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Single: More Than Love ft. Weekend
Artist: Mi•Mi
Label: Five Pesky Kids
Release Date: July 11th, 2015
Genre: K-Pop
Written by: Mi Sun Kim, Mae Na Geum, Mi Kyung Lee, Airemese Smith, Dae Na Geum
Produced by: FancyN
Length: 3:17
More Than Love is a seventh single released by the Korean-pop group Mi•Mi. The third single from the upcoming album, He Say She Say, More Than Love is a nonet between Mi•Mi and Weekend. It was written by Mi Sun Kim, Mae Na Geum, Mi Kyung Lee, Airemese Smith, Dae Na Geum and produced by FancyN. Receiving praise for it's vocals, lyrics and production, the single is critically acclaimed for it's depth and composition, not to mention it's speculation on a near abusive relationship. Serving as the second lead single for He Say She Say, it impacted rhythmic radio and was released as a digital download in the United States on July 11th, 2015.
More Than Love was strongly considered to be He Say She Say's lead-single, according to their manager Anniken Dahl-Smith, however Play With Me was chosen instead, being the song that "best represented the record". She goes into details, stating, "There were a million and two elements included in [He Say She Say] in full but the obvious theme was the transition they were making. These kind of movements have to be bold and Play With Mewas simply bolder. Of course then there was the feature with Weekend that we definitely didn't want them to be overshadowed by." Describing both as summer songs, it is noted that they both set different tones. "While Play With Me is something you'd belt out on a hot playful summer day and yet again at a nightclub, More Than Love is something you'd recreate at a bonfire and put on loop for about an hour on a humid summer night."
Written by the whole group in a hotel, More Than Love was created in mid-December 2014. While in the middle of a sleepover between the girls and friends, the girls were "dreaming" about one day being able to collaborate with some of their favorite artists, one of those being the iconic boy band Weekend. After spending a night full of karaoke to Weekend's discography, they began to come up with their own melody, adding lyrics to it and performing it out of fun, impersonating the members of Weekend. This soon enough became the sixth song to make it onto the album after extensive editing. Initially a pop ballad with Latin influences that included instruments like the guitar, the song was at first about trying to save a toxic relationship, the lovers telling each other that it's not exactly hate, but "more" than love. However, after the producer of the track, FancyN, came up with a random piano riff one day in the studio, the girls of the group felt mesmerized by it and demanded it be made into a full track. After adding drums and a few synths, the instrumental was sent to Mi•Mi. Oddly enough, when recording this new song, the lyrics to More Than Love came to mind once again. "It felt like we were writing the same track twice," says Mae Na. "And this one was superior." It wasn't long until the influences of the track, Weekend, jumped on it for a collaboration between the 2 groups. More Than Love is now a "hesitant" ballad, built around a looped piano/music box and pulsating tribal drums.
Produced by FancyN, More Than Love is a light K-Pop song with a total length of three minutes and seventeen seconds. Its instrumental consist in thumping drums and a three-note synth line. More Than Love was composed in the key of A-flat major, with a moderately fast tempo of 125 beats per minute. The nine voices that feature on this song has a vocal range of Ab3 to C6. Lyrically, the song takes the everyday "hate that I love you" song and flips it, Mi•Mi and Weekend playing as the antagonists of the oppressive relationships. As noted by Jason Lipshut of Billboard, "the downbeat admission of 'And you give, and take amiss/Only to resent, having to put up with a girl who can't do nothing for you' is the pained sound of a narrator racked with humiliation and guilt for being in a relationship with someone who's above their league, taking this literally as they refer to their "loved" one as an angel in the bridge of the song. The chorus comes in to turn that humiliation into hope and at the same time resent, the singer pointing out that, 'It's more than love', on one hand, trying to reassure the mess they've thrown themselves into is actually a strong bond, one stronger than love. On another hand, the lyrics are revealing that the relationship is "more than love" because what keeps them together is a little bit of pity and envy, with possessive and obsessive standards and oddly enough hatred."
