ONEWE Pulls Us In With GRAVITY
Poetic lyrics paired with impeccable instrumentation—this description perfectly sums up ONEWE’s essence as a band. Three months after the release of the sentimental single "Still Here" back in October 2022, the alt-rock band returned with their first English album on January 28. The album consists of a brand new title track, "GRAVITY," and the English versions of their most popular songs, such as "Rain To Be," "AuRoRa," and "End of Spring." Both of these projects, the single "Still Here" and the English album, were pre-recorded before members Yonghoon and Kanghyun enlisted back in July 2022 and feature all five members of the group. The band’s concept over the past few years has been exploration and space, with each release reflecting a different cosmic element through both album and song titles like Planet Nine’ "AuRoRa," "Cosmos," and "Regulus." Similarly, this full album follows the same path with its celestial title, GRAVITY.
I was pleasantly surprised when it was announced that the band would be releasing an English album. As a casual listener of ONEWE, their highly charged lyrics are one of the group’s biggest selling points for me, and I was excited to see what direction the band would take with the reworks of their hits in another language.
Tracklist:
“GRAVITY”
“AuRoRa”
“Parting”
“Regulus”
“Montage_”
“Rain To Be”
“Ring on my Ears”
“TRAUMA”
“LOGO”
“End of Spring”
“Crazy good”
Album Review
"GRAVITY" is the first and only new song from the stacked 11-song tracklist, with members Cya, Yonghoon, and Kanghyun receiving composing credits. Leading up to the release of the album, black-and-red themed visual teasers showcased the members in edgy and chic styling. The song itself also sees the band return to their true alternative rock roots after gifting WEVE with steady ballads and slow-tempo tracks for the last few comebacks. "GRAVITY" opens with funky acoustic guitar strums and slowly builds up in tempo with stunning vocal moments before reaching an anti-drop chorus. Other song elements that stand out are Cya’s effortless rap in the second chorus and a climactic and prolonged guitar bridge. The minimalist music video set also helps to pull full focus on ONEWE and their respective instruments as they jam out in the four-minute video. With Cya’s groovy bassline; Dongmyeong’s full, rich vocals; Yonghoon’s gorgeous, breathy falsetto; Kanghyun’s impressive guitar solo; and Harin’s rhythmic drum fills, "GRAVITY" can only be described as an absolute earworm.
The rest of the album is a lyrical reworking of ONEWE’s past releases in English. Significantly, I can hear the improvements in the members’ vocals and instrument mixings with these new recordings. It was also interesting to hear songs from the band that I’ve diligently listened to for a long time modified in a different yet familiar language. When comparing the Korean lyrics to their English counterparts, they are quite literally the direct translations of the original songs. This technical choice led to some awkward phrasing and sentence overlap while singing, which ultimately sacrificed the genius wordplays and poeticness that ONEWE usually contribute to their songs. Even though some nuances from the original Korean versions were lost in translation, the band still did their best to preserve the meaningful essence of each song. An example can be seen in 2020’s digital single "Parting" and how its lyrics convey feelings of love, loss, and endings in both versions.
Korean version: "Right when we start to have frequent clashes / You’ve already turned your back on me.”
English version: “Repeating collision in between you and me / When it fades away, but you're already so far away.”
All in all, ONEWE deserves praise for their willingness to approach a project that requires the members to showcase their craft outside of the group’s comfort zone. The English remakes of their greatest hits gives international fans a chance to further connect with the quintet and their artistry. Even when certain things got lost in translation, ONEWE’s out-of-this-world ability to master their instruments conveyed feelings and sentiments that even words aren’t able to express.
ONEWE’s first English album is out now on Spotify and other music platforms. Check out the music video for “GRAVITY” below!