Shin Yong Jae, one of the members of the ballad group 4MEN just released his first solo album ‘Dear’. The MILLION MARKET singer has one of the best, most emotive voices in the industry, so let’s check it out!
Dear
We start off with ‘Intro’ which immediately sets the tone with beautiful string instruments. I already know I’m going to get emotional, because even though the intro is just over a minute long I can already feel my heart swell.
‘First Line’ is the first full length track. The release came accompanied by this new music video, which is simplicity at its finest.
The vocals are so, so good. I’ll probably write that a lot in this review, but it’s totally warranted. In the album introduction he wrote that ‘the first line’ expresses the idea that life is a book and that he wants to return to the beginning of his story.
Next up is ‘Give u’. Where ‘First Line’ is awesome in its bigness and explosive vocals, this one rests on the opposite side of the spectrum. ‘Give u’ is beautiful in its delicateness. It kind of feels like a warm hug from your mom after a long day.
‘Star’ comes in with a beautiful piano melody. Take a look at the live version and get your good headphones out.
Next up
With a movie fragment we start ‘La La Land’. The song is heavily inspired by the soundtrack of the film ‘La La Land’. The violins in this one are really lovely. Instrumentation wise, it feels a little bit more upbeat in comparison to the previous songs.
The seventh track of ‘Dear’ is ‘Allow’. The piano is slightly more funky than everything I’ve heard so far. I’m really digging the drums in this as well.
‘The Memory’ comes next. The little shakers are a very nice touch to this ballad. There’s quite a retro feel to it and I totally dig it.
We do get a little bit of 4MEN as well because the feature on the next song is by the second 4MEN member, Kim Won Joo. ‘Every Day’ is another retro inspired song. Their voices work so well together and their harmonies are *chef’s kiss*.
After that we get the track ‘Another day goes by’. His vocals gave me chills in this one.
Next up is ‘A Secret Forest’. Get this song a K-drama so it can be an OST. I don’t care if someone writes the show based on the song, because WOW. Absolutely fantastic.
The last two songs on the album are the instrumental version of ‘First Line’ and ‘Star’.
Overall
‘Dear’ by Shin Yong Jae is a fantastic well-rounded album. It’s his first full length album after 12 years of being in the industry so I can imagine this is quite a special moment for him. Go show him some love on his Instagram.
Go listen to the album on Spotify here.
