Rainbow Innocent Album Review

I've never actually listened to a Rainbow album before so I am going into this completely blind, or deaf rather. I have nothing to compare this album to other than the singles that they have put out over the years and a single doesn't always reflect the album as a whole.

Before we begin, as I am looking at the album cover I am once again annoyed at the chance that was lost in the "Black Swan" video. It could have been so cool and creepy and it wasn't! Dang it!



The first song is "Bad Boy" that starts with some spoken word which is interesting. It works though because the song as a whole has a smokey lounge sound. I actually really like this song and the power that it slowly develops as we get farther into it. Back to the lounge feel, this song has a very sexy feel which fits with the black swan concept that they are going for. I also liked the rap in this song particularly when Woori transitions from a straight rap to more of a sing song rap, I love how that style sounds, even if it might not necessarily be a "rap".

Song number two is our title song "Black Swan" which I literally just wrote about and my thoughts haven't changed, I quite like it. It is also very different from the first song on the album. Where "Bad Boy" is smooth, "Black Swan" is all synths and power vocals.

Upon seeing the title of this next song I immediately wanted to break out into Park Ji Yoon's "Mr. Lee" that was released in October 2013. The songs aren't totally opposite from each other either. Park Ji Yoon's song is more upbeat and a little funkier, but Rainbow keeps some of that funk even if they tone the song down a little. It goes back to the feel of the first song but instead of sitting and throwing sexy looks around the lounge, they are now walking around the lounge and owning the whole area with a drink in hand. Non alcoholic for me please!

And we are out of the lounge and into some underground park complete with neon light and candy bracelets with "Perriot". When I think of Rainbow, even though I admit to not knowing much, this is more what I think of. Peppy and fun, not as dramatic as the previous three songs. I also really like the "doo doo doo" of the chorus. I feel like it is hard to go wrong with a nonsense chorus in a catchy song like this. Who needs words when you are busy being happy and dancing along to the tune?

With our next song "Privacy" there is a really confusing break toward the end of the song when a random male voice comes in with a "let's get it going on, what a love". I don't know who he is or where he went after his two second part (Cotton Eyed-Joe?) but I didn't really like it. It didn't bring anything to an otherwise nice song. This song has the musical feel of "Mr. Lee" and the vocals of "Perriot" and it's pretty good, but that guy needs to go away.

And after all of that we end with "A Little More" which is a very breathy ballad that sounds quite nice. I haven't looked at the translated lyrics, but there are some English lyrics in the song and they say: "Baby touch my body" "I'm having fun with you. It's just me and you". I think I can figure out what the song is about.

Overall, I think this is a pretty good album. It's a bit slow for my liking since I am not really into softer songs, but there are some nice songs. I don't know how people who have been with Rainbow for a while feel, but from the minuscule amount I know about them, I would say that this is probably different from what they usually do but it isn't a bad album. Good job Rainbow!

~ Alora