Next up on the album review trail is is MIRAE’s third mini-album, MARVELOUS. Featured on the album is the title track that shares the same name as the mini-album and also five other new tracks. This album dropped in the second week of January, more specifically on 12 January 2022.

This album is centred heavily on the pop genre. The first half of the album was very strong and really showcased MIRAE. The second half faltered slightly, but it still contributed to an enjoyable album overall. Let me know which song was your favourite and whether you agree with my thoughts below for each Keep on reading for my thoughts on each song, along with Marvelous’s full review (the title track, that is). Let me know if you agree or disagree with me in the comments section below.

1. Future Land – Future Land starts off the album by swinging with a hip-hop infused funk sound. It is an impressive track as it kicks the whole album with a very energetic and positive note. The funky sound brings a fun vibe to the song that I just want to go back to. The rappers, which dominate the likes of Future Land, really nail their parts in the verses/choruses and helps bring that hip-hop side to life. The vocalists come off strong just as well as the rappers, just they don’t get much of the bright limelight. I wished the final chorus was a bit more concentrated, just to give us that ‘icing on the cake’ effect at the end. (9/10)

2. Marvelous (Title Track) – Click here to read the full review for Marvelous. (9/10)

3. JUICE – I found JUICE to be a such a clean track. It delves into the pop genre, which I find the members and producers to have nailed perfectly. I like the slightly funky tinge the guitars brought to the song. The melodies and hooks were very catchy, while the rapping and vocals were executed perfectly and I had no issues with them. My only complaint about JUICE was about how it was over so soon (just under the 3 minute mark). But when I think back in retrospect, maybe that was intentional to make JUICE succinct and hence super effective. (10/10)

4. Final Cut – Final Cut sounds like it could have been a very edgy track title. But instead, Final Cut has a summer holiday vibe, with a lot of its instrumental reminding me of descriptive words such as ‘tropical’ and ‘island getaway’. TWICE’s Alcohol-Free also popped into my mind whilst listening to the song. Aside from that mismatch expectation, Final Cut was a decent track, with enjoyable melodies and a bright profile. (7.5/10)

5. Amazing (소름) – Amazing is another promising track on this album. It delves into the pop genre once again. There were pleasant melodies. The vocals and rapping are pretty good. Everything compliments each other very well. Unfortunately, Amazing doesn’t stand out as much on this album to me because I felt the song was somewhat under-developed in comparison to the other side tracks on this album. I guess it could be the typical and standard aura that comes off it, but I also felt the those mentioned elements (instrumental, vocals and rapping) all could have gone further. (7/10)

6. Dear My Friend (일곱페이지) – The line ‘You are my friend, my friend’ is quite a memorable one. The album ends with Dear My Friend. It is a lot more mellow and wholesome sounding, which makes senses based on the vocals. I liked the mixture of vocals and rapping in this song, along with the synths in the instrumental. Everything comes together to create a pleasant end to the album. (8/10)

Overall Album Rating – 8.4/10