Girls’ Generation’s new album, The Boys, disappoints

After a long and anticipated wait, SNSD finally releases their new album, titled “The Boys.” With so much hype, I expected this comeback to be huge. I thought to myself, this song is going to be like the next “Genie” or “Gee.” This will be amazing. Guess what? I was sorely disappointed. The concept itself is captivating and beautiful, but the song is sadly underwhelming.

Watch their music video here:

I generally do not enjoy rapping parts in K-pop songs, and one of the reasons I like SNSD is because their songs have very few rap parts. When I watched the teaser, I prayed so hard that the rap part would just be part of the Intro track, or at least be the worst part of the song, like the “I like it like this, I like it like that” in T-ara’s “Roly Poly,” or the dub step in HyunA’s “Bubble Pop.” To my despair, the rap part turned out to be the chorus. Not just part of it, either, but the whole thing, save for a couple of static “Bring the boys out” lines. The chorus should be the focus and drive of the whole song, and it ended up sounding lazy and uncreative.

The chorus is not the only flawed part of the song, however. Although the verses contain an actual melody, they are repetitive and boring. The only parts that vary are at the end of each phrase, where the pitch rises slightly or the rhythm changes a bit. Honestly, though, I would have accepted the verses and the build-up if the chorus was actually good. The build-up makes you anticipate an upbeat and moving chorus, but all you get is a monotone “We bring the boys out” and then a string of rapping. (Ironically, this effect parallels all the hype that led up to this release that eventually ended up falling short of expectations.) Additionally, the tempo is not suited for a rap; the song loses a lot of momentum during the chorus. I kept waiting for a powerful melody and a strong beat, but when I finished the song, my reaction was basically That’s it? There are no memorable parts of the song, except for the (grammatically incorrect) “Girls’ Generation make you feel the heat,” which just shows how disappointing this song is for me.

The choreography is decent, but there are few movements that really stick in my head. The dance break is mediocre; like the song, there is very little variation or energy. Hyoyeon and Yuri are, of course, very talented dancers, but I did not get that impression from the music video. If only the chorus was more exciting, the dance break would have been just fine, since it’s the more powerful part of the song.

Vocally, the song does a poor job of showing variety and musicality in the main singers. Particularly, Jessica’s voice catches my attention; her high note right before the last chorus sounds like she does not have enough support. She needed the help from the backup vocals and audio processing. A lot of people describe her voice as pure and clear, but I disagree. Her voice does have a light feel to it, but there is also a significant amount of buzzing that adds a somewhat sandpaper-ey feel to it, detracting from her overall sound. I’m glad that the producers didn’t process the verses too much, because it really brings out all of their individual voices. However, the high register of the verses makes a lot of the girls sound like they were struggling to maintain their voices at that pitch, although I’m confident that they are capable of doing it.

It is debatable whether or not the lyrics match the song well. The Korean lyrics and the English lyrics have completely different meanings. The Korean version is more about empowerment and encouragement, whereas the English version emphasizes the fact that they have the ability to attract all the boys. Perhaps the rapping makes more sense when you consider the Korean version, but that does not excuse the lack of creativity in the chorus. The dance break takes care the empowerment aspect just fine, with lines like “The boys of the world, I am Athena, the one who gives the number one wisdom. Check this out!” and “Enjoy the excitement of the challenge – you already have everything in this world.” Aside from that, there should a better way to highlight their lyrics with a more exciting chorus. See the lyrics for yourself here.

Hopefully, their comeback stage will make up for most of the flaws in the song. I have a feeling that, although the rapping part is extremely bad, SNSD and SM Entertainment will find a way to make it very popular. Their large fan base is definitely a great help, too, since they appeal to audiences of all ages. SNSD has a lot of stage presence, and since they debuted a while ago, the individuality of the different members stand out. Therefore, they really need to make a big impression on stage, since their song doesn’t give them much to work with. I’m really looking forward to see if they can hold up against the stiff competition.

Ratings:

Since I’m only reviewing one song, I’ll rate the different aspects of it. A follow-up article will include an album rating as a whole, plus a live performance rating.

Song (General): 5.5/10 (The majority is terrible, but there are some decent parts.)

Verses: 7/10 (Standard, not too unique or appealing)

Chorus: 4/10 (Not a fan of the rapping at all)

Choreography: 7/10 (Decent, nothing special)

Visuals/Concept: 8.5/10 (SNSD’s visuals rarely disappoint)

Thoughts on Chocolat

Credit: nonstop-addiction.blogspot.com

From left to right: SoA, Jaeyoon, Tia, Melanie, Juliane

I first heard of Chocolat through Allkpop when they wrote an article about how they were a fresh, new group with biracial members. So, of course, I was intrigued since that probably meant they were English-speaking. The first video I watched was Melanie’s group introduction, and I judged them severely from that video. Oh, they must be all dumb airheads who can’t even sing or dance properly. Turns out, Melanie’s actually only 14, and so is Tia. I probably shouldn’t judge them for being young. So later, when they released their new song and MV, I saw a lot of negative feedback like Too much Tia, I hate the song,  WTF is that dance, etc. However, oddly enough, I found myself following all their performances, and I ended up watching all their videos on their youtube channel.

