Recently I was cleaning my bookcase and came across this album which was super popular back when it came out. We are talking about the OG Produce 101 group I.O.I and this is their first physical release. I remember being so excited to order this as I watched all the episodes of the first season. It is rather large and takes up a fair amount of space on the shelf. I used to have it facing outwards so you could see the cover however now it's just stacked with other albums.
Chrysalis is the debut mini album from korean girl group I.O.I and it was released on May 4th 2016. Which it's insane to think that it is one year off being 10 years since being released. Wow that's crazy and even more crazy if you think about what an amazing group I.O.I could've been if it wasn't temporary. The mini album was released in two editions: Normal and Special. The normal edition came with a 68 paged photobook and a random photo card. It is housed in your typical hardcover style k-pop album and the photobooks are glued in place. I brought the special edition from YesAsia as I thought that would the harder one to get if I didn't buy it and I would regret it. The Special Edition comes with the following:
- Outer box packaging
- CD - 7 track mini album
- 100 paged photobook (68-pages same as regular edition + additional 30 pages)
- Making photobook
- Four postcards - Group and member units
- Folded Poster (Random 1 of 11 members)
- Group poster
It looks like 100-paged photobook is spread across two photobooks. I like this style where the photobooks are separate and not attached to the album. It makes it much easier to look at them and not worry about damaging the pages. Plus the outer box is super sturdy and fits the books perfectly. The concept of the photos are fun and on brand for the girls. I love all the members in I.O.I so it is a lovely photobook to look through. This post is gonna be pretty photo heavy as pictures speak more than words!
The Making photobook is one of the main draw cards of the special edition and is fun to see how the MV was filmed. I remember people saying at the time a few things about the MV like it reminded them of Into The New World by Girls Generation (honestly one of the songs ever and should never be skipped) or that they were confused at who was the centre. Chaeyeon had a lot of screen time and was in middle often which I can understand as she is perfect centre material (justice to DIA!!). And it is always difficult to evenly distribute screen time but it makes sense people were angry as Somi was voted number 1 so you expect her to be in the centre. Anyway old k-pop drama aside, this is great photobook and I'm glad I brought this edition of the album to own this.
Here are the two posters you get in the Special Edition and honestly I totally forgot it came with the group one. I always remembered the member one as I got Mina who wasn't my bias at the time. Not that I even use posters, they always stay in their albums. So there could be stacks of posters I've forgot about! I know I have a stack of K-Pop and J-Pop ones rolled up in a poster tube along with some free posters I got from work that we were throwing out. Maybe one day when I have the actual space for posters, I'll hang some up.
Lastly here is the track listing for the mini album which honestly I rarely listen to. I feel like I haven't listened to it for years but that is the case for most of my music collection. I'm slowly working through improving that by listening to every release in full. So I will need to add this one to the queue! The song I enjoy the most is the title track Dream Girls as it is that upbeat pure k-pop that I love. I don't really listen to these versions of Crush or Pick Me as I like the original ones from the show more.
- I.O.I (Intro)
- Dream Girls
- 똑 똑 똑 Knock Knock Knock
- Doo Wap
- Crush
- 벚꽃이 지면 When The Cherry Blossoms Fade
- Pick Me
This mini album did get a re-issue a few years back and is sadly out of print. So you need to find a second hand copy. Occasionally I see them in K-Pop resell groups and they are usually snapped up right away. Even seen some signed copies in collection photos. I loved looking back at this gorgeous album however it is sad that pretty much all the groups that the girls were in are disbanded. So Weki Meki, Pristin, Gugudan and DIA are all done. I'm going to include WJSN as they haven't done anything as a group in forever. We can only think about how big I.O.I would've been if the girls stayed together, I think they would've been massive.
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