[MUSIC ALBUM REVIEW] Girls' Generation - Mr. Mr. (2014)

This year marked the seven years age for Girls' Generation (So Nyeo Shi Dae/SNSD) in K-Pop music industry. Despite the relatively old age for a girl group, the girls keep continue to maintain their position as the leading K-Pop girl group. On February 24th, 2014, they released their fourth mini album titled Mr. Mr. with Mr. Mr. as the title track. So far, this comeback has become the most surprising, mysterious, and of course, full of drama for Girls' Generation. From the sudden release of image teaser, the losing back up file for the music video, the delayed date, the accidental leaks on iTunes to sudden album release without the music video, all of these things has surely make Sones heart race. Also, let's not forget about the supposed "girl group war" between Girls' Generation and 2NE1 that already spiced things up in K-Pop industry. 

Intentional or not, those dramas prior to the new album release have successfully raise people expectations, including me myself, about it. And on the next paragraph, I will let you know whether the album has fulfilled my expectations or not.

This album is heading with a good start through Mr. Mr., the first track. In my opinion, Mr. Mr. is the most sophisticated and mature title track to date from Girls' Generation in terms of lyrics and music. The lyrics still told a story about man and woman just like their past releases. But this time, it shows the grown and independent side of woman. The woman are shown to give encouragement for the man to be brave and take the lead. This is different from Girls' Generation past releases' lyrics that always portrayed them as dependable on the "oppa". Beside that, the usage of word "Mr." instead of "oppa" or boy represented a grown man and grown relationship for both of them.

As for the music, Girls' Generation takes an electronic/euro dance genre through this song. This actually not a new thing for them since the genre has been known as their signature style on Japanese releases. But, this is the first attempt by them in using it as the title track for Korean release. Honestly, I think this is a good tendency for them. Girls' Generation Japanese releases has been known to have edgier, more dynamic, and more mature sound compared to their Korean releases, which always remained catchy, but stagnant. With Mr. Mr., these nine girls try to bring what they have successfully done in Japan and it works. This heavy-based synthesizer song has a killer beat that will surely makes people want to dance to it. It is also a catchy song that will make people sing a long to it, especially during the "Mr. Mr." part that is very memorable. My favorite part started from the addictive beat in 2:35 until the end of the song; the last chorus is killing it.

However, there are also several issues on this song. Mr. Mr. is not a song that will catch people attention when they first listen to it; it takes a while to like this song. Moreover, there are also several disjointed parts on this song such as between the verse and the bridge although it is not as messy as in I Got A Boy. But, the main issue of this song is there is a part, which sounds bland. It is between the bridge to the chorus where the tempo from the bridge should be picked up on the chorus, but it falls below that. Beside that, the bland part unfortunately comes from the girls vocal that are too polished, which makes it lacks of certain "punch". Fortunately, the girls able to pick it up after 2:35. For the last note, as much as I love your tone of voice Tiffany, they should not let her sings the high note because she has the tendency to strain. Despite all of these issues, Mr. Mr. still remained to be a good song.

The second track, Goodbye, happened to be my favorite track on this album. This song has a powerful opening with a crisp bass line accompanied by Tiffany's voice. I love the bass line on this song! It is actually the base for this song, which gives the strong pop-jazz band sound throughout the whole song. Other than the bass line, the girls' vocals also adds nice color for this song. The girls sounds really great on this song especially Tiffany, Sunny, Seohyun, and surprise surprise, Hyoyeon who able to showcase her unique voice. They should sing more on this low-medium range of voice instead of the usual high range since it able to showcase each of their distinct vocal.Beside that, their vocals able to convey the emotions of the lyrics which talked about how a woman got sick of her boyfriend terrible behavior. 

But most importantly, what I love the most from Goodbye is that this song represented Girls' Generation signature sound and how it has grown. It is catchy, addictive, and makes people want to sing along with it like the usual Girls' Generation releases. However, it also shows how they have grown in terms of vocal and music.

