Samuel Seo is back! I couldn’t be happier about it, because I’m in love with his discography, see one of our episodes of DisKovery With A K for further proof.
He released his album ‘The Misfit’ on Thursday and the entire thing is so brilliant. It is fifteen songs long, so let’s get into that.
The Songs
The opener is ‘Breathe’ and it’s less than a minute long. It’s very gentle and instrumental and to be honest, you’ll need the reminder because the album will take your breath away.
‘Misfit’s Anthem’ starts with a cough and feels like an extension of ‘Breathe’. It’s kind of another opener since this is kind of short as well. It clocks in at two minutes.
Then we get into the full tracks. ‘Notting Hill’ starts very soft and it is, until the beat comes in. Samuel Seo has this beautiful thrill in his voice and when the electric guitar comes in, it’s divine.
‘Olive Session’ had me shook from the opening seconds. It’s so groovy and it’s exactly as he sings in the chorus ‘Keep on grooving’.There are a lot of interesting things going on in the background. I feel like it’s the perfect song to get ready for a party.
Then, with a little beatboxing we get into ‘Yeonhui-dong’. For the chorus Samuel Seo is using layered vocals and the entire song just feels so incredibly sassy. I was ready to start snapping my fingers.
‘Ice Cube’ starts with a very cute piano melody. The chorus is catchy like crazy and the use of the trumpet is *chef’s kiss*.
The fifth song on ‘The Misfit’ is ‘Coastal Waves’. It’s appropriately named because the rhythm feels kind of wavy. It’s super smooth and I think that this would be even more amazing to listen to after a couple of beers. Though I doubt that was what he was going for.
Next up is ‘8 8 3’. The track is soft. And I’m a sucker for saxophone solos, so this is one of my favorite numbers.
‘Something & Nothing’ goes into sad territory. It’s rather poetic. In his lyrics he sings about ‘wanting to be something, turned out it was nothing’ and I guess that reaching your goal or your life’s dream won’t fix everything. Sometimes we can still feel unhappy even when we get what we always wanted.
Now get ready for some funky bass in ‘Really That’. The chorus is very fun with the beautiful piano and what I think is a screeching guitar. Though I’ve one question about the lyrics. Every time he says ‘tickling those divine things’, I get kind of thrown out of the song because I’m like, you’re tickling what now?? The song in itself feels kind of dreamlike.
‘Good Morning’ starts off so bizarre, but I’m 100% in love with it. I’m guessing he’s trying to mimic an alarm clock since the song is called ‘Good Morning’. The static in the last few seconds add a little extra I wasn’t expecting.
Number 12 is ‘Playaplayaplaya’, for some reason this reminds me a lot of his first album. The vocals in this song are so good! There’s a video for this song, so check it out. It’s incredible.
I’m not sure how closely you should follow his advice from ‘Ordinary Kids’. I’m guessing he has a bone to pick with school. Though I feel like he’s speaking a lot of truths. ‘Dreams are born in the streets.’
‘YI YU’ is the fourteenth track. And my goodness, he’s going into deep stuff. Saying that we all have a reason to live, so if you need some positive confirmation or you’ve had a bad day, listen to this track. Pay attention to the piano because it’s lovely.
The last song is ‘The Misfit’ and I love this one. The playing with reverb and the vocal thrill again just takes me to higher places. When the vocals are layered in the chorus it’s going to give you chills.
Overall, I feel like this is a fantastic album. In comparison to his previous album ‘Unity’ the songs stick more to the same genre.
Can we just all agree that the man is a King and a genius? Yeah? Good.
Here’s the album on Spotify:
