K-Pop Ranter

Album Review: Brown Eyed Girls - Black Box

Posted by : AndiSweets August 04, 2013

It’s been a few days since my review for Brown Eyed Girls’ Kill Bill where I stated my high expectations for their album Black Box. Before I even begin, I want to state how excited I was when Recipe was first released and I was afraid that it would end there. Luckily, that was not the case because not too long after, BEG came together to put out a new music video and album.

If you’ve heard of Brown Eyed Girls but haven’t really listened to a lot of their music, let me explain why I personally love them so much. First of all, each member is relevant and contribute to the group as a whole. This especially applies for their rapper, Miryo who actually feels like a member of the group the way her raps are more thoroughly integrated into their songs. With most groups, the rapper gets a small segment where they get to mince their words a little, then move on. A lot of rappers feel like an addition rather than an actual member. So BEG have that going for them as well as the rest of the members, Narsha, JeA, and Ga-In all being extremely talented singers, all with their own unique flavor of voices. No member in BEG is unnecessary and they are all known for being unconventional with their style of music (take Narsha’s 삐리빠빠 for example or Ga-In’s Bloom which is basically an love song dedicated to orgasms).

Now that I’m done practically drooling over the talent found in this group, let’s move on to the actual review of the album.

After Club

This is perhaps one of my favorite songs on the album. It has this groovy 80’s feel to it and despite being a somewhat fast paced song, it shows off the girls’ vocal talents pretty well. It has a beautiful ebb and flow between a softer, more subtle tone into the energetic chorus. Miryo’s raps have this interesting rise and drop in intensity that reel you in and get you addicted to the distinctive sound of her voice. Narsha and JeA absolutely crush their vocal flourishes and the addition of Ga-In’s smooth breathy voice works perfectly with this type of song. Interestingly enough, this song is about having a one night stand and being too drunk to recall what his face looked like but they keep coming back to the same club because they like getting drunk and clubbing to their hearts' content.

날아갈래 (I Want to Fly/Before Sunset)

This is another song on the album that has that same type of 80’s vibe. The song is smooth and easy on the ears. I wouldn’t say that this song is exceptional but it is nice to listen to and definitely relaxing. If you’re looking to kick your feet up and get comfortable, I recommend adding this song to your playlist.

Kill Bill

I already reviewed this song not too long ago and my opinion on the song hasn’t changed much. I still think its catchy and a great song overall. I do, however, retract my statement regarding the whistling. Since I had to watch the video a few times to properly understand the full extent of the video, the repetition was starting to wear thin on my nerves. After listening to the song alone a few times, I found that the whistling blended in quite nicely in the song and I was able to focus more on the melody of the vocals. I did mention shortly that I found the lyrics quite interesting so I will take a moment to explain why. This song is about having caught their man cheating on them. I know this is a common theme regarding songs in general but underneath the surface, there’s more to it than just that. They go on to shame and humiliate him to the point of making him cry and relish in the fact that they’re torturing him in such a manner. Even then they “haven’t even done half of what I’ve prepared for your trial”. I wouldn’t recommend messing with the girls of BEG because apparently they’ll run you out of town after breaking you down and making you feel like total sh*t.

Boy

Ga-In touches herself to nearly half of these songs.

This is one of the most unique songs on the album. It’s jazzy, upbeat, and sexy. Songs like this are a perfect match for Ga-In’s husky voice and JeA’s smooth voice. I really like the different trumpet instrumentals and the subtle guitar playing underneath the brassy sounds. However, I can't decide on how I feel about the song overall. It's smooth but almost erratic at the same time and energetic yet calming and I mean this about the whole song, not just certain segments.

Satisfaction

This is one of those types of songs that have a smooth roller coaster of a tempo. It starts off slow and easy, with a little bit of Engrish courtesy of Miryo then begins building up to the chorus, gradually increasing the tempo until it drops back into the original tempo. However, it's not one of those erratic songs that leave you wondering how you got from point A to point B due to a sudden shift in the mood (like I Got a Boy). The song cuts off rather suddenly at the end, though.

Mystery Survivor

This song immediately starts off with that perfect club, get-up-and-dance kind of mood. As it leads into the chorus, it starts to sound almost like it shifts into a trance type of song while maintaining that high energy of the rest of the song. Not only is this song fun, it's one of those I-can't-be-tamed songs so if you're feeling rather rebellious, I'd recommend letting loose to this song. Unfortunately, this song too has a sudden cut off at the end.

거짓말이야 (It's a Lie)
The feel of this song is rather upbeat considering it's a song about heartbreak. Then again, if you don't really care about lyrics too much and like the sound alone, it's a nice listen. Those who do care would find it odd that they're talking about how desperate they are and how much pain they're feeling but they sound rather okay singing about it. Anyway, there's this sound right at the beginning that reminds me of winding up a music box. I don't really get that music box feeling from the song, rather more of a dreamy kind of reminiscent feeling.

Recipe

Recipe already came out earlier in the year as a digital single and has already done well on the charts on its own. It has this nice laid back feel to it and is a little mild compared to their other songs. It's still a good song, just not a great song. The lyrics are kind of sneaky in the way they try to use food as euphemisms for sexy times. That and the song basically boils down to the ever popular phrase "the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach" among other things.

Narsha beckons you forward so she can "peel you like a tangerine" if you know what I mean *wink wink*

Good Fellas

And now we have the single slow song on the album, Good Fellas. Under normal circumstances, I don't particularly take well to Korean ballads. In fact, the list of ballads I actually like is so small, I could list them now without wasting too much of your time: Baby Steps by Girls Generation TTS, Caffeine by Yang Yoseob, Cleansing Cream by Brown Eyed Girls, and the list ends at In Heaven by JYJ. That being said, even though my standards for ballads are impossibly high, I actually liked this song. The title of the song isn't quite what you'd expect from a ballad, so I was quite surprised when I played it and it turned out to be a soft, tender melody. The passion isn't so strong that it's cheesy and it isn't a boring snooze-fest either, even Miryo's raps have been toned down to match the gentle flow of the song.

Overall
Black Box is a solid album and almost every song on the track list is worth a listen. Some of them aren't too great but you can at least tell that some effort was put into each song unlike some albums where you have songs that are clearly filler and are just plain terrible.

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