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Current Music: snooze - sza

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roundup?

fig 1.1, 1.2

i meant for this blog to initially be a music review blog, but then i got -- tired. not even in a way that is exhausted, but in a way where...anyway, it doesn't matter. my job is whatever. lol. i'm trying to start using this again. i want to figure out how to word things better, and speak in a way that is more adequately able to capture how i feel.

i miss blogging. honestly, i really miss reading longform content. it's so rare these days; people don't even really do meta (?) anymore which is crazy to me. it felt like you could always find SOMEONE elaborating at length about some passion, but even that seems to be gone. i miss seeing people talk, and talking in turn. in a lot of ways, it felt a lot more intimate than shortform content does now. i think this is in part, to me, because shortform needs to be condensed and snipped at the edges until it falls in line perfectly, but longform doesn't have any such restriction? if that makes sense. i used to read fashion blogs obsessively growing up. so many i loved!! maybe i'll post a deep-dive of fashion blogs and themes i was obsessed with growing up (still am -- i am hilariously unchanging lol)

what did i do this month. i caught covid on christmas day, and that effectively fucked up my entire first week of january LOL. never made resolutions because i was knocked out on the couch from fatigue. i guess...days before march. i'm trying to make formal resolutions now? lol. so here they are:

body for 1 hour a day

in essence, what i'm trying to say is: work out lol. my issue is that i'm so BAD at consistency? i work out for a month straight, then i get a cold. so i stop. and then i stop for 3 weeks, because i can't exercise because my chest hurts, so i've essentially broken that consistency. so rather than pushing myself to "exercise", i'm just going to say -- move my body. if i can't run, then slowly stretching carefully. if i have major projects due at work and i know i'll be too burnt out to summon the strength to hit the gym, i'll take multiple 15 minute breaks and go for walks.

eat more intuitively, in a way that is good to my body

okay, in short -- i am intolerant to so many things. i need to stop setting my body off and actually eat what is good for me. no wonder my gut health is mid, smh.

log off

self-explanatory. i deactivated my kpop twitter account after a really long time and also kind of with no warning to my oomfs (sorry, lol. also i still love kpop so not sure how i'm going to assuage the urge to discuss) but i'm done. i'm logging the fuck off. i want to sink my toes into the soft grass and feel the cold air on my face. i don't want to live inside my room and inside my head anymore. i did that for so long. to be honest, it's true that i'm lonely and there's still so much wrong with me but i'm tired. i'm done. i'm never going to be at 100% -- i just need to accept that as reality and move on. how much of the world will pass me by if i am too scared to open my eyes?

here's to a new year! hahaha. ~~2013~~ 2023 will be my year, etc.

Entry tags:

peaches - kai

pre-listening thoughts

sorry i actually didn't have any thoughts going into this LOL. i was super busy so i never read any of the song descriptions i went in raw

peaches

production is soooo beautiful...very slick and slow and intentionally done to create a dreamlike feeling. it's more minimal than expected but the few elements used are layered VERY well
the lyrics are kind of...random. "pretty girl you like peaches / feels good to be the bad guy" ?????
his little quavo moments crack me up like what are you going for here
strangely abrupt ending but i'm not sure how else it could have ended
i don't usually talk about the mv but that has got to be the most nugu mv i've seen sm release EVER and we all definitely saw dftf which was produced and edited drunk with a budget of $5 so ???

