It’s been a while since you’ve heard from me, huh? Especially about Kep1er, since this is their first comeback since their debut in January. You can read my full review of their debut here, but long story short, I’m a huge fan of them and have been since watching the members on Girls Planet 999.
Let me refresh you all on the final lineup and positions. From ninth place to first: Xiaoting (lead dancer), Mashiro (co-leader), Hikaru (lead rapper), Yeseo (maknae), Youngeun (main vocalist), Dayeon (main dancer/main rapper), Yujin (leader), Bahiyyih (vocalist) and Chaehyun (center/main vocalist). This information on positions is different than what I had written down before, between debut and now, which means either something changed or the source I used was wrong, but I digress.
I did my best to set this up like usual, since I haven’t been keeping track of teasers as often as I did in the past. Before I drag this out too far, though, let’s get into my thoughts of Doublast, which was officially released two days ago (June 20)!
“Up!”: 10/10
As the title track, a lot can be expected of “Up!” Writing this portion the night before debut, and having not seen the highlight medley or any other trailers for this comeback, I’m hoping for something along the lines of IZ*ONE’s “Up” combined with the summery feel of songs like Red Velvet’s “Red Flavor.” I’m very excited to hear this song tomorrow!
And with the power of writing magic, it’s now tomorrow, haha! I was hooked on the tune of this song since it started. I’m not gonna lie, I think parts of it are more catchy than their debut, “WA DA DA.” I can’t really place why that is, though. I think there’s a slightly more … not retro, but something kind of older than a lot of new music being released now. I’m a huge fan of that. It’ll be seen a little later in the article, but I feel like the line distribution for this song in particular is more even, too. I think this song is getting a ten out of ten!
“Le Voya9e”: 8/10
I think first and foremost I should note that I find it interesting that there’s the numeral nine in the title of this song. I don’t think it necessarily means anything, I just find it visually cool.
I really like the simple instrumental in the background at the beginning, transitioning into something that kind of reminds me of lofi. I haven’t heard a lot of songs like this, which of course I appreciate. This song reminds me of the evening of a day at the beach, still fitting with the overall concept. I’m not sure if it’ll end up on my “Best Of” playlist, but there’s no denying that it’s a good song. I feel like this song would be one of the songs that has a live performance of just straight vocals rather than choreography, but that fits in the best way. I wouldn’t be disappointed with that. All in all, I think this song earns an eight out of ten.
I recognized towards the end of the song that it kind of reminds me of Oh My Girl’s “Dear You (나의 봄에게)” which is another song I very much like.
“Attention”: 9/10
Unlike “Le Voya9e,” this song nails some of the more tropical feelings of summer. I think of the two B-side tracks I’ve heard so far, this one has the potential to become very popular. I really like the energy in the chorus. Honestly, that chorus reminds me of a title song; I can almost imagine the choreography now! It seems a little simple, but there’s a lot going into it that comes together very well. It’s also around this point that I really can’t pick out everyone’s voices as well as I thought I could, at least in some cases. That’s an issue for later in the article, though, haha. I really enjoyed listening to this song, and I kind of hope this one has choreography to be performed live soon. I’m gonna give this one a nine out of ten!
“Good Night”: 7/10
Until the chorus, I found this song to be kind of unremarkable, but I did enjoy the chorus a good bit. I’m not sure what it is about this song, but I’m not the biggest fan of it. That’s not to say it’s a bad song; it’s enjoyable, just not exactly my cup of tea. I think it shows off the vocals of the members alright, and again reminds me of being on the boardwalk in the evening on a beach trip. I appreciate those vibes, since the boardwalk is the only thing I like about being at the beach. I think this song is going to earn a seven out of ten.
“Rewind”: 9/10
Ah, so this is definitely the ballad song of the album, if it can be called a ballad. It’s more on the slower side of things, reminding me of a lazy day, but still with the underlying feeling of summer. I’m not usually a fan of the slower songs like this unless I’m in a certain mood, but I found this one very enjoyable. As far as final songs on albums go, I definitely feel like this one fits the bill. It’s just laid back enough for my tastes. I especially liked the key change, because I’m predictable like that. I think I’ll give this song a nine out of ten.
Music Video: 10/10
Just like the teasers I saw, yellow and blue were very apparent in the more summery vibes of this music video. There was a lot of other summer imagery as well, with a raft on the sea, the bright blue sky, camping and rainbow imagery. I really liked the blend of these, especially with the inclusion of some of the choreography as most K-pop music videos have. To me, it was incredibly visually appealing, which is a huge factor in whether or not I like music videos, especially with all of the colors. A rule of thumb for me is that if a music video has a lot of colors, I’ll watch it. I really enjoyed this music video, so it’s going to get a ten out of ten!
