For my first kpop album review, I want to take on WJSN’s newly released Neverland. WJSN is my bias group, so clearly that plays a factor here, just to keep it entirely honest with you, I am not at all an unbiased reviewer, although I do my best to be objective. In this review I will hit two topics, first, the music video for butterfly, and second, I’ll do a song by song review of the album. I may release an article later with a review of the physical albums, photobooks and photocards, but as mine have not yet shipped to me, I can not do that yet.
The Music Video
This video is an interesting one, my wife had a critique after watching it, she thought it seemed like they had very little budget to work with. In particular, there is very little in terms of setting, it mostly looks like it’s filmed in a studio with some lighting changes, some props here and there, and a few little interesting things, like Bona being stuck in what appears to be where the Beast stores his rose. I think there is some validity to this, WJSN is selling better and better every time, and is one of the girl groups with the highest sales potential active, 8th or 9th best based on charts I’ve seen, so you would expect to have a little bit more going on. That said, I think minimalism can be a tool as well, which is exactly what I think is going on here.
Minimalism is a trend in this video, not just with the setting, but the outfits too, and considering how good the WJSN stylist or styling team is, I am fairly confident that this is intentional. I think the minimalism draws your focus more onto the members, and the grace of the dance, it emphasizes their talents and visuals, maybe I’m giving the whole team behind these decisions too much credit, but considering the members mentioned that they were originally going to have a comeback sooner, I think it may be intentional. The outfits are also very beautiful as always, they look comfortable and graceful and most have a feature that moves, flaps like a butterfly wing even, such as capes on the white outfits, and flowy sleeves on another, it’s a good decision that, again, emphasizes the smooth clean dance. I also want to shine a light on line and center distribution in this song and video. There are many groups that struggle with this, WJSN is often among them, even giving them more leeway due to the high member count. That said in both these aspects, this song is actually pretty fair, it feels like every member gets their time to shine, and it feels like they shook it up a bit from previous comebacks in the pecking order, so they definitely got that right.
Final rating: 8.5/10
I think that my speech on intentional minimalism may have credence, but I also think I could be giving Starship entirely too much credit, the dance is great, the styling is fantastic, all the members are amazing as always, but with the question mark on how much the company was willing to invest in the video does force me to cap my rating at an 8.5, other than that, pretty perfect.
The Songs
Butterfly- I like this song a lot, it may not be my favorite title track from WJSN, but it’s honestly up pretty high and still climbing, I’ve listened to it a fair amount and like it more every time. A couple things that stand out to me, the chorus is super catchy, I’m humming it around my house and singing it to my cats replacing the word butterfly with their names. I really like the Exy sing-rap-sing format, I don’t want them to do it every time, but Exy is actually a pretty good singer, so it’s nice to get it mixed together. The way Yeoreum pronounces butterfly also makes me happy, I don’t know exactly what is going on there, but I like it. The chorus is also a different member sequence every time, which is fun.
Hola- I have previously described this song as yelling at you in a good way, and honestly, after a number of listens, I stand by that fully. Hola has a fantastic positive energy, it kinda feels like the kind of hype that you would want before going down a new level of ski slope for the first time, which is not something you often get from kpop, and particularly WJSN. This is also Exy’s most traditional rap section on the album, and she kills it. I love the pre chorus as well with the tap tap tap vocal and instrumental pattern, it gets you cooled off before the punch of the chorus. Probably my favorite song on the album, just top tier action.
Pantomime- I think this will be one of the most popular b-sides from the album, it’s a pretty interesting song, there are a few sounds going on, and they switch fairly abruptly, it keeps you on your toes. I really like the verses on this song, and the pre chorus is lovely, but the switch to the chorus does lose me a little, I think it’s a cool drop, but it isn’t to my taste at all. I’m not even an Exy bias, but I want to again point out her rapping, it’s always good, no matter what the sound of the song is. The bridge section is another really random jump, but I think it is much cooler here, I think it’s mostly because the rest of the song conditions you for it, which I guess is interesting in itself. Cool song, I can see why people are going to love it, but it’s probably my least favorite on the album.
Where You Are- This is a sweet and smooth song, just crafted to be super pleasant to listen to, and it is. This is a good song, but it is also the b-side being promoted on their comeback stages, and I think it was the wrong song for that, as every other song on the album is a little bit more interesting, it’s a safe choice when I think the promoted b-side is an opportunity to show a little more color. That said, this song will be an easy one to squeeze into any playlist, as it will never be too uninteresting to lose your attention, and it’s not unique enough for you to get bored of it. This is the traditional WJSN sounding song on the album, so ultimately it is welcome, it just doesn’t stand up enough on its own to wow you, which this sound has proven capable of in the past.
Tra-la- This song is fun-chill. It’s got a mix of a more typical WJSN sound and tropical house, and it works pretty well. The chorus has a great feeling, and it’s the only song that leans more into the instrumental to fill the chorus besides Pantomime, but because Pantomime is so weird, I don’t mind them doing it here. Heavy instrumental choruses are a crutch when every song does them, at least in my opinion, but if it’s one or two songs on the album, it can just be considered a stylistic mix up. If you want to have a song that’s easy to listen to but a little bit more varied than Where You Are, this is the song for you on Neverland.
Our Garden- I was a little cold on this song at first listen, not so much as I was with Pantomime, but still, a little cold. That said, this song has grown on me, I really love that smooth jazz sound that some kpop groups bring, my prime example is Dreamcatcher, who use it a lot in their b-sides. This one almost has a Backstreet Boys jazzy pop sound in sections, and it actually works, and the transitions around it felt jarring at first, but once you are more prepared for them on second listen, they are only a tiny little musical speedbump. The whisper-sung sections are fantastic though, and are definitely the highlight of this song, I love instrumental minimalism, which kpop usually shies away from for whatever reason, and WJSN’s smooth vocal work is fantastic for it. Seola did a good job on this in my opinion, and I would like to see more of her musical composition style explored in this direction, it’s pretty fresh.
Score- 9/10
I have only a few albums that came out in the last few months that I think are better than this one, which is mostly due to a lot of groups having some really great releases. The things that hold this back are that Pantomime is a fairly unpleasant listen, at least to me, and I would have liked a bit more out of Where You Are, good song, but just doesn’t quite go anywhere for me personally. The stylist exploration in Butterfly, Pantomime, Tra-la, and Our Garden is a plus though, I like that WJSN uses b-sides to try things that are just ever so slightly off the beaten path of what other groups are doing at the time. As You Wish is my favorite kpop album front to back, so that’s what a 10/10 looks like, and while Neverland is not as good, I still love it more than most kpop albums, which I think can really lose their speed on their b-sides. I’ll have most of these songs on my playlist for a long time.