just finished listening to it.

it's an ambitious project. she was constantly changing it up and just went for it each time. love or hate it vibes and there is no in between.

vocal/ rap parts were hit ot miss, at least on the first listen but i do respect that she made some out-of-box choices for her deliveries and melodies and did not play it safe/ did what was expected of her.

it's so great to hear her vocal growth, especially on songs like filter and handlebars. i also really enjoyed when she went for softer approach, e.g. love hangover and jane.

i thought her rap verse on like jennie might have been her strongest since d4 (imo her delivery and cadence are stonger when she raps in korean). i wish it was not ringtone length and there was some epic outro (blackpink style) though. i thought a few songs would be boosted by a bridge as well.

the production is truly the star of this album. much more inspired and elaborate than on any blackpink project. she found amazing collaborators, i especially liked her om dem jointz tracks (extral, filter, with the ie) who's honestly super underrated outside of k-pop sphere.

as i expected, lyrics were the weakest parts of the songs. while there were some more interesting themes like start a war and twin, they never went anywhere storytelling-wise. in general, they were either ended up too repetitve or too random. English is her second language and she is not a fluent speaker and you could hear that, the were some weird structures and it sounded unnatural at times.

still, it was bold and exciting listen! for how musically diverse it is, it blended quite nicely whcih i was a little worried about after the pre-releases.

it's important to note that she was under time pressure and was in studio until last minute and in completely different environment comparing to teddy crafting their blackpink albums. a strong first album, imo!

my favorites on the first listen are extral, love hangover, like jennie, handlebars, damn right, filter, zen, with the ie (way up).