[Double Review] Good Enough + Dear H. – Xdinary Heroes

Joining their labelmates in having more than one music video for one album release is Xdinary Heroes. Part of their Deadlock mini-album from April this year is Good Enough and Dear. H, the mini-album’s fifth and seventh track respectively. Today, I will be reviewing both balladry tracks in this one post. Featured alongside these two side tracks is the title track Freakin’ Bad.

Good Enough is a captivating and emotional ballad, featuring both band instrumentation and piano/strings in the background. The former is throughout the entire track (which is expected for a band), but the latter is heard from the second verse onwards. Jungsu and Juyeon’s vocal work in this song is so enchanting to listen to. From the softer tones in the verses to the soaring vocals in the bridge, you can feel the emotional pull of Good Enough so profoundly. It is also very nice to hear some of the other members participate vocally in Good Enough as well. The swayable effect/melody you know I look for in ballads is very much present in Good Enough, and this is the result of the vocals and instrumentation working well with one another to create that captivation. I really like the powerful combination of the high notes and rock ballad instrumental sequence in the final seconds moments of Good Enough, creating such a memorable moment and felt very much like the icing on the cake for the song. It, and the final twinkling of piano, just closes out Good Enough in such a satisfying and deep manner.

Dear H. honestly caught me off guard when I first heard it. Once again, the song starts off like a an ordinary ballad, extremely peaceful and soothing. But the chorus really goes in hard with the rock instrumentation and Jooyeon’s soaring vocals was breath-taking. Interestingly, following the first chorus, Dear. H switches back to the simple ballad beginning and the vocals showed no sign of that powerful rock instrumentation that just preceded it. It does fragment the song, but it isn’t the end of the world. The good news is that this allows us to revisit the same incline and powerful punch that the first chorus served in the second chorus. This time is was taken on by Jungsu and it sounds blissful once again. Dear. H finishes off with soft balladry vocals once again, closing out the song in a full circle manner. Just like the composition of Dear H., its lyrics are also quite impactful, beckoning one to talk to about their internal secrets and feelings. Overall, a unique side track from Xdinary Heroes.

Both side tracks’ music videos are connected, which is largely why I put both Good Enough and Dear H. into one review. There is a nice theory in the comments by @aaaaareuok (see screenshot below) to explain the two videos and how there are two possible stories depending on which video you think goes first. So, based on that theory, I will adapt and explain what I think happened. To me, given Dear H. features the group in school uniform and the video is a little hazy, the events in Dear H.‘s video is like a memory. We see all the members as friends hanging out with one another in school, along with JunHan (who was absent from the Good Enough video due to illness and doesn’t make an appearance until the very end of Dear H., though he is featured off-screen as the person filming the members together/alone since he had the video camera in the end). They are happy, but obviously each had something weighing on their minds throughout the video. In Good Enough, the members are largely by themselves, signaling the possibility the members have drifted apart (though I think JunHan kept in touch with everyone, as we see the prespective of a video camera filming each member individually). Also, Good Enough‘s video isn’t hazy, which to me represents more of a modern day. Whatever is weighing on their mind eats at them in Good Enough. But JunHan most likely reunited everyone back to the beach (as per the ending of Dear. H‘s video, where we see six names etched into the sand and he recording isn’t hazy like the rest of the video) so that everyone can have that same good time they had back when they were in school. But that is just what I think happened in the two video and follows the below theory from @aaaaareuok. There could be alternative theories out there, and I would love to hear them.