Song Review:: Kim Jaejoong (JX): Hoper

• Release date: 2024 December 27

• Album tracklist: Hoper

• Album runtime: 3 minutes

 Second gen idol dropping a single? Yes, please. The only thing that could make this better is it if the single was multi-track, which is a weird thing that I've accepted is common practice, even though single means one and a multi-track single feels like an oxymoron, but I digress. Although he did do a full album this year, so the single is just supplementary. Also, Jaejoong has done quite a few OSTs, which is cool. 

Starting off with a lone, slow piano. Eventually strings get added, but the piano has the role that the percussion (usually drums of some sort) usually takes for the song, which makes sense because it's a hammer striking the wires which produces the sound, classifying the piano both as a percussion instrument and a stringed instrument. It's a gorgeous pairing, as the strings don't stay in the song for long, and instead let the piano open and close with enough space to let the music settle before it ends. Gorgeous. I wish it included the instrumental.

Second gen voices. Style is part of it, but I love hearing well-trained voices let loose so that their vibratos get to shine. My obsession with vibratos one hundred percent stems from the fact that mine is minimal at best, and it frustrates me to no end when singers who have one isn't allowed to use it. Thus, why I hold the artists of age such as Jaejoong to such high esteem. And also, have you heard his voice? It's incredible, and that's objectively stated. You don't get to survive as long in the industry as he has without having an incredible voice and incredible skills. The range exhibited in this ballad go from the low and soft notes, and even without a belted note, to the very well-supported falsetto, which is a rare visitor anyway. He spends a lot more time lower, and it's very satisfying. I recognize that this one won't be to everyone's cup of tea, and that's fine. But it's a good winter release against the higher energy summer dance tracks that will be coming in a few months.

The transition from despair to hope in this is incredible. I wish my Korean was better, because if the translation is half as beautiful and poignant as the translation, it's one that I wish I could engrave on my heart. It's a very simple music video, very wintery and barren, but by the end, the bird is hatching and they're looking forward to love and spring. It's beautiful and a wonderful reminder of the hope and inevitability of spring.