[FEATURE] Songs That Will Get You Into 6 VIXX Moods

Sometimes it is not the song that puts us in the mood, but the desire to change our mood that leads us to the song. Using songs from the whole of VIXX‘s discography, including Japanese releases and VIXX contributions to OSTs, and does not include solo releases.

Here are our personal recommendations for songs to put you into six different VIXX moods:

When You Want To Be Punched Gently – Balladeers In Excelsis

If VIXX didn’t have a concept to stand on, they would still be Vocalists Par Excellence. They possess one of the most cohesive and ranged mix of vocals in K-Pop group line ups — led by powerful main vocalists and strong support vocalists whose colour and dynamism add to their vocal prowess.

There seem to be pairs within the group. Firstly the two main belters Leo and Ken, whose vocal mastery have given them successful parallel careers as rising musical stars. Both have extraordinarily high ranges with different colour pitches, from clear, powerful and clean (Leo) to warm, masterful and soulful (Ken). 

Then come Hongbin and Ravi who share deep voices, one with much more depth and range, both whispery dry and warm and resonant, and the other hard-hitting, rumbling and all-enveloping. Hongbin’s voice adds emotional variation to their songs with spoken verse, sighs and moans, dramatic touches and so forth. Conversely, Ravi gets real with an energy that shakes you up, not just with his astounding spitfire raps, but with his lyrical play and sheer magnetism. 

Lastly, we have N and Hyuk, who sound most similar to each other but bring completely different feelings to the table. Where Hyuk’s voice is silvery fresh and clear, a gentle but persistent waterfall, a spring breeze that chills, N’s is like a mountain stream, unrushed, gentle and soft but invigorating, enduring and sustaining. 

Whilst these seem to be the most obvious pairings, when VIXX switch it up a little bit — like when Leo and Hongbin, and Ken and Hyuk, are paired to sing the same melody line one octave apart in Last Note (from the Japan-released album Reincarnation). It has the surprising effect of highlighting each others’ particular timbres and resonances in ways that are new even to the regular listener. 

Another wonderful pairing is Leo and Ravi (who form the only VIXX sub-unit, VIXX LR). Their first single Beautiful Liar is an angsty power ballad, almost rock, but with Ravi’s rap carrying the body of the song and Leo’s vocals more like lyrical flourishes — a fitting reflection of the idea of both of them being the inner and outer voice of the same person in the accompanying music video.

VIXX ballads are beautifully composed and become canon classics, whilst some challenge the status quo. Of the former, Badbye, Blue Blossom, I Don’t Want to Be an Idol, Now We and Love Letter come to mind, as does the winsome and pretty Someday that still manages to pack a vocal punch despite being fluttery soft. 

But for the latter, consider the lush overgrown-rose sweetness of Romance Is Over and Butterfly Effect versus the stark clarity of Saboten (Japanese track) and Resemble. Then there is the masterpiece that is their track The Rain from their latest Japanese album Reincarnation, which blends all their voices so harmoniously — and allows Hyuk some beautiful, spine-tingling moments where his voice echoes into a brief silence, like the longing call of a bird across an abyss: haunting and beautiful.

Listen to our Recommended Playlist here:

What Is Adult Sexy – Is It Hot?

It is tall, leggy and incredibly knowing, that is what it is. The trouble with reading translated lyrics is that there is so much scope for interpretation which can be subjective, based on what you have experienced and know. 

It is no surprise then, that VIXX fans are Starlights because Starlights seem to know A LOT.

Check out the classics Hot Enough, Chained Up, Secret Night, Spider, and With Me (Japanese track) among the tracks that are more obviously sexually charged — both musically and lyrically. And more recently, Desperate, Love Me Do, Black Out, Whisper and Chocolatier (off the Whisper album by the subunit VIXX LR) My Valentine and Trigger.

Whilst they may not be as obvious, many of their tracks describe the ever-shifting, pleasure-pain nature of love and desire, including being hopelessly enslaved to their love interest, or ready to be hurt in order to stay by their side (Voodoo Doll for example). Or, in some cases, simply being caught in an inexorable pull, like the gravitational dance between two heavenly bodies locked in an eternal spin of hypnotising enthralment (Shangri-La). In the case of their last comeback single Scentist, being so enamoured and enthralled by their lover that it is likened to a scent that pervades and lingers like a drug. 

