Golden Child: Take A Leap 4th Mini Album Review

Golden Child has really blessed the first half of 2020 with so much content! From their first solo concert back in mid-January to their first repackage album at the end of January to their fourth mini album at the end of June, this year has been packed with Golden Child.

Golden Child began their "self-discovery" trilogy starting with the release of full album Re-boot back in November, followed by repackaged album Without You in January and now their mini album Take a Leap on June 24th. "Wannabe" showcases how the members are looking for who they want to be and striving to attain their ideal image, while "Without You" describes being lost during that search, and now "One (Lucid Dream)" is about accepting how they really are as their best self.

Take a Leap has two versions, with the differences being the photoshoots and sticker inclusions. I blogged about ordering my albums and sharing my pulls here. Below I will do an unboxing post about both versions.

Packaging

Here are the front covers of the albums. They came in a loose clear plastic wrap. As you can see, the text style is similar to Re-boot, with the album name printed on the side. Version B, with the jumpsuit outfits, is on the left, while Version A is on the right.

To give a reference on how big the Take a Leap albums are, here they are along with Golden Child's other albums on my shelf. It is about the same size as the Wish albums.

The backsides of the albums reveal the tracklist.

Similar to the formatting of the third mini albums Wish, Take a Leap albums have a photobook style packaging. Each photobook contains 100 pages.

Photobooks

For the first few pages and last few pages of the photobooks, I'll compare both versions, with Version A on top and Version B on the bottom. The beginning lists the tracklist, along with the song credits. The background images are from the music video shooting (Tag's scene and Jangjun's scene, respectively).

The first photo is a group photo from that version's main photoshoot.

Next are individual photos from the main photoshoots.

The formatting so far is the same for both versions, however it does change as you flip through the pages.

I'll talk about the photobooks individually soon as well.

Fast forward to the end of the photobook, the last photo is another group photo from the main photoshoot.

Next are 6 pages for the group and members' thanks to messages.

The last page has the album credits.

The inside of the back cover houses the CD in a paper envelope.

Here are the CD designs; the black one is from Version B while the silver is from Version A. The design is similar to the Goldenness disc design.

Version B Photobook

This version contains photos mostly from the jumpsuit photoshoot, but there are a few pages that include photos from the white suit photoshoot.

Majority of the photos are individual member shots. Despite having wasted white space when they could have maximized the photos, it is nice how they occasionally change up the page layout.

Here are the first pages that include the additional photoshoot. Also each song has its own page to display the lyrics; these pages are spread throughout the photobook.

There are also a few 2-page spreads containing a collage of the members from both photoshoots.

I absolutely love how they paired this hat with the jumpsuit for Tag!

There is one photo per member from this photoshoot, excluding those in the collage pages.

I love that the 2-page spread for "훅 들어와(OMG)" has Bongbeom~ I can't help but think about them holding hands in the choreo^^

Here is the second set of collage pages.

And some more photos from the white suit photoshoot.

This is the final set of collage pages.

For the jumpsuit photoshoot, there is generally one photo per page. However there is this nice 2-page spread of Y.

Unfortunately there are some pages where it just feels like they're wasting so much white space.

But then this contrasts with these gorgeous pages where the photo takes up the entire page.

Here are the last set of photos from the white suit photoshoot.

I am just absolutely in love with this jumpsuit photoshoot. I love when Golden Child wears their branded uniforms like their baseball jerseys, school uniforms, and "Genie" jumpsuits, but out of these, only the school uniforms made it into their album photobook. Even though these jumpsuits aren't Golden Child branded, I'm happy nonetheless that they made it as the main photoshoot for this photobook. (And speaking of Golcha branded outfits, I was so happy to see their Golden Child basketball jerseys for "훅 들어와(OMG)"! Even though Golden Child was promoting their trilogy with a much darker concept, they were still able to bring back their original fresh style which just made me so happy!)

