REVIEW Album Review: BLACKPINK - "THE ALBUM"

Polaris_Tae

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ALBUM REVIEW: BLACKPINK – “THE ALBUM”
Written by: Polaris_Tae
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While going through this quarter's most recent releases, I thought that I would go over an artist that I don't often pay attention to; which is BLACKPINK. On the 2nd of October BLACKPINK returned with their first full-length album. This was their first release after over a year of inactivity and now will possibly be the only time within the next year that I'll ever have the chance to review the groups' work due to their often sporadic releases that they — and YG girl groups in general — are known for. Before "THE ALBUM", BLACKPINK had only ever released two other physical albums: their 2018 EP, "Square Up" & last years' "Kill This Love". Both of which went on to achieve KMCA platinum certifications following their release; which the group's most recent album "THE ALBUM" would later surpass after they became the first Kpop girl group to achieve over 1 million album sales with a single album thus solidifying their hold over the Korean music industry.



'How You Like That'


"How You Like That" is a trap-infused release that serves as the first track on "THE ALBUM" and was the groups' first pre-release during the latter half of June. This track is more on the experimental side of BLACKPINK's sound and as such, lies along the lines of the groups' two previous releases, "Kill This Love" & "Du Ddu Du Ddu". As it relies more on the hard-hitting beats used to create an instrumental chorus as well as the experimentation in the use of interesting instruments to fill out the instrumental of the track. "How You Like That" was one of those songs that I initially loved to hate mainly due to the sheer amount of experimentation and mess that was included in a single track. However, I later went through what could essentially be described as the seven stages of grieving with this song, where I came to accept that this release isn't as bad as I initially believed it was after returning to listen to the song after an extended period. The song begins with an orchestral sounding opening with the BLACKPINK signature line, "BLACKPINK in your area" as we are introduced to the opening lines of the track, which is a powerful pre-chorus... only to fall flat during the chorus. I think the main issue that I can identify in my somewhat dislike for the structure of "How You Like That" was that — just like BIGBANG's "Bang Bang Bang" — it has a flat chorus despite the build-up that occurs during the pre-chorus which impacts on the song's likeability. However, I think that despite this negative aspect to the production, it still has a few interesting elements sprinkled throughout the song that make up for this. These include elements such as the moment at around 1:13 into the track when we see Lisa is making her way through what could only be a Bazaar. Something along the lines of a sitar can be heard adding an interesting aspect to the composition and filling out the song.
7/10



'Ice Cream'


"Ice Cream" was the groups' second single from "THE ALBUM" and was dropped as a pre-release in late August. Unlike, "How You Like That", "Ice Cream" is a much more pop-oriented track and is a collaboration with American singer Selena Gomez. This track is the groups' first collaboration on "THE ALBUM"; the artist also happens to be the groups' labelmate through their US management company Interscope.

The track revolves around the girls describing themselves as being as cool as "Ice Cream" throughout the song, and I can't help but agree! Unlike, "How You Like That", "Ice Cream" rather diversifies their target audience by expanding from a hard-hitting release to a soft and sweet release that will generally appeal to the broader audience. One of my favourite aspects regarding this track was the vocal transition in Lisa's first Rap verse: "Brrr brrr frozen // You're the one been chosen // Play the part like Moses // Keep it fresh like roses". This verse transitions directly into Rose's verse; thus essentially creating a perfect — possibly unintentional — change into another great chorus. I had several issues with this release. The first was reducing Jisoo's line to the point where she was the featured artist rather than Selena Gomez. Some might excuse this as being established due to Jisoo's poor grasp on the English language — which "Ice Cream" is primarily sung in — but considering how Lisa has a portion of her rap verses written in Korean, there is honestly no excuse for this. YG needs to sort out the groups' line distribution by through accomodating each of the members' strengths and weaknesses rather than attempting to appeal to wider audiences by writing the majority of the song in a language that is utterly foreign to one of the members.

Another issue was the jarring nature that the synths create throughout the song. Which I didn't find to be a significant issue, but felt that if the song had a stronger instrumental, I would be more inclined to enjoy the song more. It's essentially the instrumental — along with some select phrase choices in some sections of Lisa's rap verses — that holds it back from being a fantastic song. "Ice Cream" isn't a horrible song, but it's not amazing either. I think that with subtle edits to specific sections of the track — along with fewer cliche lyrics — "Ice Cream" could have gone from being a slightly above-average track to becoming a great release that would be on par with some of their more notable releases.

