Fly High; The Album

54 minutes ago

These cheating little es (Affectionately!!) came back with two full-length albums in a row, which is not as common as one would like with a rookie group, or many groups at all, really. However, ever since debut, WARdEN has gone through multiple lineup changes. Most recently, former member Cherry returned at the end of their concert (Captive; The First Concert, if anyone's interested), but then after Cloud (With f(x)!) subunit promotions leader Nari left the group, and was replaced by (Weirdly enough) a Chinese UouO Media trainee known as Yoo who just happened to have the same the same lead vocalist and main dancer skills. Before that, there was a member called Junseo or something that left a few weeks after joining and never even promoted. Cherry left due to an injury after Nari was originally added, and in 2013 when the group originally started promoting, member Iseul passed away. So these girls have been through a lot.

Their last album (Which I swear I'll review before their next release!) Different was ing awesome, they finally started making charts and got international attention. It was just boom, a total success after their kinda-flop-of-a-release Pepe (I liked it but you know my opinion doesn't match the world). Oh, and before Different they released the single Ice Cream Cake but only promoted it for two weeks before Red Light and One of These nights so. With a revamped lineup, WARdEN released their first official six-member album.

I have some serious mixed feelings about Fly High, so let's just review every song in order.

Lovely Day is a pretty short one, not even hitting the three minute mark so I assumed it would be an intro or something. It wasn't, it was a full song. Okay, sure. It starts out immediately with a rewind noise and new member Yoo- I'm interested. Immediately I can feel a change in concept, it's pretty bright and cute. I don't mind, I like cute! When Rose starts to sing, I'm super shocked, it's nothing like she's sung before but I really liked it. I felt like she wans't holding back- Then Sera killed me with her strength and precision. Cherry, her voice is hella addicting. Yoo is pretty good! Miyu is getting like no lines though. Suddenly Byeol is rapping and I'm unhappy. It's not a good rap at all. I realized as I listened to the rest of the album that it was kind of like an apology for not really rappping the whole album. Sera kills her high note. Then Rose does, and Byeol at least finishes off the song with a relaxing voice. So, overall the girls did well. The song was catchy and cute, so I wonder what's next.

When it starts, I thought I was listening to SNSD's Gee- Uh-oh. That's a ty sign, but otherwise I loved the song. Byeol and Miyu get almost no lines (I thought Miyu was a lead vocal, why aren't you ever giving her lines??) but ING ROSE GETS ME WITH THOSE HIGH NOTES. You can ing tell that this is a dance song though, but who cares? It's catchy. Cherry sings with a really high voice. It was...Bleh. I felt like someone else recorded those vocals with her. No rapping- Damn, I really want a good rap, you know? However, Gone With The Wind pretty much slays the whole album, it's my favorite. Yoo and Miyu are there. Sera is definitely carrying this album already, now that Nari's gone she's taking care of all of the challenging parts, so maybe Yoo isn't as great as we were promised. At least she's cute.

Next on Fly High is Dream Candy, the final revised version- These girls have released/performed at least three versions of this song already (Original, five member, new one with Sumia for the concert) and now this one, I'm sure they're sick of it. Yoo took Nari's three lines, but I'm pretty sure the rest is the same and they didn't bother re-recording the shared parts. I don't blame them, trying to mimic your old voice is hella annoying and hard.

Moving right along. What bad can I say about Mermaid? It's my second favorite, just after Gone with The Wind, and barely. IT'S JUST SO BEAUTIFUL. I seriously hope they perform it live- It would be so damn good. ;_; OH GOD THAT ING CHORUS I CAN'T. Makes me cry every time. :'') And it's so catchy. CAN WE TALK ABOUT ROSE'S HIGH NOTE AGAIN. If you can't tell she's my bias. :'') <3

Suddenly everything changes with some soft "oohs" and "ahhs," plus English, and it got ing weird. Mr. Bang Bang is weird and while it's good musically, I don't think I liked it at all. Scratch that, I didn't like it at all. Maybe on the Pepe EP but uh, doesn't belong on Fly High.

So bleh. I've lost a lot of ing hype thanks to that song.

