It is time for another album review. And this time, the focus is on APINK, who made their comeback at the start of last week with %% (Eung Eung – if you are wondering how this is pronounced). This title track is featured on the group’s 8th mini-album, Percent. You will notice (as I have stated it quite a lot throughout this album review) is that the group had taken a more mature approach with their music, which is many miles away from their previous albums. Let’s see how I liked these track by going forth with the review.
1..%% (Eung Eung) (응응) (Title Track) – Click here to read the full review for %%. (8/10)
2. Hug Me (안아줘요) – Hug Me is an R&B track that brings out their mature side very well. I really liked the instrumental to this track as it has a no-nonsense type of vibe, getting straight to the point without dwindling between genres, which is something that occurs often in KPOP. You also get that sense of confidence from the members, who do an amazing job with the vocal side of the song, which is something I also quite like. It isn’t necessary memorable when you think about the track in a melodic sense. But it was still good. (7.5/10)
3. What Are You Doing? (느낌적인 느낌) – What Are You Doing? Is another R&B track but it is a lot more upbeat and what I would consider dance-centred. I say this because the song has a club vibe and also an instrumental break, fitting for a dance break. It has a very addictive nature, which helps with the memorability factor that I tend to comment about it. Vocally, it is decent. Not necessary their best vocals on the album. But that short line in which they speak just before the chorus was definitely the key point of the song. (9/10)
4. Push & Pull (줄다리기) – We now encroach into something more upbeat. It has been building up since the title track. There is still a mature vibe to the song but there seems to be a nice retro influence in the instrumentation, which I quite liked. I particularly liked the way they changed the pre-chorus up to give the song an extra rush of energy, setting the chorus up. The bridge of the song featuring some rap-speaking, which is a rare element in APINK songs but something that I would love to hear more of in these mature songs. (9/10)
5. Enough – We continue the retro influence and mature sound with Enough. And like the preceding song, it is also continuing with the upbeat instrumental. I think the right word to describe the song is that is rather soft in nature, which is one of the song’s main charm. The vocals in this song were nice and conform well to the main charm. But I think the real winner of the song is the rapping. As mentioned previously, APINK rarely attempts raps but once again, if this the quality that they put out with the rap sequences, I will love to listen to more. (9/10)
6. Memories (기억 더하기) – The only thing missing from this album is the ‘mandatory ballad’. And Memories ends the album with just that one track. I have to admit that it has a rather touching sound to it. Most of the time, artists slap a very typical ballad onto the tracklist in the hope it makes up for the ‘mandatory ballad’. But while the instrumental is typical, the members give the song that much needed emotive element, through their vocals. (7/10)
Overall Album Rating – 8.3/10
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