Album Review: BY2- 16未成年 / BY2- Minor at 16

sky | August 28, 2008

Info

Album: 16未成年/Minor at 16 (Buy Album)

Artist: BY2

Release Date: July 25, 2008

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Tracklisting:

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Review By: sky

Review

In this day and age, talent is scouted from a young age, and we are seeing more and more cases of young superstars. For those counting, add this next artiste to your ever-growing list. They’re not one, but two girls from Singapore, and as their album name suggests, they’re only 16 this year. Bai Weiling and Bai Weifang (Miko and Yumi) (白2, get it?) were spotted by talent scouts at a young age, and dropped out of school at 14 to pursue their career in dance and music. Whereas it is unfortunate that they have not even finished middle school education, the future seems to still shine brightly for these up and coming starlets. They’ve been in countries like China, Japan and Taiwan learning from various renowned dance choreographers, and have now come up with their first album, 16未成年, or Minor at 16.

Their first song, 好好愛^O^(心動時刻版), has an upbeat tempo and catchy, short lines accompanied by light hearted singing which make listener feel right at home with the album. A good start for a debut album I’d say. Ensuing is a slower, more heart wrenching song, 不够成熟, which has meaningful lyrics and somewhat good vocals that convey the message of the song rather well. PP別黏在椅上 is a more upbeat dance tune that one can get tired of really quickly, and I think this song was basically created to show off the twins’ skills in dancing in the music video, rather than showcase their vocals. 發呆, their next song, is an interesting fusion. It has a good, solid beat that one could groove to in the background, but is actually a somewhat slow song. I like this fusion, and it’s definitely one of the more catchy songs on the album. Moving right along, 買買買 is another one of the upbeat songs with a solid dance beat. The lyrics are a little nonsensical, but, as previously stated, this is more of a dance song, yet another platform for the twins to show off their dancing. 愛丫愛丫 is my favorite song of the whole album, with meaningful lyrics and good background music to really bring out the sorrow of the song. It’s already been replaying in my playlist for days, and I highly recommend this song. 你說我說 is a more light-hearted song about crushes in school, and gets a little too repetitive for my tastes. 仙草蜜 has a more exotic feel, and it’s a refreshing break from the rest of the songs of the album. 太難搞, the next track, is a song that may grow on you over time, and overall isn’t that bad a song. Once again, they have fused disc scratching with a somewhat cute love song. 甜甜圈 is a rather sweet song which is easy to listen to because of the simplicity. The background music is simply the strum of an acoustic guitar, and gives a very dreamy feel to the album. To conclude the album altogether, they end off with 好好愛^O^(甜蜜真實版）, another rendition of the first track of the album. That is to say, they went in a full circle, and ended where they started. This version includes the vocals of two guys, and gives off a slightly different feeling than the original song. I find both versions rather enjoyable, and the guys’ vocals actually blend quite well with the female vocals.

I must admit, I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about the twins, and even after listening to the album, I’m still leaving space for doubt. Their Chinese isn’t all that great, and I think they could improve on their vocals a tad more. The only thing that really impresses me about these twins is their dancing, but a lot of people can dance, so I’m really hoping to see more growth from them in their next album. Asia’s next biggest thing, or just a one hit wonder group? You decide.