No, this is not a music review, just a long ass rant.
I never once thought I'll be in love with Girls' Generation (also known as their popular name, 소녀시대, literally means girls' generation when you translate that into english). They were introduced to me as "the girls who can only sing catchy songs with ridiculous hooks", exactly 2 years ago. I swallowed the fact, considering that "Gee" is their first song that I heard. Not until I saw their "Haptic CF" with the incomparable TVXQ! (동방신기 or DBSK) that I finally heard a snippet of their song, "Himnae!". It's seriously catchy, but there's another thing from that song that caught me. This is not the type of a song that needs to be catchy to sell, but it indeed has good melody that happens to be, yeah, catchy.
Indeed, the first time I really think I was into them, is when I heard their debut song, "Into The New World". That gorgeous debut song is probably my favorite piece from girl band ever, and arguably their strongest song. It's also a favorite from many k-pop reviewer, see: http://callmepatricia.com (Patricia from Seoulbeats), http://mcrothresidence.com (Rowdryruff from Allkpop), or the famous Onion Taker! (http://oniontaker.tumblr.com) This is the song that finally made me realize, that it's not SNSD that cannot pull of a "talented group" view, it's their songs, their catchy-hook songs that made them cannot really show those talents to some people, including me.
So, when I first heard that Girls' Generation is going to debut in Japan, I'm seriously excited. Since I'm also a big, big fan of TVXQ, whose Japanese works are amazing beyond words, I'm anticipating Girls' Generation's (heck, Imma call them SNSD from this on) japanese works so much. You know, TVXQ went from extraordinary talents to Korean Hallyu Wave legends (along with BoA), and with works that live up to their name, after they came back from Japan (Mirotic is the reason why I praise them this much). SNSD, is already a top-tier girl group before they debuted in Japan. But, most of the title is given because of the girls' personality, extraordinary ability on Korean shows, their national-anthem song (Gee is credited as the K-pop song of the decade), et cetera. I want them to live up as a top-tier group with extraordinary talent too. Japan is the place. This is it.
When I saw SNSD debuting in Japan, I expect they would pull of a TVXQ (Tohoshinki in Japan, heck, so many names). I mean, they would release a ballad-type song, or any song that shows off their vocal talent, et cetera. But, no. After the gorgeous Genie Japanese version (which sounds awesome, doesn't sound awkward at all), they released a translated version of Gee, that (I don't know why), needs to have a Korean lyrics in it. I was kind of disappointed that time, since I really want them to release ballads/high quality dance song, based on my TVXQ ego and biasness.
My disappointment (or, self-ego disappointment, since they didn't pull a Tohoshinki) went up when they released Mr. Taxi/Run Devil Run single. Not only that Mr. Taxi has Korean lyric, but it also has autotunes (or....... excessive vocal layering, at least that's what I thought that time, LOL, needs to stress on this one). My Tohoshinki ego went high. "Oh no, Shoujo Jidai (that's their Japanese name, btw, red) you DO NOT release an autotuned song, right?"--- those thoughts swam in my mind. After that, their self-titled first official Japanese album's review came out. And yes, you can predict that my Tohoshinki ego went super high again. From the preview, I can already predict the album only has 2 un-autotuned songs. Which, I hated. No, I didn't hate the songs because it's bad. I hated it because they didn't pull of (yes, yet again) a Tohoshinki.
After that, June 1st came. The album leaked, and I consciously heard all the songs. My ego still at its high, but I really really love this one song. (Y'all can guess right?) Of course, the super gorgeous Let It Rain. Let It Rain has this nice ambience, the kind of feel-good song that never gets sicked to be listened to, or the song with undeniably gorgeous melody. The rich instrument is accompanied by the genius placement of vocal layers, which makes the harmony to die for. The climatic change between the verses' melody and the chorus is totally gorgeous to me, not to mention the weird synth at the beginning of the song. Everything about Let It Rain is love, love, and only love.
