The announcement of  Taeyeon’s comeback and 3rd mini-album appeared out of the blue last week. She is known for her chart-topping hits, such as I and Fine. And with the release of her new mini-album, she will most likely add Something New to that list, with the release of both her mini-album and title track today. Taeyeon previously released This Christmas last year as a special Christmas single.

Opening up Something New is an autotuned yet harmonizing acapella-like introduction which really engages you. It isn’t something that you hear all too often hence why I found it intriguing. The song then takes a turn and progresses into a more upbeat territory which remains for the rest of the song. It takes on a neo-soul urban pop genre mashup, a first for Taeyeon, who has experimented in the past with different sounds. I really like the funky and groovy sounds you get from the song, which really puts it in an even more interesting light. I also liked how light her voice feels in this song, especially during the chorus. There is this balance between her voice and the instrumental, with the latter being bold yet still complimenting the vocals. I really liked the prechorus and the bridge of the song, as those moments stood out the most for me. The chorus had a decent hook but it wasn’t exactly the selling point for me. I think, just based on the different sound itself, the song does feel memorable. Overall, it is a nice song. 

The music video starts off with Taeyeon’s makeup all over the place. We see a snippet of the video to come but you don’t really realize what is about to occur. The video then goes back to Taeyeon (who is beautifully presented) arriving at her hotel (?) and walking the red carpet inside here, with a sea of photographers and fans waiting for her arrival. It seems behind closed doors she is a taregt for everyone, with the bodyguard in the lift and the room service maid attempting to kill her. However in both scenarios, she emerges victorious and I assume their bodies in luggage. At the end of the video, we see her tossing all her luggage out into the sea and shooting them for good measures. Cash spills out of some of them. While I am not sure how the video exactly fits in with the song, someone on the YouTube comments suggested that the people out to get her were the haters and Taeyeon is fighting back. Makes sense. At the end, I think it was revealed that everything we had watched was a movie within the video, though I am not too sure. I thought it was a well produced video with an interesting plotline.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.4/10