Those chicks we dig, but know will never be as popular in Korea as less talented broads sipping from an oversized cup of popularity (I shall name no names) are staking their claim with their mini album Touch. Although one wishes they'd have done it with an album which features just a hint of originality and songs which have the personality and weave piece clutching capabilities of the girls in the group.
The problem I've always had with Miss A is that their music is so indistinct. Put them on a stage and they'll bring it down and set themselves apart. But have it be just about the music and they fade into a sea of weaves, auto-tune and JYP leftovers.
Touch gets off to a dodgy start with the album titled track. The song sounds drab, outdated and like a Wonder girls left over that JYP had produced whilst he was going through his divorce. The song is rubbish. It goes nowhere. And to have thrown this in as the first track was a no-no. Bye.
After having a sexily depressing moment with "Touch", Miss A turn on the sass and get shit poppin' with "Lips". If there were ever a song to push Miss A into clubs in the West it's "Lips". Produced by Fuego the driving force behind Chris 'Take you down and make a woman's face bleed' Brown's "Turn up the music" and co-written by the homegirl with the voice who is trying to make it and failing horribly Nikki Flores (Bitch, I got love for you. I still bump "Suffocate"). The song is very current and now, wrapped in the Euro house that the clubs built and every bitch in pop has been selling their soul and wig to get into. If you liked Jennifer Lopez's "On the floor" or Rihanna's "Where have you been", then you'll like "Lips" as it's on that same tip. Shit loads of auto tune too, just to strip the girls of even more character as if the rave synths didn't do it enough.
Somebody at JYP must have bought into that rule the world spiel which Beyonce had attempted to indoctrinate us with back in November, because "Rock 'n rule" is all about it. Except wrapped in a bubblegum flavoured Euro dance package, as opposed to a gutter as hell copy and pasted one from Switch and Diplo. "Rock 'n rule" is a great piece of music for a pillow fight in a white bedroom with satin sheets and Hello Kitty panties. There's a dubstep breakdown too, just in case you fancy jazzing up the pillow fight by putting on some heels and popping some p***y. As if there aren't enough pop songs out there which have their bridge sections punctuated with ♪ Bzzzzzt-wow-wow-WOW-WAAAGGH-WAAARRRGH-wa-WOOOOOOOWW ♪.
Miss A get thrown another Wonder girls left over with "Mo mercy". But unlike "Touch" this one is a winner. It's the first song on the album where more of the Miss A you grew to adore truly come through and is truly welcomed after depressing album openers and songs which sound like 4 minute and 2NE1 knock-offs. "No mercy" is a slice of pop gold featuring a 60's kiss off bounce with a bit of underground dub thrown in to dirty up the gloss. A great song. It's a bloody shame this wasn't made their promotional single, as it's a catchy ditty of a song, begging for a hot conceptual femme fatale theme and a routine which involves hot-stepping in heels the opening of legs.
"Over U" continues the over arcing theme of having these girls sound like any other group in K-Pop other than themselves. Unless you'd known any better beforehand, you'd swear blind this is a song by Girls' generation. "Over U" is a good song, but nothing which floats this song has anything to do with any of the girls of Miss A. They don't even matter.
The album ends with a remix of "Touch". And I have to hand it to whoever remixed it; they managed to take the original and make it even more depressing. That takes some f**king talent and hard work. Because the original version was a backdrop to a whiskey fuelled breakdown for one.
Touch is well produced, but does nothing to boost the appeal of Miss A other than to show that they can sing a bunch of vapid songs which you'll forget in a couple of months, which makes them just another girl group in a never ending list of those in South Korea doing the exact same thing. Miss A own the songs on this album for sure, but they would be no worse off had the likes of Girls' generation or the Wonder girls gotten them, because the emphasis is placed on the production of the songs, how often a word can be repeated over a hook until your ears bleed and just how much synth a producer can cram into the space of 3 minutes and 27 seconds.
There is nothing about this album which really defines or singles out Miss A from the rest of the K-Pop pack. The songs are good. And the girls sound good and much more vocally unified than their peers. But the sound is samey on the whole and you're likely to forget the songs in a couple of months when another girl groups delivers a bunch of similar sounding songs. Nothing on this album really sells them or sets them apart in any way. Touch isn't a terrible album. The only flat out bad song on it is the title song. But Miss A are so much better than this and deserve songs which define them unto themselves, not a bunch of songs which have them sound like other broads.
Album highlights:
■ Lips
■ No mercy ★ J's fave
%20Dua%20Lipa%20-%20Radical%20Optimism.png)
%20Hikaru%20Utada%20-%20Science%20Fiction%20(GIF%20version).gif)
%20Justin%20Timberlake%20-%20Everything%20I%20Thought%20It%20Was.png)
%20Jennifer%20Lopez%20-%20This%20Is%20Me%20Now.png)
%20Cubic%20U%20-%20Precious.png)
%20Meisa%20Kuroki%20-%20Unlocked.png)