Hi! (FINALLY.) No, despite the obvious Taylor reference in the title and the fact that the TTPDversary was last week, this is not another Taylor Swift album review... I'm gonna wait until Reputation TV (which really should've been surprise-released twenty-six days ago if my very elaborate clownculations were correct) for another one of those. This is Rosie, the rapidly successful solo album by Blackpink member Rosé. Now, normally I'm not a huge fan of Blackpink in general. I don't think they're bad, but I don't love the loud overproduced k-pop sound. Nothing against k-pop either, I just prefer the spacey, atmospheric synthy k-pop and not the explosive horn & string synth k-pop. But each Blackpink member is now working on solo projects. I most likely won't be posting a full review of all four of these solo albums, but I'll share some of my thoughts here. Overall, the music Lisa & Jennie has put out hasn't been great in my opinion, leaning towards the kind of k-pop I often don't favor. I haven't heard enough of Jisoo's solo music to really formulate an opinion, but I quite liked her song Your Love which was on Hitbound. I think the member who has put out my favorite music (and also the most successful music) has been Rosé. Obviously, her collab with Bruno Mars on APT had massive commercial success around the globe, and her recent singles such as Toxic Till The End have earned her some well-deserved hits. But did the album as a whole manage to meet my expectations? Let's get into this review!
1. Number One Girl
My rating: 5/5 Great
And we begin the review with a moderately successful single, a good-old-fashioned unrequited crush ballad. The concept here is very simple: she likes someone and wishes they would talk to her because she'd give anything to them. This kind of feels like an early Taylor Swift ballad. A lot of songs on this album remind me of Taylor Swift. I love the production here. It begins with a simple piano line, opening the album on a soft note. But it evolves as it goes along, and if you're a regular reader of Hallett's Music Reviews, you know that evolution is one of my favorite things to hear in music. Now, I will admit that the lyrics are a little repetitive sometimes, and I can't decide whether the "back it up with evidence" line is cute and funny or kinda cringy. Either way, I quite like this song all around, and it's a strong opening track. For some reason I've always thought of albums as having a tendency to start on a bit of a weak note, but as I continue to review more albums, I'm pleasantly surprised at how many amazing opening tracks there've been.
2. 3am
My rating: 2/5 Mediocre
...oof, classic case of track 2 being an immediate pitfall. Now, a huge problem I have with this song is something I've talked about a lot before, and it has significantly brought down numerous songs that would've otherwise been at least okay, if not great, including songs by artists I adore as much as Olivia or Taylor: v o c a l e f f e c t s. That distracting sound effect with a million layers of her voice on top of each other feels jarring and it takes away from this song, especially since it's kind of a ballad. Even without the effect, the "ayy" parts throughout the song are just grating to me. The guitar production is fine, but it doesn't evolve enough to bring it up a tier. And the lyrics are super forgettable and basic. Oh yeah, and there's one other thing that Bubby also mentioned on their blog: the numbers in the tracklist are swapped for whatever reason. You'll see what I mean, and you'll never unsee it:
1. Number 1 Girl
2. 3am
3. 2 Years
3. Two Years
My rating: 3/5 Decent
Yeah, I wasn't really sure how I felt about this one. The production has some cool moments. It doesn't stand out or anything, but I don't have any real problems with the production on this song. But the lyrics here are a little awkward in my opinion. It's a song that's literally just about an undying love, with the main hook being "this love never dies". It's a little basic and overdone, and it's not helped by the fact that it rhymes "head" with "bed" in the chorus. It's also a really repetitive song. I was originally planning on giving it a 4/5 but it turned out to be a little more basic than I was expecting when I relistened to it. Nothing else to say here, this song is just insanely forgettable.
4. Toxic Till The End
My rating: 5/5 Great
So, this is a very rare case of an album where I think of most of the singles as some of the strong points of the album. Often singles end up being among my least favorite tracks on albums simply due to the fact that my taste leans more toward emotional ballads and whatnot, while most of the rest of the pop music world wants fun bubblegummy commercial music, and therefore those are the songs that end up being chosen as singles most of the time. But this album has some genuinely strong singles. This is already a top 10 hit on Hits 1, and its success is very well-deserved. This really reminds me of a Taylor Swift song, with the lyrics elaborately detailing a toxic relationship over a mellow synth-pop beat. And, yes, I do like the "ladies and gentlemen, I present to you... the ex!" part also. One of my favorites!
5. Drinks Or Coffee
My rating: 5/5 Great
I could've sworn this was a single, but I checked and it looks like it's apparently not a single. (It should be!) I had heard it before the rest of the album since it was a Hitbound dropout earlier this year, and I really liked it. This is considered the most traditionally k-pop-ian song on this album, and I definitely hear that, but luckily it seems to fall more into the category of k-pop that I enjoy more. (Is there a name for it? Let me know if there is...) Yes, it's a pretty generic, cute, fun little pop song, but it's done really well here in my opinion. The lyrics are well-written and the production matches the vibe super well. Underrated standout track.
6. APT (with Bruno Mars)
My rating: 3/5 Decent
We've reached the fan favorite track on the album, and the biggest hit on here by far. And... I don't love it. To no one's surprise but to everyone's disagreement, APT is one of my least favorite songs on Rosie. I know, how dare I disrespect apateu-pateu, uh, uh-huh, uh-huh? Well, I'm not saying it's bad. In fact, I think a lot of the lyrics are really clever. But, it's also at its core, yep, a basic pop song. It's a song I might nod my head a bit to if it comes on, but it's not something I'm really gonna listen to on my own. Apologies for the litany of unnecessary Taylor Swift references in these last few sentences, but it falls into the same category as a lot of Taylor Swift glitter gel pen songs like Shake It Off, Karma, and Me. APT is a "hey kids, spelling is fun" song, not a "D-Y-I-N-G" song, and that's OK. There will be no further explanation, there will just be the second half of the album now...
