Funky Town
T-ara
Core Contents Media, January 2012
Track List:
| 1. | "Lovey-Dovey" | 03:35 |
| 2. | "?? ?????" (Uri Saranghaejjanha, "We Were in Love") (duet with Davichi) | 03:35 |
| 3. | "Lovey-Dovey" (Club Remix) | 03:47 |
| 4. | "Cry Cry" | 03:18 |
| 5. | "Goodbye, OK" | 03:05 |
| 6. | "O My God" | 04:06 |
| 7. | "I'm So Bad" | 03:12 |
| 8. | "Cry Cry" (Ballad Ver.) | 03:19 |
T-ara's fifth mini-album is actually a repackage of their fourth mini-album, Black Eyes. It's the Black Eyes EP, but with the addition of two versions of "Lovey Dovey" and a collaboration song with Davichi. I don't mind repackaged full-length albums because sometimes they have a difference of 5-6 songs, but in this case, I'm not sure why two EPs that are so close in their composition were released just two months apart (November to January). Anyhow! On to the music.
"Lovey Dovey" has that electro-clubby feel and to me, "Lovey Dovey" sounds a lot like their hit song "Roly Poly" part 2. Not everything's the same, but hearing the repeated English phrase "lovey-dovey-dovey, lovey-dovey-dovey" reminded me of "lolly-polly, lolly-lolly-polly". But the "woooooooh" part actually rocks and is a bit of an earworn, and the production on the song is very pleasing. I get totally caught up in the intriguing mix of electronic loops. The lyrics are about a girl seeing happy couples and wanting to find a special person with whom to be lovey-dovey, also, so the lyrics match the title.
"We Were In Love" is sung with a female duo called Davichi, so with the seven members of T-ara, that's a pretty full track. It starts with a nice wistful sound and a good melody which is very moving if you're in the right mood, but I rarely connect with slow songs. The rapping section is either the best or worst part of the song--again, depending on your mood. I actually like the mix of rap and serious classical sounds, because I think the girls make it work.
"Cry Cry" sounds like it has a Latin choir singing at the beginning, then it gets some Spanish beats. And some Broadway piano? With all the genre-mixing, it only takes about 30 seconds to know that this song is a really good one. To me, the chorus is a bit less catchy than the verses, but that's the only problem I have with the song. The lyrics seem to be nicely done, judging by the coolness of the English translations I've found.
"Goodbye, OK" has an old-fashioned disco sound that just doesn't fit in with what I enjoy, though at its better points, it's somewhat similar to IU's music in "Last Fantasy". Next up, the music in "I'm So Bad" makes me think of G-Dragon's "Heartbreaker", which is a compliment--you can almost sing one song while the other plays. It's a fun tune with a nice amount of variety. The "Cry Cry" ballad doesn't work for me, again because I'm not big on ballads and because the slow treatment takes away the bite of the song.
Before listening to this EP, I had generally positive feelings about T-ara; while I disliked their previous release "Bo Peep", I really enjoyed "Roly Poly" and "Yayaya". Now I think the girls are getting better production and better songs, and since they're not always singing at a high pitch anymore, they might just be taking the next step to truly being a top K-pop band. They're a fun group to listen to.
My grade: 3.5 of 5 stars
Must-listens: "Lovey Dovey", "Cry Cry"
Watchable bonus: Here's the audio for "Lovey Dovey". "Wooo-ooooh, wooo-oooh!"
And here's the MV for "We Were In Love". It's just the girls looking very sad and very pretty, but their other MV's are all extra long mini-movies, so this sort of balances them out.
EP Review: Funky Town by T-ara Link Free Download
