Drunk-Dazed is a psychedelic synth pop song about 7 kids exploring the auspicious and seemingly exciting world of intoxication and freedom. ENHYPEN is back and folks they have been stronger than ever. This psychotic and traumatising song is just gripping on its own way. The autotune was such a brilliant idea for them as it just captured such crossfaded nature when intoxicated. It is such a strong song.
Let’s see what we have here!
Lyrics
Have you been ever addicted? This song is clearly for all of youth that has been enjoying ascending towards that high nature and the feeling of greatness and ecstatic elevations. ENHYPEN nails the message of this amazing song as they, themselves are representatives of the new generation. In an era where conservative states newly become liberals and open themselves to a new level of progressiveness, people experience new found troubles, success and problems. It certainly is clear what problem they are trying to avoid.
Bang Shi-hyuk is truly a mastermind in liberal philosophy and avant-garde styles even in music. He has yet again proven to me that he really will dance with the devil and ascend up the heavens to give his groups the best of the best. Albeit, this is without criticism, there is something so off about this. The emotions seem so out of place even in Korea. The emotions sometimes go off in a very different arena than what was expected. That honestly shocked me. Props to HYBE for thinking outside of the box for this one.
Instrumentation
Autotune? I know a lot of critics here hate that word or vocal processing as a whole. But I love it in this song. Yes call me stupid, idiotic or a delusional asslicker but, no. This song really conveyed what such intoxication results to your voice. It is slurred, electronic and sometimes incomprehensible. The vocal synthesis here is just amazing and phenomenal for me.
Experimental sounds were really omnipresent in this song. Use of such hard-hitting and soul wrenching bass, plus that unbelievable hallucinating synth pad is just nothing short of a headache. The bridge just surprised me in a whole new level of composition. It is tremendously goosebumping, and emotionally head hitting. I just love this record and how it was directed.
Criticism, are always on the auto-tune. I actually will be frank at first I wasn’t sold on the fact that auto-tune is really applied on all sides of this song. But as I always say, let’s not do double standards here and instead properly analyse why and in what way they used it. Also some parts of this song is really ear wrenching if you are not ready so be on the lookout. I just love how it cripples me and makes me so in awe. I am just shocked.
Production
The production was very constraint at this one, I really didn’t like how absolutely tight and suffocating it was. It was like being gritted in such a soft spot but being uncomfortable by your surroundings. It is just so unequivocally irritating but at the same time enchanting. It really gave me a hard time on this song to be honest. I really feel too many instruments were used.
Mixing and mastering was great. Albeit not the best or anything legendary, that periodic bass sonic pierce during the chorus surprised me as I am just in awe on how that sound wasn’t permanently damaging my ear and how it was so gritty but not bombing my head. It was just a weird but pleasing decision. I don’t know about the others. I certainly liked it.
Overall
This is certainly, better than Given-Taken. Their debut was safe but promising to me. Drunk-Dazed takes them to an another level with such a psychologically freaking song. It is like being faced with a psychopath that tears you apart without you being able to know it at all. It is just exhilarating, fascinating and overall cacophonic. It was so piercing to my soul but it gave me a lesson. It was just a strong song. I expect critics to hate it because of autotune and all other HYBE related reasons but I love it. It is an epitome of pop experimentation.
Rating: 8.75
Note: due to me being so biased in ENHYPEN I really added +0.25 to this song. I just love it.
TrackScore: TBD
Producers: Wonderkidd, Bang Shi-hyuk
Songwriters: Bang Shi-hyuk, LIL 27 CLUB, Michel Schulz, Melanie Fontana, Wonderkidd
Deforested Music 
I think the vocal processing was done very nicely! It wasn’t jarring or anything and it even fits well with the atmosphere of the song. ☆ Lina mentioned it in her review but I honestly didn’t even think about the autotune while I was listening haha. It’s a cool way to continue what they started with the previous release.
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Absolutely! I hope the CRITICS hear us. We have valid opinions here. To be honest, I wasn’t really going to mention auto-tune but I must state that using vocal processing is NOT BAD and DOES NOT LOSE ANY ARTISTIC MERIT!!!
I’m glad we have the same stance.
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I really disagree on the statement of the vocal processing. Now, I actually like it and can understand why it’s there, but it’s a literal obsession by Bighit at this point.
One point to note about TheBiasList comments is how many good points they give in why vocal processing is bad and why it loses artistic merit.
1. It robs character: Golden Child’s Breathe is one of my favorite songs of the year. The chorus is just euphoric and the way how it rears it’s head and just hits the listener works really, really WELL. Kbopped had mentioned how this all works because of Vocal Variation, they take the lead and imbue an incredible performance onto it’s soaring melody.
In Drunk Dazed’s Case, All of them sound the same. It’s like one dry, unpleasant voice plodding throughout the song. Enhypen DON’T get to showcase themselves, they don’t get to show their voices and that’s where the problem comes. If all of them sound the same, then the song would end up really mushy.
