
Girls’ Generation’s first subunit mini-album, Girls’ Generation – TTS’s “Twinkle”, was recently released to wide acclaim. The title track was an instant hit, getting an all-kill on the Korean charts within hours of release, and the album itself set records on the US iTunes and Billboard charts for a Korean artist. This month, MoonSoshi9 and SeraphKY will take a look at “Twinkle” and see how Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun explored a variety of new styles as Girls’ Generation – TTS.
MoonSoshi9
The “Twinkle” concept pictures were certainly…interesting, to say the least. Say what you will about the eclectic and colorful outfits and makeup, but it sure makes for a visually striking album. The mini-album comes with sixteen postcards with pictures of Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun in their crazy costumes, along with a photo card and a poster. Just like “The Boys”, you get a lot of goodies along with the CD.
As for the music itself, Girls’ Generation – TTS is a breath of fresh air. “Twinkle” is one of Girls’ Generation’s best albums to date. Every song has its own appeal, whether it’s from “Twinkle”‘s funky sound and soaring ad-libs, to “Love Sick”‘s smooth R&B flow. The live band sound for most of the songs fits so well with Taeyeon, Tiffany, and Seohyun’s voices. “Checkmate” in particular gives off a strong vibe, and the drums and guitar on the track really bring out the personality of the song and the girls’ singing. “Library” is an insanely fun song that gets stuck in your head almost immediately, while “Good-bye, Hello” continues the fun in a more light-hearted, bouncy style. Tiffany’s favorite song on the album, “OMG”, is reminiscent of “Chocolate Love” with a really cool chord progression. The way Tiffany descends with “Oh my god” at the end of the first verse into the repetition of the line is so fierce it hurts. Along with “Twinkle”, “Baby Steps” is my other favorite track. The girls sound so absolutely incredible with the melody and harmonizing toward the end of the song that I get chills every time I listen to it.
Simply put, I cannot recommend “Twinkle” enough. There’s a reason it broke so many records when it was released. It’s that good.
Packaging: 7/9
Songs: 8/9
Overall: 8/9
SeraphKY
Let me get this straight before I start. I absolutely love the girls. However, with all those bright colors, funky hair styles, and whatever else you have in there, it is probably one of the most aesthetically displeasing albums I have seen.
Thankfully, that only applies to the appearance of the album. The musical content itself makes this mini-album by Girls’ Generation – TTS a worthwhile purchase. With a bit of cute, some retro-funk, a rocking dance, and heartbreaking ballads, this album has a little bit of something for everyone. It doesn’t hurt to have all those little extras either, such as the digital photo booklet if you bought it off iTunes or the cute message from the members.
“Twinkle” is the title song of this album, and it’s the little bit of retro-funk in the album. It is a fun song that is most likely inspired from Taeyeon and Tiffany’s rendition of “Lady Marmalade”, which they performed during the Japan Arena Tour and 2nd Asia Tour. It’s a good song that showcases everyone’s vocals, especially Seohyun, who adds a little spice to the song by belting out all the same notes that Taeyeon and Tiffany do, even though she took a step outside of her comfort zone with this genre.
“Baby Steps” is one of two soft ballads on the album, and if I had to pick, the better of the two as well. Even though it is a ballad, it has a catchy chorus that flows well. The song also contains those long notes that break your heart every time the girls sing them. Though I must admit, I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw this song performed live because it had choreography to go along with the song.
As for the song “OMG”, does anyone else feel a little cheated? I mean, we have “Gee” and “Oh!”, so why not make a song titled “M” or something to that effect? But apparently SM decided that was too much of a hassle and just skipped right to “OMG”. That aside, the song has a nice jazzy feel to it, since there is a continued presence of wind instruments in the background. It’s easy to sing along to, even if the only words you know and understand are “oh my gosh” or “oh my god”. Three cheers for catchy choruses.
Next up is “Library”, the song where everyone was joking about how Seohyun just might sing it solo. However, despite the calming atmosphere that most people will think of when talking about a library, the song was anything but calming. “Library” is a cute song that will have you jiving along unconsciously, but don’t think it is just cute, because the vocals in this song are nothing to scoff at. The different blend of voices and parts brings together an amazing harmony.