vanilla

i think they used harp for the layered strings? very refreshing and blends in well with the rest of the instrumentals
his falsetto has gotten much cleaner
the chord progression at the end is a little strange and unexpected and throws me off every time. actually the whole song is a little...i don't know how to explain it but something is just missing? it sounds empty which i believe is what they were likely going for but something is just a little off and i can't place it

domino

his voice in the beginning reminds me of the rapping he used to do in early exo songs! deep low vocal register nearing vocal fry. i don't know if i like it, but it's refreshing to hear it after a long time and it breaks up the album, which is majority him using a frothy higher register
domino is like reason's more empty-sounding baby sister. i can't figure out of it like it -- it sounds strangely one-note, which is odd because he actually tries different vocal things in the song but i don't think it works to push the song along

come in

i reallyyyyy like come in it's so gorgeous and the short pulled synths in the back ground: it sounds so familiar, like its SOOO 2013. i cant explain this. it feels me with a deep sense of nostalgia. reminds me maybe of zayn's debut album? that sort of rnb pop
the production is super fun! the tight pulled synths (i think that's what those are lol) are so fun and so layered
it's funny i don't have much to describe about the song but i love it so much. i really think it's my favourite kai song ever made

to be honest

the guitar and melody and layering in to be honest like guys this is SO 2013...sooooo 2013. oh my god i just realized it reminds me of vampire weekend's old sound with the electric guitar and progression!!!!!
the chords are so fun, love that they dip into minor slightly for the bridge. not so sure i'm a fan of them moving up very slightly for the last chorus though. i think it's probably because he can't hit any higher vocally, but it just sounds dissonant

blue

i really like this. i will always think slow rnb suits him, so this genre suits his voice very well but it felt very refreshing. truthfully, this is closer to the sort of rnb ballad-type stuff wendy does, so i was genuinely surprised to hear it on the album but it was adjusted to not have him perform too much vocally so it sounds
speaking of his voice, he's going lower without hitting that point of vocal fry so he sounds very relaxed and wistful
the piano at the end was unexpected! i really appreciated it. it really closed off the ep well, to the extent that i wish he saved it for his eventual 1st album whenever that may be, because it was THAT good of a closer

tldr

its cute...and its giving 2012. i wish there was either a filler song between the first half and the second half cuz it jumps so abruptly LOL.
production is slick and gorgeous and very consistent. wish they used a clearer filtering on his voice though, it sounds irritatingly fuzzy at times
i will say, i do think this will age better than his first ep. the songs are slower to grow but much more replay value (to me)

Entry tags:

formula of love: o + t = <3 - twice

pre-listening thoughts

i did NOT realize hello would be whatever the hell it ended up being

scientist

the "yeah" in the beginning is hilariously unnecessary but it makes it smiles
ti love how subdued it is in the chorus actually like it's a lot more mellow than i was expecting it's so SWEET!! it's a very easy pop song to listen to, since it's so simplistic. there's nothing crazy, no crazy buildup, just a clear mood and beat that carries all the way through to the end.
this is most obvious in the prechorus, where it uses a single-step escalation similar to a lot of pop songs (ex. red velvet's umpah umpah). however, where it fails in umpah umpah it succeeds here because scientist has a relatively subdued mood with not too much buildup throughout, whereas umpah umpah seems to push an escalation that isn't really needed.
the use of changing up the final chorus in structure AND beat to help push the song along and then flowing into a dance break rather than a convention final chorus works SO WELL, keeps the song so fresh and ends it perfectly!

moonlight

moonlight is so terribly i can't stop smiling i'm so so so so happy it makes me so happy it's such a sweet love song. it reminds me so much of a phil collins track, which is something i don't think i ever thought i'd say about ANY track in kpop
as always, twice excel best with a stripped-back instrumental and simple vocal layering.
the lyrics are so sweet and so cheesy: "summer never even had a chance / winter melts in your hands" like that is ADORABLE
jeongyeon especially sounds SO wonderful here. her specific strong vocal tone really works well with the tone of the song. jihyo sounds wonderful for the same reason -- her naturally jazzy tone really adds to the retro love mood! baby, i DON'T want nobody else but you!

