Review Summary: The best of Korean pop condensed into 12 tracks of pure fun.
The internet seems entirely torn on the existence and constantly rising (cult) popularity of Korean pop music, as even so much as lurking on any social media network will reveal to you that K-pop has as many adversaries furiously protesting against it, as it has crazy fans willing to go to incredible lengths to prove how good it is. I don’t want to sound pretentious, but it’s pretty clear to the observer that both groups are unnecessarily getting worked up over what is supposed to be just music, but through the workings of the companies themselves has become much more, in a bad sense. The truth is, the capitalist bull*** the K-pop industry is pulling on us is what creates both those annoying and intensely passionate fans and those crazed anti-fans. However, it also often creates pop music way ahead of what the US has to offer.
Wonder Girls is a currently disbanded girl group hailing from the third biggest label in Korea, JYP Entertainment, that’s also happened to chalk up the least offenses and probably makes the best music overall, particularly when it comes to girl groups. As K-pop is mainly a singles game, even the label itself doesn’t have a reputation of making good albums, but Reboot was an immediate standout thanks to the conceptual unity of the tracks, with all of them emulating one aspect of 80s pop music or another. Moreover, they completely nail it.
If there’s one aspect of K-pop I don’t see getting enough critical acclaim, it has to be the production quality. Most of the tracks on Reboot surpass even the usual high standard K-pop has, as it perfectly emulates the glossy synths, the bombastic percussion, the groovy bass and everything else in the instrumentation that makes this album so nostalgic. It’s all there, with an added slickness and the crispy audio quality making it all sound a little bit more modern.
The thing that makes this album so powerful is how full of personality is. I’m not particularly talking about the girls themselves (although they are fantastic vocalists and do have relatively distinctive voices) but the songs. The majority of the album’s tracks make them sound not like they’re making a cover album of a quintessential 80s act, but like they were an 80s pop group of their own. From all the pastiche elements in the mix, they’ve brewed up a storm of universally solid and not to mention, identity-affirming tracks regardless of the style they’re pursuing.
Now moving on to the songs themselves: opener “Baby Don’t Play” starts us off strong with sonics reminiscent of Janet Jackson at her peak, somewhat disco-reminiscent strings in the chorus and some of the catchiest hooks you’ll hear on the entire album. “Candle” took its time to grow on me, but eventually the magical beat and fun rap verses won me over. The one and only promoted single on the record, “I Feel You” is quite solid but not quite up there with some of the other tracks on here because of the slightly lacking central chorus melody. Bringing back the New Jack Swing groove from the opener, “Rewind” showcases a slightly more icy side of the album, going in an solemn R&B direction with the delivery. “Loved” brings us back to the club, and its guitar-laden final chorus ends up becoming the soaring moment of the album. Past that point it just all keeps being incredibly catchy, with the brassy and playful “John Doe”, emotional “One Black Night” and the Hyerim solo “Oppa”, which simultaneously manages to deliver both one of the best moments on here (with the incredibly catchy chanting in the pre-chorus) and the worst (the ill-advised trap breakdown). Past that point all the rowdiness of the album fades out and Wonder Girls bring out their secret weapon: “Faded Love”, a gloomy, but still upbeat funky disco jam that is by far one of my favorite tracks on here thanks to its densely-packed instrumental and general catchiness, as well as “Gone”, a mid-tempo track that blends modern with retro. There are only two songs on here that I liked, but I feel are overshadowed by the rest and just a little bit too cliche, the first being the overly cheesy rap track “Back” and the only thing that I actually really like about it is the twist where it starts off with a trap beat then the 80s energy bursts back in. Then we have the closer which is just a typical bright 80s ballad, “Remember”, that I found to be the weakest link on the record.
Overall, Reboot is one of K-pop’s finest full albums. It cleverly marries modern Western pop’s tendency for conceptual unity and K-pop’s focus on having individually strong songs, and as a result it’s also one of the most well-produced, fun and catchy 80s throwback albums I’ve heard this whole decade, while simultaneously sounding much less artificial and inauthentic compared to the stuff most Korean girl groups do.
