I’m not always the kind of person who looks forward to comebacks in K-pop, since I’m still relatively new to it, but after LIGHTSUM debuted on June 10th with their single “Vanilla,” I was hooked. The eight members are insanely talented in my opinion, and I was ecstatic to hear that they were starting to prepare for a comeback on Oct. 13. I’ve only reviewed a comeback once before – Oh My Girl’s “Dear OhMyGirl” – and wrote this kind of spur-of-the-moment, so it won’t be nearly as neatly laid out as that one. However, I still hope all goes well for this comeback!
Of course, all of this is my own opinion; please feel free to disagree with me. I hope you enjoy!
“Vivace”: 9/10
I could tell off the bat that “Vivace” was going to go on my “Best Of” playlist. It’s filled with energy and a truly addictive beat, just like “Vanilla” before it. It definitely sounds like something that would play at a dance or a club (I think; I’ve never been to a club). Even hearing it for the first time, I felt like I wanted to get up and dance along to it, so there’s a good chance I’ll try learning the choreography somewhere down the line.
The music video is really colorful and keeps the energy of the song alive. Because I’m not super well-versed in K-pop concepts, I can’t really assign this to a concept nor compare it to the concepts teased in the trailers, but “Vivace” will definitely be a song I return to for the energy boost I often need. Thus, I’m giving it a nine out of ten, since while I liked this a lot, I did like “Vanilla” better. If they manage to blend the energy and sound from both those songs together in the future, I’m sure they’ll blow everyone away.
“You, Jam”: 6/10
“You, Jam” has a different sort of energy than both “Vanilla” and “Vivace,” but not in a bad way at all. It does sound a bit like a lot of newer K-pop songs, but with LIGHTSUM’s own spin on it. It’s still very catchy, though the chorus is repetitive. It’s more rap-heavy than any of their other songs so far, giving the group’s rappers Sangah and Jian a chance to show off their undeniable skill. Still, it’s not one of my favorites, so I’ll give this a six out of ten. I would still listen to this if it played on Pandora instead of skipping it.
“Popcorn”: 9/10
This song is more my style! It’s very fun, with some sounds in the background that I associate with video game soundtracks. That’s one of the quick ways to my heart, and the vocals are so great in this song! The chorus isn’t as substantial as the chorus for “Vivace,” but it’s still incredibly catchy and gives off great energy. This one I definitely recommend listening to; it’s a really great song, and is getting a nine out of ten as well as a spot on my “Best Of” playlist!
Comeback Stage: 8/10
Rather than having a comeback/showcase stage on a music show just yet, LIGHTSUM returned to the stage via an online showcase for fans. Even so, it’s a great way for them to show off their new song and choreography as well as their own stage presence. I think they did very well with this! The stage itself was a bit plain, but again, it wasn’t for a music show so that’s entirely excusable. It was a fun stage regardless, and I really liked seeing the choreography, which is a lot tougher than I thought from the music video. I think this is going to get an eight out of ten!
Line Distribution: 7/10
Because LIGHTSUM only had one single before this comeback, calculating the line distribution was far easier than Oh My Girl’s. As you’ll recall, line distribution is basically how many lines each member has per song. Because this comeback has three songs, I’ll calculate the average number of lines for each member overall and compare that to “Vanilla.”
…Or, I would, if there were lyric videos, live performances or lyric translations available for “You, Jam” and “Popcorn.” Because LIGHTSUM is a relatively lesser-known group, having just debuted recently, it’s harder for them to get attention for their B-sides, especially in the form of lyric videos given that they’ve only had one song to compare each member’s voices to for accuracy.
My initial prediction was that while some of the members will have the same number of lines, there will be members who have precious few; this is generally how K-pop works, especially given the roles of main vocalist, lead vocalist or vocalist along with main rapper, lead rapper or rapper.
Using this website and a performance stage including lyrics on the screen, the line distribution here should be completely accurate. In “Vanilla”:
Nayoung has 14 lines; Chowon has 12 lines; Juhyeon has ten lines; Sangah and Yujeong have nine lines; Jian has seven lines; Huiyeon has six lines; and Hina has four lines.
This is a fairly standard arrangement; Nayoung and Chowon are main vocalists, so naturally they’ll have more lines than Hina, Yujeong and Huiyeon, who are all vocalists. With that said, the difference is relatively small, with a ten-line difference. If you’ll remember, Oh My Girl’s average difference was 24 lines (to my count). That, I think, is a good thing, since I’m a huge advocate for members having similar numbers of lines, which admittedly is difficult with groups with more than six members.
Using the same site and the comeback stage, the line distribution in “Vivace” is:
Chowon and Yujeong have 11 lines; Nayoung has ten lines; Juhyeon has nine lines; Sangah has eight lines; Jian has six lines; and Huiyeon and Hina have three lines.
Technically speaking, there’s a smaller difference between the most and fewest lines than there was with “Vanilla,” though the distribution is still a little skewed, as to be expected. Yujeong, for instance, is only a vocalist but also gained more lines while Huiyeon and Hina bother got fewer lines. This could technically change because of the other two songs in “Light a Wish,” but I can’t tell for sure until live performances or lyric videos (ideally both) are released and created. So for all of those reasons, I’m going to give line distribution a seven out of ten.
Overall: 39/50 (78/100)
Honestly, this score probably would’ve been higher had I went through the anticipation with the music video trailers and audio snippets as clues towards what to expect for the comeback. That, and it’s bugging me that I couldn’t put together a more cohesive line distribution analysis just yet, though by LIGHTSUM’s next comeback I’m sure it’ll be clearer.
This isn’t a bad score by any means; in fact, it’s only three points behind the score I gave Oh My Girl’s latest comeback. I very highly recommend listening to the album yourself – especially “Vivace” and “Popcorn” – and checking out LIGHTSUM’s debut single! As a proud SUMIT, I’m very pleased with their first comeback and can’t wait to see what they come up with in the future.