Song Review:: Jin (BTS): When the Stars Gossip- Close to You {OST}

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  • Release date: 2025 January 26

  • Album tracklist: Close to You, Close to You (Inst.)

  • Album runtime: 8 minutes

 I like OSTs. I do. An OST got me into K-Pop and is also the reason, by chain of events, why I am writing these words that you are currently reading. I also really like Jin's voice. Combining the two? Yes, please. I am all about that. Also, I am intending to watch this kdrama because it looks funny, but haven't yet. 

The other thing I just generally enjoy about OSTs is that the single often includes the instrumental, which makes my life easier so I don't have to listen underneath the vocals and risk getting distracted. Beautiful tinkling of the piano to start it out, which does immediately make me think of both a lullaby and the stars. A space science fiction lullaby, if you will. Actually, this entire thing does an incredible job of mimicking the typical space lonely instrumentation. Between the held notes while other instruments wander around and the specific mix of chords, if I didn't know the show was space related, I'd guess it, because I'm reminded quite a lot of Mass Effect, which is a video game set in space in case you weren't familiar. Shocking, I know. But, there we are. It's also in the sustained pitch just quietly being plunked out on the piano that just sounds so very science fiction.

His accent in English to open the song is kind of cute and it sounds exactly like his Korean, which doesn't always happen, I've noticed. And there's a lot of English, but he's singing this like a lullaby as well. We get quiet little hints of a vibrato in specific places, which is a little disappointing because this style of music would be perfect to show off his vibrato. My vibrato obsession strikes again, I'm afraid. Shortly after the climax, instead of powering that energy through to the end, he powers down and softens, which is interesting and not what I was expecting from him.

So without having seen any of the episodes yet, I'm almost positive I just watched spoilers. I don't understand the specific context and am trying not to let my knowledge of genre step in and start telling me what's going on, but all I will say is that at this point in his life, Lee Minho looks like Max Changmin,  and Jin's voice matches that perfectly. 



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