production on the album.
“Veronica” and its Korean title “베로니가의 섬” or “Veronica's Island” refer to CyA’s kindergarten crush who he admired from afar, and his fantasy of going to an island with her to express his feelings. This one is a very kicky pop song, depicting a pure first love, and with the number of mentions of stars, it’s actually a little unclear if this song is a proclamation of love to fans or the Veronica in question. Regardless, Veronica, if you’re reading this, we need your response ASAP.
Closing out the album is “COSMOS,” by far the warmest song on the album and a beautiful culmination of the experience. The lyrics depict a love long gone, but some feelings remain—and they also haven’t given up on it entirely, as they speak about ways they’re still reaching out.