Aha I Dont Wanna Cry Again

Hey Carats! I'm back again with a Musical Analysis of Don't Wanna Cry. In this blog I'll be talking about my First Impressions vs. New Impressions, Highlights (my favourite parts), Instrumentals, and a Additional Note!

P.S, if you want to see my Analysis of Pretty U click Here

{Possibly New Terms}

Bridge: a section in the song that has a change of tune, usually to take a break from the chorus or similar verses.

Synthesizer/Synthesized: a synthesizer is an electronic instrument that has imitations of classical instruments, such as a piano. When someone says something is "synthesized", they mean that it sounds like an electronic version of this instrument. This instrument is popularly used in EDM.

EDM: Electronic Dance Music. This genre features synthesizers in every song.

Verse: the section of a song, usually follows some kind of pattern with each and there are 2+ most of the time in songs.

: Chords: notes played at once, each having sub-categories for each chord. For example, an octave chord is played with two octaves of one note (a middle C and the C after that.)

Big Band: referring to an orchestra, where the sound is very overwhelming, but powerful.

Piano: no, it's not the instrument, but a dynamic. A dynamic is to help how loud or soft one should play. Piano, italicized in sheet music as /p/, is the basic soft dynamic, and is quiet.

Ad-lib/Adlibbed: an Ad-lib is when a singer can add whatever they want to the already produced track, as in after they sing all the lyrics and notes they're supposed to, they can add on whatever they want. Sometimes the producers keep the ad-libs in certain sections, sometimes not.

!!!ATTENTION: before continuing on, I highly suggest listening to Don't Wanna Cry here or on another music provider before or during reading. Thank you!

{First Impressions vs. New Impressions}

I was reaaaaaally excited when I saw that the video came out just one hour ago, and immediately went on YouTube to click on it. I made the mistake of peering into the comments that pretty much spoiled my first impressions. The comment(s) were about how people thought this song plagiarized the Chainsmokers, and I had to pause the video right before the song played to laugh out loud. Chainsmokers? And Seventeen? Yeah, no.

After listening to the song, my first thought was, "okay, I get where this is coming from. But plagiarism? No." For one, this song didn't have a whopping number of three major chords in its entirety*cough* (tbh the only reason I listened to the Chainsmokers was because of Halsey and because my mom loves them)

Anyways, that's beside the point. Focusing on the actual song now, I could say I was pleasantly surprised. I'm so used to Seventeen having the more funky, brass, electric guitars, and modulations type feel. This has to be the most American-esque song Seventeen put out.

After realizing that yes, this is a very Western song, and that yes, all rappers are singing...I wasn't mad at it. It was still pretty enjoyable even if it wasn't what I was used to, and I liked it.

Granted, it wasn't very "Seventeen," so to speak, the most Seventeen part was the bridge (I unfortunately don't have the right words or terminology to explain it :sweat_smile: , Maybe in a few years).

While listening to the song for about 183618 times (and I only used the MV as sound because Carat priorities,) I've found a few interesting things.

{Instrumentals}

While there was no brass in here, sadly (in case none of you can tell I'm a sucker for brass) there was still a lot of synthesizing going on. What I was pleased to find, was admist the EDM layers was some violin and acoustic guitar strumming!

As usual, the instrumental was no joke. While more simple to allow for the vocals to come through like most pop songs do, it had an addictive drum beat and as usual, great bass line. I can't dwell on bass or percussion as I play neither (excluding piano), but moving on.

{Highlights}

Oooooh boy is this going to be a long list. Okay, first of all:

THE RAPPERS SINGING. Honestly I have been waiting for the moment S. Coups got to sing in a song for so damn long, I'm so glad it finally came true. Speaking of rappers singing, can I say how much I love Meanie right now? Their part in the bridge is just :heart_eyes:

Speaking of the bridge, you have no idea how many times I've replayed that one part, it's just such a perfect breakdown to this song.

Next part: Okay so this might be a weird thing to compliment, by I honestly love how Woozi distributed the lines. There's somewhat of a pattern, which I definitely like and agree with. The reason Vernon and S. Coups start both of the verses off is because even if they're still trained in singing (or have been seen singing), they might not be accustomed to it anymore, thus the /piano/ beginning. I don't really have a proper explanation for Hoshi and Jeonghan, other than the fact that I actually find their voices quite similar in the right light. But when "jangnanchijima," starts, the song shifts to signal buildup, so I think what Woozi was trying to do was have a higher pitch so it kind of let's that show. Then of course since DK And Seungkwan have the most powerful voices in Seventeen, they get to hype the buildup. After is Dino, The8, Hoshi and Jun who I also think have similar vocals in a way, who I think gets the chorus because of how their voices fit the EDM. I can't really explain it, but I think they have "modern voices," where their voices would fit a primarily EDM-comprised song. The bridge is for change in the song, so of course the members with the deepest voices would sing that part (and beautifully, if I may add). The change in pitch I think really ties it together, and then Jeonghan comes back to signal the desperation in the song with the high pitch. After it's basically a free-for-all as the last chorus tends to be the most ad-libbed and changed out of all the other choruses.

Aha, I think that was way too long of an explanation. Moving on, I know this may have been overlooked, but I love love LOVE the drums. No, not the classic EDM beat, but the actual drums that truly stay kicking at the first "jangnamchijima." It's very drum solo-esque, and a great add on to not fall into that EDM typicality.

This is something I don't normally talk about, but lyrics. It's very relatable actually, as losing a loved one in any form is always hard and confusing. This really captures that, as you don't want to cry, you don't want to see the person that hurt you, but at the same time it's tearing you up inside because you have to keep all these emotions in for the sake of your pride and dignity.

"I'm okay (I'm not okay),

I don't want to see you (I really want to see you)

I have to say these lies that don't even come from my heart"

{Conclusions}

Do I think that this is the best song Seventeen put out? No. But do I think that the choreography is amazing? Yes. Do I think that the change was too sudden? No, in fact I had an itching feeling this would happen. And that this is really really catchy and is good to show non-kpop fans? God yes. Maybe that was Woozi's motive, to have a more American sound for once to try and draw in non-kpop fans. Or he wants Seventeen to be more experimental, who knows, it was a good song!

As I said before, you don't need to agree with me on any of this, it's just my personal opinion that you don't have to conform to. Nevertheless, Thank You so much for reading, let's all help to support our boys this era!

{Additional Note}

Like I said before, I am making more Analysis posts on other Seventeen songs, such as Mansae, Hit Song, Highlight, etc. If anyone wants to request a song, please tell me!

The official list is:

-Hit Song

-Very Nice

-Mansae

-Highlight

-Adore U

-Fronting

-Rock

-Highlight

-Don't Listen

-Simple

-Sickness

-Boomboom

Also, if anyone wants me to talk about other song components, please list them down below. Hopefully they'll be in my skill range.

mooretheast.blogspot.com

Source: https://aminoapps.com/c/carat-amino/page/blog/a-musical-analysis-of-dont-wanna-cry-sorta/RqNB_vESwu6rKD4x1YvajnNBzj3K21oBWW

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