Querencia
by Chung Ha

From Mercury 02/16/2021 00:57 | #266353

(Note: this is probably the first "K Pop" I've ever pushed play on, so take my opinion with a big, healthy grain of salt. That said, I thought this was mostly a bit plastic and dull, with about 5 songs sounding somewhat fresh and fun.)

Okay, I didn't love this. Didn't really even like it. HOWEVER, I doubt I am the target audience and I went and pushed play on impulse and saw it through to the end. I respect the variety of the songs, it has a real world-hopping, all-you-can-eat-buffet feel - there are shades of pop from all over the place. And the production, while to my ears being somewhat plastic and uninteresting, at least was quite professionally done. The melodies are pretty good, and ... well, that is about the extent of my thoughts after 1 listen. Don't know if this will be one I revisit. Maybe if in a few months or years I see this on a list of great albums in a genre or this year or someone I trust's chart I will listen again to see if my thoughts have evolved. As of now though I'd say this is a overly-sugary and the plasticity-rating is a bit high for my tastes. Some songs are cool and the variety and melodies are cool, but I mostly was bored by track 11.