icon

this is literally so excellent. i saw quite a few people say this was "jarring" but this actually fits in perfectly with the rest of twice's discography! they always have one dirty bright low synth hype song, it's just that this time it's about THEM
i don't know how to explain this but the lyricists did an amazing job with this one and you can tell that they paid attention to twice's career specifically, which i really appreciated! examples of this: "I took it to the top / From the start" which is true -- twice won their first ever major award under two months after debut. they have quite literally been at the top sine day 1, something essentially no other group can say
MOMO'S VOICE IN THE CHORUS IS FUCKING INSANE. i think she delivers #attitude the best forever and always. like you hear her sing and you're like Oh yeah she SELLS it

cruel

dirty low bass mixed with orchestral strings and one of the most cinematic bridges i've heard in a song EVER. so gorgeous
the instrumental is surprisingly minimal during the verses and increases in layering as the song progresses. just so satisfying
dahyun's ear for musical selection is seriously top-notch she's NEVER missed to date. she always picks EXCELLENT demos and always writes complex music and sonically interesting and buoyant lyrics
standout member: i hear chaeyoung's "i know i drive you crazy" in my DREAMS. there's such an unapologetic, cold feel to her voice and i think it really captures the bitter reality of a breakup. there's never going to be a TRULY clean break. what can you do?

real you

it's super fun and upbeat! it reminds me of something that would actually be on the yoy mini actually? that sort of energetic but subtly pissed off sound
the electric guitar in the back is so bright and so fun
i personally think the key is a bit high but it's not unmanageable like it is in f.i.l.a
something about this song feels distinctly...american? i'm not sure how to explain it, but it seems like such an archetypical american summer fair song, the sort of song you would hear in the background while on a ferris wheel. at this point i think i need to clarify i have actually never been to an american summer fair LMAO

f.i.l.a (fall in love again)

yes the rumours are true we can all tell this was written with levitating as an example point. ok. we know. move on
i like this..because i actually don't like dua lipa's levitating and this is like levitating without every aspect i don't like about levitating LMFAO
i was surprised how short the bridge is, but it actually works well when i listen to it as a whole. i think a longer bridge, while standard, would make it seem a little less twice lol
personally i think the key is a bit too high here? or they should have had jihyo doing the high notes. nayeon excels better from her chest
the way sana pronounces "fall in love again" with an emphasis on the "again" in the second chorus is so enchanting

last waltz

this is so quintessential autumn haunting dance it's unreal, down to the glass shattering
the song's structure is kind of interesting? it seems to use an anti-drop for the chorus, where the beat slows, then the glass shatters, then the beat speeds up faster. such a fascinating choice but works SO well
the vocal processing has been done to further enhance this -- you can totally tell that a colder, cleaner tone was emphasized in both recordings and in processing
special mention to tzuyu! her voice is so clean and clear and cool, like a glass window in the winter. she sounds incredible and her voice really adds to that sultry but cold feeling

espresso

the synths and the lullaby backline!!!!
the use of lower register on this song is PERFECT. it really adds a sultry, slick feel to the song. even more than that, since almost everyone is down low vocally it makes moments of members like sana (who has a naturally high, cutesy voice) singing EVEN better because that contrast so sharp
really enjoying the stripped back prechorus: it amplifies the chorus so MUCH!
even as i say this,
nayeon really stands out here! her voice takes on a husky, almost smoky feel in the bulk of her lines and she NAILED the high note in the bridge and went for it with her whole chest. just a stellar vocal performance from her

rewind

oh rewind is so, so sweet. it's exactly what i expected from e.one (this is a good thing, to be clear)
has such a dreamy, melancholic tune. it reminds me so much of mid 2010s kpop 2nd gen chillpop ballads. it's also a distinctly jype sound, i feel? like this is not a song i would hear from another company.
a good half of twice have especially cooler and almost...metallic voices? think mina, chaeyoung when she sings, sana when her mixed voice actually pulls through and the bittersweet, slow feel of the song is reflected so much more in their voices. it creates a really gorgeous mood.