Version A Photobook

My thoughts on the formatting of the photobook were all described above in Version B, so here I'll focus more on just the photos from Version A.

The images of the member posters are included in this photobook, to justify not having to collect all the posters. Also I have to point out Y really rocked this shoot!

Here are the first few photos from the alternate blue photoshoot.

And here is the first collage, mixing photos from both photoshoots.

There are a lot of artsy shots in this photobook.

Here are the next set of photos from the alternate shoot.

And here is that Seungmin photo where we saw the behind-the-scenes video. I had no idea he crawled around to get this shot!

Here is the next collage. Jaehyun is the cutest crouching like that!

Here is another set of photos from the blue shoot.

The background really gives me Re-boot vibes.

Joochan pulls off that pose so well?!

And the last collage.

Generally each page only contains 1 photo, but there are a few pages that contain 2.

Daeyeol fits this setting so well, he looks like he's navigating a ship!

This artsy shot of Tag came out really well.

And here are the last set of photos from the alternate shoot.

Album Inclusions

Each album comes with 3 photocards out of 40 (!!!), 1 special card out of 10, and 1 strap out of 10. Version A also includes 1 blue sticker out of 10, while Version B includes 1 white sticker out of 10. These inclusions are spread out all throughout the photobook; I recommend slowly going through each page or else you may have missed one of the inclusions!

Here are some of the blue stickers from the Version A albums. These stickers are all matte with a white back.

And here are some of the white stickers from the Version B albums. While most of my sticker pulls arrived in perfect condition, unfortunately there was a long scratch on my Joochan one.

Here are some of the straps. One side has the album name, member's name, and member's number, while the backside has the album name as well. There are also two adhesive sections on the backside, which can be used to stick onto your phone case. These straps are woven, so a few of mine had a loose thread at the bottom where it was folded when placed in the album.

I also put the strap on my phone case. The tightness between the case and the phone is snug enough that I didn't need to use the tape. Here I made it a bit too tight that my hand barely fit. It really looks nice and minimalist like this!

Here are some of the special cards. These cards all have a matte finish.

Here are the backsides of the special cards.

And here is a closer look at the details of Joochan's special card.

Here are some of the photocards. They all have a glossy finish.

Here are the backsides, each with the member's printed autograph, and the messages are different for each version. I'm still unsure how to classify the different photocards; previously when there were 20 photocards per album, 10 photocards would have one color on the backside while the other 10 had a different color, for easy distinction. However this time it seems like 20 photocards are white and the other 20 are black.

Here are some of the various Y inclusions for size comparison.

First Press Posters

First press albums also include a group poster and a random member poster; this poster set is packaged in a clear resealable bag and external of the album. Oddly enough my Seungmin poster came in a clear resealable bag of its own before being placed in the larger bag with the group poster.

The member posters are all A4 size and matte, and have that same design on the back.

Here is the group poster, which is quite clear unlike Golden Child's grainy Gol-Cha! posters. This poster is matte and quite smaller than Golden Child's usual external posters. It's about 4 A4s put together.

Tracklist

This mini album contains 7 tracks:

