"Diamond" by Qri (of T-ARA)




"Diamond"
 Qri (of T-ARA)

I cannot stop listening to this little three minute breezy bop. It has bored itself fairly deep into my brain in a surprisingly short amount of time. 

The song is a study in contradictions. The production is both crisp and woozy. The title is vapid but the lyrics dark and existential. The vocal performance is both casually indifferent and pleadingly desperate. 

The song begins with a muted indecipherable wail. This wail brings to mind religious moans... an attempt to express something beyond the capability of words. This is cut off by a stuttering synthesized bass line introducing the airtight and surprisingly restrained production.

A carefree synthetic baseline bounces throughout the song, creating a wobbly foundation for the layered vocals and sputtering snares. The wordless wail from the intro persists throughout the song. Weighing it down with a disconcerting weariness. Lest the song bounce away.

An appreciated example of the use of restraint is the choice to not add a hyperactive rap verse/bridge to the song. Instead the song is allowed to breathe. A disciplined instrumental bridge dotted with sparse harmonic ‘uh oh uh oh’s is all that is required.

At moments it feels as though one could throw the song into the air and it might not return. The double ‘uh oh uh oh’ phrase leaves me wanting more. I am consistently waiting for a third ‘oh’ to resolve the phrase… it never comes.

My first few listens I had no idea what the lyrics were. Other than the title, “Diamond”, and a few english phrases such as “Knock knock knock on the door” and “Diamonds only.” Without further investigation I presumed this to be a typical boastful pop star lifestyle song. Dripping in diamonds and all that. Thankfully, my initial impression was incorrect. 

The lyrics introduce a mysterious and inky depth to the song. They frame the diamond as a sentient, inter-dimensional being. Starting in a “cramped and dark space” and being discovered by a creature from another dimension and then praised and valued for its increasingly “dazzling wings.”

Is this a metaphor about breaking free from the suffocating monotony of life? Is the visitor a welcome benevolent force or a feared malevolence? Or is the song simply pontificating on the process that is required to produce an actual diamond? Everything in the universe is made of stars and this is a surprising reminder of that. Though, without a better, more nuanced translation, it is difficult to really understand what is going on. However, it is still a pleasant surprise that it isn't another pop song unnecessarily telling the world how glamorous the celebrity life is.


"Diamond" is notably modest, but that simplicity allows the song to brilliantly shine with "dazzling wings."

-Daniel R. 

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