Welcome To Momoland (album)

**Welcome To Momoland** is the debut extended play by a South Korean girl group Momoland. The album was released digitally and physically on November 10, 2016 by Dublekick Company and Loen Entertainment. The album contains six tracks including the lead single, "**JJan! Koong! Kwang!**", which was composed by Double Sidekick.

## Tracklist

1. "Welcome To Momoland"

2. "JJan! Koong! Kwang!"

3. "Love Sick"

4. "Uh-Gi-Yeo-Cha"

5. "JJan! Koong! Kwang! (Inst.)"

6. "Uh-Gi-Yeo-Cha (Inst.)"

## Background and Review

**1. Welcome To Momoland**

✩✩

Lyrics: Double Sidekick, Yong Hee

Music: Jake K, Andreas Öberg, Skylar Mones

This starts out with an intro that reminds me of travelling circuses in movies set in the early 1900's. It then loses the slightly creepy vibe and becomes bubbly kpop. It's repetitive and nothing aside from the intro stands out. It becomes rather dull after the first chorus and the rap isn't even that different from the rest. It doesn't have a climax which is very much bringing the song down. This is a very uneventful song but I don't hate it.

*"Let’s ride the train of imagination*

*It’ll be alright even if we go to the end*

*Whatever you want, it will be fulfilled*

*Tell me, tell me*

*Welcome to Momo Land"*

These lyrics made me kind of uncomfortable. They're obviously going with the theme that Momoland is an amusement park and fun but it also triea to be a kind of love song. She has a crush on a guy and wants to enjoy a date... maybe. I get the feeling that these lyrics would've been better if they just picked one motif instead of trying to combine two. I also despair at some of the expressions because they made me cringe so hard. It does come off as a theme song to a children's cartoon

**2. JJan! Koong! Kwang!**

✩✩

Lyrics: Double Sidekick, Tenjo & Takasuko

Music: Tenjo & Takasuko, Seion

The instrumentation in this song annoys me from the start. It's electronic and in certain parts I feel like they drown the vocals a lot. The chorus is kind of catchy but doesn't stick. It's pretty standard for cute girl groups and it's really bland. The bridge is actually good though and makes me want to dance. This clearly isn't my cup of tea but I don't hate it.

*"Jjan! You appeared before me*

*Koong! I think you fell to this earth*

*My heart when koong kwang koong kwang*

*Are you human?*

*Tell me"*

I honestly don't know what to say about these lyrics... she has a crush on a guy and wonders how he can be so perfect. These lyrics make me want to throw up because not only is the subject overdone, it's also very poorly executed. How on earth did these lyrics make someone go "yeah, that's good"? I am very tempted to remove a star because the quality of these lyrics are not even up to par with stories I wrote in 3rd grade.

**3. Love Sick**

✩✩

Lyrics: Double Sidekick, Yang Gaeng

Music: Double Sidekick, Yang Gaeng, Jake K

The intro is piano and strings mainly. It's also happier than I expected from the title. It's ballady and the instruments are more prominent than the vocals. The girls all have high and rather airy voices and they do nothing for me. It's also way too long asince nothing at all happens in it. I was done with the song at the half-way mark. It's not awful but it's very bland. I honestly ran out of things to say because it's so boring.

*"Is everyone like this?*

*I’m not the only one, right?*

*Just thinking about it*

*Makes me feel like I’m walking on clouds*

*I’m filled with smiles"*

I am so not impressed with this. She's obviously in love with a guy and she's antsy about everything and feels like she's the only one feeling like this. She also has severe moodswings. I don't like these lyrics at all. I don't expect poetic masterpieces but I have higher expectations than this. It's supposed to be cute, and I suppose it is if you like this kind of thing. I don't.

**4. Uh-Gi-Yeo-Cha**

✩✩

Lyrics: Double Sidekick, Yang Gaeng, Wo Tae Won

Music: Double Sidekick, Yang Gaeng, Wo Tae Won

The intro is not doing it for me and the whole song sounds like a TWICE b-side. As it goes along it reminds me a little of Miss A's comeback with "Only You", only it's less fun. It's repetitive and simple but it doesn't quite tip over into the territority of annoying and in certain moods I kind of enjoy it. I could actually enjoy this song more if they did something with the last chorus after a pretty decent bridge. Instrumentally it's very electronic and dead but it's not bad relatively speaking.

*"No way listen ma babe*

*I’m different from those similar girls over there"*

I find it a bit funny that ashe's claiming to be different from the other girls when all lyrics on this album are like the lyrics of pretty much every girl group out there. I also don't like the trope "I'm-not-like-other-girls" in general because it's bullshit. Anyway, I don't like these lyrics either even if they're supposedly a little more confident. She's telling a guy she likes to make a move before someone else does or she changes her mind. Great that she knows her worth but I also don't like the fact that she's so passive. If you like the guy you could tell him yourself. It might be the translation, but I really don't like the way it's written.

**Musical Narrative** ✩✩

The main problem I have with this album is that none of the songs stand out. They sound like pretty much every other girl group of their generation. The vocals are high and airy which is something I usually don't like in too large doses. I don't hate the songs but I won't look for them either. As a mini album it flows pretty well and the slower song does fit as well as it can. I wish they didn't play it so safe with the sound. Everything is likely made digitally and I don't get any genuine emotion from the vocals which makes the whole album sound flat.

**Lyrical Narrative** ✩

This album goes absolutely nowhere in terms of story. All songs are about having a crush on a guy but it's so far pretty one-sided. All of them also use a lot of what I call "sound-words" and that just comes off as lazy to me (not to mention childish). I don't have anythi g particular against such words when they're used in moderation, on this album they make up quite a substantial part of the lyrics. It's repetitive and quite frankly I find all the lyrics subpar. It's one thing having simple lyrics, it's a completely different thing when they come off as if someone dug deep into the pile of rejected ones and pulled a few out at random.

**Average Score: 1.8/5**