Secret Garden has an MV! Maybe their B-side stage? Either way, it's a very beautiful song that suits WARdEN's vocals. The MV was simple and beautiful, and the song was really cute. They had an innocent shine and I really appreciated it. They went for a more natural look, and it was really nice! It was just a whole bunch of shots of the girls, though, it had no story and could get boring after watching it a few times, unlike SHINee Jonghyun's She Is- Yes, I'm comparing them, he belongs in their group and they belong in hi I swear- However the song itself wasn't split very well. Rose's high note purified my ears. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ What else do I need? Also I FORGOT to mention the flower crowns bless the flower crowns--

Oh god am I blessed to have Jonghyun and WARdEN be having a comeback at the same time- THE SEULKI-JONGHYUN CHILDHOOD FRIEND INTERACTIONS WILL SLAY ME.

Ahem. Moving on. Trust! It sincerely brought me to tears, and a good follow-up to Secret Garden. What I've noticed about WARdEN is that a lot of their song arrangemnts on albums don't make sense, but this transition flowed beautifully. I had to compose myself before moving onto Good Morning Baby- Namely because of tears, obviously, and because wow Rose's voice purified my ears again.

I like the next one. It was cute and cheery. c: Nothing else important to note!

Now this, this is the important one. Title track, Navillera. Total concept change from Red Light, Ice Cream Cake, Pepe, and Rum Pum Pum Pum but just as good. New member Yoo is just as good at playing lead vocal and main dancer as Nari was, though her dancing is certainly better than her voice, which is why I assume Sera got way more lines than usual. The song was beautiful as was that freaking choreo- Those cute little movements. *^* I love that Rose was wearing the "Cherry" shirt. The lyrics were killer, and Sera's little "Ha!" at 2:38 got me in the heart. I wanted to die it was so perfect. NOW LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW CLEARLY GAY THAT MV WAS. Here's my version of the events: Sera is the new girl on a roller skating team and totally falls for Miyu, who is the worst on the team (0:49). Sera is kinda like girl you good?? You okay?? Also they're in Cherry's living room at 1:06- I say Cherry's because her outfit color matches the background pictures-- However, Yoo is also hella into Sera but also into Rose at the same time and she's conflicted adn Rose is like uh-uh, no (1:12-1:21). Cherry and Byeol are like well you guys we'll be a cute couple of our own over here and actually CARE about our competition while you sort your love out (1:27). Then Miyu and Sera laugh at them, and when poor Sera gets hurt because she's still pretty new, Miyu helps her! Definitely true love. Sera's surprised because, y'know, she showed up and started this huge love square thing. Cherry and Byeol are so done with their awkward (1:46-1:47), and Yoo is like ahw my baby Rose while Miyu and Sera the bastards are cute and play, I'll cover her eyes from the sun! See, Sera, I'm totally romantic and better then Miyu! We can clearly see Sera being a shady little and Rose is like, uh yeah, let me just watch you with a kind, friendship pretense. Then they talked out and Sera was like I mean if you're really that into Yoo Unnie I'll make sure she gets the hint so Rose feels hella confident and happy (2:08-2:15). Finally Miyu and Sera are starting to admit their feelings (2:23-2:35) and they're like look at all these trophies we won, let's do better! Cue awesome dance break, and let's actually practice! Cherry and Byeol are still a thing since Byeol bandages Cherry up at 2:55 to 2:58. 2:59-3:02 Sera gets caught being cute with a sleeping Miyu. But still Sera is all cutesy with Yoo and Miyu's like uh pay attention to me so then Sera laughs and makes them all melt with cuteness (3:12-3:14). Then they go to grab all of their things since the rollerskating season is over and that's the end! That's obviously exactly how it went down.

After Navillera I was too pumped, hardly listened to Crystal but it was ing cute and I loved it anyway. CHERRY'S LAUGH AND LAST "CRYSTAL" GOT ME.

But then came the one song that ruined it all. I feel like it was there just to make up Byeol and Miyu getting almost no lines. It was terrible. It didn't fit the engery of the album at all and made it uselessly conclude badly. Get rid of this damn song! It's not even good rapping?? Never listening to that again.

So! Besides Sugar Sugar and Mr. Bang Bang (QUESTIONABLE I can't tell yet it just doesn't fit), this was a fantastic album! However, I'm pretty sure just Rose and Sera together got about 65%-70% of the lines, which isn't good. The MV's were beautiful and I think Yoo will fit well in the group! Definitely worth taking a look at. <3

-MinMinAya's out!