September OST Roundup: Night Watchman Plus Nine Secret Blades

Welcome to the next installment of OST Roundup! While last month saw a whole influx of OSTs as many dramas hit their middling stage, September saw a distinct decrease in the number of soundtracks released as quite a few series made their debut. Nevertheless, I still managed to find a couple of gems worth checking out. It’s interesting to note how duets are slowly gaining popularity in soundtracks, and you will find that there’s a whole bunch of them this month.

In related news, congratulations to Ailee for winning Best OST in the Korea Drama Awards with “Goodbye My Love”, as featured in Fated To Love You. What a great prelude to her comeback!

Sung-jae (BTOB) & Oh Seung-hee‘s “Curious”, Plus Nine Boys OST

A sugar-sweet duet sung by the earnest lovelorn teenager, Sung-jae really shines in this with his smooth lilting voice. This track embodies the innocence of first love experienced by Sung-jae’s character, and it’s a slight pity that his female counterpart, A Pink‘s Cho-rong, didn’t get to collaborate with him on this. The alternating emphasis on the duet harmonies and their individual parts mix it up for a fun and relaxing listen, and it remains one of my favourite tracks of the drama, which, by the way, boasts an outstanding choice of background music.

Swings & Yoo Sung-eun‘s “Trap”, Secret Hotel OST

Even though Swings is sort of a dumbass on social media, there’s no denying that he’s a skilled rapper, especially during collaborations. His rap portions serve as a great contrast to Yoo’s clear and ringing voice. The nostalgic piano melody takes centre stage as a beautifully-played piece, and it helps that there are two proficient artists complementing each other to make it come together perfectly.

Mamamoo & Loco‘s “This Song”, My Lovable Girl OST

Seems like the vocalist-rapper combo is pretty popular for soundtracks nowadays. Right when Mamamoo made their glorious debut with their outstanding and harmonious voices, I knew right away that they would be a shoo-in for many OST features. Their vocal styles are highly suited for acoustic songs, and Loco’s rap provides an ample amount of melodic balance in the overall feel of the song. Considering that this is a idol-centred drama with a good amount of singers in the cast, I’m looking forward to more musical releases from this series.

Yoseob (Beast) & Ga-yoon (4minute)’s “Wish”, The Night Watchman’s Journal OST

It’s not news to anyone that Cube is full of talented vocalists, and it’s awesome to see the two main vocalists of the flagship groups come together to share the limelight. The simple melody and instrumental allow for the two to really impress the listeners with their added flourishes and harmonies. Their voices come together to express such pure yearning and anguish that I’m definitely down for more duets from the two of them. A vocal version of Troublemaker maybe?

Gyuri & Seung-yeon (KARA)’s “Hello”, Blade Man OST

While breathy vocals is usually a sign of inability, I find this track strangely addictive. It boils down to the way their voices blend quite naturally with the instrumental, whose constant rhythmic tambourine sounds slickly seduces you in. I’m not a huge fan of the airy voices, but in this case, it gives me the imagery of a lounge singer with backup singers slowly swaying in the background. It somehow works, but don’t ask me how.

Block B‘s “Secret Door”, Secret Door OST

Block B would probably have been the last group I expected to feature on a period drama’s soundtrack. But then, here they are, in all their epic rapper glory for Secret Door. I’m not currently watching this series, so I have no clue how exactly this would exactly work as background music. Perhaps the use of the traditional instruments with the war-cry sounding chorus adds to its credibility, but anyhow, I thought this unexpected fusion hip-hop track deserved a mention.

So, what were some of your favourite OSTs this month?

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