BTOB is a group that I’m highly fond of, but I’ve never taken the time to listen through a single one of their albums. They’ve yet to release a full studio album, so instead I will be looking at the corresponding extended play’s to my two favorite BTOB singles: “Press Play”,which “Wow” is from, and “Move”, which “You’re So Fly” is from. “Press Play” was released in September of 2012 as BTOB’s second EP and “Move” followed almost exactly two years after, as the group’s fifth release. I will be doing this in chronological order, starting with “Press Play”:
Press Play
Track 1 – Press Play (feat. G.NA)
I didn’t manage to find this song with the English lyrics on youtube, but here they are for anyone who wants to look at them. With this title and with this being the first track, I was expecting this to be more of a intro thing. But it’s not, it’s a full song. I don’t think it’s that good though. The sound quality of the video definitely makes it sound worse than I think it would otherwise, but it’s not a very engaging song. For a song with the message that you should just let go and party, it’s a little boring.
Track 2 – Wow
This is my favorite BTOB single to date. It’s fun, it’s catchy and it makes me want to get up and dance. This song singlehandedly made me a BTOB fan, a Melody, and I will be forever grateful to that. I have almost ruined it by listening to it too much, so I don’t love it quite as much anymore. But I still really like it, it’s an excellent single!
Track 3 – I Only Know Love
(Co-written by Ilhoon)
I really want videos with lyrics for these posts, and the only thing I could find that didn’t have the pitch altered was this live fan cam. It’s not so bad though, they perform it well. It’s a good song and it has a single sound to it, so it makes perfect sense that this was the song used as the follow-up single after “Wow”. I’m not sure if I love it, but I like it.
Track 4 – U & I
This song has really sweet lyrics and I’m sure that if I was more prone to swooning, I would right now. But that’s not really my thing, and if we disregard the lyrics, since most of us don’t understand them anyway, I don’t think this song is very interesting. It’s very slow and mellow with nothing really stand-out about it.
Track 5 – Stand Up
I appreciate what they were trying to do here, and I’m sure that this can be a very encouraging and uplifting song to many Melodies, but it doesn’t do that for me. To me it sounds like a stereotypical filler track, and it’s one I’ll forget after posting this review.
Track 6 – My Girl
Cute and sweet song, but this style of song that’s so prevalent on kpop albums (and that my friend would call “cozy”) very rarely interests me. It has to be a very special song or a very special time for me to go crazy over something that sounds like this. At most times this just makes me want to skip to the next song.
Move
Track 1 – You’re So Fly
(Co-written by Ilhoon and Minhyuk)
I don’t think this is a quite as awesome single as “Wow” but it has really grown on me to the point that I now consider it BTOB’s second best single. It’s fun and catchy and the video is beyond glorious. I’m especially in love with Peniel’s English intro, it’s something I know at least I have imitated a hundred times.
Track 2 – You’ll Be Alright
(Co-written by Ilhoon and Minhyuk)
Very pretty and I appreciate the lyrics. As you might release, this is not exactly my style of music, but I can appreciate the beauty nonetheless. It’s a well put together song, and the boys sing it in an absolutely lovely way. That I can’t deny.
Track 3 – Happening
Now this I really like! It’s cute and fun, and it’s a really engaging song that makes me want to sing along. The parts about what their mommy and daddy said are ridiculous, but oh so cute. This is Jungkook asking for dating advice all over again. It’s not that often that we hear about guys getting screwed over like this, and while that’s of course not nice and good, it’s still nice to hear, for equality reasons. It’s a great song that I’ll for sure be downloading.
Track 4 – You’re My Angel (feat. JOO)
(Written by Ilhoon, Minhyuk and Peniel and composed by Ilhoon)
This is rap line’s own song, unless I missed someone’s voice being in there… In that case, please don’t kill me. I don’t know who JOO is, but her voice is beautiful and she tied this song together in a lovely way. I really liked Peniel’s English rap, and the fact that he MADE A FREAKING BUZZ LIGHTYEAR REFERENCE. Exactly the kind of thing I’d expect from this lovable weirdo.
Track 5 – I Don’t Know
(Written, composed and arranged by Hyunsik)
Since the rap line got their own song, it’s only right that the vocal line did as well. I did find a recorded version with the English lyrics, but I decided to present this song to you through this gorgeous live instead. BTOB’s vocal line are strong singers, and this song really lets them shine to the best of their abilities. Eunkwang especially just blows it out of the park. You guys know that I’m not huge on ballads, but this one is just stunning, and I will be downloading it.
Track 6 – Shake It
(Written, composed and arranged by Hyunsik and Ilhoon)
I failed completely at finding this song’s English lyrics, so instead both you and I will just have to appreciate it without completely understanding what it’s about. This was the bonus track on the album, and it really serves the purpose of being a fun treat for the fans. I don’t think it’s amazing, but for a party song that makes everybody get up and jump, I’m sure it could do the job.
Final Thoughts
While I still prefer “Wow” over “You’re So Fly” as a single, I think “Move” is a way better album than “Press Play”. Besides the single there wasn’t anything on “Press Play” that I loved but “Happening” and “I Don’t Know” really pulled “Move” up to a whole new level. Really good songs, and I’m looking forward to listening to them all the time.
How do you guys feel about BTOB’s music and these two albums?
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