Coming off of the release of their first Japanese studio album, we see the return of IZ*ONE to Korea with Panorama, the title track of their latest EP "One-reeler / Act IV", which dropped yesterday. After their previous Korean comeback Secret Story of the Swan, a very Latin-inspired title with a surprisingly strong concept that was very uncharacteristic of the group, we return to a style that more people might associate with IZ*ONE. Let's dive right in.
Meaning: As much as WIZ*ONE (their fandom) want to deny it, IZ*ONE's contract is ending next April. As is the nature of all the debut groups that come out of a Produce series, they too will eventually disband once their contract is up. Frankly, it's insane how long they've been around because I still remember being really surprised at their 2.5 year contract when they debuted in 2018 but now our time together is coming to an end. You might be wondering what this clown's rambling on about but if you listen to Panorama, you'll realise that this is the central idea of the song. Throughout the song, the girls sing about how they wonder if this is all a dream and they don't want it to stop or how they can recognise each other like shining stars in the darkness.
Even the very title of the song, "Panorama" and how it literally mentions taking a picture, or in this case a panorama, show how much they don't want this to end and to capture this moment forever. If you really look at the lyrics, IZ*ONE could be singing to WIZ*ONE as well as to each other because in both situations, the girls sing about how they are "one soul in two bodies" (themselves and their fans) and other parts of the song can be interpreted as being directed at both parties. Underneath the beautiful MV and amazing vocals, Panorama is really a sad song because the girls know they're coming to the end of their contract and they want to immortalise these beautiful moments they've had together, both within the group as well as with their fanbase.
MV: From their debut till now, IZ*ONE has always been known for their beautiful set pieces, backgrounds and cinematography, with Panorama being no different. For a group that has so many members, IZ*ONE has always had beautiful choreographies that don't hide anyone (for the most part) and also make good use of their large numbers to incorporate flower imagery into their dance. The super expensive-looking MV showcased the members' well and their visuals are really flaunted during their individual shots. The colours and aesthetic of the MV are bright and really pop out of the screen, making for a truly gorgeous work of art. Juxtaposed to the more colourful scenes, we get many shots of the girls in black outfits on plain backgrounds and those are equally stunning, in a far more elegant way.
Styling: The girls are truly stunning in this MV, there's no two ways around it. Their outfits are super gorgeous and really accentuate their visuals, which are absolutely popping. While their more colourful floral-patterned outfits are beautiful, I personally am a bigger fan of their all-black outfits. Being far more simple in nature, the darker clothing gets us to pay more attention to the girls' visuals and then proceed to get absolutely blown away by how amazing they look. Those who know me know my IZ*ONE biases include Eunbi and Minju (among others), and in this MV their visuals are truly insane. Minju has always been recognised as a visual since Produce 48 so it's not news for me to tell y'all she continues to have insane visuals in Panorama. As for Eunbi, starting from FIESTA era I thought her face changed from before and I was initially weirded out by it but I guess it was just change from weight loss. Not only that, she started to have shorter hair starting from Secret Story of the Swan and she continues to have it for this comeback, albeit blonde. I think she looks amazing. Eunbi has always been one of the members that embodied a fiercer concept well and her short hair fits her really well. Coupled with the black outfits from the MV, it's just a recipe for disaster in terms of keeping my heart still.
What I did not expect was how absolutely stunning Yujin looked this comeback. I mentioned this before in one of my drama reviews but there are few times I get truly blown away by someone's visual. It's the moment when your jaw just drops and you get this disgusted look on your face upon seeing them because there's no way someone so ethereally beautiful exists in real life. That happened when I saw Weki Meki's Lucy in their OOPSY MV, Kang Han-na in Familiar Wife, Park Ji-hyun in Do You Like Brahms? and now Yujin in Panorama. I have truly run out of words to describe her visuals, to the point where I literally googled "synonyms for gorgeous" and I settled on "exquisite" because that's what her beauty is. I guarantee you that if you watch the MV, you will be stunned by Yujin's solo shots (when she's in that white dress). I was discussing this with my junior and both of us couldn't stop waxing lyrical about her styling this comeback. Truly amazing.
Song: The moment the first note played and all the way to the end of the song, the foremost thought on my mind was "wow, this sounds like FIESTA". That and also "wow, these girls are gorgeous" but I covered that in the previous segment. I'm no professional producer but I've always noticed that IZ*ONE's titles tend to follow a certain arrangement. I said that when Violeta came out and sounded like La Vie en Rose, and now this is the case for Panorama and FIESTA. Secret Story of the Swan did a good job of sounding drastically different because of it's darker sound but Panorama goes back to a cheerier sound that the group is more known for. That's alright though because it contrasts very well with the underlying sadness in the song and adds a layer of depth that lets us appreciate this song a little more.
Line distribution: Panorama has a pretty good line distribution for a 12-member group and it follows the general K-Pop trend, with the vocal line and the more popular/stand-out members having the most lines. Tied for first we have main vocal Yuri and center Wonyoung with 12% each while main visual Minju is close behind at 10.4%. The lead vocals also have a fairly good distribution amongst them, ranging from 6.7% to 10.1%. All things considered, it's really not that bad because some of the vocal line like main dancer Chaeyeon shine in other aspects. Considering this song doesn't really have a rap, the bulk of Chaeyeon's lines can be considered a "rap" based off their flow so it's more acceptable for her to have fewer lines. Unfortunately, even though I knew it was going to happen, the J-line have almost the fewest lines. Upon first listen, I knew Sakura would be near the bottom but I was a little surprised by Nako and Hitomi because it sounded like they had more lines than normal. Naturally, the non-Korean members of a K-Pop group are bound to have fewer lines than the Korean members, which is what makes the fact that lead rapper Hyewon has the fewest lines in Panorama even more annoying (especially because she's one of my many biases in the group). I firmly believe that many of the shorter lines in between verses could've been sung by Hyewon or Sakura to even out the line distribution but those lines instead went to more popular members like the aforementioned Wonyoung and Minju. Considering that
IZ*ONE has had a rocky time recently, especially with the Produce series vote manipulation saga coming to light. As many people figured out a long time ago, not everyone who debuted in IZ*ONE was supposed to initially, with ex-Afterschool member Kaeun and Cube Entertainment's Chowon meant to be part of the debut line-up but were removed due to the vote manipulation. The court never revealed who were the members who were bumped up into the line-up in order to protect the girls but I'm sure lots of vitriolic hatred has been unnecessarily directed at the group for something they had no control over. As someone who's one-pick for the series was Kaeun and who really wanted her to debut after her mistreatment as part of Afterschool, my blood was boiling when she didn't debut with IZ*ONE. I felt a great sense of vindication to find out that she was indeed a victim of vote manipulation but at the same time, I hold no resentment to the final members of IZ*ONE. That should be the case for everyone. As much as we want our picks to get into the line-up, all these girls are equally hardworking, and deserve our love and support as fans or even just casual viewers of the series. They don't deserve any hate or abuse for something that's not their problem.
Our time with IZ*ONE is so short and it's already coming to an end, so let's enjoy what's left because "this moment will last for eternity" and make a promise to "remember forever" and not let the girls down. Let's "fly away together" as we savour the beautiful music that we're getting from them and save these moments before by doing what the song's hook tells us to. Shoot, take a Panorama. Thanks for reading.
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