#27: BEAST - Easy

If there's one thing to commend BEAST on, it's that they were probably the most productive idol group this year. I mean come on, in a world of mini-albums and repackaged "big comebacks", BEAST released a total of not one, not even two, but THREE mini-albums this year, totaling 15 songs. And that doesn't include collaborations, remixes and drama OSTs. 3 albums also meant 3 rounds of promotions - the usual idol group only has 1, with the occasional second round, which isn't really taken seriously.

Which is why it was kinda hard for me to choose a song of theirs to put on the list - they were the artist I was debating on the most, I only finalized which song to put after the countdown had started. I do, however, think I made the right choice.

The other songs under consideration were Shock, Say No, Break Down and Lightless. They're all gorgeous songs and they all sound fantastic, but the reason why I chose Easy Over them was because Easy was the song that made me realize that these guys really do have the potential to last for quite a long time.

Side note. When I talk about Easy, I mean both the album and the "sincere" version. Unless stated that I mean one of the two.

So anyway. BEAST performed Easy on Mnet countdown I believe, and it was that one performance that really convinced me that these guys actually have a shot at making it. The reason? They were putting out 3, 4, 5-part harmonies. Live. And they're not really known for their "stellar vocals".

OK, they didn't exactly pull the harmonies off as strong as DBSK or possibly even SHINee, but at least they tried, really hard. Boybands of their calibre would most probably never even think of attempting something like that because of fear, but BEAST just dove straight into it. The simple fact that they were doing that firmly implanted their names into my head - boybands and harmonies should always go hand-in-hand.

As if that wasn't enough, they managed to take those harmonies and put it on a song that sounds and feels like BEAST. That's another thing I like about BEAST - they have their own sound, they have an identity firmly in place. With the "let's try everything" mindset and the actual sense of identity, I would really want BEAST to last - they may very well be the perfect balance between idol and singer.

Easy showed me that this year - they showed me that if these guys try hard enough, and if they hold on to the identity they've established, they can and will go far.