Review: 1st Single – 다시 만난 세계 (Into The New World)

Hi everyone! I never thought there would be a day someone would ask for a review of the girls’ first single (So pigs can fly!) but I’m definitely glad that this will be of use to some people out there. 🙂 This review will be written by owa and I, mainly because I feel pressured from owa’s RDR/Oh! review. If I wrote this whole review you would probably skip all the ranting writing and look at the pictures only. Moving on, I will be covering the packaging part of this review while owa will give you his review on the track list.

So let’s take a step back in time:

The single  is packaged in cardboard (exciting, I know). However, it does open out nicely with the CD being stored in a slot. The design reminds me of small, old-fashioned amusement parks and circuses. After staring at the front cover for a while, I noticed that Jessica was giving me a rather weird look. Or maybe it’s just me. Below are photos of the single, followed by HQ scans.

The photobooklet is quite thick – 31 pages. Messages from the girls, in English and Korean, are printed throughout the booklet. Here’s a few pictures of what it looks actually looks like in the packaging, followed by HQ scans.

Ok I think that’s enough photos, otherwise my internet will die.

owa1985 cuts in

Okay, so, for the song review:

Into the New World

To be honest, I (owa1985) didn’t fall in love with this song at first listen. Admittedly, I am also one of those guys who first fell in love with SNSD due to Gee, so inevitably every song they sang got compared to Gee. It was a little unfortunate of course, but then I didn’t know SNSD that well back then.

Anyway, to be absolutely honest, I wouldn’t love this song as much if I didn’t read up the meanings of the lyrics. Yeah, it showed off everyone’s voices and yes the dance is pretty kick ass, but in terms of beat and pure catchiness, it doesn’t compare to SNSD’s later songs like Kissing You, Genie, and Oh!, let alone Gee.

The lyrics seem to carry a message where the singer and his/her significant other has gone through some sort of tribulation to be together and that the singer is just happy at the moment because, well, they are together, aren’t they? Along the way, the singer warns that just because they are together doesn’t mean their challenges are over and that there’s “a rough road ahead of them” (as translated by Soshified). All in all, pretty heartwarming stuff with a message that no matter what life throws at us, as long as we have our love with us, everything will be okay.

Now, just because I said that the actual song itself isn’t exactly the catchiest, doesn’t mean it’s a bad song or anything. I would like to add that this song, when sung live by the girls, actually sounds much better than the studio polished version in the CD. You will find that every one of them sounds just as good as Taengoo, even the members who are regularly ragged upon for having less than stellar singing.

Bottom line, you would love this song, but it’s a song that might require some time before it really grows on you.

Beginning

My take on this song? One word: Awesome. The beat has attitude, and the English bits sound quite properly done and not at all weird (“Give it to me.” /shudder).

The lyrics are about a girl being outwardly indecisive in her budding romance with a guy but is inwardly wishing that the guy would just break through her defenses and sweep her off her feet. Kinda like playing hard to get, but sung in a very cute and earnest manner. Pretty good, if you ask me, it’s as if SNSD is giving some much needed romance tips to all the oblivious guys out there. Well, are you going to heed it?

XD

Other than that, it’s an extremely catchy song, so I have no problems with the music arrangement. I just wish this song has more airtime.

Perfect For You

This song is actually the original title of Honey from the Girls’ Generation album. Unfortunately, I do not know why they would do such a thing. I thought Perfect For You is a perfectly good song title.

The intro of the song has this beautiful guitar riff that is used in nearly every single show that features our girls in it. The actual song is light and easy to listen to. Nothing much to say, in fact it’s pleasant to the point of being almost unremarkable.

And the lyrics is about the singer who is making this boy happy just by being there with him and at the same time changing her old greedy and prideful self due to her falling in love. Pretty simple premise, kind of like a typical teenaged rom-com. But one that any of us who has ever fallen in love can identify with.

An additional bit of trivia for you new SONEs: Did you know that the SNSD fanclub’s name was taken from the Korean title of this song? The Korean title is 소원 (So-Won), which translates into wish.

Image credits: iced_tea@SoshiCatalogue, Seagull@Soshified

Authors: owa1985 & iced_tea

Published: 26th October 2010