Blackpink Are Ready To Shut Down The Music Charts

Blackpink are back with their second full album Born Pink and title song Shut Down.

Blackpink have returned with another full album. Can’t believe we get new music every blue moon. And they go on tour with 5 songs and want people to spend their life savings on tickets… That’s YG I guess. Anyway let me not go there even further. Well, my expectations were not too high for this comeback I have come to expect Blackpink music to sound as it sounds and accept it for what it is. We will take what we can get right? And I think that’s the entire concept behind Blackpink. But let me stop being such a mood killer and let’s get into the review as this comeback isn’t even too bad.

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For those of you who follow us on Twitter you might have seen that I eventually gave into Pink Venom‘s stupid yet insanely catchy hook and listened to the song more times than I would like to admit. With that being said I was open for anything when it came to Shut Down. Sure I’d love to have gotten a sequel to Lovesick Girls but I’ll take Shut Down for what it is. I actually really like Shut Down much more than I did Pink Venom on the first listen. Shut Down‘s instrumental is infused with this classical sample that just absolutely elevates the song and saves it. It makes the entire song incredibly catchy and carries the girls singing also very well. The raps are fine – we are being bad ass babes and they look hot doing it what can I say, I don’t hate it. Shut Down works very well for me, it sounds still very Blackpink the chorus could have gone out a bit more with some bombast but it has melody and the girls are singing. We get some nice vocals here and there too. Shut Down is a fine Blackpink song, they can sell anything and it will grow on me for sure.

The album on the other hand is fantastic. I also like that the album has an actual name this time around and the b-sides are where it is at. I really like the song Una picked and Hard To Love. My absolute favorite song at this very moment has to be The Happiest Girl though. I love the lyrics to this song and how beautiful the girls are singing. We have not heard the girls this raw in a very long and I really enjoy the way the entire song is more mellow and slow. Blackpink can do it all and I am happy the girls get to show us this side of them too through this album.

If someone told me I’d be listening to BLACKPINK rap and say whip it whip it over La Campanella I wouldn’t believe them and yet here we are. Considering Pink Venom still isn’t a song I really listen to, I didn’t have my hopes up at all for this title track, more focused on hoping the b-sides would be great as always (which they thankfully are) so Shut Down comes and… well, goes. Let’s review more closely.

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I’d have to argue that the inclusion of La Campanella which is a massively known piece wasn’t the best choice here – the entire time while listening to Shut Down I was focused on the instrumental and completely zoning out on the actual song. I thought that the sample would tone down during the chorus but it actually goes throughout the entire song which surprised me. Shut Down is okay. Its verses are very BLACKPINK and the rap sections sound alright but the chorus just really doesn’t do anything which is a shame. I’d say that even for BLACKPINK shut down whip it whip it whip it is an unserious and bland hook that they really don’t manage to sell to me. Sure, the performance is good as they’re genuinely amazing at that but the song itself falls flat until the end. I’ll jump in my mouth and say that Pink Venom is actually a lot stronger than this and with a positively funny but somewhat catchy hook. Shut Down… I’m not so sure how well it will age. Also not sure how this is YGE’s most expensive music video but alright, the girls look stunning as always.

The album is honestly great as I expected. BLACKPINK always have nice b-sides and I look forward to them every time because I know I will get proper melody there. Every single bside could’ve been a better title track than the actual one but I definitely have to say my two favourites are Hard to Love and Yeah Yeah Yeah, although The Happiest Girl is also another positive surprise on the album. BLACKPINK showcase their unique vocals and charm through the b-sides and the album is definitely worth checking out. I’d love to see them perform any of the three songs I mentioned on music shows.

I think my final opinion is that Ready For Love should’ve been the actual title track (when tweaked a bit to be smoother and with the original version included with Lisa’s post chorus part) as it’s the most melodic and most mainstreamly solid out of the three songs with a music video this time around. Shut Down is definitely the weakest out of all BLACKPINK titles for me so far and while I’ll try to go back to it a few more times, I think that the group really deserves way better choruses – that much has to be apparent.

Header Image Source: YG Entertainment