Unicorn Jukebox

Hey!

I know last week was kind of spotty with blog posts. It was my birthday week and I decided I wanted to take a week off of listening to new music and just listen to what I had already put into playlists. But, I am back and really missed listening to new music, so we’re back in full swing this week 🙂

This album is the first mini album by South Korean artist, BoA. But, don’t let the fact that this is her first mini album confuse you because she is a veteran-ed performer in the kpop world. In fact she is often referred to as the Queen of Kpop and has been a staple in the kpop industry since 2000.

As far as my experience with BoA before listening to this album, I hadn’t listened to any of her albums in full before this one. I did see her performance at the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMAs) and did watch both of the music videos (One Shot, Two Shot & Nega Dola) before listening to the album.

Now for the track by track breakdown:

One Shot Two Shot: It has a very funny and catchy vibe to it that definitely makes you want to dance, which it makes a lot of sense that this is the lead single off of the album. It did feel a bit generic to me, it didn’t really possess any flair to it that was interesting or different than anything on the kpop market currently. It also felt like it went on just a hair too long and I found myself become bored with the track by the end of it.

Everybody Knows: I liked this track a lot better than the first one. I felt that this one was more in BoA’s wheelhouse. It was a little softer and had a more chill feel versus the first track, but it still retained all the presence that BoA has.

Nega Dola: I think the music video really adds to this song. It’s really cool to see a female idol dance in a style that reminds me a lot of Jay Park. This track has a tropical feel to it and is still really catchy and fun. But, overall a better style than the first track.

Your Song: This song features Junoflo, who I had never heard of before, but will have to check out because he has a very good voice and flow. It was a very smooth and sexy track, and I think this is the concept that fits BoA the best currently. I think this might be my favorite song on the album because it does a good job of showing off her voice.

Recollection: This was an interesting track because it had a very 80s feel to it. I like when artists aren’t afraid to through it back to a different era to show off their talents. I think this was stylistically the most interesting track on the album.

Always, All Ways: First of all the title is really cute, and I appreciate a cute title. This was another smooth and sexy track that is definitely more her style, and I’m glad. This one verged more on the 90s R&B side which I think is an even better fit for her.

Camo: I’m glad she ended the album on a fun upbeat song that had a really interesting chorus. This was probably my favorite “single” off of the album. It was definitely the classic pop/dance feel to it, but there was enough variation that it was interesting to listen to and didn’t feel generic

Overall I thought it was a pretty decent album. There weren’t any tracks that I didn’t like on it, but there also weren’t any tracks that I loved. One thing that I think would have elevated the album to me would have been the inclusion of a ballad. You can tell by these songs that she has an incredible voice, but she doesn’t get a moment to truly show it off.

Rating: B

Link to album:

Hi!

So this Monday’s post isn’t an international album, but instead a SoundCloud rapper by the name of Love-SadKid. If you haven’t heard of them, don’t worry you are not alone. They are a 15 year old rapper with an impressive 120,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. This album also features Dahm, which is another SoundCloud rapper/producer. I personally have never heard of Dahm before, but I have been following Love-SadKid for three albums now. I have been consistently impressed by everything they have put out, and even more so when I found out they were only 15 years old. This is the second album of his that is titled Constellations. I gave the first one a B rating as it had a lot of solid tracks on it.

Rating: B

Link to Albums:

Empty Space: Cute little interlude to start the album off with.

Stop Sign: This track didn’t really do anything for me. I didn’t really stand out to me at all.

Bye Bye Bye: I really like this one it’s super fun beat and a really good flow.

Show U How: I like how this one instantly slowed down and created a different feel to the album.

Slow Jam. I think the flow between ‘Show U How’ and this track was very smooth and worked really well in succession. I really like the rap that comes in half way through the track. It has really good flow and character to it.

Summer Love: It’s a cute song with a nice chill beat. Just like the title suggests it has a very summer sound to it which makes it feel a little out of place on an album that is released in the heart of winter, but in general it’s a nice end to the album sound wise.

Overall, this wasn’t my favorite Love-Sadkid album to date, but I thought it was still a fairly good album. I didn’t necessarily love the individual tracks too much, but I really liked the structure that was very apparent throughout the album. It stars off fun and upbeat then suddenly slows down with ‘Show U How’. From that point on the songs just seem to coast into one another perfectly.

If you are a fan of Hip Hop, I would suggest jumping on the Love-Sadkid train because in a couple years they are going to be the next big thing.

Hey Everyone!

