So I decided to expand my reviews to cover music as well since I’m interning at a sound branding company and listen to a ton of CDs on a regular basis anyway. This is just my two cents, so take it or leave it. =)

Title: Time for Change
Type: Single
Artist: 2PM
Release Date: April 16, 2009
Genre: Pop/R&B
Tracks:
01 . What Time Is It Now
02 . Again & Again
03 . 니가 밉다
04 . 돌아올지도 몰라
05 . Again & Again (R&B Mix)
06 . Again & Again (Inst.)
07 . 니가 밉다 (Inst.)
08 . 돌아올지도 몰라 (Inst.)

Review:

2PM did not exactly make a splash with their first single, Hottest Time of the Day even though I personally liked it enough to purchase it. This time around, they definitely have more of a hip-hop and R&B feel although the songs are equally catchy, not surprisingly since they were produced by JYP. JYP really did a much better job promoting the boys and creating hype before their comeback. 2PM returned looking a lot more fly with matching two-colored outfits and improved live singing.

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“What Time is it Now?” is a good intro to the single. I liked it the first time I heard it on their web site shortly before the release of this single. It sounds epic and I like Jaebom’s megaphone-filtered voice with his authoritative (?) “It’s 2.P.M!”

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“Again & Again” has one heck of a catchy beat. Unfortunately, the song itself is pretty average and never exactly reaches a climax except at the end when the beat itself concludes the song. I do like Changsung’s rap, though, especially since his singing wasn’t too impressive in the debut single. It’s good that JYP lets the guys try out different things all the time. He may want to give Junho more parts since his live singing is one of the better ones in the group. Nickhun, on the other hand, still has to seriously work on his vocals. The boy’s adorable, yeah, but looks will only get you so far. In my book, at least.

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As if the previous song did not already have enough annoyingingly digitally distorted voices, the next one, “니가 밉다” definitely OD’ed on it. I think someone got a little too happy playing around with the controls. For the background music, I like the little piano bits. It was a piano, wasn’t it? Not much to say about this song, but I think I like the instrumental version of it more.

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Slowing things down is the track “돌아올지도 몰라” which I found, compared to others, does not have a particularly memorable instrumental. Fortunately, the vocals are much better and we hear more actual singing and less voice distortion. Thankfully the song isn’t too slow and ballad-like either, so it fits in smoothly with the other tracks on the single. It also sounded pretty good when the boys sang it live on the radio. And it does have somewhat of a climax after the rap at around 3:30.

The remix version of “Again & Again” sounded kind of weird to me, but it’s not too bad. I don’t like the “Cus you’re my old school love” parts. Annoying. This version was just boring, the music a little too slow, and a little too…not there. Like you could barely hear it.

Overall, this single was quite catchy. It was pretty much similar to their debut single but sold much better due to better marketing. I do like the instrumentals here more, though. They’re quite catchy, particularly the first two. The concept is also smexy, so it’s all good. I’m just really happy their live singing improved. Now if only everyone in the group (or at least more than one person) can reach up to Junsu’s singing standards. I guess Jaebom’s the second lead vocal, but his voice sounds a little too thin and weak for my taste. Nickhun seems to strain whenever he tries to reach a higher note, so I’m putting my bets on Junho and Wooyoung. Junho’s voice is more stable, but Wooyoung’s has a little more depth. We’ll see, we’ll see.

Related posts:

1. Shopping & Mnet Choice Awards 2008
2. Music Video Overload

Tags: 2pm, time for change

This entry was posted on Friday, May 1st, 2009 at 1:29 am and is filed under music reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.