[Album & MV Review] Mamamoo - 'Melting'

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MAMAMOO - MELTING

Track List:

1. 1cm Pride
2. Words Don`t Come Easy
3. You're The Best *Title
4. Friday Night (Feat. Junggigo)
5. Home
6. Emotion
7. I Miss You
8. Funky Boy
9. My Recipe
10 Cat Fight
11. Just
12. Girl Crush

MAMAMOO has built quite the reputation for themselves over the last couple years, both as superior vocalists and for their distinctive R&B style, and now they've released their first full album 'Melting.' Two pre-release tracks and 10 fresh ones await fans on the newest LP. Each girl had a hand in writing this one, so this disc has their personal touch.

"1cm Pride" is the first pre-release track on here with heavy homage to Eminem. While playful, it's also extremely repetitive and got on my nerves after awhile. While I realize I'm not the best barometer for what people may like, it was not for me. Lyrically, it's pretty funny, since the title gives you a good idea of what the song's about: being taller -- by 1 cm.

If the first track was the problem, the jazzy "Words Don't Come Easy" was the cure. A little torch, a little jazz, a little naughty. Hwa Sa, Solar, Wheein are very seductive here, their voices flirting with the listener, all the while guitar and horns are providing the backing music. The song is all about how words can't express the emotion the girls feel when their with the guy.

The title track, "You're the Best," is fairly close to MAMAMOO's signature sound. It's hardly original, borrowing things like EXID's "I Feel Good" ("I-I-I-I-I feel goo-o-o-ood") and "Lady Marmalade" from the movie 'Moulin Rogue,' but it's an energetic, swingy feel-good track. With sassy horns and sassy girls, this track pretty well pops. With this song, the girls are hitting on a guy.

"Friday Night" is an easy R&B number featuring JungGiGo, his masterful pipes providing a good part of the soul on this track. It's a pretty song, slow burning and flowing, but yet enough of a beat to keep my interest high. Moon Byul hops in and owns with her raps, which blend into a suave bridge. The lyrics are hilarious:

"I waited for you and you illegally parked in front of me.
I can see the cold sweat dripping down your forehead.
Hey I better wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth."

Steady and mid-tempo, "Hometown" is sung with breathy voices and sweet harmonies. The hook is fairly simple: "my baby"; however, the arrangement owes something to country as well as jazz, and it works extremely well on this track. When it was over, I wanted more. I had to hear it again. The song is reminiscing about the days of their youth.

"Emotion" is a peppy track that is closer to more modern R&B and is just sweet and powerful all at once. With an awesome hook "never never never no" this track is definitely one of my faves. I love the way they can take their voices high and breezy at one point, and deep at another. The lyrics are reflective, as they sing about where they've been and where they are, and that they still love the guy.

"I Miss You" is the second pre-release track on this LP, and it starts out slow and sweet, a smooth piece of jazz, a bit stripped-down, but slowly it builds in intensity until Hwa Sa's voice goes positively stratospheric. Basically the girls are singing about how everything they do reminds them of the one that got away.

"Funky Boy" starts as smooth piece of snappy jazz. It explodes into a bombastic chorus like a chimera, and instantly energy is injected into the rest of the song. It's by far the banger on this album, if one can properly call it that. Roaring horns, a pounding beat and those powerful pipes dare you to dance. The girls are telling a guy that he doesn't have them wrapped around his finger.

"My Recipe" has an early jazz sound to it, the 1940s retro Benny Goodman/Andrews Sisters style that really doesn't speak to me at all. It sounds ripped straight from a Looney Tunes episode, except that it's all in Korean. Complete with clarinet and the oh-so-innocent harmonies. The lyrics are playful, if somewhat simplistic, and all about being the cook in the kitchen.

"Cat Fight" also has a melody that sounds super-familiar. I can't place it, but it's got that unmistakable sound. Brian Setzer, maybe? It's got a jazzed up funky piano, and the horns kick in. It's big band, but brought into the modern era, and their voices purr like the cats in the title as they slink their way through this track. Here the girls are telling another girl not to mess with their man.

"Just" is a billowy soul ballad, slow and steady. It's swaddled in schmaltz, like most ballads, but what I like is that the orchestral pieces are restrained, pushed to the background instead of drowning out the singer. The voices still hit hurricane force, but the restraint pushes the vocals to the fore, and the song is all the better for that. The lyrics see the girl talking to an ex-lover, wistful about the past.

"Girl Crush" is just the thing after the slow ballad of "Just," something with less of a serious tone, lively and fun. From sassy horns to the guitar and everything in between, this song calls forth some of the post-Sinatra jazz, just the kind for dancing. Its sung bold and brassy, just like the lyrics:

"Hey you! You're very close to ticking me off
You're back and forth like a reed in the wind
And you're so not cool about things
I just wanna be an awesome girl."

The girls crossed genres all across this album, trying out a variety of styles like one tries on hats. The result is a mixed bag. Some tunes just weren't my style, but I can't argue about the authenticity. They all ring true to the ears, and the girls seem to ease into one song after another with no problem. I'm impressed by the range, even if there were a couple clunkers. I'm still in love with the vocals range these gals display, and Moon Byul's raps have this cocky style that can't be beat. I look forward to every new thing MAMAMOO does, and this album is no exception.

MV REVIEW

Watch the girls of MAMAMOO live it up in their new MV "You're the Best at Everything!"

And that's exactly what it is. Scenes of them in lush armchairs, floating in the pool, dining, drinking poolside, and in general what you do at a resort. Well, except the dancing, but that's to be expected. They also transition between quite a few locations, and different pools to boot.

The wardrobe is amusing and almost entirely retro. Flare pants and tight shirts are the order of the day, co-existing alongside bare midriffs and berets. It's fun to watch, and the stylist definitely liked bright colors.

The dancing is really almost non-existent. What sequences there are seem to be freeform, just move your body in time to the music. It's well done, though, and it's great to watch these ladies move.

Overall, the MV is fun to watch. It's not as funny as "Um Oh Ah Yeh" but amusing in a laid-back sort of way. It's humorous, but not laugh out loud funny. It's more just light hearted, a gentle introduction to spring (now if it would stop raining, I'd be happy), pushing away the more solemn winter. They've got their trademark bright colors to draw the eye, and the MV is connected to a good song as well. Two enthusiastic thumbs up.

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