The three-piece female rookie group D-Unit is the first group produced by rookie management company D-Business Entertainment. As can be imagined by relationship of the prefix of the two names, the groups are connected in more ways than simply the group being a product of the CEO, who has supposedly spent years preparing for the debut of the group. This exposed relationship could potentially be a risky move: should D-Unit flop or be another underwhelming group as so many have been this summer, there would forever be a scorn on the name of D-Business. On the�other hand, should the group become more than this, the company will reap fruits from it's labour. So just how will the two fare? That remains to be seen. Though if D-Unit's first full album�yes, full album�'Welcome to Business' be any indicator for this, I believe that D-Business will have a remarkably bright future.



"Crush" is a perfect introduction to the album as a whole. Upon hearing the power of the introduction, it's clear to see that this isn't simply a group that is to thrown to the wayside. The vocal talent of the members are all laudingly strong, but what excites me is the wealth of confidence they exhibit by singing. They simply sound like a seasoned, cohesive group, not the mere trainees that they were before their company brought them together. Their control and rhythmic annunciation of the lyrics is a delight to hear, and I would consider Wooram's part singing in this song to be her strongest in the album�more on this later. She has a clear, confident, and rap-like swag to her voice that not only fits the concept of this song to a tee, but may even make some consider her to be a better talent than her older sister. Regardless, for what it is, the song is incredibly strong in every aspect, and got me quite excited for the remainder of the album. �Also, be sure to check out their acoustic practice version of this song; it's sure to leave no doubt that these musicians certainly are capabale.



The promotional single of this album is "I'm Missin' You", for which the above music video is set to. While I generally hate making comparisons to other groups in my reviews, there has been an outpouring of netizens on various social media outlets comparing this group to 2NE1. While I don't necessarily this feel that this group is directly comparable in most respects, I do feel that this song is closely related to what most consider prominent in the image and music of 2NE1. While the fierce, edgy fashion, dark theme of the music video, and heavy synthesized music are certainly worthy elements to conjure up comparisons of similarity, I feel the vocal style influence, particularly the rapping, is perhaps the primary comparison factor. I labeled this performance style "2NE1 Swag" due to the chant-like, round-about "singing", occasional flashes of some vocal talent by an individual, and vocorder-laced rapping. Those who consider themselves fans of 2NE1 can probably understand this. For those who don't understand, just listen to the primary singing styles in this song. I can certainly understand why the producers decided to compose this song to be highly similar to this well-received vocal concept and promote it as their lead-off single, for it attempts to attract an already established niche market within the breadth of K-Pop fans. While the group to this point has likely not received the desired attention by closely following this formula, this doesn't necessarily make this song a complete failure from a musical standpoint. It is as strongly produced as any K-Pop song out there, and overall is immensely enjoyable to listen to and could likely be a staple in any club setting without the need of a major remix.

I guess now would be a good time to discuss this point. As you may be familiar with, T-ARA's Boram's younger sister Wooram is one of the members of this group. While I don't have a problem whatsoever with her or her sister, I feel that her inclusion in the group at times may be purely for promotional purposes. While she's certainly a competent singer, her voice is often times nasally and can come of as annoying�though not always�when she's solely in the spotlight, which is distracting compared to the relatively rich voices of the others. Also, her image just doesn't seem to fit the concept of the group. Like Boram, Wooram simply looks like an adorable little doll, and thus I can't take seriously her portrayal of a dark and fierce attitude. The music video of "I'm Missin' You" demonstrates this clearly. While this certainly isn't a critique on the group as a whole, as Wooram does play a prominent role�so I would hope with only three members�it's just merely a distraction that I felt the need to write about.



"Late" is the first ballad of the album, and is as strong of a ballad as any in K-Pop. The thing that gets me with this piece is the harmonization of the group during the chorus of the song. This is very rarely seen in many K-Pop songs, and just speaks wonders to their vocal training. It also gives the song a sense of fullness without relying purely on instrumental tracks. I love the use of the voice in a sensual manner as well�it's incredibly tasteful for a piece of this nature. Overall this is one of the strongest R&B-based K-Pop ballads I have heard, and greatly overshadows not only just about every recent song produced in the style, but it also lightyears ahead of the next track.



"Turn The Lights On" is far to slow to be enjoyed to any extent. What I wouldn't have done to be able to go into the recording studio and raise the song about 30-50 bpm when it was being finalized. What would have otherwise been a perfectly acceptable�and maybe even a great�recording to hear in a club of some sorts has to sorrowfully live with the status of being the most unbearably dragged-out song I've heard in quite some time.



I would argue that "Stereo" is perhaps the strong song included on this album from a compositional standpoint. Though to describe how I feel about this song, I'm going to be referencing how it compared to a Twinkie, the famous Hostess snack food-like substance that will likely be our primary food source should an apocalypse ever occur. As a disclaimer, I personally don't eat Twinkies as I enjoy being healthy. Though it works relatively well as a symbolic reference, so I'm going with it.

I feel that the introduction to the song is like the packaging of the Twinkie. It's the outer shell you're instantly exposed to which makes you salivate over the concept product inside, but it's relatively disconnected with your Twinkie experience. The song starts out unassuming enough, with a laser-field of 80s pop synth filling the soundscape over a very chill old school jungle instrumental drum track. Ujin comes in with a short diddy, which is then followed by ZIN and perhaps my favorite vocal moment of the entire album: when holding out the "ee" syllable, she performs a high-pitched vocal inflection that shows off her immense vocal control. While brief, this was perhaps the definitive moment in the album from which we can see the vocal training the vocalists had gone through prior. While I absolutely love this aspect of the intro, and it did get me excited for the rest of the song, it's relatively disconnected with the rest of the song experience.

