SISTAR, one of the major acts in K-Pop at the moment, not only released a new single, but also dropped an entire album: 'Give It To Me'. While I'm head-over-heels for the title song, the rest of the album doesn't exactly sit right with me. From an overall perspective, I appreciate the effort put in by the group, 'Give It To Me' ends up being nothing more than a collection of suspiciously-heard-before fillers which doesn't progress SISTAR's musical presence. Yet despite this, I hardly doubt this will detract the most ardent SISTAR fans as it's a feed that they're more than used to consuming from them.
On first listen, it's clear that this song is heavily influenced by the disco feelSISTAR's 2012 smash hit "Alone". While I personally didn't care much for "Alone", I felt this type of genre actually allowed the best of the group to be brought out, rather than the flavor of the month that "disco" became to be last year. The obvious difference in "Give It To Me" is that it more uptempo and somewhat instrumentally more interesting. While musically the song is nothing special, it is darn catchy and likely the least cheesy of any SISTAR song pumped out so far.Hyorin, as usual, shines in her belting at the end of the choruses, which is primarily responsible for the high amount of replay value contained within this song. And again, she proves once again why she is one of the strongest performers (regardless of gender) in mainstream K-Pop.
In sum, the song depicts a protagonist who is frustrated by the lack of love she is receiving from her significant other compared to the immense amount she has given. On a socially acceptable level, this type of "love" will likely be viewed as the idyllic teenage romance love of writing love notes, giving flowers, and generally puppy love. Yet if the music screams anything plainly, it's likely the girls are sexually frustrated. While the multiple in-your-face sexual innuendos and choreography of the music video is enough to suggest this, the constant repetition of the English loan words "give it to me" tends to reference a physical object or act, rather than the mere concept of love. Regardless of what "it" is, it's obvious that SISTAR really wants it as these lyrics—perhaps unimaginatively—takes up around 70% of the song's lyrical content.
The next track, "The Way You Make Me Melt", replaces the typical rapping role that belongs to Bora with the wildly popular rap duo Geeks. A laid-back, stripped-down, acoustic pop song, this essentially serves as a duo between Hyorin and Geeks, withSoyu and Dasom switching roles of singing the refrain. I've written before about my frustrations concerning the balance of SISTAR, namely that the group is basically Hyorin-and-guests and that Hyorin should really have a solo career, and this song doesn't necessarily help this annoyance.
The next two tracks "Summer Time" and "A Week" are merely fillers and don't really warrant much conversation. Perhaps the only notable thing about "Summer Time" is its obligatory summer-theme which SISTAR seems to be known for since their release of "Lovin U" in summer 2012.
"Hey You" sounds more reminiscent of something 4Minute would put out than what I'm used to from SISTAR: this song quite a bit more urban-y and electric-y than the typical straightforward K-Pop of the latter. This isn't necessarily a bad thing: it gives a break from the staleness that SISTAR often falls victim too. Overall, the song is surprisingly listenable on a whole. The refrain, in particular, darn catchy, especially when Hyorin does her scalar leaps on the "ooh" syllable. Also notable is Bora serving perhaps her largest role of the album here. It's nice to hear her do some kind of extended work, and ultimately does a serviceable job at providing the rap breaks between the choruses.
The next track, "If U Want", continues the same vein of relative urban-ness found in "Hey You". A slap-bass heavy R&B track, the song flows nicely on a whole. This is arguably the most soulful that I've heard Dasom and Soyu sing in this album (I'll leave that up to you to decide if that's a good thing or not). Unquestionably the least Hyorin-and-guests feeling of the album, which actually is surprisingly nice to hear. From a lyrical standpoint, this song is quite the opposite of "Give It To Me": rather than the female protagonist being frustrated and forceful, this song depicts a much more sensitive, non-narcicist version of the woman in that she is thoughtful for the male's desires. So much for album continuity.
"Up and Down" just seems like they ran out of ideas. It's not really special in any way, but it's not entirely bad. It's a bit slow for a club song, but I could see this being a nice medium as a remix - but I doubt that'd ever happen. While it doesn't end the album out on a bang, it certainly is a fitting culmination of my opinion on the album as a whole: while there are a few nice points, there is too much reliance on old, standardized fillers which fails to progress SISTAR on a musical level. Perhaps 'Give It To Me' would have best been served as a mini-album, but kudos nonetheless for SISTAR in recording all the originals placed here.
Give It To Me
RELEASED
JUNE 11TH, 2013
LABEL
STARSHIP ENTERTAINMENT
SINGLES
GIVE IT TO ME
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