Golden Child: DDARA 2nd Repackage Album Review

2021 has been a very busy year of musical releases for Golden Child, starting with fifth mini album YES. back on January 25th, then second full album Game Changer on August 2nd, and now second repackage album Ddara on October 5th! Ddara is the repackage of Game Changer, which makes sense for the quick turnaround when it comes to Woollim's repackage albums. I blogged about ordering my Ddara albums here. Below I'll blog about both versions of the album.

Preorder / First Press Benefits

Each album comes with a mini poster set; there is only one version of this set. Each set comes in its own clear resealable bag.

This mini poster set comes with 2 posters. The images are the same photos used on the back covers of the albums. These posters are made of thin matte paper with dimensions 8.3125" by 11.75".

The backsides of the posters have the members' printed signatures, which are the same for both posters. The background images are from the respective sets.

This era also includes 2 first press exterior posters, one from each photoshoot. This poster is from the Version A album. Strangely enough the dimensions of the Game Changer posters went back to Woollim's normal sized posters matching Gol-Cha! through Without You, however the dimensions of these Ddara posters are back to matching those of the Take A Leap, Pump It Up, and YES. posters.

Here is the poster representing the Version B album. These posters are matte and high quality, which is a refreshing change from Woollim's past grainy posters.These images are the same as the album covers. I received both folded posters, and I'm grateful that the folds don't take away from the images; the folds are perfectly in between members and not through their faces.

Album Packaging

Here are the front covers of both album versions, with Version A on the left with a Kingsman/gambling theme, and Version B on the right with a classy black and white theme. You can also see the new font used for this era. These albums have a matte finish.

Each back cover contains another group photo from that respective photoshoot.

The spines list the album title.

These albums are the largest of Golden Child's discography so far, in both height and width (but not thickness), with dimensions 9.75" by 13.6875" by 0.375". You can see just how big these Ddara albums are on the far left, in comparison to the Wish through Take A Leap albums. The Ddara albums are also packaged like hardcover photobooks, and added with the large size makes these albums feel like picture books for toddlers^^ I really do like the packaging, as the hardcover makes the album higher quality and more durable.

Photobooks

Each photobook contains 76 pages. For the first page and last few pages of the photobooks, I'll compare both versions. Version A in white is on top while Version B is below in black.

The last page contains the album credits.

The inside of the back cover has a horizontal slit for the CD, along with a paper pocket storing the album inclusions.

Here are the CD designs (Version B on top and Version A on bottom). It's very subtle but the Version A CD matches the random wall photo from the photoshoot, while the Version B CD appears to be of a similar design. 

Version A Photobook

All the photos from the Version A album are from the same shoot that gives off gambling Kingsman vibes. The photobook begins with a group photo over a 2-page spread. I love how bongbeom and jangyoon are paired together^^

Next there are 2 pages per member, with 1 photo per page.

Each pair of pages has a different layout, and some include a random image from the set. I am in love with Jibeom in that hat!

I also love how high quality these photos are, and though there is still wasted space, at least the photobook is quite large so the photo itself is large enough.

This look is probably my most favorite of Seungmin! I can't get over how much of a boss he looks in that chair?!

Next there are 2 black-and-white images of items from the set, with transparency paper in between.

Here is how the transparency looks on one side.

And here is how the transparency looks on the other side. It's really cool how the image works both ways.

The next 20 pages contain 2 more pages per member, with 1 member photo per page. Again there are some random images from the set, and each page layout is different.

While this is a somewhat somber shoot, I like how subtly playful it is like with Y holding up the card to his eye.

I can't get over how we've seen Bomin grow up over the years! He looks so mature now!

Like with Seungmin from this photoshoot, this is definitely one of my favorite looks for Daeyeol! His hair color and suit fit him so well!

The hats they chose for this shoot are absolutely spot on! Tag pulls off this hat so well.

It's also crazy seeing Donghyun rocking this concept; he's grown so much too!

There's another group photo, which was well chosen as no member is lost within the spine of the book.

There is another transparency page in between 2 pages of an unevenly painted wall. Here is how 1 side of the transparency paper looks.

