BLACKPINK – BORN PINK album review
No intro for this one, out of ideas, let’s just skip right into it.
The first song „Pink Venom“ is clearly trying to capitalize on the success of „How You Like That“ except without that song’s instant effortless catchiness. The electronic drop the group seems to be so hyperfocused on doing lately is super weak on this one and the build up is much more rewarding then the drop itself. The hook is just super repetetive and uninspired and overall it’s just a mystery to me why this was the leading single for this album. The outro is also super obnoxious like they really saved the worst for last. Anyways, the next song is „Shut Down“ which is kinda what I wanna do with this album at this point. The strings are somewhat pleasant however the trap beat just mashes really awkawardly with it and honestly with this one the tune just isn’t really there, at least Pink Venom was memorable enough even if not for the best reasons. Also what the hell is „Typa Girl“ like honestly. The beat is just super cheap and not up to Blackpink’s production standarts at all. Also once again it just feels like a dollar store version of How You Like That. Not much else to say, this album is only 8 songs long and there are still songs that if they weren’t there literally nothing would be changed with the album. „Yeah Yeah Yeah“ is the first alright-ish song in my opinion the gentle electronic guitar that kicks the song of with the 80s inspired drop, that sure has been done to death by this point, still manages to sound really nice and is quite pleasant, honestly I wish it was stretched out a bit, because everything else surrounding it I could just take or leave. Definetly an improvement over the last track although that’s not really saying much. Also I appriciate the way they switch the drop up for the last one, really gives the song more life. Now… Is ANYONE gonna talk about how the next song „Hard To Love“ sound EXACTLY like In Your Eyes by The Weeknd?? Like they’re not even trying to hide it, I’m no music expert but I wouldn’t by surprised if even the same fricking chords were used here. And the funniest thing is that this is the song that I enjoy the most from this album basically for that same reason. Like it’s not really obvious from the start but once the drums kick in it’s like right there staring at you. As I said, I enjoy the song so it’s not THAT big of an issue (admittedly the song does have a few of its own original ideas but the core tunes are just so similar it should be a sin). „The Happiest Girl“ does have some genuinely passionate vocal performances and I reallly like the sentiment of the song however for the longest song on the album it doesn’t really go anywhere. Still one of my more enjoyed moments on the album, but I really think they could have pushed it a bit furhter to give it that extra emotional punch – also it ends like REALLY abruptly. „Tally“ is the second to last song on this album and it sure is a song. I like the guitars overall, however the drums are mixed like garbage and the hook isn’t strong enough to carry the song honestly, it’s better then some of the earlier moments on this album but still lacks a good tune regardless. Now the closer „Ready For Love“ is about as dissapointing as the ending for this album could have gone – this song is like the embodiment of generic. The obnoxious EDM drops make a return in probably the worst form they have yet appeared, like this drop makes my ears bleed, actual youtube rewind core. The song also doesn’t change at all throughout and it’s just super annoying I was dreading for it to be over. Also once again it just ends out of nowhere like what’s with this album and these abrupt endings, it really feels like they didn’t want to be on these songs at all.
Overall BORN PINK turned out about as expected – not better, not worse, just really avarage. And it’s a shame because when the lightning strucks gold with this group they make some of the most catchy and memorable pop songs to come out in a long time, however there isn’t a single song on this album I would put nowhere close to that category – in one word, it’s dissapointing.
-favorite tracks: Yeah Yeah Yeah, Hard To Love, The Happiest Girl
-least favorite tracks: Ready For Love, Typa Girl
Light 5/10