Photo credits: S.M Ent

[Review] D.O. – Empathy

EXO’s D.O. released his first solo mini-album ‘Empathy’ today. Let’s take a look!

Empathy

We start off with ‘Rose’ which is also the title track. D.O. wrote the lyrics for this one. This acoustic folk song fits his vocals perfectly. ‘Rose’ is super wholesome, and is going straight into my playlist. It’s a great title track.

Next up is ‘I’m Gonna Love You’ featuring rapper Wonstein. This mid-tempo pop song gives us more of that lovely guitar. Wonstein’s addition to the track is really good and fits seamlessly. ‘I’m Gonna Love You’ is the kind of song that you can easily sing along to when you hear it on the radio.

‘My Love’ follows with a more R&B feel. D.O. always manages to bring so much warmth to the song with his emotive vocals. This is just a lovely song and I really enjoyed the addition of the piano. EaJ (aka Jae from DAY6) co-composed the track.

Next up

We’re going a bit more Latin with ‘It’s Love’. The Spanish guitar is beautifully played with this acoustic pop song. I legit would love to see a live performance of this. I can already tell I’ll be moved to tears. I’ve already said it, but I’ll say it again. D.O.’s vocals are top tier.

‘Dad’ is up next. If you need a good cry, read the translated lyrics here. This ballad has a more minimalist instrumental to complement the vocals.

Track 6 is ‘I’m Fine’ which was also co-written by D.O.. This warm R&B track has some lovely electric guitar in the back.

The last two tracks on the album are the English version of ‘Rose’ and the Spanish version of ‘It’s Love’; ‘Si Fueras Mía’.

Overall, ‘Empathy’ by D.O. is a great mini-album that shows some of D.O.’s biggest strengths. I’d love to hear the full thing live. You can find the album on Spotify here. If you want to read our review for EXO’s latest comeback, you can click here.

Ilse Van Den Heede
A writer with a slight coffee addiction and a tendency to find K-Indie gems in the YouTube rabbit hole.