Born To Be A Lady is on the same line with Let It Rain, only with a more boring ambience. It's creeping around the ballad genre, but it's not one. It has a pretty melody as a whole, but it's the soft voice of the girls, the toned-down harmony, and the overall 'nice' feeling that allows one to sleep whenever they heard of the song. However, when Demi Lovato (a.k.a. the most awesome Disney girl ever) sang the same song with different lyrics and a more matured vocal, it doesn't sound that boring (listen to Demi's Mistake, from her new album Unbroken). SNSD's version one still bores me till today.
There are four original Korean songs (that translated to Japanese, of course) in this album. All of them are catchy ass songs, with the ever-famous Gee, Genie, Hoot, and Run Devil Run. Gee is the example of a hook song done right. It might not be a good song, but the song is ridiculously super catchy, that you may bring the song to your grandpa and they'll still like it, so I cannot say it's a bad song. No, it's far from bad. However, the song lacks ties to other songs in this album, since other songs in this album are the fierce-type numbers that need to be played on the dance floors, and Gee is far from being one.
The Japanese version of Genie is gorgeous. Awesome. Flawless. What else is new? The first time I heard Genie, I may not like it that much, but seriously this is the song that doesn't sound awkward at all in Japanese. Sometimes I like the Japanese version more! Anyway, aside from the unforgettable choreography, this song still kicks ass. It's strong without sounding so effortfull, awesome in an indesribable way, and catchy enough to make you replay it over and over again.
As for the Japanese version for Hoot and Run Devil Run, there is no exact difference with the Korean ones, except that the instrumental background sounds a bit paler and the songs sund awkwardly, IMO. Not a die-hard fan for both songs, but since both sit well in the album, I'll digest it.
Now, we move over to songs that have obvious electronica feel, to name them, Bad Girl, I'm In Love With The Hero, The Great Escape, Beautiful Stranger, and You-Aholic.
The first time I heard all of them, I didn't like it at all, only because I used to think autotuned songs are bad. But, after I looped the album once, and then I decided to just stick with Let It Rain, I just..... can't help but to search the album again on youtube and looped them all over again. There's a kind of hook that magically took all of my heart and just made me listen to the album again. There's this feeling of "imaginery gorgeousness" that spreaded off this sophisticated feeling which I adore very much from those songs. And, I decided. I needed a second listen.
And yes, there's a feeling of satisfaction when you heard those five songs. I just can't seem to coin the words, but the high quality of the production of the songs made my heart tingle. The complex use of instruments (you could hear that well on You-Aholic and The Great Escape), the beautiful use of vocal layering (listen to Beautiful Stranger) and the fact that the producers can make the complex instruments and the vocals mesh into one unity, all of them bought me. It's..... a different satisfaction feeling. It's definitely not the feeling when I heard a legit good song like Tohoshinki's Japanese songs (listen to Bolero for a perfect example). It's just that, when a song with a super high production quality strikes you, no matter how much your hate on autotune lingered your heart, you just need to admit it. Admit the gorgeousness.
The three I mentioned before (You-Aholic, Beautiful Stranger, The Great Escape) is the example of how a non-ballad album filler songs done right. It, of course, has autotunes, but the autotunes made the song fluid, and the gorgeous production quality just made me want to break a window. The beautiful mesh between the complex instruments, vocal layering, and the fluidity is just..... amazing. And the non-stop beats between the tracks just cannot bore you.
Yet, I can't seem to adore the other two songs as much as the other three. Bad Girl has a kind of cheap hook, and I'm In Love With The Hero, albeit has a gorgeous middle 8, has too much autotunes for my taste.
Yet, after few listens on the album, I may say that Girls' Generation 1st Japanese Album is a BOLD album. It's not the type of the album that made you bend on your knees, it's just that..... it has a definite gorgeousness that can't be explained with words. Prodution quality, perhaps, is the main point that made me in love with the album, to say the least.
Again, SNSD's 1st Japanese album made me understand, that in the end, there are other things unspoken between human and music. You just don't like a song because it shows off vocal gymnastics, but there are other complex things within a song that just make you..... like it. And This album is the best example of an unexpected favorite. You don't love the songs because you intentionally like it. It's just.... you can't not admit that it's bad, either.
Love,
Vanillamint
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