7. Gameboy
My rating: 5/5 Great
Okay, now we've got a nice streak of greatness coming up. This song has such cool production in my opinion. The guitar and percussion here sound great under Rosé's voice. It honestly reminds me of Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored by Ariana Grande, which is a compliment since I really like that song. And the lyrics are well-written and relatable. The message is straightforward and well-presented. This guy is "playing games" with her and being manipulative, which parallels the line in Toxic Till The End - "His favorite game is chess, who would ever guess? / Playing with the pieces in my chest". Overall, this song is very well-done. If there's ever another single on Rosie, this and Drinks Or Coffee would be my top choices. (However, I have a feeling I know what the other single choice would be, unfortunately. We'll get to that later.)
8. Stay A Little Longer
My rating: 5/5 Great
Next up are two of my favorite songs on the album, both of which have made my personal chart, Hallett's Hits. Although this song has faded on me ever so slightly simply because of recent events in my personal life, it hasn't been ruined at all. This song is basically just about not wanting to lose someone. I think this song has some of this album's strongest lyricism all-around. I especially love the line "make me wanna hate you so I don't have to miss you". I think that's just really clever. The slow-paced, wistful production matches well. It reminds me a bit of Number One Girl with its lilting piano line and progression throughout the song. Gorgeous, and I'd love to hear more songs like this from Rosé.
9. Not The Same
My rating: 5/5 Great
As you've probably guessed by its Hallett's Hits success, this is my favorite song on Rosie. I particularly love the production here. This song is a major departure for Rosé, with a jazz ballad-like guitar line that kind of sounds like a cross between Laufey and Olivia Rodrigo (aka my two favorite artists) mixed with the k-pop-infused sound Rosé is known for. Although the production and melody here are huge high points, the lyrics are also quite well-written, about a toxic (no pun intended) relationship. This is really random, but whenever she says "fucked up" is it just me or does it actually sound like "forked up"? Anyway, definitely one of my favorites on this album.
10. Call It The End
My rating: 5/5 Great
We're almost to the end, and interestingly, this album contains two songs with "the end" in the same (Call It The End and Toxic Till The End). This makes me think there's a parallel between the two songs, and they very well may be inspired by the same complicated relationship. This song has very relatable lyrics about confusion in a relationship where you're not sure if you're friends, or more, or less, or something else entirely, and the titular idea of whether or not it is or should be... well, the end. I quite like the way this song's production evolves throughout as well. The vocals and melody are also stellar. Great song.
11. Too Bad For Us
My rating: 4/5 Good
...so, unfortunately, this album doesn't quite sustain itself at the end. This song is still good, but it starts a clear decline lasting until this album's conclusion, so I unfortunately have to say that Call It The End was the last great song on the album. There are a lot of good things about this song. I like the piano and the percussion in the bridge, even though the climax doesn't last very long. It's a bit boring at times, but there are interesting elements to this song's musical runtime. However, a huge issue I have with this song is the melody. It sounds directly taken from Slow It Down by Benson Boone, and a million other songs using that same melody that I can't even put my finger on. I don't know why this melody is so popular. I honestly think it sounds very predictable an uninteresting whenever it's used, but this song uses it pretty prominently in the chorus. Anyway, this song is fine, but it would be much better if it had a slightly different melody.
12. Dance All Night
My rating: 2/5 Mediocre
Alright, so the last track on the album is actually my least favorite... something I don't run into often. The first example that comes to mind is the standard edition of Evermore, where the title track Evermore is the album's weakest song, but that's a bit different since Evermore is still a good song and it's still a zero-skip album all around. This song just suffers from a lot of problems. Normally, my favorite type of upbeat songs are "sad-happy" songs about making the best of a hard time. Taylor Swift does this really well: 22, Shake It Off, Karma, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, et cetera. But those songs have a lot more than just a concept to back them up. Dance All Night is an unfortunate case of being almost entirely composed of cliches. The first verse is clunkily written to me, very vaguely describing an interaction with a "bird" who she told her problems to before being motivated to dance away these problems. And the song doesn't hold up too well when the lyrics are so basic. It's not a bad song. There are some good qualities. I guess the production's alright, albeit boring and generic. Anyway, not the strongest way to close out the album...
Conclusion
Overall rating: 82% (Good Album)
It's by no means one of my favorite albums. In fact, it's actually the third lowest-scoring album I've reviewed, a few points behind Timeless and only higher than C,XOXO and Brat. Buuuuuut that isn't saying much since most of the albums I review get high scores. It's a solid album, not something I'll come back to a lot in the future but it's certainly got some amazing songs throughout to outweigh the few weak tunes.
Favorite songs: Stay A Little Longer, Not The Same
Least favorite songs: 3am, Dance All Night
Now for a few quick scheduling announcements. Hallett's Hits updates will be coming out tomorrow as planned, and sometime next week, I'll post my review of Selena Gomez & Benny Blanco's surprisingly gorgeous album I Said I Love You First. The first week of May, I will hopefully get out a review of Buzzkill by Lyn Lapid, a now three-day-old album and already one of my favorite albums of the past year. And of course, my special series for 10,000 pageviews... the specifics will be a surprise, but I bet you're already making some guesses of what artists it'll be themed around.
That's all for now! Byeeeeeeeeee!
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