Golden Child had their first comeback with
奇跡 (Miracle) on January 29th, 2018. This is also Golden Child's first release as a group of 10, without Jaeseok. There were actually hints of Jaeseok's anticipated participation in this album, as several behind-the-scenes photos revealed a Golden Child banner naming all 11 members and the uniforms in the moving posters containing 11 stars...This is Golden Child's second mini album, with a Version A and a Version B. I pre-ordered 2 copies of Version A and 1 copy of Version B from Ktown4u, which I discuss more about
here. I will do a parallel unboxing of both versions in this post.
My 3 albums and 3 folded posters came wrapped up in several layers of bubblewrap inside a cardboard box. The albums are rather large and heavy; the package weighs 4.97 pounds! I'm really happy that the albums came in perfect condition.
I'll first discuss the posters, which will help to distinguish the differences in Version A versus Version B. This album release includes 3 different posters, which is the main reason why I chose to buy 3 albums. All 3 posters are of Woollim's usual poster dimensions, and this time the image quality is much crisper than Golden Child's grainy
Gol-Cha! posters.
I'll refer to the above as the schoolboy photoshoot. Version A contains images only from this photoshoot.
I'll refer to the above as the pastel photoshoot. Majority of the photos from this photoshoot have a locker room setting decked out with Golden Child banners and posters.
I'll refer to the above as the colorful classroom photoshoot. Version B contains images from both the pastel photoshoot and this photoshoot.
Woollim is really investing a lot into this comeback. All 3 posters have the "Golden Film" logo. "Golden Film" is the short film that the members filmed, which is like an extension to the "It's U" music video.
I love how Golden Child consistently has their own branding. For
Gol-Cha!, they had a series of uniforms for baseball, school, PE, etc. And for
奇跡 (Miracle), they take it to the next level! Golden Child continues with schoolboy concept, with the album packaging looking like a yearbook for Geumdong High School. As a note, Geumdong is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters for "Golden Child". There is even a beautifully design crest for Geumdong High School embedded on the yearbook, as well as on one set of the boys' school uniforms.
The yearbook is really sturdy and high quality, with a hardcover canvas cover. Removing the metallic gold paper strip also makes the packaging look even more like a yearbook than an album.
The text and crest on the front cover and spine are embedded on the canvas. These albums are quite large - the dimensions are 10.25" by 8.75" by 0.625".
On the back cover is the Golden Child logo embedded on the canvas while the fine print on the bottom is simply printed on top in a gold hue. The gold strip contains the track list, holographic sticker, and the same fine print as on the canvas.
Here is the back cover without the gold strip.
The inside of the front cover reveals the other side of the gold strip, containing the members' names.
The inside of the back cover has much more. The backside of the back cover has a thicker card stock paper on top to hold additional goods. The gold slip covers the random goods.
The top flap contains the CD. The bottom flaps contain the name tag and the student ID card. I really like how each pocket has a little design matching the front cover.
Here is the envelope that contains the CD. The CD plate and envelope are the same in both versions, except that Version A is blue and Version B is green, matching the album color.
Here is the backside of the envelope.
Here is how the CDs were placed in their respective envelopes.
And here is the design of the CD.
I like how the CD plate design is consistent with the design of Golden Child's first mini album CD.
Each album includes 1 random member name tag out of 10. I received the 3 youngest (from top to bottom): Donghyun, Joochan, and Bomin. These are iron-on name tags that one would use on their school uniform. It would be cool if each album also included the name tag with the school name on it, like the members wore in their latest PE uniforms!
Here is the backside of the name tag. The name tags are 2.75" by 1".
Each album also includes 1 random student ID card out of 10. I received Y, Donghyun, and Bomin. These cards are really cute and such high quality, made of thick plastic like a real student ID card. I love how the albums come with the name tag and student ID card, which ties in beautifully with the yearbook design. All images for the ID cards are from the schoolboy photoshoot.
The backside of the student ID card is the same for all. The policies printed on the back are pretty funny - I suggest reading the translation online!
Each album also includes 1 random member photocard out of 10. The photocard is slipped somewhere inside the photobook. The photocard was slipped in between pages 86 and 87 in my first Version A album.
The photocard was slipped in between pages 98 and 99 in my second Version A album.
