REVIEW ROUNDUP: BLACKPINK & NUCKSAL
[ALBUM] Blackpink - The Album
4.5 out of 10
The feverishly anticipated debut full-length album for Blackpink is here, but it’s a frustratingly mixed and inconsistent experience that ultimately succumbs to the gargantuan expectations that come with it. Eight songs is rather stingy for a full-length record and when not all eight of said tracks come strong, the record’s deficiencies are accentuated. ‘The Album’ is frustrating in that there are excellent moments where the production and the girls of Blackpink come together for pure pop bliss; title track ‘Lovesick Girls’ is an arena-ready anthem that is lathered in slick vocal performances and earworm melodies. ‘Pretty Savage’ is everything ‘How You Like That’ should’ve been - and it’s baffling that both tracks have made it onto the same record. The production on the Cardi B collaboration ‘Bet You Wanna’ plays like a Maroon 5 throwaway and the hooks on tracks like ‘Crazy Over You’ and ‘Love To Hate Me’ just beg the question of whether this was the best that the creative team could really do. ‘Ice Cream’ is a far superior effort collaboratively and musically, the unresolved tension is twisted and turned in interesting ways wringing the most it can out of it’s seemingly perpetual build-up in its songwirting. ‘The Album’ has its moments, and usually those moments are fantastic but it’s short tracklist and consequently more noticeable stumbles are too great to overlook. Once again, the girls of Blackpink do great performance-wise on most of the tracks on ‘The Album’, but the overall direction, production and writing of it doesn’t quite meet the expectations of a group of Blackpink’s magnitude.
[ALBUM] Nucksal - 1Q87
7.5 out of 10
With a surge of mainstream attention following a successful lap on Show Me The Money and following the release of the excellent ‘God of Small Things’, Nucksal returns with ‘1Q87′, an introspective and immensely infectious record. While it’s not quite the definer that ‘Small Things’ is, ‘1Q87′ is a admirable follow-up record that sees him deviate a bit more from the boom-bap love letter that was his previous record. Instead we see ‘Nucksal’ taking on some new sonic territory to resounding effect, the booming production on the RTJ influenced ‘Won’ with Nucksal’s rubbery verse is electrifying and you’d be hard-pressed to point to a song that goes harder this year. Nucksal’s fluidity is only matched by his precision as he skirts over the tasty production with absolute ease, making the more tender moments on ‘The Fall’ just as engaging as the spaced out ‘Love Myself’. Nucksal’s athleticism on the mic on ‘1Q87′ is top class, and is paired appropriately with rich hues from the production.