And here is the other side of the transparency paper. I lowkey wish the page were in color as it would add so much more, but it is what it is.

The next 6 pages contain 1 photo per member, starting with Seungmin, Jibeom, and Bomin. All of Jibeom's photos fit his and Tag's unit music video for "Game" so well!

Next are Daeyeol, Y, Jaehyun, and Donghyun.

Lastly are Jangjun, Tag, and Joochan. I really can't get over Tag's look; he looks like a professor or psych!

Next there is one page per track, containing the track credits and song lyrics.

There is another group photo, which sadly doesn't fit well with this orientation.

There is one more group photo, which I love how it maximizes the page, followed by a group special thanks to message. It's disappointing that these past few albums only include a group message rather than individual messages.

Version B Photobook

The Version B photobook contains all photos from this black-and-white outfit shoot. The layout of this photobook is the same as the Version A photobook, starting with a group photo.

I initially wasn't too fond of this photoshoot (The outfits? The hairstyles? The simple background? Something just felt missing), but it has since grown on me. The outfits do match the set well.

The simplicity of these outfits are also growing on me, and I love how natural their visuals are (not so much the pose though^^).

Seungmin is really killing it this era! He looks so sharp and even just casually leaning against the wall he is absolutely stunning. They've really styled him well this entire year, as if making up for the earlier eras.

This shade suits Daeyeol so well! And with his presence and attire, he really looks like a maître d' at an upscale restaurant^^

I really like the artistic elements to some of these photos, like the drape subtly covering Joochan in both of these photos.

Here is how the first transparency paper looks, in between 2 photos that make up a washed out version of the background of the group photos from this shoot.

And here is the other side of the transparency paper.

Jaehyun seriously looks like he's in a perfume ad! His brushed back hair and fitted attire make him look like royalty~

Y gazing into the distance is so pretty~

Jibeom always has such a strong gaze that is just so captivating~

I love how soft Tag looks throughout this entire shoot!

Bomin's highlights were a shocker at first (but nothing compares to A Woo!) but they've grown on me as well!

Here is another group photo over a 2-page spread, and again they edited it well where no member is stuck in the spine (I took a bad photo but note that Joochan isn't stuck in the middle!).

Here is the second transparency paper, in between a monochromatic wall background. Here is how 1 side of the transparency paper looks against this background.

Here is the other side of the transparency. Again it would've been perfect if this photo were in color to stand out more against the monotone background.

The next 6 pages contain 1 photo per member, starting off with baejangtaek^^ I really like the subtle drapery behind Jangjun; it adds nice composition and a hint of added elegance.

Next are Y, Jibeom, Joochan, and Bomin.

And lastly are Daeyeol, Jaehyun, and Donghyun.

The pages dedicated to each track are the same in both versions.

Here is another group photo, again quite small compared to how large the actual page is.

There is one last group photo, along with the group's special thanks to message.

Inclusions

Each album version comes with a special card. Here are how both versions look like, containing a group photo from that respective photoshoot as well as the album information printed in a typewriter font. There is a perforated line separating the photo from the text, making it feel like a ticket stub. The dimensions are 2.375" by 4.75".

The backs of both special cards are the same, listing the tracklist of Ddara.

Each album comes with a random film photo out of 10. This is made of thick cardboard with 2 photos on a film strip inside the cardboard, with one photo from the Version A photoshoot and one photo from the Version B photoshoot. The printed text includes the member's squad number (it's nice seeing Woollim still identify the boys with their numbers since Woollimpick!), along with artist name and album title in that typewriter font matching the Special Card.

Here is the backside of the film photo. The text on this side includes the album title and member name. The dimensions are roughly 5.5" by 2.625" by 0.0625".

Here is a look at the edge of this film photo. It's actually two slabs of cardboard put together with the film photo in between, however the quality isn't so great so the layers are separating...

Each album comes with 2 random photocards out of 50. I can't believe Woollim is being so generous this time around, as opposed to YES.'s 1 out of 50, or Game Changer's 2 out of 100. Each member has 5 photocards; 3 from the Version A photoshoot and 2 from the Version B photoshoot. These photocards are glossy and have the same dimensions as Game Changer.

