Chung Ha is a South Korean singer who's pretty much became the queen of number one songs on the music charts. She's known for her rememberable choruses and dance routines. I would almost call her the Boa of this generations but she doesn't quite have the natural flow of movement when dancing like Boa had.(has?) Her first album had me pretty excited since she's had flawless single releases last year into this year. Her first full album is called Querencia. Which means the place where your sense of character lies in Spanish.
Track List:
01. SIDE A {NOBLE}
02. Bicycle *Title
03. Masquerade
04. Flying on Faith
05. Luce Sicut Stellae
06. SIDE B {SAVAGE}
07. Stay Tonight
08. Dream of You (with R3HAB)
09. 짜증 나게 만들어 (Bother Me)
10. Chill해
11. SIDE C {UNKNOWN}
12. PLAY (feat. Changmo)
13. Demente (feat. Guaynaa)
14. Lemon (feat. Colde)
15. 별하랑 (160504 + 170607) (BYULHARANG (160504 + 170607))
16. SIDE D {PLEASURES}
17. X (걸어온 길에 꽃밭 따윈 없었죠)
18. All Night Long
19. 솔직히 지친다 (Everybody Has)
20. Come N Goes
21. Querencia (Epilogue)
Querecia was surprisingly disappointing. I'm not sure what happened for a twenty on track album to fail like it did. I feel that all the great ideas when into her title tracks then, there was none left. The album actually has the nerve to be divided into different sections to support the different vibes of the group of songs that's coming next. Chung Ha throws listeners the track Bicycle to celebrate her first album and I wanted to make myself like this song until listening to the track by itself made me find more reasons not to like it. The tracks has too much happening in the instrumental, vocals, and production. All together everything makes Bicycle sound a mixed up mess to the ears. Take out all the tracks released prior to Querecia(which were all Chung Ha at her creative best, vocally and emotionally.) and you're left with Flying on Fatih: a track that resonates toward Dream of You's same artistry as an upbeat pop English track. Chung Ha's natural mature bad girl comes out strong here in the tracks' smart rhythm and tempo. Some of the other tracks toward the latter ballad sector of Querecia were alright. It's just that other artists have done the same kind of sound in Korea. Chung Ha is way above that level at this point in my opinion. The random Spanish track felt tacked on the album like she basically wanted to justify her using Spanish inspiration in her tracks Chica and Play. Outside of what I've noted, the rest is filler tracks that might appease the masses in South Korea..... Those mindless dance songs that repeat the same phrase over again on top a club beat that Koreans can jump around to in the club. Jessi's music has adopted the same style recently thanks to Psy's guidance. Let's just say I'm not impressed. Knock yourself out South Korea though.
Chung Ha has a multi layered vocal. Depending on the song she's singing or the music style. She can either sound very sweet and pure or very bitchy and unapologetic. I'm more a fan of the latter however, South Korea is pulling her more toward the cute stuff which isn't where she excelles the most in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, I love her songs such as Rollercoaster because the song was cute, yet it didn't take away from her vibe. Querencia ended up sending her way back in her craft when she should have had the best first album ever. Some artists can't handle the pressure creating a WHOLE full length album. Explaining the reason why many Korean artists only release mini albums.
I'm happy I dodged a bullet by not buying this album physically. I would have been highly upset. I only liked four of the twenty one tracks. This was not including the tracks released prior to the album's release.
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