1. TAKE OFF - the intro leading up to the title. Both intro and title of this album are created by BLSSD, just like the previous two installments of Golden Child's "self-discovery" trilogy. 
2. ONE(LUCID DREAM) - Woollim really went all in with this comeback, evident in the music video production. This is Golden Child's first music video where each member gets his own unique setting. As for the song itself, the sound fits perfectly well with the previous titles "Wannabe" and "Without You" and fit this continuing mature vibe.
3. 훅 들어와(OMG) - is created by LEEZ and Ollounder, the duo behind "YTMOB", as well as Infinite's "I Hate" and Lovelyz' "LOVE GAME". Golden Child also promoted this track, and all for good reason! It is one of my favorite Golden Child songs due to how fresh, upbeat, energetic, and fun the song and choreography are! All throughout Re-boot era I was really worried that Golden Child was literally rebooting to this mature concept for good, so I was really over the top excited not only to hear this type of song in the album, but that Golden Child would also be promoting this track! AND they even have their own branded basketball jerseys to top it off! I am just so happy that Golden Child are going back to their youthful style and really hope they'll continue with this type of concept!
4. 혼잣말 - (Moment) this ballad was created by 1Take and TAK, who also created Golden Child's upbeat b-sides "What Happened" and "If", along with "Lately" and "No Matter What". These remaining 4 tracks all have a really soothing sound, contrasting well with the title and promoted b-side.
5. MAKE ME LOVE - this track was co-created by Stardust/Razer who also created "SEA", "I'm Falling", "I See You", as well as many of Woollim's songs. As I'm sure many others feel, the beginning is too cringy for me (I'm sorry Jangjun! I'm still proud of you for your English!), but other than that the song sounds really nice~!
6. H.E.R(그녀에게) - this track is co-created by Spacecowboy, one of the members of One Piece who has created many of Lovelyz' title tracks. Of these last 4 tracks, this one is my favorite! Jibeom's vocals continue to stand out and this song is just so soothing to listen to~
7. PASS ME BY - the closing track is co-created by BLSSD. This song is very soothing and gives such a different feeling than BLSSD's title tracks, giving a nice balance to their repertoire. 

Overall, this has been quite an era and quite a trilogy! I'm really proud of all the achievements Golden Child and Goldenness have hit, and how big the fandom has grown within these past few months. Last year's drought was really difficult but I'm so happy that Golden Child was able to have 3 comebacks within the past 8 months. This trilogy really showed a different, mature style of Golden Child and really broadened their music and concept. Now that this trilogy is over, it feels like Golden Child is now open to try any concept or go back to their fresh and energetic concept (the latter is really what I'm hoping for!). 

Ordering My Golden Child Take A Leap Albums via Makestar

Golden Child is already making their second comeback of 2020 with fourth mini album Take A Leap, released on June 23rd. With COVID, Golden Child is offering video calls instead of the traditional fansigns. I opted for pre-ordering from Makestar here.

Makestar Details:

• Album sales through this project will be reflected as initial sales for Hanteo, Gaon, and Music Bank charts
• 30 winners will be selected to video call with Golden Child (about one minute per member)
• Application period (meaning pre-ordering) is from 2PM KST on June 12th to 11:59PM KST on June 23rd
• Winners will be announced at 6PM KST on June 24th
• Video call event is at 7PM KST on June 28th
• Winners will also have one of their purchased albums personally signed (they will sign using the Starmaker name you indicated at purchase); if winner didn't answer their call, they will also receive a member proof shot digitally
• Albums will be sent after the event
• Each album purchase counts as one chance to be chosen for the video call event
• You can only win the event once, even if you have multiple entries
• Each album comes with 2 random limited Makestar photocards (out of 10)
• There is also a PR event for applicants - leave a cheering message on the project page along with the link of you promoting this Makestar project on another platform. 20 winners will each receive a random member signed Polaroid

I'll go into how I decided how many albums to order, but first I need to break down the album inclusions (including Makestar's inclusion):

• A version and B version
• 1 special card (out of 10, same for both versions)
• 1 phone strap (out of 10, same for both versions)
• 1 remover sticker (out of 10, different for each version)
• 3 photocards (out of 40, same for both versions)
• 1 group poster (one design total)
• 1 special poster (out of 10, same for both versions)
• 2 Makestar photocards (out of 10, same for both versions)

My first thought was that Woollim has pushed their luck in trying to get me to collect everything, including FORTY PHOTOCARDS. But then I started to reason out, each album comes with 3 photocards, and there are so many other inclusions that it's totally doable to collect everything. Especially because it's a lot harder to buy inclusions through eBay now, and because as an international Ness I finally have a chance at an album event, it made sense to go all in this time (though looking back for Re-boot I ended up with 10 normals and 4 deluxes...that also felt like going pretty in).

