jonghyuns

Twinkle

01 - Twinkle

Twinkle definitely shows what this sub unit is all about--vocals. It's a nice song that you can dance to. It has a nice beat and rhythm, along with nice vocals and vocal direction. There are actual instruments in this song which compliments the song nicely. Overall I think this is a great debut song for this sub unit and a great song to listen to, especially when passionately lip syncing it. 9/10.

02 - Baby Steps

This is by far my favorite song. It's a sad ballad that gives a sad feeling. The vocals, vocal direction, and instrumental for this song are perfect. Even the lyrics, which is about a girl with low self-confidence in love with a guy, are really great. You can really feel the emotion in this song, especially Taeyeon's parts. The song isn't boring, so even if someone isn't a ballad person I think they'd still like it. 10/10.

03 - OMG (Oh My God)

This is my second favorite song off the album. I think the instrumental impressed me the most about this song because of how unique it sounded compared to SNSD's usual songs. As said from the previous song, everything about this song is perfect. This is definitely a unique up beat, pop song, or as Tiffany calls it, electronic retro pop. It gives off a fierce feeling and leaves me wondering why they didn't promote this song as well. It also features impressive vocals and unique vocal direction. 10/10.

04 - Library

Library is a song I always skip but it is in no way bad. To me it has the usual mellow SNSD sound to it. The vocals and vocal direction aren't too special, but it's still decent enough to like it. The beat is also kind of generic but the nice melody makes up for it. 6/10.

05 - Hello, Goodbye

This also has a nice, mellow sound, but I think it's better than Library. The vocals and vocal direction are much better. It's a nice feel-good, cute song that makes you want to dance, not because it's upbeat, but because I think it's such a happy feeling song that you just wanna dance to it. I think this should've had its own music video honestly. It's such a nice song to listen to. 8/10.

06 - Love Sick

This is a track that a lot of people seem to like, but it doesn't really catch my attention all too much. It's a ballad I always skip too, but when I do listen to it I appreciate the vocals. This song is probably the most I've ever heard Seohyun put emotion into, which is nice because that is something she really lacks. Generally it's a nice song but that's all I can really say about it. 7/10.

07 - Checkmate

This is yet another song that uses interments add a nice compliment to the song. The vocals aren't super impressive, but still credible. I think the vocal direction is really good. This is a nice up beat song to dance to. A seemingly live performance is inserted for a few seconds that adds some uniqueness to the song, and I think it does that well. 7.5/10.

*08 - Message From Girls' Generation - TTS Bonus Track

I think you can only get this bonus track if you buy it off of iTunes, but if you don't then don't worry. You're not missing much. It's a 7 minute and 40 second message from TTS recommending their favorite songs from the album. There's about one minute of Tiffany speaking English introducing what this message is about, and the rest is in Korean. I guess if you can understand Korean this would be an enjoyable thing to listen to, but if you don't, well, you can just listen to them talk for 6 more minutes with occasional laughter to which you have no idea as to why they're laughing (but we love them, so we laugh along with them anyway).

Packaging 

The album has decent packaging. The exterior felt a little fragile, but the build is still good. It comes with one random photocard out of 6 or 7 and 15 post cards.All of the post cards are nicely detailed with lots of colors. This was certainly one of SNSD's most unique concepts. 11 of the post cards are of the colorful tropical concept, which I really liked. And if you didn't like that concept, well, you have 4 post cards of the elegant concept from the Twinkle MV. All of the pictures are in high quality with good quality paper for the post cards too. 

Overall average: 8.2

Is it worth it?: Yes. Absolutely. This was definitely one of SNSD's best releases, both from the songs to the content inside the physical album. I'm very disheartened that there weren't more songs on this album.

Mr. Mr. 

01 - Mr. Mr.

When I first heard this song I didn't like it and I was disappointed. The first listen gave me the impression that it was generic and average, but after giving it a few more listens I started to really like it. I think it's an okay song, not SNSD's best, but not their worst either. My favorite parts were the melody changes in the verses. It's an upbeat pop song, but not really one you could dance that easily to in my opinion. Although I like the song a lot, I think the music video outshines the song. 7.5/10.

