Release Date: November 8, 2024
Track Listing
- HOWL
- HOWLING
- SPACE MEETING Skit
- IYKYK
- SOMETHING AIN’T RIGHT
- IN THE RAIN
- WOKE UP REMIXX (FEAT. ジェイ・パーク, OZworld, AKLO, Paloalto, VERBAL, Awich, TAK & Dok2)
- IS THIS LOVE
Review
I continue catching up on 2024 releases by reviewing XG’s second EP, AWE. Coming in hot off the heels of three consecutive singles (WOKE UP, SOMETHING AIN’T RIGHT, and IYKYK) and amid their first world tour, AWE was a highly anticipated album.
Looking at the track listing, one will immediately notice only a few new songs. If you exclude the introduction and the skit, only three pieces of new material are on AWE. While that makes it easy to review this album, the lack of other new songs is a letdown.
However, beggars can’t be choosers, and the three new songs on AWE are well within the high standards set by XG’s discography. HOWLING features the members of XG performing over a chilled Hip-Hop beat. Despite that, it also has a feeling of menace thanks to the distorted upright bass, the wolf howling, screechy sound effects, and the delivery of lyrical content.
IN THE RAIN is the only slow jam on AWE. This minimal R&B breakup track allows the members to display their rarely seen softer side. My belief is they should expand on this music in further releases since they can easily pull off these types of tracks and sound damn good doing it.
Lastly, IS THIS LOVE finds XG working with a Miami bass-like song. This is something new for XG, as they have not done anything like this in the past. Those expecting a subwoofer test or a window-rattling bass track will be disappointed. IS THIS LOVE is closer to the American R&B of the early 2000s than the all-out party tracks of the time.
Taken as a whole, AWE is another excellent release from XG with only a couple of blemishes. The skit is entirely filler, and its space on the album could have been filled by another new song instead. Also, putting the cipher version of WOKE UP on the album over the far superior original version is a head-scratcher.
