[MUSIC ALBUM REVIEW] SNSD - Oh!GG - Lil' Touch (2018)

Girls’ Generation (SNSD) had a bumpy road last year. Their 10^th year anniversary comeback fell under expectation in terms of commercial success. Then three of SNSD members, Tiffany, Sooyoung, and Seohyun decided to leave agency SM Entertainment. Public became doubtful about SNSD future although members insisted there was no disbandment.

One year later, SNSD takes interesting spin towards their status. The remaining five members in SM Entertainment, Taeyeon, Sunny, Hyoyeon, Yuri, and Yoona creates a sub unit called Oh!GG. They released single album Lil’ Touch with same name title track on Wednesday, September 5^th 2018.

The existence of Oh!GG makes public curious. How does their concept and sound differ from SNSD as whole group? Could five of them carry on? Check out my review of Lil’ Touch album here………

Lil’ Touch offers pop sound, which resembles previous SNSD hits. It has catchy refrain part that easy to remember since the first listen. This is the strongest part throughout the song. Lil’ Touch addictive refrain accompanied by strong beat as well as electronic guitar sound. All of these combination makes the song becomes more exciting.

What sets Lil’ Touch apart from SNSD songs is its vocal arrangement. The girls play out with their lower range, especially during verses. This arrangement makes the song has sultry vibe. It is different from SNSD songs, which sounds lively because of high notes.

The domination of lower register is an fresh attempt from Oh!GG. However, the vocal direction goes nowhere since the middle until end of this song. It makes Lil’ Touch repetitive. The absence of strong vocalists, aside from Taeyeon and Sunny, seems greatly affect them.

As for the music video, Lil’ Touch does not offer something new. We see the girls wander around then dance in different setting such as glass house, and stairs. It also shot in tilt angle, which becomes current trend in K-Pop music video.

It is Oh!GG itself who sells the music video. Each of them has captivating stage presence. They command the screen and shines on their own. This fits Lil’ Touch lyrics where the girls ask the boy to approach them.

Lil’ Touch concept also suits Oh!GG. The makeup and styling looks elegant while adds a bit of sexy touch. It fits their age where Oh!GG is now grown women, not the cute teenagers who still wear white shirt and jeans like SNSD in Gee era.

Fermata brings something completely different from Lil’ Touch. It is a simple medium tempo song. The song also dominated by sweet acoustic guitar melody although there is a touch of tropical house sound after the refrain.

Similar with Lil’ Touch, Fermata refrain is a reminiscence of SNSD songs. It has lovely harmonization. Each member vocal fits well with the song. There is no one who overpowers others.

Fermata means pause. Throughout the lyrics, Oh!GG talks about how they try to rise again after obstacles in their life. This seems to be a representation of the girls’ current condition. Oh!GG comes back a year from underperform album and members’ departure in agency.

Oh!GG manage to carry SNSD legacy through Lil’ Touch album. Each song balances between SNSD signature style and Oh!GG different touch. It is quite unfortunate that there are only two songs on this single album.

Still, Oh!GG need to work on their vocal. Each of them could carry a tune, but they find difficulties to utilize members’ strength. They also need to set clearer direction in terms of music and concept in the future. How much they want to resemble SNSD and stand on their own.

Rating:            3.5/5

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[MUSIC ALBUM REVIEW] Girls' Generation - Holiday Night (2017)

Girls’Generation (SNSD) just marked another milestone. In the midst of peer group hiatus and disbandment, SNSD managed to reach 10th years anniversary of their career.

SNSD celebrated 10^th years anniversary on Saturday, August 5^th 2017. In order to celebrate this special event, the girls released their newest album called Holiday Night one day before.

Through Holiday Night, SNSD promises to bring back their old sound. It seems they want to remind public about what makes them popular in the first place. Are you ready to get nostalgic with SNSD? Check out my review of Holiday Night here……………..

