I have conflicted feelings for “Crush.” It gets off to a rough start with CL’s intro, and the girls’ “they love me cause…” break. But, once we get passed the awkward introduction, it explodes into greatness where we hear Park Bom sounding the best ever. I was dying to hear more of that singing throughout, but instead the song focused on these random, and disconnected breaks. I did appreciate CL’s rap, but, the song really lacked focus!!

The album moves on to one of the its biggest stars, title song, “Come Back Home.” Now, I am not a fan of the MV, at all, but as for the song on its own, it was spectacular. I love that these girls have made reggae, a pretty off stream style of music for Korea, into their signature genre. I love that with each tackling of reggae, they put a new spin on it, and “Come Back Home” is no different. To add a bit of futuristic flare, they lay on the auto tune, and dub step for these interesting breaks. My biggest problem was the abrupt, and jarring ending. It wasn’t appreciated.

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For the next three songs, “너 아님 안돼 (Gotta Be You),” “살아 봤으면 해 (If I Were You),” “착한 여자 (Good To You),” 2ne1 makes a fun 180, and slows things down with 3 of their best ballads to date. For “너 아님 안돼 (Gotta Be You),” the girls’ seemed to be channeling label mate, Tae Yang with interesting drum breaks before the chorus. “살아 봤으면 해 (If I Were You),” was like an upgraded take on their 2010 hit, “It Hurts.” I loved the transitions into the chorus where the girls would layer and harmonize their voices. The track that left me feeling the most conflicted was, “착한 여자 (Good To You),” because it is my favorite track, but it reminds me so much of their labelmate Lee Hi that I feel it could easily have been on her 2013 album, “First Love.”

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The next song is, CL solo, “멘붕 (MTBD).” First off let me ask, where was MTBD during CL’s solo debut?! MTBD has such a better flow, and incorporation CL’s signature rapping style that “GZB.” This song, was the first I listened to after I bought the album, and even thought it was CL’s solo, and placed smack dab in the middle of the album, it made for a perfect preview of what to expect from the album, style wise.

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Overall, this album felt like a futuristic extension of their 1st album, “To Anyone.” There was a sense of growth with all of their songs, which is all I ever ask for from an artist. I especially appreciated the incorporation of more ballad songs this time around. I understand that 2ne1 is a Hip Hop-esque group, but they give such a great spin on the ballad. I will be listening to every last one of these songs for years to come, and if it took for years to make this, then I can wait another 4 years for more!

Scores:

Crush: .75/1

Come Back Home: 1/1

너 아님 안돼 (Gotta Be You): 1/1

살아 봤으면 해 (If I Were You): 1/1

착한 여자 (Good To You): 1/1

멘붕 (MTBD) (CL Solo): 1/1

Happy: .75/1

Scream (Korean Version): 1/1

Baby I Miss You: .75/1

Come Back Home (Unplugged Version): 1/1