cactus

omfg CACTUS. jihyo actually such a great job with the composition like this is honestly such a great introductory soft rock song to a discography like twice's that is so strongly colourpop and electropop, but somehow isn't actually pop rock? it's very distinctly rock. it's VERY impressive how she pulled this off.
jihyo's lyricism is incredible -- there's a level of sensitivity and hurt here that's insane when you consider that this is from the perspective of a dying cactus.
the use of "i'll be fine" as a tagline is so genius because there's such a bittersweet feel to it -- you wish the circumstances were different, but it can't be helped
JEONGTZU really nailed it like the feeling in their voices is sooooooooo good like tzuyu is singing for her LIFE about this fucking cactus

push & pull

when listening to the snippet i was like yeah this is gonna be up no more's spiritual successor and i was RIGHT. the feeling is so perfect and their voices balance each other SO WELL omg i love it
jihyo's rapping is so fun! she always performs incredibly well in songs that have a natural level of inflection and sass
sana's sudden random "yeah, you're losing cool? hehe" was so cute and such a fun call-back to the way they used to have her sing-talking as an accent a few years back

hello

where do i even begin with this one. all i can is that there's no way you can actually prepare yourself for this song
i think the song is objectively actually fine but it's littered with HILARIOUS lyrics such as "NY MO CY WE TWICE" and "fanfare hands in the air, AYE!" getting repeated no less than twelve times at the end
i deeply respect them for trying out a genre they've never tried before -- the other two subunits' tracks were genres they've definitely done before, but hello is something new!
oh, i will say this. nayeon's rapping is better than expected and she's definitely improved from her mc rail days LMFAO

1, 3, 2

1, 3, 2 is veeeery well-written in the sense that you can tell it was selected purely on the basis that it suits jeongmitzu's voices very well
a highlight is jeongmi's sing-talking during the bridge! keeps it fresh from the rest of the song which is pure singing
there's not much to say. it's very straightforward, down to the buildup. i will say i especially enjoyed how it strips back towards the end!

candy

I LOVE CANDY!!!! i knew the moment they performed it on the anni live i loved it like i was listening to the anni live on my drive home from work and i was like smiling so buoyant the whole time it's so perfect
the lyrics are terribly sweet and gentle and the girls all sound so beautiful. a slowpop song that is upbeat but relaxed in mood
i have a theory that this is actually a fansong specifically for ifans -- mostly because of the lyrics being in english. the one thing that ruins this theory is that is that the domestic fanship is candy once whereas the overseas fanship is jelly once LOL. semantics, whatever,

the feels

electric! pure perfect colour pop! it's just a perfect song -- it was when it dropped, and it still is. it represents TWICE very well.
chaeyoung's rap "i can feel a real connection / a supernatural attraction, ah" is so addictive and SO memorable! i think it's one of the best english rap lines in any song by a kpop group, ever. jihyo's runs in the backgroudn during the second prechorus is SO energizing too and haunting -- she really shows her prowess as a singer on this!
in general, truly the best english songs from a kpop group ever. lyrics are sonically cohesive and make sense, and more than that sound NATURAL to the beat. they worked very hard and it paid off

the feels (korean ver)

chaeyoung did an EXCELLENT job adjusting the lyrics to korean for this version. special laurels for her work on adjusting nayeon's chorus and dahyun's prechorus -- it flows so PERFECTLY and sounds so incredibly natural
i think there's something wrong with the processing on the song in general...? something definitely went wrong when they exported this song to the cds, because it sounds a little raw truthfully. the song itself is still good to be clear, but the singing sounds like it wasn't nailed down to the instrumental well enough. it's most obviously with jeongyeon's lines going into jihyo's lines because they DIDN'T re-record jeongyeon's lines at all, but they did jihyo's and you can tell there's something just a bit off there

scientist (r3hab remix)

the remix actually works hilariously well because the original song is SO mild?!

