Happy lunar new year, k-dreamers! I hope the year of the ox brings you much luck and prosperity. Whether you’re looking forward to having noodles or rice cake soup, the new song “Eat My Love” from Bibi might be just the song to get you in the mood. Speaking of which, have you ever listened to the instrumental to a song and not been able to tell the verse apart from the chorus? Thankfully, with a lot of kpop songs, you can tell each section apart by listening to the instrumental alone. There are even songs where no section repeats. But for simplicity’s sake, we’ll use Bibi’s comeback to illustrate this.
Lyrics? No need. The instrumental tells it all.
“Eat My Love” balances predictable and unpredictable very nicely. Each variation is about 8 bars long so you know when the change will occur. I personally get disappointed if the instrumental hasn’t changed by the time the chorus starts playing. Luckily, this song doesn’t run into this problem since the chorus is easily distinguishable from the verse and even from the pre-chorus.
Bibi starts her song with some cowbell and the main hook along with a few other instruments. Then, as soon as she starts singing, a simple beat fills out the space. As the song progresses, a drum kit and a bass guitar are added to beef up the texture. And with a “yeah!” the chorus is underway. To mark where the chorus is, a funky guitar riff is added to the instrumentals. Never at any point do we have to refer to the lyrics to know which section is playing. This song has definitely got my attention.
It’s the little things that make a big difference.
It’s best not to go too hard on the variations in the instrumental. Otherwise, you might end up deterring attention away from the message of the song. A good example of a song that is intentionally simple is “My Treasure” by Treasure. “Eat My Love” makes slight changes in the song to make some sections more distinct. Stripping the second pre-chorus down to the bass and cymbals and reintroducing the cowbells subtly subverts the listener’s expectations. If there had been no repeated sections, we wouldn’t know which section even is the pre-chorus. Besides, this song isn’t meant to be super attention-grabbing: it’s chill but kinda quirky.
This is a small detail I enjoy about the “Eat My Love”: the music quiets down except for the cymbals when Bibi sings the word “love” to create emphasis. And then, just when you think she’s going to repeat herself the fourth time, she spells out L-O-V-E instead of singing the word. This is another example of subverting expectations that’s fun and effective. Oh, and the ending is hilarious: “Hee Yee!”
Honourable Mentions: Purple Kiss – Can We Talk Again, aespa – Forever (I am blessed with the vocals this week!)
If you like this song, check out: Sunmi – Heroine (2018), Shaun – Bad Habits (2019), June – Anywhere (2020)
I’ve been meaning to add Bibi’s songs to my playlist and I finally get to do that. What do you think of Bibi’s latest comeback? Let me know in the comments!