My long-awaited review of CN BLUE (at last... talk about overdue!)

The boys of CN BLUE --- Jung Shin, Jong Hyun, Yong Hwa, Min Hyuk

This review is looooong overdue!

When I finished my review for Infinity, I had planned on working on my album review for CN BLUE's new album "First Step". Of course that was preempted by several other releases that caught my attention (namely, the releases for After School, Sistar19, Miss A and Seo In Young... lots of distractions, eh?). Now that I've pushed aside distractions (well, they pushed me around first... hahaha!), I can focus on the boys at last!

The cast of "You're Beautiful" --- (L to R) 
CN BLUE's Yong Hwa, FT Island's Lee 
HongKi, Park Shin Hye, and Jang Geun Seuk

Like many true BLUE fans (pun intended...hahaha!), I first encountered CN BLUE through their lead vocalist, Jung Yong Hwa. Everyone first met Yong Hwa through his well-known debut role last 2010 in the Korean drama "You're Beautiful" as the adorable Kang Shin Woo.

In many Korean dramas I've watched, there's always the token secondary male lead who's usually good looking and successful, and finds love in the lovely female lead... but, alas, the female lead is in love with the commonly arrogrant yet awkward male lead. In "You're Beautiful", Yong Hwa is our poor but adorable secondary male lead, while Jang Geun Seuk (sigh) and Park Shin Hye are the male and female leads. Both Jang Geun Seuk and Yong Hwa found a huge amount of success when they starred in this drama as members of a make-believe male idol group named "A.N.Jell" together with FT Island's Lee Hong Ki (yes... "angel"... hahaha! It's funny though that's it's kind of spelled like CN BLUE's name, right?).

After the drama, Yong Hwa and his bandmates in CN BLUE eventually found their way into Kpop-dom as the new pop-rock band to watch, much in the same genre as Lee Hong Ki's FT Island. The band had intially debuted in Japan in 2009, but waited for the opportunity to debut in Korea after Yong Hwa's acting debut. FT Island and CN BLUE are constantly being compared in the scene, and it can't be helped because not all idol groups can deliver the kind of music that they can --- they're probably some of the only true BOY BANDS in Korea.

For their 2011 comeback and their first full length album, they repackaged a lot of the songs that they debuted with in Japan and translated them from English into Korean. Along with the translated songs, they also included 4 new tracks. To my surprise, this was immediately followed-up by a mini-album titled "Thank You - CN BLUE First Step + 1", where they included a remade version of "Love Girl" with 3 new tracks (which I guess was a thank you to their fans, after topping all the music charts with their comeback).

It's difficult to choose a favorite from both albums, since most of the songs were all well executed, and speak very well of CN BLUE's dedication to creating excellent music. If I had to choose a favorite though, the first release from the album, "Intuition", would probably be the one. The song reminds me a lot of another favorite band of mine, Maroon 5. Both bands bring a certain swagger to their songs that makes you want to bob your head up and down --- a heavy bass rhythm, with excellent guitar work (which is the case with this track). I also like this track because it wasn't just about Yong Hwa; Jong Hyun, Min Hyuk and Jung Shin also make their presence felt in the constant harmonization and rap in the song.

"Intuition" by CN BLUE

Another favorite of mine that appears in both albums is "Love Girl". It's pop rock candy to the sweetest level --- it's a song dedicated to all fuzzy things that happen when a guy sees the girl that he loves. Both the MV and the original release focus on that image, and delivers a heavy dose of Kpop cheesiness that we've learned to love. Although the original arrangement was pretty good, I like the re-make for the same song in the "Thank You" album better. I liked the stronger character of the song arrangement (nice guitar riffs and drum work), and they also used a Spanish guitar too! I'll be posting both versions... tell me which one you like better, ok?

"Love Girl" by CN BLUE

Original MV

Remake (Audio w/ Eng Subs)

All thanks to "First Step", I'm able to sample most of CN BLUE's work when they first debuted in Japan. I find it amazing that most of their songs back then were recorded in English (will try to look for the originals and post them soon!). It was good decision to debut in Japan first since pop rock is more mainstream there, and that experience allowed for them to develop a distinct sound.

When I listened to all the re-made songs, one song stood out for me, and that was the sixth track for the album, "Lie". It's a song about a man dealing with the difficulty of fogetting a lost love. The song is definitely a rock ballad. Haunting and heavy in the beginning, and it builds to a frenetic pace, conveying a certain amount of desperation.

"Lie" by CN BLUE

"Try Again, Smile Again" is my favorite from their follow-up mini-album, "Thank You". Listening to this song made me feel the strong influence of the Japanese pop-rock scene on their musical style --- it reminded me a lot of L'arc En Ciel and Arashi. The song is about never forgetting one's roots; that no matter how far a person goes in terms of success, it's always good to go back to the basics and appreciate the reason why they do the things they do. The musical arrangement is warm and energetic (with the strong synth work in the background, working with the guitar and drumwork), and conveys a feeling of hope for the future. It's a perfect song to be included in a "thank you" album dedicated to their fans.

"Try Again, Smile Again" by CN BLUE

Both albums have a total of 16 songs, and I included around 7 of those songs in my iPod (I couldn't really figure in a review for 2 of those other songs since I was getting tired already... this is a pretty long review, and I guess you already got the point, right? hahaha!). I'll definitely be looking forward to more awesome work from CN BLUE!