Ha Sung Woon is nominated for Best Male Solo Performance (for Forbidden Island) in the 2020 KPOPREVIEWED Awards. Click here to support Ha Sung Woon and your other favourite artists if you haven’t yet! Remember voting closes on the 31st of December 11:59PM AEST.

Next up on the reviewing chopping block is Ha Sung Woon’s latest mini-album, Mirage. This release was dropped (alongside the title track Forbidden Island) on November 9th, which makes this mini-album overdue by a month. Better late than never, as I always say. This is his fourth mini-album since his solo debut back in February 2019 with Bird. This is was also his second comeback of the year, following the release of Get Ready and Twilight Zone in June of this year. Okay, enough of the rundown of Ha Sung Woon’s solo music history, let’s move onto the album review.

1. Forbidden Island (그 섬) (Title Track) – Click here to read the full review for Forbidden Island. (9/10)

2. Candle Light (촛불) – Candle Light is a nice pop track. The pop instrumentation, which is made up of a a mixture of piano/thumping beats and soft EDM, is quite breezy and extremely pleasant. The melodies are quite flowy and enjoyable, helping to strength the appeal of this song. What Candle Light also does well is showcase Ha Sung Woon’s vocals. He sounds quite hearty in this song and I can detect a level of sweetness which helps with the melodic appeal of the song. (9/10)

3. 2000 Miles – How awesome does 2000 Miles sound? The EDM chorus feels well suited for a Summer road trip or as the theme song for when you are exploring something new for the first time. I like the addition of the acoustic guitars. It adds that fresh Summery feeling on top of the bouncy EDM instrumentation. For Ha Sung Woon’s vocals, he does a spectacular job in this song. From the added vocal effects to his falsetto, I genuine enjoyed every aspect of this song. (10/10)

4. Without You (행성) – Without You is another song that combines EDM with the acoustic guitar. But Without You is less energetic and is much softer. Instead, Without You comes off as a pop ballad. Ha Sung Woon is killing it on this album with the sweet nature behind his voice. It is so appealing. The atmospheric vibes of the song makes it even better and well suited for my palette. Overall, Without You is another great song to relax to! (10/10)

5. Talk To Me (말해줘요) – Once again, Ha Sung Woon goes does the pop ballad route for Talk To Me. There is a bit of a slow rock vibe to it, which differentiates it from the rest of the mini-album, which I think it is fantastic change (give that the song all practically stem from the pop genre). While I would love to give this mini-album its third 10/10, I am not going to as I am not sold on the vocals. They were good, but they didn’t feel as grounded as the other vocals we had in this album. I did love the electric guitar solo, which felt like icing on a cake for me. (9/10)

Overall Album Rating – 9.4/10