[Review] Earth, Wind & Fire – BOYNEXTDOOR

We are now mid-week, but I am finally making a start on the comebacks that occurred at the start of this week. BOYNEXTOOR is one of the artists that did so, and they returned with the single Earth, Wind & Fire. The new single forms part of the group’s second mini-album, How?. An English version of the song also features as part of the new mini-album. This is their first comeback since the release of But Sometimes and WHY… last year.

BOYNEXTDOOR goes down a very playful route for Earth, Wind & Fire. This playful route revisits a dynamic that the group kind of touched on in one of their debut singles, One and Only. A major difference between the two songs is that Earth, Wind & Fire goes even further along in the playful department. This is particularly highlighted to us following the fun yet repetitive chorus (more on this in a second), with the sped-up line post-chorus. The chorus itself is already quite playful via its melodies, and the addition of the post-chorus sped-up line reiterates that even further. I can also see it potentially attracting attention and keeping Earth, Wind & Fire in your mind, even after it wraps. The chorus could have been better had it had more to it. It did end up being quite repetitive and this may have implications on continuous repeats of the song. I would imagine the repetitiveness might dull everything else going in the song or has been set up. To me, the most lacking sequences of Earth, Wind & Fire are the verses. The opening verse was okay with some interesting vocals, but there wasn’t anything that pinged me as interesting or worth mentioning, As for the second verse, the rapping and vocals we got didn’t feel like it fit with the rest of Earth, Wind & Fire. But the pre-chorus lines and trajectory serves as a nice ramp up to the song’s highlight. I also like the retro direction the bridge had. Overall, I appreciate the fun energy and unique elements in Earth, Wind & Fire, which keeps me around.

Backing up the playful song is the music video. And this video is definitely wild and a quirky journey. Earth, Wind & Fire is about the feelings of how the person someone love can be their whole world like the elements of earth, wind, and fire. These are definitely represented in some form in the video. But the song also highlights how love is like nature one can’t control, which we can see represented in the video via the imagery of the wild weather events in the sets. I quite enjoyed the addition of the sped-up choreography scenes to accompany the sped-up sequence of the song, as well as the in-built lyrics to help us (loosely) decipher that they are singing in that sequence. These two elements definitely adds to that playful nature really well.

Keeping the playful vibes alive is the choreography, which I really enjoyed to watch. They really carried the energy through the entire performance – both in the choreography and their chemistry on stage. It was so fun to watch and become engage in. I also found a down-to-earth side to the choreography, which furthers that engagement I just mentioned. I also find it astounding that they are also doing the sped-up sequence live, which adds intensity to the mix. Definitely can’t wait to watch more of this group performing this song on stage!

Song – 7.5/10
Music Video – 8,5/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.3/10