[Taemin] [MUSIC ALBUM REVIEW] f(x) - Pink Tape & Brown Eyed Girls - Black Box (2013)

oshlo.blogspot.com - Two of K-Pop popular girl groups, f(x) and Brown Eyed Girls,released their newest album on the same date, July 29th, 2013. f(x) is comeback with Pink Tape album while Brown Eyed Girls comeback with Black Box (funny, how the title sounds similar). Honestly, I am not really a big fan of f(x) electronic music and the way they sing/talk on their song. I also not too familiar with Brown Eyed Girls. But, somehow, their newest releases attracted me.
Pink Tape premise seems really promising through its teaser. Meanwhile, Brown Eyed Girls has always been praised with their good track records in music and their bravery by creating adult-dol image, which was very different from other girl groups. All of this are enough for me to sit, listen to their whole album, and make a review about it. Also, it even gave me an inspiration to write a different post this time, reviewing two albums in one post, in order to challenge myself too.
So, curious about how these girls effort through their newest album? Or curious if I can nail reviewing two albums in one post? Just read it below ;)

f(x) - Pink Tape

f(x) has been known as the experimental group from SM Entertainment and they proved their title once again through Pink Tape. From the mysterious and dreamy Shadowthat dominated with xylophone and voice recorder to the club anthem with little touch of Middle East, Step, the girls continued to experiment sounds without losing their own identity by still adding the electronic music, their characteristics. With this album, they seemed to be influenced with other musicians too such as Earth, Wind, and Fire on Signal, David Guetta on Airplane, Spice Girls on Toy, and Broadway-like musicals on Snapshot.
But the biggest experiments came from the title track, Rum Pum Pum. Like any other SM Entertainment releases this year, Rum Pum Pum still follow the formula of combining different songs into one. While some part still sounded disjointed, f(x) provided an interesting take this time by combining a Middle East sounds through the guitar and pipe with drum from marching band. Beside that, they also did an unique thing by letting two people sang the same line together, but in a different period, for a close time. Unfortunately, all of this did not being followed with the music video. The music video did not provide something new since it fell into the usual "in-the-box" music video from SM Entertainment with colorful colors.
Despite their experiments in sounds, f(x) surprisingly sticked to the same lyrics theme on this album, which is about first love in adolescence time. In Rum Pum Pum, first love is described just like the first wisdom tooth, giving a headache, but unforgettable. Meanwhile, Kickshowed how people became confident when they are falling in love. Victoria, Krystal, Amber, Luna, and Sulli did not always bring up the sweet things about first love. In the chilling Goodbye Summerthat full of acoustic guitar sound and featured with EXO D.O, they described how bitter is it when people cannot say "I Love You" to someone they love. They also explained about the end of a relationship through Ending Page. While still stick to first love theme, they also wittily tackled another girls issue such as how people always siding on pretty girl instead of ordinary girl in the rockish vibe, Pretty Girl, and how a girl often changing their boyfriends and pretending to be something they are not with the addictive, No More.

Brown Eyed Girls - Black Box

While f(x) brought up the pure and innocent issue on Pink Tape, Brown Eyed Girls did the opposite way through Black Box. Just like their image as an adult-dol, Narsha, Jea, Miryo, and Gain told us a story about how adult love looked like. First, through the disco vibe, After Club, they told us that women often saved many men's numbers and brought different men in a party every night. Second, they told us to combine several "recipes" to make men love us on Recipe. Third, do not play game with women like what Brown Eyed Girls said on Mystery Survivors. Lastly, as an adult, sometimes the relationship did not work between people and they wanted to break up, like what being described on It's A Lie. But, sometimes they thought about everything first like what they did in Good Fellasand finally able to tolerate with it because every relationship had ups and downs.
Move on to the musical aspects, Brown Eyed Girls also experimented new sounds through this album just like f(x) on Pink Tape. They brought back the late disco vibe with I Want To Fly Before Sunset. Beside disco, they also displayed reggae vibe through Satisfactionand 90s hip hop through Boy. Meanwhile the title track itself, Kill Bill, was full of Western cowboy vibe since it was dominated with whistle sounds and guitar sounds. The music video for Kill Bill, which is about how these women battled with each other and ended up kill each other, also suited the song lyrics and obviously, title.

Both f(x) and Brown Eyed Girls unconsciously had many similarities with their latest album, Pink Tape and Black Box. Both of them like to experiment the music sounds while still sticked to their musical identity. Both of them also sticked to the same theme in terms of lyrics throughout the whole album. Lastly, both of them created an impressive album with Pink Tape and Black Box. Overall, I am satisfied with these two albums and I have to say that I am looking forward for their next releases in the future. And yes, Pink Tape and Black Box, two of the greatest albums this year!

f(x) - Pink Tape Favorite Tracks : Rum Pum Pum, Shadow, Goodbye Summer, Airplane, No More, SnapshotRating : 4.5/5Brown Eyed Girls - Black BoxFavorite Tracks : I Want To Fly Before Sunset, Kill Bill, Boy, It's A Lie, Recipe, Good FellasRating : 4.5/5

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