02 - Goodbye

This is probably the best track on the album if you didn't like the title track. This song is my favorite. It's an overall feel-good song that's nice to sing along to, and it features actual instruments, which is a nice compliment to the song. I don't have one bad thing to say about this song at all. The harmonizing, vocal direction, and instrumental were all great. 8/10.

03 - 유로파 (Europa)

This is a song I skip every time it pops up. It sounds very generic of the cutesy concept. It doesn't have the aegyo kind of cute but the overall feeling is cute-ish. I guess it would be a nice song to listen to ever once in a while but I think it sounds very boring. The only part I really liked was the bridge for a few seconds of Taeyeon's "You are the only one". 4/10.

04 - Wait a Minute

This is another nice track. The beat is kind of generic but the vocal direction makes up for it, so it's nice to listen to. I had to give this to a few listens to like it, though, because it's not that attention-grabbing right off the bat. That's about all I have to say. Sometimes I skip it and sometimes I don't. It's a whatever kind of song. 7/10.

05 - 백허그 (Back Hug)

This is probably the most disappointing song on the album. It sounds like an overly generic and average love ballad. It's something I'd expect some fairly new, unpopular girl group in an unknown company to sing. It's almost as boring as "Sunflower", except "Sunflower" actually had some lyrics that made me feel for it. The lyrics to "Back Hug" were just unimpressive and would be something anyone could've written. 2/10.

06 - Soul

Except for the unnecessary intro, this song was pretty decent, but obvious it was made to promote something. Some of the vocal direction wasn't that good, resulting in some parts sounding awkward. I mostly skip this song, but when I listen to it I like it. It doesn't sound too generic and it's a little bit unique. However, I would not put this in list of SNSD's best songs. 6.5/10.

Packaging

There's not much I can say except the physical album was pretty disappointing too. The exterior is unnecessarily large, with a lot of space under the actual CD that didn't need to be there. The photobook is pretty nice. The pictures are in good quality but some pictures repeat themselves and are edited a little to make it seem like it's a different picture. And some pictures are taken from the back of the album and put into the photobook, repeating the pictures again. And a good amount of the photos are the teasers, so there aren't many new pictures to surprise yourself with. The album comes with 1 of 3 sticker sheets, which are nice but let's be real, the majority of the fandom getting this album will not use them, so it's kind of useless.

Overall average: 5.8

Is it worth it?: No. This is probably SNSD's most disappointing release since Girls & Peace. If there were more unique songs included it might've out-weighted the disappointments of the averageness of the songs and physical album. I'd only advise hard core fans who collect SNSD merchandise to get it. I think SM got really lazy with this album and did not put in that much effort.

The Boys

01 - The Boys 

I feel like this song is either you love it or you hate it. It was something very new for SNSD, whether it be good or bad. I personally liked it a lot. I didn't like it at first, but after a few more listens I put it on repeat. The beat overall is steady throughout the song, which can either be annoying or just right depending on the person. I think the best part of the song was the bridge of the song and the ending of the song, as it switched up the beat nicely. Overall I think this is a song someone will either get used to and like it or not. 8/10.

02 - Telepathy

This is kind of a generic upbeat, cutesy, SNSD love song, but it's nice to listen to every once in a while. It's not really a song that I'd listen to every time it came on, but it's still okay. The only thing that really bothered me about this song was the fact that Jessica clearly sang the chorus and pronounced telepathy as 'telepasy', when she is perfectly capable of pronouncing it correctly. 6/10.

03 - Say Yes

This is also another typical SNSD love song, but it's one of my favorite tracks from the album. It doesn't sound too SNSD generic and gives me a girl-from-the-50s feel to it. It's definitely one of their better songs. 8/10.

04 - Trick

This is also one of the best tracks from the album. It actually sounds new to SNSD. It kind of feels like you're listening to a magic track in song form, if that makes any sense. Although it's also another love song, the lyrics and melody are really different from any other love song of theirs. 7.5/10

05 - How Great is Your Love

As much as I love the fact that my favorite member wrote the lyrics to this song, it's a boring song. The lyrics are very pretty, but the vocal direction and melody put me to sleep. It sounds like a generic ballad about love and it's just not that special. It's a shame because I'd love to see these lyrics in a better sounding, more powerful ballad. But the feeling of it is very mellow and relaxed. 4/10.