So I made this spreadsheet based on Makestar's prices (all in USD)...

Sorry if the photo is hard to see. But basically the total cost per album dropped from $23 USD if buying 2 albums to under $16 USD if buying at least 12 albums. And if collecting all 40 photocards is the main goal, I'd have to buy 14 albums to have 42 photocards. And with buying 14 albums, I'd have 14 special cards, straps, and special posters, all out of 10. I'd have almost 3 full sets of the Makestar photocards. The only thing I'd be missing is 3 stickers of each version. Of course there is always a great chance for duplicates, but that's why trading exists~ Therefore I settled on getting 14 albums. And to my really pleasant surprise, two friends reached out offering their video call chances to me, so in total I placed an order for 18 albums.

Makestar's video call project was released just as Woollim released the album details, along with the Synnara video call fansign. So it was clear to me to buy from Makestar as it was much more international friendly and for the video call chance. But on June 16th My Music Taste also announced a global video call event, with their own set of 10 unreleased photocards. Here are my personal downsides of MMT if I were only to choose between Makestar and MMT:

• An English interpreter is included (this is probably a plus, but think of it that they'll be wasting the precious time that Golden Child could be staring at you instead)
• You can't choose which album version you'd like; it's random
• The event date is TBA
• The 30 winners are announced on June 30th, after Makestar's (a downside if you want your album sooner)
• Shipping is super expensive - the total came up to $35 for 1 album (no group or special member poster), $38 for 1 album (posters included) and $317 for 18 albums (posters included; as opposed to $276 from Makestar)
• If you miss your video call as a winner, that's it, whereas with Makestar you still get a member proof shot

The only upside of going with MMT is probably it is less competitive than Makestar's due to the late release date and significantly more expensive shipping.

The wait for my albums was tough, especially since I had to wait until after the event was over before Makestar sent out my order. But I figured that I should buy all my albums from one source for the best chance at the video call, and even if I don't win, the price was really good and the order came with the additional photocards and I could try to collect all the photocards from the same source.

Makestar announced the winners of the video call event and PR Polaroid event, and luck wasn't on my side this time. Makestar also updated the summary page by listing their 3 steps for delivery:

1. Order within the given timeframe 
2. After the project ends, Makestar will produce the limited rewards, taking 1-2 weeks on average (this is for pre-order projects, not funding projects)
3. Worldwide shipping starts

On June 25th, Makestar sent an email that production is complete and that the shipping process will begin after 11:59PM KST on the 28th. This email stated that you can also change your shipping address. As a note, prior to the winner announcement, Makestar also sent 2 emails stating that you can modify the comments section of your order if you need to change your video call info. On June 29th, the project page updated the status to "checking delivery information". On July 6th, the status updated to "reward shipping start".

On July 3rd, Makestar announced a second video call event that includes a different set of unreleased photocards. However this time the posters are not included. On July 22nd, Makestar announced an encore video call event where it would be 3 minutes with 1 member, and again a different set of unreleased photocards.

My friend and I did some research, and we found out that the posters are external. She ordered her albums from Kpoptown and chose "no poster", and she really didn't receive a group poster or special individual member poster. This is definitely different from Without You where the individual member poster was folded up and included inside the album.

On Wednesday, July 15th, I received an email from DHL stating that my Makestar package has shipped and is scheduled to arrive on Monday, July 20th. I have always had the best service and shipping time with DHL (usually I receive my package in 2 days), however I was disappointed that this time it took 5 days (or 3 business days); what was even more frustrating is that other American Makestar participants received theirs on Thursday or Friday, including my friend in the same city as me. For some reason my package took a detour to Hong Kong instead of coming straight to the US from Incheon. Regardless, I received my package on Monday.

The 18 albums came well packaged, with thick bubblewrap filling up all the space within the cardboard box.

Removing the bubblewrap reveals the first press posters at the very top, followed by 9 copies of one version and then 9 copies of the other version at the bottom, along with the Makestar photocards.

