Remember her? She "released" a mini album today, and I got to check it out... So now I'm gonna do a review on it! :)
Full Moon
This song features Lena Ahn, a female trainee in the JYP system and what looks to be an aspiring rapper, she's not bad, her flow's decent but her vocal tone and delivery need some work.. Honestly, she's not title track material yet, but I look forward to hearing more from her, she intrigues me.
The track itself is quite a smooth Nu-Jazz styled track with some Blues influence seeping in the background, the drums are crisp but not too punchy, the piano stabs and the pads accentuate the beat perfectly and that blues guitar is eargasmic, I swear.
I love how the JYP style syncopated singing is going over a JYP/Bravesound fusion beat, this is well produced and the vocals are haunting but present in the mix, everything is arranged pretty well and honestly this is a decent title track...
However, 2014 has seen loads of releases that were ranging from good to amazing, so decent can't cut it, especially when Sunmi has to fight against Girls' Day, SNSD and 2NE1... doesn't sound as awesome anymore, does it?
Musically, this song is great, but will it sell well? That's something we need to find out next week, which is an article that I will write up.
Score: 4/5
24 Hours
I love the post 90's techno-pop sound coming from this song. It really fits Sunmi's new persona of sensual yet ethereal.
The vocals were processed beautifully here, every breath is heard and it just adds so much because this track is clearly more based around the vocal performance because the beat doesn't hit as hard as it could do, even though it it quite nice already.
The best part here is the transition from synthpop to latin waltz, seamless.
It also fits the conflicting emotions heard in the vocals and the overall message of the song... Beautifully done.
Score: 4/5
Burn
I love this! It starts off like your usual club banger, but it's so surreal at the same time in the beginning... The vocal direction is so acute in the beginning that you just didn't know, then the beat comes in and you know that it's going down!
What has me conflicted is the drop, it's a very unusual drop. It just sort of drops to sub-bass levels instead of having blaring synths, and it works in a weird sense. It's the kind of thing you'd hear in minimal music... But it doesn't work with the theme of "Burn" you'd expect something bigger and I was sort of disappointed.
This song feels more experimental for me, and while I'm usually a fan of that, it just doesn't seem to work to well in a musical sense or a compositional sense... it's just a waste of build up, and they should've done more instead and went with the blaring synths.
Better yet, keep with the sub-bass thing, but make it like an old-school dubstep drop... I dunno, something more dynamic than what they actually did. Perhaps this was geared towards industrial fans?
Score: 3/5
Who Am I?
I'll try not to be biased here because I love Yubin and everything but--
OMG YUBIN, SHE'S ALIVE, YES!!!
Now the track... This just oozes sex appeal everywhere, literally needing a mop to clear up after myself the lust left everywhere.
What I love about this track is how dynamic the vocals are, the beat itself is rather simple, but the subtle dulcet tones accentuated with engaging her lower register in the verses, then gradually progressing into her chest voice and pulling out one hell of a chorus!
However, and I can't believe I'm saying this but, Yubin's part was... nice. Just nice.
But it was so completely underwhelming, it really wasn't needed... Like Sunmi could've just sung a bridge there or something and it would've worked miles better. I just felt like Yubin-ah was just shoehorned in there at the last minute... And that's sad.
Score: 4/5
Frozen In Time
Jackson has got some love from JYP to be put on something like this already... But that's cool, I guess, at least he has a relevant part.
This song gives me so much Drake vibes... It's really similar to "Hold On We're Going Home".
The beginning synths and that bass just make me fall in love though. Ah~~~
Sunmi really comes into her own here and let's it all out, I honestly never heard her sing like that with Wonder Girls and it is such a refreshing change in the usual style of her JYP-esque vocals.
The beat is tighter than an Anaconda's Sleeper Hold, and this song is honestly my jam on this EP, it is honestly title track material, or rather it would be if it was more uptempo to suit consumer demand, but that's unfortunate because to me the song is perfect as is.
The harmony on the 2nd verse is really nice and Jackson's part is quite nice for slowing down the progression so that it can build up for the last chorus, which has some of the best female head-voice I have heard in K-Pop since Ailee's cover of "Halo".
Score: 4/5
If That Was You
Yeeun-ah... Marry me please, or at least become the new JYP CEO?
First she has the idea of a Yubin-Fei subunit and now she composes and writes the lyrics for this masterpiece? If she was in YG, you know what? I don't even wanna think about how much more money Yang Hyun-Suk would get his hands on.
Anyway, this song fuses Leona Lewis with Jordin Sparks, or more specifically "Bleeding Love" with "Battlefield", and trust me it is beautiful.
Sunmi's vocals here are even more amazing than they were in Frozen In Time and this song is title track ready, as a matter of fact, why isn't this a title track? What the hell?!
The vocal direction was amazing, the composition was beautiful and so was the layering, everything was so musically melded and crafted into something wonderful... Honestly, Yeeun needs to do more and, I am really sorry to say this but, she is wasting time on a sinking ship. She needs to go solo yesterday and do more in the industry, perhaps collab with Sunmi more too.
Not to take anything away from Sunmi either, she did amazingly here, but this song really showcases both of their talents.
Score: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
Stay tuned for some more reviews/articles when I can!
And remember that it's good to be dense, but it's bad to be stupid.
No comments:
Post a Comment