Review of f(x)’s Album ”4 Walls”

f(x) seem to have really won you guys over with this comeback. They tied for first place with Taeyeon in the poll for best single at 23% and they won in the best album poll, also with 23%. It was a clear win, with the number two album receiving 18% of your votes. I’ll be honest, I was hoping I’d get to review something by TWICE, who I’ve been loving since they finally debuted, but f(x) is a group that’s very dear to my heart, so seeing them do well is just fine with me. 

Track 1 – 4 Walls

This is the promotional single, the song from this album most people will exclusively listen to. I’ve heard it being compared to SHINee’s ”View” quite a bit, and I definitely understand where that’s coming from. Supposedly they share a producer or something of the sort? I would say I prefer ”View” but they both have such a great airy quality that I really enjoy.

Also, I know I don’t usually comment on this stuff when I do album reviews, but how awesome is the dance for this song? It’s not in the video, but in live performances you can see it in all its gloriousness. I’m not sure what it is about it, but I love it.

Luna is an excellent singer, and always does well, but in this song I’ll have to give the edge to Krystal. She has the airiest voice, which suits this song perfectly.

Track 2 – Glitter

This song gave me virtually nothing. It’s not bad, it’s just quite generic. It has some strange and kind of unique sounds here and there, but it’s not pushed far enough to really make it interesting. I don’t think it’s a memorable song. I’m a big fan of the bridge or breakdown or whatever you’d like to call it though. That part is great, and I wish the rest of the song was like that too.

Track 3 – Deja Vu

I really love certain parts of this song but feel very indifferent about others. I decided that the good parts were great enough to outweigh the less interesting parts though, and I have put this song up for download. The chorus is flawless.

Track 4 – X

The beat is so funky and the ”chemical x” parts are so catchy that I definitely can forgive this song for being extremely repetitive, and I can for sure see myself listening to it.

Track 5 – Rude Love

Great chorus and stable verses. I do feel like the song drags slightly, but not so much that I don’t like it. The ”I’m wanting you baby”-parts are very catchy as well. I’ll give special credit to Amber in this song; her singing voice sounds just as good as her solo revealed it as being.

Track 6 – Diamond

The first few lines made me really hopeful that I’d really love this song, but that emotion kind of fizzled out… It’s definitely not a bad song, and I’m sure plenty of people would enjoy it immensely, but it’s just not for me. It doesn’t get me going, even though I feel like it should.

Track 7 – Traveler (featuring Zico of Block B)

Excellent song. Zico is one of my favorite rappers, and the addition of him in this song made perfect sense in every way and his parts were tight, as they always are. I’ve really been feeling like I’d love to go travel recently, preferably with my boyfriend, and this song is such a hopeful piece of beauty that really makes me feel those emotions very strongly. Besides the single, best song so far for sure.

Track 8 – Papi

This is an unapologetically fun song that makes me want to get up and dance. Absolutely great. I love every single member in this song, but the parts where Amber and Krystal respectively spell ”Boss CEO” are probably my absolute favorites.

Track 9 – Cash Me Out

It’s a pretty good song, albeit not very memorable to me. The thing that really puts me off it is the (to me) strange breakdown part in the chorus. It’s not something f(x) haven’t done before, so I’m not shocked by it; it just doesn’t sound very nice to my ears. I applaud them for being bold like that though.

Track 10 – When I’m Alone

Great song, and a very nice way to round off this album. I’m pleased with f(x) for not putting a single ballad on here, as I don’t think that’s their strongest point. Plus I myself am not that fond of ballads, so the absence of one will pretty much never make me sad.

According to wikipedia, Carly Rae Jepsen was involved in the writing of these lyrics, which confuses me. To my knowledge she does not speak Korean, which is the language that the absolute majority of these lyrics are in. She can’t just be credited for the ”I’m alone”-parts, right?

Final Thoughts

Pretty good album. It’s gets a download percentage of 70%, which is good, but three of those songs I’m not completely in love with. If I would recommend songs to someone who’s too lazy to listen to the full album I’d definitely recommend ”Traveler”, ”Papi” and ”When I’m Alone”.

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I’m not sure if f(x), or anyone for that matter, will ever again reach the amazingness of their 2013 album ”Pink Tape”. It’s very very hard to beat.