The backside of each photocard has the member's printed autograph and message. The color of the back indicates what photoshoot the photo is from, with white from Version A and black from Version B.

Tracklist

This repackage album contains all tracks from Game Changer along with new title "DDARA" and B-side "OASIS".

• DDARA - is the title track, created by BLSSD who also worked on all 3 titles from Golden Child's "self-discovery" trilogy! The song and concept give a classy feel and I love how there's absolutely no storyline to the music video; it just feels very refreshing after having such intense, world-ending storylines this year from "Burn It" and "Ra Pam Pam".
• OASIS - is this album's new B-side, with Tag writing the lyrics and co-composing and co-arranging! It's really heartwarming seeing his own song actually on an album and on Golden Child's official discography, and the meaning itself is so special with how Tag views his members as an oasis and wanting them all to take a well-deserved rest.

Overall, it has been another solid year for Golden Child and their musical growth. All 3 album releases this year had darker tones (especially with the post-apocalyptic concepts for "Burn It" and "Ra Pam Pam"), but the bright B-sides and solo/unit tracks from Game Changer created a nice balance. For DDARA in particular, I like how we're ending the year on a sophisticated yet light-hearted note. The photoshoots for this era are really elegant, though my favorite outfits by far are the paisley suits used in the music video. And now as 2022 is approaching, I'm looking forward to what the new year has in store for Golden Child and Goldenness, starting with Golden Child's Japan debut!

Ordering from Romantic Crown Online

My love for the Korean clothing brand Romantic Crown, to no one's surprise, started with Golden Child. This brand has an overall casual preppy style, and what I love is that most items are unisex; the item pages even show male and female models so you can see various ways to style the product. The Golcha members wear pieces from this brand both off schedule and on schedule, with the most recent occurrence being some of the sweaters from Golden Child's 2022 Season's Greetings!

Since I've blogged about buying from Romantic Crown at their Gangnam flagship store here, I figured I'd also make a quick post about ordering from their online global store.

Romantic Crown has Korean, American (global), Chinese, and Japanese sites. I ordered through the global site, which accepts PayPal for an easy paying method. As a note, I checked out Romantic Crown's Black Friday sale, which applied to the Korean site but not the global site.

Right away I knew I wanted the Preppy Knit Cardigan in Oatmeal, which can be found here. This is the cardigan that Jaehyun wore for the upcoming season's greetings; it works even better because I love cardigans and cream shades (this perfectly describes the piece I bought in their store^^). This cardigan comes in S, M, L, and XL; I chose small. The cardigan is $89 USD, and with only one shipping option the shipping is $38.51 USD.

To make the most of the expensive shipping, I decided to also buy the Woman Lining Knit Vest in Navy, which can be found here. This vest comes in S and M; I chose small. Shipping for both the cardigan and vest together is $56.82 USD (shipping for just the vest alone would have been $38.31 USD).

I placed my order on November 17th. The website updates the the order status frequently so I was able to check when it shipped out. My order shipped out on November 23rd and a tracking number was provided on my shipment email as well as my order page. They used the domestic service Fastbox, which shipped my package within Korea before sending it overseas via EMS. From the Fastbox tracking page, they provided me the global tracking number which I was able to use on both Korea Post and USPS tracking sites.

I received my package via USPS on November 30th. The exterior packaging is a branded plastic bag which adds a nice touch.

My two items came each in their own clear plastic ziplock bag, and each article has their own tag. My cardigan also came with an extra button. As a note, there were no freebies included in my order, while I did receive a sticker sheet in my in-store order. On December 2nd, Romantic Crown posted on Instagram that they are doing a sticker sheet giveaway for their 21FW Child Childhood line while supplies last with links to both the Korean online site and global online site, so online orders do quality for freebies.

Here is the cardigan! This is a size small (as a reminder, this is a unisex piece), and it feels oversized for a comfy fit. I absolutely love the mismatched design, giving a nice spin on a staple preppy cardigan. This piece is definitely my style and it's a bonus that Jaehyun wore it in Golden Child's upcoming season's greetings^^

Golden Child: Ddara Woollim Mall Merch Review

Golden Child came back with their second full repackage album Ddara on October 5th, 2021, and Woollim Mall had quite the turnaround by already announcing the list of official merchandise for this era on October 8th at 11:30AM KST.

