Hong Joo Chan (Golden Child)

The next step to a completed album review for Golden Child’s second studio album (and its repackaged version) is for the album’s first unit track. This unit, if you cannot tell from the title of the post, is made up of Joochan and Bomin, two vocalists of the group. Their single is titled Singing In The Rain.

I personally do not have much to say about Singing In The Rain, so this review will be fairly short. This doesn’t mean I dislike the song, though. As a matter of fact, I quite enjoyed the song as whole, even though its style just isn’t my cup of tea. Singing In The Rain is a fairly simple song. It is a very typical jazzy style of music, suitable for a coffee shop. There is a bit of rain in the background, so imagine sitting in a n ambient coffee shop on a rainy day whilst listening to this song. There actually isn’t anything that special about the style of song, but something else really captivates and pulls me into the song. Singing In The Rain superbly present Joochan and Bomin’s vocals. The pair sounds quite dreamy and sweet throughout the song and this really fans out to the rest of the song. I particularly like the pairing of Joochan’s higher and Bomin’s lower tone in this song. The contrast between the two was nice and gives the song that extra something to talk/think about. The melodies that the voices are carry are so light and drifty, reiterating that dreamy and sweet feeling you get from the song. Overall, a soothing track to listen to. In the grand scheme of things, it may not be the most memorable side track on the album, but Singing In The Rain is still a worthwhile listen.

There seems to be two theories floating about regarding this video. One of them proposes that Bomin’s character is in love with the female character, while the other proposes that Bomin is in love with Joochan’s character. The video is pretty ambiguous, so either theories feel very valid. Apart from that, everything else within the video fits in neatly with the song. I also like the rainy scenes, with Joochan and Bomin dressed up in suits and holding their umbrellas. It gave the video a bit of variety in terms of range of scenes and infused a bit of something different into the video.

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

We continue the solo debut trend of this week with the first member of Golden Child branching out into solo works. Hong Joo Chan, the main vocalist of Golden Child, released A Song For Me on the 27th of February (this past Wednesday). This is also the first time we heard from Golden Child since their Genie comeback in October 2018.

As I mentioned in an earlier review, main vocalists tend to go down the cliche route by selecting a ballad song to showcase their vocal talents. And this is the same route that Hong Joo Chan had decided to go with. But once again, I wish to reiterate that I am not troubled but this and this is merely an observation that I have noticed with other artists. A Song For Me reminds of ballads that I would listen on a radio channel here in Australia. It has a very old-style instrumental, almost 90s ballad feels, as it has an electronic feel to it. And his vocals are very soothing in this track. They aren’t powerhouse vocals where he is belting out every single note and because of that, I think this is a very enjoyable song to kick back and listen to after a long day. And the track has that swaying effect, which I enjoy doing while listening to really good ballads.

The song is about reflecting upon one’s self and there is no other way of doing that but by taking a trip to a different place where no one knows you. Joo Chan does just that in the video, where he goes on the streets and wander the streets of Japan. One thing I did notice about the song is that it suits a very wide scenery. And there is no better place than the beach if you want an image that feels wide. It also seems that he wants to bring a part of the trip back by filming scenes from the beach to constantly himself about this reflection time. It is a fitting video for the song.

Song – 9/10
Music Video – 9/10
Overall Rating – 9/10