{"id":76671,"date":"2020-08-02T19:04:57","date_gmt":"2020-08-03T01:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/selective-hearing.com\/?p=76671"},"modified":"2023-09-21T17:58:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T21:58:54","slug":"izone-oneiric-diary-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/?p=76671","title":{"rendered":"IZ*ONE &#8211; Oneiric Diary Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-76720\" src=\"https:\/\/selective-hearing.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/IZONE-Oneiric-Diary-CD-Cover.jpg\" alt=\"IZONE Oneiric Diary CD Cover\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Release Date: June 15, 2020<\/p>\n<p><strong>Track Listing<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Welcome<\/li>\n<li>Secret Story of the Swan<\/li>\n<li>Pretty<\/li>\n<li>Merry-Go-Round<\/li>\n<li>Rococo<\/li>\n<li>With*One<\/li>\n<li>Secret Story of the Swan (Japanese Ver.)<\/li>\n<li>Merry-Go-Round (Japanese Ver.)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Review<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>IZ*ONE return with their second Korean release of 2020 titled <strong>Oneiric Diary<\/strong>. This EP is The first of their releases does not follow the &#8220;*IZ&#8221; title format and the flower concept that has been a mainstay since the group started.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"IZ*ONE (\uc544\uc774\uc988\uc6d0) Oneiric Diary (\u5e7b\u60f3\u65e5\u8a18) Album Trailer\" width=\"1320\" height=\"743\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5CP9YQMhqT8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The video teaser for this EP showed flashes of the members of IZ*ONE in a dream-like world. The short trailer had high expectations of this new and exciting direction were heading in. So can IZ*ONE deliver on a brand new concept? Let&#8217;s find out.<\/p>\n<p>The EP starts with the introduction titled <em>Welcome<\/em>. The song is the opener that the group has been using before their promotional performances of <em>Secret Story of the Swan<\/em>. It is also the song that in the background of the teaser trailer.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"IZ*ONE (\uc544\uc774\uc988\uc6d0) - \ud658\uc0c1\ub3d9\ud654 (Secret Story of the Swan) MV\" width=\"1320\" height=\"743\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nnVjsos40qk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>By itself, it&#8217;s not much, but when paired with the lead single, it makes for a strong introduction. <em>Secret Story of the Swan<\/em> is not the typical IZ*ONE song. It has a slow Latin influenced groove, and plenty of those faux horn sounds used in the disgusting bikini era of 48 group songs.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a neat experiment for pushing IZ*ONE into some new musical territory, but it ends up falling flat compared to the group&#8217;s other a-sides. The music video, on the other hand, must have involved some experimenting with some mind-altering substances.<\/p>\n<p>The effects-heavy video sees the members in various scenarios, including dancing on a giant clock, lounging around timepieces of multiple sizes and rapping in a vault of unknown valuables.<\/p>\n<p>For me, the best parts of the video are the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Long hair Chaewon<\/li>\n<li>Minju<\/li>\n<li>Eunbi<\/li>\n<li>Various members flying around a purple\/pink-hued sky in a hooptie<\/li>\n<li>Various members floating around in Maeda Atsuko graduation boats<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Otherwise, the entire thing is a mess and not exactly one of IZ*ONE&#8217;s shining moments in their videography.<\/p>\n<p>Once you get past the lead song, you get more of the catchy pop music that has become IZ*ONE&#8217;s signature. The four remaining original songs are much better than the selection for the lead track.<\/p>\n<p><em>Pretty<\/em> is an ode to all the WIZ*ONE&#8217;s. The members are showering their fanbase with many compliments in the lyrics. If you like having your fan ego stroked, then this is the song for you. <em>Rococo<\/em> sounds like something that would fit somewhere on BLOOM*IZ. It strangely does work with the theme of this EP as well for some reason.<\/p>\n<p><em>With*One<\/em> is the token ballad that technically closes out the entire album. That is not implying the song is weak in any manner. It is a relaxing piece of music that shows the group is getting better at pulling at one&#8217;s heartstrings.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"\uc544\uc774\uc988\uc6d0(IZ*ONE) - \ud68c\uc804\ubaa9\ub9c8(Merry-Go-Round) @ \uad50\ucc28\ud3b8\uc9d1(stage mix)\" width=\"1320\" height=\"743\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gz2cSNwf1VI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The best song (in my opinion) on this EP is <em>Merry-Go-Round<\/em>. It is a low tempo Dance-Pop number with some light disco influence. This sweet love song features lyrics penned by Honda Hitomi and is a perfect fit for the theme of <strong>Oneiric Diary<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>It was surprising to see IZ*ONE release more new material in Korea. Their usual promotional pattern pointed to them going back to Japan with what would most likely be a less than stellar song meant to sell handshake tickets.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to the current world status, Japan&#8217;s loss is everyone else&#8217;s gain as the group has put out another quality EP rather than another crappy 48 cast off.<\/p>\n<p>One can only hope IZ*ONE will continue to make up for some lost time and offer more music in the latter half of what has been an odd 2020.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Oneiric Diary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Oneiric Diary\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/album\/0Feph4xWbYik7e0oLR08sN?si=LKMLi_NbSRiuKzhXTYfKrg&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 660px; overflow: hidden; background: transparent;\" src=\"https:\/\/embed.music.apple.com\/us\/album\/oneiric-diary\/1517561654?app=music&amp;at=1010lxtp\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" sandbox=\"allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oneiric Diary is IZ*ONE&#8217;s third Korean EP, and it features the lead song Secret Story of the Swan. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":273,"featured_media":79269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[1228,52],"class_list":["post-76671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-music-reviews","tag-izone","tag-k-pop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/273"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76671"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79270,"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76671\/revisions\/79270"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/79269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.selective-hearing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}