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Review: Kim Sung Kyu - I'm Cold
Infinite's leader and main vocalist Sung Kyu is back from the military. I have always felt his vocal skills are special in the world of K-Pop. But the album preview and the songwriter announcement got worried. The song sounded too trendy for Sung Kyu's voice, and instead of using Nell's leader Kim Jong-Wan to write the track (his own material is fire as well), Woolim Entertainment went with in house songwriter BLSSD. Don't get me wrong, BLSSD has released some gems through his skills. But he relies on bleak and minimalist vocal recitation and production. This can work with a group, but I am not sure his skill will work with Sung Kyu.
Turns out the album is pretty much Sung Kyu's worst album yet. Still, title track 'I'm Cold' is not that bad.
As feared, the production follows a minimalist R & B beat. I rather wish it went for a '60 Seconds'-esque rock. Still, Sung Kyu performs this sound nice and easy. His vocals are airy and work surprisingly well with this material, and keep this track from absolutely falling apart.
The melody is repetitive, yet catchy, and a few high-notes help the track.
'I'm Cold' does not dare touch Sung Kyu's best material, but is an okay track. I just hope next time, Kim Jong-Wan is back to write his songs.
Actually, I rated this 5.75 objectively. Not bad indeed, it is not-so mediocre. But well Kim Sunggyu's performance is pretty good!
ReplyDeleteI came close to panning it, but it gets points for turning something pretty terrible into something listenable, credit to BLSSD and Sung Kyu for that. In fact, if I was biased, I may have rated this lower due to expectations!
DeleteIndeed! I relistened to it again, and it really sounds good. Again, I rated it because I felt it was very OK R&B with a common chord progression and key. But BLSSD, did heaven's work with this one.
DeleteOh have you tried this? https://pudding.cool/2020/12/judge-my-spotify/ It is actually pretty cool but my taste is "bad". That snarky AI. I am k-pop-aficionado-permanent-wave-bad. Well I listen to Bjork so yeah.
DeleteI do not want to try it, because my taste will come out bad according to it anyway, doubt anyone on Pitchfork or Reddit listens to old 60s Indian songs or J-Pop indie rock you have never heard off lol.
DeleteTrue, BLSSD and Sungkyu did the best they could with what was on the table :)