Unicorn Jukebox

GOT7 is a 7 member boy group under JYP Entertainment that debuted in 2014. Eyes on You is their 8th mini album, and just like their previous albums they had a part in writing and producing. The title track “Look” is one of their most successful singles since their debut.

Let’s take a moment and break it down track by track

One and Only You ft. Hyolyn: I thought this was a really good track to start the album off with. It showcases the funky feel that is utilized further throughout the album. It also has a little bit of an old school R&B feel, which is really fun. I liked how the song felt very much like a duet between a man and a woman versus a feature. It was a new and refreshing approach.

Look: This track again takes on the funky feel that was in the first track, but with a little more of a fresh style. Overall I felt like the song was fairly standard generic kpop title track. I did watch the music video previously, and nothing really stood out to me from watching it. I do think that the slowing down of the bridge has a really cool effect.

The Reason: This was a really peculiar song. When it first starts you think that it is going to be a ballad, but then picks up and changes. Then suddenly there is a rap breakdown. It’s cool that they tried to do something a little innovative and different, but I was not really feeling it.

Hesitating: This song was one of my favorite on the album. I thought the funky bass backing track was really cute. I also really liked the usage of silence in the second verse. Overall it was a really cute funky song.

Us: Again this song features a funky feel to it. I really like how they are very obviously influenced by funky throughout the album, but all of the tracks sound very distinct. I love Jackson’s voice in this song particularly.

Thank you: I love when artists make the choice to end their album on a ballad. I think it is such a bold choice and love when it is done well, as it is here. This song was definitely my favorite on the album and the whispered ‘Thank you’ at the end of the track was so cute and put the perfect ending to the album.

Overall Rating: B+

Hey it has been a while, but lets dive into the music video of “Boomerang” by Wanna One!

A little bit about Wanna One before we get too carried away: Wanna One is an eleven member boy group formed out the the Produce 101 Season 2 survival show. They debuted in August of 2017 and will be promoting until the end of 2018 when their contract expires. After that some members will go back to groups they were in previously, and others will seek out yet to be disclosed adventures.

Overall Story/Aesthetic: The way the music video is presented makes you think that there is some sort of story present. It seems as thought they are being hunted with the arrows being shot, or something. But, from what I can tell there is no explicit story line. The overall aesthetic of the music video is beautiful including the great use of cool tone lighting throughout the whole thing. At first I was completely disappointed in the lack of physical boomerangs in the video, but then I realized that the were doing the type of boomerangs that are on Instagram (the ones where the video goes forward and then backward) and suddenly it made a lot more sense. But, overall the video focused much more on the aesthetic feel than an actual story line.

Song: You can definitely tell they were going for more of an EDM feel with this track than they have in the past. I don’t really care for this song, and it is not one of their best songs. But, I must say that the chorus does get stuck in your head.

Fashion: I really liked the fashion that they went for in this video. It was a bit more mature than what they have worn previously and I think it really worked. It had the classic feel that was extenuated by the choice of wearing almost all black and white. I did like that they incorporated street style into the classic look to keep them still the youthful Wanna One we know and love.

Choreography: There wasn’t a ton of shots of the choreography in the music video as it focused mostly on the aesthetics, but what I did see reminded me a lot of Seventeen. They utilized the fact that they have a large number of members and worked hard to create interesting shapes and formations. But, again there wasn’t a lot of choreography in the video.

Camera Work: I think the camera work is probably the most impressive part about this video. The cameras are almost constantly in motion. You are pretty pressed to find still shots anywhere in the video. There is one scene in which everything is shown going backwards but the singers are singing correctly. HOW?!?! Honestly how? That was so cool and was something I had never seen in a video before.

In the end I liked the music video, it wasn’t my favorite, but definitely had a cool feel to it. 🙂

Hey y’all!

I want to try something a little different this week since I was really busy last week and don’t really have a recap for you. I wanted to try reviewing a music video that came out, and talk about all of the different aspects it contains such as fashion, song, overall story/aesthetic, camera work, and choreography.

Before we get into the breakdown of the music video lets go through a little background on NCT Dream. NCT Dream is a sub unit of NCT (Neo-Culture Technology) which is a rotating member boy group under SM Entertainment. This is the third music video that they have release ahead of their comeback as NCT 2018.

