[Review] Amber - Shake That Brass (feat. Taeyeon)

Continuing with S.M. Entertainment's entourage of solo artist releases, Amber finally gets her time in the spotlight. The undermarketed rapper of f(x) would surely deliver something lively and funky along with solid vocals and good rapping.

Unfortunately, "Shake That Brass" is a really...dull song, considering that Amber is involved. Even for f(x) standards this song is pretty mediocre. The rapping overall is pretty simple and easy to follow along, though it's still better than most anything Amber has rapped under f(x). The few parts where she sings is not that impressive either, and we've seen how smooth and pretty Amber's voice can be, so if the rapping was subpar I was hoping they'd make up for it with better vocals. Though I guess that's why Taeyeon was involved. Taeyeon's parts receive a score of 50%. Her "actual" feature towards the end of the song is divine and everything that you'd imagine. However, using her for short little bursts throughout was really weak and they could've used pretty much anyone in that position. Or better yet, just omit that part entirely, since those parts were obviously the weakest links. If Taeyeon had been limited to her parts at the end I might have claimed this to be the best utilized feature in 2015, and clever timing given Taeyeon's getting solo work soon. However, the mediocre insertions in the earlier parts of the song mar this potential masterpiece of a feature.

Now the video on the other hand is equal parts colourful and fun. Amber's sassy charisma is on point throughout the video and her "Whatever / YOLO" eye rolling at 2:56 is just what you'd expect from her. Box sets are plenty but the laundromat gave a nice change of setting, as did the shots with all of Amber's friends. Shame it was recorded in a literal blank box. I wanted to see more of the antics with all these superstar cameos (miss A's Jia, Rainbow's Woori, GOT7's Jackson to name but a few), because all we got was already seen from the teaser(s). Still, it's a good MV without a doubt.

I would hesitate to call Amber's "Shake That Brass" the weakest solo debut out of S.M. thus far. It's lively, fun, and has beautiful work from Taeyeon towards the end. However, everything else out of Amber is just average, and Amber's reputation is not about being average, and when compared to the smooth heroics of Zhou Mi's "Rewind" and Jonghyun's stellar "Crazy," Amber does find herself looking in from the outside.

[ Overall: 78 / 100 ]