Last month, TEN (from NCT and WayV) returned to the stage with his second solo mini-album and title track of the same name, STUNNER. It is his first solo release since his official solo debut last year with Nightwalker (which I never got around to reviewing) and, the mini-album, TEN.

STUNNER is a great R&B pop number that shows off TEN’s mature vibe. The latter is definitely the track’s strongest asset, and the producers definitely took great advantage of this. His vocals and rapping were really nicely done. In addition, I liked the groovy sound profile that comes with STUNNER, which is another reason I found the track to be quite appealing. This just melds so well into the R&B pop genre and TEN’s style. But as the song progressed, I would have liked a little more to the instrumentation. By the time we got to the end of STUNNER, the instrumental sounded the same as everything that proceeded before we got to that bit and felt neutrally geared. Given this is TEN, a likely solution could have been the incorporation of an edgy instrumental break that keeps to the R&B motif, which then could have doubled as a dance break. But where STUNNER felt stagnant, certain parts of the song made up for it. The start of the pre-choruses, when the vocal lines were packed in, were an instantaneous highlight that caught my attention from the first listen. The simply spoken repetition of the song’s title in the post-chorus hook was also super catchy. Overall, STUNNER falls slightly short of being a stunner, but definitely had the potential to reach that status.

The music video sees TEN play a man with a magnetic charm that no one can resist. Everywhere he goes, the people around him are physically drawn to him. Even in the inanimate objects in his home have a hard time copying with his magnetic charming and are also drawn to him. It was quite a cool concept. But while the concept was cool, I did think the visuals could have been a little more complementary to the sound profile of the song. Mature yes, but I felt the music video really understated the groovy nature of STUNNER.

Through his stage performances for STUNNER, I could see TEN’s stage presence and chemistry with his dancers. This made for a strong and captivating performance, which is already powerful thanks to the defined body waves and sharp movements that make up the routine.

Song – 8.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.7/10