''Not My Fault'' is a collaborative studio album by South Korean music producer Dress and singer-songwriter

Sogumm Kwon So-hee (; born March 8, 1994), known professionally as Sogumm (; stylized in all lowercase), is a South Korean singer-songwriter. In 2019, she released albums ''Not My Fault'' and ''Sobrightttttttt'', which were met with critical acclaim. Sh ...

. It was released on September 27, 2019, through Highline Entertainment. It was later nominated for Best R&B Album at the

Korean Music Awards The Korean Music Awards () is an annual South Korean music awards show that honors both mainstream and underground musical artists from a variety of genres. Unlike other major South Korean music awards, which largely rely on record sales to de ...

and peaked at number 65 on the

Gaon Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...

Background

In an interview with

Genie Music Genie Music (), a subsidiary of KT Corporation, is a South Korean company that specializes in the production and distribution of music content. Its music streaming service is the second most used in South Korea with 2.5 million subscribers as ...

, Sogumm explained how the album was made.

Dress also made commercial music but wanted to express his feelings through beats without thinking too much. I worked with him because he requested a collaboration first, but I wrote songs quickly and he kept sending me beats. So we were planning to release one or two songs at first but made so many songs in an instant. The general public may find our music difficult but we were not asking for their understanding, so we named the album ''Not My Fault'' and decided on the album concept.

Music and lyrics

Sogumm's vocals that pronounce words differently are sometimes innocent("I Wonder", "Honey Bee", "Pretty Bitch"), dry("Sorry", "Once Again"), or magical("Diary", "Dreamer, Doer"). Meanwhile, Dress' production encompasses hip hop, R&B, and electronica. "Diary" is reminiscent of 90's

trip hop Trip hop is a musical genre that has been described as a psychedelic music, psychedelic fusion of hip hop music, hip hop and electronica with slow tempos and an atmospheric sound. The style emerged as a more experimental music, experimental var ...

sounds like those of

Morcheeba Morcheeba are an English electronic band formed in the mid-1990s with founding members vocalist Skye Edwards and the brothers Paul and Ross Godfrey. They mix influences from trip hop, rock, folk rock and downtempo, and have produced ten regul ...

. It tells the direction of the album with a down-tempo beat played with an analog drum set and piano, string, and guitar sounds distorted by an

effects unit An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion (music), distortion/overdrive, ...

. "Sorry" emphasizes electronic sounds while "Pretty Bitch" solely features acoustic guitar sounds.

Critical reception

Kang Il-gwon of ''

Rhythmer ''Rhythmer'' () is a South Korean online magazine that publishes hip hop music reviews, articles, and interviews with artists. The magazine was founded in 2001 by Kang Il-kwon, a hip-hop and R&B critic who is also a judge of the Korean Music Awa ...

'' rated the album 4 out of 5 stars and claimed that it was "electrifying, excellent, and fresh". On the other hand, he suggested that Sogumm write more lyrics in Korean. Critics of ''

Music Y ''Music Y'' () is a South Korean online magazine that publishes music reviews, articles, and interviews with artists. The magazine was officially founded in 2014, and was previously an unofficial webzine in the form of a Naver cafe where criti ...

'' rated "I Wonder" 3.5 out of 5 stars. According to Jeong Byeong-uk, Dress "knows how to use minimal sources in the right place and bring out the maximum amount of dreamlike atmosphere and groove." Also, Sogumm "pronounces lyrics uniquely while reducing the resonance of the sound and shows her individuality with unconventional breathing and accents." Meanwhile,

Jay Park Jay Park (born April 25, 1987), Korean name Park Jae-beom (), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and dancer based in South Korea. He is a member of the Seattle-based breakdancing, b-boy crew Art of Movement (AOM), and founder and former ...

balances out the intenseness of the hook by singing sweet lyrics in a natural style.

Year-end lists

Awards and nominations

Track listing

Charts

{, class="wikitable" !Chart (2019) !Peak
position , - , South Korean Albums ( Gaon){{Cite web , title=Album Chart - 2019 Weeks 41 , url=https://circlechart.kr/page_chart/album.circle?nationGbn=T&targetTime=41&hitYear=2019&termGbn=week&yearTime=3 , access-date=October 5, 2022 , website=Circle Chart , 65

References

2019 albums Electronica albums by South Korean artists Sogumm albums