Song Review:: XIA (TVQ!/JYJ): GRAVITY- GRAVITY

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  • Release date: 2026 June 02
  • Album tracklist: Intro : Drawn, GRAVITY, Homage, Forest of Memories, What About Your Goodbye, Beat's Knockin, eXtreme Love, Slowly, Like Like Like, Outro : Reached
  • Album runtime: 30 minutes

 So this song popped onto my YouTube algorithm, and I went "Huh. I don't recognize that name or the Korean name he seems to have. I'd better look him up." Former member of TVXQ!. He's one of the former members of TVXQ!. Obviously you know that now because I tag the titles of the post with the artist's group, or former group, as applicable. And even though the intro and outro songs are under a minute-and-a-half, the average runtime for he whole album is over thirty minutes. He's got a five minute song on here.

I'm eternally amused when a soloist, even after it's been years since they were in a group, still manages to have that group in the soloist's DNA. There's a strong, grungy sort of feel to the instrumental. I mean, we're talking skeevy back alleys in a cyberpunk dystopia. And what's funny is that it actually starts a bit floaty before the skittering beat decides to shove the curtains to the room open. I appreciate this. It's a lot of good grit.

Vocally, this is a very sensual song, and if I hadn't looked him up before, I probably would have had suspicions that he was a second gen artist, and I'd be saying something about how this sounds like something that Taemin would sing. Both of these things are still true, but slightly redundant. I'm not overly fond of the lack of a big showcase of the vocals I assume he has, given what I've heard from the other three members of TVXQ! I've heard for their solo stuff, especially since so much of this is a whispered, sing-song with the notes bound to a very narrow band of possibilities. But, there are a lot of songs on the album for me to listen to and find what I'm looking for.

This is a proper storyline. And he's got the kind of coat on that I tend to fixate with. Very science fiction. Kind of cyberpunk.



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