The 004 - 'Personal' EP

Thank you, Mike, for asking me to review one of your EPs again, especially for your lovely comments about my writing. It was an honour to listen to your music again. The 004 has been a band that I covered before with their first EP, the result of what happens when fans are left waiting too long for their favourite band to release a record. In this case, it’s the original Sugababes aka MKS, but still Sugababes in our hearts. Fun fact: I was almost banned from the MKS group for making fun of the leak requests. It’s through MKS that I found out about 004.

The first thing I've noticed since the last time is that now there is just the three of them, instead of four. Looks like we're missing some juicy gossip and pop band drama. Nah not really, one of them just had a baby so is concentrating on being a mother. Congratulations! Today I found out through one of the video blogs that one of them is a teacher! I think that's awesome because even though they've got jobs on the side, it's easy to see the passion is there in the music.

With the Netherlands winning this year's Eurovision, it's quite interesting that the EP I'm reviewing is from a Dutch group. I bet everyone's it is delighted. If the UK stopped moaning about the Eurovision, they might fare a bit better. Who knows? Maybe you might see Mike, Janet and Kelly representing their country sometime in the future. They'd be very happy about it.

The 004's first EP Memories and this one, Personal has two very different stories behind them, but the sounds and vocals still have their identity to them which is nice. It feels a lot more laid back and personal, hence why Personal wasn't recorded in a studio, but at home instead. A lot of debut albums from acts have this homely approach with the 'back to the good old days' vibes and I think this was what The 004 was going for. You can hear it in "Standing" and "Nothing I Can't Achieve."

I think the order of the tracklist works because I think it keeps the flow well. Especially in from "Standing" to "Nothing I Can't Achieve." Then Little Bench comes on and gives the hip-hop backdrop that has a strong nostalgia feel. Little Bench is my favourite song on here because I think it's cute and I think the last two tracks help build it up.

The fourth track might be called "I Hate This Part," but I like this part. I think the vocals work really well with the beats, and nod to other pop classics like Pussy Cat Dolls' "I Hate This Part" and Delta Goodrem's "Lost Without You."

"Thank You" is a good closure to the EP. The lyrics are very positive and humane. It reminds me of Jamelia's song "Thank you." I feel like there is a sublime message to this song. I feel the reason why it's at the end is that they're thanking the listeners for listening to their EP, and how much it means to them that we are supporting them on their musical journey.

So overall I like this EP because it has lots of positive vibes. I love the themes of friendship and the fact that they've been friends for over fifteen years and all share a passion for music, it's very wonderful. It's very authentic. I think I prefer Memories more, because of nostalgia and I enjoyed their music video for "Standing" because I think it gives a good positive message, which I think is what the world needs in times of political darkness.