06 - My J

This song is also a song that gives that girl-from-the-50s feel. Honestly this is a song I always skip. I think it's one of SNSD's worst songs. The whole melody and vocal direction are cringe-worthy to me. The lyrics make them seem like a helpless teen in love, which is more than average for them at this point. I guess this would be a good song to listen to if you wanted to listen to songs that would give you a happy feeling, but it's annoying in my opinion. 2/10.

07 - Oscar

I think this is by far the best song on here, and is quite a popular song from the album. It's sort of a fierce and darkish song (or at least it gives you that feeling). It's also kind of a new sound for SNSD, but in a good way. The lyrics are very confusing though, I can't tell if it's about love or that they have some boy named Oscar in the palm of their hands and they're displaying a strong image. Nonetheless, I love it. 9/10.

08 - Top Secret

This is also one of their better songs off the album. I don't know what it is about this album but this is another song that reminds me of the 50s, but more of an investigation of a crime scene rather than a love scene. The song is about a girl who is supposedly hiding something from her boyfriend, and her boyfriend is suspicious so he tries to investigate the secret. From my analysis of the lyrics, the secret is that she's been looking at other men but is still faithful to her man, which is all apart of her plan for their relationship? Maybe to make him jealous? Regardless it's still a good song to listen to. It's nice to hear something a little evil from SNSD. 8/10.

09 - Lazy Girl

Yet another song that not only reminds me of the 50s again but one that I always skip. I suppose it's not as bad as "My J", but it also sounds very SNSD generic. Though, I do like the lyrics a lot, it even dismisses the yearn for love, stating that it's too much, which is something not expected from SNSD. The song is about a girl who is, well, lazy (for the day), and doesn't want to bothered by anyone. If the melody didn't sound so boring and generic I'd definitely listen to it more often. 5/10.

10 - Sunflower

This is another ballad, and is also very boring and generic-sounding as well. The song is yet again another story about love, but the lyrics are kind of heart-breaking but it's about what seems like one-sided love. I wish the lyrics could've been put into a better sounding ballad, but the only time I listened to this was when I needed something to help me sleep. 3/10.

11 - Vitamin

I think this is also one of their better songs from the album. It might not be totally special, but it's a nice, upbeat song. It's a bit cutesy, but also uplifting. It's about someone being sad and down and SNSD is cheering them on and telling them everything is going to be okay. Even if you don't understand it, it's still a nice song to listen to if you want to lift your spirits. 8/10.

12 - Mr. Taxi (Korean version)

The Korean translation thankfully doesn't sound too awkward, but I think the Japanese version definitely sounds better. It might take some time getting used to if you've only listened to the Japanese version, but it's still nice to have in your music. I'd give the Japanese version an 8, but for this one I give it a 7/10.

*13 - The Boys (English version)

A lot of people have said that the lyrics to this version don't make sense, for the most part I can see where they're coming from. I honestly listen to this version a more than the Korean one. The lyrics are basically saying "I'm here and I'm gonna woo you." I think overall the lyrics are pretty good, it could've been worse, but I think the English lyrics are generally pretty steady. Plus you can't hear much of their accents, which makes the song listenable! 8/10.

Packaging

There are 3 versions you can buy. The first being the original tin box with removable cards of each of the members. Honestly I think there could've been more content since all you get are 10 removable cards, a photocard, and a lyrics sheet. The Mr. Taxi version (which includes the English version of "The Boys" as a bonus track) also has removable cards, a photocard, and lyrics sheets. The only difference with the version (other than it being Mr. Taxi themed) is that there are only 9 removable cards instead of 10, and the packaging is like a normal Kpop album (it's much like Super Junior's A-CHA album). The third version is a standard jewel case released in the US with all the same photos as in the tin album, but just in booklet form. The jewel case also comes with 4 remixes, which I can say only 2 of them sound decent. If you're stuck on which version to get, if you only care about the songs I'd suggest the jewel case version or the tin version, if you favor content then I'd suggest the Mr. Taxi version.

Overall average: 6.2

Is it worth it?: I don't know. This album is overall pretty average for SNSD. If you're a hard core fan then I'd say yes, get it. But if you're looking for actual quality music from this album then I'd say only download the few better tracks and forget about the rest. The same goes for the physical CD. I'd only suggest hard core fans actually getting the physical copy, as there is not much content in them.

The next review to come is the Mr. Mr. mini album.