Song of the Day: WINNER's "Sentimental"

To a lot of K-pop fans, WINNER's comeback, or for the longest time the lack of it, has been something in the making for many, many months. They recently released EXIT:E after what seems think is forever (their last album was in August 2014, a century ago in K-pop terms). So it's a welcome to all the WINNER fans out there that not only are they releasing a full album but also not one, not two but three singles, one of which is "Sentimental" which I will talk about today.

The basic premise of the song is about this guy who was feeling sentimental during that weird time when you're trying to go to sleep. He's single and presumably broken up somewhat recently, not necessarily sad but wishing he wasn't alone. The music itself brings up a feel of nostalgia, blending beats of 1960's era with modern instrumentation. The singer croons over the empty feeling in his heart, wishing things would be different but nothing much he could do about it.

I've never really listened much to WINNER, mostly because I don't listen much to K-pop in general recently. There's 7 songs that I currently listen to on repeat, and 6 of them are girl groups. There's not particular reasoning to that. I just feel like most boy band songs are either unnecessarily angsty or powdered in saccharine sweetness. "Sentimental" is great because it is neither of those things. It's also why I don't particularly like their other two singles, "Baby Baby" and "I'm Young" because they are more on the angsty side.

Oddly enough I first came across the song via one of the apparently many covers of the song by fellow YG artists, although calling it a cover is a bit of a misnomer, since this particular artist didn't actually sing the song. He rather interpreted the song and made a video of his own. The cover I'm talking about is by screenwriter and actor Yoo Byung-jae in a video which features him practically naked doing things people do when they feel sentimental. I've inserted the video at the very end of the post. Please be wary you may experience uncontrollable laughter so set yourself up properly. (Also worth noting, Epik High's actual and slightly questionable highly stylized cover of the song, especially the part when Tablo asked how many covers YG are planning to make. Video also featured below.)

Does this mean I'm going to listen to more WINNER? Probably not. I'm not actively finding new music at the moment but if one comes across my way, I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Also I need to come up with a better name for these kinds of posts. Song of the Day is so lame.