Girls’ Generation – Girls & Peace

Text: Joelle Chong

If we’re completely honest, Girls’ Generation’s latest Japanese release Girls & Peace is not the best album the group had put out thus far, despite the immense success it has achieved in Japan.

Girls & Peace features songs from three of the nine-member group’s singles, which were released previously and opens with four fast-tempo tracks, including lead single ‘Flower Power’, although the energetic songs piqued little of our attention.

Instead, R&B pop tracks ‘Stay Girls’ and ‘All My Love For You’ won us over right from the first note. While not all of the members are powerful singers, everyone in the group has decent voices and their harmony shines especially in slower songs.

Despite being a pre-release song, ‘Oh!’ -- a remake of Girls’ Generation’s hit of the same name in Korea -- is easily distinguishable from the rest of the Japanese tracks and is as pleasing to the ear as its Korean counterpart.

Ballad ‘Not Alone’ is the treasure of the album, and showcases the singing of some of their strongest vocalists Taeyeon, Seohyun, Tiffany and Jessica. The girls have strong control of their emotions throughout the piano-led track, taking us on an emotional roller coaster ride.

We believe there is a lot more to what Girls’ Generation can offer, but Girls & Peace fails to deliver. That said, we’re definitely looking forward to their upcoming Korean release I Got a Boy.

Recommended tracks: ‘Stay Girls’, ‘Oh!’, ‘Not Alone’

Rating: 3