BABYMONSTER ‘CHOOM’ Mini Album Made Me YAWN [ Honest Ranking ]
˚₊‧꒰ა INTRODUCTION ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
I’ve listened to several Kpop songs produced under YG and had high expectations since then. The year BABYMONSTER debuted, almost everyone in the community were thrilled. The girls were all pretty and exceptionally talented. YG must have took it upon himself to commit forming a stellar girl group in which expectations must be met, given that they never debuted a girl group for an entire generation, and that BLACKPINK — the most influential kpop girl group in the entire world — was their literal senior.
I had been mostly excited about their songs. You know, YG had this formula they use in every songs amidst production, in which the rap section and YG party chorus were never left its place. Nearly every songs produced for all YG kpop groups you could think of uses the exact same song structure. The majority of listeners may have gotten tired of it, but I believe this is what built the identity of YG Entertainment. It is one of the primary reasons why 2NE1, BIGBANG, BLACKPINK and TREASURE reached worldwide recognition. I had also always thought their songs were one of a kind.
We also gotta mention our esteemed Teddy, who had been the backbone for these groups’ success. Because of his music production skills, these groups always managed to stand out. In 2016, Teddy backed down from his role as an in-house producer of YG Entertainment, and formed his label — THE BLACK LABEL, however, before BABYMONSTER, he was the producer nearly for every YG groups so he still creates music for them.
BABYMONSTER now has a different producer, which should never be a problem. When they released their pre-debut and debut songs, I could still feel the YG vibes in it that is because YG himself never strayed far from his favorite “I am rich and badass” concept. DRIP, the full album, had been my favorite. I remember looking forward for the full song release of every tracks in the album. Later, we have the WE GO UP mini album. I did not like it, especially the title track “WE GO UP” itself, but I did not lose hope and thought that perhaps YG Entertainment was just gearing up for another earth-shattering comeback. Then there’s “CHOOM”, the title track, and “SUGAR HONEY ICED TEA” which is a…. summer single?
I at least prefer every tracks from the CHOOM album. It’s also their most recent album so I decided to personally rank all of the 4 tracks with 4th being my most least favorite (well, of course).
Well let’s get to it:
5. S.H.I.T (Sugar Honey Iced Tea)
I gotta somehow include this single track too since it was nearly released during the CHOOM album promotion season. My first encounter with this song was an unexpected release of a BABYMONSTER music show with the stage being decorated with lemons, and the girls were wearing cute white outfits that screamed SUMMER not until I listened to the song. I literally thought the song would have cute-pop(ish) vibe like Kep1er’s “UP” — fizzing with cool honey iced tea amidst summer but NO. Had I listened to the song before watching the music video or the music shows, I would’ve never expected this song was for summer!
The song was no different from their other songs — not even a sliver of it were tweaked to match the vibe of summer. ITZY’s music producer for “ICY” managed to pull it off. The vibe of the song “ICY” was close to what I expect “S.H.I.T” should’ve been…
I had to say, aside from the girl’s already exceptional vocals, only the instrumentals carried the song. The melody? Dull and empty. Listening to it made me feel like I’m drinking a lukewarm water — tasteless. I know it’s more of a rap song than an ACTUAL song (iykyk?), but I also know it’s possible to create a colorful and dynamic melody for a rap. One of the best example is Jennie’s “Like JENNIE”. That song only contains rap, but IT WAS SO GOOD (and because Jennie’s raps were always good). YG also kinda cooked with “CLIK CLAK” so what happened?
YGE CAN WE JUST LOCK IN? I KNOW YOU GUYS CAN DO BETTER.
4. CHOOM
Ironically, “CHOOM” is the title track. I remember listening to it for the first time, my sigh had been deeper than when I first listened to “WE GO UP”. I was deeply disappointed. On the surface, the song shouldn’t be that bad. There was “something”, but nothing surprises me nor amazes me as well. Right after the first chorus passed through, I immediately knew Ruka and Asa were gonna rap, and oh boy, it really did not disappoint me. I knew how the pre-chorus would go, as well as the bridge. I also knew that they would make Ahyeon belt her notes right before the final chorus. Then just when I believe the well-known YG party chorus will drop — just when I thought that, perhaps, the final chorus would save the song, nearly hoping that the melody, beats, and the girl’s yell song would be only one that could trigger some excitement within me, IT. DID. NOT.