tldr

just an incredibly well-made album! so much work went into this and they explored so many new genres
i will say this: on initial listen, i thought it was startlingly disjointed. however, the album tracklist actually makes SO MUCH MORE SENSE when you split it up into a side A and a side B!
- side A (1-8) is more upbeat and bright: scientist → moonlight → icon → cruel → real you → FILA → last waltz → espresso
- side B (9-14) is all the subunit songs and all their mellow songs: rewind → cactus → push & pull → hello → 132 → candy
- for obvious reasons, i'm not counting the feels or the scientist remix as being part of side B since it's obvious they were tacked onto the end because there's nowhere else they can possibly go on the album
in a way, the album feels like it's a comprehensive reflection on their music, with the english songs pushing them forward. twice will always be twice, just expanding in new directions and taking on new musical horizons but they'll never lose sight of what makes their music wholly theirs

Entry tags:

dear my dear - chen

pre-listening thoughts

i...don't really know if i can even HAVE "pre-listening thoughts" because this was absolutely not my first listen lol i never shut up about this ep. i did my best to go into this with a mind clear from bias as much as possible and looked at it from a more objective standpoint
oh! i will say this. when the album medleys dropped back in 2019, i don't think i realized how MUCH i would like this album because i thought the medley was cute, but not too memorable. imagine my absolute shock when i played it for the first time and realizing it was one of the best albums i'd heard in my entire life

shall we?

i enjoy how completely clean-yet-fuzzy the instrumental is, really helps in crafting an authentic retro feeling
love the way they used female voices in the last chorus to help buildup
i thought this initially but my biggest criticism is that i think his voice is a little TOO sanitized -- i've always thought shall we would be much better if they kept in a little bit more of that heavy richness he's trained his voice into, but it feels a little...bare here (???) which is a little frustrating since you can tell in live performances how much better it sounds with the full weight of his voice

my dear

the contrast between the electric guitar intro into quiet piano for the intro has always been one of the best musical decisions i've heard...EVER
another great musical choice: most songs flow directly from the chorus into the second verse, but they break that up here with an instrumental before going into the second verse. it really lets the instrumentals shine
the buildup into the bridge is so incredible. i think one of the best things about this song is that it almost seems like they use his voice as an instrument, so it has a really gorgeous balance between electric guitar-piano-jongdae's voice, like he's a third element
them ending with another guitar solo is an interesting choice. not sure if i agree with it, but i also don't know how else it would end
sorry i'm too biased i love this song so, so much

amaranth

more than any song, this reminds me of a late summer night's walk
extremely stripped down instrumental 2.0, but this is primarily with light guitars. allows for a spotlight on jongdae's vocal tone rather than technique
i'm going to say something nobody else has said: i think this would be great slowed down just 2%. i understand why they kept it faster because it fits in better with the ep at its current tempo, but performed live on its own i think it would be much better a little slower, a little sweeter

hold you tight

this is such an archetypical coffeeshop love song it makes me laugh but it did incredibly well for the same reasons
has a straightforward melody and he uses notably attainable vocal prowess (as in, it's not too crazy). i think this is a song that could truly be sung by anyone, which may have been part of the goal of this song

you never know

vocal contrast between his softer and light voice to his usage of a far powerful voice as the song goes on is very satisfying. his voice is still quite thin through the whole song, almost like he's singing the more powerful notes from afar? it's an interesting effect -- i wouldn't be surprised if he did this intentionally so that the mood switch isn't too drastic
has a more retro instrumental similar to shall we, helps in keeping the ep cohesive

good night

his voice is so intimate and gentle here. it reduces me to tears every time
it has STRINGS!!!! such an excellent choice, especially when combines with the echoing voices in the background. gives it a dreamlike, spacey feel
his voice getting softer towards the end mixed with the instrumental peeling back down to just the guitar is such an intelligent choice
surprisingly fast-paced for what is supposed to be a lullaby objectively LOL i think this, too, would be much better slowed down irl but it works well in the context of the ep

tldr

everyone knows i LOVE this album. i'll always think it's one of, if not the best male solo album releases ever done. it's just such a cohesive ep but with differing sounds and styles, but not so different that it sounds messy. just perfectly balanced and selected, with great vocal direction from jongdae
speaking of: i think it's on this album more than any other release where jongdae's mastery of his voice and the intention of each song is most obvious. there's honestly not a lot of visible vocal prowess on this album (unlike april, and a flower where multiple songs show how incredible his control) but you can tell that's by choice, not by a lack of skill (ex. him appearing to sing the explosive bridge in you never know from a distance from the mic so that the mood doesn't change too drastically -- that's something only someone who intimately understands their voice would do!!)

