When Children of Empire, commonly known as ZE:A, were announced to make their debut in the fall of 2009, they were only one of a cluster of boy bands to do so that year.  Some others included MBLAQ, B2ST, as well as the highly anticipated comeback of SHINee, and the solo departures by Big Bang's G-Dragon and Teayang, all of which contributed to the sudden shift in pandemonium from the girl groups to the boy bands in late 2009; it was a busy year in Kpop, and arguably, one of the most exciting to date. However, due to a minor economic crisis with their agency, Star Empire, ZE:A were forced to showcase their talents on a run of guerilla concerts in lieu of the glamorous stages on weekly music programs until their postponed debut in early 2010. Regardless, ZE:A still chipped in their 2 cents to the wave of boy bands, and are still keeping the spirit alive with their first full length album, "Lovability." -- "Lovability" Track List: 01 Intro 02 Here I Am 03 Again.. 04 Mazeltov 05 All Day Long 06 Be My Girl 07 Love Coach 08 Level Up 09 New Star 10 Man 2 Man 11 Special Day (For ZE:A's) -- Musically, ZE:A have come a long way as a pop group.  ZE:A first stepped foot onto the scene with "Mazeltov" off of their mini-album "Nativity" and it may go down unofficially as one of the most ridiculous debut singles in Kpop history; it was literally all over the place, had absolutely no sense of direction, and it was a torture to the human voice. But as time shows, Kpop groups have a funny way of rising from their demise, and ZE:A totally did so with their follow-up single, "All Day Long."  One could even argue that "Nativity" was something of a red herring to the rest of their musical career, because the quality of "All Day Long" was quite frankly leaps and bounds better than "Mazeltov" in every respect; most notably in their vocals, which were audible for the first time since their conception. Granted, the song might have munched off of the style of Big Bang's "Haru Haru", but it was decently done, and it served as a small stool for ZE:A to step onto the Korean market in 2010.

ZE:A's newest single is the ever-chipper "Here I Am." Listening to this song all on its own without the rest of the album, it is probably one of ZE:A's strongest singles and it's a stylistic format that suits them well, more so than the masculine sound and concept of some of their previous endeavors.  It's difficult to pin-point who's singing what, since there's a total of nine members sharing the song (and I haven't matched voices with faces yet), but for a group of this caliber, ZE:A sounds like they've got the chops to sing and the dynamics to blend together as a unit; at least that's what the recording is telling. As mentioned just now, "Here I Am" isn't sweating in the sound of macho men itching to rip off their shirts.  Not having gone down that route actually works better for ZE:A because, being a massive group, a style as conceptually strong as that is unlikely to translate well from one member to the other, both in the group's material and their visual performance on stages. "Here I Am" is tame, but it still highlights ZE:A's vocals, which don't sound that bad, as well as toss in the obligatory rap and auto tune treatment.  Coming from a small agency, the production work is impressive, and the whole thing ended up making sense for ZE:A. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tg918Ogclgs "Again..", the third song on the album, continues the momentum of new tracks by throwing down a tight production, one that instantly reminded me of a YG Ent. single written by residential producer, Teddy.  It's definitely the swift beat, but there's also something about this song that rings very likable and engaging. It's surprising to hear Star Empire be able to churn out high quality material as "Again.." (at least on a non-big three (SME, JYPE, YGE) level) when they've been faced with multiple financial problems.  Having followed ZE:A since their humble beginnings, knowing about their monetary issues isn't a common fact, but one that adds to the perception of their work if you do; it goes to show that even on a tight budget, the quality of music doesn't always have to suffer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rX-w5LyVYo Last summer, when ZE:A released their pseudo-rock single,"Level Up," one of my first thoughts was: "These guys don't know who they are as aritsts," because they had flip-flopped styles all over again, and as this album progressed, I still stood by that statement.  Partially why that is can be credited to whoever arranged and chose the songs.  If ZE:A had released an album chock-full of completely new songs, "Lovability" would make more musical sense to me than it does right now. The song choice is one of  this album's shortcomings, because as it is, "Lovability" is something of a mess; not a major one, but a mess nonetheless. From ZE:A's debut, they've been experimenting with just about every style and concept in the book, and two years later, they're finally figuring out who they want to be as a boy band.  But because they've dabbled so much beforehand, hearing songs like "Mazeltov" and "New Star" (both from their first EP) among their new, clean cut sound  is too tight fit of a squeeze.  There should have been more of a clear divide between old singles and new ones, or perhaps just a new EP without the added luggage. "Be My Girl" (sixth song on the album) sounds the closest to the material on "Nativity", but even this song is far better, production-wise, to have to stand among its inferior company. To non-fans of ZE:A, this lackluster choice of songs and their arrangement on the album does nothing to incline anyone to continue listening through to the end.  Even worse, they don't give enough of an idea of what or who this music is supposed to represent and why. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrWOia4Cjyc If you do make it to the end, though, you'll be greeted with one of the highlight songs on the entire album, titled "Special Day (for ZE:A's)." For a group of nine, ZE:A have done an outstanding job of vocally delivering in this ballad.  That usually occurs with professional choirs, but these guys pulled it off by expressing a calming level of emotion, transitioning swimmingly between members, and managing to add a soothing build up to a glimmering middle 8. Parts of "Special Day" (also known as "My Only Wish", their English Christmas song) sound extremely dated, as does  most of ZE:A's material, but cheesy tunes or no cheesy tunes, these Children are slowly piecing together a decent approach to their music that will, in the end, help them stand out among the herd and define who they are in the biz. It would be to ZE:A's benefit, too, to continue producing ballads because they have a distinguishing spark in them, as you'll hear in "Special Day." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz3tBgNQ1d0 -- I might have beat a dead horse by putting down ZE:A's older material, but it's eye-opening how a group like ZE:A can go from cheap, auto-tuned rip-offs, to well-fitting, well-produced songs that can stand strong as pop songs in Korea's music industry.  Also, the progression from EP number one to "Lovability" was too obvious not to point it out. ZE:A haven't nailed anything yet; they lack creativity and a strong vocal foundation among all of the members, but they're growing, and growth is always a good thing. I can't tell you who ZE:A are as Kpop idols yet, because this album is too scattered to get a clear idea, but mazel tov to them for slowly coming into their own. -- Overall Rating: 3.6/5 -- What are your thoughts on this album? _ Suggestions for a future review?  Hit the author up on Twitter (@rothsresidence) or via e-mail (arnold.arteaga@allkpop.com)! — Note: This article does not reflect the opinions of allkpop, only of the author.