F.T. Island – Cheerful Sensibility

Cheerful Sensibility (Album)
Artist: F.T Island
Released: 2007.07.08
Lovesick
2. I’m Happy
3. Thunder
4. Only One Person
5. Cling
6. A Man’s First Love Follows Him To The Grave
7. They Said To Stop
8. FT Island
9. Reo Reo
10. Primadonna
11. Meeting
12. Because I Didn’t Know How To Love
13. First Kiss

F.T. Island is a young (All members born in the 90’s) South Korean band that actually plays their own music. My sister listened to them before I did and put their songs on my ipod. Curious, one day I listened to their debut album “Cheerful Sensibility”. I had no idea what they would sound like but my sister loved their songs and after listening to just one track I was greatly surprised. (A FULL, yes FULL, album link at the end.

A short intro
Oh Won Bin (Guitar, rap, vocals), Lee Jae Jin (Bass), Choi Min Hwan (Drums) Lee Hong Ki (Lead vocals) and Choi Jong Hun (Guitar, piano) are the five members that form F.T Island (shown below respectively).

F.T stands for five treasures, signifying each member as the ‘treasures’ (I really don’t like acronyms *ahem* JUMP *ahem*). They were supposed to debut May 2007 but instead they started appearing on the TV show “Dugeun Dugeun Yeochinmandeulgi”. Their CD debut occurred in June 2007 with the release of Cheerful Sensibility and it sold 79, 876 copies becoming the 6th best selling album of 2007 in Korea.

My Thoughts
The album opens with the slow rock ballad Lovesick which was the track that surprised me with it’s quality and lyrics, it’s still my favourite song on the album. Starting off with only violins and piano the song explodes into the chorus with stronger vocals, drums and guitars while keeping the simple verses. The song showcases Hong Ki’s harsh style of vocals and just from this song I can tell that he is a very good singer. A rap would seem out of place but the slow fuzzy rap (by Won Bin) here fits in perfectly and keeps the song from being repetitive.

Lovesick MV subbed

I’m Happy is a mid-paced pop peice and much more happy than the last track. I find the song too ordinary (esp. verses) but the chorus is very catchy and it really does make you feel… well happy but it’s an above average song

Thunder is another ballad and I actually find it similar in style to Lovesick (not nearly as good) though they’re not alike. What I like most about it is the 80’s sounding guitar melody throughout the song, the strong chorus and the lyrics which are are really good, all in all I love the song (+ PV) to death!

Thunder MV

Contrasting from the previous 2 ballads comes Only One Person which isn’t rock but more piano/ strings oriented. Honestly, the song doesn’t grab my attention, although it’s likeable I found it predictable and not very interesting.

Cling is a unique song. It’s a ballad (as it appears to be in the intro) but opens with rap and alternates rap with singing throughout the song and the way it’s done is mixed right. I really love the chorus and overall it’s a really unique song.

As depressing as A Man’s First Love Follows Him To His Grave sounds, the song isn’t very depressing at all (unless the lyrics are). It has this Jamaican sound to it because of the way the instruments are played and the chorus has this really catchy riff going through it. Not great but one of the better songs in the album.

Here comes another ballad! I have mixed opinions about They Said to Stop. It’s one of those songs that you enjoy listening to while you are but when it’s over I don’t really notice and the melody’s gone from my head. That probably tells you something. Passable but really not excellent.

After the ballads there’s F.T Island which is a toe-tapping pop rock number. It’s very uplifting and fitting because after the sad songs something like this is needed. Although it’s nothing special I can’t help but like it because the chorus is so chipper and catchy (esp. the F.T Island chanting).

The next song is also a fast paced one and it’s Reo Reo, named so because that phrase is said in the chorus and it’s what makes me remember the song. That said, without Reo Reo I wouldn’t remember the song because I found it quite generic pop-rock and just not good enough.

Primadonna is actually my favourite upbeat song on the album because of the awesomely infectious chorus that really makes me sing their accented ver. of Primadonna ~Puu-rii-madonaaaa. It just gets me really cheered up even when I’m cleaning a pile of trash. Also, everyone get’s a singing part whether it’s backup vocals or for one section of a verse :D

Meeting is a soft ballad and one I like a lot. It’s just very relaxing, the melody is so nice and the piano lines are just plain beautiful. Hong Ki’s voice is also very calming. This just proves F.T Island can do slow ballads just as well as rock oriented ones.

Because I don’t know how to Love is another soft ballad . At first I thought it sounded like other ballads I’d have heard before, esp during the chorus, but after every listen I end up liking the song even more and now I love it. The instruments are probably why, it’s just simple, beautiful and sweeping at the same time.

First Kiss it an acoustic ballad using only a few instruments with the main one being the guitar. It’s a nice calm song and because there aren’t many instruments you can hear the vocals really well, this song could’ve been boring because I don’t like acoustic guitar ballads much but it wasn’t because of the nice melody and singing.

Final Judgement
4.5 out of 5, I like most of the songs on the album and this is a very good debut album but as for the tracks which don’t stand out, they seem to be too similar. The album is mostly ballads and it’s good, I LOVE ballads but that doesn’t leave room for variety though I can overlook it, all the ballads are good!

THAR YA GO I uploded the whole thing jus b’coz i could so be happy but if I were to choose standout tracks they’d be Lovesick, Tunder, Cling, Primadonna, Meeting and Because I don’t know how to love.
Cheerful Sensibility full album