VIXX use lyrics to inflame the senses, and watching their music videos and live stages, one cannot help but be mesmerised by the intensity of the VIXX Experience.

Listen to our Recommended Playlist here:

Boy Energy – Funky Dance and Disco Joy

Always being on an emotional and sexual simmer can be pretty exhausting, but VIXX does have a fresh and funky face to them. Starlights would be hard-pressed not to admit that the boys are genuine, fun-loving and even a little on the silly side in real life despite their sexy, intense concepts and performances.

When you’re looking for sheer celebratory and joyous music, VIXX has a couple of rousers in their bag of cheer — including their very first two title song releases, Superhero and Rock Your Body. Despite being concepts they abandoned in favour of darker and heavier ones, they really do portray a bright-eyed, bushy-tailed debut VIXX whose boyish dreams signalled a hope and desire for a bright and shining future..

Some of their songs skirt the edge of disco, jazz pop and Burt Bacharach-style easy-listening lounge pop — consider the disco-esque string flourishes on the Japanese track Echo, the progressive-jazz Starlight (their first B-side which became ubiquitous with the fandom name) and Love, Lalala which employs string and brass arrangements like it belongs in a ’70s feel-good summer disco movie musical.

VIXX have a surprising amount of songs that display a funky, R&B side to them — including their funk-heavy singles Dynamite and Parallel (not to mention the pure bass-thwacking funk in CHAOS), and of course, the sassy-bottomed Milky Way. 

One cannot leave out songs such as such as G.R.8.U (check out the bubble-gum-on-white masterpiece of a music video), Love Equation (their cover of the single by R.ef  which brought them multiple wins), the excellently exuberant Time Machine and What To Do, the vocally joyous Can’t Say, the live performance crowd pleaser Love Come True, as well as Celebration and Mukae Ni Ikou from their Japanese releases.

All these showcase a side of VIXX one doesn’t immediately associate with them in light of their reputation with darker concepts — along with a plethora of other feel-good songs that belong better in the next category of mood swingers.

Listen to our Recommended Playlist here:

When You Want To Feel The Love – The Starlight Love Story

VIXX have ballads, inspirational anthems and outright funky bops dedicated to their Starlights. There is a running theme in the Starlight VIXX narrative — walking along a path of stars together for a long time, us and them shining and reflecting starlight, and being in a constant heavenly dance together. 

Some that have particular meaning for Starlights are Love Letter, a sincere, tug-at-the-heartstrings song of gratitude, Thank You For Being Born, which has become the Happy Birthday song for us all, the perennial tearjerker Now We, and the crowd pleaser Heaven. Most recently, Navy and Shining Gold has become the ending song, but the power of such songs as My Light (written originally for VIXX LR but performed by all of VIXX) has moved members and Starlights to tears many a time. 

And although VIXX gifted a song (the funky, bright and joyous Milky Way) to Starlights at the end of the triple-single comeback year of 2016 (collectively packaged as VIXX 2016 Conception Ker), it doesn’t quite have the power that one of their last singles, Walking, has over the hearts of VIXX and Starlights. 

Co-written by VIXX leader N, the song speaks of comradeship, love and loyalty. It was released ahead of his enlistment — and characteristic to N’s character himself, was a sort of loving gift to help ease the pain of parting.

Sadly, we would be traversing harsher partings not long after, and the song has come to be very meaningful for Starlights.

Listen to our Recommended Playlist here:

When You Want to Get Your Rock On – Disguised Rock VIXX

VIXX are synonymous with synthy pop, traversing other genres such as EDM/house, trap, ballad pop and funk. They could hardly be associated with good old blue-jeans rock – or could they?

Because their songs are crafted with strong, supportive instrumentals overlaid with satisfying melodies and vocal arrangements, some of their songs read strongly as hard rock, and sometimes even as thrash or metal.

Even their synthy sleek single Chained Up which is undoubtedly a musical marker in the essentially synthy VIXX sound, has enough punch to it to stand well on the sexy side of rock. In fact, many songs on their Chained Up album and their Japanese albums have strong rock vibes, even though they play like electro/synth pop or house. Songs like Memory by Ravi and Hyuk, and the Japanese single Depend On Me skirt around the rock sound and can be heard on official Japanese and Korean YouTube Accounts.

Satisfyingly, for their VIXX LIVE FANTASIA Elysium concert, they opened with rock versions of Chained Up, Light Up The Darkness, and Secret Night, accompanied by a live band. Having a taster of what those songs sounded like as amped-up, guitar-chopping sweaty-drummed all-out rock songs gave other songs like Spider, MAZE and After Dark an associated rock vibe too.

