Song Review:: Sungjae (BTOB): All About Blue- at last

• Release date: 2025 June 19

• Album tracklist: at last, a millisecond, Movie, Weightless, Break Away

• Album runtime: 15 minutes

 Sungjae's first mini album since his enlistment five years ago has finally dropped. It's a short one, but at least (pun only a little intended) the majority of the songs are over three minutes. I'm a little surprised he didn't put LIE onto this to make it at least a six-song mini album, but it's fine. If he does promotions, which I assume he will, I'm anticipating his group to be very excited if promotions for BE SOMEBODY are any indication. 

It's been a hot minute since I've been able to say that a song's instrumental is clearly designed to highlight and support vocals. But listening to that first verse, that's exactly what's going on. Of course, then we go to a soft rock ballad from the full ballad it starts off as. It's a very nice progression of sound, logical even. I wouldn't necessarily call it a full comfort song, at least on the instrumental side, but that brief shift back to the original softness does do something to keep the song at a good emotional status. But, let's be real. You don't listen to a Sungjae song to listen to the instrumentals, no matter how amazing they are. 

You know what's funny? The very end of the song doesn't sound like Sungjae; it sounds like Eunkwang, which is kind of an adorable thing. The rock bits make me think of Changsub as well, so it's kind of like this song carries his hyungs with him even as a soloist. He really does have a good voice, though. With this song, his vibrato is on full display, there's a melody that allows his beautiful range to be well-used, and the varying dynamics and the progression of the dynamics creates a tonally interesting song. Like, it's just a pretty song, fully in Korean as well, and that's something that I deeply like. But his voice is the standout star here. We are hearing some fantastic depth with his voice.

The music video adding an extra thirty seconds to the song bodes well in my quest for story.

Music videos let Sungjae do all his favorite things: acting and music. This is very much a break-up song for when you feel like your world is imploding around you, but then you're left to pick up the pieces. In this case, it's literally expressed metaphorically through the building exploding. Welcome back, Sungjae.