Although I didn't pay the group that much attention when they debuted I did become a fan when they released their first album a year ago in November of 09 which featured a heavy synth/electronic feel.
Also, I'm not gonna lie, although I know a bunch of words and a handful of phrases, I have yet to get a firm grasp on the Korean language. Accordingly any albums or songs I review won't focus on the lyrical content but rather on the overall listening experience, although as you can guess with any pop music it all revolves around love, falling in love, losing love, being in love for the first time, etc. etc. I think you get the picture.
The first track off the album is also the title track (the one that will be used for promoting) called "Yayaya", the music video of which you can watch below.
Overall I enjoyed this song as the first track and think it's a decent song to promote with, although I don't think I would have picked it first. It features some heavy bass and driving synth beats that I've come to associate with T-ara and also have become popular in the Kpop scene over the past couple years.
The second track is "Why Are You Being Like This" the music video of which is also below
"Why Are You Being Like This" was actually the first song and music video that was released in order to build anticipation for the release of the album and I actually prefer this song over "Yayaya" because it's more upbeat with a more pop sound yet is still able to incorporate an edgier sound in the breakdown. I also think it's cool they included a guitar riff, albeit a simple one, into the song.
The third track, titled "Ma Boo", strikes a balance between "Yayaya" and "Why Are You Being Like This" by using lighter synth beats accompanied by piano part in order to give off a more whistful feeling to the song.
The fourth track, "I Don't Know", is the most "pop" sounding song on the album. Even though more synth beats are present they're well hidden allowing the song to retain its innocent and fun feeling.
The fifth and final track of note is "I'm Okay" which is the track that most resembles the obligatory, but welcomed, ballad song present on nearly every Kpop artist release, although this song is a little more upbeat than your typical straight ballad. It's certainly a pleasant listen but I thought some of the blending of voices during some singing parts could have been better and I wish there was a larger rapping part because it's the highlight of the song for me.
Overall this is a solid release by T-ara, an album you can listen to from start to end and not get bored or want to skip any song. Although none of the songs strike you over the head with their awesomeness neither are any of them bad by any of my kpop metrics and probably all the tracks will be included into my regular listening rotation.
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