[Kpop song review] I.P.U (2 versions) – Wanna One

Hello my dear readers! Firstly, let me say thank you for all of you who have read and liked my random review posts even though I don’t have any musical knowledge and I’m pretty sure my English has flaws and all.

This time I will be reviewing I.P.U (I Promise You) by Wanna One. There are 2 versions of this song, the original one (that was released as a special MV before their official comeback), and the Confession ver, which is technically a ballad. I will start off with the original version first.

Original Ver.

The song starts off quite nicely, and I really like how they let JiHoon begins the song, I like his vocal tone and I think he did a good job at setting the mood. It goes on smoothly to the rap, where the song changes to more of an upbeat one. In my opinion the rappers did a really good job throughout the whole song, especially GuanLin who has improved by so much. The bridge is still OK until Seongwoo’s part, but Jisung’s part gets me confused and honestly a bit annoyed, because I really don’t like the building up effects they put on the instrumental to “make it EDM”.  From there, the whole song just becomes, questioning I guess? I didn’t like the whole verse 2, I feel like there’re too many things going on, especially the background instrumental kinda hurts my ears and makes it hard to concentrate on their voices. But I do like the rap parts before the final chorus. Overall, I think the rap parts are what I enjoy the most. Their voices are all beautiful, but the song is kinda messy.

Other thing I don’t like is the effect of the music video. I feel like everything is too much in the music video, from the color tone to the white-washing effects on each boy. Honestly, some of them have a tanned skin tone that looks healthy and shiny, and YMC really doesn’t have to wash them into all white and unreal like this.

There’s nothing to say about the lyrics and choreography, they are all of great quality. The lyrics are written with each member’s own emotions put into each, really touching and personal to each member and to the fans as well.

Confession Ver.

With all of what I said above, you probably have guessed it already but I LOVE THIS VERSION OF THE SONG. It starts off with piano sounds, and when JiHoon sings his first line I’m completely melted. The song is simply so good and so pleasing. The annoyed and messy feeling is completely gone and I just enjoy their voices and their touching lyrics so much. Another thing I appreciate is that each Wanna One boys has good vocal tone, even the rappers can sing quite well. The arrangement of this ver is also much better than the original ver. And I COMPLETELY ONE HUNDRED PERCENT LOVE the rap parts. I’m falling so hard for GuanLin and WooJin~~ This really can become the “Wannable anthem” you know, snatching the place of Always (acoustic ver).

So to be honest, talking about the Original Ver only, I have a lot of mixed feelings regarding it. At my first listening I didn’t like it, because of all the reasons I stated in the above review. But after a few listens, and especially after they release “Boomerang”, I started to like I.P.U more, because compared to Boomerang, I.P.U is a much better and easier-to-listen-to song. But yet, after I listened to Confession Ver and completely fell in love, the Original Ver returned to its first place, though still ranks higher than Boomerang LOL.

Check out the music video for I.P.U here. Turn on CC for English translations.