Album review: GOT7’s Breath of Love: Last Piece

By Nikil Sivakumar

Released on November 30th 2020 and containing a total of ten tracks, Breath of Love: Last Piece is GOT7’s 5th full length album. The members themselves were highly involved in production, with each of 7 members writing at least one of the songs. The title track “Last Piece” was produced by JB, and they also dropped a pre-release single, produced by Youngjae and titled “Breath”, on November 23rd.

We start off with “Breath”, a pretty enjoyable beginning (the whistles are particularly fun). I think it was smart to use this as a pre-release single since it is quite a playful, catchy song with whimsical choreo, but at the same time misses something that makes it a full-fledged title song. So I think it does the job of hyping things up and whetting the palate for the rest of the album, while not giving off too much away too much of the best.

I was very excited for the title “Last Piece”, but at first it slightly underwhelmed me. The aesthetic and music video is quite nice, and I like the sudden interjection of rock into the chorus as well, but it missed reaching a mark that GOT7 songs usually make at first. After some time, similar to many songs in the album, this song definitely got better. I feel as though it is once of their best title tracks now. Can’t forget the amazing music video too!

Now come the b-sides of the album: Lively “Born Ready” (written by Mark) has nothing too crazy going on. It was stated that the song would be similar to their more hype, trap songs, the chorus is not as heavy, and so this song is kind of forgettable. It does help build momentum for the rest of the upcoming songs though.

Next up, “Special”, produced by Jackson, continues with the momentum that “Born Ready” began, while mellowing out the mood for the upcoming songs. At first, the chorus doesn’t stand out as a chorus because it all blends in together. However with time, I feel that the chorus now stands as one of the best parts, accompanying the equally catchy raps and verses.

After “Special” comes the onset of the more chill songs, beginning with “Wave”. Produced by Jinyoung, it's probably my personal favourite. There isn’t much to say except that it's a simple ballad with lots of memorable sections. The lyrics are quite witty and meaningful as well. The groovy “Waiting For You” actually surprised me a lot. From the little hints in teasers, it sounded like another electro song with a beat drop (not that those are bad!), which was no surprise since it was produced by BamBam (who is known for such sounds). However it was actually much more smooth and calm, which was pleasant. It could do without the autotune in the beginning rap though.

Composed by Yugyeom, “이젠 내가 할게 (Thank You, Sorry)” comes next. It is one of the best songs of the album for sure, sounding very serene and dreamy, giving off LoFi R&B coffee-shop vibes. The slow fade out at the end is subtle but well fitting. I originally couldn’t put my finger on it, but now I realise that it sounds just like a combination of jazz inspired “Black Pearl'' by Sunmi, and “Don’t Know You” by Heize. Another simple song, but something quite different for GOT7.

Next, both “1+1” and “I Mean It” present a flow back towards the more brighter sounds, reminding me of a more restful version of “Breath”. They’re similar sounding ballads but still have cheerful elements to them: I think these two songs represent the albums quite nicely. Finally, the album ends off with a bang through “We Are Young”. I like that this is the last track, in that it acts like the “last piece” to the album, ending off on more of an impressionable yet fun finale, rather than something more peaceful or chills-inducing, which dominate the middle of the album.

THE LAST PIECE

I think as a whole, GOT7 have produced another delightful and cohesive album in Breath Of Love: Last Piece. Every song has a distinct sound that has its own place in the album, each fitting in perfectly, just like the pieces of a puzzle.The fact that every single member of the group participated in the creative process adds a nice touch, but that makes sense since this will probably be GOT7’s last group endeavour for a while.

I say this because as announced on January 11th 2021, all 7 members did not renew their contracts with their company JYP Entertainment. This means that GOT7 will be disbanded, for now at least. They will all be moving on to different solo activities now, ranging from acting to song-writing and music. This was somewhat expected, since it was clear they each have their own passions at this point and were also dissatisfied with their company’s management. There is no doubt the seven will reunite in the future (and it helps that they just got rights to their group name), but exactly when that will happen is unknown. Regardless, they have had an amazing ride, and have treated fans with another amazing album one last time before this indefinite hiatus for the name of “GOT7.”