Bonjour. Happy Chuseok if you’re in Korea, or just super into harvest-time thanksgiving festivals! It’s day 3 of one of the biggest national holidays over here, and today has been spent entirely in pyjamas doing incredibly little besides laundry and washing my hair. Don’t tell me I don’t know how to party.
Two pretty big things happened today, one of which this post is about and one of which it is decidedly not. Number one: Trump has got Covid-19. Please wait one moment while I source my tiny violin for this. Aaaand done. Far more importantly is number two: today, K-pop megastars Blackpink have FINALLY released a full-length album. Well, 8 songs, but if you know anything about the saga of Blackpink and music releasing, you’ll know that 8 songs is nothing short of a miracle. No one recommended this one to me, though I’m sure my friend Austin would’ve been very disappointed if I hadn’t already listened to it by the time he messaged his opinions (don’t worry: I had). So let’s ignore Trump being sick, and let’s get it:
Before the album:
OK, time for me to do some flexing. Normally, my music knowledge is openly pitiful (I realised yesterday I only know 1 Panic! At The Disco song and I grew up in the 00s, how did I do that), but NOT WHEN IT COMES TO K-POP BITCHES. Not only do I know Blackpink, I know their history, follow their IGs and have seen them live. Before you raise an eyebrow, I wouldn’t call myself a full-on Blink (the name for Blackpink fans), and have never been exactly been sure where I stand on them, but there’s no denying I love some of their songs. As If It’s Your Last and Boombayah are some of the most played songs on my iTunes and I do not care what you think of that. So, a potted history for those not immersed in the glittery kaleidoscope that is K-pop:
Blackpink are a 4-member girl group formed by YG, a company that is arguably the most successful component of K-pop’s ‘big 3’ entertainment companies (along with SM and JYP, duh). The group is Lisa, a dancer and rapper, Jennie, a rapper and singer, Rosé, a singer, and Jisoo, a singer and visual (it’s a thing, google it). Behind BTS, they are the most successful K-pop group internationally: pretty much every time they release a new video, it breaks a YouTube record. They are famous for their ‘girl crush/bad ass’ concepts, and also for having…. questionable management. In terms of K-pop, they have a very low output for their level of success and time active as a group (about 4 years). Most groups will release ‘mini albums’ more than once a year, and the bigger successes all have full albums under their belt too. Look at BTS’ full discography from 7 years of activity if you want proof of that. Blackpink, however, have an average release rate of a couple of songs a year. Rumours of an album have been circulating like a pop version of the Holy Grail for a few years now, and this, the disappointingly titled The Album, is what has finally arrived. So the big question is, what do Blackpink produce when they have space for a whole album?
Very First Thoughts
I mean, my first thoughts are just mild amazement that this has actually happened. And that they really decided to go with the title The Album. OK then.
The first two songs on the album are the two previously released lead singles How You Like That and Ice Cream, so not a massive revelation to start off. I already know these two. HYLT is very much in the classic BP ‘feisty girl power club banger’ vein that most of their lead singles have been- it even opens with the same military-esque horns of 2019’s Kill This Love. And I think the video was made on the same set. Anyway, I can’t really get behind it, as it’s a bit too formulaic without anything particularly well-done or exciting. And those zippy chorus synth things annoy the hell out of me. Ice Cream similarly does nothing for me, a collaboration with Selena Gomez that relies on dumb innuendos, even dumber raps (sorry Lisa, this is no As If It’s Your Last) and nowhere near enough Jisoo. I have never heard anything else Selena has done and this doesn’t really drive me to seek her out. There is a capybara in the video though, for some reason.
(it's not specifically this capybara).
As the album goes on
This makes Pretty Savage the first truly new song on the album. As the title suggests, this is still very much ‘bad ass’ territory for the girls. The backing instrumentation is fun, and there’s even some whistling to remind us of the BP high point of Whistle in 2016 (look, titles aren’t K-pop’s strong point, OK?). There is a random guitar section with Rosé that I don’t think is necessary though. The next song is Bet You Wanna featuring Cardi B, and the ‘feisty girl who still doesn’t manage to say anything substantial’ vibe is still going strong. From what I can tell this whole song is in English, as is a lot of the album, which gives a pretty strong indication of what market they’re aiming for here, as does the inclusion of Cardi B. As with a lot of Western artist/K-pop idol collaborations, it feels like Cardi isn’t really being allowed to stretch her wings here: she has to ‘behave’ if she’s going to sing with the girls. It’s no WAP. Lines like “Give me an all-night hug/I bet you wanna” and “looking so thick/make you desire” are pretty out there for K-pop, but slightly rich given that a) these girls are barely allowed to breathe around young men and b) describing any member of BP as ‘thick’ is pretty much delusional. These girls are thin.
Next is the third single, with a video released today, Lovesick Girls. The tone shifts here to something a lot more ‘acoustic EDM’ in style. Think Icona Pop crossed with Little Mix. The lyrics are, umm, yeah (Jennie singing “Love is a drug that I quit/No doctor can help when I’m lovesick” while dressed as a sexy nurse isn’t exactly poetic), but it’s a refreshing change. I…think I like it? What I definitely like is the next song, Crazy Over You, which takes its cue from Whistle once again to slow things down, specifically in the chorus, without losing its sense of attitude. The instrumentation here is heavy on the Arabian sounds, and if I knew anything about Arabian music I would give you more details here. Moving into a slower beat allows the song to be calmer, and for the members’ skills to shine more.
There are only two more songs on this album, and honestly neither are particularly strong. All I really wrote down when hearing Love to Hate Me is that it’s nice to hear more Jisoo, and both Jennie and Rosé get some nice vocal runs. Lisa’s rap is actually pretty good too. The last song, You Never Know, gives the girls a moment to actually flex their vocal muscles, and feels very tailor-made to be sung whilst holding hands at the end of concerts.
When the album finishes
That was pretty much exactly the experience I was expecting from a full Blackpink album honestly. The lead singles, and most overtly ‘bad girl’ moments, are pushed towards the album’s first half, whilst the second attempts to be more sensitive and thoughtful. Because I’m not really into the girls’ latest releases, it’s actually the middle part of the album I end up liking the best. I think Lovesick Girls will grow on me, but my favourite is probably Crazy Over You, with its slightly different approach to delivering sass and attitude. Given that there are 8 songs, we do get to hear each member more than we might from just one song, meaning I get to hear Jisoo singing in English and Rosé actually delivering some powerful stuff in a way I don’t normally. Also, because this is an album of only 8 songs, none over 3 and a half minutes, I think I’ve managed to get through it about 6 times just when writing this.
Where would you hear this album?
On every single K-pop music show for about the next 4 weeks. And in convenience stores and restaurants as I walk past for the foreseeable future.
Would it go on a playlist?
Well, I do already have a K-pop playlist and of course BP already feature, but yeah, why not add in Lovesick Girls, Crazy Over You and Pretty Savage?
D’ya like it?
Yeah, I do like it. I don’t love it, and ironically I don’t like How You Like That, but I don’t think there’s anything here that could be called bad. Given the amount of time it took for us to get this album it is perhaps a little underwhelming, though not surprising that they wanted to move to more emotionally flavoured songs as the album progressed. It’s going to be huge because it’s Blackpink, and I think it’s a good place to start if you want to listen to more K-pop and find it a bit of a full-on genre. Hopefully this is just the start of more content and more styles from the biggest girl group in the world.
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