This topic is locked
Hey Soshified! This is my first time attempting to write any sort of cohesive review for music. I figured it might be helpful for some people to read reviews from a musician and composer's perspective, so they're here if you need them! Feel free to discuss or ask anything related to the songs or reviews, there are no silly questions or opinions here. Just make sure you're following the forum rules!
What I will try to do in my reviews is mainly break down each song in it's style, structure, and instrumentation with my added opinion as an artist. I'll do my best to make any musical concepts easy to understand. I can't promise each review will be 100% consistent, but I'll definitely try my best to elaborate my key ideas. My main objective is to help offer information or a different view that you might be seeking. 
As of right now, I'll be reviewing Girls' Generation's Mr. Mr. mini album. I finished the first three tracks, expect the rest of them soon!
Girls' Generation - Mr. Mr. (Mini Album)
Mr. Mr.
I’ve heard a lot people say weren’t sure how they felt about “Mr. Mr.” when they first heard it in its entirety. I would say I leaned more towards the “it’s at least good” side of the spectrum. For me, it started off like “Okay, this is pretty cool. It reminds me a lot of ‘Flower Power’. I wonder what the chorus will be like.” And when the chorus did come in, I was pleasantly surprised. It felt like a breath of fresh air. For me, the verses were a little lackluster; they were strong, but they didn’t feel as solid musically as the choruses. The change from the verse to the pre-chorus where Sunny first comes in also doesn’t feel very smooth. It felt just a tiny bit forced. However, the build-up was solid and thankfully the choruses saved it for me, as well as the breakdown. Even though we already knew what it would sound like based on the teaser, the breakdown was still just as awesome. Not only to hear, but to watch GG show us their killer synchronization and choreography. Once the song moves into the final chorus is when things really start to get good though. After the first part, the chorus modulates up into another key and the girls flawlessly move with it. But wait, there’s more! It modulates a second time into an even higher key and still sounds spot-on. While it modulates, SNSD is belting out their multiple vocal flourishes which really helps bring things home.
Because this is the title track that Girl’s Generation is promoting, I expected there wasn’t going to be much complicated vocal stuff going on in the melody; and I was right. It’s a solid, yet simple and catchy pop melody that the mass public can easily follow. It’s something almost essential for success. However, despite the need for a simple melody, our girls still brought the fire and burned down some of the wall around the “pop-zone” with their vocal skills in the last chorus. I also have to mention the lyrics and their concept. After hearing the song with a translation, I would say I quite enjoyed the lyrics. I’ve heard a lot of native-speaking Koreans think that some of the lines are awkward and cringe-worthy. I’m positive it’s from me being a native English speaker, but they totally sound fine translated. I really liked the idea and the positivity of trying to push this “Mr.” to be stronger and more confident. I’m particularly fond of the line “You make broken glass from scars turn into stars”; it just seems very cool and poetic to me. Overall, this is a concept you rarely find in American pop music, so I welcome it with open arms no matter how many times GG does it. Aside from certain pieces of the song structure, the vocals were great, and the instrumentation was solid as always.
I give “Mr. Mr.” a 8 pink stethoscopes out of 10.
Goodbye
I immediately knew I would like this track as soon as Tiffany broke in with her fantastic lower-range, supported by a fat and funky Rhodes piano. “Goodbye” begins with a very bluesy and funky sound that has a reminiscent feel of a song from TTS’s Twinkle album. I find the overall feel really smooth in this track as it goes from that very bluesy sound in the verses to powerful, poppy choruses. The instrument choices and entrances seem spot on from the guitars to drum kit. As the final chorus comes around there is a shaker, tambourine, and all kinds of rhythmic elements going on with the guitars that really helps push out that fantastic feeling a final chorus should have. I would say my favorite parts of Goodbye are the vocals and melody in the choruses; they caught my ear the most.
The vocals that really stood out to me in this track were between Tiffany, Taeyeon, Seohyun, Hyoyeon, and Yuri. Vocally, this was a pretty interesting track considering that Taeyeon and Jessica each got a chorus to themselves with harmonies from the rest of the girls. Even though it does sound good overall, I can hear the finesse of TTS’s vocals in this style of music transferring over from Twinkle. Not only TTS, but Hyoyeon and Yuri’s vocals also seem to have that spark for this kind of music. It’s a very sought-after vocal huskiness in blues and the like.
The only real gripe I have with this track is the end fadeout. I can think of at least 3 or 4 different ways they could have ended this track and had it sound ten times better than a fadeout. It doesn’t make it sound any worse, but I feel its missed chance for some good “oomph” in the last cadence. Other than that, it’s a fantastic track.
I give “Goodbye” 8.5 delicious Hyoyeon vocal parts out of 10.
Europa
Ever since Girls' Generation's debut, I've become very familiar with the work of Kenzie. I would go as far as saying I've become a sucker for her work, probably because it reminds me of my own style. I've thoroughly enjoyed just about every track she has written and composed for GG, and "Europa" was no different. As soon as I heard it, I knew for sure this was her song. (If you’re not too familiar with Kenzie, she is the producer that gave GG songs like “Into the New World”, “Himnae”, and “Oh!” among many other songs.)
From what I've read and heard, many people compare "Europa" to tracks from previous albums such as "Telepathy", "Vitamin", and "Express 999"... and they should! All of these tracks were done by the very same Kenzie.
I’m actually still not sure which track from Mr. Mr. is my favorite, but Europa is definitely among the top two. I really, really like many of the difference pieces to this song. The use of 7th chords in the progression really adds that extra “flavor” to it that you probably won’t find in many other pop songs. Not only that, but some really cool key changes during select parts of the chorus and the bridge makes me want to give the chord progressions an A+. Drums and percussion were also very well done. I think they were programmed to perform their role perfectly throughout each section of the song. They were slower and laid-back when they needed to be, upbeat when the song was pushing into the chorus, and they fit well with a lot of fills and other rhythmic cues from the rest of the instruments. Many times I hear very basic and repetitive beats with a lot of pop songs, (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing) and it definitely gets old after a while. The guitar was also really cool in this track. I know Kenzie likes to use a lot of funk-pop style guitar riffs in her songs (even if they can be REALLY quiet), much like you may hear in a Daft Punk song or various other styles of J-pop. Particularly, the small outro solo at the end was a nice touch. If only they could have ended “Goodbye” just as well 
My favorite part of “Europa” though would have to be—you guessed it; the vocals. The melody, harmonies, and vocal flourishes in this song are all fantastic. Not for a single moment was I not totally entranced in GG’s vocals all throughout the song. Especially during the last chorus, I was already getting shivers at all the solo notes. Sunny’s note at 3:00 was epic, probably my favorite. There’s definitely a certain kind of magic that happens when you add some delay and reverb to an already fantastic singer’s voice. I should also mention the lyrics for this track. They were surprisingly dark to a certain extent, but in a very elegant and heartfelt way. To write an entire song in the perspective of Jupiter’s moon Europa in an allegory of love is pretty cool; interesting, at the very least. I give yet another kudos to Kenzie.
The only reason I’m not giving this a perfect score is because I’m waiting for the day SNSD really, REALLY knocks muh socks off.
I give “Europa” 9.5 barely audible guitar tracks out of 10.
btw nice persona dp 