Then we have the actual Twinkie itself. As most know, the product is essentially a rather plain sponge cake that unforgettably serves as the foundation for our indulgence. The piece continues to alternate between textures of a heavy wave-like synth backings over heavy rapping and the refrain where the entire groups about turning up a stereo and the uplifting effects of it. While there certainly isn't anything wrong with the majority of the song, it just feels rather vanilla in comparison compared to what it wraps around, thus making it somewhat forgettable.

As all Twinkie lovers hate to confess, the whole reason we're eating the Twinkie is for that luscious cream in the center of the sponge cake. Upon hitting it, indulging ourselves in enough shortening and sugar to make any of us diabetic, we instantly forget the sponge cake shell and enjoy only this creamy substance. This is represented by perhaps the biggest, and most pleasant, surprise that I've heard in any K-Pop song ever. Others reviewers, in addition to myself, have not hidden the ultimate displeasure for pointless dubstep breaks in songs: either they're incredibly unnecessary or overly weak. This song, I am glad to say, is not only the necessary to the experience of this song, but is by far the most dubstep-like dubstep break that has yet to be found in K-Pop. Upon hearing the absolutely brilliantly produced break, it becomes apparent that this is the part of the song that will be the most rememberable, and unlike the creamy substance of a Twinkie, it's actually good for the body. This break alone promotes the song to the strongest of the album, and should be the reason why this group is heard by a wider audience outside of those mainstream fans. Brilliantly done.



"Good Bye Tata" is perhaps the weakest song in the album, despite not being considered a bad track in among itself. While it would benefit from a faster tempo, but it is nowhere near as dragged out as "Turn The Lights On". I find that the chorus section is somewhat odd, as the wave-like synth and incredibly basic drum pattern just create a very awkward soundscape that is difficult to listen and dance to. This song reminds me of a bunch of random patterns that sounded good in a studio that were mashed together in fear of not being used. What further allows me to believe that this song can be labeled as "filler status" is the whole step modulation at the final chorus. While this often times can be effective�though I would argue this very rarely is the case�I'd like to imagine the following conversation took place in the studio�in Korean of course:

Producer #1: So how do we end this?
Producer #2: Beats me? This song sure did end up not being creative whatsoever, so let's put the most uncreative gimmick we can think of at the end of it.
Producer #1: Whole step modulation it is then.



"Luv Vision" is the second of the two ballads on the album. While out of the two, I prefer "Late", this is in no way a knock on "Luv Vision" as a song in its own right.�It's in the form of a very chill contemporary hip-hop ballad that speaks of a overly simplistic lust towards an unknown man. While I don't have anything grossly negative to say about the song, I would like to bring up my mention of Wooram's voice that I discussed earlier in the review. I said that I felt Wooram's voice was nasally and annoying compared to the other's members, and this is none-the-more evident than in the break section of this song. Ujin sings a very soulful rendition during this, but is seemingly interrupted by Wooram, who sings a few words and wails. This shows the stark difference in vocal timbre and control between the two, which makes me question whether the spotlight is appropriately distributed and the ethics behind it.



"Anniversary" is fine, but let's just say it's a good thing it's not the end of the album.



"Before the Weekend Comes" is the end of the album, and thank goodness it is. While I think "Stereo" is the strongest song on the album, this is without question my favorite song to listen to. It's a driving dance song that possess catchy loops, a sinking bass line, and enough layer variance between sections to make it not static whatsoever. While it may be minor, my favorite part of this song is the bass drops that occur before the chorus. I somewhat alluded to this in my discussion of the dubstep break in "Stereo", but the bass seems to be one of the mismanaged sonic aspects of any song in K-Pop. Usually I find myself living in a wold of mids and highs. So this is only a testament to the competence of the producers when they actually are pulling their weight. My only gripe with the song is that it's only 2:55 long�hardly long enough to shake a stick at. While I'm not sure what could have been included to make it longer, as it followed a rather basic and rigid song form, it just seems too short. I guess that's what repeat is for.

I must say that coming out with a full-length album without any pre-released singles is quite a rarity in today's K-Pop world. What makes it even more remarkable is not only that it's by a rookie group, but that the production value is so high throughout the album that it's hard to believe that we are only dealing with rookies. The album isn't perfect by any means, as this review showed, but the parts that are strong are really, really well executed. While I have my reservations of groups who promote the type of image D-Unit has donned, I am more than curious to see what future releases are. The group has found early what works for them, and should the follow the direction of their stronger songs in the album, they will no doubt be a force to reckon with. The years that D-Business has been putting into this group certainly has been well worth it.

Rating Overview

Reviewer's Picks: "Crush", "Stereo", "Until The Weekend Comes"

Pros: Dubstep break in "Stereo", Wooram in "Crush", ballads aren't simply fillers, comparing songs to Twinkies, an unheard of rookie full length album that is strongly produced.

Cons: "Turn The Lights On" is waaaaayyyyyyy to slow, Wooram's voice in spots outside of "Crush", strong copying of 2NE1, some songs seem unnecessary.



What are your thoughts on D-Unit?s 'Welcome to Business'? Leave an honest rating and your thoughts in the comments below.