So while my mom monopolized the phone in my room and prevented me from using the net, I decided to finally sit down and write this album review. (I mean, I was listening to it anyway – I might as well.)
Now you should know that I’m no musician so my review is based solely on my own, personal experience of the cd and it’s probably a little biased since I’m writing it after having listened to it a gazillion times in the last seven days. And I’m not sick of it yet – wow. You can feel free to disagree with anything, I say – I mean, it’s really just my opinion but it’d be great if you’d give the cd a try at least.
Anyway, I’m now looking at the romanized lyrics that vicvickyrox posted on the SHInee community on LJ today (Credits to naver.com & PurpleSnow@wordpress) and all I have to say is I do not give Taemin enough credit! He really sings a lot. By the way, I know that quite a few songs on the cd are remakes but I don’t know which ones they are and I’d like to remain in my ignorance regarding that. Thanks for reading if you do!
So without further ado:
~Maki’s SHINee World Album Review~
Overall, I really liked this cd which is a little surprising since I’m not really one for ballads – usually when I’m listening to a cd for the first time, I skip over the slow songs and listen to them later on when I’ve got more time (or I just never listen to them…sorry Rihanna). However, I couldn’t really do that with this cd since it’s comprised mostly of those (and by ballads, I mean, love songs of a slower tempo). I know some people were disappointed that there weren’t more dance tracks (and in a way, I was too – I really wanted more songs to dance to) but I think the plan here was to showcase the vocal talent in the group and I think they really managed to do that. I mean, if they couldn’t sing, there was no way they would have pulled off all of those love songs (and there are a lot of love songs). One of the things I really liked about them though is that even though they’re love songs, they’re not really slow and dragging – they still manage to be quite upbeat, even the ones about heartache.
Now since I speak absolutely no Korean, I focused mainly on the sound of each song and then as I learnt each voice, the way their voices blended together and sounded on their own. I have to say that these boys harmonize really well together. I mean, the choruses were often my favourite part of the songs because of course, that’s when I got to hear them sing together and they always sound really good. I find Jonghyun and Key’s voices to be the most distinctive and so the easiest to pick out. Unfortunately, I’m still mixing up Taemin and Onew’s voices – I think it’s mainly because I can’t believe how mature Taemin sounds when he sings. And Minho has a lovely voice – I really don’t know why he doesn’t sing more. Speaking of, initially, I wasn’t keen on all of the rap in the songs but now I really like Minho and Key’s parts and I think that they really add something extra to the songs.
This is one of those rare albums where I listen to every song and the exception here is “Y Si Fuera Ella”. I know a lot of people like it and you’d think I would too considering how much I love Jonghyun’s voice but…I just think it’s boring. Sorry! I’m going to listen to it again though and see if I can hear what everyone else does – I mean, I really want to like it, I just don’t. You would think it’d be hard to pick out a favourite on a great album like this but I’ve managed to choose a few. Love’s Way, Romantic and Graze really stand out to me, Love’s Way in particular. Oy, Jonghyun’s voice in that song just kills me – they all sound really good though and I feel that it’s a really nice first album and a great way to enter the pop scene. I just hope I’m not the only one who sees it that way.
Ultimately, I’ll give it an A-. (Grade changed – see edit.)
edit from Sep. 10th:
So, I finally took another listen to ‘Y Si Fuera Ella’ and OMG, I love it! I don’t know what happened before – maybe it’s because I was so blown away by the rest of the album that I didn’t pay as much attention to this song as I should have but whoa, this song is really amazing. Last night when I listened to it again, it really blew me away. And I’m listening to it right now and ~replay~ing it non-stop. So yes, I take back what I said before – ‘Y Si Fuera Ella’ is a great song, it is not boring or soporific – it is lovely and it really allows Jonghyun to showcase his vocal ability so props to SME for giving him a solo. Yay, now I can honestly give SHINee World an A++.
Laters, Maki.
