Song Review:: Onew (SHINee): TOUGH LOVE- TOUGH LOVE

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  • Release date: 2026 March 09
  • Album tracklist: Dot dot dot (...); TOUGH LOVE; Flex on me; Lie; X, Oh Why?
  • Album runtime: 15 minutes

 My man Onew! Look! I'm actually doing this when it comes out instead of months later like with what happened last time! Everyone, I love his voice. I really do. It's so gorgeous, and while I've found a few other artists who have a similar vocal tone and quality to him, they're pretty far between. I am however deeply disappointed in the runtime for the title track and the album runtime overall does not hit the three minute average. It rounds up to it.

This is a very grindy instrumental while simultaneously being soft and floaty. It's an interesting combination. I'm not sure how well this works though, so this might take me a minute to decide on exactly how I feel about it. It could just be that the song doesn't have the space to be able to finish what those two parts of the song could have been together. 

Crucially, even during the most vocally modded sections, I can still tell that those are words. I can't always tell what the words are, but that's what written lyrics are for. It does sound like there's a lot of this song that's in English, which is surprising. I will, however, say that we get a really good range with him in this song. The modded parts use a little bit of a lower range from him, which is a nice balance to how much time he spends either in his falsetto or near it.

Storyline, everyone! I repeat! It's a storyline! There are also animations! It is a bit like the story of Sisyphus though, and then he finds a nest to hatch an egg. Naturally. Of course. Why wouldn't he?



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