JASMINE – Welcome to Jas Vegas [album review]

1. Welcome to Jas Vegas – Opening track. Underwhelmed by this. Of course most opening tracks are short and don’t really mean anything but there were some that stood out. Even MiChi’s ritual Madness openings in her albums are great and worth listening. JASMINE on the other hand is heard, running out of breath as the crowd cheered in the background, probably for her, and she ended up saying “Welcome to Jas Vegas”. All in 55 seconds.
2. Where U @ – nice playing with the words. I approve. That aside, this sounds like a summer-pop-ish tune. Are we heading for the beach already? It’s sprinkled with EDM but the kind that really reminds me of T.O.M.’s works. He worked with MiChi before so I can see the signature style. While the chorus isn’t memorable, I like the rapping Jasmine does at the bridges. What kind of bothers me with the song is how she sings the title of the song. The way she pronounces the @ is not like how we say ‘at’ but more of ‘up’? It’s mind-boggling.
3. Handz Up! – Her English in the beginning is great. Okay, better than Namie haha. We’re stepping up the beat with this track. It’s still EDM but with more edge and attitude. What makes it interesting is the breakdown, where there’s a guitar solo riff, which might catch you off-guard. It did to me, I thought that was pretty much it, then the breakdown came in and I had to re-evaluate the track. It’s a keeper.
4. #AGARU – I like the sound of this. Less EDM, more RnB. Even though she speeds through the verses, it gives me this laid-back feel. It’s a very easy-going track! There are some parts where she sings “yeah, yeah, yeah” and the crowd repeats with her. The little clapping hands part too. All these little interactions make the song very enjoyable. I hear guitar too towards the end. It makes me feel like I’m listening to a live track.
5. R!de On – Ugh…EDM is back. I find this bit annoying. Those synthesizers and her repeating “Ride Down” throughout the song are making me cringe. Not my cup of tea.
6. Dearest – It’s not memorable, that’s all I can say about this track.
7. Panic – Interlude – Emergency alarm ringing in the background, some woman saying “Attention Please” repeatedly before that EDM kicks in. I feel like this could be a really cool song or instrumental piece even though it’s an interlude, but they cut it short. Wasted effort though.
8. HIKARI – I feel like if this has less EDM it’ll work great as normal pop song. EDM ruined it.
9. Hallelujah – Nice closing. At least a track to save this album.

Overall, it’s a hit or miss with this album. My top 3 favorites – #AGARU, Hallelujah and Handz Up!

I’ve been kind of following JASMINE’s releases since last year, her Complexxx album is quite good. Give it a listen if you like a tinge of RnB and EDM. This one however is a mixed bag. But again, it’s probably the EDM style that kind of ruined my experience. Is it just me or I feel like this album’s very rushed? It’s got only 10 tracks in total and that includes an opening, an interlude and a remix of her old song. That leaves only 7 original tracks! It’s a concept album I know, but given some more effort and time, I’m sure some of the tracks above can still be improved towards a better production. I give it a 6/10. Slightly disappointed with it although I appreciate the concept or theme she’s heading for. Complexxx was a pretty solid album. So I was hoping for better. This is not only a step-down but probably 5-10 steps below Complexxx. It’s sad because Jasmine is a talented singer and she deserves more. Let’s hope this album can sell more than 2k copies in the first week…