            Their lives started out horrendously, I must say. There was lip-syncing throughout the whole song and the members were off-pitch a lot of the time. The music-removed versions were terrible to listen to. I thought to myself Why are they even debuting when their vocals are this bad? I don't think they focused on singing as much as dancing when they were trainees and as a result, their vocals suffered. 

            Jaeyoon is the main vocalist with the blond hair, and as I watched her, I realized that she actually possesses a lot of talent. She can sing. Melanie can definitely hit those high notes, too, and she did later on as their performances improved. I think that’s just because of her young voice, though; it’s easy to hit higher notes when your voice isn’t as developed. Tia has more or less the entire package, relative to the other members. Her singing is mediocre, though, and there’s nothing special about her voice. 

            Their song, “Syndrome,” has a catchy tune, albeit with cheesy lyrics and English phrases. There’s something with Korean writers who misuse English in all the songs. The English really bothered me, especially the ending "Never break, break, break my heart *giggle and shrug*." Also, I really dislike all the "Oh yeah's" scattered throughout the song. It feels really unnecessary and just something the producers used to cheapen the song more and attempt to give it a more sexy feel. There is way too much audio processing, and all their voices sound fake and manufactured, but that's also pretty typical of a pop song. Other than those points, though, I feel like the song could showcase a lot of their singing talents, if only they improved more. There are many opportunities within the song to really belt out those high notes, like in Melanie’s and Juliane’s part. Jaeyoon's bridge actually made up a lot of the bad parts for me, especially when she sang it live. You can imagine how much I cursed the music show PD's when they cut it out in later performances. If only their live performances were a lot stronger, I'd have more faith in this group.

 I saw Melanie belt her part live, and it was acceptable, nothing special, but I was more disappointed in Juliane. I don’t think I’ve seen one live performance where Juliane has actually hit her high note clearly and confidently. She attempted it once, I think, and it ended up being more of a half-hearted wail…and then for the rest of the performances, she basically just lip-synced her part. And I strongly disapprove of lip-syncing. In a lot of the videos I watched, many people made excuses for her, saying that since she had a mic taped to her face, belting out the high note would have been too loud. Since Melanie had the handheld microphone she was able to hold it away from her face in order the sing the high note. However, I feel that is a poor excuse for Juliane’s lip-syncing. I know plenty of stars who perform with taped mics who can sing their high notes just fine. Take, for example, Miss A Suzy’s ending in “Goodbye, Baby.” Their choreography requires taped mics, but Suzy was able to belt the high note perfectly each time. The same situation applies to Chocolat, since their choreography needs as much hand movement as possible. However, if Juliane cannot perform her part, I question her role in the group other than being a space-filler and a dancer.

Chocolat also filmed a documentary about their backgrounds and their training during pre-debut days. Although I watched it without subtitles, I realized that just like any other group, they went through long and tiring practices in order to function smoothly as a group. I saw tears, exhausted faces, and many foot blisters. I also realized that Jaeyoon isn’t a dancer, and that she was trained to be a singer. She needed help from both Tia and Melanie to perfect her dance moves. Melanie talks and acts like a little kid, and Tia is the face of the group. Watching the documentary made me realize that they aren’t that bad, and behind all the pretty costumes and makeup, they are real people who went through a lot of struggles.

As Chocolat’s promotions continued, I tried to monitor all their lives, and I am happy to say that they actually are improving. They look more confident, and each member has improved slightly. Their vocals are no longer as pitchy as before. Jaeyoon is more confident when singing her high part, and Melanie’s and Tia’s singing have become stronger and more stable. Juliane has been lip-syncing less, and honestly, SoA’s singing has become smoother as well, even though she doesn’t really stand out for me. Now, I am actually hoping that their next single will be able to showcase their talents more. I never thought I would become a Chocolat fan when I saw their teaser and music video, but after seeing lots of improvement in their live performances, I see lots of potential in the group.

Ratings:

Album: 6/10 (Although well-made, not stellar)

Lives: 6.5/10 (They have a lot to work on)

Visuals/Concept: 6/10 (Typical dance concept, nothing special)

Watch Chocolat’s MV and live performances below:


"Syndrome" M/V

Debut on M! Countdown 8/18/11

Improved performance! Music Core 9/3/11