Release Date: October 29, 2018
Track Listing
- Colors
- O’My!
- La Vie en Rose
- Memory
- We Together (IZ*ONE ver.)
- Suki ni Nacchau Darou (IZ*ONE ver.)
- Yume wo Miteiru Aida (IZ*ONE ver.)
- Pick Me (IZ*ONE ver.) (CD Only)
Review
IZ*ONE are the product of the third season of the South Korean music survival reality show Produce 101. (a.k.a. Produce 48) This female idol group is made up of 12 members. 9 are from various Korean agencies and 3 are from the various Japanese AKB48 member groups.
COLOR*IZ (pronounced as “colorize”) is their debut mini-album and it features the lead single La Vie en Rose. Depending on the version of the album purchased you will either get seven songs (digital version) or eight songs (physical release).
For a group that has been around for a short period of them they have experienced success early. COLOR*IZ broke the record for the highest first week sales of a debut album by a girl group and attained the fourth highest in first week sales of an album by a South Korean girl group on Hanteo.
It also debuted atop the Oricon Weekly album and Weekly Digital album charts in Japan. In South Korea it charted at number two on the Gaon Album chart in its first week of release. Lastly it peaked at number nine on Billboard’s World Albums chart while the single La Vie en Rose peaked at number six on the World Digital Songs chart.
IZ*ONE also won rookie of the year at the Asia Artist Awards and are in contention for best new female artist at the Melon Music Awards.
With all of the above in mind COLOR*IZ must be really good right?
Of the seven (or eight) tracks the first 4 songs are the ones that are the newest and therefore will be covered in the most detail here. The opening track Colors is an up-tempo pop song with small hints of R&B instrumentation for added flavour. It gives a sweet, sugary kind of vibe that sets the tone for the rest of the songs to follow.
O’My! is second to the lead single in regards to instant appeal. Much like the opener it is a catchy, high tempo song. There is a trace of Hip-Pop in the layers of music that gives this song some edge. It does have a bit of cutesy feeling that might be a little over the top for some listeners so beware if you don’t like that particular quality in your pop music.
The lead single La Vie en Rose goes through several different moods with the slower sections being in the verses and hook and the energy peaking with an explosive build in the pre-chorus sections. That tends to go against the traditional structure of a song where you expect the most out of the chorus/hook section with everything else building up and breaking down around that.
Yet it works wonderfully and immediately gives IZ*ONE something that sets them apart from other girl groups right away. It is difficult to even place this song in particular genres as it has so many packed into one song.
The final new song is the ballad Memory. While it not as emotionally impactful as the series finale song Yume wo Miteiru Aida it is still something worth checking out if you are in the mood for a slower paced IZ*ONE.
COLOR*IZ‘s remaining songs are re-recorded versions of the songs performed on the final episode of Produce 48. It would have been nice to also have re-recorded versions of the concept evaluation songs added at the end of this album too but that’s not a deal breaker unless you have some extreme emotional attachment to those songs.
Usually groups formed from reality shows are hit and miss and labels/agencies have to do their best to strike while the iron is hot to see if their newest project sinks or swims. In the case of IZONE there is no doubt that this group will outlast the initial hype period after their formation. The next 2 years will be an interesting time for them if they continue to output quality material like what is on COLORIZ.
Whether you followed this group on their journey to stardom or not this mini-album is definitely recommended if you are looking for a great K-Pop fix.
For more information about the Kihno version of this album please check out Allen’s review.
