8eight just released their latest album The Bridge this week along with an MV popularized by the presence of a fellow 2PM member. 8eight is a trio of 2 guys and a girl; Lee Hyun (leader), Baek Chan (rapper) and Joo Hee and they’re known for their hefty dose of vocal talent and their melodic songs.
The Bridge opens with a delicate intro track which sounds like it’s set in a peaceful café full of trendy people. It’s short and it leads into the title track, Farewell. The interesting thing of having a group made of both genders is the fact that they can have their way with duets and wonderful harmonies, something 8eight has managed to accomplished in this song.
The way in which 8eight opens Farewell is almost elegant. The whole conversational give and take at the beginning gives a really nice touch to the style of this song, and then followed by the steady rap, it just blends nicely together.
The continuing song, Even if my Face Changes, is absolutely beautiful. It’s the drums that elevate this song’s already awesome style, and not to mention the strings. 8eight blend their vocals and the instrumentation perfectly in this song. It’s rather short, which is a shame because I would have loved for it to continue for about 10 more minutes. It’s that good. Even if my Face Changes starts and just keeps going and building into this amazing explosion of vocals and fantastic instrumentals. Lee Hyun and Joo Hee sing with fascinating fervor, whether alone or in harmony.
The next song reminds me more of the K-pop music that you hear more frequently, most likely due to the use of those dreadfully digitalized percussions and because they add in a lot of repetitive lyrics. Those two details aside, STAR is good for one particular reason, which is the middle 8. It’s your classic explosion. The whole song is pretty average, while the middle 8 is anything but. It’s intense and Lee Hyun’s final run is killer. STAR is a little more up tempo than the last two songs, and it leads right into the last song, Available (not sure if that’s the title?). This song makes it clear that 8eight’s forte is definitely the ballads, but that they have the talent to take on quicker paced tracks. Available isn’t necessarily bad, but it isn’t as powerful as the rest of the album. It feels out of place and it lacks a lot of the specialty that you can find in the first couple of songs. With that said, taking this song out of the album, it’s still really good. It’s impressive and well put together.
The Bridge ends on a high note, with an outro similar to the previous song. It’s nothing like the intro which was extremely mellow. The entire album progresses in pace and in style. It has a sense of direction and an identity. 8eight nailed their comeback with this impressive mini-album. It’s powerful, clever and crafted beautifully.
Most powerful moments: Farewell, Even if my Face Changes (my favorite!)
Rating: 4.5/5
Source: ningin.com
Edit:
This is how 8eight sounds live. Um, wow.
“Available” (actually more like Expiration Date/ Validity Period) was released as a single separately before the EP so it makes sense that it’s out of place a bit. I like it a lot. the video is also trip-tastic and i like how the imagery matches the lyrics. the other songs here are good too, but i can’t really appreciate them cos ballads tend to get old fast with me, with a few exceptions (J.ae + G.O “Can’t Say This Is the End” is a key one). i think i’ll stick with this group – it’s always refreshing to find great vocals in k-pop
The title track reminds me a lot of one of 2AM’s songs now that I’ve listened to it a few times.
Also, I keep telling myself to give ballads a break, cuz there’s a point when they overflow in my head and start sounding like one another, screwing up my ballad-judgment. This will probably be the last batch of ballads in a while. Summer is two steps away from the front door, so it’s time for some good up tempo tracks.
I had no clue what the Korean for “Validity Period(???)” translated to so I just took a crappy guess. Google Translate fails me 90% of the time…
Congrats on graduating, btw. I think I read that somewhere on one of your tweets :P Graduating from?
lol yeah the name is weird – the song is about a love that kind of fades and there’s a lyric that goes (roughly) “I didn’t know that love had an expiration date”. youtube users generally translate the title as “availability period” which isn’t any clearer.
thanks! i can’t say exactly where i’m graduating from here cos it feels weird but you’ll see it in my tweets next weekend when i actually graduate, lol
thanks for clearing that up. And yeah, you know I haven’t really spilled much of my personal information here either. Totally understand.
Awesome album! I’ve always known 8eight had talent in spades, but I’ve found their albums to be really lacking.. almost boring. They would have 1 or 2 fantastic tracks, and the rest just sound like filler.
And yehhhhh…perfect live performances. Really belies their experience. Idol groups have a lot to learn!
Do you find the role play between the 3 members are kinda creepy?
I enjoyed the role play. It completed the performance for me.