I love Iz*one, they are in my top five groups at the moment, and that’s carried by a mix of their music, some of which I do like, and some of which I don’t, their personalities, and Eunbi. I am very excited to write this review, as I think Oneiric Diary is a pretty solid entry, and a nice slight directional shift for Iz*one, as their disbandment is looming over us, with less than a year left. I will note here that I will not be reviewing the Japanese version tracks, as the Korean version of both will cover my opinions adequately, and it is the original language for both of those songs as far as I am aware. I am also skipping Welcome, as I don’t give any thought to intro tracks. As always, before going down the album song by song, we will start with the music video for their title track, Secret Story of the Swan.
The Music Video
The first statement I want to make here, which is going to sound silly, is that the dance move when they say “swan swan swan” is something I would do to be ridiculous while annoying my wife. Is that a good thing? I’m going with yes, so big positive right off the bat. In all seriousness, the dance is really good, one of the best from Iz*one so far in my opinion, particularly due to the dance break, which is amazing, and in the video, Chaeyeon’s water dancing is a huge highlight in my opinion.
The visuals of the video are a little all over, lots of bright colors going on, with some darker scenes providing some much needed contrast. I think the highlights outside of the water dancing are the clock background scenes, which are visually interesting without being overwhelming, and the boats with floating swan feathers, which reminds me of the dining hall in Harry Potter mixed with the boats they take to Hogwarts castle in the first year. Notably, I listed all the darker scenes as positives, the bright scenes were a little too much for me personally, as I’m always a fan of darker subdued colors generally, although the bright stuff didn’t necessarily detract, and actually probably made the darker scenes stand out by being an excellent foil.
The member’s styling was also really good, just like the dance, some of Iz*one’s best. Since La Vie En Rose I feel like this group’s styling had been on a bit of a downward movement, as had the music, with Violeta being an instant drop and Fiesta just starting to climb back up from that low point, but this styling is really on that upward trajectory. There are even some outfits and makeup that aren’t my personal taste, but I think are executed really well, so hats off to the stylists for getting their groove back.
Rating: 8.75
As I said, this feels like the best Iz*one since debut to me, styling is better, title track is more interesting, and video is fun to watch with a lot of visual noise to keep you occupied. There may be a little too much visual noise for my taste too though, where WJSN leaned simplistic with Butterfly, I feel that the director and editors may have gone too big here. I will note before we go into songs, as much as I felt Iz*one was on a bit of a dip, the B-sides from Bloom*iz are an exception, and are my favorite from Iz*one, so that’s actually the point of comparison here.
The Songs
Secret Story of the Swan- As I stated in the video review, I like this song. It fits into the mold of modern kpop, maybe a bit too much with the very loud energetic chorus with a strong instrumental taking the lead, but it does have a decent amount of singing still in the chorus, so I can forgive it. Yena’s rap is a massive highlight here, I have always liked her rap style, and I think she really gets to be aggressive with it here, and that’s how she shines, La Vie En Rose advanced in that regard. The slow section is a nice pacing break as well, so I’m here for that in this song, it really needs it honestly, or it’d be exhausting to listen to.
Pretty- My favorite part of Iz*one’s previous albums are the songs with the more mature sound, and my least favorite are the super cutesy songs, at least generally. That holds true here, Pretty is just too sweet, and the instrumental reminds me of stage music from the first world of Kirby 64, which I think could be awesome, but it doesn’t work for me here.
Merry-Go-Round- This song is good. The chorus has a little bit of a funky sound, with a really quiet guitar playing with exactly a funk styling. This song is very well paced too, medium verses, a more exciting chorus that doesn’t feel the need to yell at you, and a slow section that isn’t a crawl, basically it’s a production miracle for recent kpop. The chorus is the best part here, it really makes you bop your head, and I love songs that make me move.
Rococo- There are things I like here, but also things I really don’t like much at all. The second verse pops off, the little rap section has a great energy. The first part of the bridge and really most of the chorus don’t work for me, which makes up almost half of the song. The second half of the bridge I actually think is really good though, if that had been the focus point that the song had been crafted around I think I would have really liked it. The end is actually pretty good too. I will say, this is another interesting instrumental as well, with the wind instrument going along throughout, but I don’t think interesting works as well here as it did with Merry-Go-Round’s funk guitar.
With*one- Obviously a song for Wiz*one, their fandom, and as most fan songs go, it is a ballad. Credit where it is due though, this is a little more upbeat for a ballad, not a power ballad, but not a snore like many others can be. Ballads have been getting better in recent years, I used to find them almost unlistenable due to being so slow and one note, but this has good movement, decent structure, and a nice variation in pace throughout. I’m not going out of my way to listen to it, but I wouldn’t be upset to hear it either.
Rating: 7.5/10
This is a prime example of what a 7.5/10 looks like to me, I don’t hate any of the songs, although there are a few I wouldn’t seek out on my own, which is more or less what a 5 on the song scale looks like for me. The others I like pretty well though, which is what brings the score up. Specifically, Secret Story of the Swan and Merry-Go-Round are pretty good, and I think With*one is a fair ballad, but Pretty and Rococo really kinda lose me. Of course, the good video serves to be the last balancing piece that brings the album up that extra little bit. In general, I do like where this album is taking Iz*one though, and it makes me excited for the next entry. I also would like to note that while a 7.5 isn’t always great for reviewers and review websites, on ManelyKpop, it is a very positive thing, I view a 5 as true average, and going higher than a 7-8 means I love something in a holistic sense, which doesn’t happen often, or certain elements of an album stand out so much that it brings the whole product up. Also, Eunbi is great here, 10/10 for my bias.
So how was Oneiric Diary for you, was it a return to form, a sign of a good new direction, or step in a direction that you aren’t necessarily a fan of? Let me know on Instagram and stay tuned there for my next article, coming soon to a ManelyKpop near you.