'I can't wait any longer', sung in a two-second gap: ONEUS 'Say Yes! (눈을 돌리지마)'

'Say Yes! (눈을 돌리지마)', the title track from ONEUS's 12th EP 'FIRST LIGHT : 井' released on September 23, is sung mostly in English. Of the few Korean lines, two are placed inside the two-second gaps where the backing drops out. Timestamps follow the official music video.

0:09 · A first verse without drums

After the intro, a low bass comes in at 0:09, but there are no drums yet. The first verse, running through 'Don't even lie / Just say it out loud', carries on with just bass and voices until 0:23. As the album notes say, this is a song with a strong drop waiting ahead, but it deliberately sets off light.

0:26 · Backing that's on for two seconds, off for two

In the pre-chorus, the backing switches on and off one bar at a time (about two seconds in this song). Right after the line 'How many times I stopped' at 0:24, the drums, bass and synths all vanish at once at 0:26. What comes out in that empty space is '더는 못 기다려' ('I can't wait any longer'). The backing returns at 0:28, cuts out again at 0:30, and this time '밝게 빛나' ('shine bright') is left in the bare voice. Only after one more cut at 0:34 does the backing hold steady from 0:36. Over a lyric about stopping, the song really does stop.

0:56 · Where 'Say Yes!' breaks open

After '어디든 발을 적시고 온 몸이 젖어도' ('wherever my feet get wet, even if I'm soaked through') from 0:40, the bass rises at 0:56 on '눈을 돌리지마' ('don't look away') louder than anywhere before it. The music video sets this stretch with the five members dancing together inside a glass dome thick with greenery. Every time the voice leaves a one-second gap between chorus lines, the low end of the drop fills it.

2:28 · A 16-second bridge that sets the low end down

From 2:28 to 2:44, the bass drops out entirely and the drums move into the distance. While the bridge, starting with 'Baby look at me', floats lightly, a flock of birds crossing the sky and a white light spreading like wings pass across the screen. At 2:43 the backing cuts out completely for a little over a second, and at 2:45 the final chorus comes crashing in after that silence.

ONEUS across the album

On the five-track EP, Hwanwoong and Leedo co-wrote the lyrics and music for '우연히 너를 만나도 (By chance)', Leedo took part in writing the lyrics and music for '끝나지 않을 우리 이야기 (Never Ending Us)', and Keonhee wrote the lyrics for 'We run for youth'. According to the label, the '井' in the album title stands for ONEUS and is also a space like a mirror that reflects light. ONEUS performed the song on M Countdown on October 1 as their comeback stage.