4MINUTE - 'ACT. 7'

Tracklist:
1. Hate
2. No Love
3. Blind
4. Canvas



I've had a love-hate relationship with 4minute for the past few years. I fell in love with them in 2012, when "Volume Up" was still fresh, and filled my ears with their catalog. I felt their 2013 and 2014 offerings were awkward and patched together with a number of unfinished songs. Their singles, like "Only Gained Weight" and "Is it Poppin'?" seemed light years better than what was coming off the mini-albums. In 2015, they reinvented themselves with 'Crazy,' which featured wildly catchy hip-hop tracks. Now I'm hyped: they're back for the new year with the EP 'ACT. 7.'

We kick off the EP with the Skrillex-produced track "Hate." Starting off softly, with Gayoon's tender, siren vocals, HyunA takes it up a notch, and then the rest join in, leading up to the easily chantable chorus: "I hate you." If some of HyunA's parts sound familiar, it's because they're ripped straight from iKON's "Apology." It doesn't detract from the song, because I like both tunes a lot, but it makes me wonder if the EDM-maestro was listening to the competition.



"No Love" is an R&B track with chill elements. Gayoon is in particularly fine form on this track, and the other girls harmonize skillfully. I got chills with Jiyoon's interjected "I'll never fall in love." HyunA spits rapidfire raps here, and Jiyoon matches her with tough-girl stylings. The song is peppered with more English phrases than I've heard in awhile, and there's no fails that I can hear. The chorus is beautiful, billowy and gusty, and the whole tune is an excellent piece.

The third track, "Blind," starts with a pitter-patter synth with some space age breakdowns. Between Jiyoon, Sohyun, and HyunA, you can tell that the tone is angry. Gayoon and Jihyun soften it up with an epic, high-sounding chorus done to high-tech synths. The first time I heard it, I got chills. The song describes how they're angry, as much at themselves as the guy, asking themselves how they could be so blind.



An insistent, distorted synth dribble is how "Canvas" takes off. I like how it builds: they simply sing, and then the song gets more urgent with the pre-chorus and the rap, and then the chorus dials it back again. The imagery in this song is brilliant. It's all simply about an encounter with a lover, but the metaphor is all art and painting, and there's no mistaking the meaning:

"Make inspirations bloom wherever your hand reaches
Here and there traces of your masterpiece randomly overflow
No one knows what we saw last night
All night, no ideas were spared, each the other's muse."

The whole album is dotted with EDM influence, which makes it sound all the better to my ears. Thankfully, the synth is enough to keep up the energy, as are the raps, so it didn't evolve into a blob of blandness, which is not what we need during the winter. I didn't expect to like "Hate" as much as I did, as the track is basically a number of different tunes stitched together, but it's organically done, flowing effortlessly from one part to the next. I think Skrillex was a nice touch -- a lot of K-pop is inspired by techno and dubstep, so it was a natural progression. The truly excellent thing about this album is that it was closer to their old stuff, their more electropop pieces that I'm a fan of, and the songs are just fuller and lusher on this disc. I've had this EP on repeat since I got it. If you're a fan of 4minute, or even EDM in general, you owe yourself to pick this up.   

MV REVIEW

Symbolism meets sexy in 4minute's new MV, "Hate."

We're assaulted by imagery at every turn, from the rosebush and bridal gown to the gothic imagery and catsuits, to the desolate landscape, to the word "hate" tagged in graffitti shown full screen before flashing to the girls. Sometimes the images come rapidly. The rage in this video is laid stark, contrasting with images of sexiness, giving the MV an edgy air.

While the dancing wasn't amazing, it was serviceable, with lots of bouncing and whirling. I've seen bits where they were out of breath during the making of this MV , so it's not like they weren't put through their paces. I'm particularly intrigued to see how this plays out live.



The outfits range from catsuits to bizarre baggy suits, diaphanous lacy items, sweats and tank tops, jeans and sweatshirts and whatever HyunA was wearing at the 3-minute mark that left little to the imagination (not like I'm complaining). While not much of it was what you'd see someone wearing just walking around, they were still dynamic enough to keep the eye glued to the screen.   

This MV is dangerously sensuous, giving enough of an air of menace to let you know that despite some of the gentleness, there's something ominous there. I like the overall effect and imagery. If these are the vistas of a woman betrayed, I'd hate to be the guy in that scenario. Fortunately, I'm not, else I wouldn't have survived long enough to write this. ;)

Critic's consensus: awesome album, fantastic MV. 

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