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Song Review:: Kim Jaejoong (TVXQ!/JYJ/JK): THE WAVE- Tonight

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Release date: 2026 August 20 Album tracklist: Tonight , Echoes of Us Album runtime: 8  minutes  Ah, I'm so late with this. I'm glad that he's dropping new music because his voice is gorgeous and it's important to the ecosystem of K-Pop that he continues to release music. But I'm also starting to get a little concerned about the girl group he's got at his company. The boys have been getting a lot of attention lately, which as fresh debuts, is their due, but the girls are due for a comeback and I've heard neither hide nor hair of one. Unless they're getting a full album. In which case, carry on. Take a few more months. Stunning runtime on both the single and the title track though. I love that. This is such a retro rock song from the 80s that the instrumental sounds like something my mom would have listened to as a teenager. We've got the good elements of a rock song: drums, a sick guitar solo, delicious synthy goodness, and a little bit of a keyboard ...

Song Reviews: Kim Jaejoong (TVXQ!/JYJ/JK): OASIS {Japanese}

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Release date: 2026 May 27 Album tracklist: OASIS Album runtime: 4 minutes  He also released an OST recently, but while I'm not positive about if that's an OST or not (if I can get caught up, I'll do it) but I know I didn't do this one. So, I'm going to rectify that. Obviously. Since you're reading this. = I really should dig into his discography a bit more to see how often rock shows up. This one has a pretty sick guitar solo there, near the end, and for most of the rest of the song, it almost has a little bit of a science fiction vibe to it. It's a little bit techno in spots, but in general, it's got an earnestness to it where it goesn't quite demand attention so much as stand in the center of the room and allow others to notice it. His voice however does not. The earnestness is strong in his voice, as his vibrato is and his vibrato is loud an din charge. There's also a softness here that I really appreciate. He's really got such a nice voic...

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 the whole album is over thirty minutes. He's got a five minute song on here. Also, fun fact, this post is my 1,111th post that I've done. Not of just reviews. But in total across all my series. I'm eternally amused when a soloist, even after it's been years since they were in a group, still manag...

Song Review:: Kim Jaejoong (TVXQ!/JYJ/JK): Beauty in Chaos- ROCK STAR

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Release date: 2025 May 19 Album tracklist: In Chaos, ROCK STAR , Miracle, Last VoW, Goal In,  Album runtime: 17  minutes  There's another song of his that I need to do, but for now, I'll be satisfied with this one. I've decided that I really like his voice, having gone back through his discography a little, and given what he said on his show with Changsub, this album in particular will likely be right up my wheelhouse: namely, rock. Also evidenced by the name, but it is what it is. Okay. So. On to the second gen legend. What's funny about this is I know it's going to be classified as rock. Jaejoong, again, said as much during their discussion of their mutual love of rock music. I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that. I would like to add that this is tapping into some country instincts that are very well-developed in me, so much so that I'm having to actively remember that this song is going to be labeled rock. If there isn't an acoustic guitar in the ...

Song Review:: Kim Jaejoong (TVXQ!/JYJ/JK): Hoper

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Release date: 2024 December 27 Album tracklist:  Hoper Album runtime: 3 minutes  Second gen idol dropping a single? Yes, please. The only thing that could make this better is it if the single was multi-track, which is a weird thing that I've accepted is common practice, even though single means one and a multi-track single feels like an oxymoron, but I digress. Although he did do a full album this year, so the single is just supplementary. Also, Jaejoong has done quite a few OSTs, which is cool.  Starting off with a lone, slow piano. Eventually strings get added, but the piano has the role that the percussion (usually drums of some sort) usually takes for the song, which makes sense because it's a hammer striking the wires which produces the sound, classifying the piano both as a percussion instrument and a stringed instrument. It's a gorgeous pairing, as the strings don't stay in the song for long, and instead let the piano open and close with enough space to let the m...