Friday, March 8, 2013

Review: COLLAGE by U-KISS 유키스

Collage U-Kiss
Genres: K-Pop, Pop, Synth-Pop, Dance-Pop, R&B, Dance
Released: 7 March 2013
Members: Soohyun, Kiseop, Eli, AJ, Hoon, Kevin, Dongho
NH Media



This is my first full album review. Today I'm reviewing U-Kiss's newest album COLLAGE. Because I'm doing every song, each review will be brief. First of all though, can I just say, OMG! Stop Girl is one of my all time ultimate favourites and I'm really excited for their come back. I give the album an overall 3 STARS. The only songs I'm not reviewing are the instrumentals. First thing's first: 
1. Step By Step (Intro)
This is 48 seconds on pure awesomeness. It kind of has a Skrillex feel to it. The intro is an array of amazingly put together electronic, synthy sounds, that are put together effortlessly. Love the dubstepness. It's a great start to the album and a wonderful accompaniment for the next song.
2. Standing Still
The beginning of this song kind of sounds like the beginning of Rolling In The Deep. Then you hear the lyrics and it's nothing like Adele. The English sounds just a little bit off but other than that, the English lyrics in the song are fine: "Cause I'm on fire but you keep on standing still". The Korean lyrics are symbolic and metaphoric. Very fancy. They basically express the how even though they're hurting (on fire), 'you' don't do anything and "keep on standing still". The parts in this song all fit together really well. Me, being the bias person that I am, like Eli's part the best of course. I absolutely love his rap! Then AJ comes in and it's like D: But I love it too. Number one song. I love the whole song and I'm glad they chose this to be the title song.
3. Can't Breathe 숨도 못 쉬어 
I didn't like this song as much as the previous but it's still okay. It has a nice uplifting tempo and atmosphere. Unfortunately, I feel like the song is a bit scattered and their voices don't effortlessly move together like they could. At first, everything seemed weird but once it grew on me, the chorus become my favourite part. The chorus and the rapping was the only looking forward to though. I like the emphasis on "so" in the chorus.
4. Missing You
Sorry, not my thing. Favourite part? The music in the background. It sounds really really cool. I liked the song somewhat but the repetition of "Missing you" was a tad to overboard for me. Though it doesn't suit me well, it has a very soothing tone and I would listen to this song when I'm sad. BUT then there's like a little bit of a rap and then that's when the whole song starts becoming amazing. There's some piano and the whole song becomes just that little bit happier.
5.Bad Person 나쁘다
I was a bit shocked the first time I heard this. The beginning was unexpected and this ballad isn't U-Kiss's usual style but I actually liked this song. The repetition of  "나쁘다"   in some parts of the song in the background sounds really nice. It sounds like a whisper and then the music kind of stops for a split second. This adds a really nice element to the song. Even the rapping sound more ballady and nice than it normally does. The lyrics have a sad meaning about leaving, pain, breakups and all that. Surprisingly my third favourite song on here.
6. More Painful Than Pain 아픔보다 아픈 
Definitely my second favourite song on the album! It was so extremely beautiful. A song about empty love. I kind of wanted to cry just listening to this song. This was a duet by Soohyun and Hoon and it was a perfect ballad in every way possible. It's a bit cliche but I love it anyway. Their voices sound amazing together.
7. My Reason
Yep, another ballad. This is definitely the sweetest though. The other songs are all so depressing. This one was soooooooooooo cute! About the one, the first time meeting and all the other cute things you'd expect in a song like this. Even though sometimes I feel like Kevin always gets the most lines and attention, he deserves it, and he deserves this solo. It sounds amazing and because his American, the English is spot on.
8. Party All The Time
Equal third favourite. I can't choose between this and Bad Person. I love them both for different reasons. This song was totally up my alley. I loved the up beat music. This was AJ and Eli's duet. They aren't the best at singing but in this song, they showed that even though they are rappers, they can sing. I loved every single part of this song and the extremely happy and fun lyrics. I loved the bridge the most "If you are sexy and you know it put your hands up put your hands up". Yes sir.
9. Sweety Girl
This song totally reminds me of Grease! I can't put my finger on what song it was or maybe it wasn't even Grease but it definitely sounds like them. The song starts off with a guitar riff and it sounds alright but I really really don't like this song. I didn't even like the rapping. Shocker right? Yeah, didn't even like the rapping. The lyrics are alright but doesn't make up for the rest in my opinion.
10. Cause I Love You 사랑하니까
This song is about staying together with no regrets. It is better than a few other songs but I still don't quite like this one. It does get better as the song goes on but I feel like the beginning of a song should be just as good. The background music though is really nice with a techno feel. Finally, of course, yes I do like the rapping in this one.

Wow, this was a long post. Like I said though, there are really really great songs and then there's the ones that make this album an overall 3 instead of a 5. Oh well, good album though. Check Standing Still on YouTube here.



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