It’s been two straight weeks (actually three since i started writing this post offline a week ago) that I have been playing Taeyang’s 1st full album entitled ‘Solar’. I thought I need to listen to the album again and again to know which song will be classified as the ‘IT’ song(s) for me. When an artist I like or following releases an album, I normally choose the song that I like most. For some reasons I feel like it’s a must to declare which is my favorite. More often, the carrier single stands out and when it hit the mainstream quite well the song becomes the best in the album for the fans. I sometimes feel that this becomes unfair to the other songs in the album, I feel like saying hey there are other songs worth listening in this album and not the carrier single alone. So I take time listening to the album straight for weeks and get to feel which one will grow on me.
When I heard the audio upload of the carrier single I Need a Girl over at You Tube, I instantly thought the song is quite refreshing for Taeyang. Since he started working on solo activities he released songs with strong R&B feel…the heavy ones (or dark ones). 나만 바라봐 (Naman Parabwa) and 키도 (Kido) left that impression on me. Then he released Where U At and Wedding Dress which still have that strong R&B feel. So to be listening to I Need a Girl was something refreshing to my ear. To be honest I did not feel strongly about this song until I saw the MV and when he performed it live. Seeing how Taeyang performed, I just mumbled he did it again. The same great performance and charisma he showed with the live performances of 나만 바라봐 and Wedding Dress. With this in mind, I must say Taeyang is really one excellent performer. I may not share the same views with the other about this song but what is important is how Taeyang’s performances made this song something that I would eventually like. This is what a good artist is made of, isn’t it?
Another song that gets to be performed once in a while during this album promotion is the 3rd single, Just a Feeling. It has slightly faster beat than I Need a Girl and this song really got me singing yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah... Honestly I just realized singing along with Taeyang as the song plays. The beat of the song will also surely get you doing some body moves =) I can almost imagine that this song can be good for encore performances. It’s quite infectious at least on me.
What captured my heart the most was incidentally the last song in the album which is ‘Take It Slow’. I remember 1TYM having a song with the same title. The music alone is pleasing to my ears and with Taeyang’s vocals, the song left an impression of wanting to listen for more. It was sung a little soulful and Taeyang’s sweet-sexy voice made it perfect. There is not much of power vocal but purely passion and feelings in every lyric that came out from Youngbae’s voice. Taeyang is someone who sounds good when singing with heavy breathing. I easily get irritated with singers who abuses this singing style but maybe because of the nature of Taeyang’s voice, every breath that I hear sounds like a piece of his soul. In one of his interviews, he mentioned that all the songs in the album are his story; I really wonder who might be the subject of this song. Who is this person that Taeyang is asking to take things slow. So to me the best song in the album is this song. Not for any music technicality science, but the mere fact that it touches my heart and emotion as I listen to it. No wonder I keep on playing this song first whenever I choose Solar Album in my iPod. Its automatic, my finger taps on this song first.
I did not included Where U At and Wedding Dress as part of the songs to choose from as my most favorite as these songs were released digitally ahead with the other songs and they had their equal space in my heart and ears ha ha ha. I think Wedding Dress is one of the most abused songs in my iPOD along with Baby I’m Sorry from the Hot album.
I enjoyed listening to Move as well I feel like the song sounds so ghetto. The beat is nice and I find my head swaying with the song every time I hear it. It may not be a carrier single type of song but it’s certainly pleasant to the ears.
Songs which may not be my most favorite but they are songs you will not skip either on the album are Breakdown and Before You Sleep. Let me put it this way; I would rather listen to this song than some idol’s carrier single these days.
‘You’re My’ seems to be a bit short, but I love listening to it too as I can feel a lot of emotions from Taeyang’s voice. I just think some of his falsettos in this song may no longer be repeatable live or may not be consistent when performed live.
Overall, I like this album than the first one because I can certainly listen to all songs (including the intro) for start to the end. I seldom buy CDs of artists may it be Korean or American music because I only buy albums that I can listen to at least half of the songs in the entire track list. So far, Wheesung is the only Korean singer that I have been following consistently with all his albums on my CD shelf. Now, I think I will be following another artist other than Wheesung and I am certain it’s Taeyang.
Before posting this review I finally received my Solar album the ‘real thing’ last week *ahem* the deluxe edition from K-POP Mall. I thought I was going to wait for another week but it came. The album is loaded and since the CD is packaged differently instead of the usual album jacket from a regular CD you get to have this sort of booklet type album information. I can’t help but smile on this picture, isn’t he cute and sexy in this shot?
Surely I will be dosing myself with his songs, I read he is having a concert this September in Seoul…Too bad I will be there not until December so maybe I will be lucky enough to buy a DVD of his concert, I hope YG releases one.