Entry tags:

east - lay

pre-listening thoughts

i know for a fact yixing ALWAYS has at least one or two chanty songs that are absolutely not my cup of tea. i go into his albums fully expecting this LOL
in general, i usually like about 50-70% of the songs on each album. i don't expect this ratio to change with east

flying apsaras

on first listen i was surprised about how much i LIKED it
it sounds like a fantasy action movie intro ost in a very good way (if anyone's watched the telugu film baahubali, it reminds me of that film a LOT!)
the amount of layering is super addictive and the elements are so INTERESTING...the female voices in the bridge are a fun touch
so breathy...it really sounds so action. love the buildup after the bridge. this is so unbelievably cool i get chills
i think it would be a great concert opener!!!

samadhi real fire

samadhi real fire is as expected cuz yixing consistently has at least one mildly terrible chanty song per album and also everyone told me i wouldn't like the song (they were right)
gali makes the song so much WORSE otherwise it would have just been medium ass LOL
"i'm taking back the crown" sweetheart nobody took it from you in the first place
unhinged levels of self-manifestation going on here

ascetic monk

ascetic monk is very...interesting
really fun to hear him break out that whiney voice he likes to play with again -- i don't like the effect during the prechorus but i think it's SUPER fun in the verses cuz it's less head voice more chest voice. has a weight to it i enjoy
don't think i enjoy the song outside of album context but the bridge being him reciting hate people SAY to him was a really fun choice omg. also this instrumental reminds me a LOT of lit? i think he pulled sounds. gonna look at the lyrics after because it's definitely intentional (post album-listen i searched it up and his producer anti-general confirmed as such!

the shepherd boy

I LOVE THE SHEPHERD BOY...WAITTTTTTTT I LOVE THIS
the chanting in the pre-chorus is so fun!! (i think it's not technically a pre-chorus so much as it's a breakdown that splits the chorus into chorus1 and chorus2) but i love the vocal contrast. i wonder if he pulled external backup singers or if he just pitched his voice up
the instrumental is so old-school mandopop I REALLY LIKE IT...
it's a pity this is the only song on the ep where he's properly singing, because his voice has gotten so much stronger! his voice used to be super thin, but now it reminds me of amber glass.
i already liked it but then i found out the chinese versions have an ending where he just sings his name and it's SO GOOD...i'm so obsessed i'm actually very annoyed he didn't add this to the overseas versions

tldr

2/4 good songs, which is about average for a yixing release
you can audibly hear how much BETTER the production is on east versus past releases, like lit. it's soooo slick and clean and layered i'm so surprised the difference is so stark. sound is crisp and fluid
out of all his releases thus far i will say east is the most coherent in the sense that there is a very clear conception throughout, which i enjoyed very much!
in general, i really appreciate yixing's artistic + musical vision and ideal, even when some of it definitely isn't for me lol. i think this is something he touched upon back when he released lit, that he's aware his style of music might not be the most palatable but it's important to him that he keeps interweaving traditional chinese sound into contemporary music so he pursues it anyway. i respect that!

