Here's the Highlight Reel if you're curious before getting into the meat and potatoes of this review.
1. 첫 사랑니 (Rum Pum Pum Pum)
I can safely say that this song was the worst possible song that SM Entertainment could've chosen to promote this. I was feeling it before I really knew the lyrics, and I looked at the lyrics and there was some really weird, nonsensical stuff in there. The third line of the song is completely irrelevant to everything coming before or after it. That line is quite literally. "Your Wisdom Tooth". Just, out of nowhere. Your Wisdom Tooth. To put this line in context for you, here is the beginning of the song.
"Hello, you probably heard
Of me at least once
Your Wisdom Tooth (ah ah ah ah)
You probably think
You experienced it all
When you were young"
See, all of those lines actually make sense except for "Your Wisdom Tooth". I Think I would feel more for this song, lyrically, if it didn't have a couple lines like that, that to me, made absolutely no sense. Although if I do have to say one thing about the song, the guitar line is killer, and really sets the song in a good motion. Lyrically though, I'm not feeling it, so I have to give it a 3.5.
3.5/5 Acorns.
2. 미행 (그림자 : Shadow)
This is probably one of my favorite tracks on the album. If I could give it a 6 out 5, I would. I remember some people saying that the intro to this song on the art film was incredibly un-nerving. For the sake of this song, I'm going to include the little "Love Exists But With An Absence Of Eternity" speech from the promotions, because it also adds to this song. To put it simply, the unnerving and creeped out feeling that some listeners got from this song (myself included) is well deserved. This is probably the prettiest song I've ever heard about being a female stalker. I really feel like this song brought something new to the table for F(x), who was doing really average themed music like Rum Pum Pum Pum and Pinnochio and Hot Summer. I don't include Electric Shock in this because frankly, comparing love to jolts of electricity and a black hole, among other things, is a pretty unique idea. So since their electric shock days, I think my love for them tripled. Anyways, back to Shadow, I really feel like the lyrics were creepy without being TOO creepy. They didn't cross that line from unique yet creepy to being something that could be considered more of a shock song. I like that F(x) managed to stay classy with such an easy to mess up theme. The instrumental itself added to the feeling with all those really awkward squeaky background voices. It sounded like a young girl's fantasy gone horribly wrong -- or in this case, right. I especially love how they dealt with a dark theme in the happiest way possible.
5/5 Acorns.
3. Pretty Girl
When I first saw this song on the track list I was like "Oh great, it's probably gonna be some braggy "I'm the best" pop song or something" And holy crap was I wrong. "Pretty Girl" is A heavy rock/rap sounding song that calls out all the girls who are Pretty to look at and nothing more. I seriously seriously loved this song, it really made a statement about how people always side with the attractive people solely because they're attractive -- as if that makes them more credible or honest than anyone else. I can kinda see this song being made into a music video where these popular girls always show up F(x) and pick on them, and then they turn the table and everyone sees how horrible they really are. This song is pretty good in my opinion, and I can relate this to my own experiences and feelings towards people I've seen throughout my life. This is a pretty easy to relate to song, and F(x) did a good job getting across it's message. It had that really tough "F*** You!" attitude to it too, which is another reason why I think the lyrics fit with it so well.
Another 5/5 Acorns for F(x)
4. Kick
Kick was really....weird. Don't get me wrong I liked it, I'm just not sure how to explain or define it. The song has some really crazy laser sounds in the chorus that got me all pumped up, and there was what sounded like a Jazz Organ Improv section in the middle of it all. I Felt like I was playing Galaga in the middle of a baptist church with asian girls backing me up, and Teddy Park mixing it all, if that makes any sense at all. Essentially, Kick is a really great song that is a screw you to people who have bashed and hated on them in the past, and I like that.
Although, I do have one complaint about this giant mish mash of sounds and chants and excited singing.
The english. These are girls who have extensive experience with the english language, they should not sound so awkward speaking english, and for a majority of the song and album they don't have that problem.
Except for this line.
