REVIEW | Lee Sunmi Only Shows 1/6 of Her Talent with Her Treasure Chest of an Album

Release date: August 6, 2021
Total runtime: 19:51

Recommended for: Time travellers! No, seriously, the variety in this album varies by decades.
Not recommended for: Sensitive listeners. Some of the songs deal with heavy topics.

Lee Sunmi has returned with her brand new album: 1/6. It is quite a pleasant surprise.

You Can’t Sit with Us:

Sunmi shows off her voice and throws in an enchanting 1980s synth melody. The English rap is weird. The melody and instrumental are nice, but the lyrics are confused about the audience. The song is lacking.

To read a more detailed analysis, you can click here.

Sunny:

This song shows a brave and bold Sunmi. She utilizes her falsetto, again, which is so refreshing. Her talking/rapping isn’t bad at all in this song. Sunmi also enjoys playing around with her name when she interchanges it with the title of the song.

The music has a hypnotic feel to it as it begins with another 1980s synth combined with her alluring vocals. It feels a little repetitive at the start, but it quickly fades when the chorus drops.

There are a few references to look out for. Some include a few tongue-in-cheek references to Sunmi’s other songs. For you nerds out there, you’ll enjoy hearing “Oh, Captain, my Captain”. And for you music buffs, you’ll notice the chorus sounding similarly to Boney M’s “Sunny”.

1/6:

The song is heavy. It deals with serious feelings, such as depression. For those who have dealt with serious issues like that, this song will hit close to home.

The song serves a little groovy 1970s vibe featuring glass bells that sound like they’re about to shatter. Some parts of the song carry Sunmi’s tired-sounding voice, and given the message of the track, it works.

The track just might be Sunmi’s masterpiece.

This song gets a perfect score.

Call:

Sunmi brings out her slightly crazy side with this song. She wants one last phone call to her ex to tell them it’s over because he won’t call her back. A fun little circle.

The track itself is a simple dance track with a decent bass that brings back the 2000s.

Narcissism:

Narcissism talks about losing yourself metaphorically. It could possibly be the singer’s take on her stardom side versus her real, vulnerable side.

The track is reminiscent of the 2010s with its light, simplistic music style and steady build up in the chorus. Vocally, it’s not Sunmi’s best. She brings out her whisper/sing technique and it just doesn’t quite mesh with the song as well as it should.

Borderline:

A little bit of rock music thrown into the mix of the album. The song is entirely in English. Much like “1/6”, the song is a heavy one and not meant for everyone.

The song deals with Sunmi’s mental diagnosis. Her voice, along with the lyrics, show her vulnerability. It’s a touching song.

This song gets a perfect score.

Sunmi’s album 1/6 is full of surprises. It contains grooves inspired from the 1970s to the 2010s. It shows such musical variety in such a short album. Though, why she chose to include “You Can’t Sit With Us” in this type of album, we’ll never know. Though, “1/6” and “Borderline” are beautiful.