It’s a promising year for WINNER
fans! After creating success with Really Really on April, the boys set up another comeback. WINNER just released
their newest album called Our Twenty For
on Friday, August 4th 2017.
Our Twenty For is a single album with two title tracks, Love Me Love Me and Island. Both have upbeat tempo and summer theme music video. This
approach is quite unique since K-Pop groups usually released two different vibe
songs as double title track.
So, how does Love Me Love Me
and Island sound? Check out my
review of WINNER newest album below………………….
WINNER attempted to take on disco with Love Me Love Me. Similar to the usual disco songs, Love Me Love Me dominated by synthesizer
sound. They used it as base for main melody along with electric guitar riff.
The addition of latter instrumental was effective to maintain WINNER signature
style.
The combination of synthesizer and electric guitar varied
throughout the song. It toned down a bit during verses and pre-chorus, but
picked it up at the chorus. This created enjoyable dynamic for Love Me Love Me. Another thing is it
offered dual charm. Love Me Love Me sounded
chill where you could enjoy listening when driving in the car. At the same
time, it sounded cheerful and you could easily dance to it.
Love Me Love Me supported with good vocal too. Seungyoon shined the most in this song. Who knew his deep and raspy
voice fitted disco track? I love the versatility of Seung Yoon vocal in Love Me Love Me. He managed to sing in
softer tone at several parts while still showed his signature high notes. Jinwoo and Seunghoon also got their own spotlight although Mino sounded a bit off. His vocal style
during chorus disrupted the flow.
As for Love Me Love Me
music video, it continued to display fun theme. It described how WINNER played
around in Hawaii. We saw them dance above the car, waited inside baseball
stadium, and ran around construction site. Their activities did not offer
something new. However, Love Me Love Me still managed to stand out among similar
theme music video because of its great cinematography.
Love Me Love Me music video suited the song lyrics too. The element of love story
could be seen in unique way. The song mentioned about how the boys fell in love
with a girl. Their love showed through exchanging text message with cute emoji.
It did not look out of place since the explanation appeared in the beginning
scene.
Still, Love Me Love Me was
not a perfect music video. The WINNER styling looked questionable in many
scenes. Those wide pants needed to go. Plus, I was not really feeling
Seunghoon’s long hair.
Compared to Love Me Love Me,
Island has faster tempo. This was
because WINNER combined tropical house with electronic dance music genre. The
usage of keyboard, synthesizer, and percussion became highlight. These
instrumentals successfully pumped up the song.
The high-energy music of Island
accompanied with strong dynamic. Mino
and Seunghoon rapping part opened this song followed by Seungyoon and Jinwoo
solid vocal during verses. Their parts matched and managed to create build up
prior to chorus.
Then Island chorus came
where music breakdown took the front stage. This kind of chorus was hit or miss
in K-Pop music. But this time, it worked. The chorus was smooth and enjoyable. Plus,
the ‘woo woo’ part at the end was addictive too!
My only complaint for Island
was its main sound. The mix between tropical house and electronic dance
could be too generic. This was because many K-Pop groups have released similar
type of songs beforehand in past year. There
was nothing new here.
Much like Love Me Love Me,
Island music video also emphasized on
great cinematography. They managed to make frequently used setting for summer
theme music video looked fresh. Check out the beauty of ocean as well as sunset
near the beach that showcased throughout Island
music video.
Moreover, the throwback tone added interesting aspect to Island music video. All those flashy
shots with zoom in reminded me with old school boy group music video. Their
styling fitted this theme too where WINNER member dressed up in all white
attires.
Lastly, Island music
video kept its relation with song lyrics. This song was about how WINNER wanted
to take their girlfriend to an island to spend time together. Throughout music
video, we saw WINNER had several romantic moments with models.
WINNER successfully cheered up summer with Our Twenty For. Love Me Love Me and Island was catchy track where you could easily listen and dance to.
Both songs have different charm although the main concept was similar.
With Our Twenty For, WINNER seemed to find their comfortable range
in upbeat songs. It was nice to see them expanded in another genre after going
into ballad route in early days of their career. Still, I missed their ballad
side. Hopefully WINNER could balance it out between these two genres in the
future!
Rating: 3.5/5
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