Another example: TXT’s Blue Hour from last year, yes it had vocal processing but not to the point where it hurt the members. Now imagine the egregious use of autotune used in Drunk Dazed get in the way of Blue Hour. Yep! The results are unpleasant. It would rob the character and personality that made the song (Blue Hour) such a treat. And while we are at the topic, let’s just autotune some of BTS’s 2014-16 work, Their expressive voices and character would have all went down the drain. Songs like Fire, Dope, I Need U wouldn’t work.
2. Live Performances: Another thing to note down is how important live performances are. They elevate the song and adds a big tight impact which gives you more reasons to love the song. One of those reasons are live vocals (!). So many of my favorite songs hinged on melody and with an extra add of explosive Sung Vocals, they helped buoyed the song’s appeal. Golden Child’s Burn It and SHINee’s Atlantis are prime examples. The different phrasings, vocal tones leave you fully refreshed about the song. In Drunk Dazed, It’s so heavily processed
3. What it could have been: You see, this song could have been much, much better and it could have appealed to a wider audience only if they stripped down the song with the vocal processing and replaced it with a much more robust vocal. Some people have sensitive ears and the tinny sound could not resonate with them whatsoever. But if you replaced it with their natural voices, the result would have been way better. The verses melody wouldn’t have felt so amorphous and would have actually been catchy. And the chorus could have really been amazing. To me, the autotune here is so heavily used, It actually overshadows the exciting beat underlining it and
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yan! just calm down! We are just having a conversation here. We are not angry at all about your opinions. I want to have a good discussion with this one. Because I personally think it has something to do with artistic direction and musical styling. Now I’m going to read this. I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND YOUR POINTS! Remember I’m a critic too, this song is really full of vocal processing and I to be very frank didn’t expect such level of processing.
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and yan I read your points. you have an amazing outline why it is not good and why is it horrible and tasteless. for that I applaud you. it is HYBE’s fault that their producers are obsessed with autotune and the amount of vocal processing it has. I have to be very honest about it but I do agree, I cannot distinguish such members in particular having even watched I-LAND. IT REALLY SUCKS. now, if ENHYPEN deleted vocal processing, it would be better and more punchier and the master wouldn’t have been such a mess. I agree. it was such a bad move. All your points made sense and for that it does.
I on the other hand, forgot all about the processing and focused on the actual abstract song and it is good. it is phenomenal. it is experimental. it is amazing. the lack thereof proper production sabotages enhypen I agree.
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My Dumb ass accidentally misclicked something, but I noted down everything I had to so I’ll end this comment on this note:
The Point is, the critics you’re insulting have a point.
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Also I didn’t meant to insult somebody. For that I apologize. I apologize without IFs or BUTs. I apologize in my statements. I clearly didn’t think about hurting you or your poignant evaluation. I am sorry.
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Wait what, please don’t mistake me for some person who got angry.
I think I should have thrown some emoticons around or some smiley emojis because I was calm while typing the comment but now, while re-reading it, I can understand why it sounds like I was aggressive. I was trying to have a normal discussion, I am really sorry for not re-phrasing my comment.
I am really sorry if you thought I was angry or lashing out, I was just discussing, please don’t take me as some angry gruff.
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No no no, there is no need to apologize. I didn’t feel offended nor did I feel insulted, It’s my fault for not rephrasing it properly. I am really sorry for that.
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I don’t hate it, and it isn’t bad for me either. I was trying to point out from another personal perspective on why it may not look original or complete to other people. The vocal processing here is used greatly, but of course there will be some problems to it.
Once again, my apologies for sounding like I lashed out. I am deeply sorry. Just…super sorry.
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don’t apologize yan. I am the one at fault. because I clearly misinterpreted your stance. I was just shocked at how long it is! see the comments can be another critic commenting!
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Once again, I am just very sorry.
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Don’t need to. I absolutely understand. I am the one who should. Thanks for giving us such insightful knowledge. I hope this continues! 😁😅
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Not a fan of the processing like 90% of the people, but the melody is certainly redeeming, particularly that chorus.
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Yeah. This is what I was saying. Critics will really hate the processing but I do not since it is their musical direction and without it the song loses authenticity to convey such emotion.
However, I am glad you did like the melody and it was strong enough because it indeed was impactful as it should have been. The bass is amazing.
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That chorus is really something. The melody is similar to another melody that I can’t put my finger on. But this is a surprise, and I really enjoy this track!
Btw, what do u think of BTS releasing another English track, Butter? To me, I have 2 problems, though I’m holding my judgment:
1) The name of the song. It’s giving me “yummy” vibes, so I’m cringing at the name lol
2) Being in English. I just don’t want a lot of Kpop companies following this trend, though it’s a minor gripe
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Well. If that is what BTS wants then they can proceed. But if I do not see any of them in the credits I might pull back a bit. I do not care if the song is Latin, English, Korean or Japanese as long as it is great and creative and authentic. Dynamite was a smash it and for it, BTS has really risen to pop legends. Butter could may well be a disaster imminent or a legendary song we just didn’t appreciate at all.
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I agree that I don’t really care what language the song is in, as long as it sounds really good. I guess I just prefer them singing in Korean over English lol. Hope it does deliver. Though, I’m raising an eyebrow because of the title ‘Butter’. Fingers crossed.
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