"Aseupalteu wi singiru
hwaitu seunikeojeuro Kick"
Aseupalteu is supposed to be "Asphalt", and it's pronounced with the..really...weird pronounciation of "Ass" followed by a pause that makes it sound like they just swore at you, and then "Fault-Oooooh".
And Kick is pronounced "Keek" for that line and that line alone. Coming from girls who are great at english, and extensively use it in their music, this is unacceptable, and it's the only think preventing me from making this song my favorite on the album.
4/5 Acorns.
5. Signal
If I had to label signal as anything, it would be "a collection of all the greatest songs from Space Channel 5 and Space Channel 5 =part 2=". The song and lyrics were very funky and spacey and I could see this song being used as the theme song for a Space Channel 5 =Part 3= if it's ever made. The song progressively changes throughout the 3:21 that you listen to it, and after the second chorus the song sounds like somehting that could be a funky disco space dance battle. Yes. A Funky Disco Space Dance Battle. This whole song is pretty different from anything else on the album, and when I heard it on the highlight reel on youtube, i didn't think i would really like it. Needless to say SM highlighted the lamest part of the song -- because the full song is epic and catchy. I especially love the spacey fade away sound that ends the song after the last "I Got A Signal.."
Also, all the english in this song was pretty perfect, too. This is a good feeling song with a good lyrical style and pronunciation -- another clean song by F(x). Why doesn't SM have them be the money makers, seriously?
5/5 Acorns.
6. Step
Ehhhh...I wasn't really...feeling step. In my opinion, 3:36 was way too long for a song that was essentially the same thing over and over and over. I did get bored of this song around the 2 and a half minute mark, and that's not a very good thing that any musician wants to hear, but it's gotta be said, the song was boring and repetitive. I think this song could be good if it was made into a big group dance thing that had some pretty cool moves with stuff like like breakdancers and members of Infinite would do (yeah, I'm talking that Scorpion Dance stuff, my fellow INSPIRITs). I think maybe if SM promoted Step with a really cool video like that that had an epic grand scale difficult dance to it that would be awesome, but as a stand alone song, it's nothing impressive. And, I hate to say it , but let's be honest, F(x) is a girl group. Girl Groups don't...they just don't dance like Boy Groups, and it's not even their fault, it's just this stereotype that hit record companies like a brick. Go on stage, look pretty and do something sexy and simple or cute and simple, go off stage and call it a day. And that's not good because I would REALLY like to see something done with Step that actually makes it..well...listenable for more than one time a day.
3/5 Acorns, because it's good for what it wants to accomplish -- but SM won't capitalize on it, I know they won't T^T.
7. Goodbye Summer (Featuring D.O of EXO-K).
I want to give this a good rate. You have no idea how much I want to give this a good rate. But I can't. I love this song to death, it's really pretty and it's really lovely, but this is not featuring D.O. this is D.O featuring F(x), and really doesn't belong on the album. It seriously took till 1:10 for D.O to shut up and actually have another girl sing -- and that was amber. She rapped for a few seconds before D.O went back into that call and response thing, and then dominated the chorus. What I've noticed about the mixing on this one, is that even when D.O sings with the girls, his voice dominates theirs and they're barely audible. I was actually really excited to see an EXO-F(x) collaboration, but this is not a collaboration, it's practically a D.O promotion in the very middle of their album. It's such a beautiful song though, and I want to give it a good rate, but I can't because it just doesn't belong on this album. I have to give it a 3 because it's just kind of wrong. I don't see why SM couldn't just take the Infinite route and give D.O a solo career or something like Infinite did with....well I Can't remember his name, but he song 60Sec. .>->;; I think it was Kyungsoo.
3/5 Acorns
8. Airplane
HOLY DAVID GUETTA.