The Japanese tracks Shadow and Crush My Mind are atmospheric, dark, metal rock and hearken to two other songs VIXX recorded for the Moorim School OST — Alive and The King. These are unfortunately not available on accessible platforms and thus must be sought out on the personal uploads platforms of fans. Whilst not a part of the official VIXX discography, they showcase VIXX’s propensity for that dramatic, melodic and angsty side of music that lends itself to an awesome rock song.

Listen to our Recommended Playlist here:

When It is Time to Worship  – Concept Kings

When VIXX abandoned their cutesy, fresh-boy debut concepts in favour of the highly stylistic On and On, they reinvented their comeback image as Vampires from Space. They put themselves on the K-pop map in a way that brought them momentum and speed, leading them to their next title, Hyde, and on to their first win a year later with Voodoo Doll. While they had many inter-comeback songs in between, their run was continued with the time-muddled Eternity and the cyborg lovestory Error, pretty much putting to bed the idea that anyone else could possibly own the title of Concept-Dols than them.

Even so, there was even more to come after that. Almost every consecutive comeback title was high concept, cementing their title as Concept Kings.

If we had to sift all the way down the VIXX discography to find a song that perfectly embodies their image as bringers of excellence in vocals and concepts, one could boil it down to that mammoth of a comeback, Fantasy. 

Let’s take a moment to set the scene. VIXX had just reached a peak with a run of funky, sexy songs like Chained Up and Dynamite. Naturally, one might assume with the previous songs, that VIXX might be leaning towards that same vibe as a continuation of that vibe. Right?

You know that vertigo effect you get when you zoom in on something whilst drawing back with the camera? Well, Fantasy was one big Vertigo Effect on our souls.

It did not read as a K-Pop song. Yes, there were costumes. There was makeup. There was choreography. It had all the sounds of trap, synths and atmospheric chord progressions, but it wasn’t trap, it wasn’t synth pop and it wasn’t just atmospheric. The drama and sheer magnitude of the concept and the music and the stages elevated it into something else. 

It played like a rock opera, a dramatic, cinematic opus.

Above all else, the complexities not just in the music and the lyrical narratives, but in the whole of its concept of godly love triangles, made this a statement.

Fantasy is undeniably, unequivocally the peak of VIXX’s concept smashing. There was nobody who could do this like they did — and they went on to prove it again with Shangri-La.

Shangri-La could have been just another concept for VIXX. When their Oriental Sexy inspired themes and visuals were picked up to represent Seoul at the International Olympic Committee General Assembly Opening Ceremony in 2018, they presented a stage that showcased their artistry and musicianship, becoming the nation’s pride on an international stage.

The cohesion between traditional elements tied in with their usual sophisticated and urbane vibe, giving their elegantly hanbok-clad selves an austere, poetic beauty. It was in keeping with the dreamy, legendary exploration of love as a dream-state, a utopia where they could lose themselves for the sake of their desire.

They followed the enduring legacy of Shangri-La with Scentist, about being so mesmerised by their lover that their scent and all the prismatic elements of their desire become so pervasive that they are enraptured, held in thrall by their senses, at every level. Whilst this comeback seems gentlemanly and restrained, the rest of the album and the comeback concept itself explore the idea of sensuality very deeply, albeit less stridently than say, Chained Up.

One last surprising song – Parallel. Parallel was their last digital single, released after Leader N left for military service, and while VIXX was still officially comprised of six. 

A true head-scratching moment was when they released the music video which was then immediately deleted. Starlights debate over the reasons why but the truth is, whether it was a mistake or not, VIXX decided that it was going to choose to make its own reality — and I take it that we should do the same. When asked about the missing video, Leo answered on one of his solo stages (and I paraphrase) “What video?”

Taking a cue from Parallel and VIXX themselves, Starlights might take comfort in the fact that while we may not be able to meet, we can still walk parallel paths, living our own lives while reflecting theirs, and shining brightly together.

Listen to our Recommended Playlist here:

Hopefully our recommendations for songs to help you get into these six moods was comprehensive enough for veteran Starlights to revisit, and intriguing enough for new and baby Starlights to have a listen to! Do these songs help you get in the mood?

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Written by: Chris
Featured Image by: Agnes