This was all unfortunate. YG also apparently decided that the twerk would become their signature choreography. (I also heard that YG actually threw away the ideas of 10 choreographers and came up with the twerking himself for the chorus. Lol???).
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The only parts in the song that I really like and absolutely was stuck in my mind ‘till this day was the rising melody for the pre-chorus, and the instrumentals for the chorus. And of course, the girl’s vocals, we shall never discredit them for their hardwork.
3. MOON
Now this has so much taste and attitude than “CHOOM”. The moment I heard Chiquita’s vocals, I quite literally stopped what I’m doing and locked in. Placing “MOON” right at the beginning of the track list was a GREAT decision! This was the type of song that could instantly make people think: “Oh! This album will be great!” (Except the track title made me feel unfortunate. But I’m so happy the rest of the songs in this album made up for it.)
The pre-chorus and chorus was my favorite part. I’m not sure whether there are other existing songs that somehow had similar samples as “MOON”, but it isn’t anything I’ve ever heard before. The chorus was unexpected in a good way, and the falsetto for the melody was the cherry on top. And of course, Ruka and Asa’s rap had to be there right after the chorus, but I couldn’t even complain when the rest of the song was good.
The bridge was just a let down. I personally didn’t like the melody. Perhaps, if the producer arranged Rora’s voice to be more echoe-y with the vocals to be extended in every vowel end as if she was singing in an empty hall (idk what I’m saying), the bridge would be an absolute immersion.
2. I LIKE IT
Now, this is the ULTIMATE summer song. Listening to this made me question: What did YG release “S.H.I.T” for? I mean, of course, it was supposed to be BABYMONSTER’s second single release, but seriously? In the middle of “CHOOM” promotions? And right before the promotion of “I LIKE IT” — which they would definitely promote as another one of their summer songs? Really, “S.H.I.T” was confusing.
Compared to “S.H.I.T,” I can truly feel the summer vibes from “I LIKE IT,” with its upbeat instrumentals, cheerful claps and hoots, and bright, cheerful melody. The MV is also screaming, “summer vacation with my high school friends and enjoying a campfire together under the starry night sky.” The melody also personally gives me nostalgic vibes. I do believe that, at some point, back in 2016 when I was still in elementary school, I listened to music with similar vibes. Listening to “I LIKE IT” really brought me back to my childhood days.
What struck me the most was the girls’ singing style. Well, of course, they incorporate that very YG-esque singing style, like most idols who have trained and debuted under the company. Sure enough, I could hear the spirit of 2NE1 in them, particularly in Chiquita’s singing when she started the song. The moment I heard her sing, I already knew I was going to like this song. My smile got even bigger when they sang “whoo-hoo-hoo” in the post-chorus — that was heavenly.
Placing “I LIKE IT” at second place doesn’t mean this song is any worse than “LOCKED IN.” In fact, I had a hard time choosing between “I LIKE IT” and “LOCKED IN.” “I LIKE IT” was a strong contender, and that alone says a lot about how much I adore this song.
- LOCKED IN
I still can’t believe my TOP 1 for this song was their r&b song. Like every typical album, regardless of the genre of the track title, there has to be a slow-tempo track right at the end of the album, and most of this kind of songs from these albums were usually my least favorite among the rest. Either the company chose not to take the final tracks of the album so seriously hence they tend to sound dull in my ears, or listening to the exciting title tracks consumed all my adrenaline away and that’s why their r&b song felt tasteless. But “LOCKED IN” was one of the rare case for me. I initially feel like placing this at Top 1 is unfair given that songs like this was almost a mandatory to every album, but I still couldn’t help it that this was the only song in the album that made me smile and my heart release honey all throughout until the very final seconds of this song.
“LOCKED IN” was a reminiscent of “Love, Maybe” which was another favorite of mine (and it was placed right after “DRIP” so my adrenaline was still running at full speed), and a bit of “SUPA DUPA LUV”. The melody was sweet and perfect from start to finish. Rora and Pharita shone the most in my opinion, especially Rora with her sentimental type of natural vocals. And Ruka? How about our beloved Ruka? Ruka is still rapping, but reducing my love points for this song all because YG always made Ruka sing less and rap more in every song is non-existent this time.
As I was listening to this song, I could quite literally imagine myself sitting by myself in a stone bench, under the tree, right beside the park. In my vision, it was sunny and the sun rays shone through the leaves. The song gave off a domestic vibe to me in overall and I love it.
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