You Are My Destiny, Lovelyz

 To tell you the truth, I have never heard of Lovelyz until last week when they released their new mini-album "A New Trilogy". The Kpop scene is very confusing as there are many groups debuting and some groups pull the whole "Hey, we are an old group but we are having a comeback, I mean, we are releasing new stuff". Did you know that 100 new groups made their debut in Korea last year alone? That is madness! Too many to keep up with. :(

 I discovered "Destiny" while looking at a group on reddit called "Kpop". Someone played this song along with the opening for the new Sailor Moon series. Although the lyrics might not fit the premise of the magical girls' show really well, the song is pretty catchy and reflects a clear picture of a girl's anxiety for wanting a boy to be with her because it's destiny.

 The key for this song is how the strings are executed. The combination of an augmented electric calypso keyboard and violins that used a mixture of martele and staccato techniques to help build drama surrounding the song. You can heard this during moments like the beginning before the first verse. With the key changing through the middle of the transitional melody, the violin and the keyboard brings out the key change`s mysterious atmosphere that pulls the listener in.

 I think the instrumentation for "Destiny" is more satisfying than the vocals. Lovelyz isn't a bad singing group, unlike some Jpop idol groups I have heard. However, their vocals as a whole are the typical Kpop idol group vocals. There isn't anyone who really brings flavor to the song with a hidden punch or extraordinary techniques. Again, all the credits go to the instrumentation. They should release a karaoke version of this song to show how awesome the instrumentation is. The other charm point of this song is the music video.

There a lot of beautiful camera angles and shots throughout the video. Also, the use of the warm filter really highlights this beauty. You are probably wondering what is with the circles and marbles. In my opinion, they are physically symbolizing the lyrics. The basis of the lyrics is about a person whom the song`s character refers to is his or her soul mate. They are the center of their universe, the earth whom the character revolves around, and the gravity that pulls the character close. Circles always move in an endless circular motion, just like this character does with her soul mate. It sounds a bit cruelly but hey, I find it a bit romantic. The marbles, circle drawings, and the circular camera motions are a perfect allegory to the song's theme.

 The song and its music video are most definitely exquisite and pretty. I don't know how catchy the song is to other Lovelyz songs because I haven't heard any other song by this group. If you have any recommendations, please feel free to let me know in the comments section below. However, "Destiny" is a most definite recommendation for those who like melodramatic synth pop songs with gripping instrumentation and/or anyone who likes a pop song with a good instrumentation.