Two of the ex-members of the hugely popular but sadly ill-fated boy group X1 have come together in this wonderfully emotional single, ‘Memories’. Wooseok and Eunsang blend their moving voices into a song that acts a wonderful gift to ONE IT’s who stood by them through everything.
Following the devastating fall out from the disbandment of X1 earlier this year, almost each of the individual members of the group have gone on to explore other territories, either as a solo artist or in new groups (some more than others). Eunsang recently debuted with ‘Beautiful Scar‘ (one of my unexpected highlights of Q3 of this year) and Wooseok has been busy since his May debut with ‘Red Moon‘ (one of my most played songs this year), getting involved in project tracks and acting roles. Although fans have been super supportive of every single project that each of the X1 members are doing, hearts did leap for joy at the news that two of the ex-members would be reuniting for a project.
‘Memories’ is a stunningly emotive pop ballad that brings the light, airy and sentimental vocals of both Wooseok and Eunsang together, in this beautiful mix, creating a tender, bittersweet, nostalgic vibe. The simplicity of the instrumental allows the pair to focus purely on injecting their feelings, authenticity and texture into the sound. The track builds in comforting familiar melodies into the chorus which manage to feel full-bodied, whilst still retaining that soft approach. It is a track that brings subtlety in conjunction with gusto, and feels like a truly rousing, yet moving, song.
I could feel my heart almost exploding whilst listening to this song – genuinely… especially in that bridge and final chorus. It’s not even just about the lyrics or the meaning of the song, or even the fact that they wrote the lyrics themselves about X1 and ONE IT. It’s also the way that the melody and vocals are structured to amplify that sentimental feeling – it definitely worked on me. This is the kind of pop ballad that just hits the spot and both members have the type of aspirated vocals to pull it off whilst injecting some individuality into the sound. Regardless of what Wooseok and Eunsang choose to do moving forwards, ‘Memories’ will be a song that lives on in my own heart and memories for a long time to come – now I’m going to go and cry.
P.S. The MV did me a double heart explosion – the X1 clues, the way that Wooseok supported Eunsang thoughout – it’s so cute.
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