Fantastic is a 5-member Berry Good group comeback that marked the last comeback before leader Taeha, would make her departure due to contract expiration. Fantastic features the bubbly and sincere 'Oh! Oh!' along with a range of B-side tracks that I will be listening to today.

 

Having been a fan of Berry Good only recently with their recent 2018 album 'Free Travel' which had awesome songs such as 'Green Apple,' 'Mellow Mellow,' and of course Seoyul's solo song 'Can I Dream Again?' I was anticipating what Berry Good would have next to present on their music portfolio. And after the news of Daye becoming inactive for this comeback - and presumably the future of Berry Good - as well as Taeha's departure, I was sure that they would put their all into this comeback with all that's going on.

 

Today I'll be listening to Berry Good's latest album 'Fantastic' in its entirety, and analysing the composition, instrumentation, as well as what I liked about the song as a whole.

 

I have acquired the 1411Kbps lossless audio FLAC files for this album as I actually bought the album physically, so the timestamps will be for whatever foobar2000 shows the timestamps to be for the physical CD, which I assume will not deviate from other sources too much.

 

 

0:09 - I love Seoyul's entrance, she has such as serene and pure voice, so her voice combined with the sharp piano stings makes for a nice mellow entrance to the song. The composition here is so simple yet so effective as it controls the tempo of the song whilst also letting the vocals shine though.

0:18 - Similarly for Gowoon, the composition stays merely the same, but this time her voice nicely contrasts the girly tone of Seoyul to give some nice separation of tones.

0:28 - This pre-chorus is nice and mellow and still has the same vibes of the previous verse, Sehyung's vocals here are excellent, she has nice vocal range and sings her lines effortlessly. There's also this very low string instrument in the background playing a flat tone and it perfectly contrasts Sehyung's pure and innocent vocals which gives the song some space and body.

0:32 - Honestly don't know what to think about Johyun's heavily edited voice here, she normally has such a sexy and womanly voice, so not sure what they were thinking by applying this robotic and synthetic vocal effect to her voice. It's very contradictory to the mellow and pure tones of the song.

0:36 - I love this chorus so much. It's so colorful, vibrant, and super poppy. The short piano stings from the first verse come back here but very sharp and high this time, the vocals have also amped up a lot to give the chorus the energy and soul. I love that Gowoon's youthful and airy vocals are used here, she has the vocal range and talent to be able to carry this chorus nicely. The 'Oh! Oh!' part is also really catchy to sing along to.

1:00 - This second verse shares similarities to the first verse with the simple instrumental and I love that they keep it simple and not too outlandish.

1:28 - Once again, the instrumental composition here remains the same with only the vocals being varied.

1:36 - This chorus is kept simple and is another reminder of the 'Oh! Oh!' part that I will never resist singing along to.

1:56 - A little peek at a Johyun rap segment, and it uses her normal voice with no vocal effects. I'm still very neutral on whether applying a vocal effect in the first pre-chorus worked or not.

2:04 - I like that this pre-chorus differs from the song's composition in that the instrumentation is really long and winded compared to the verses' quick and simple instrumentation, this gives a sense of air and room in this bridge which promotes serenity and purity which is exactly why Gowoon's voice fits this part so much.

2:22 - This final chorus has altered lyrics which I find interesting as the start of the chorus seemed like this final chorus wasn't going to change, and we were led to believe we were right, until Seoyul entered and changed the lyrics, ultimately deviating from Gowoon's classic chorus.

2:43 - Johyun's rap here is amazing. I love how the crude vocal effect is nearly gone from her vocals and we get a near-enough pure vocal rap from Johyun here. It's a nice mixup from the pace of the song up until now.

 

 

0:18 - This has a very different dynamic from Oh! Oh! so far. This song is very poppy and dancey, with a heavily electronic instrumental and much more expressive vocals.

0:33 - This is such an airy pre-chorus and even moreso with the added reverb on the vocals here.

0:47 - This chorus is so energetic and poppy, it's definitely a song that you can dance along to. I also love the vocal ability displayed here despite how dance-oriented the song is.

1:18 - This rap fits the song so well, it pumps up the energy even further especially since the instrumentation has remained pacey and energetic.

2:04 - The chorus is so catchy, I really love how well the vocals here are at the chorus, especially with how high the notes go.

2:35 - A very ballad-like bridge here with everything turned down just to get those low vocals in there. I love how much of a display this song is for vocal ability.

 

 

0:10 - This song already feels fast, and it's absolutely because of the instrumentals here. The vocals are even so fast.

0:40 - This bridge is also extremely fast despite the vocals being noticeably slower.

0:54 - This chorus has so much Latin vibes about it, the lyrics combined with the instrumentation here indicate that with the piano and the shakers, and later with the wind instruments.

1:26 - Interesting to have a rap here to spice up the already fast pace, this is a really fast song with a lot of Eastern vibes to it.

2:34 - This part of the song has similar vibes to One Step Closer in that it's very dance-oriented, I like how the vocals get their chance to shine particularly here.

 

 

0:17 - This song sounds very ballad-like and serene compared to the tone of the previous songs.

0:36 - I love the vocals here, they're very airy thanks to the added reverb and the airy instrumental composition.

1:01 - I love this chorus, it's so airy and fresh, the vocals are harmonized so well and the instrumental is so pure and untapped. It's very Gfriend-like.

2:31 - I love the echo of the lyrics here, it's so airy and gives so much space to the composition.

3:12 - This song has major Gfriend vibes and I'm all about it. This particularly chorus with the adlibs in the background is so pure and feminine.

 

 

0:12 - I'm already getting dance vibes from this song, it's such an electronic intro.

0:30 - The vocals have this cyber effect on them to give them an electric vibe which I assume is to promote this electronic aesthetic of this song, so far.

1:12 - The vocals here are amazing. It's so clean and effortless. The high note at 1:40 in particular.

1:51 - I love the break in the song to insert a small bit of adlib in there with the "It's like a breath of fresh air!", what a nice little message.

2:45 - I will never get over how effortless that high note was.

2:57 - This whole song is a display of the high note capabilities Berry Good members have and I'm all for it.

 

 

I really loved this album. 'Oh! Oh!' and '달빛아래 춤을' stood out to me the most for being the most Berry Good songs that have come out, Berry Good are very pure in image and these two songs perfectly encapsulate what they're like. Oh! Oh! is so feminine and girly, and so refreshing to listen to. I also love that this song is where Johyun got shine, as I've previously been cynical of Johyun as a member of Berry Good for being nothing more than a pretty face. In 'Oh! Oh!' she got to rap and she did it effortlessly. Her part in 'Oh! Oh! was a great finisher to the already stellar song.

 

It was sad to not have Daye in this comeback, and just as devastating to hear that this would be Taeha's last group activity as her contract would expire, but as an album that marked both those occurences, it did incredibly well. The fact that I went and bought the physical album is already a sign. Berry Good are incredibly unknown and any purchase matters.

 

We will have to see what Berry Good will get up to next now that they are down to 4 members for now. For now, Fantastic is a fantastic album and definitely one of my favorite albums of 2019.