Song Review: Summer Vacation by The Wind

Technically, I should have reviewed this a while ago, but I was too preoccupied recovering from food poisoning. Woop!

It took me a while to fully understand the charms of ‘Island’, so I was going into ‘Summer Vacation’ with the hopes that I can be more taken with the song at first listen compared to their last release. The Wind, so far, has shown to be a match-made-in-heaven for the Gfriend-ish concept, and it would do them great justice if the strength of their songs also match early Gfriend. Think of how incredible it would be to have a run as strong as Glass Bead -> Me Gustus Tu -> Rough -> Navillera -> Fingertip. And you know what? Thanks to how good ‘Summer Vacation’ is, I don’t think the possibility is out of reach at all.

The main weakness of ‘Summer Vacation’ lies in its opening verse. With Gfriend’s singles, I could recite every part of the song from the beginning to end because not a moment is wasted in making the melodies memorable. Here, while there are parts that are memorable, others lay unfocused and hazy, which makes it noticeably weaker compared to the rest of the song. Thankfully, it does make the sense of grandeur and uplift stronger when the chorus kicks in.

Summer Vacation has a chorus that feels like absolute magic. The producers must have had a stroke of inspiration to layer the first two phrases of the chorus with a suspended chord (likely sus4, but I’m not sure) on top of its base chord (look at this video for reference) as it grants the song a rush of euphoria quite unlike most K-pop songs out there. It hits like magic every single time the chorus rushes in. It captures the feelings of summer, youth, excitement, joy, boyhood- all in one. And the melodies that accompany it blossom wonderfully. I wish I can turn back time to the moment I heard the chorus for the first time, because it is simply that good. Sometimes, the chorus makes the song, and I think this certainly applies for the ‘Summer Vacation’.

Yet, it won’t be fair to give the chorus all the credit. ‘Summer Vacation’ has an immense production that backs it up, one that would make the likes ‘Rough’ and ‘Navillera’ proud. The sheer strength of the synths within the instrumental breakdown while the chants come in give the exact sort of surge that I was looking for. Additionally, the main vocalist, while not as competent as Yuju, is proficient enough to do a lot of the heavy lifting within the power notes of the chorus and the climax, making the song as effective as it intends to be. That is a great sign of success.

If only the opening verse could match up to the rest of the song, I would be more than happy to give this a higher score.

Hooks – 9
Production – 10
Vocal Delivery – 10
Rap/Chant Delivery – 9
Overall – 9.5