MBLAQ's BLAQ Style - Hit Or Miss?

MBLAQ has released their first full album!.... aaand that's about as much excitement as I can muster up for it now that I've listened to it. I do have enough energy to complete a review of it, though, so read on!

MBLAQ was my first real k-pop fandom. It started with Joon (yes, I'm shallow that way) and eventually expanded to all the members as I watched all their episodes of Idol Army, and started following fan blogs. I'm not as much of a fan as I was back then, but I still love their explosive performances, and I like the idea of their R&B/hip-hop take on k-pop, so I keep up with them to see if they'll come out with something awesome. Sadly, this album is not what I was hoping for.

"Stay" is their main title track. The first thing I noticed about this song were the crazy synths at the beginning - I just got a pair of kick-ass headphones for Christmas (thanks, fam! :D) and listening to the beginning on them felt like my ears were filling with water. It's an eerie but really cool feeling. Second thing I noticed were the gimmicks - pace changes, repetition, stock pop rhythm. But, as I got to the second verse, I found that I had been sucked into the melody and was singing along. The song is catchy, and very pop, yet manages to retain the slightly dark feel that the video and the instrumental try to convey. Joon and Seungho sound great in the lower octaves - they need to keep them down there and leave the high notes to G.O. I also liked the back and forth between Thunder and Mir towards the end. All in all, a decent title track, though I couldn't shake the feeling that it was missing something. 

As I listened to the rest of the album, I began to notice a pattern: most of the songs start off interesting, but then just fall back into familiar melodies, and I check out very quickly. They set me up for some amazing chorus or middle eight and then fail to deliver. I may have actually fallen asleep while listening to the two ballad tracks in the middle. For a group that put out a decent EP that won them their first chart award last summer, it was really a step down as a whole. A few individual songs stood out:  "버린다" has a nice, sexy electro vibe that's very "FutureSex/LoveSounds" (We miss you, JT! Come back!), and "Rolling U" has a really infectious beat - it's actually only a few steps away from a great title track. Their other title track, "Cry" stands out as well, but only because E-Tribe seriously overdid it with the production, so much so that I don't enjoy listening to it, and it's hard to pay attention to the performers at all. This explains why they decided to go overboard in the video and tried (and failed) to be super angsty and super sexy at the same time. 



And another thing: they need to stop making Thunder sing. He's a decent rapper, and actually complements Mir in a GD/TOP kinda way, while he really doesn't add a lot to the vocals of the group.

What I did like about this album was that they fully embraced an electro-R&B sound which complements MBLAQ's style and vocals, and also differentiates them from BEAST, the other R&B-ish k-pop boyband and their pseudo-rivals since they debuted around the same time (though in my estimation BEAST has put out much better material overall). Straight R&B like "What You Want" might turn out to be better for them, but for now this works. I noticed a growth in Joon's vocal capabilities - more control, more range - which is also good as I think he has potential, and he rounds out the vocals a lot better now. Also, I really liked that Mir got more lines: I think he's one of the better idol group rappers, so I was happy to hear more of him here when he barely had any lines on their last EP.

I don't know if MBLAQ got new people for this album, but if they did, they need to go get new new people. Choreographers, stylists, songwriters - except for that JR dude, he can stay. These guys have already shown us what they can do with good material - someone just needs to give it to them!