Kickstarting the new week is Kim Yo Han’s solo comeback. For those who don’t know Kim Yo Han, he currently the leader of WEi (a six member male group under Oui Entertainment) and is a former member of the short-lived X1 project group formed via Produce X 101. He is also an actor, currently known for the recently ended School 2021 drama. On the music front, Kim Yo Han made his solo debut a month prior to his debut as part of WEi with No More back in 2020. Today, Kim Yo Han returns with the mini-album Illusion and title track, DESSERT.

Kim Yo Han’s return is a more track when compared to No More. That one I was not much of a fan of. As for DESSERT, I feel that it fairs a bit better. However, reading over my review of No More, I can’t help but notice that a few elements of his solo debut track were also brought over into DESSERT, namely his vocals. I still find them dry and bland in DESSERT as per my main gripe about his solo debut track. They just don’t excite me, nor provide much expression or character to the song. There was a bit of amplification for the chorus. And while I did enjoy the pop melody here, I am still of the opinion that more can be done on the vocal front for this song. The bridge was interesting, with Kim Yo Han playing towards his strength here. Instead of a usual high note as per most KPOP songs, he instead opts to fade his vocals out. It isn’t spectacular, but it different aspect to other songs which I had noticed, and made the relaunch into the final chorus satisfying. As for DESSERT‘s instrumentation, I felt that it was too mainstream and safe – not really offering more than other KPOP dance tracks. However, I do appreciate the funky touch it had, which helped make the song a bit more appealing to my ears. This really helped pull me through the song and made DESSERT‘s centrepiece a bit more enjoyable. Once again, Kim Yo Han’s rapping was the song’s best part and pairing it with the funky nature of the instrumental was wonderful. Overall, DESSERT is a step in the right direction but still doesn’t show Kim Yo Han off as much.

Like the song itself, the music video and overall concept for this comeback takes on a much darker concept than when we last saw him as a solo artist. The mysterious vibes at the start of the video really pulled me, and I naturally wanted to find out what happens in the video. In the music video, we see Kim Yo Han tied up and undergo a transformation from pure to dark. At one point in the music video, we see Kim Yo Han take a bite of an apple, representation of the forbidden fruit, which caused the transformation. The forbidden fruit in this video represents the irresistible love in which Kim Yo Han likens to dessert in the lyrics. It is a topic that has been approached by many concepts in the past, but it is interesting to see how different companies and groups portray the story. And I feel like this music video did it clearly and well, whilst also using a lot of red.

The performance has a sensual tinge to it, which made the performance interesting and kept me around for the whole performance. Some of Kim Yo Han’s facial expressions were also on point. I also liked the laidback vibes that I also got from the performance, which were well incorporated and helps makes it more alluring.

Song – 7/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 8/10
Overall Rating – 7.5/10