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Korea’s top vocalist Ailee has finally released her first full length studio album, Vivid. Since her debut, Ailee’s powerful vocals, lively stage performance, and superb rapping skills has earned her the title of “Korean Beyonce“. As a Korean American, Ailee’s music also tends to be more western influenced, as is evident through Vivid. Though surprisingly, more than her fast songs, the best works on Vivid turned to be the ballads that perfectly marry Ailee’s westernized groovy vocals with heartfelt emotional expressions that eastern cultures appreciate.
Track 1 – 너나 잘해 (Mind Your Own Business)
In true Ailee style, Mind Your Own Business is a super high energy album opener. It’s got shuffle rhythm drum beats, nifty saxophone riffs, funky electric guitar bass lines, and of course, Ailee’s explosive vocals — all harmoniously mixed together to create one dynamic track full of Ailee’s confident diva attitude.
Track 2 – Insane
A classic 90’s R&B inspired number with simple piano and drum accompaniments, Insane is the perfect song to showcase Ailee’s incredible vocals and smooth ad libs. Props to Ailee for bringing back this nostalgic music style for me as it’s been a good while since I’ve heard a pure R&B song in today’s electro-fied pop scene.
Track 3 – 미워도 사랑해 (I Love You, I Hate You)
What I love about I Love You, I Hate You is that despite being an acoustic guitar and piano backed ballad, it masterfully changes tempo several times throughout to keep things interesting and unpredictable. There are soft intros, bluesy verses, and powerful chorus to accurately convey the two polarizing emotions of love and hate.
Track 4 – Second Chance
Second Chance is a mid-tempo pop song with a hard-hitting, stop and go rhythm to the verse and a slower chorus. It’s one of those songs that can easily showoff Ailee’s vocal abilities, yet its overall melody is a bit flat and doesn’t have an obvious hook to imprint in the listener’s memory.
Track 5 – Symphony
True to its name, Symphony has a constant violin imitation synth in the background coupled with rhythmic percussion beats. Though the chorus is relatively straightforward, the rest of the track is much more interesting with Ailee’s vocals effortlessly traversing between low and high notes to give this upbeat dance number even more dimension.
Track 6 – 사람이 왜 그래 (Why Are People Like This)
Here is a minimalist retro-soul influenced ballad with not much besides the acoustic guitar, weighty drums, and Ailee’s groovy voice. Yet Why Are People Like This is far from being plain; the beautifully winding melody is full of flavor and the lyrics full of emotion. In fact, I appreciate how uncluttered this track is and that it focuses my attention on the clean vocals as opposed to an earful of instruments, synths, and beats.
Track 7 – Letting Go
Letting Go is as pop as it comes, but what makes it less boring than a lot of standard pop songs is that there are many layers of harmonies, ad libs, and raps to break up, repackage, and refresh the simple melody. In particular, Amber‘s low-pitched rap is full of attitude and a nice contrast to Ailee’s high-pitched belting vocals.
Track 8 – Love Recipe
Love Recipe is a funky pop rock number with an interesting electric guitar bass lines commonly found in American country music. It’s without a doubt a lively and sassy track full of power. But personally, Love Recipe can get a bit overwhelming with the constant high-energy instrumentals and vocals.
Track 9 – 잔을 채우고 (Fill Your Glass)
Sentimental rock ballad best describes Fill Your Glass. Once again, Ailee does a perfect job of starting low and soft in the verse and culminating to a full emotional climax during the chorus. As if to unleash all the sadness from the breakup, she shouts out the pain of filling and emptying the glass with tears.
Track 10 – 한걸음 더 (One More Step)
The final track is also the slowest ballad of the album where the orchestra-like instrumentals try to create a sense of awe, a feeling of hope and aspiration. One More Step seems draggy and lackluster. It doesn’t fit well with the overall spirit of Vivid and can be easily forgotten compared to other tracks.
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