Song Review:: Lee Jiham (A.C.E.): Forever Mine {Pre-Debut}

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  • Release date: 2026 January 29
  • Album tracklist: Forever Mine
  • Album runtime: 3 minutes

 Well, last year we had the very stunning solo debut for Junhee, and now we're coming up on the solo debut for Donghun, now going by Lee Jiham. His voice is incredible. While I am as well watching Build Up, I was rooting for him so hard because he's got an amazing voice. I of course couldn't recall his name because I'm terrible with them, but every time I saw him or his name pop up, I was like "Oh! A.C.E boy!" I think my dream team for that would have been him, Jay, Grim Reaper Boy (Je Up), and Bitsaeon. Alas. Still, I'm happy to be able to celebrate his solo debut with him next week. May it be successful.

We're starting off with a piano to set the mood and soften the ear before his vocals step in. It's also a classic example of building line upon line and precept upon precept, because while that piano is a constant anchor through the entire song, there is a slow build by adding instruments and emphasis into the song. And I do mean a slow build. That piano is the primary instrument and the entirety of the instrumental for a lot of the almost three-and-a-half song. There's something that might be a violin buried beneath the piano at about the two-thirds mark, but shortly after that, we start getting the background chorus. There's also a tiny little plink right at the very end of the song, which is both cute and works amazingly as a bit of final punctuation to pull the listener back from the song. Very thoughtful of the composer to include that.

I know I already said my dream team, but I'm amending that to be "I need him and Sungjae to do a duet together. They could make angels cry together." Or him and Hyunsik. Or him and...well, anyone from BTOB, honestly. But my first choice would be Sungjae. He has such a big, deep (not low specifically but full and open) sound to his voice when he starts into the chorus of the song and there's no restricting the vibrato he's got on full display either. There's only one spot where I'm eyeing the song a little bit because I'm not sure why his belt gets cut off when it does, because that feels a little premature, especially with how fast the song gets back to it. But that's the only thing I have, because the rest of this is excellent. You want vocals? These are vocals.

This has such a "home video" aesthetic that it makes me just so sad, you know? This is the kind of thing that you watch when you've lost someone to bring back their memory and the essence of how you see them.

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