카라 (Kara) – 루팡 (Lupin) Review
It seems that all the Kpop girl groups took a quick break during January and are making their comebacks in February and March. 카라 are no different with their new mini-album/EP 루팡.
The amusing thing about the marketing for this album is that they’re pushing the track “루팡” even through the rest of the album is sugar pop. Not to say the song isn’t catchy, because it is and a good change from “Mister” especially with the half-step change in vocals.
From an album breakdown, it’s five tracks with one harder track, an attempted R&B track “Rollin’” who should have used a better beat, at least more low decibels and three general Kpop songs in “Tasty Love,” “Umbrella,” and “Lonely.”
Having five tracks like “루팡” would have been more interesting, but that one song is good enough for their comeback.
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5 Comments
Feb 22, 201018:04
I think the danger is being out of the spotlight too long. Even with the members going variety shows and such, they make more money selling their music.
Feb 23, 201014:11
I think it’s kind of counteractive though.
I’ll buy an album if I know I’m going to like it, vs. a minialbum with just one good song on there. It seems too greedy of the company and it makes me want to not support the artist. That’s why I really like groups like Brown Eyed Girls and DBSK, they (usually) release one album a year or so, and it’s a good album and it makes me want to stand by them and support them.
With all these mini-albums spewing out all over the place, I feel kind of repulsed and like I don’t want to invest in the group (like Kara or SNSD).
Relevance should be built with hard work, not rampant irreverent mass production.
It seems to me too desperate, and I find it really unattractive.
Feb 23, 201018:49
Well, Western consumption rates have to be different than Korea. Music marketing is very different from the United States for sure. Just look at the contracts that Kpop singers have to sign and the long term training they have.
I am waiting for their comeback to see how the full choreography is.
Feb 24, 201013:51
Well obviously the market is totally different. But I think it’s really that I’m kind of old-fashioned and I just like the ‘full’ feeling of an album (especially if I’m paying the price of a full album).
I still use my walkman, and if an album is good I can listen to just that for over a month. I can’t be alone in this there are others like me out there…somewhere.
But I know I’m not a Korean teenager and probably they don’t have the same rituals in this day and age.
The choreography is not horrible, but a lot of it seems to be pointing and tossing your head. I dunno, seems lacking to me, but I haven’t seen a full dance version yet.
Also, I think the reason they chose to name it Lupin was to make it easier to stumble across for Westerners who might search Lupin the Third or possibly Potterheads too. From a marketing standpoint, it makes sense.
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17:38
The choreography for Lupin needed some SERIOUS help, but they all looked REALLY sexy. And there’s a lot of great photography so I can’t resist watching it again and again. The song is good and they laid off the autotune, so I’m happy. It would have been smarter to wait with this. Work on the choreography add some more decent tunes and release it as a full album. It could have had Mirotic impact. It will still do well though, you can feel it.