I started seeing more of DONNA‘s music in 2021 with the “Will You Miss Me?” music video. I really liked that track and listened to her older singles. Dreamy Dream is a collection of old singles along with some new tracks. The EP shows off multiple sides of DONNA’s music, mainly because she’s jumping around from radio-friendly pop to electronic and even a pop punk-electronic pop hybrid.
“Stay Friends” is one of the new tracks and as the opener, gives the impression that DONNA is all about soothing electronic pop music. The song has that 90s teen romantic comedy tone to it. It glides over the tempo smoothly and DONNA’s vocals hold everything together. The repetitive verse arrangement makes the song familiar and welcoming.
I still think that “Will You Miss Me?” is one of DONNA’s strongest songs. It’s a city-pop-light, electronic rock track. The melody is addictive and DONNA is able to give more energy to the chorus. “Privacy” featuring QM is an R&B mixed with some electronic pop forward track. Originally released in 2020, compared to other songs, DONNA has definitely evolved over the past years. QM’s rap during the bridge adds a little variety to the song but feels a little forced.
DAE falls a little bit into the same uneven balance on “Moment When Love Ends Love.” It feels like a precursor to meenoi‘s “I Caan’t Wait!” featuring Loco since DONNA’s single was released in 2020 with meenoi’s track releasing in July 2021.
2022 really sounds like the year of exploration. “Broken” is a radio-electronic club pop song. It has all the right beats and moments with JD but feels too standard. I wonder if DONNA was trying to find her specific voice by following some of the year’s trends.
Closing Dreamy Dream with “You are You, I am Me” was kind of bizarre. It’s a mix of so many genres and styles from an indie R&B intro to a pop first verse before jumping into pop punk chorus. It’s kind of all over the place, yet is one of my favorite songs on the EP. The strength of the track is the high energy that rolls throughout each verse even if the tempo is at half-speed.
DONNA’s Dreamy Dream is like a book. “Stay Friends,” “Will You Miss Me?,” and “You are You, I am Me” are setups and conclusions. The three songs in between provide context and weight, but really, the most exciting parts are the start and finish of the release. Dreamy Dream captures DONNA up to 2022, but now it’s more interesting to see where her journey will go.
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Chris P
Korean Indie owner and Editor at Large. Constantly looking for new music and working on library parity on Spotify and YouTube Music.