Love Tension Mini Album (REVIEW)

4Minute Love Tension REVIEW

4minute is back with their Japanese comeback—with more flavor than ever. 4minute has been on a constant journey to find their musical identity. They went from auto-tuned sassy, power pop to auto-tuned “cutesy’ pop then took a giant loop to a loud and sax-y vampire song. Each of their stages has been more or less a moderate success. 4minute took a dramatic turn right for their Japanese music as they abandoned their sexy black leotards for a more feminine look. And they succeed, while gaining more respect from non 4minute fans.

If you are familiar with 4minute, you know that their music is always loud. It is always loud and in your face. 4minute isn’t afraid to take that step into controversy. 4minute bluntly states that they aren’t going for the innocent look. While Heart to Heart was cute, many fans were disappointed. The cute girl look wasn’t anymore, as they took a turn for a vampire theme in Volume Up.

            Volume Up is catchy. A huge prop goes to Hyuna’s bridge. Gayoon’s high notes, along with the loud sax compliments Hyuna’s rapping and makes it sound badass. JiHyun’s verse slows down the song at the right moment, giving the song the cherry on top to make it a memorable hit.

            The music video has nothing to do with the vampire concept that they were trying to achieve. Nothing screams vampire, there are only many shots of HyunA with red contacts and a couple of bats here and there. The five beauties looked more like lesbians than blood-drinking vampires.

            The Love Tension mini-album features the Japanese version of Volume up, along with the official karaoke. I’ll pass on the instrumental, but it is great for fans who love the beat, or who wants to record a cover of the song. The Japanese version of Volume Up isn’t a fail. I have skimmed the comments on YouTube and the fans love it. The lyrical pronunciation is cleaner and clearer than the Korean version. It is perfection for the Japanese 4nias. To me, it felt like a bit of a downgrade from the Korean version. But English is my mother language; the Japanese Version isn’t targeted for my ears. I’m not fluent in either Japanese or Korean, so I will be sticking to the Korean version. In the Korean version, Hyuna’s rap has more power, and the lyrics flow together more smoothly.

            When the first teasers of Love Tension were released, I face-palmed, it looked boring. I preferred 4minute’s old trashy pop days than their current music. I believed disappointment was going to strike me again, with another disappointing single. When I finally mustered the courage to watch the music video, I was speechless. 4minute has blown me away with this single and video. The girls of 4minute had natural makeup, showing off their individual unique features. They were beauty—the music video was beauty. All the girls had a chance for the lime light; it wasn’t Hyuna plus her backup dancers, and 4minutes of all their beautiful faces.

            4minute has finally found a sound that works with them, not against them. Love Tension is a stunning song, and each girl’s voices fit well and compliment one another. Love Tension (the album) also includes the official instrumental.

            Love Tension is perfect for their Japanese comeback. Although, I would have liked for more songs, the album will not leave you disappointed. If they bring this flavor to their Korean singles, then 4minute will no doubt, become well-respected in their music.

LOVE TENSION (Mini-Album) ◊◊◊◊/◊◊◊◊◊ (4/5)

                                                                                                                             

A Huge Thanks :3

Thank you all for visiting. It means alot to me. Expect a new review today. It is going to be on
4MINUTE LOVE TENSION

Their new Japanese album. I am working very hard on this blog. And it means so much to me that you are visiting. I am doing this blog for my opinion on  music, and to widen my knowledge on different artists. If you want me to review anyone in particular leave a comment on this or any post.

~Thanks a million times ^^

Wonder Girls Like Money

Wonder Girls. Like Money Review

     Here I am going to review the song, not the music video. The music video has a generic Sci-Fi theme along with bionic Korean women, what more could you love? To shorten my opinion, the music video is boring. There is Akon in a chair, the Wonder Girls dancing in shiny suits, and Yubin in a car, pretty darn boring if you’re asking me.

     There is a special place for the Wonder Girls in my heart. Their song, Be My Baby, was the song that started me on my K-pop obsession. I was crazy for Be My Baby. I learned the danced and even performed it for my mother on Christmas. (Hey the song has a very Christmas-y song). And hearing this auto-tuned generic crap hurt my heart.

     Like Money, the song that seems like T-Pain took a giant crap, forgot to flush, and then the Wonder Girls found the feces brought it to JVP and he thought it was a great. Or maybe they recorded T-Pain’s farts and used it for the song’s beat. The Auto-tune tuned more than Sohee’s bad vocals, it fixed everything. It hid most of Yubin’s ‘Engrish’. Unfortunately, it hid the distinctness in Yenny’s vocals.

     The song starts with heavily accented Sohee saying that she is more precious than pearls. Sohee’s English is worse than Sunye’s but better than Yubin’s. It is something about Sohee’s voice that I cannot seem to understand her, when she sings in English. When I tried to listen to her verse by ear, I have mistaken a lot of words. In the first sentence, I thought she said my heat is beating out, instead of my heart is screaming out. I was shocked, when I read the lyrics online. Her singing fooled my wonderful hearing! The same for my DJ is mine; Sohee’s verses are my least favorite in their English songs. Her vocals are like she has a cold, which she never recovers from. It hurts me to say this. Sohee’s vocals were my favorite in Be My Baby. In her Engrish—I mean English—her vocals are my least favorite out of the group. Mandu Sohee, my bias (behind Yenny), stick to Korean.

     Next up is HyeLim. Hye Lim has replaced one of the former main vocalists, SunMi. SunMi has been replaced with the less vocally talented Lim. I knew nothing about MiMi, because I got into the Wonder Girls during Be My Baby, as I stated before. But I have heard Tell Me, So Hot, and Nobody anyone with ears can tell that MiMi has more vocal chops than Lim. But that’s in the past. SunMi is gone, and Lim is here. Lim has some big shoes to fill, Yubin and Sohee are less vocally talented in the group, and the group had MiMi, Yenny, and Sun to back them. Unfortunately, Lim is unable to fill these shoes. Lim’s vocals are average—at best. She is on the rank of Sohee and Yubin. Now, the only vocalists that keep the songs from falling apart are Yenny and Sun. It’s safe to say, without them, this song would be a wreck, a crap on the sidewalk mess. But on the bright side, Lim has really cute English!

     Yenny and Sun have beautiful articulation in this song. They have the best vocals. It’s really interesting that Sun has a heavy accent, when speaking English, but while singing English her accent disappears. Yenny and Sun are the foundation to this song, I wish that they sung the verses. But if that happens, who would adlib, Sohee? Nope. Lim? No. Yubin? Not a chance.

Yubin’s rap is meh to me. But It is better here than her raps in Be My Baby (English version) and Nobody (English version), but still not better than her rap in the DJ is Mine (although in the DJ is Mine, her Engrish is bam!).  Akon is useless vocally on this song. He brought nothing. I guess he is pretty popular nowadays, he brought the star power.YeEun and SunYe the Wonder Girls brought the vocals.

     The lyrics can use some work. The Wonder Girls are saying that they are more precious than material possessions, but they are comparing themselves to them? Yea, I’m mind fu*ked here.

Overall, the song is okay. I’m a Wonderful. I brought this song on ITunes just to support them. I don’t skip this song, when it comes on, but this song was a huge let down for me. I was expecting something with the Wonder Girls’ favor, but all I received was auto-tuned garbage that seemed like it was in Rihanna’s garbage bin.

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I rank it a 2/5.