The wait is over! BlackPink is back with their first album, and let me tell you I’m thrilled about this one, I have followed BlackPink since the ‘Boombayah’ (debut) era, and it has been a ride seeing Lisa, Rosé, Jennie and Jisoo become the artists they are now.
Let’s dive into this release.
THE ALBUM
We began this album with the pre-released anthem ‘How You Like That’, as expected this song was released with the powerful sound that has characterised this group for years. This track delivers what fans expected, a party anthem that will get stuck in your head. Check the music video below.
The also pre-released song featuring the American singer Selena Gomez is next. ‘Ice Cream’ had me remembering ‘As If It Was Your Last’ era, it just had the same vibe. However, this song gets more experimental with the synth and beat drops. Selena Gomez was a fantastic addition, I really liked how well her vocals blended with the members. In a few words, a total bop.
‘Pretty Savage’ is next, this track screams YG production from the very start. It mixes pop and hip hop and I am living for it. I am a fan of these types of songs, and personally I felt that this song and style suits BlackPink’s vibe. The badass and powerful woman we all have inside.
We get a second collaboration in the next track, and this time we get Cardi B. ‘Bet You Wanna’ slides over to the more pop side with a flow that feels like a fresh breeze in summer. The use of autotune in the members’ vocals was a very interesting addition to this song along with the Bollywood-like orchestration at the end.
The title track ‘Lovesick Girls’ plays next with an EDM driven track that has all the qualities to become the single girls’ anthem. Co-written by Jennie and Jisoo, this song has a very cool inclusion of the members’ vocals harmonizing at the back and an acoustic guitar in the bridge that was an unexpected surprise to my ears. Check the MV below.
Starting off with an oriental music inspired intro we ‘Crazy Over You’, the constant mix of tempos and beat drops are super cool and it totally caught my attention. Jennie’s and Lisa’s rapping was fantastic, and overall this very much experimental track is a good listen.
‘Love to Hate Me’ comes next and the pre-chorus in this song flows soft like a whisper, Jisoo’s vocals were fantastic and very distinguishable in the song. This is the first time I hear BlackPink trying a song of this style and I kinda dig how the full track was layered and arranged.
Last on this album the very rich vocals track ‘You Never Know’ plays, I loved Rosé’s singing in this track. The soft-pop almost ballad-ish tempo of this song felt like the perfect way to close this album with an orchestration at the end that had me shook.
As a follower of BlackPink’s music for years I felt that this album showed off the growth this group has had, and experimented a bit with new styles that I’m looking forward to seeing more of.
You can listen to this release here.
