The DPR collective has intrigued me from the moment Laura brought their music to my attention. At first, I didn’t get them at all. The collective concept (are they a group? Solos? Both?), their musical colors, none of it. But months of “not getting them,” DPR Live dropped ‘Hula Hoops’ and it was over for me. I went down the DPR rabbit hole with an open mind and… DPR Ian’s music hit me like a ton of bricks. 

So Beautiful, Scaredy Cat, Nerves, Zombie Pop, No Blueberries… I was captivated. And the quality of the music videos he was behind? Sold. 

When Ian (Christian Yu) announced MIITO (Moodswings In To Order, with the II used to differentiate the second album with the same acronym as the first one, with “To” replacing “This”), I had extremely high expectations. He said it was his best work yet and that he didn’t know how he would top himself, and I believed him. 

Without further ado, let’s set our wings on fire and fall from grace together with MIITO. 

The Album 

First things first: this is a no skips album. I have maybe 10 of those total from all my years as an avid music listener (should I do a blog post listing them here?), and MIITO deserves that categorization. Not only do I listen to and enjoy every single song, I’ve given all of them the green heart on Spotify so you know it’s real. 

The only song that is puzzling to me is “Sometimes I’m,” and that’s purely due to its placement as the closer. In my opinion after listening to the album a lot for exactly two months as of today, it would make more sense to have it somewhere in the middle. 

The album is synth-y, rock-y, pop-y, and indie-sounding all at once. DPR REM produced every single song in MIITO, which is a surprising turn of events as CREAM is usually the main producer billed on both Live and Ian’s tracks. The 80s synth pop presence is strong through the majority of the tracks, but he also produced a movie-soundtrack level masterpiece in Seraph, and a beautiful emo rock ballad in Ballroom Extravaganza — which is the only track CREAM co-produced. 

MIITO came for all the millennials who had an emo or Warped Tour type of phase and are rediscovering 80s music through Stranger Things on Netflix. It can be considered very niche, but at the same time I think literally anyone can — and should — listen to this album. It’s also completely in English so it’s a great (technical) gateway into KR&B (or even ‘KPop’ if you wanted to fool a friend or two into giving Korean music/artists a chance). 

Track list + Thoughts 

• Seraph: The ominous intro. The strings. The thunder sound effects. You can tell it’s a descent. The fall of the angel. The narration with the voice changes as he goes into a beautiful long note repeating “Set my wings on fire.” The despair and pain in his voice is so evident. And then a sudden end. It’s so short, I want more. Very elevated musically, starting things off on amazing footing.
  
• 1 Shot: This trap-y track originally stood out to me first (after Ballroom Extravaganza put me in an actual chokehold of course). Ian describes the battle between MITO and “God” or Mr. Insanity, as he threatens to ruin his work of art with just one shot. It’s very playful and fun.
  
• Mood: Mood is my second favorite song in this album, and it seems like it’s everyone else’s too. It’s so spooky and layered, it starts off slow and creepy, like you’re going into a neighborhood haunted house – you’re not actually threatened or scared, just intrigued. And then the chorus starts and it turns out it’s more of a party than you thought. It’s a fun riff between Ian and his intrusive thoughts. Also, the visuals that go with it that he crafted for the tour are AMAZING! This man really has a great clear vision he delivers on. The bridge takes us all down with it and it’s a welcome break from the upbeat nature of the rest of the song.
  
• Miss Understood: Ian has mentioned that this song is about a relationship he had where the girl he dated actually liked his darker side that comes about when he’s having a low episode within his bipolar disorder. He’s so candid about his process and his feelings, and the way he uses music to do so in a light and digestible way is impressive. The ending is a true insight into his thought process within this relationship, where:
  
  “Bye, bye, I’ll see you at the same place
  Oh my, I couldn’t leave you anyway (Miss Understood)
  Don’t cry until she looks the other way”
  
  Signifies that he ended things to protect her from his manic side, and acted tough to make the break up easier for her.
  
• Avalon: Lyrically, I’m not sure what to make of this song as Ian’s metaphors are very rich and unique to him. According to Wikipedia, “Avalon is a mythical island” that first appeared in Historia Regum Britanniae “as a place of magic where King Arthur’s sword Excalibur was made and later where Arthur was taken to recover from being gravely wounded at the Battle of Camlann.” With that in mind and Ian’s lines in the chorus that read
  
  “Hold me on the dance floor (All night)
  Take me to your Avalon (Ooh)”
  
  It sounds like he wants his partner to take him to a place of healing of sorts? I don’t know for sure as there’s no other reference to recovery. But the song is a fun and light dance track and it’s enjoyable whether we’re in the know or not.
  
