Is MINO Really a Genius, Reasons Why ‘TAKE’ is the Album of the Year
[OSEN=김은애 기자] We recommend playing throughout the ‘entire album’. One can listen throughout ‘straight’ from track no. 1 to track no. 12 without being distracted. The sincere yet brilliant lyrics, various genres, and unexpected twists shown through the songs have completed a ‘masterpiece’. That is, WINNER MINO’s second solo album ‘TAKE’.
MINO’s ‘TAKE’, released on October 30, has completed a movie with 12 takes as the title of the album suggests.
When the listener plays the title song ‘Run away’ and the other listings in order, one can realize how MINO put in careful consideration in listing the order of the songs. It seems that all songs have high-quality and were written and composed by MINO, it must’ve been very difficult to choose the title track.
#Various Genres and Variations
MINO is known for his Hip-hop songs. He completed an album based on Hip-hop this time, but interestingly incorporated various genres as well.
After presenting strong Hip-hop through ‘Ok man’ and ‘Love and a boy’, he showed his flexibility through ‘Hop in’ and Pow!’, as well as touching the listeners’ emotions on ‘Run away’ and ‘Lost in a crowd’. He also presented ambient vibes through ‘Wa’, as well as showing off his sexiness on ‘I want to’.
Moreover, MINO utilized various instruments and melodies with differentiated charms to make his songs sound more interesting. Each song has different fun parts, making the listeners wonder if MINO really participated in the creation of all tracks.
The song also has variations that sounded fresh but were not too much. He tired a hybrid remix on ‘Click/Han river view’, mixing two independent tracks and presenting it as one, while the unexpected twist when the “click” comes out sounds dominant to the viewers.
MINO’s challenges may feel like they may be too much. However, MINO smartly achieved an appropriate balance, mixing trendiness and his musical capacities with the right balance.
His use of featuring artists also stood out. Zion.T on ‘Wa’ emphasized his rap skills rather than his vocals, which he is well-known for, while DPR LIVE presented one of his ‘best verses’ of his career while utilizing ‘Tell Me’ by Wonder Girls.
One cannot forget about BOBBY as well. Collaborating in 4 years since MOBB, BOBBY showed off his wits and confidence through the song ‘Ok man’.
#Sincere Lyrics
The lyrics on the album is full of MINO’s matureness and senses. He is unrivaled in presenting a vibe without forcefully inserting rhymes. His sincere lyrics sound like his journal and is inserted throughout the songs.
Furthermore, his familiar yet fresh metaphors such as “Ashtray like another bowl” and “Fold you a couple times into my pocket” stood out as well. He raised the people’s curiosities with the title ‘Book store’ and hit his peak on figures of speech.
In addition, MINO directly revealed his sexy aspects on ‘I want to’, as well as expressing his emotions as if he was painting while crossing over space and nosebleeds. The ‘><’ marks in the lyrics also stood out.
On ‘Click/Han river view’, ’Sunrise’, and ‘Lost in a crowd’, MINO’s loneliness and solitude is presented. His emotions of a desperate love on ‘Run away’ also makes the listeners feel empathy. MINO’s light-sounding tone and expressions also create harmony with the lyrics without making it sound cheesy, impressing the listeners even further.
#High-Class Visuals
As MINO is known for his fashion and art, his latest album has a high-level of completion in visuals. MINO utilized 3D scan filming from the teaser contents for ‘TAKE’, making his visuals diverse as much as his music.
Moreover, the viewers cannot take their eyes off the MV for ‘Run away’. The MV and its various special effects created harmony with MINO’s sincerity, creating a form of art itself. The scene where he runs away from the strong tide, and the scene where his shoes escape without feet impressed the viewers. His use of changing bodies with wit reminded the viewers of a movie by Michel Gondry. Furthermore, MINO acted with fierce styling and featured sunflowers, which is his signature.
As a result, MINO created an album that is great to both watch and listen to. MINO’s wit, imagination, creativity, and sincerity combined to complete a masterpiece.
MINO goes so well with the word ‘artist’. He shot his hottest ‘TAKE’ in his filmography with his latest album.
2020. 11. 14.
