Saturday, December 29, 2018

Farewell Wanna One: Rank Their Best to Worst Singles


Prepare yourself to bid farewell to Wanna One. This boyband will officially disband on Monday, December 31st 2018. Wanna One 1,5 year contract will end with agency Swings Entertainment after starting their career from survival show Produce 101 Season 2.

Wanna One disbandment will leave a huge hole. In short time span, the boys have created successful achievements. Wanna One manages to sell high number of physical album copies, receive various awards, gain public recognition through advertisements, and conduct world tour. It is a pity they have to disband at the top of their career, but their legacy will be remembered.

Throughout their career, Wanna One has released six singles with different album. Each single showcases diverse side of Wanna One. I enjoy most of their singles and decide to make post from it as tribute and farewell gift. On today’s post, I will rank Wanna One worst to best singles on their career.

Are you curious to see my choice? Is it similar with your pick? Check out my rank of Wanna One best to worst singles below.............

6. Boomerang


Boomerang is Wanna One most experimental single. It mixes hip-hop beat with electronic dance music breakdown. This song also relies on sing-talk verse and catchy hook part during refrain (Wing Wing Wing Wing will stuck on your head).

I appreciate Wanna One’s will to experiment, but it unfortunately does have good result. Boomerang beat and flow sounds cliche. It fails to display the boys’ vocal and rap ability, which is frustrating to hear.

5. Spring Breeze


Wanna One shows their melancholic side through last single, Spring Breeze. This song has slower tempo compare to Wanna One’s other singles. Synthesizer sound and electric guitar riff dominates this song. The addition of clock ticking sound emphasizes Spring Breeze’s melancholic vibe, which fits Wanna One farewell theme. 

Music is the strongest part of Spring Breeze. Other elements fall flat from song flow to vocal arrangement. The song also does not have satisfying build up; making Spring Breeze slowly becomes boring.

4. Burn It Up


Burn It Up is the typical K-Pop banger. It has electronic dance music breakdown during refrain, exchanging singing and rapping part for verses, and ending chant. The arrangement may sounds formulaic, however Wanna One manages to make Burn It Up works. The boys have enough confidence to pull solid vocal and strong rap parts. 

3. Light


Light does not grab your attention since the first listen. This song is a grower, in which you will appreciate it after stripping down its production. Light combines unique synthesizer sound with distinct vocal from Wanna One members. The verses has exciting build up then the refrain smashes it with soaring vocal. Light refrain unfortunately becomes double-edged sword to the song flow. Their decision to keep hook part rather than play out more with vocal makes the song sounds repetitive and never-ending.

2. Beautiful


Beautiful is another melancholic song from Wanna One. If Spring Breeze gives more dreamy vibe, Beautiful tackles dramatic side. This song combines strong beat with slow piano melody and easy-to-remember hook. Each part has a build up that pays off on the next verse, refrain, and bridge. This makes Beautiful shines among other Wanna One singles. 

1. Energetic


Wanna One best single is their debut track, Energetic. It has slick production that combines different type of instrumentals, including simple piano melody, layered synthesizer, and disco beat. All of these elements appear one by one then wrap into pop arrangement, which makes Energetic flows cohesively. This adds with high-energy vocal that gives more punch during refrain part. Energetic is not only Wanna One best song, but also one of the best K-Pop group debut songs.



Wanna One title track discography is quite interesting. The boys starts out with a bang, but find difficulties to maintain consistency on their next releases. Some songs are hit or miss although all of them are enjoyable. This is quite regretful though since Wanna One has much more potential as a group.

There are many “what if” scenarios if I talk about Wanna One career. But rather than discussing that, it is better to give them appreciation and remember their legacy on K-Pop. It is kind of funny how I grow attachment towards them at the end of their career since I do not care about them in the beginning hahaha. I know most things about Wanna One though since my close friend and family member love them. I also glad to have a chance meeting them due to work related thing early this year. They are such a fun boys and not afraid to let loose, something that is quite rare when you attend Korean celebrities press conference.

I am going to miss Wanna One as a group. I wish each member find own success and happiness after disbandment. Farewell and thank you, Wanna One!


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