[#29] Kang Seung Yoon - "Wild and Young"

From: "Wild and Young"
Released: August
Territory: South Korea
Previous Best of Entries: First Appearance
Other notable song(s) from 2013: n/a

Looking at their idol roster, or even their non-idol roster, YG aren't really much of a rock agency. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised when I heard "Wild and Young" for the first time. They were able to incorporate elements that have become synonymous with YG -- the smooth but rounded and rich production and the anthemic nature of the melody to name a few of the specifics. But as a whole, "Wild and Young" is basking in the musical ear that was used in its production, the same musical ear that YG shows on many other tracks.

I never watched Superstar K (the second season of which he won), but I'd been hearing of Kang Seung Yoon for the longest time. And when I finally heard him sing, I understood not only why he won, but why people were waiting for him to debut. While half of the song is definitely focused on Kang Seung Yoon's vocals and therefore focused on the melody -- how to bring out the best of his gritty yet rich timbre and suppress his whiny tendencies -- the other half is definitely focused on the band arrangement. It's the instrumentation that steers this song, the stomping bass line, all the different percussion loops and use of the full range of real drums, the gutsy guitar line, they give the song it's dimension.

And so when all of that is put together in a song the way it was in "Wild and Young", what you get is a song that's effortlessly musical. One that, like a lot of songs I liked this year, you can take for face value, one that is good on the surface. But at the same time, one with many layers to it, all of which contributed to the whole and didn't just stay in their own little corners.

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