Entry tags:

empathy - d.o.

pre-listening thoughts

based on his song recs: i went in fully expecting this genre. all ksoo listens to is the world's worst sadboi white pop and has been a belieber since birth so i assumed he wouldn't do rnb sorry to everyone else LOL

rose

rose is actually a cute song. im not sure if it was best used as a title track, but compared to the album it doesn't seem any more or less like a title if you get what i'm saying? as in, none of them sound particularly suited to being a title
instrumental is so fucking annoying i cant get over it. wish they used a different guitar finish
i think the pacing is so...weird...it could have been slower by 10% and been MUCH better
overly abrupt ending? could have used a repetition of the chorus
the instrumental is both too stripped back AND too much at the same time, prob because it doesnt modulate. needed to be a little bit slower. could have benefitted from switching up and maybe even bringing in soft strings for the bridge

i'm gonna love you (ft. wonstein)

i hate wonstein's voice sorry this is super biased. World Worst Timbre
i'm also not sure that bringing wonstein for the bridge rather than containing him in the verses + chorus was the best use of his voice
the more stripped back guitar sound works much better here
verses are better than the chorus, but i appreciate them layering more sounds for the chorus
ksoo's little quavo moments are just atrocious
another abrupt ending?
more pacing issues
sounds very much like an american radio ballad from 2016. this becomes a recurring theme

my love

clean mixed and upper register, and i appreciate the switching between upper and lower register, especially in the bridge
hearing piano was fun
the song goes...nowhere
another abrupt ending that could have been dragged out much more. pacing issues round 3
this sounds like an 88rising ballad abgs would post on their finstas simping over their ugly boyfriend kevin nguyen who cheats in chem and wears exclusively pacsun and baseball jerseys. do what you want with that information

it's love

rather than pacing issues it feels like he's rushing through the song. there's a strangely restless energy for what is supposed to be a love song he needs to #relax
going into minor key as he was riffing (? i didn't learn music in english so i don't know if thats the right word for it) for the bridge for a second was a very good touch and creates some contrast
guitar layering as you get deeper in the song and the soft orchestral sounds are nice and help build up the song
speaking of buildup, he did a great job using vocal technique to build it up towards the end
yet another 2013 song...i understand this is really 2010s slow pop but i do wish he did something new or used updated instrumentals because this shit really sounds like reproduced but otherwise unchanged shit from the sm vault years ago

dad

for some reason this is rhe most modern/not dated sounding song on the ep
emotion is clearest on this song -- i think it's because this is very obviously a different type of love being expressed, so it stands out on the album
i like that production on his voice was more intimate, they kept in his breathing and natural pauses
pacing is more relaxed on this than it is on the rest of the album
i wish they pulled the instrumentals on the verse right after the bridge OR added more instrumentals to the last chorus to create a more dramatic effect

i'm fine

sounds like a what do i call you (2020) rejected track in a good way! or well, i guess not really if you consider a reject track to be a negative thing
electric guitar is a nice touch
slight raspiness of voice matches the coffeeshop feel of the song
doesn't really go anywhere but that's not a bad thing because whoever produced added instrumentals as necessary to push it forward

rose (english ver.)

sounds like a 2012 white pop song i would hear in a youtube grwm. this is not a bad thing necessarily -- it reminds me a lot of debut ksoo, when he still had that bright flower-boy-next-door energy and performance style
gorgeous pronunciation considering he straight up does not know english but he's always been very good at matching phonemes in general so i'm not surprised

si fueras mía (it's love, spanish ver.)

you can very obviously tell that this is the original way the song was written because the language matches the sound more naturally
my spanish is rusty but i think his pronunciation is good lol

tldr

my condolences to jihyun sorry your husband made the most boring album ever made
this album would have slayed in 2016 during the height of Deanisms but it sounds old as fawk in 2021
i have no clue why the pacing is like that and also why its SO forgettable
varied guitar sounds through the album are nice. it sucks they used the most obnoxious one for the title track for some reason but now that i'm through the album i get why they used rose -- it's the most memorable track on the album. which doesn't say much because i cannot remember a single song
that being said -- it's a very dated album. it very much sounds like 2010s slow pop and while that isn't a bad thing, i wish they had tried updating the sound at least slightly (see: sawayama updating what is, at its core, 2000s pop into a more fresh interpretation)
congrats on your debut kyungsoo <3 i'm glad you make music you like and i'm glad youre happy! next album lets please update the sound ok...LOL