Track Listing
- Fire
- I Don’t Care
- In The Club
- Let’s Go Party
- Pretty Boy
- Stay Together
- Lollipop (feat. Big Bang)
Review
I’m a noob when it comes to K-Pop. The only Korean music I listen to consists of Clazziquai, Hyori, Loveholic, BoA and the Wonder Girls. I’ve been looking for some new groups to listen to and have asked around the forums I’m a part of for assistance. One of the groups recommended to me was 2NE1.
2NE1 (pronounced “to anyone” or “twenty one”) is a South Korean group signed to YG Entertainment. The group consists of 4 members. CL (Leader, Rapper, Vocalist), BOM (Lead Vocalist), MINZY (Rapper, Vocalist) and DARA (Vocalist). Their sound is of the R&B/Pop crossover kind with a touch of Hip-Hop thanks to some MC’ing from CL & MINZY.
To be honest this isn’t too far from the pop music I hear on the radio now, it just happens to be in (mostly) Korean. Still, it’s some catchy stuff.
Whoever their songwriter is knows how to work a hook, the one in I Don’t Care being particularly addictive. It’s kind of like Rihanna’s Umbrella (with the repeating of the end of a word) but not annoying. It’s probably because these girls can actually sing.
Pretty Boy has a pretty hot beat. I like the aggressive (yet still very pop) kind of vibe with the military like percussion & stabbing horns & synths. The way this track is structured kind of reminds me of parts of Hollaback Girl. The MC sections of this are sweet. I had no idea what anyone was saying but it really didn’t matter.
My two favorite tracks on this mini-album are FIRE & Stay Together. FIRE is exactly as the title describes it to be. Definitely hot. The track grabs you from the start & doesn’t let go at all. Just the way a club banger track should be. Short, to the point & never outstaying its welcome.
Stay Together is something much closer to the kind of groove I prefer in my DJ sets. I was surprised to hear a House track on this as everything before it was very Urban oriented. But, it was a nice surprise. I would drop this in a set for sure.
The last track worth mentioning is a collaboration with another YG Entertainment group called Big Bang (a 5 member Hip-Hop group) called Lollipop. This song was used for a cell phone campaign & was never an official single release. Yet it still seemed be rather popular. I’m not sure why really. I think the song is kind of lame compared to the other tracks on this album. But that’s just me.
Overall this was much better than I had expected it to be. I’m looking forward to what else they’ll be releasing.
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