The next album on my reviewing radar is Baekhyun’s third mini-album, Bambi, which was released back in March of this year. Bambi is also the title track of the album. Amusement Park is also featured on the album after its digital release in December of last year. This is a pretty significant release for Baekhyun, with the album selling over a million copies within a few weeks of its release, breaking his personal record which he had set himself with his Delight mini-album from last year. It is also significant in a sense that this is Baekhyun’s final mini-album release before his military enlistment which occurred earlier this month. I believe Baekhyun has hinted at some solo stuff while he is away. But until that is officially confirmed and released, we only have this mini-album to fulfil our Baekhyun cravings for the next two years or so.
1. Love Scene – The album starts off with Love Scene. This form of R&B isn’t my personal cup of tea, given that there isn’t much going on. However, I felt that Love Scene was quite soothing to listen to. There is something about the consistent guitar work and the soft thumping in the instrumental that carried the song for me. Baekhyun’s vocals were smooth and there was a decent degree of raspiness to it. But as stated a few sentences ago, the song does feel quite consistent and I wished that wasn’t so much the case. (7/10)
2. Bambi (Title Track) – Click here to read the full review for Bambi. (8/10)
3. All I Got – The opening beats of All I Got really perked my attention towards the song. Then comes Baekhyun’s falsetto note, before the R&B genre truly kicks in. In comparison to the opening track, All I Got has heft to it, which is more of my style. I really like the bass that sits under the rest of the song’s instrumentation. I really like the backing vocals in the bridge, giving a choir-like effect to the song. And to add to all of that, Baekhyun constantly returns with his vocals. A combination of falsettos and impressive ad-libs that only Baekhyun is capable of. (9/10)
4. Amusement Park (놀이공원) – Click here to read the full review for Amusement Park. (9/10)
5. Privacy – This song combines jazzy notes and with lo-fi effects to give us Privacy. It is a really nice mix of styles that work really well with one another. And in addition to that, Privacy is really smooth so it is an easy listen. I would have liked to hear more of Baekhyun aligning with the jazz side of the song, rather than the lo-fi side. While I think his vocals in this song are amazing as usual, I felt there was some missed opportunity to do some further exploration in the jazz genre space. (8/10)
6. Cry For Love – The saying ‘saving the best to last’ is applicable for this album. Cry For Love is my personal favourite side track from this mini-album. Like the entirety of this album, Cry For Love falls into the R&B genre. But the song is the heftiest on this list, thanks to the beat of the instrumentation. What makes this an even better song is Baekhyun’s vocals (per usual). He showed off a lot with his voice. You can hear the emotional drive behind his voice, which was fitting for the lyrics of this song. (9/10)
Overall Album Rating – 8.3/10