Snuper’s latest mini-album, Flower, is a major departure from their trademark 80’s sound. It’s not as well executed as previous releases and the growing pains are obvious. It’s a mixed bag of an album and fails to hold attention for long, despite decent highlights.
Snuper are a six-member boy group, debuting under Widmay Entertainment on November 15, 2015 with the single “쉘 위 댄스 (Shall We Dance)” and have so far not enjoyed major domestic success. They have released eight Korean singles thus far, but these have yet to chart. They have enjoyed success in Japan, breaking the top 20 with all three of their singles, and the top three with their most recent two! They have also landed in the top five of the Korean weekly albums chart with their last mini-album and its repackage. They have a burgeoning international fan base, thanks to their overseas activities and work with international Korean Cultural Centres, having played the Feel Korea concert and taught K-pop fans dance in London, UK, in July 2017, and more recently visited the United Arab Emirates, where they held meet and greets and played free concerts in April 2018.
Snuper’s sound thus far has been very much the Sweetune sound – 80’s synths and bright, catchy melodies that lodged in the listener’s mind before they had time to realise. Releases like “지켜줄게 (Platonic Love)” and “It’s Raining” set the tone for the group to become an underrated gem of the industry, and 2017’s releases “Back:Hug (백허그)” and “유성 (The Star of Stars)” backed up this reputation while also modernising their sound with tropical elements.
The mini-album starts with the latest single, “Tulips (튤립)”. This track unfortunately abandons their signature sound in favour of the more laid back, R&B tinged tone of some of this year’s popular releases like Red Velvet’s “Bad Boy” and Ikon’s “Love Scenario,” and it’s definitely not a change for the better. The song lacks anything to hang onto; it’s a perfectly pleasant listen but it doesn’t leave an impression at all, with bland verses and a subdued chorus. The vocals are excellent, as Snuper’s always are, but they can’t elevate the song past being just okay.
Tulips is followed up by “To Me, You Are (내눈에는 니가)” which does a far better job at keeping Snuper’s appeal while bringing their sound towards the latest trends. It sounds current but it still has the hook-heavy structure of all good Snuper songs, and its heavy repetition doesn’t get boring but gives it the ear-worm effect. The boys’ vocals are demonstrated far more effectively here, and this song ends up being the shining highlight of the mini-album. It’d fit just fine on any of their previous mini-albums despite the shift in styles.
This segues into “VV (Very Very)” which is unfortunately a different story. This track attempts an edgier, harder sound with more rap and auto-tune, but it’s just not what Snuper are good at. No matter how talented the act, if the song doesn’t suit them it just won’t work, and this song doesn’t match Snuper in the slightest. Rap has never been their strength, and here it borders on cringe-worthy. Despite solid production it continues the album’s theme of overwhelming mediocrity.
It’s hard to recommend this album. Certainly fans of Snuper’s previous material are unlikely to find anything of interest here, and the style shift isn’t carried out well enough to make this album pull in new fans. It’s too average to hold attention for long and it’s frankly better to ignore the album and continue enjoying Snuper’s previous release. They’ve proven they can do so much better.
This review was written by our guest blogger, Ben Chuter.
