[Album Review] EXO-CBX “Hey Mama!”

I love most EXO songs and their b side tracks especially the slow ballad-ish RnB ones so I was really hopeful for this one. I am not a hater and I love Baek Hyun but I felt like something was really lacking.

I thought "The One" will be a very playful song because of the beginning where the members are talking and goofing around. I was wrong. It is more of a serious track with a fast and upbeat melody. It has a very different sound from "Hey Mama!" but it still has the retro sound. It sounds more like an EXO song with different sounding verses, chorus and bridge.

"Hey Mama!" is a really good song. I did not really expect for EXO-CBX to release a song like this. The beat is still like an EXO song but the vocals are not. It has the retro feel and hook chorus. I love Chen and Baek Hyun's voice in this, especially Chen's. I usually don't like him but this song suited him so well. I like the break where Baek Hyun talked, the "Party day" part, it was nice.

"Rhythm After Summer" is a more chill song. It also has the retro sound to it but also a modern beats. The song sounds like a rejected SHINee song or a b-side SHINee track. The song is very dreamy with its whisphery element.

 "Juliet" is my favourite song from the album. I love that they maintained the beginning of the song. I thought it would change like "The One". I love it when they do RnB-ish songs. It really fits the members' voices. The song though, it reminded me of SHINee again. I don't really feel like this with the whole group's b side tracks, only with CBX. I guess it is because of the retro image and sound and SHINee has lately done that too... so. "Juliet" is still a great song, nonetheless.

 "Cherish" is a straight up fun song. I really love the melody, the retro sounds to it, the beat, the members' voices, everything meshed well together. I feel like this song could be a title track too.

The title track is good. The B-side tracks are also fine. I don't know but I feel like they could have done better especially with two vocalist and Xiumin who is not a bad singer. They should have utilize him and showed off his talents.

I am giving this album a 4.2 out of 5. Listen to the album yourself and comment your opinion below!

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