Golden Child 2nd Album Repackage [DDARA] Official MD:

• HOODIE (black or white) / 65,000₩ / $55.06 USD
• L HOLDER SET / 25,000₩ / $21.18 USD

Preorders for these items are from October 8th at 2PM through October 14th at 23:59PM KST. This round of merchandise has this preorder window, however Woollim Mall still lists the L Holder Set for sale (as of November 14th).

On October 12th, Woollim Mall also announced a Polaroid event where customers who purchase at least 50,000₩ worth of [DDARA] MD are automatically entered into a lottery to win 1 of 10 Polaroids.

On the last day of preorders, October 14th at 10:02AM KST, Woollim Mall posted a clearer preview image of the merch. Honestly this made me less excited for the L holder set as it confirmed the photos were from the Ddara Version B album shoot instead of perhaps another photoshoot with alternate outfits from the music video.

Again,I'm not really enticed to buy from Woollim Mall for the chance of a Polaroid (because what are the odds). It took a few days for Kpoptown to list both items, but when they did (prior to Woollim Mall's preorder period ending) I ordered from there. On Kpoptown, the Hoodie is $64.90 USD (I chose only to purchase the white version), the L Holder Set is $25.90 USD, and DHL shipping was $29.00 USD, for a total of $119.80 USD. Ordering the same two items via Woollim Mall would have totalled to $132.91 USD.

Both items are expected to ship starting on November 8th.

My friend had ordered hers through Woollim Mall and received hers on November 10th. And as a pleasant surprise, hers arrived with a signed Polaroid! Her Polaroid was wrapped in bubblewrap. 

I received an email from Kpoptown on November 10th notifying me that my package has shipped. My packaged arrived on November 12th!

My package came in a small cardboard box with my merch wrapped in an outer layer of bubblewrap. The hoodie came in a plastic bag packaging that was folded in half, and to the right were 2 air pocket bags to keep everything snug.

Underneath the hoodie is the L holder set wrapped in bubblewrap.

As I took out the hoodie bag, I couldn't believe my eyes! (Cue "내 눈을 의심해"^^) There was a signed Polaroid of Bomin in a clear sleeve taped onto the packaging! I'm seriously at a loss for words, taking in my bad luck with online orders, and then my most recent good luck of receiving my first signed Polaroid not even two weeks ago. I thought I had forgone the chance of winning a Polaroid by choosing Kpoptown, but I'm so grateful it did work out. It's interesting how my Polaroid was packaged like this, as opposed to my friend's with bubblewrap; it makes me wonder if Kpoptown intentionally received the Polaroid and stuck it to my order, or if Woollim Mall packaged the Polaroid like that and Kpoptown left it as is.

Here is a closer look at the Polaroid^^ It's the same background as my friend's Polaroid too; I wonder where and when they took these! And I still can't believe I now have signed Polaroids of my first two biases!

And here are the Ddara merchandise! As a callout, the product sticker is larger and different in design.

Hoodie

The hoodie comes in a black plastic zip lock bag. The product sticker with the holographic Woollim seal is on the front of the bag.

Here is how the hoodie looks straight out of the bag.

And here is the hoodie! It is one size, made of cotton, and comes in either black or white. There is a large kangaroo pocket. The backside is the same color as well. The music video screenshot is of different material from Golden Child's past tops ("One" tee, "Bong Bong" tee, and YES. hoodie), where this time the image feels like the same material as the hoodie itself. Additional details include wide but thin drawstrings with sewn edges with metal openings at the end of the hood, and the DDARA era Golden Child logo at the end of the left sleeve.

Here is a closer look at the image of the hoodie. You can see there is a faint edge between the creamish background of the screenshot and the white of the hoodie. This is the reason I chose a white hoodie, so that the image would be more seamless than a cream rectangular box on a black hoodie.

I always love the branding of Golden Child's clothes and the little details put into them, such as the clothing tag. The tag inside the neckline is the same as the one on the "Bong Bong" tee, with the Game Changer era Golden Child logo printed on it (which is weird since DDARA does have its own font and era logo).

