#31: Se7en - Better Together

I'll admit that I didn't really like Se7en back during my early days of fandom, partially because he was Rain's biggest rival (still is) and I was obviously a cloud then so I deemed Se7en unworthy of being compared to such brilliance that is/was Rain. However, it was only when I was no longer a cloud and I saw him perform this live that I realized he really does deserve to go head-to-head with Rain, because frankly either of them can win and I'd be OK with it.


Like Rain, Se7en is a performer - he steps on stage and he can make absolutely anything sound fantastic. That's exactly what he did with Better Together. I first heard the audio of this and I was like "blegh, ok, next album", but then I saw it live and my jaw literally dropped. Nevermind the annoying siren sounds and the strange outfits the dancers were in - the song, and Se7en's vocals, sounded brilliant.

If there's one thing Se7en has over Rain, it's the vocals. I mean, Rain's voice is fine and his live vocals are stable at best, but Se7en's were just consistently strong. If he wasn't using a handsfree mic, I would've exploded with joy and admiration.

But back to the song. Now that I've narrated how I came to like it, I'll go out and say that I like it better than the Rain lead single. A lot better.

It's nice and upbeat and fun and all, but it's also slow enough to lay down an actual melody, then actually hear it and have someone sing it - it's humanely possible to sing the hook, and I think that's important in a pop song that you're pushing to the masses.

Like I always say, regular people like you and me have to be able to sing, or even just hum, the melody of a good pop song - it's supposed to stick to their heads, but you'll know a pop song is effective when you have people actually sing it. People actually sing the hook of this, therefore it's an effective pop song. Add that to the fact that I really like it and you have a damn good song.