6/10


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'Pretty Savage'


"Pretty Savage" is the first release so far that I've liked from the first note! The song is an EDM/Trap-dominated track that consistently calls back to the groups' previous releases. The instrumental itself is pretty savage basic in the way that the song is constructed but that in no way drags the quality down. It instead largely relies on the heavy-hitting bass sections in the chorus, this is accentuated in the attitude driven way that the members deliver the verses.

The most significant addition to this song, in my opinion, is the delivery of the vocals, they deliver them in a biting and snarky way that makes you believe that they are speaking directly to your face when they throw accusatory words at you telling the world that despite seeming similar to them... you aren't, as they have everything that you could wish for and more. The song is similar in its accentuation on vocal delivery — rather than instrumentals — like Red Velvet's "Sassy Me" — the track focuses more on biting delivery and savage lyrics allowing the instrumental to take a backseat in this regard. My final compliment for the song comes in the form of the bridge that comes, of course, before the last verse and Rose's stunning accentuation of the lyrics throughout this verse. In fact, throughout the entire song, I feel that Rose is the standout vocalist that becomes the leader this track needs in delivering just the right amount of ferocity that this track needs to punch its way through your heart and into your playlist!

9/10



'Bet You Wanna (ft. Cardi B)'


"Bet You Wanna" is the second and final collaboration on "THE ALBUM" and is, in all honesty, the better collaboration of the two. "Bet You Wanna" is a collaboration between the group and Cardi B and happens to be the groups' first track sung entirely in English on "THE ALBUM" — following the almost-completely English track, "Ice Cream" from earlier. It also succeeds in an aspect where "Ice Cream" failed, by delivering us a superior English track that has little to no cringe-worthy lyrics (which sadly can't be said for "Ice Cream"). The song also has one interesting detail, the fact that it has a whopping eight lyricists attached to the track. This includes BTS's cursed lyricist Melanie Fontana & OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder, which could be a possible reason for its superior English lyrics. However, the inclusion of English again in "Bet You Wanna" means that Jisoo was shafted to the sidelines once more. Despite this detail, it is Jisoo that I found to be the most standout singer in this release, as she shows us a vocal range that we don't often see from her (at least in the title tracks).

Cardi B, unlike Selena, is featured in this track perfectly, she isn't over featured, which was the case with Selena in "Ice Cream". However, the second half of the song felt like it was somewhat empty and I think that it would've been a perfect track if Cardi had split up her featuring into two sections where she could return for the final verse to cap it off. Her featuring in this honestly feels like she just rocked up to fulfil her contractual obligation of featuring on the album and left halfway through the song. In essence, "Bet You Wanna" is an overall fantastic song, with a great hook & a simple yet addictive instrumental, that could benefit with more Jisoo, just like all the other things in life.

9.5/10


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'Lovesick Girls'


"Lovesick Girls" is by far the highlight of "THE ALBUM" and is, in all honesty, one of my favourite BLACKPINK title tracks since "Playing With Fire". The song describes an unhealthy pattern of going through lovesickness over and over, despite knowing how bad it is for them. As for the track itself, it's an EDM dance track that has something that we haven't seen from BLACKPINK in years, a vocal dominated chorus!

It is through this song that we see the group return their roots by giving us a sound somewhat reminiscent of their 2016 releases such as "Playing With Fire" plus hints of acoustics in their instrumental, that made me love their hit, "Stay" as much as I still do. One thing that I loved about this release — aside from the aforementioned chorus — has got to be its instrumental, as well as the fact that Jisoo has lines! The instrumental in this release is a completely formed masterpiece. This track, unlike a number of their previous releases, is not empty and includes some dimension and depth to the piece. This is achieved through the acoustic/rock guitar base making up the majority of the track along with technical elements that are then laid upon the base of the release. It is these elements, combine with the anthem-like chorus, which is a rarity in BLACKPINK's music that helps to establish this track as an absolute hit. At its core, "Lovesick Girls" is the track that defines BLACKPINK to their fundamental being, as a group that can make it all on their own and doesn't need someone to prop them up, because as they say, "We were born to be alone" to wander the earth again and again until they find the person that will love them for being themselves, and the exact people up for the task is BLACKPINK themselves.