Girls Are Back

Girls Are Back is a strong opening for Holiday Night. This song combines R&B and funk genre. Bass, guitar, and drum become its main instrumental, which created punch to the song dynamic.

Girls Are Back dynamic continues to be interesting because of SNSD vocal. Each member successfully plays her part well. They know how to differentiate between strong and soft tone in singing. The girls able to complement each other well. Plus, they surprisingly nail rapping part. It keeps the song interesting.

The last punch of Girls Are Back is its lyrics. Just like the title, this song is a declaration of SNSD comeback. They want everyone to watch and pay attention to them because they are back. I love this confidence and yes, we are ready to hear the rest of Holiday Night!

All Night

All Night is title track of Holiday Night Album. Through this song, SNSD tries to play with retro and modern type of music. They mix disco with electronic dance music. Check out my review of All Night along with its music video here.

Holiday

This is another title track of Holiday Night album. Holiday brings nostalgic feeling to early days of SNSD. Check out those catchy hook part and strong beat. However, SNSD tries to put a spin by channeling retro vibe. Curious? See the full review here.

Fan

SNSD throws a surprise with Fan. It is an electronic pop song, which dominated by synthesizer, bass, and guitar sound. The usage of these instrumental is unique on this song. Instead of creating modern vibe, it tends to be more old school type.

Fan reminds me with 90s era pop song. Aside from its music, the way SNSD sing the song supports this theme too. They show nice harmonization and little bit of talking at the end of several parts.

Meanwhile for its lyrics, SNSD gets sentimental. They talk about how fans always guide their path and become their place to lean on. This is another unique aspect of Fan since other groups usually sing this kind of lyrics in emotional ballad. As a result, Fan stands out and not becomes usual pop song.

Only One

SNSD slows down a bit by offering medium tempo type of songs through Only One. Similar with Fan, this is another 90s inspired track. Those lovely harmonization and simple acoustic guitar sound brings reminiscence feeling.

This added with Only One sweet lyrics. SNSD mentions their closeness bond. They feel that they know each other really well and grateful for their existence. It’s a song that nice to listen to.

Still, Only One has several lacking part. The chorus is quite let down after its nice verses. It sounds generic and could not pick up the song. Moreover, there are too many ‘Only One’ words. It sounds repetitive and could make people bored.

One Last Time

One Last Time is the first ballad track in Holiday Night album. This song brings us back to early 2000s era since it combines pop and R&B genre. Catchy piano melody represents pop music while strong beat gives R&B flavor.

One Last Time arrangement is quite simple. This becomes advantage for SNSD to showcase their vocal strength. All members’ vocal improves, particularly Seohyun, along with their ability to display emotions. We could feel their sadness because of separation, which is One Last Time main lyrical theme.

Sweet Talk

If One Last Time represents emotional side of R&B, Sweet Talk does the opposite. It is a strong and sexy track. Bass and guitar sound dominates Sweet Talk, which is effective to build up the song. This added with interesting vocal arrangement. Each SNSD member takes turn to sing and talk during verses.

Sunny shines the most because of her vocal versatility. She knows how to use her light tone well. It is SNSD powerhouse vocal, Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun that find difficulties when sing Sweet Talk. The high note does not always match these three. Plus, it sounds too similar, which makes it hard to differentiate their voices.

The sexy vibe of Sweet Talk continues to emphasize through its lyrics. Just like the title, it is about how SNSD wants the boy not to be shy and flirt with them directly. It sounds mature, especially coming from Seohyun as youngest member. Guess she is all grown up after all ;)

Love Is Bitter

SNSD tries out jazz genre with Love Is Bitter. This genre represents through the usage of piano and trumpet instrumental. It sounds playful yet festive at the same time, especially during chorus part. SNSD vocal suits this type of song too. Hyoyeon and Yuri becomes the biggest surprise. Both nailed their chorus part!