Overall Aesthetic/Story line: If this was your first time viewing anything by NCT Dream the overall aesthetic wouldn’t really shock you. BUT this is a crazy concept switch from what they have done in the past. Their previous aesthetic was much more young boys with a bubble gum pop influence, and this is anything but. I’m glad that they decided to purposely put in shots of them laughing or doing cute things to show that they’re not getting rid of that side of their image, but rather expanding to show more sides of them. Dream doesn’t really go for an actual story line throughout the video, and instead focuses more on aesthetic. As far as locations, and costuming is concerned there is a heavy hip hop influence through out the look of the video. The overall image is a bunch of kids playing around in the streets, something very commonly associated with hip hop’s roots. And to drive the point home further Mark wears a shirt with Beyonce on it, and someone else (sorry didn’t see who) is wearing one with Kanye.

Song: The song itself is really not my favorite. Dream has a lot of really talented vocalists and I feel that they really missed an opportunity to showcase them with choosing to shout sing the chorus. But, I must say I did not realize how great of a voice Haechan has, and I’m glad that at least one person got a chance to shine vocally. The first time I heard this song I thought they didn’t give Mark a verse, and was completely shocked by that, but no worries he gets one toward the end. As much as I don’t really care for the song (it’s probably my least favorite of the tracks NCT 2018 has released so far) it does get stuck in your head fairly easily, which I guess is the point.

Fashion: I really like the fashion choices in this video. NCT is known for wearing things that on paper you wouldn’t think go together, but some how they pull them off. The clothes definitely show off a 90s hip hop aesthetic. I really loved all of the neon colors that when paired with the lighting design really popped through out the video. I think the use of the neon colors helped keep alive the boyish image that Dream is so known for.

Camera Work: The camera work wasn’t too crazy or anything like that, but it did a couple of things that added to the video. I liked that it would alternate between long ‘professional’ shots to more dietetic ones that made it feel like it was being shot by one of the members in the video. Towards the end of the video the camera got more involved with the song, shifting a bit every time go was shouted and added onto the frenziness that was created in all of the changing scenery and lighting building the song up to the conclusion.

Choreography: Unfortuantely there wasn’t too much of the choreography shown in this video to make too much of a judgement, which is really sad. Dream are incredibly good dancers, and although this music video was good I would have loved to see more of them dancing. That being said what was shown was great and definitely centered around a more hip hop feel, like everything else in this video.

Hey everyone!

Welcome to my Weekly Recap. This was another really busy week for me so I didn’t get to listen to as many albums as I would have liked this week, but there were quite a few good ones, so that makes up for it. This week I definitely listened to a lot of older music, well not super old. A lot of these albums were released in 2014 or 2015, so not exactly recent, but still very good.

Femm-Isation by FEMM

Rating: B+

They are a ‘mannequin’ Japanese duo with a really unique sound. I found myself enjoying a lot of the tracks, but listening to the whole album altogether was almost a bit much. I feel like I will enjoy their songs and style a lot better as individual songs in a playlist versus listening to the whole album again. I normally don’t feel that way about music because I feel the artist’s stories are told better through a whole album versus individual tracks, but this is definitely an exception.

X by Ed Sheeran

Rating: B+

I had obviously heard tracks from this album since it was released, but it had been a while since I had listened to the album in its entirety. I prefer ‘Divide’ over this album by far. I feel that this was definitely a unique album with the most of the tracks having an off the beaten path feel, while still having all of the recognizable hits.

2014 S/S by Winner

Rating: B+

This album really reminded me how much I enjoy Winner’s music. A lot of their staple hit come from this album and overall its a very solid piece of work. It makes me increasingly more excited for their next comeback.

The Manuel by Eddy Kim 

Rating: B+

This was a very cute album and I really enjoyed Eddy Kim’s sound. He has such a soothing voice so it was very nice to listen to. I had never heard of him before so I was very delighted to be treated to his great voice.

Life Note by Hong Ji-Young

Rating: C

Overall I didn’t really care for this album. None of the tracks stood out or did anything for me. It was pretty bland for the most part.

25 by Song Ji-Eun

Rating: C

This album was also pretty bland for me. There wasn’t too much about it that really stood out. There was one track, “Don’t Look at Me Like That” was incredibly familiar to me for some reason. I think it is used as a backing track in several videos by other companies or YouTube creators.

Speed Circus by Speed

Rating: B

I was super excited for this album. I had heard the lead single before and love it, and the choreography for it, but the rest of the album didn’t really impress me. The other tracks on the album were really just ok with no wow factor. Nevertheless I am still disappointed that Speed has disbanded.

Make Up by Hyomin

Rating: C

This album didn’t really do much for me, maybe due to the fact that it is only 3 tracks long. And being 3 tracks long, the third song felt like it didn’t fit the concept of the other two.