Please note that this is not an unboxing post - this is more of a recap of ordering from Makestar and my pulls. I'll have a more thorough unboxing post coming up!

Here's the order my posters were sent. While the individual poster and group poster are bundled together and are outside of the album, it's still randomized and Makestar wasn't able to give me every member.

Instead, I got 3 Daeyeol posters, 6 Jaehyun posters, 5 Jibeom posters, and 1 each of Tag, Seungmin, Donghyun, and Bomin.

Makestar bundled up 4 of their exclusive photocards per pack, so I received a total of 9 packs.

Here are all my pulls from all 9 packs. There were no duplicate within each pack for me, however my friend received 2 Jaehyun photocards within 1 of her packs. Towards the end I was getting worried if Jibeom would show up, and luckily he did~

Here are all the Makestar photocards, sorted by member.

Here is a closer look at the entire Makestar photocard set. As a reminder, this is for the first Makestar event; the second and third events include different sets of photocards.

Here are the backsides of the photocards. These cards are all glossy.

Here are how the albums were placed within my package, with some albums upside down.

All the inclusions are spread out throughout the photobook. It was really nerve wracking opening up each album; with so many albums coming from the same order, I was worried if the inclusions would all be duplicates.

I started with opening my 7 copies of Version B. After opening the first 2, I was getting really worried that all the cards would continue being the same. These both had the Joochan special card, Jangjun strap, and the same Daeyeol, Tag, and Donghyun photocards.

So instead I didn't open the third one (since I had 9 on hand, but only 7 were mine). So I opened the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 9th albums and these were my pulls.

I opened 7 copies of Version A, and luckily my pulls were a bit more diverse. I was a bit more strategic in choosing which albums to open; I ended up opening the 1st, 5th, 7th, 9th, 3rd, 2nd, and 8th.

After opening up the 14 albums, these were my pulls:

Special Card: Daeyeol x3, Y x2, Jangjun, Seungmin, Jibeom, Joochan x6.

Blue Sticker: Daeyeol, Y, Tag, Joochan x4
White Sticker: Daeyeol, Y, Jangjun, Seungmin x2, Jibeom, Joochan

Strap: Y x2, Jangjun x4, Tag x2, Jaehyun x2, Donghyun x2, Bomin x2

Photocard: (I'm not sure what the official naming convention is, so I'll make up my own)
Daeyeol A x3, Daeyeol B, Y A, Jangjun A x4, Jangjun B x4, Jangjun C, Tag A x4, Seungmin A x3, Jaehyun A, Jibeom A, Jibeom B x2, Donghyun A x6, Donghyun B x2, Joochan A, Joochan B, Joochan C, Bomin A, Bomin B x4

Well this has been a long post in the making! With lots of duplicates and lots of missing items means lots of trading ahead~ And again I will be blogging about unboxing these albums in an upcoming post.

Ryu Su Jeong: Tiger Eyes 1st Mini Album Review

The drought is real for Lovelinus with Lovelyz' most recent comeback back on May 20th, 2019 with "Beautiful Days". But on the bright side, Lovelyz' second youngest member Ryu Sujeong has made her official debut on Wednesday, May 20th, 2020 with the release of her first mini album Tiger Eyes!

Times are strange so I wasn't sure how I'd get my hands on a copy of the album within a reasonable amount of time. I called LA Kpop shop Music Plaza to inquire, and they said that they should receive Sujeong's album Thursday, May 28th or Friday, May 29th, and then it should be shipped out the week after and delivered by the third week of June. That sounded reasonable enough, so I pre-ordered one copy for about $22 USD shipped. I called Music Plaza again on June 1st, and they said that the album arrived at their store on May 28th. My album then shipped on June 2nd, and arrived on June 9th.

To my pleasant surprise, the album very well packaged in a sturdy cardboard box with one thick layer of bubblewrap, along with two freebies of IU and Taeyeon.

