Keys to Everything

1. I Wanna
2. This Fool
3. Tell Me
4. Friend
5. Headache
6. So What (feat. David Kim)
7. Wishing On A Star
8. Move
9. Take It
10. Goodbye
11. Bad Boy
12. Sorry Heart ~Tears~
13. Irony

Quite frankly, this album deserves a better write-up and I feel that I’m sufficiently strong enough, literacy-wise, to do that now.

I Wanna is probably the strongest theme setting opening track I’ve ever heard. It hits on the 80’s influenced dance style that this album is mostly based around. Now that I’ve heard more from the Wonder Girls I realised how strong the vocals actually are here. It’s painfully obvious during this that these girls have a lot of talent and potential and at the moment they’re banking on addictive songs to get them into the charts. I wanna is a little unfocused, there’s a lot of repeating lines and a lot of saying ‘I wanna love you’ which means my enjoyment is lessened slightly.

Track Rating; A-

This Fool (Ee Babo) is, essentially, the track that made me curious to hear more from the Wonder Girls. The synth mixed with the hip-hop/R’n'B stylings in the background, as well as a memorable chorus and great vocals mean that this is a recipe for success. While it doesn’t sound like the kind of song a rap should fit in YooBin manages it. In short Ee Babo is a song worth listening to if you’re not sold on So Hot and Tell Me because it displays some of their versatility and that they have more substance than has been previously shown.

Track Rating; A*

How could we get away from it really? Tell Me is the song that rocketed these girls to fame and I get oddly nostalgic when I hear it. If it’s addictive enough for the entirety of South Korea to learn the dance then it’s good enough to be on my MP3 player for several months. SoHee is the weakest vocalist in the group and this shows due to fact she gets a lead part in the song. She’s not quite of the standard of the rest of the girls and I want to see her improve a bit. As YooBin came into the group as a replacement for HyunA, this version does not contain the rap.

Track Rating; A+

Friend is your basic, bordering on stereotypical, R’n'B ballad. I should hate it but I don’t. The melody is a little dull to tell the truth but the quality of the vocals is more than enough to make up for that. The lyrics are cliche but charming – You’re my best friend but you can’t be my boyfriend - and the ad-libbing is gorgeous throughout.

Track Rating; A-

Headache is a delightfully quirky track. The talk sections at the beginning of each verse infuse the song with ridiculous amounts of personality, and not a little humour. Some odd doses of English here and there which are rather refreshing and give me, personally, something to latch onto when listening to it because frankly I have absolutely no idea what they’re actually on about. The chorus has an interesting sound (flat?) but it’s cohesive with the track.

Track Rating; B+

So What isn’t all that different from Headache in terms of impression. David Kim adds his bit of rap which is quite nice when there’s a “conversation”. I’m finding it rather hard to talk about this song. I like it, but there’s not much to point out really – it doesn’t warrant skipping over but it’s not the most impressive track on the album.

Track Rating; B+

Wishing On A Star is another ballad. I’m not too keen on the opening oohs – They’re a little weak but the verse is very nicely sung. I’ve never been one for ballads and unfortunately this one starts quite slowly and only really gets interesting at the chorus. I particularly like the ‘Wishing On A Star‘ line, but the rest of the track just doesn’t have enough hook to it. Worth it if you’re more inclined to the style of song… I do have one favourite bit though. The one day my dreams will come true line sounds so wonderfully Disney that I couldn’t not love it.

Track Rating; B

Move has a longer opening than it needs. It’s not really that long, I’m just being picky, but considering the rest of the song has exactly the same sound recurring throughout it runs the risk of being annoying. The verses are understated and there’s not much that can really go wrong with the vocals but the chorus owns the entire song. Move, my shaking heart to you sounds so good and the harmonisation is brilliant. The best thing about this track is the space it allows for various girls to show off their adlibbing skill.

Track Rating; B+/A-

Take It is a slower song, but not a ballad. Chimes start us off before the practically required oohs and yeahs are added. Because it just steers clear of ballad territory Take It interests me in the same way as Ee Babo does. The chorus is a real focal point due to all sorts of reasons. The pace is more interesting, the verses feel a little like they’re just there and the harmonisation is great. YooBin’s rap sounds ever so slightly out of place for the first couple of seconds and then you get used to it, but it wasn’t really needed. Listen to it to hear the one adlib that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.

Track Rating; B/B+

Goodbye does take too long to start. Quite frankly if you have to ask people to report to the dancefloor that many times, maybe they don’t want to. Goodbye is pretty simplistic – there’s nothing fancy done with the backing or melody but it has a slight addictive quality that makes this one of my favourite tracks off the album. Favourite bit is the repetition of Goodbye-ah after the main section of the chorus. After a track where YooBin sounded out of place, she’s fit in just right here.

Track Rating; A/A+

Bad Boy is another of my favourites. The drum beat is unusual but the pace of the lyrics is rather awesome. The lines that they sing together sound great and, once again, the chorus owns. With English lyrics (You’ve been a bad boy to me, Don’t come back to me) which are pretty memorable make this one easy to sing along to when you’re as fail at Korean as I am. Probably my third favourite song.

Track Rating; A+

Sorry Heart ~Tears~ is another ballad, shockingly, and is once again introduced by chimes. This one actually completely fails at interesting me and grabs the prize as the only WG track that I don’t really like in one way or another. Great if you like the style of music but doesn’t offer my any particular saving graces like Wishing On A Star did.

Track Rating; C

Everytime I get to Irony I always think “The end already?”. This song is the lead track from their first single The Wonder Begins and proved to be a minor hit. The repeats of ‘irony’ are pretty addictive and the beat is strong and it is a great dance track. Okay, I’m tired now and this is the last track – this is a cop-out really. I love this song, always have and I’ll leave it at that.

Track Rating; A+

Overall… After the gargantuan success of Tell Me I was expecting to be let down by The Wonder Years. But everything was the total opposite to what I thought it would be. Going back to this album several times since my inital review, I’m surprised that I didn’t notice how truly beat and synth driven the Wonder Girls music actually is. Each song is positively dripping with at least one quality, whether it’s dancability like Tell Me and Irony, or the sweet touch in songs like Wishing On A Star and Take It, all but one song appease some corner of my psyche. Though the style and execution may not be to everyone’s taste this was certainly not a let down from my point of view.

Overall Rating; A