Bouquet by The Chainsmokers

Rating: B

This was the last album by The Chainsmokers that I needed to listen to, and is arguably my least favorite. The songs were all ok, but there wasn’t really any wow factor present in any of them. I’m personally not the biggest fan of them.

1989 by Taylor Swift

Rating: A+

I will admit I have listened to this album before, but I didn’t listen to it since I had created my list and recording ratings, so I thought it fitting to revisit it. I think this is a fantastic album. I know a lot of people have their opinions of Taylor one way or another, but I still believe this is a stellar album. This was the album where I felt Taylor had the clearest grip on her style and direction. ‘Reputation’ is a whole other story.

Locomotive by Loco

Rating: B

This was a good album. He’s not my favorite Korean rapper, but also not my least favorite by any means. I really enjoyed the Jay Park feature.

Hey~~~~~

You have no idea how completely excited I am to be able to review this album!!!! I have been actively waiting for this album to be released for over 6 months now. In case you don’t know, J-Hope is a member of the kpop sensational boy group, BTS. He has been teasing the release of the album for what feels like forever, and he dropped it last week.  This release has set a bunch of records on the Billboard charts including debuting at number 63 on the Billboard 200 chart, which is the highest for any solo kpop artist. To make that number even more impressive the album was released with only 14 hours left to be counted in that week’s Billboard 200. And with that let’s get into the track by track review 🙂

Hope World: It starts off with a really fun retro feel, which will be repeated throughout the whole album. I loved the start and I feel it really set up the listener to what the rest of the album would be like, and what J-Hope’s personal style is. J-Hope learned producing through his time in BTS so it was really cool to see him put his personality into the music and create something that truly reflected who he is versus who BTS is. Bonus fun fact: Hope World is the name of J-Hope’s studio 🙂

P.O.P. (Piece of Peace) pt. 1: The titling of this is super cute. It refers to the fact that J-Hope hopes to continue this thought in his future music, and also speaks to his personality and how he wishes to bring happiness to many people. It has a very relaxed backing track, but it never feels slow. The overall style transports you to a colorful world. This track also does a good job of highlighting J-Hope’s vocal ability as well as his flow as a rapper.

Daydream: This was the first song released off the album with an accompanying music video. Again we are greeting with a fun retro vibe throughout the whole song. You can easily picture yourself grooving out to this song at a roller disco. This song I believe is a perfect example of how J-Hope takes very interesting approaches to his rap flow. He tends to utilize space and pitch changes often versus relying on clever wording or trying to be the fastest. Also the use of the alarm clock sound effect is a super cute touch.

Base Line: First of all this song is not nearly long enough for how good it is! I am really glad it is included because it begins to show the other side of J-Hope that is heavily influenced by R&B and hip hop. This song acts as a good transition from Daydream to Hangsang making the album even more cohesive.

Hangsang feat. Supremeboi: I’m so glad that J-Hope decided to include Supremeboi on this track because he does not get nearly enough recognition for all of his work. (He’s a main producer for BTS and actually almost debuted with them). This song is something that most people would expect to be on a rapper’s mixtape, yet still retaining all of the J-Hope flavor. This is his way of saying, I can play the mixtape game your way too. I love this song so much and think it does everything you want from it. It’s the type of song you turn on when you are pre-gaming to go out for the night.

Airplane: This was the second single off of the album. I love how the backing vocals are done by the other members of BTS. This track goes back to the fun retro feel that we had in the beginning of the album. I’m glad that he set it up this way because it creates full circle effect that is very effective. This is definitely the most laid back song on the album, which kind of gives it this first class vibe. But, to be honest this is probably my least favorite song on the album, but it is still really good. I just don’t really see myself putting it in any of my playlists or reaching for it on its own.

Blue Side (Outro): I’m a huge fan of intros and outros to begin with so I am very happy that he included this. I think it is a fantastic way to showcase the fact that your thoughts on the album are concluded and brought around. It acts almost as a landing point for everyone to come home after visiting ‘Hope World’. I did hear that he had actually made this as a full song first and then cut it down to an outro, which definitely makes me wonder what the full track would be like.

Overall I thought this was a fantastic album that actually lived up to hype. I do wish it was a bit longer, but I can’t actually think of anything that is missing from the album. As far as a first mixtape from someone whose first love is dancing, this is absolutely phenomenal and I can’t wait to see what else will come from J-Hope and BTS in the future.

Safe Travels~~~~~ 🙂

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.