In contrast with its light music, Love Is Bitter actually has sad lyrics. It tells explains that love does not always equal happiness. Love slowly fades away and becomes bitterness. The opposite theme between music and lyrics creates interesting point to Love Is Bitter. In fact, it is actually bittersweet just like the song title.

Love Is Bitter was pleasant listening. However, there is a chance that it could make people bored. The music keeps playing out similar melody throughout the song. There is not much going on since SNSD vocal does not have interesting change too.

It’s You

Similar with Only One, It’s You is another early 2000s inspired track. It has strong beat and synthesizer as its main element. This added with sweet harmonization, which sounds like bubblegum pop song at that era. The lovely theme also showcases through It’s You lyrics.

Yuri writes this song, which is about how SNSD want to stay together with their fans and never change. It’s simple lyrics, but SNSD manages to make it more personal with several gestures. For example, the Korean title of It’s You mentions ‘Sowon’ word that describes pronunciation of their fans, Sone. Then it also talks about pink ocean, which is the light stick color during SNSD concert.

Although sweetness becomes highlight, SNSD still spices up some parts of It’s You to make it different. The tempo picks up and the synthesizer sound changes during chorus. Moreover, the vocal part on bridge seems unique yet old school at the same time.

Light Up The Sky

Light Up The Sky is the last ballad in Holiday Night album. This song brings out nostalgia feeling since it resembles SNSD songs on their early debut days. Once again, the girls showcase beautiful piano melody and strong beat throughout the song.

Light Up The Sky manages to stand out among other ballad songs in this album. Aside from bringing nostalgia feeling, this song also has great dynamic. The verses are solid while the pre-chorus serves as effective build up. The chorus becomes strongest part where SNSD vocal soars along with its dramatic music. This added with catchy hook part that will instantly stuck in your head.

The great dynamic also supported by SNSD vocal arrangement. The girls’ vocal pairs up nicely, which makes their different tone complements each other. Plus, they know where to put emotional punch.

SNSD tries to describe the touching lyrics of Light Up The Sky through their singing. The song shows their wishes to be together with fans as time goes by. Even though drifting apart is a natural process, SNSD still hope fans do not forget them.

Holiday Night finally shows how SNSD want to take their music. The girls present great balance between sweetness and versatility. The first one is SNSD signature style since debut. The girls maintain their sweetness theme through lovely melody and catchy hook part in most of Holiday Night songs.

At the same, SNSD challenges them by singing various types of song.  From jazz to disco to sweet bubblegum pop, SNSD eats up all of them. It shows their maturity as performers. The song transition does not sound jarring because each song showcases similar nostalgia or retro theme.

Consistency while also adapting trend was SNSD key of existence in K-Pop music scene. This direction does not change anytime soon. The girls have not giving signal about shifting their style. This is actually not a bad thing as long as the girls continue to evolve.

Rating:                        4/5     

Favorite Tracks:        Girls Are Back, Holiday, All Night, Fan, Love Is Bitter, Light Up The Sky

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[MUSIC VIDEO REVIEW] Girls' Generation (SNSD) - Holiday & All Night (2017)

Happy anniversary, Girls’ Generation (SNSD)! The girls celebrated their 10^th year anniversary on Saturday, August 5^th 2017. It is amazing to see them come this far. Throughout 10 years of their career, SNSD manages to break records as girl group, compete fiercely with boy groups, stand tall above risk of disbandment that happens on their peer group, and set legacy to their juniors.

Since 10^th years anniversary is a special occasion, SNSD has prepared special gift for public. The girls released their sixth full album called Holiday Night on Friday, August 4^th 2017. This album has double title tracks, which are Holiday and All Night.

With Holiday and All Night, SNSD tries to showcase different side of them while also give a sense of nostalgia to public. How does their double title tracks sound? Check out my review here……….

SNSD embraces retro theme again with Holiday after Lion Heart success in 2015. However, their approach is little different this time. Holiday sounds grander and bolder because of brass, saxophone, and trumpet domination. Beside that, it has stronger vocal too. Listening to Holiday reminds me with Broadway production.

