SEVENTEEN Hits A Home Run With “Semicolon”
SEVENTEEN released their second special album “; [Semicolon]” with the title track “Home;Run”.
Review: This album is So. Much. Fun! I’m usually dubious about the seemingly random placement of punctuation in K-pop groups/titles (or lack thereof: SuperM would greatly reduce awkward typos with a space or hyphen between the words, just saying). But in this case, the album title makes perfect sense. A follow-up of their earlier release this year, “Heng:garae”, “Semicolon” continues the fun, youthful energy of the theme “Do your best, but maybe not sometimes”. Just as a semicolon denotes a pause in a phrase that you intend to continue, the album revolves on the idea that it’s okay to take a break even when you feel like you still have a lot left to do. In a year filled with retro sounds, SEVENTEEN took it to the next level. Where their last title track “Left & Right” sounded like it was taken straight from the early 2000s, “Home;Run” sounds like it was taken from the 1900s. The Broadway-esque swing inspired track has a danceable and catchy melody filled with a rich mixture of different instrumentals and effects that make it impossible not to smile while listening (and makes music theater nerds like me do *jazz hands*). In the album commentary the members (who participated in the composition of the album tracks) noted that “the theme of the song is for the struggling youth today to ‘Let everything go and rest for today.'” And while this isn’t the first time we’ve seen the group do complex choreography, they made it extra fancy and stylized to match the brassy vintage sound and classy live performances. Although only six tracks long, the album experiments with a variety of genres including acid jazz, Bossa nova, funk, lo-fi hip-hop, and other elements thrown in just for kicks. With a little something for every listener, SEVENTEEN continues to show us their charms and versatility by channelling something old and yet somehow making it feel brand new. Overall: *shuffle step*jazz hands*
Other New Releases:
- “Get in loser, we’re going
shoppingroller skating”Mean girlsMamamoo dropped their pre-release single “Dingga” from their upcoming 10th mini album “TRAVEL”. Despite some, erm, interesting styling choices I really like the passive-aggressive party girl atmosphere. The quartet can pull-off girl crush, seductive, and elegant concepts, but the cool, point-dance filled “Dingga” is playful without being too cutesy and reminds me of their previous comeback for “Gogobebe“. Although I don’t like it as much as “Gogobebe”, I think is achieves exactly what a pre-release should do-makes me excited for their full comeback. (Especially since these teaser photos look absolutely stunning.)
- 2020 must also be the year of ‘Dum di dum di‘ and similar sound effects for the chorus. LOONA released their album “[12:00]” with the title track “Why Not”. Honestly, it took me a while to warm up to this song, but once I realized that the track wasn’t taking itself too seriously (the lyrics literally just tell you to ‘groove’ with the rhythm and go with the flow) it was a lot more enjoyable. I know there is some sort of complicated storyline in the MV that I’m totally missing as a casual LOONA listener, but shoutout to the stylists because the girls looked amazing and the cinematography was interesting and visually pleasing. Even though the title track isn’t my favorite, I really liked the rest of the album as a whole especially the synth-pop “Voice” and the low-key “Fall Again”.
- All my faves serenading us goodbye with clever word play is making me emotional! Crush blessed our ears with his latest album “with HER” and the title track “Let Me Go (with Taeyeon)”. I really appreciate how Crush can change his vocal color to match effortlessly with different artists from Lee Hi‘s husky vocals on the track “Tip Toe”, Lee Sora‘s rich and smooth “Love Encore“, to Taeyeon’s airy harmonies in ‘Let Me Go”. Speaking of letting go, along with this release Crush confirmed that he will soon be enlisting on November 12. Thankfully, we have this mellow album to calm down to (well, at least the first four tracks) while we wait for his return.
- B1A4 made their first comeback in about three years with their 4th full album “Origine” and the title track “Like a Movie”. This is also the group’s first comeback since reorganizing as a trio after the departure of former members Baro and Jinyoung from the agency when their contracts expired. A lot of groups seem to be going for either darker or louder sounds this year, so this more mellow approach is refreshing and the music video is cute and quirky.
- AleXa released her album “DECOHERENCE” with the cyber-punk dystopian themed title track “REVOLUTION”. I don’t know which is more impressive in the music video: the fact that she’s single-handedly defeating evil monsters in several worlds or that full split she does in the middle of the video.
- This trippy music video for Saay‘s title track “Omega” from her album “FEELosophy” is either an aesthetic win or slightly disturbing depending on how sleep-deprived you are at the moment. But the album is great, especially if you’re looking for underrated KR&B artists to support.
Some quick K-pop news and updates from this week:
- PENTAGON‘S Hui announced he will be enlisting on December 3, making him the second member of the group to serve. Since he’s the leader and heavily involved in producing many of the group’s songs, I wonder how this will effect their releases for the next couple of year. I also wonder why I only start to really get into groups just when they all start to disband or enlist? I’m still not over this emotional send-off from Road To Kingdom! *streams “Daisy” while in tears*
- Up next in online concerts, Stray Kids revealed plans for their virtual performance ““Unlock : GO LIVE IN LIFE” to be held November 22 on the SM Entertainment/Naver-owned Beyond LIVE platform.
- Red Velvet‘s Irene has been the buzz of the week after being called out by a stylist/editor (and later others in the industry) for her harsh and unprofessional behavior. Irene and SM Entertainment quickly released an apology and an official statement, but that hasn’t prevented netizens from expressing their disappointment and even affected scheduled events for the group. The original post has been deleted, but the stylist did post a follow-up message regarding the controversy.
- Former 2ne1 member Minzy has formed her own agency called MZ Entertainment after leaving YG Entertainment in 2016 and The Music Works (after some legal disputes) earlier this year. With fellow group mate CL gearing up for her solo comeback, my Blackjack (2ne1 fandom) heart is so happy to see these queens get back to making the music they love.
What were your favorite releases this week? Let us know in the comments!