When I first heard "Airplane" I honestly thought it was a David Guetta song because it has that feel to it. Especially the "Come With Me" part that broke down into that really heavy happy techno part that was all "Airplane" "Love". This song was, for me, a very magical song that gave me a sense of euphoria while I listened to it. The metaphor of Love being like an Airplane, and being afraid to fly on it at first was really clever, and can definitely get people to relate to their own experiences with a love like that. The song, the lyrics, everything about this made me feel good inside. This is a sort of therapeutic song, at least in my experience. It just makes me happy and clears out any bad feelings I have. I can tell this song is gonna be a song that I can really feel in the future. It just makes me feel good and hopefully it makes all of you feel good, too.
Another good note about this song -- I think if SM had to choose any song to have F(x) promote stateside with, this would be that song. .It's very Daft Punk/David Guetta sounding and is a great way to ease people into kpop. I would also love an english version of it.
5/5 Acorns
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9. Toy
I'm not even sure what to say about this. At first I thought this could be a song in Step It Up or Bring It On. It's a very dancy and schooly song, and I could see this being used for a lot of purposes. And then dubstep. And then hardcore string ensemble in the dubstep. And then so many things happening at once, this song was like a big fat baked potato of "What is going on?", and then it went back to the chorus and I Can't describe this song. I can't even give a reason why I love this aside from the fact that is was such an experience and there was so much going on that my mind was constantly blown and I Was never once bored of this song.
But I still don't really know how I feel about that weird dubstep/string ensemble thing that was going on, and so I have to give it a
4/5 Acorns.
10. 여우 같은 내 친구 (No More) (My Foxy Friends(No More))
This song is tied with Shadow for being my favorite on the album. I was partly reminded of that "Name Game" song that was featured on American Horror Story, and I was also reminded of "Lollipop" and a host of other Doo-Wop and oldies songs. Hell, this song could've been used in Hairspray or Grease if the lyrics were changed a bit. Okay so, you know that friend, that's with a new guy every week? And she always changes to be totally compatible with this new guy? If he goes to church, she praises the lord, if he likes nerds, she's suddenly smart? This song is about that girl. And if you don't know that girl, you probably are that girl. I like how the song was really catchy and cute, talking about this kind of girl, without sounding attacking or threatening. It sounds more like disappointment. It's kinda like, she's growing tired of this friend, and wants to be rid of her or to have her be a decent person, but she knows that'll never happen and she's stuck with her "Fox-Like Friend". i assume the fox-like thing is a reference to how she tricks guys into thinking she's their perfect counterpart, in which case I find that to be hilarious and awesome at the same time.
5/5 Acorns for this song.
11. Snapshot
This song feels very Britney Spears in nature, and that's most certainly not a complaint. Although, I do have a two complaints about this song, and they go in conjunction with each other. The first complaint is that it too me a while to get into it because the shifts between the jazzy style and the technopop style were so quick. This leads me to my second issue, the length of the song. It's only 2:51, and I feel like it should have been a full length 3:30 song, with each part a little extended with a better transition from the jazz part to the technopop part. It was a little too abrupt and unexpected at the beginning, and that really kinda threw me off track with the song and made me feel a bit off. About halfway through the song I was used to it though and enjoyed it, but I feel like this song could have been played off a lot better than it was, and it seems a little rushed compared to the rest of this album.
4/5 Acorns.
12. Ending Page
The last song on the album, and an excellent conclusion to an excellent album. Let me state how nice it is hearing Amber actually sing. Also, let me state that this song is right up Amber's ally, and she seriously needs a solo album with this kind of rock style to it. I feel like this song is pretty good for a rock song, and it's definitely different from the rest of the songs that were on the album. I also like how the end of this album is also the end of a romance in the song. Both the songs placement on the album and the lyrics themselves signify the ending of something amazing. So I gotta give this song a five, and I gotta say, definitely one of the best songs on the album, and something I could listen to countless times.
5/5 acorns.
Final Words: F(x) has really surprised me with this, I'm not gonna lie. I loved this album, and you can tell that there is a lot more effort in this than their previous endeavors on behalf of the producers themselves. I can also say that this album is my favorite kpop album of 2013 so far, and I really REALLY loved listening to it. If you get the chance, you should buy this album digitally or physically.
Final Score: 86% B+
F(x) delivers a near-flawless album, with high production value and replayability.
