Rember back in 2019 when I said that I hated how long Golden Child had been tabled and how resources had been focused on trainees instead of the already debuted group? I feel so much better now. A little worse too because of RtK, but mostly a whole lot better. The group debuted in the summer of 2017 (it’s almost their third anniversary!!) and has had all of these loooong breaks in between releases. As I mentioned previously, they came out of the gate really aged own – probably owing to the fact that a few of the members were very young. Their maknae, Bomin, had literally been 17 for four days when they released their debut.
I understand the confusion – he’s a very well put together maknae.
When I spoke last about Golden Child, I was highlighting a kind of transition song from their initial sound to who they were becoming. They themselves have said that they have been working on figuring out who they are and what sound they really want to have. They’ve found it. One of my absolute favorite songs this year, Wannabe, actually came out in November 2019 and was re-issued in January 2020 – so while I keep counting it as a 2020 track, it actually appeared on my 2019 top 50 list. The song uses insanely interesting musical techniques to immediately suck you in and pulls back using super stark sounds to highlight the group’s vocals. Gah, it’s so much to take in.
Wannabe, Golden Child
When this full-length album came out I was shocked that I pretty much loved it straight through. I just don’t always love albums that way – there’s usually a handful of songs I adore, a few I’m ok with, and a couple I abhor. I don’t abhor anything here.
When the lineup to Road to Kingdom was announced, I was incredibly torn about how I would handle the episodes and the outcome of the show. I literally love every single group that was cast – Golcha among them. I won’t spoil the show for those that are still interested in watching, but let’s just say that I think some disservice was done very early on. I’m not a fool, I know that part of it was the fact that Woollim is completely broke and probs couldn’t afford to keep the group going, but the injustice of it all stings. They were superb in each of their stages.
T.O.P., Golden Child on Road to Kingdom
Happily, though, not long after said bad outcome, it was announced that Golcha had a comeback in the works and the teasers were incredible. Thank God. It’s hard to feel bad about their time on the show when THIS is probably why they were whisked off so quickly. The seven-track mini-album is exceptional – again. On Kcon: TACT they mentioned that this was kind of the culmination of their soul searching as a group and that they’d finally figured out who they were. If this is it, I approve wholeheartedly. The title track, One (Lucid Dream) continues along the same genre as Wannabe and is a delicious and interesting dance song with a unique use of sounds and dissonance that creates this almost dystopian future dream-like feel. The MV is lush and expensive with all sorts of lovely CGI and effects.
Money well spent – they are seeing more hits on YouTube than they’ve ever seen before. By the millions.
I am so happy. I am so pleased.
One (Lucid dream), Golden Child
1 Comment
Those are some feathers! Companies really need to think long germ about names. Golden Child, Teen Top, The Boyz, its interesting. I actually listened to their last two releases and…I liked them more than I thought I would!