[#17] TTS - "Stay"

From: "Holler"
Released: September
Territory: South Korea
Previous Best of Entries: 2012: [#21] "Baby Steps"
Other notable song(s) from 2014: "Holler", "Adrenaline", "EYES"

As a whole, I really think "Holler" is lightyears better than TTS' first EP -- "Twinkle" wasn't exactly a train wreck, but TTS could've done so much better. And it's good to know that this year, they did.

"Stay" has always been my personal favorite from "Holler" and while I already mentioned more "credible" reasons for liking it earlier this year, this is one of those entries that really boiled down to how much I like the song:

It's very SM -- it's slightly cheesy but not quite, with an unexpectedly gripping melody, all brought together by clean, rich production. It's an even more obvious manifestation of the "youthful but not juvenile" quality we saw in "Adrenaline."

What I like about "Stay" is the graceful intensity to the whole track -- it's upbeat, there's a lot happening in the instrumental (lots of bells and whistles like a novel electric guitar line), with rich production of a packed arrangement. But all of that isn't painful to the ears, it doesn't hit you over the head. And I attribute that to the melody which is ridiculously smooth -- it's catchy, it's pleasant to the ears, and the smoothness of it comes out especially at the chorus when the vocals are multi-tracked.

I think apart from a strong recall, "replay potential" is a very important quality to have -- we all get really annoyed at how certain songs are played on shows over and over and over again, but that's because most of the time they're too much. For me at least, "Stay" has that replay potential -- I've listened to it at least a hundred times this year and I still enjoy it.

@popreviewsnow on Twitter | @noxrivera on instagram | facebook.com/popreviewsnow | http://ask.fm/noxrivera | Add me on Google+ | Follow my blog with Bloglovin'