Aside from Broadway, Holiday gives a nostalgic feeling to SNSD older tracks. The loud beat as well as repetitive chorus seems like homage to Gee and Oh!. This song maintains SNSD signature pop style. At the same time, it does not sound overly cute since the main retro theme keeps its elegance.

Holiday is a solid and catchy single from SNSD. But, it is still lacking in some parts. The transition after chorus could be smoother. They need to work on drum arrangements at chorus ending. It sounds like the song will end soon although it is actually not. Moreover, Hyoyeon’s rap and Tiffany’s bridge create jarring transition after chorus since their part has different tone from rest of Holiday.

Other than that, Holiday also has too many ad-libs from Tiffany, Taeyeon, and Seohyun. This becomes problem because some of their parts sound like Taetiseo song with all those retro and elegant vibe. It seems they still need more effort to differentiate SNSD and Taetiseo sound.

As for music video, it successfully captured Holiday lyrics. Seohyun write its lyrics, which talked about how you must have fun and go on holiday with SNSD. We see SNSD act to make you join various activities in front of camera throughout the music video. They pick clothes in their room, go to restaurant then dance in studio.

Their activities give interesting charm to Holiday music video. Most of them related with their previous music videos. The bedroom setting resembles I Got A Boy, elevator scene looks straight up from Hoot while mannequin properties appears as icon in Gee.

Holiday music video becomes more fun with its musical inspired concept. Throughout the video, SNSD walks around and sings while changes their activity. They also add retro vibe to incorporate with the song through cinematography. It looks a bit blur to emphasize old school feeling. Then SNSD also appears in bright styling although some of the outfits is a hit or miss.

SNSD plays out with disco music in All Night. They brings us back to 70s era through synthesizer and keyboard sound. All of these instruments dominated the song verses. It accompanied with delicate yet sultry vocal from Sooyoung, Yoona, Yuri, and Hyoyeon.

When it reaches chorus part, the music changes. SNSD put modern touch by including electronic dance genre. Their vocal tone changes too where Seohyun and Sunny take the lead. The transition sounds smooth because there is constant melody. I love this combination! It works well and builds up the song. Moreover, it is nice to see SNSD adapt with trend while still maintain their signature hook during chorus.

As a whole, All Night is better song than Holiday. It sounds more fresh and sophisticated. Still, All Night is not a perfect song. It would be better if SNSD removed rap part and dance breakdown. Both look outdated and not match the song flow.

Meanwhile, All Night music video comes with two versions. The first one has longer duration, which includes SNSD interviews. They talk about their experiences and meaning of their group. Unfortunately, the interview bits do not work well with the rest of All Night music video. It was because the song displays fun vibe while interview describes SNSD emotional moments. It would be better if they put the interview in slower song.

The second video cuts SNSD interview bits. We get more glimpse of All Night choreography. It looks sleek and energetic. Plus, it emphasizes on party scene just like All Night disco genre. SNSD tries to have fun together in club scene throughout music video.

All Night music video also displayed retro theme. It has blurry cinematography to match old era. This supported by SNSD styling which full of sequin dress along with curly hair. Their looks are on point and gorgeous.

In the midst all of these fun aspects, SNSD still shows their emotions in subtle way during All Night music video. Some of them look lonely and distant although they are in crowded place. This gesture is actually matches All Night song lyrics. It is about how SNSD misses their lover and want to spend the night with him.

SNSD delivers solid comeback on their 10^th year anniversary. Holiday brings out nostalgic feeling while All Night shows new side of them. Both songs successfully represent SNSD in mature way.

Also, the girls look enjoyed performing it on the music video. This attitude makes their presence stronger, something that they lack of since several years ago. I wish they could maintain this kind of energy on next release.

It’s impressive to see SNSD still kicking it after 10 years. They manage to show great gift on their anniversary. Congratulations and looking forward for your future endeavors!

Rating:                        4/5 

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