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A name that we haven’t heard from for a while now is Jang Hyunseung. Fans of KPOP back in the early 2010s should know who this person is. But in the off chance that you don’t remember who he is (or if you are new KPOP fan), then I got you with a brief recap of who Jang Hyunseung is. Jang Hyunseung is a soloist currently signed to Cube Entertainment and was a former member of Beast (now HIGHLIGHT) and (formerly) one half of the Trouble Maker duo. Most recently, he has been one of the many KPOP idols who had to enlist and was released from the military earlier this year. He kicked off his solo career back in 2015 with Ma First (which I personally was never a fan of) but has since not released any new music. That is, until last Thursday when he made his long awaited solo comeback with I Just Can’t Stop Loving You.

I Just Can’t Stop Loving You is a definite and solid improvement from Ma First by a long way. The song tethers between pop via the verses and synthpop for the chorus. It was a nice mix (my favourite part has to be the drums at the start of the song), though not very interesting in practice or in words for this review. However, anymore elements or robustness to the instrumentation would have taken away from the song. Judging based on the title of the song (and confirmed with an English translation), I Just Can’t Stop Loving You‘s driving force is emotions of heartbreak and yearning to be with a former lover. I feel that if the song was a tad more dynamic, the emotions would have overshadowed or missed. For the vocal side of the song, Jang Hyunseung did extremely well. Personally, I never really enjoyed his vocals even during the time he was part of Beast. There was always this hoarseness that placed him behind the other members of his former group. But in this song, his vocals were quite clear and you can feel that level of emotion in his voice. The hoarseness was still there, but it wasn’t distracting me. I also really liked how that hoarseness was used during the ‘rap-sing’ moment of the second verse. It was definitely interesting and added a new colour to the pop/synthpop combination. Overall, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You was a nice comeback for and reintroduction to Jang Hyunseung.

Jang Hyunseung drinks and wanders around for the music video. That is literally 99% of the music video. The other 1% was an image of a female that he was drawing, presumably to be the person he is missing. It all makes sense though. He simply wants to forget about her, but he just cannot do it. The only time where he isn’t wandering or drinking was when he was trying to fall asleep. And I am guess when he closes his mind, he finds himself remember her. So he ends up seeking solace in drinking and wandering the streets. I liked how the video was shot, making it look like we are seeing him from his perspective. Unfocused and rocky, but not excessively (which was nice).

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