The backside of the hoodie just under the neckline has "DDARA" printed in black with this era's font.

As this hoodie is one size like all of Golden Child's clothes so far, it is quite large and roomy. I'm 5'4" and 105lb, and this is how the hoodie fits on me. The sleeves are quite long that just the tips of my fingers barely stick out, and the body is a nice length that my jean pockets are almost fully covered. The hoodie itself is not too thick and not too thin, so it's nice to wear underneath a jacket if I'm going out in the colder months.

L Holder Set

The L holder set comes in a paper envelope, and the outer packaging is a clear plastic resealable bag.

Here is the backside of the packaging. The envelope flap itself is fully made of paper without any sticky substance so you don't need to risk damaging the envelope when opening it. The center of the flap has the DDARA era Golden Child logo. The new product sticker with the holographic Woollim seal is on the backside of the clear bag.

Here are how the contents were packaged inside the envelope: the 10 posters in age order starting with Daeyeol, and then the two L holders at the bottom.

To everyone's surprise, the two L holders are the same exact image. I originally thought Eline messed up yet again, but on the bright side you can now use one L holder and preserve the other one.

Here is the L holder with the Daeyeol poster inside. Even though the holder is translucent, you can hardly see the image of the poster.

These L holders are made of plastic film and are meant to hold A4 sized documents. The backside has "DDARA" and "Golden Child" printed in this era's font.

The posters are A4 size and are more like large glossy postcards with white backs. The fronts are prone to fingerprints.

Here are Seungmin, Jaehyun, Jibeom, and Donghyun.

And here are Joochan and Bomin.

Overall, I'm really happy that Woollim Mall has been holding events for their various official MD, and even more happy that I can confirm that there are winners for the Polaroid events, especially since they don't notify the winners and it's a matter of properly checking your package to see if a surprise Polaroid made it in^^ I am also beyond happy with both Woollim Mall and Kpoptown for this experience especially when I've had trouble with both companies. As for the Ddara merchandise, I like the variety of practical items (hoodie and L holder) and paper goods (posters). I also like how the hoodie uses an image outside of the Ddara album photobooks.

Ordering My Golden Child Ddara Albums via Ktown4u and Makestar

It's been quite the year for Golden Child in terms of music releases with the group releasing their second repackage album Ddara on October 5th, 2021. On September 23rd just after 3PM KST,Woollim dropped the album details: 2 normal versions (Woollim became more generous this time with offering 2 random photocards out of 50 amongst both versions; there is also 1 random film photo out of 10 amongst both versions). Preorders also opened at 3PM.

Oddly enough I've felt so burnt out with collecting for each era this year (I'm about 50% complete for both YES. and Game Changer normal album inclusions with no hopes of finishing them) that I didn't feel motivated to buy multiple copies this era (which I never thought was possible...). But after some debate, my friend and I decided to order multiple copies from 2 sites and split the pulls for better randomization.

The album is quite large so shipping is higher, so my friends and I didn't want to go crazy on ordering too many albums. I preordered 2 sets (4 albums total) from Ktown4u, which came with 4 folded first press external posters (2 versions) and 4 sets of the first press mini poster sets (2 posters within 1 set) with DHL shipping for about $123 USD. My friend preordered 2 sets (4 albums total) from Makestar, which came with the same first press benefits as Ktown4u plus 1 Makestar exclusive holographic photocard per album, with DHL shipping for about $103 USD. Even though Makestar is substantially cheaper, we figured that we'd get our Ktown albums faster and have better, more randomized pulls than from Makestar.

I had another order from Ktown (the Singles magazine, Eunbi albums, and Etude House cream) which I had preordered prior to the magazine's September 24th release date but still hadn't shipped for weeks. I was getting weary of Ktown, and then on October 11th at 12PM KST, Makestar announced a Ddara 1:1 video call event with an October 14th KST order deadline. I decided to cancel my Ktown Ddara order (which I think prompted for them to finally ship out my previous Ktown order!) and look into Makestar instead. For this second Makestar event, there are no more first press benefits and again there is 1 random Makestar exclusive photocard per album out of 10 (different from the previous event). This time you have to order by the number of albums you'd like (with the versions being random), instead of having the option of buying by sets of 2. I decided to order 5 albums, and with DHL shipping the total was under $123 USD. Like usual, there was a PR event as well. The video call and PR event winner announcement would be posted on October 15th after 3PM KST.