The photocard was slipped in between pages 82 and 83 in my Version B album.
I pulled Jangjun's photocard from all 3 albums. All 10 photocard images are from the colorful classroom photoshoot.
The backside of the photocard has a printed autograph and message by the member.
The above photo is what I pulled from all 3 albums (left is what I pulled from my second Version A, middle is from my first Version A, and right is from Version B). To give more information, the serial numbers of both Version A albums are consecutive, while the serial number of my Version B album is 1000s apart from my Version A albums. Therefore I'm not sure how the items are randomized that I ended up with the Jangjun photocard 3 times. The below table summarizes what I pulled from each album.
Now I'll discuss the photobooks in depth. I'll talk about both Version A and Version B in parallel, then I'll deviate and point out details that are unique to each version. Each photobook contains 120 pages.
The first page contains a group photo. The photobook includes page numbers, and they have numbered the page with the group photo as Page 1.
The following page is like a table of contents, displaying which page contains the lyrics to which song. This page is identical in both versions.
The following page shows the album credits and Golden Child's social media. It's sad seeing links listed as GNCD11...the opposite page shows the song credits. I'll discuss the tracklist in more depth later on. The only difference between the versions is that Version A has white pages while Version B occasionally has other colored pages, like this cream hue.
The following pages contain a 2-page group photo spread. These are 2 of the poster designs. The third poster design is also included in Version B. There are a total of 3 2-page group photo spreads in each version.
Here is a more apparent shot of Version B's colorful pastel background page colors. I like how the lyrics take up the whole page per song are much bigger and a lot more readable since the photobook is so large.
In both versions, majority of the photos are individual shots. Furthermore, many pages across both versions contain the same member, keeping consistency.
Many of the pages also have the same simplistic layout, similar to a more traditional yearbook design.
Version A also includes several photos with members in groups of 2. There are also several photos with an artsy blurry filter, like the page on the right.
Version B includes several photos with members in groups of 2 and groups of 3.
Each album also includes 3 pages with different lines in Korean, and 2 pages with Golden Child's logo.
Here is the second 2-page group photo spread. The one in Version B is the last poster design.
It's interesting that in some of the photos of Golden Child in their colorful classroom outfits where they're not in the colorful classroom, the Golden Child badge isn't on their blazer. However the photos of the members in the colorful classroom do include the badge. This is especially apparent by comparing Jibeom's blazer here.
I really like how the classroom and locker settings have a lot of banners and posters with the Golden Child brand. It really completes the Geumdong High School theme!
The last pages before the Thanks To section is a final 2-page group photo spread. I'd like to point out here how well this photobook is constructed, with a layflat design so that no part of the photo is lost in the spine.
The remaining pages are for the Thanks To section. The left page is the group thanks to while the following 5 pages are individual member thanks to messages. Many of the members wrote so much!
Now I'll discuss the tracklist. This mini album contains 6 tracks:
- 奇跡 (기적) - (Miracle) is the intro track. The first 3 tracks of this album are composed by SWEETUNE! SWEETUNE is my most favorite composer as they created many of Infinite's earlier titles, and I'm so happy that they are now working with Golden Child.
- 너라고 (It's U) - is a really fun track with an energetic choreography to match. I'm so proud of Golden Child for receiving much recognition for performing this track live with their stable vocals despite such a tough choreography.
- Lady - this is a beautiful song that showcases Y's vocals along with Joochan's. While I love hearing the 2 main vocals, I'm disappointed that Bomin and Jaehyun don't have any lines. Especially when this song is being heavily promoted, I'm sad that Bomin and Jaehyun don't get their time to shine.
- Crush - this song is definitely the most different of Golden Child's tracks due to its rock sound, and it took me a few times before I fell in love with it.
- 모든 날 - (All Day) is a sad ballad that fits so well with Jaeseok's situation. 2 members who worked on "DamDaDi" also worked on this track.
- I'm Falling - Razer of Rphabet (another composer of many of Infinite's more recent works) worked on this track. I'm so proud of Jibeom for receiving many lines in this song!
Overall, I love everything about this comeback! The songs are beautiful, the albums are beautiful, EVERYTHING is beautiful. I can't wait to see what else Golden Child has in store for this year!
