Album review: Youn Ha Vol. 1.5

Younha – Vol. 1.5 Comet

01 Comet
02 More of Just the Two of Us
03 During the First Snow
04 Touch
05 Under One Umbrella
06 Holding Hands
07 If
08 A Bright Sky Tomorrow
09 Promise
10 Sunflower
11 Blue Light Lemon
12 Orange First Love
13 Remembrances are Wonderful Memories
14 Comet (Instrumental)
15 First Snow (Instrumental)

Younha has made a comeback after her huge success with her first Korean album in the beginning of this year. She has already won many awards including Best New Solo Artiste at the Mnet Korean Music Festival Awards. In October, Younha released a Korean version of her debut Japanese album, Go! Younha and unsurprisingly, it has been doing well with the title track, Comet, which was the ending theme song for the Japanese anime, Bleach. Younha is doing exceptionally well on music charts with this song. Other tracks enclosed in this album are various singles Younha released in Japan since 2004. The album consists of lively Japanese-style ballads, along with powerful piano playing, making a total of 15 songs in this 1.5 album.

The title track Comet, which may be the reason for Younha’s rising fame in Japan, is sung in Korean in this album. The piano and guitar instrumentals blend especially well with Younha’s strong vocals. This energetic song makes listeners want to sing along to the lyrics.

My personal favorites in this album are tracks 03 First Snow, 05 Under One Umbrella, and 06 Holding Hands. Track 03 is a ballad about the realization of love during the first snow. Younha starts off calmly and leads listeners to a dramatic chorus. Track 05 starts off with soothing instrumentals and later on with Younha’s vocals. The song is very calming and is a must-listen. It is also my favorite track of the album. This medium-tempo song has positive lyrics of a relationship which would change a person’s world. Track 06 is a bit more upbeat and once again the background instrumentals will lure listeners.

There are a variety of up-tempo and medium-tempo songs as well as ballads, so fans will enjoy this album. Korean listeners especially may enjoy this album as they are able to hear the lyrics of the songs in their native language. However, because this album is basically a remake of her previous Japanese album, it may not interest all listeners who are familiar with the Japanese versions of the songs. Also the styles of the songs are different from her original Korean songs, so people who became Younha fans through her Korean songs may not enjoy this album as much. On a more positive note, this album includes two instrumentals which are not available in the Japanese album.

Rating: 3/5

5/5 – Even if you’re not a fan of this artist/group this album is a must buy.
4/5 – If you’re a fan of this artist/group, you must buy this album.
3/5 – If you’re a fan of this artist/group, you might want to add this one to your collection.
2/5 – I don’t think a fan would even buy this.
1/5 – You might as well just flush your money down the toilet.

You can purchase this album by clicking on the album cover image above.

written by motoway065