Song Review:: Hui (PENTAGON): WHU IS KEVIN- Spring in the Winter

• Release date: 2024 December 24

• Album tracklist: Home Alone, Spring in the Winter

• Album runtime: 6 minutes

 A new addition to the catalogue of solo Hui voices has been released, and I could not be happier. I can't think of a better K-Pop Christmas present than this. If nothing else, he has the kind of voice you could just fall in love with, but also I love how active he has been since most of his other members have left CUBE. This year he released his debut album with Hmmm BOP, which is one of my favorite releases of 2024, at the start, and then in the last four months, he's released three singles. As long as he isn't overworking himself, I'm happy for every opportunity to hear him do what he does best and sing. And also write the songs, which is where the rest of his credits are. The man is multi-talented.

As is typical with his ballads, I'm struggling to focus past his voice to the instrumentals, which are piano dominant and strings assisted. I absolutely love it toward the end there where the swell of music is at its all time high, but it still doesn't match his voice. They did an incredible job with the sound mixing to get that balance. It's a rather subdued beginning, but it doesn't stay that way long. Much like a horse running, the power increases in momentum until there is a stampede of beautiful, cinematic instrumentals, but the song ends as it begins, softly, gently, with the piano quietly settling it 

Hui's falsetto should be a national treasure, I swear. Although, just once I'd really like to hear him at a low growl. This is not that song however. Instead we get power belts side by side with his falsetto, and he's unafraid to go up into it. The vibrato in his voice is magnificent and encompassing like a warm sweater. I'm so glad he's a singer, honestly. I know it's incredibly hard, and right now it's even more uncertain, but I'm very grateful he decided to go into the music industry, if only because that voice doing anything else would have been an absolute waste. 

So this genre of music video is the live studio-esque performance genre, and I think he has a glamour filter on. But this is the superior way for Hui to be singing.