Well I'm like 20 years late, but here's my review (as a slight SNSD bias), for people who want to see a touch less negativity. Though I don't think there's anything classic here, it's got some nice tracks that will stay on my playlist for a while to come. Also, I’m loving the member variety they put on this one. SO LETS GET STARTED! (I like the cute style of SNSD far more if you can't tell from this review, so that's what this review will be geared towards, and I'm not the most critical music fan ever). Also, the amount of autotune lying around this album is less generous thankfully than there Japanese album, just enough imo to enhance the mood, but not enough to mess with my enjoyment, unlike some of SISTAR’s songs.
1. The Boys 8/10 Aggressive song, and quite catchy. Though the rap parts feel a bit forced, and the singing itself has relatively little variation, the fact that it has all of the members with pretty significant parts (EXCEPT WHERE’S TIFFANY WTF?) is extremely refreshing. Definitely just an SM single designed to make hype and stay on the radio, but it’s definitely addictive. Even though I’m not a huge fan, its stayed on repeat and is growing on me. Still, again nothing near Genie or Gee, but not as bad as some might have you believe.
2. Telepathy 8.3/10 A nice retro sounding song, very poppy, cute, old SNSD style song. Harkens back more to their 2nd album days than to first album. If you can get past the Telepassy, a very solid song here, even if it lacks a super powerful vocal part.
3. Say Yes 9/10 Another old-style SNSD style song, but I like this one quite a lot, more than Telepathy def. The beginning is a touch overdone imo, but the singing is a touch more impressive here as well as a bit more varied. More solo parts, while telepathy is much more group focused. Also much more catchy than Telepathy.
4. Trick 7/10 Though this one is ranking high on the popularity lists lying around soshified and such, I am actually not a huge fan. Though a bit more K-popish, its sorta boring imo, with a very generic T-ara first album’ish sound (which SNSD doesn’t do nearly as well as some other groups, though not badly). Also a lot less powerful, and a strange off-key chorus. Again, not a bad song, but not nearly as good as people are giving it credit for… Also, like I said, I’m biased to the cute stuff anyway XD.
5. How Great is your love? 9.3/10 Ballad song, not as sentimental, vocally as impressive, or as cute as some of their others like Dear Mom, or complete, but solid, and unique on the album. However, despite this, we get nice member variety, the pacing is nice, and the beat is nice and relaxed, just not classic level. Also, Sooyoung composed it, and biased as I am, that adds a .3 to the score, so take it off if you aren’t a huge fanboy like I am ^^.
6. My J 8.3/10 Extremely cutesy song, with a nice relaxed beat. Again, nice member variety (one of my favorite aspects of this album actually), but this song has a fair amount of group singing. Very stereotypical “GG” song XD, but the fact that sounds a bit more like their 1st album days gives it a small boost.
7. Oscar 6.8/10 Worst song of the album in my opinion. Try too hard to be like Britney spears, and this is what happens. Btw, does anyone else here the Starcraft 2 ping sound in the background? Slow, and attempts to be powerful, but comes off as forced. Sorta catchy, not horrific, but not true to SNSD at all, and they don’t pull it off nearly as well, as Rania’s Dr. Feel Good or things of the like.
8. Top Secret 8.4/10 Meet Hoot 2.0. Catchy, and I like the nice return to that sort of concept. Well done with the echo effects, and the voices in just the right timber to support the beat. I almost prefer this to hoot to be completely honest, the beat is much more unique, and is less “SM-singley”, and so allows the concept to shine. The only con of the song is the strangish talk-rapping part in the middle, which prevents this from getting a solid 8.7 or so, as it isn’t too distracting in casual listening.
9. Lazy Girl 9.4/10 Probably my favorite song of the album. Sounds extremely similar to Echo, which I absolutely adored, and the concept is quite frankly hilarious XD. So Jessica… Catchy, cute, but not as powerful lyrically or as varied member-wise as Echo, which prevents this from getting a 9.7-10.
10. Sunflower 7.7/10 Another ballad song, but slower than How great is your love. The beat is sorta boring, but the singing is nice. See if you loved forever, as the tempo is relatively close, but this doesn’t have the power factor that forever did. Solid ballad, but not anything ground-breaking or particularly impressive, and only hardcore ballad fans will really really enjoy this I think.
11. Vitamin 8.8/10 For a CF song, I enjoyed this A LOT. Cute, with a very nice chorus, the pacing feels just right. Laid-back while still feeling energetic (how does that work?). Beat is very unique and contributes a lot to the feel of the song. I’m a fan, and if you don’t listen too closely to the veetameen references (which sorta make the song feel outta place on an album) super enjoyable.
12. Mr. Taxi (Korean) 7.9/10 By basis of being Mr. Taxi, I give this a 7.9, but if were a first time listen, It’d probably be closer to just a 7. The remake is quite sloppy, the lyrics don’t flow well at all, and doesn’t sound as refined and techno as before. Its still nice, especially for the Koreans, but not a great remake.
13. The Boys (English) 7.9/10 Unfortunately, the lyrics actually fit better into the song in the English version, but I know that the Korean lyrics have a lot more meaning, which makes me sad. Same comments as I made for the original besides that.
Overall album rating: 8.3/10 Though the song collection is rather eclectic, and there is no defining highs or classics, there is also no huge low point, Oscar being the closest to that. The relative consistency of the songs, relatively minimal use of autotune, especially on their non-singles/sexy songs, member part variety, and nice throwback to their earlier style (finally!) is very welcome. Not the greatest SNSD can do, and not a classic like we hoped for (like album 1). Except for the relative letdown for the main single (which I expected from an SM Single), I was very satisfied with the rest of the album, and continue my SONE fanboyism. Cheers guys!
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