I hope that you had a great week and it was filled with love and great music. I got through 13 albums this week, but none of them were too amazing nor were any too bad either. And with that let’s go through the short breakdown.

4eva is a Mighty Long Time by Big K.R.I.T.

Rating: C+

Going in I thought I was going to hate this album, but overall I thought it was pretty ok. Not something I would ever listen to again, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. My main complaint with this album is that it is an hour and a half long, which is kind of ridiculous.

When Was The Last Time by Darius Rucker

Rating: C

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of country so this album was not really for me. I tend to only like country albums that add a little bit of flair or something different to them, but this one was really pretty generic which is why I went with the C rating.

Parkjiyoon9 by Park Ji Yoon

Rating: A-

This was a Korean album, and I would put it in the K-Ballad category. I thought that it did exactly what it was meant to do as an album of ballads and I thoroughly enjoyed the album as a whole.

Crooked Shadows by Dashboard Confessional

Rating: A-

I was not expecting the type of sound that actually came from this album. It was a lot slower, chiller pop sound than their previous stuff. I overall really liked the album, but am worried that it will not do well commercially because it doesn’t really have a radio single anywhere on the album, and is more of an album that you would listen to in the background while studying versus actually listen to.

Remember Me by 4men

Rating: B

Here was another K-ballad album that made it into my ears this week. I thought it was a beautiful album and I was fortunate enough to be working on homework while listening to it, and it was perfect for that. This album was extremely long though because it included all of the instrumental tracks as well, which is both good and bad.

Nou Pap Domi Deyo: Ou Pa Kontan, Vin Bat Mwen by Djakout #1

Rating: C

This was my first time listening to Haitian compas music, and honestly nothing really stood out to me. I was playing it and it just kind of flew by and suddenly it was over.

Without Warning by Offset, 21 Savage, Metro Boomin

Rating: C+

I really liked the first portion of this album a lot. But, then as the album went on there were a few derogatory songs towards women that I did not care for. And there were a few songs that just seemed to drag on, and were not very good.

WAS by QM

Rating: C+

This was another one of those albums that just flew by while I was listening to it and I didn’t really pay much attention to it. It didn’t really have any outstanding good qualities, but it also didn’t have any bad qualities either.

Freeze! by Momoland

Rating: B-

To be honest I am really picky about my kpop girl groups so it is really hard for me to find albums that I truly like. This album there was nothing on it that I really loved, but there’s nothing on it that I really hated either. Which, is basically a win for me in terms of girl group albums.

Kids in Love by Kygo

Rating: C

Yet again another album that had no outstanding qualities to it.

Unapoligetically by Kelsea Ballerini

Rating: C

This is another country album, and as I explained above I don’t really care for country albums, and this didn’t really have anything about it that stood out.

In Tounges by Joji

Rating: C+

This was a really weird album. It had a really interesting sound that I hadn’t really heard before, but I didn’t necessarily like it.

What’s Up Hyung? by Bizzy

Rating: B

This is a Korean rap album, and it was pretty good. I had never really heard of Bizzy before, but there were a lot of my favorite Korean rappers featured on the last track of this album, and it was pretty good. I’m definitely going to keep and eye out for Bizzy in the future.

Hey everyone!

Today’s albums is called Crooked Shadows by Dashboard Confessional.

Rating: A-

Link to Album:

Music Video: “We Fight”

Going into listening to this album I had never really heard of Dashboard Confessional before. They were ringing some very distant emo/alternative bells for me, but I couldn’t necessarily associate them with a song or album off the top of my head. I did some research to try and see where I might have heard them before, but nothing was really standing out to me either. So, my expectations going into this album was that it was going to be an alternative/pop punk type album, but that was a really weak assumption at that.

But oh, was I wrong.

This album was way softer and slower than I anticipated it being.  But, that being said it was a really good album. The sound for this album in general was a really chill pop/alternative sound that was very reminiscent of All Time Low. Overall it was a style of music that I liked, but not something that I would actively search out to listen to. This would be an album that I might listen to while studying or if I wanted some background music to not really pay attention to. I’m not saying this as a bad thing, I’m just being honest.

The songs that really stood out to me on this album are: “We Fight”, “Catch You”, and “Heart Beat Here”.

The one complaint I have about the album is “Open My Eyes”. The song itself was pretty ok, but I just couldn’t get over how he pronounced the word ‘eyes’. It was just too whiny sounding to me and just overall not the correct way to pronounce a vowel.

Overall I think that it is a pretty good album, but I don’t think that it will do very well commercially. It has a solid sound, but there’s not really a radio hit anywhere on the album. But, i do think that it is worth a listen.