I now take a bit of a breather from the Monday releases to review 2 more recent comebacks. The first is the major comeback that Lee Jin Hyuk made yesterday with Bedlam. This is the UP10TION member’s first solo comeback after he made his solo debut earlier in the year with I Like That. Fellow member Kim Woo Seok who participated in Produce X 101 alongside with Lee Jin Hyuk also made his solo debut in May. Yet, we have not seen these two members return to their UP10TION lineup and capitalise on their newfound popularity. It is a bit of a mystery to why this has yet to occur. But we can only hope that a comeback will happen soon with all 10 members soon. In the meantime, here is Lee Jin Hyuk to hopefully appease those UP10TION cravings.

As boring as I felt I Like That was, I can’t help but think it is a lot more refined than what we have here. Actually, no. The word to use instead of ‘refined’ in that initial statement is ‘better’. From what I could get, Bedlam has a really nice fun-sounding instrumental, suitable for the upbeat hip-hop style that Lee Jin Hyuk’s solo release was aiming for. And from what I can hear, it had a decent level of brightness to make it well suited for the Summer season. However, it is all masked with Lee Jin Hyuk’s vocals, which I did not think was fun or Summery. You might want to give a song a listen first before seeing how I judged his delivery, in case this song might be your style. The last thing I want to do is turn you away from a track that you would have enjoyed. For me personally, I felt Lee Jin Hyuk was shouting the entire time. It felt overwhelming and it felt too much, to the point where I fund it hard to register the instrumental. In his defense, the song matches the title, as Bedlam can be defined as a scene of uproar of confusion. Though this doesn’t explaing the overwhelming nature of his delivery. The only part of the song that I enjoyed (coincidentally, it does not have any of Lee Jin Hyuk’s shouting in it) was the dance instrumental sequence at the ending. I liked the premature ending to the song before it threw us into that intense sequence, as this made it more impactful. It felt fitting for what had preceded it, mainly because it was also just a bunch of noise. But it gave the song some edge and something more appealing than his vocals. I hate to be brutally honest, but I just couldn’t sugar coat things this time around.

If the music video was indicative of what Bedlam was meant to sound like, it was definitely meant to be upbeat, bright, hip-hop and fun-sounding. It is quite disappointing that the visuals had to tell you what type of song it was meant to be. But for the music video specifically, it wasn’t that bad. Lee Jin Hyuk starts off as an office worker, who seemed to have a really tough day. So once the day was literally over, he let loose in the office. He definitely makes a mess in the office and in life (based on the breaking news story segment). He also goes wild at a Chinese buffet restaurant and on the computer screen. But it nice to know that Lee Jin Hyuk knows when to tone it down once the day restarts, returning to a professional office manner (and a mask!). Apart from making a mess, I really enjoyed the different choreography shots, as they looked quite flashy thanks to the lighting and post-production.

The best part of the performance has to be the dance sequence at the end of the song. Not because it was my most favourite part of the song, but it showed off a really intense choreography that allowed Lee Jin Hyuk to flex some of his dancing skills. The rest of the performance was quite chaotic, even during the routine moments. And I must admit, they do fit in well with the song.

Song – 4/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 6/10