I am so excited that GOT7 is back! Some of you may know that I am such a big GOT7 fan that I even travelled hundreds of miles to see them in Toronto. As such, when they announced that they were going to be coming out with GOT7 Spinning Top: Between Security & Insecurity, I was pumped. GOT7 has a habit of releasing tracks that get stuck in my head, and I anticipate that this will be no exception.
I ordered a copy of the album from MusicPlaza in LA. This is a store that was recently added to my “Where I Buy the K-Goods” page. This is a link to the exact one I’ve ordered. I got my copy for $19.99 plus shipping. You can also get a copy off of eBay here for$23 plus shipping. Plus, with eBay, you can save a little bit of money by using the E-Bates extension on your browser, as it will save you 2% on all album purchases, which definitely adds up.
What is E-Bates?
E-Bates is a cashback site that gives you money for purchases you may have already made. They even have an extension for multiple browsers so when you go to a website that uses Ebates, it will automatically pop up the cashback button to make sure you are saving money. I use this all the time, and I got over 80$ back from them for purchases I was going to make anyway. That’s about 3 more albums I can buy!
If you’ve never used EBates before, you can use this link to get $10 when making a qualified purchase of $25 when using EBates. You will also get whatever percent cashback is being offered from the site you are purchasing from. Sephora, typically has 4% cashback, through here. Sokoglam typically has 3%. These percentages Many other major retailers are on there as well.
Can I get it on Amazon?
Yes! You can pick up a copy using this link for 28 dollars (not as good of a deal), with free shipping if you have Amazon Prime.
If you don’t have Amazon Prime, you can get a 30-day free trial using this link here. I will not lie, the free 2-day shipping, plus all of the free music and videos are totally worth it. I also now use it for books for my Kindle Paper White too, and it is honestly a life saver. They have a program called Kindle Unlimited where you can check out 10 books at a time, read them, and put them back in the Kindle library. The program cost $7.99 a month, and you get the first 30 days for free with this link.
How do I read this post?
I recommend that you put the album on in the background, and read through it while listening to the track that I am talking about. It will help you understand what parts of the music I’m referring to when I talk about different instruments and different vocal parts. This is what I recommend for all of my song reviews.
GOT7 Spinning Top: Between Security & Insecurity Track By Track:
1°
I really love how this track begins with some dramatic string chords. That combined with the percussion gives this track a feel as cool as if it was, well, 1 degree. I really love how R&B this track is. It really can cause you to get the body rolls going. Overall, the instrumentation is simple, yet powerful, and really makes the vocals pop.
I personally love how they began this track vocally. It starts off with hushed, raspy vocals that really allow the track to build and gain momentum. Once Jackson comes in with his rap, it really allows the track to begin that momentum build so that when you hit the chorus with the falsetto notes, it is the perfect contrast to the verse. Overall, this track is very well done, and it is an excellent introduction to the full album.
Eclipse
If you want to watch my thoughts on this music video, you can do so here:
Now that I have had quite a bit of time to sit on this track, I must say that I greatly enjoy it. It really has that JB composed feel to it with all of the electronic elements that are added. The song is consistently building momentum. In this track, the percussion really pulls the song forward. Overall, I must say, I love the layered synth sounds. It has a number of deeper, anchoring sounds, but where it really gets unique is with all of the musical trills that you hear glimpses of before they retreat into the track. It gives it a mystical feeling.
As for the vocals, as is typical of GOT7, they are spot on. Since the instrumentation on the track is so strong and accented, you can really tell that they really worked on making their vocals sound as smooth and even as possible to cause them to stand out against it. They pulled all vibrato out of their voices and push through to the end of the phrase, which isn’t easy to do. On top of that, and this is definitely my favorite part, they added some fantastic high harmonies to the track to highlight the important lines of the song. Truly well done on the composition.
끝
This song’s instrumentation, especially in the beginning, contrasts quite a bit with the previous two tracks. I love how this track uses the absence of instrumentation to draw attention towards the vocalist. On top of that, to emphasize the lyrics, even more, they added a little bit of an echo to their voices so that what they are saying reverberates through your ears.
What’s even cooler for me is that the instrumentation that does come into this song feels very ocean-y. Not tropical, Ocean-y. It echoes like the waves coming in and out from the shore, and you hear muffled sounds, reminiscent of whales coming in and out of the song. If you don’t believe me, think about the whales scene from Finding Nemo (minus Dory speaking whale) and listen again. You’ll hear it.
Timeout
In contrast to the last song, this song reminds me of a jungle at the end of a summer storm. The use of the marimbas combined with the high pitched notes that sound like monkeys and birds complete the feel. On top of that, as I was just listening to the track, Mark actually says “in the jungle” in the first verse. So I guess I’m not far off. Put GOT7 in some explorer hats and the look would be complete!
In comparison to some of the previous tracks, this song isn’t as interesting vocally. It really explores the uses of the voice as a percussive instrument. Since there isn’t really a lot of vocal variety, as the singing line isn’t vocally demanding, the track really focuses on the percussion quality of the vocals. I can dig it. It’s an interesting take on singing.
밀어줄게
This track has much more of a rap feel to it with the distorted bass, and the heavy percussion. Honestly, I’m really digging it because it contrasts well with all of the other tracks on the album thus far. This track honestly has a really chill, calm feel to it. I love how soft and legato the synth chords are throughout this track. It contrasts with the sharp, accented percussion.
I really enjoy how this track starts with a bass toned rap from Jackson and then moves into a higher tone to move the track towards the chorus. In this track, the chorus really embraces the highlights the falsetto abilities of the vocalists. What I like about the falsetto on this track as that they weren’t afraid to go for a breathy feel. These breathy vocals contrast with the rapping in the verses, adding interest to the track. They really did a good job of keeping you drawn into the track through shifts in the music on this one. Good job guys!
Page
I can totally dig the funky vibe that this song has. The treble notes since they use what sounds like a modified trumpet or saxophone (not sure what it is) really pop through in the verses. They strike your ear and pull you in each time. Another thing that I really like about this track is how they still use traditional sounds, like keyboards, a guitar, and bass guitar. It adds to the feel of the track.
Overall, the vocals of this song, minus the rapping, have a feel as if they popped out of an 80’s pop song but with a modern flair. It has an interesting balance between modern and retro that keeps you listening through the whole song, and maybe even repeat it. I’m a really big fan of this track for the feel of it alone.
K-Points: 95/5
What I really love about this whole album, and why it gets 95 out of 5 K-Points, is that GOT7 added a range of styles throughout this album, but they used techno synth elements to make every track feel cohesive. None of the tracks on this album feel out of place. It tells me that they really thought about what songs were going to be going into the album, what order they were going to go in, etc. GOT7 Spinning Top gets top marks from me.
So should you get yourself a copy of this album? I personally think it is worth it. At the same time though, if there is a full album that calls your name, go for that one. This album only has 6 songs on it. Should you stream it? I definitely think it is worth listening through. There are a number of moments in this album that are worth listening to multiple times that show how much GOT7 has grown as artists.
What song off of this mini-album is your favorite, K-Nuggets? Let me know in the comments below!
사랑합니다!
–Rachel