To admit the least, it has been a long time since a nonet was sent to mainstream radio. Due to already having 3-5 members, groups usually don't do collaborations outside of rappers and they surely don't do them with other groups. This is probably because your everyday pop song formula isn't necessarily the easiest form of music to split into 9 different parts. But with an amazing composer such as Airemese Smith and the critically acclaimed producer FancyN, the song easily flows and all 9 singers fit perfectly and even manages to stray away from the likes of cheesy formats that even duets have a problem avoiding. Everyone even gets a solo, as the song is sung more in solos than actual harmonies, but that doesn't mean a harmony isn't kept. Mi•Mi, who is known for being the one contemporary girl group who actually harmonizes in the layering of their songs and tends to the doo-wop origins of R&B, once again take the basics of "hoo" and "haa" and hiding them under the lead vocals of the track, simply to keep the melody. Other than that, the amount of time the 2 groups spend singing together with their members and even when all 9 pitch in are very sparse moments on the track, but nevertheless heavenly. When the groups approach the song, yet again Misu and Billy vocally takes the lead with Dae Na and Dustyn (who surprisingly has a lower amount of parts) following with the second strongest voices in their groups, the strongest being Misu's and Billy's of course. Miki who is usually a rapper and Oscar who's recently strained his vocals comes into play when a lower more melodic part of the song comes into play and Mae Na and Riley occasionally pops in to provide a higher register. Scott has the least amount of parts out of everyone in the group but he makes a substantial addition, his only part taking on the task of ending the middle "eight" mellowly. Between Mi•Mi and Weekend, it is hard to debate who sings the best and takes charge on this song. The powerhouse vocals of all 4 girls of Mi•Mi gives the iconic boy group Weekend a run for their money, who manages to vocally bite back but mostly due to their popularity, has an undeniable presence on the song. But putting any possible rivalry aside, serving as the "every once in a blue moon" collaboration that the world of pop music needs, More Than Love is a damn good song with some damn good singers.
Mi Su
Miki
Dae
Mae
Mi•Mi
BILLY
DUSTYN
OSCAR
RILEY
SCOTT
Weekend
ALL
I could feel it
I caused your wings to bend when
I gave into these ceilings
And now I'm feeling silly
Yeah, I can hear it
In every word that you speak..
I'm feeling guilty
But we don't get nights like these
You're such an angel and I hope you'll never know
Cause I keep making my bed, but I just hate sleeping alone
So I watch you give, and give, and give yourself away
And gladly take, whatever I've got leftover for you
And you give, and you give, and you give, and take amiss
Only to resent, having to put up with a girl who can't do nothing for you
It's more than love, more than a few pages of history
It's more than love, and that's to say the least
Just because we fell doesn't mean it was a leap of faith
We weren't afraid to cry, but that doesn't mean we're not afraid
Admit it, love
You're sick of me but you just keep coughing up these memories
I can smell it
You've been with another man and
You're trying not to feel too filthy
But those showers aren't really working
I hope you see it
The spite deep within my eyes
When I end this fight with, "I forgive you"
Just so you'll think about it all night
You're an angel, such an angel, but is that something you really need to know?
You deserve better than me, and I know you're better than me, but I just can't stand being alone
So I watch you give, and give, and give yourself away
Only to take, the scraps I leave leftover for you
And you give, and you give, and you give, and go awry
Thinking it's only right, that you go out have your fun too
It's more than love, more than a few pages of history
It's more than love, and that's to say the least
Just because we fell doesn't mean it was a leap of faith
We weren't afraid to cry, but that doesn't mean we're not afraid
Admit it, love
You're sick of me cause you're stuffed with the memories
Sometimes it's hate, sometimes it's pain, but your tears they're all the same
Sometimes I go and you scream, "wait!", most times you hate yourself for letting me stay
It's more than you can take
Even more than what they say
It's more than love, more than a few pages of history (history)
It's more than love, and baby that's to say the least
Just because we fell doesn't mean it was a leap of faith
We weren't afraid to cry, but that doesn't mean we're not afraid
Admit it, love
You're sick of me but you're in love with our memories
Admit it, love
You're sick of me, but you can't let go of us |
