Do note that I will be jumping around a lot of the reviews over the coming days. I skip ‘forward’ briefly to last night (before I go back in time for the next review) to focus on yesterday’s new release – Park Ji Hoon’s comeback with Gallery and the mini-album, My Collection. This comeback comes after a nine month absence from the music scene, with his last comeback being GOTCHA (the title track) and Message (Park Ji Hoon’s first studio album). Since the release of his last comeback, Park Ji Hoon has been focusing on his acting, as he was casted in the lead role of At a Distance, Spring Is Green.

Described as an EDM-based pop track, Gallery taps into the funky side of the KPOP with a dynamically driven and upbeat dance track. I personally thought Gallery‘s instrumental was quite an asset in making the song extremely appealing and satisfying to listen to. It had a nice level of bass that contributed to great deal of depth and sleekness, at the same time. The synths kept the song going, driving it forward and adding momentum Gallery. I also like the additional brass that the song brought in at the very end in the background. It was subtle difference, but definitely went a long way to help add a bit more flair at the very end to round out the song. Consistency within the instrumentation was also a really nice factor in terms of appeal in Gallery. If you follow my blog for a while now, this usually not what I prefer when it comes to music. Overly consistent songs tend to be quite repetitive, dull and ‘the safe option’. But in Gallery, I think Park Ji Hoon manages to shake things up every so slightly with the way he sings and raps (both of which were really well done, if I have not made myself clear about this yet), and this keeps the song from becoming boring and repetitive. This is a very strong asset to have as an artist, as proven in this song. Personally, I would have like a stronger hook, to really make the song that bit more memorable and enhance the post-chorus (which was already so strong with the cascading effect of synths) even further. Overall, I think Gallery was a very strong release thanks to its underlying instrumentation, and was quite clever in highlighting Park Ji Hoon skills.

Appropriately set in a art gallery, Park Ji Hoon is the artwork for that that special someone to look at. Those parts of the music video were just fine and pleasant to watch. Also Park Ji Hoon looks quite good throughout those scenes. but for me, the best bits of the video were the ones where the green screen was used. Thanks to the green screen, a massive keyhole sits in the background and the visual effects they used to change up the background involving the key hole actually made the video look really cool. Such effects gave the video a bit of a wow factor, which undoubtedly drives up the video’s appeal after the fact.

I really liked the choreography for this comeback. There was a lot going on, especially during those post-chorus sequences where the synths are cascading. There was a bit of a popping and locking type feel in those segments, but it felt more subtle than usual popping and locking choreographies. I liked the intensity we did get from those sections, and how they were all a bunch of small movements strung together to create an epic routine. I also felt that park Ji Hoon was slightly flirty with his expressions on stage, which looked good.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 8.5/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 8.9/10