Concept: 10/10
In the teasers I saw (since I follow Kep1er’s official Instagram), it was clear to me that Doublast was going to have a summery concept, with the images having bright yellows and blues. They reminded me of a glass of fresh lemonade, which I adore. It’s also where the image for this article comes into play, since it reminds me of the teasers for Doublast.
I’m all for the summer concept (as I’ve stated before during Oh My Girl’s comeback Dear OhMyGirl), and since I don’t think I really saw something like that during Girls Planet 999 I was very excited to see how Kep1er would execute it. I can also say that a lot of the members have shown that they’re great at executing multiple different concepts, and even recently on Queendom 2 Kep1er showed off a more summery concept with “Pool Party (Rollin’ right now).”
Just as I thought, between the song itself and the music video, Kep1er absolutely slayed the summer concept! I really enjoyed it, and “Up!” is going on my summer playlist for sure. I feel like the whole album fit the concept very well; I’m comfortable giving the concept a ten out of ten!
Showcase Stage: 10/10
Writing this later in the day of their debut, that means there’s more time for more than one stage in some cases. This isn’t really one of them, lol, though there are a couple stages for different songs. The one for “Up!” is linked above, and the one for “Le Voya9e” can be found here. I think the vibes matched perfectly with the song itself, especially the background and outfits. Mnet doesn’t disappoint when it comes to stages! Kep1er doesn’t disappoint with performances, either.
The same can be said for the stage for “Le Voya9e,” which was changed from the stage for “Up!” to fit the energy of the song better. It was just as calming as the song itself, so I think altogether the showcase stages get a ten out of ten from me!
Choreography: 9/10
I mentioned in my last article that I was hoping for the choreography to be a little tougher than it was, since we know for a fact that Kep1er has some amazing dancers, but having tried to learn said choreography I can definitely appreciate what they did have. So I kind of wondered what kind of choreography their songs would have this time around.
The choreography is flowy enough to match the vibes of the song, but it’s not necessarily complicated. While it doesn’t have the complexity I was hoping for, I can definitely appreciate the moving parts of it and the fact that it definitely fits the song. That’s more important than anything else. So in this case, I’m going to give the choreography a nine out of ten!
This is including the choreography for “Le Voya9e,” as well, which I didn’t think would have choreography. But it does, and again, it fits the song well. Nine out of ten holds true for it as well.
Line Distribution: 8/10
So I noticed last time that there was a pretty stark difference in line distribution; here is what it was for First Impact:
Dayeon has an average of 12 lines; Chaehyun has an average of 10.4 lines; Mashiro has an average of 9.4 lines; Yeseo and Xiaoting have an average of 8.4 lines; Youngeun has an average of 8 lines; Yujin has an average of 7.2 lines; Bahiyyih has an average of 6.6 lines; and Hikaru has an average of 6 lines.
That’s a difference of 6 lines per song (30 lines total), which is pretty big in my eyes.
The same as last time, Doublast has five songs that I used to calculate it, and using the fact that I’m familiar with their voices and people are pretty quick at making lyric videos and color-coded lyric sheets, I think this should be fairly accurate. It’s also definitely the section that took me the longest, so I hope you appreciate it, haha.
Dayeon has an average of 8.6 lines; Chaehyun has an average of 8.2 lines; Hikaru has an average of 8 lines; Youngeun has an average of 6.8 lines; Yeseo and Xiaoting have an average of 6.6 lines; Bahiyyih has an average of 6.2 lines; Yujin has an average of 5.8 lines; and Mashiro has an average of 5.6 lines.
That’s a difference of 3 lines per song (15 lines total), which is much less than last time. While Dayeon and Chaehyun stayed at the front of the pack, so to speak, most everyone else moved a little in terms of line distribution. I prefer groups to have smaller differences like that, since that means everyone is getting a good chance to show their skills. I did find it interesting that Mashiro dropped so far, though, switching places with Hikaru. Again, though, this may not be entirely accurate, since the only two live performances so far are for “Up!” and “Le Voya9e.” Because of the above averages, though, I’ll give the line distribution and eight out of ten.
Overall: 90/100
Wow, I think this might be the best score I’ve given a comeback! I was really impressed with Doublast, and I highly recommend it. I don’t really have much else to say about it.
I feel kinda bad that I didn’t make a review like this for LIGHTSUM’s latest comeback (which I adored, by the way), but I’m going to do my best to pick back up on that in the future.
With that said, I’ll be back at the end of the month! Please look forward to plenty more articles.