Goodbye followed by Europa, another euro dance type of song. Opposite from Mr. Mr. that sounds stronger and fiercer, Europa takes on the light and dreamy side. It has a retro vibe too because of the synthesizer sound throughout the song and guitar sound during the chorus. This song also has a nice flow, The verses are slow, but the beat gradually change faster on the bridge to the chorus. As for the vocals, Jessica shines the most on it since her soft voice matched well with the dreamy vibe of this song.

However, the most interesting thing about Europa is the unique references between the title and the lyrics. Actually, the title itself refers to a moon that orbit to Jupiter and constantly facing it. This refers to the lyrics where a woman is falling in love to a man and always looking at him, but he never notices her just like how Europa is constantly surrounding and looking at Jupiter. 

The next track, Wait a Minute, is a mix between retro and modern sound. The retro sound comes from the gorgeous piano line. The piano line also added a playful and youthful vibe of this song. Meanwhile, the modern sound comes from the strong drum hit. Beside piano and drum, there is also a combination between percussion and synthesizer sound, which channeled reggae sound during Tiffany's part on 2:11. The combination is very unique and it once again portrayed a youthful vibe on this song. The youthful and playful side of this song also can be related to its funny lyrics about a woman who feel confused about the feeling of a man that she loves towards her. 

Another interesting thing about Wait a Minute is a harmonization backing vocal since the first until the end of the song. This harmonization reminds me so much with oldies vocal group that I really like. It was cute, refreshing, and pleasant listening. It also catchy and memorable enough; I bet all of you guys must be humming through the tune unconsciously after listening to this song ;)

After singing along with the previous four tracks, the fifth track, Back Hug, let you to cool down a little bit through its slow tempo. This song will bring you back to the early debut days of Girls' Generation. From the simple acoustic guitar music and the way the girls sing, it reminds me so much with their early days. This is quite understandable since the person who composed this song is also the composer of Girls' Generation songs during their debut year such as Complete, Perfect For You (Honey), and Tinkerbell. This is actually not a bad thing because I really love their early debut days releases.

Another thing that I notice the most about Back Hug is that this song is really soft and sweet like cotton candy. The music is simple and the lyrics are sweet which is about a woman who wants to be together with a man every day. In short, whenever you listen to this song, there is always a feeling where you want to give a back hug to someone special :)

Finally, the last track, Soul, is the most upbeat track on this album. For those of you who feel familiar with this song, this song is a theme song for a game called Blade and Soul that Girls' Generation endorsed. This song has already been released earlier before this album comes out with the Chinese version. Both of the Korean and Chinese version sound good. However, the rap part in the Chinese version surprisingly sounds better with Tiffany raps in English and Hyoyeon in Chinese. 

Find Your Soul opened with a narration that makes you feel like you are in a spaceship. Then, it followed by strong drum percussion, which highly influenced by Middle Eastern music. There is also a strong guitar sound to add fierce side on this song. I really love the combination between these two instruments on this song. It gives strong, powerful, and fierce elements to this song. The vocals itself also helped giving strong vibe to this song. Most importantly, Find Your Soul has a good song flow and dynamic. If you want to listen to the usual upbeat, catchy, and fierce type of song by Girls' Generation, you will like this song.

Overall, Mr. Mr. mini album showcases a mature side of Girls' Generation. Each song shows how much the girls has grown in terms of music and lyrics without being too forced while also still maintain the characteristic of Girls' Generation itself. Though the girls seem heading to more medium tempo type of songs on this album, it does not mean that each song cannot stand on their own. The domination of synthesizer throughout the whole album gives  the retro vibe, which brings the sophisticated image of Girls' Generation. Mr. Mr. mini album has fulfilled my expectation about what kind of direction that I want the girls to take. Hopefully, they will continue to stay and grow with this direction in the future.



My Favorite Tracks                           : Honestly, all of them!
Rating                                               : 4/5

Categories: Album, Choi Sooyoung, Girls Generation, Hyoyeon, Jessica, Kpop, Mr. Mr., Seohyun, Sunny, Taeyeon, Tiffany, Yoona, Yuri