9.5/10



'Crazy Over You'


"Crazy Over You" is a track with an extremely interesting instrumental. It's a Trap-dominated release that utilises interesting sound effects such as a squeaky toy and pairing it with Arabian-influenced beats that are all brought together with an operatic verse to transition between rap verses, much like "How You Like That". In this release, it honestly feels like the vocals take the back seat for most of the track in favour of the instrumental. It often sounds like it's drowning out the vocals in sections of the song, save for the operatic transition verses, and often sounds like the members are struggling to make their voices heard over the bass-heavy instrumentals at some sections of the song. However, despite this detail, I still found myself enjoying this release due to its interesting instrumental, which is likely the highlight of the song.

Another thing to note is that, although this release is delivered in English, Jisoo has several lines in this release and we get to hear her vocal ability to its fullest (when it's not being drowned out by the instrumental that is). Despite these great additions, "Crazy Over You" sounds like a filler track and I wish that the song had been refined to a further degree both on the technical aspect as well as hiring better songwriters. As songwriting, especially English-language songwriting, is simply not Teddy's Forté.

4.5/10


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'Love To Hate Me'


"Love To Hate Me" is the final English release on the album and is — thankfully not written by Teddy — a trap-dominated release where the group dismisses a jealous ex-lover. However, the song can also be viewed as a commentary on their haters who hate on them just for breathing. As the lyrics: "I need you nah // I been good lately // Blowin' up // Workin' busy // You ain't worth my love // If you only love to hate me" could suggest that they're also calling out their haters that they essentially deal with 24/7 following their rise to fame. As for the song itself, it's an overall great track with an effort on reclaiming their reputation by explaining that they don't need your love, but their haters need them to fuel their hatred for them. I also found that I immensely enjoyed the technical elements added to the track. The orchestral hits, in particular, was used to add a further dimension to the composition to the release — while also calling back to the group's first single "How You Like That" — that almost sound lie a strings section at times, in particular, was a great addition to this release.
9/10



'You Never Know'


"You Never Know" is described as a pop ballad that includes a sense of overcoming and acts as an epilogue to cap off the album. The group gives us the moral of life, don't judge a book by it's cover by telling us:

"But you’ll never know unless you walk in my shoes // You’ll never know… how my laces are tangled // ‘Cause everybody sees what they wanna see // It’s easier to judge me than to believe".

The one issue I had with this track is that I felt that it was slightly under-produced. The repetitive piano felt slightly off-key for the vocals to shine through properly. However, this thankfully improves following the introductions of more layers of instrumentals throughout the chorus and allows the vocals to finally shine through once the chorus begins. Despite my earlier grievances regarding the opening verse, I found that the second half of the song picks up to a more enjoyable song that, along with the overall message of the song — telling us not to pre-judge someone, as "You Never Know" the circumstances they're facing makes this track the perfect song to go out on!

7/10

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In conclusion, I found BLACKPINK's "THE ALBUM" to be a mixed bag. It has multiple songs that I loved, but also several tracks that I felt could be improved upon, such as "Crazy Over You". However, in regards to the latter, even those releases had interesting qualities to them despite finding their way to the bottom of my list. One thing that I've taken away from this release is that Teddy needs to stick to what he's good at, song producing; as almost all the releases that he had a hand in as a lyricist — aside from "Lovesick Girls" — was just not to my tastes. One particular thing that has left me curious about this album is the song inclusion throughout "THE ALBUM" which includes the addition of multiple English releases throughout its entirety. The question is, have these tracks been included in an attempt to appeal to English-speaking audiences, or is this a part of their contractual obligations with their US-based management company, INTERSCOPE. Nevertheless, it was an exciting album, to say the least, and I know that I'll be putting at least a few of these songs on my playlist. Expect "Bet You Wanna" to be on my Spotify Songs of 2020!

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Artistic Creativity: 7.5/10
Vocal Quality: 9/10
Music: 7.5/10


8/10
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PROOFREAD BY: @heidzee!
GRAPHICS BY: @AKID❀KI
 

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One of the best albums of 2020 in my opinion! Loved every song but I agree about Crazy About You. :TzuyuKek:
 

MedicationHelps87

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I really liked this album. Even though buying one of the limited editions cost me 99 dollars Australian (ouch)
So worth it though! The only compliment is that 8 songs seems a bit small for an actual LP.

It should have been at least 12.

The fun is over, before it even has a chance to begin in my opinion. In saying that, the features for me like Selena Gomez and Cardi B, were the stand outs about this album. besides the production.
 
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for me it was;
  1. love to hate you
  2. pretty savage=lovesick girls
  3. crazy over you
  4. hylt=you never know
  5. bet you wanna
  6. ice cream
 
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