I continued to check the event page and the announcement showed up at about 3:30PM KST. I was shocked to see that I had actually won the PR event! I'm at #8^^ There are 10 randomly selected winners for the PR event, and the prize is 1 random member's signed Polaroid out of 10 taken during the Makestar video call event from October 16th. The Polaroid will be sent along with my order. I also received an email at 3:32PM KST in both Korean and English confirming that I had won the PR event and that the Polaroid would be sent with my album(s) purchased.

The post here on out won't be heavy on details or photos as I wasn't originally planning about blogging about my Ddara album orders.

The Makestar 1 event page stated that they would start shipping on October 8th. My friend's package arrived on October 18th. Unfortunately the cardboard box took quite a beating, with a large hole on the side. Fortunately, everything was inside. Here are our pulls from Makestar 1:

• Makestar 1 exclusive holographic photocards: Daeyeol, Y, Donghyun, and Joochan (daeyoon and dongchan^^)
• Film photos: Daeyeol, Y, Jaehyun, and Donghyun
• Album photocards: 1 Y, 1 Jaehyun, 1 Jibeom, 1 Joochan, and 3 different Bomin

For the album photocards, unfortunately 1 album was missing 1 photocard so we only received 7 instead of 8 photocards. Despite missing 1 photocard, overall the pulls were satisfying since there were no duplicates amongst the 4 albums.

The Makestar 2 event page didn't state when they would start shipping (I think they might only do that for preorders), but my package shipped on October 29th and arrived on November 1st. It actually arrived along with my Woohyun With 1 event order; Woohyun's is on the left and Golden Child's is on the right. Luckily everything looked intact.

I think the Makestar boxes have really upgraded this time (or this is the first time I'm noticing it) but now there is one corner that is held together by thick staples. This applies to both my Woohyun package (top left) and Golden Child package (bottom right).

And now onto the unboxing of my Makestar 2 package! I recorded my unboxing in case my order was incorrect, which I do recommend doing for any package as mistakes do happen. Opening up my package reveals the albums stacked together and wrapped in a layer of bubblewrap, and lying on a bed of air pockets. There was still quite a lot of room in the box but regardless the albums arrived safely.

Flipping the stack of albums over revealed the Polaroid and Makestar 2 exclusive photocards!

Here is everything! The Makestar 2 exclusive photocards each came in their own penny sleeve, then inside another larger clear plastic bag that was taped onto the bubblewrap. The Polaroid also came in a penny sleeve with a sticker label with my order number, name, and winner number that was then taped onto the bubblewrap. The Polaroid definitely could've slipped out as the penny sleeve wasn't sealed shut, but regardless it is here and arrived safely! AND I CAN'T BELIEVE I GOT JIBEOM! I would genuinely be happy with any member, but I'm really extremely grateful for having Jibeom who has been my phone screen background since April 2020 and who has given me so much happiness these past few years^^

I already had this frame but nothing fitting to be framed, until now^^ It still feels so surreal to me!

Here are our pulls from Makestar 2: 

• Albums: 1 Version A and 4 Version B
• Makestar 2 exclusive photocards: Seungmin, Jaehyun, Jibeom, Donghyun, and Bomin (The order was actually Donghyun, then Jibeom, then Bomin, then Jaehyun, and then Seungmin. I couldn't express how excited I was to receive my top 3 consecutively!)
• Film photos: 2 Daeyeols, 2 Ys, and 1 Jaehyun
• Album Photocards: 1 Daeyeol, 3 Tag (1 dup), 1 Jaehyun (same as from Makestar 1), 1 Donghyun, and 4 Joochans (2 dups)

My Makestar pulls have always been bad in terms of pulling duplicates, but this is some luck to have duplicates within my package AND with my friend's Makestar 1 package. But in the end with some trades, it'll all work out^^

Coming up I'll have an unboxing post about both versions of the Ddara albums^^