Review

GOLDEN CHILD YES.: In-Depth Album Review – Milky Way

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As usual, Golden Child gets the “bias group advantage” on this site. This means not only their title track and a buried treasure will be reviewed, but I’ll be taking a look at the entire new mini album YES.

1. YES. // 2. Burn It // 3. Cool Cool // 4. Round N Round // 5. Milky Way // 6. Breathe

MILKY WAY

I can always tell how much I love a group’s music when even their ballads and mid-tempos end up on my “most played” list. I’m usually far more fond of up-tempo material, but Woollim Entertainment has a knack for picking great slower songs as well.

Milky Way didn’t stick out to me as part of YES’s highlight medley, but I found myself smitten with the track as soon as I heard it in full. It takes advantage of a tried and true formula: emotive ballad underlined by EDM drop-style production. This usually elicits a pretty heavy eye roll from me, but I absolutely love the instrumental choices here. Yes, we have many of the standard K-pop sounds, but a generous dose of rock guitar ties it all together and gives Milky Way great texture.

This song is pure atmosphere and emotion, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking in melody. Milky Way’s mighty instrumental drop is preceded by a simple, but catchy, hook that clears space to give that drop maximum impact. Yet, my favorite moment in Milky Way occurs during the verses, when distorted guitar enters to give a chugging – almost industrial – drive to the production. I also love the perfectly placed pause right before the song’s final drop, as well Joochan’s closing ad-libs that echo that instrumental melody. Basically, Milky Way takes an overly familiar format but does everything right with it. It’s an incredibly solid b-side.

 Hooks 8
 Production 9
 Longevity 9
 Bias 9
 RATING 8.75

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13 thoughts on “GOLDEN CHILD YES.: In-Depth Album Review – Milky Way”

  1. Pingback: GOLDEN CHILD YES.: In-Depth Album Review – Round N Round | The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion

  2. Pingback: GOLDEN CHILD YES.: In-Depth Album Review – Cool Cool | The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion

  4. YES is the kind of maturation album I have always wanted from the guys, and Milky Way plays it to brilliant effect here, rising and cresting as a way to spotlight Golden Child’s enviable vocal line. That’s especially shown in the bridge, Golden Child might be one of the few artists who actually give a crap about bridges (one of the more reasons to love them!) and Milky Way has an emotionally gorgeous extended bridge, pulling back and releasing, stopping and starting to give way through a series of vocal heavy segments. All of this concludes in that breath-taking hazy rock guitar backdrop, As the guys add one more melody in a bid to give Milky Way its confetti drop.

    Great song, 9/10!

    Anyways… I am so excited for Breathe’s review tommorow… I’d say I want a follow up music video, but after seeing the behind scenes, I am just as happy that guys worked so hard for this and that we got Burn It as the title track!

    Golden Child 3rd win coming soon!

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  5. I agree with most of this review – except I am not quite so enthusiastic. This is one of the most generic-sounding songs I’ve heard from Golden Child. They do well with it, their vocals sound good. The guitar is a very nice addition, yes.

    It’s not enough for me to love the song. I don’t dislike it, it just does not make me feel anything. Man, I hate sounding so pessimistic on two Golcha song reviews in a row! It’s not you, Golden Child.. it’s me and my sugary song cravings.

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    • I love a heaping dose of sugar! But I love a mix of sugar with perfectly baked waffles and a good egg too (that is how I would describe Round N Round honestly), so…. I am bound to love it!

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  6. … I’m a little bit mixed about this one although it already had grown to me. I mean, it’s a decent ballad track in an already solid album. However, I’m pretty much surprised to myself that it didn’t sold me immediately unlike their other ballad tracks like All Day, Thank You, and That Guy.

    I may have a few issues with the chorus. In the first one, it was neat utilizing the vocals and only one instrument (if you call it that) before slowly building up until the verses came again. And then the format is repeated again, and then again…

    It didn’t leave any major impact unlike All Day (this one sold me pretty quickly), so it’s a big bummer for me. But hey, at least they still tried building up tension, and that made me want to listen more until the end.

    Though I have to applaud the vocals in here! It’s really nice that the producers of Golden Child use the uniqueness of every members to create a great blend; maybe this is a big factor I still liked this one. The voice that really stood out for me the most was Donghyun’s; his voice has that certain crisp in it, it’s like a sweet honey. As much as I love all their voices, especially the main vocalists and Daeyeol’s, in this track Donghyun takes the lead.

    Rating would be 8.5. This track is very hard to dislike!

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Yeah, I waffled between 8.5 and 8.75, but the bias factor eventually pushed it up a notch 🙂

      It’s my “least favorite” track on the album, but that doesn’t really mean much because I love all the tracks.

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  7. Pingback: GOLDEN CHILD YES.: In-Depth Album Review – Breathe | The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion

  8. Pingback: Top K-Pop Albums of 2021 (So Far) | The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion

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