BoA's 7th "Album" - Only One Review

The word album is in quotes because usually her albums would have more than ten tracks. This time though, BoA only has seven songs (plus two instrumentals). Anyways, let's get started with the review! Unlike other reviews, I won't be using the proper terminology (ie: genre of song) since I don't know all the different types of terminology. I know, I know, I took classical music training for about 15 years, but in my defence, I never studied the difference between ballads, R&B, funk, trance, techno, house, etc.

These are my opinions on BoA's new album. Of course, feel free to disagree with my opinions if they don't suit your taste/opinions of her album.

01. Only One
BoA's title track. It's a nice, mid-tempo R&Bish ballad that showcases BoA's composition and lyrical skills (BoA composed and wrote the lyrics to this track, though I have no idea what she's saying...). The piano motif that plays throughout the song is very pleasing to the ears. What really caught my attention in the song is the guitar part. I especially enjoyed the sections where it went down stepwise (around 8 seconds in the song and wherever else it was played).

Score: 10/10

02. The Shadow
I'm not quite sure what to categorize this song... it has a heavier bass than her first track. I can imagine a choreography to this song... so let's say its a dance track? (lol fail....). It doesn't quite catch my attention like Only One due to what I feel like a repetitive melody line. The chorus is fine, but I feel like it doesn't really bring out BoA's vocals.

Score: 6/10

03. Hope
Another mid-tempo ballad. How it differs from Only One is that the chorus brings out BoA's strong vocals. The middle eight, or the section which does not sound like the rest of the song, has an interesting tone. It brings tension, that makes listeners anticipate (or at least me anyways) to back to the chorus. I feel that she finishes strong at the end, while she belts out the last bit of the song, and then the sudden subito piano at the end. My only issue with the song is that, it's not very memorable.

Score:7.5/10

04. Not Over U
A faster song, but it sounds very balladish to me. The pre-chorus has a very seductive tone to it, as she "whispers" (not the proper word to describe it...) as she crescendos to the chorus. The chorus once again is quite powerful. Overall, this song is pleasant to the ears. There's no harsh tones throughout the piece at all, as if BoA is feeling melancholy for her previous love.

Score: 8/10

05. The Top
This song starts off with what I believe is a synthesizer. It's an upbeat pop song. It's also the shortest song on the album and I can see why... It's not that great in my opinion. The melody line is very repetitive and not really catchy... This will also be my shortest review on a piece... to match the style of the song.

Score: 5/10

06. Mayday! Mayday!
Interesting title, since I don't feel a sense of panic listening to the piece. The pre-chorus sections are relatively simple, for it features drums, strings and her voice. The chorus picks up in instrumentation, but there's really no panic evoked from the chorus. Makes me wonder why it's called what it's called... Anyways it's nice to listen to, but like Hope, it's not really memorable.

Score: 7.5/10

07. One Dream ft. Henry of Super Junior - M & Key of SHINee
This was a song that BoA released in March, apparently to be used as a theme song for K-Pop Star (a Korean version of American Idol where BoA is one of the three judges). The song starts off with rap... from one of the featured singers... I'm not sure which one... BoA comes in later singing "One Voice, One Dream, One Chance". It's a nice ballad rap with descending repetitive thirds (around the 50 second mark).

Score: 8.5/10



Album score: 7.5/10

The score was taken from the average of the seven songs. I did not include reviews, nor scores of the instrumentals (Only One & The Shadow).

Overall, BoA's comeback album (since it has been two years since her last album) is not too bad. Overall, I only really enjoyed Only One. The other pieces are alright, but to me, they're more like filler tracks. Unlike her Japanese work, BoA doesn't really release a lot of singles in Korea that she could put onto her album.

I was disappointed to see that only seven songs were included in this album, but I guess its due to the fact that she's been busy with her other activities at the moment. It's always nice to hear new works from my former celebrity crush & #1 singer! Even though I do not like all of her new songs, I do like how she's progressing and maturing as an adult singer when she started off as a 13-year-old pop sensation.

The cover to BoA's album! It's really simple but quite beautiful. She has a really pretty smile in the cover! =)