• Merry Go: This song is more in the ballad territory, and showcases a lot of Ian’s vocal prowess when he sustains the “Merry Go” lyrics for long notes at the end of the song. It starts off very softly and mysterious, where you don’t quite know what you’re going to get after the beat drops (as do most of his songs), but this one does remain on the lower tempo throughout. It seems to reference some of his work in MITO with the mentions of his nervousness and leaving for the show. He’s in a merry go round caused by his bipolar disorder and just keeps going through these same cycles in every relationship. A lot of vulnerability and rawness from him here.
  
• Ribbon: A contagious ribbon that she’s wrapped into. A throne he’s tied to. He says:
  
  “In case I wanna ride along this loop
  I’m ready for the pain that runs
  When you tell me, she’s the baddest news”
  
  Which to me sounds somewhat connected to the prior song Merry Go, but it’s the more optimistic twin sister. While Merry Go is a low self-reflection riddled with all the “dark” parts of him which he focuses on negatively, Ribbon is a change of perspective, or maybe just a different mindset he can’t find while he’s dipping. Musically, this reminds me quite a bit of Daft Punk, so if you like their music, this one might work for you.
  
• Winterfall: This song is split in three acts. The first 40% of the song is an upbeat tempo over a conversation between MITO and the girl he loves. It’s a fight. He’s on the losing side. He says he’ll do anything she wants him to do to stay together. Then it gets into the second part of the song (about 30%) where the music/tone/tempo completely changes into a downward pace. It’s slow, it’s ominous. It’s sad. The phone rings, but there’s never an answer on the other side. He’s calling because he misses her. It’s a self reflection that comes too late. He’s possibly leaving her a voicemail? Now he understands how she felt, but he lost her and is just now realizing how much she meant to him. And then we get the last 30% which still has the slowed down tempo, but with some synths and snares added on top, so it’s like a state of confusion, a down but with no sadness? I can’t pretend to know exactly what he intended here, but it sounds really good. You go to three very different states of mind in one song, and don’t even notice.
  
• Calico: Back to the upbeat, Daft Punk vibes. This song feels like it’s about miscommunication in a relationship. People assume things about their partners based on their actions or lack thereof, and turns out it all seems like a big misunderstanding.
  
• Mr. Insanity: There’s a lot of wannabe homophones that almost border wordplay here. Like we got “contagious” vs. “can’t take this” in Ribbon, here we get “I’m mister” vs. “I messed up,” “Darling” vs. “Bawling,” “Illusion” vs. “delusion” – and none of it is intending to rhyme in the standard way verses do. This is an 80s vibe song through and through, with some orchestral depth to the synths. It’s very well done and easy to listen to. Ian has said Mr. Insanity is the god of the universe where MITO comes from, and he’s also a clown. Talking about shooting himself in the foot definitely fits that narrative. Especially when taking 1 Shot into account.
  
• Ballroom Extravaganza: Ballroom Extravaganza was the pre-release single we didn’t know we needed until it dropped just three days before the full album, and now can’t imagine life without it. I immediately loved this song (which is atypical for me on first listens) and fully ate up the visual teaser he dropped along with it. Rhythmically, the song was a callback to early 2000s emo rock and even though I wouldn’t say I was an avid listener of the genre back then, I did travel back in time with it mentally. The song is a hit, it’s heartfelt. It’s easy to connect to lyrically. It’s not following the same mythological writing style of MITO for much of it, until it gets to the bridge and it feels like MITO takes over again. All you need to know is that it’s a wonderful song. It hits ALL the feels. And it’s great to scream-sing it in the car.
  
• Sometimes I’m: After the greatness that is Ballroom Extravaganza, I’m just never not going to be confused about Sometimes I’m being the album closer. It’s a fun song, very much in the Daft Punk/80’s vein again, and another opportunity for Ian to talk through his relationship woes. Nothing wrong with it, just don’t agree with its placement.

Last thoughts

The visuals Ian has been working on to go with this album are nothing short of impressive with how little time he’s had to produce them. We saw him in concert on 9/1 1 in Hollywood, South Florida, and the stage production to go with each of these songs was just superb for a collective their size. It’s also mind-blowing to remember that MITO and MIITO are just over a year and a few months apart from each other. Ian and the DPRs are putting in WORK.

And with that, nothing left to say other than #MIITOisBACK and #StreamMIITO. DPR rules!