The album comes in a large holographic resealable bag, similar to Rocket Punch's first two mini albums. Unfortunately this means we have to rip it open to get to the contents, and worse, there is a sticker here that can't be preserved.

The sticker continues onto the back side of the packaging as well. There is also a sticker at the bottom with the album details.

I used scissors to cut through the top but still tried to preserve as much as I could. Inside is the photobook, with all additional contents inside the book.

The backside of the photobook has the tracklist and album credits.

While the exterior bag is quite large, the actual photobook is the same size as Ji Yeon's first mini album, roughly 6.75" by just under 9".

The front cover of the photobook has a glossy sheen while the border, spine, and back cover have a matte finish. The quality is really nice because they're not prone to fingerprints.

The photobook contains 80 gorgeous pages spanning over five different photoshoots. The first photoshoot is from the album cover. This is one of the two full two-page spreads included in the photobook.

The second photoshoot is of Sujeong in a strapless two-piece dress. I love the eerie yet magical feel the photos give, especially this one!

I am absolutely in love with this photoshoot. Sujeong pulls off this look so well, and I love how she shows different sides to her in these shots!

The fourth photoshoot is with this outfit.

The final photoshoot is my favorite - Sujeong looks like a rockstar in this outfit!

Sujeong really pulls off this style so well.

She is just absolutely so gorgeous, everything about this look is perfect.

This is my favorite page! Not only am I in love with this outfit, but the layout just makes it so interesting.

It's really simple, but I love how they mix up the layout throughout the photobook.

Each page has at most two photos.

Each track gets one page with the lyrics and song credits printed, and these pages are spread throughout the photobook.

Towards the end is Sujeong's thanks to note.

At the end are the album credits.

Slipped within the first few pages was the photocard.

And further into the photobook was the sticker.

Each album comes with one random photocard out of three. I'm really happy to have gotten this one, because it's one of my favorite outfits from the music video and no photos with this outfit were included in the photobook. Also each album comes with a matte sticker, the same one I had to ruin while opening the album!

Here are the backs of the photocard and sticker. The photocard has a glossy finish.

At the very back were the postcards.

Each album comes with the same set of four matte postcards. The postcards are about 4.75" by just under 6.75".

The quality of these are really nice, and even the design on the back are all different.

The very back cover has an extra flap to house the CD.

Here is how it looks like flipping the flap over once.

Here is how the disc looks.

This mini album contains 7 tracks. I by no means understand music but here are my thoughts on each track:

1. Be Cautious - The intro track leading up to the title track. 
2. Tiger Eyes - This title track along with the album concept show a new side of Sujeong! Here she seems so fierce and subtly powerful and just exudes this confidence. She mentioned how unsure she was of this concept but she definitely rocked it! And for a Lovelyz member to have non-natural colored hair as well (besides red which is close to being natural anyways), such a change!
3. CALL BACK - This track, along with the intro+title, are probably the most diverse in this mini album. It's not my style but I'm glad that Sujeong can express such diverse styles of music.
4. 너의 이름 (Your Name) - The remaining four tracks on this album have a similar feel, all are Sujeong really sharing her calming and soothing voice. These are definitely my style^^
5. 42= - This is just such a pretty song; I really like the style along with Sujeong's calming voice here.
6. 나,니 (NA, NI) - This just feels like a feel-good song, a great pick-me-up!
7. 자장가 (zz) - Also known as "Lullaby" on Superstar Woollim, the lyrics and composition were created by Sujeong herself! I'm so happy she was able to share her own work on this album. Her soothing voice matches this relaxing song so much and fits so well with the English title, and it really rounds out the overall tracklist really nicely.

Overall, I'm happy to see that Lovelyz is established to the point of debuting member solos (I'm talking full-blown solos with physical albums and full promotions), though it is amazing that the members have showcased their vocal talents since before debut through previously released digital singles). I feel so proud seeing Sujeong really owning the stage and doing so well, and I can't wait to see future promotions for her and the rest of Lovelyz!