Out of all the songs on the album “Good-bye, Hello” was probably my least favorite. Not to say it was bad, but in comparison to all the other songs, it felt a little bland.
“Love Sick” is the second ballad on this mini-album. The emphasized beat alongside the soft tunes really make this song stand out. You can almost feel the emotion gushing out of the vocals every time it matches up with the bass. The beginning of the song also makes you feel like you’re entering a new world, and then it swells into a crescendo when you finally immerse yourself in the world.
The last song is “Checkmate”. It’s the end of the line for everyone. You have no more moves left as you are captured by the loud bass and heavy beats. The edgier vocals also leave you a little breathless, which is capped off by a short but intense drum solo. If anything, you’ll probably be bobbing your head along to the song when you are blasting it out of your speakers.
Packaging: 4/9
Songs: 8/9
Overall: 7/9
Written by: MoonSoshi9@soshified, SeraphKY@soshified
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The concept kind of reminded me of the citizens of the Capital of Panem in Hunger Games… Hahaha! Outlandish colors and loud statements for fashion but surprisingly they look cute in them. :D Their cover of Baby Steps and Love Sick are my favorites from the album. I love how their vocals always shine when they go slow and do ballads instead of the usual dance tunes that they sing. :D
I actually found out about SNSD listening to Twinkle. it’s still my favorite song ;)
twinkle’s an awesome song. ^^ daebak to taetiseo!
the photocards are perfect <3
can’t wait for my twinkle album .. :) ^^
Nice work !!>. I hope I can do that, like you !!>. hahaizz. LOL
I agree with MoonSoshi on the styling and packaging. The fact that a lot comes with the album made it worth purchasing for me. It was literally the thing that tipped the edge. for 16 bucks I got all of that so I didn’t feel like I was missing out by not ordering the one with the poster.
Also – some of the images were pretty cool. I liked that they were bright and colorful and the girls’ beauty still shined through. Finally, the actual postcards contained way more than the scans from the digital one which made ordering the physical one great. And the unique packaging was just fun. I really think it’s a good edition to the SNSD collection
Come on everything deserves 9/9!!!!!! Everything about the album is perfect, I would not have it any other way.
to put it simply, i agree that the album art is
really strange, and did not give me a good initial
first impression of the album, but that’s the way
SM works, so i should come to expect that. but
the music more than made up for it. “baby steps”
one of my favorite snsd songs…period. and i like
the analysis of OMG…very interesting.
i really love this album. one of the best out there! :)
yep i love the music side of this mini album
maybe my fav korean release from girls generation up to date
its truly showcasing soshi’s impressive vocal line
plus they even deviate a bit from the usual soshi style, showing their new refreshing side
the only upset thing is the packaging
no i’m not talking bout the clown pics lol
the packaging quite creative but not practical
the drawer style is good but its so hard to close it back
Hahaha! I have to agree with SeraphKY! The clothes, make-up and everything else was very…vibrant and eye-catching. They should have used the other set of photos.
All the songs are astounding with TTS’s powerful vocals showcased in all of them. I rarely like ballads but Baby Steps literally wowed me with Taeyeon’s notes.
Please do a review when “Paparazzi” comes out!
This has got to be one of my favourite soshi albums to date!
The songs are easy to love, and the vocal easily flow with emotions. It took me some time to accept The Boys with some rather radical tunes, but Twinkle is a wonderful album that overflows with SNSD-ness. Looking forward to their next goodie filled album!
i love the album!
personally i really love the colors tho!
but the hairstyles and makeup are a little hard for me to register,
altho they kinda contributed to the colors heheh.
the songs are of course, very nice.
my favourites were Twinkle and Love Sick and now the whole album became my fav!
the “skipped to OMG without the M” part made me laugh hahaha!
thanks for the review!
i agree with moonsoshi9. the style was very unique but it fit the concept very good! and the songs are definitely amazing and makes this mini album even more worth it. i’m very satisfied with it :3