Hwayobi’s been pretty quiet interns of major releases since her mini album a woman like me. She was featured on illinit’s track Lost which became one of my top songs for the month of June. Now the diva is back with her new mini album reborn ! The sound is reminiscent of the latter part of her 7th self titled album; a mix of electric and r&b.
The first song released was ‘2 the sky’ which has a lot of hwanyobi fans going crazy because the title of the song seemed like reference to Hwanhee (was half of fly to the sky with Brian Joo). The song is a mid-tempo with Hwayobi using more of her lower register, then moving up into her mid-range. Thus, a nice summer ballad. Following is the fun, dance track ‘I’m OK’. The song is filled with synth beats and a small layer on her voice, then finishes the song in her higher register.
With U starts the latter part of the album with a cute song about being with that special person. The song is filled with bells and other soft sounds over a lazy beat. The album finishes with XOXO featuring Illinit, the same rapper she did the collaboration with. The song has an upbeat tempo and has a repetitive line “baby I’m sorry” in the chorus that sticks out.
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Overall I give this album a 4/5! While I likes majority of the album, the principle track wasn’t her best work.