Showing posts with label album. Show all posts
Album Review: Miracles of December
Merry Christmas to everyone! Here’s a late album review of EXO’s Miracles in December.
EXO has had an extremely busy year with first Wolf, then repackaged Growl and now a christmas gift for their fans Miracles in December. (Though I’d like to think it as SM-making-us-think-its-a-christmas-present-but-its-just-more-money-for-them).
Miracles of December is a mini album, with 6 tracks including the orchestral version of the title track, Miracles in December. It is a pretty solid mini album, mostly ballads, showing off the vocal talents in EXO. All of my EXO bias aside, this album basically proved that under all that choreography and howling and growling, EXO is also able to deliver soulful performances as well.
Miracles in December
The title track in this album is sang by the vocal line, (Baekhyun, Chen, D.O for Korean and Baekhyun, Chen, Luhan for Chinese). This song is definitely my favourite in the entire album, and it deserves all the hype it is getting. The song builds up and explodes into a gorgeous mess of beautiful instrumental and flawless vocals. The harmonization is beautiful and goosebumps inducing, and these 4 vocalists do deliver the perfect sad song in Christmas. Stunning masterpiece from EXO.
Christmas Day
Christmas Day follows after Miracles in December and it is a sweet track that describes the girl as Christmas Day, telling her that "you're just like Christmas Day". The song starts off with a slow, slick beat and towards the chorus, the song takes a turn and becomes a soft, gentle love song. I personally think this is the most christmasy track on this album, with the choir-like background vocals in the chorus and the actual mention of Christmas. A stellar track as well, and EXO does life performances of this song, making it a lot better than it already is. Check the performance out!
The Star
The album picks up pace from the previous two tracks with The Star, which features a little more of EXO's rappers.This is a pleasant change from the slow moving ballads. Though not very christmasy, it does fit in nicely with the album and according to EXO themselves, the star in the song is actually a girl and she's described to be the star on top of the Christmas tree, so I guess it makes sense. And props to SM, for finally having a rap sequence in English that actually makes sense. Well done.
My Turn To Cry
My Turn To Cry brings the album back to the smooth ballad side with melancholic lyrics and soft vocals. I do think this is a continuation from EXO's previous song, Baby Don't Cry. The twinkling throughout the song adds a nice touch to the song and the soft echo-y vocals gives it a nice holiday feel. The slight pauses between verses is also nice and allows the vocals to set in beautifully.
First Snow
The last track on this album is First Snow, which is a sad song disguised under the merry tune to it. The song starts off slowly, leading up to a more upbeat chorus. One of my favourites as well, First Snow is addicting and the distinctive chimes of bells make this a very suitable song for Christmas, if you overlook the lyrics. Great example of a pop-ballad done right.
Miracles in December is probably one of the most well-produced album EXO has had so far, with the songs all fitting in nicely with each other and centered around the Christmas concept. I can tell you for sure this entire album is a hit in Korea, as it was played on loop everywhere during my trip to Korea this month. I don't know about you, but for me, this album is going to be on replay for the rest holiday season.
Album Review: Brown Eyed Girls - Black Box
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.
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
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| Ga-In touches herself to nearly half of these songs. |
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.
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.
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| 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.
Tracks I Absolutely Recommend
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.
Tracks I Absolutely Recommend
- After Club
- Kill Bill
- Mystery Survivor
- Good Fellas
Not Great But Still Worth Listening To
- Recipe
- 거짓말이야 (It's a Lie)
Songs I Can't Decide On
Album Review: EXO XOXO
Only a few days ago, EXO released their new album entitled XOXO, Kisses being the Korean version of the album and Hugs being the Chinese version. Because I was amazed at how good the album is, I decided to create a full album review of their comeback album XOXO and if you have not yet listened to the album, you definitely should because I promise, you won't be disappointed.
First off, I didn't really like the title track Wolf as much as all the other songs which make the album worth having. Second, there are numerous pros and cons to this album and I will decode all of them out of the kindness of my heart.
Kisses Version (EXO-K) Korean Version
Pros
Ill start with Kisses, the Korean version. I really loved the album but after hearing D.O in Baby, don't cry, I am still a bit iffy about his high notes. Let Out The Beast is great, it being like a dancing and I-just-don't-care mood. Baby, Peter pan and My Lady will sweep you off your feet . I really loved Baekhyun's voice and it certainly stuck out amongst the rest. And even though I pefer EXO-M over EXO-K, I enjoyed the album of EXO-K.
EXO-K XOXO: Album Highlight Melody
Cons
What I don't understand is why stupid SM Entertainment put three of the same track Wolf. In a way it would be a rip-off to get the album only to hear the same shitty song Wolf, over and over again but the other nine songs are worth the spend.
EXO-K XOXO: Album Highlight Melody
Cons
What I don't understand is why stupid SM Entertainment put three of the same track Wolf. In a way it would be a rip-off to get the album only to hear the same shitty song Wolf, over and over again but the other nine songs are worth the spend.
Hugs Version (EXO-M) Chinese Version
Pros
I have to say I really loved the Hugs version. Though Kris still needs to work on his rapping, Tao has gotten better much better. Also, it also looks like Lay and Luhan got better in vocals. I was actually surprised with My Lady and Peter Pan and when I heard Xuimin sing a bit. Black pearl was breath-taking I was amazed at the melody of this song. It had sort of a Shrillix/ Dance-Pop kind of beat.
Cons
I feel the same as Kisses version of the album. I see it bit of a waste of money because the face they have Wolf track on there three times in the album. I really thought the first track would be an intro to the album but sadly it was a repeat.
EXO-M XOXO: Album Highlight Melody
To Sum it all up
Overall, the album is worth listening to. Despite hearing Wolf multiple of times on this album and the somewhat bad rapping of EXO-M's Kris, I can come to like the album. If you are a huge EXOtic then I would consider you purchasing the album. And though there could have been more good tracks added, I have come to love the album very much.
Which version do like better Hugs or Kisses? Comment below!
