BORN PINK / BLACKPINK / September 16, 2022
- Joshua Yoo
- Sep 26, 2022
- 1 min read
Updated: Oct 22, 2022
The biggest female K-Pop group in the world is surprisingly not very big on big albums, only offering 8-track packs with meager runtimes in a possible attempt to make a statement. But perhaps even more than their debut, ‘BORN PINK’ reflects a difficulty BLACKPINK has with sustaining quality over any-length collection of songs.
From track-to-track, BLACKPINK dips into multiple different genres within their wheelhouse, but with difficulty to make any of one of these styles sound inventive or even anywhere above par for the course, it puts them in a confusing position as to what exactly their sound is. The big dance anthems are wearing thin on impact (“Pink Venom”), the ballads are tame in presentation (“The Happiest Girl”), and the pop is derivative of recurrent sounds all throughout the genre.
The production only accentuates the issue, unassuming at best and tacky at worst, with tracks like “Typa Girl” tiresome to the ears rather quickly. The girls’ vocal performances and rap verses only go so far to lift the instrumentals, sometimes too clean to stick.
It raises the question of whether BLACKPINK is even set out for album formats at all, as they have and probably always will find potency in single releases. There’s still a lasting hope that they can deliver on a full-length collection of music that truly highlights the many strengths the group has, but ‘BORN PINK’ is not a promising development in this timeline.
Highlight(s): Shut Down
Lowlight(s): Typa Girl, Ready For Love, Tally
SCORE: 3/10
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