Album Review: Eunbi- Lethality
I am so excited for this album review since Eunbi has been my top modern bias in kpop for a few years now. That said, I will be objective here, I care more about good music than blindly loving everything my favorite artist puts out. This time we’re bringing back the old format where we talk about the video before diving into the songs, which I had dropped for Lucy’s Play since that album was almost 3 times the length of an average kpop release. Let’s rock!
The Music Video
Our title track today is Underwater, but luckily, the sound is still normal. This music video screams aesthetics, it’s at times leaning so deep into artsy that it’s crazy. There is a substantial amount of this man dancing while mirrored that feels like somebody just wanted to do a study of the way the human body moves. It’s unusual, but it works, and the slightly unique nature is distinctly Eunbi in tone. I really like the end with the “rain,” because water is just fantastic for cinematography, it has a certain magic that no other element brings to the table.
Speaking of looks, Eunbi looks great in this comeback, healthy, well styled, my wife commented that Eunbi just looks stronger and more toned right now. This is especially good for an idol that has always looked much healthier than the industry tends to force onto its performers. Her dancing and singing feels very on point, and her general energy seems to suit this video really well. I would say in conjunction with all her other videos this year for Glitch, Esper, and Light, Eunbi has just had a great year of good performance, strong visuals, and a cohesive without being samey set of MVs.
The Songs
Wave- I’m not huge on intros, but Eunbi has had an incredible one earlier this year, so I think it’s worth looking at. I really like the instrumentalization here, it brings a very different feeling to underwater without changing the instrumentalization. Is it as good as The Colors of Light? No. Is it better than most intro tracks? I’d say so.
Underwater- The instrumental track is very Euro-electro to me, and I absolutely love that, it’s a great sound that is a blast to listen to. I have seen people say it sounds Chungha-esque, but I think that’s more a case of them being derived from the same place, Euro-club electro, Zedd produced pop kinda sound. I really love Eunbi’s vocals here, she flexes some intensity and feels vocally comfortable, which lets her move around her range in a way that sounds really nice. It’s going to be hard for me to decide what Eunbi’s best title track is this year, because this is another contender for sure.
Croquis- I wasn’t wowed by the first verse, it’s good but not amazing, and then the pre-chorus hit and holy moly that’s cool. The glitchy repetition is such a cool audial sensation to me, and seems like something you’d have expected in Glitch itself. Second verse lost me a bit but then right back to the pre-chorus and the rest of the song is a hit. Honestly, nailing the chorus is way more important to me than the verses, so I really like this track. Also the synthy slide note in the pre-chorus is magic too.
Simulation- What a weird time travel trip of a song, there’s influences from 3 decades of music in here across what Eunbi does vocally and the instrumental does. I can pick up hints of disco, early rock, and the hippie era of rock, it’s really interesting. I almost don’t know how to feel because it was so interesting to just experience musically, which I would say is a good thing. I would love to see what everybody thinks of this song in particular, it’s really odd in a good way.
Flash (Prod. Park Moonchi)- Lots of cool electronic instrumental work in this album, even on this summery romantic feeling song, it does a great job of keeping the whole thing cohesive despite how different all the songs are. I think Eunbi has done well at improving on these types of songs since debut, she’s a hard hitter normally, she dances the same way, so it’s nice to hear her getting better and better at the softer side too, gives her even more dynamics to work with. That said, after how interesting the previous three songs are, this is nice and pleasant to listen to, but not really in my wheelhouse. Credit where it’s due to pacing though, this is the slow track of the album, and while it reduces energy, it does not lose it at all.
Hi- A fun perky “the day is sunny and it’s going to be a great day today” kind of pop track is not what I expected to end the album, and it’s really not something Eunbi’s done before, interestingly, works really well for her. I don’t really have much more to say on this, it is exactly as I described in a good way.
Overall rating- 8.5/10 or 9/10
Cohesion is so much better here than on Light, we don’t just slowly drain on energy as it goes on, it starts and ends in a way that is engaging and satisfying. There’s so much unique stuff going on musically though that I don’t have a strong gauge on exactly how I feel about it. I love the cool electronic instrumental ties across all the songs, even Hi starts with it a little bit. Good album, well structured, Underwater is great, and the other songs are good to great. I would be happy with listening to this front to back again in the future.
