“Yogananda” – Meaningful Stone Single Review

Review by By Maria Taveras-Garcia – 

Singer/songwriter Meaningful Stone (real name Kim Jimin) combines the elements of shoegaze, dream pop, indie pop, folk, and indie rock to release an undeniably beautiful and ethereal-sounding album. Sung entirely in Korean, she constantly switches primarily between folk and shoegaze throughout the album to achieve a dreamlike feel to it. Her crystal-clear pronunciation and soft, sweet voice only add to the mesmerizing quality of this album. 

The tenth track on the album, 요가난다 (Yogananda/Doing Yoga), has the same level of surrealness and dreaminess as the title track, 손님별 (Supernova). The song’s lyrics consider time, change, and personal development. Meaningful Stone focuses on how she has changed from the day before, yesterday, or even a year ago. In a similar vein, she notices that the other individual is evolving over time, changing every day and every year. The song draws a comparison between her current state, where she has found peace and companionship, and her previous struggles, such as trouble sleeping or loneliness. 

The lyrics recognize one unavoidable fact in the midst of life’s unpredictability—that everyone will eventually die—when compared to an unidentified movie plot. The song examines the passing of time, the impermanence of life, and the certainty of change. Her voice rings out with pure clarity over the synths and her guitar in the beginning of the song, which I thought was really nice. The song is in the key of D major, adding a bright yet soft and warm color to the song. I love the inclusion of the sitar a little close to the middle of the song, it adds a really nice feeling to the song. It’s not every day that you hear a sitar in Korean music. Throughout the middle of the song, she begins to speak over the music instead of sing, which sounds like she is reading from a book. The transition between the speaking and singing is very clean, as if she goes right back to singing after speaking. She repeats the phrase “숨 쉰다” (“breathe”) a few times before the song fades out. Listening to this song felt like pure bliss.

Watching the music video for Yogananda was such a surreal experience. It really feels like you’re dreaming. It also feels a little surreal as well, with the video starting out with what seems to be Meaningful Stone hiding behind a tall bush with the camera focusing in on her. It transitions to her lying on the grass, with a fuzzy but warm filter adding on to the slightly dreamlike state of the music video. The lyrics are present at the bottom left and right corners of the screen, in both Korean and English. The rest of the video consists of her posing for photos along a grassy and leafy bridge, sitting by a stream, and walking with someone in what seems to be a city/town center, which I thought added a very relaxed tone and vibe to the whole video as well.

Overall, I thought this song had a light and whimsical charm to it, and really contributed to the feeling and vibe to the album as a whole. I truly enjoyed listening to Yogananda, and I would definitely give it a 9.5/10. I really recommend listening to this if you are interested in listening to shoegaze songs in different languages, or just shoegaze and indie rock in general.