Tag: Samuel Kim

Returning with his first repackaged mini-album is Samuel. And once again, he flaunts his age with his title track titled Teenager, featuring Lee Ro Han. He previously did so during his debut promotions with Sixteen. Earlier this year, Samuel released One, which featured Jung Ilhoon from BTOB.

In some cases when songs from the same artist are released relatively close to one another, I compare them (it is actually hard for me to control this). In this case, I find that Teenager isn’t that exciting, as compared to One. While the song does go down the EDM route, it feels very standard and typical for songs of the same kind. His chorus is a mix of EDM synths and the simple repetition of the title, ‘Teenager’. It just is a weak hook that doesn’t reel me into the song. The verses did sound good, with a decent buildup tot he chorus. His vocals were that good but they don’t go that extra mile, which could have upgraded this song to a higher level. The rapping was good, with the deep voice and well-paced delivery reminiscing some of the songs where I have rappers delivery very deep and meaning lines. All of that being said, the song isn’t a letdown in any way. It is still listenable, it just doesn’t feel up to par with his previous track.

Set in a dystopian setting, it seems to show Samuel as one of the last survivors of some sort of apocalyptic event. He is shown lost and sad (with his puppy eyes) throughout the video. But along the way, he gains this confidence that kind goes ‘hey, I am alive and no one else is’. Personally, I think this goes hand in hand with the meaning of the lyrics, which talk about how people underestimated him based on his age but yet he has gotten quite far. The only thing I don’t like how they got the actress to deliver the raps. She didn’t look like she wanted to do it anyway.

It was a good performance to watch. Nothing that mind-blowing, though like most performances, I’d say it was fitting for the song.

Song – 6.5/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 7/10
Overall Rating – 7/10

 

Samuel is officially back with his second mini-album. Both the mini-album and title track share the same name, One. This is his first comeback of 2018 and his first since Candy, which was released back in November 2017. His comeback coincides with the comebacks of Wanna One and Hyeongseop x Euiwoong; and the upcoming debut of YDPP.

To me personally, One is Samuel’s best track yet. Right from the start, you get a burst of energy from the funky and upbeat ’80s instrumental. This same energy is channelled throughout the chorus, which basically sounds the same as the intro (just with lyrics!). The chorus was quite catchy, with the echoing of the autotuned ‘One‘ quite interesting but extremely fitting for the song’s style. I also like the instrumental segment at the end of the chorus, which allows for an amazing dance break. The only section of the song that I am not too keen on is Ilhoon’s part. His section deviates from the instrumental and takes on EDM. And while alone it sounds good, I don’t think it is fitting enough. The rest of the song was much better, returning the song to its initial vibes. The song just somehow shouts at me with its energetic vibe, something I don’t recall Sixteen or Candy doing.

Despite some scenes made him look like a pale vampire, the music video was decent. I am a little confused on what the story behind the video is. One moment he is awake from eternal sleep, the next he is discovering his surrounds (but is also quite scared of the masked figures), and then his is suddenly king of the area. What I did like about the video was the flashy nature of the lightings which went well with the instrumental of the song. I also liked the sets of the music video. While they don’t look like something I would usually be wowed by, they do actually look quite stylish and I love the industrial feel from them.

The performance was quite good. I did mention before that the instrumental break did allow for an awesome dance break and I felt he delivered. I did expect something a little more intense from the rap section, mainly because the instrumental there was EDM based. But everything else featured great energy, complimenting the song.

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

Samuel is back with his first full-length album, Eye Candy and the title track, Candy. Samuel is a newly debut soloist who made his debut a few months back with Sixteen. With his debut receiving a lot of attention due to his Produce 101 days, his return has been highly anticipated by many fans.

And I am hugely disappointed with the song. It has a nice sound that would have fit perfectly into 90s music. And for that, the song can be described as upbeat. But for the most part, the song could easily be forgotten for its lack of memorable moments. It doesn’t have strong hooks nor does it have that catchy nature that could have made it addictive. It stays relatively neutral and standard. His vocals are okay but they seemed to be less audible when paired with the upbeat instrumental, which appeared to become a little too overpowering overall. If we were to compare his debut track with this one, Sixteen comes out as a more superior track because it had lines that were catchy and there was a stronger sense of appeal within the song. So to summarise, I am not a fan of the song.

Like the song, the music video falls victim to the ‘standard’ content. There really isn’t much to mention regarding the videos. The sets were great their clothing matched the era that the song is trying to take on (oh, baggy sweatpants). Samuel does look good in the video, I will admit. The video does its best at painting a cool picture of the solo artist. Not sure how some people will react to motorcycle scene, though I hope they won’t misunderstand. It seems to be there for comedic effect.

It is a good performance. Just the song felt more upbeat and his performance didn’t seem to be channelling the same level of energy. It may be due to his selection of singing live over the choreography but the backup dancers seemed to lack the energy as well.

Song – 4/10
Music Video – 5/10
Performance – 6/10
Overall Rating – 4.5/10

 

One of the most popular trainees from the recent season of Produce 101 has made his solo debut, with Sixteen. Samuel Kim was undeniably one of the favourites to make it in the top 11. For unknown reasons, he only made the top 18. For those who don’t know him, Samuel Kim was previously a trainee under Pledis (before moving to his current company, Brave Entertainment) and was part of the now-disbanded duo, 1PUNCH.

The first thing I noticed when I listened to the song was the autotune. While I have expressed my dislike of autotune in the past, I am not too troubled by its usage in this song. It wasn’t as heavy or over-the-top like other songs. But using auto-tune throughout the entire song did make it more noticeable than it should have been. The song is quite good but I don’t think it was strong enough for a debut. There were parts of it which I did like but the rest of the track seemed quite neutral and standard. The chorus was quite catchy and it felt like it was the most dynamic part of the song. The way he opened the chorus and the rhythm that I got out it made it quite enjoyable. The rest of the track did fall short though, feeling quite bland and boring. Changmo’s rap was pretty good, but it did feel somewhat disjointed from the rest of the song.

The music video had some good scenes in there. But what I noticed that some details were cropped out of view because of the borders. The borders made it feel quite constricting and fast editing made everything breeze past. Overall, everything felt nice. The night scenes looked cool and the choreography scenes were awesome. The party and supermarket scenes though seemed very dry and unconvincing. I feel odd writing this (since this is his video), but I felt like the focus was a touch too much on Samuel, when it should have been with the interactions between him with the surroundings and the others in the background. For example, at the party, he threw the confetti up as the camera zoomed onto him. But the others were busy interacting with everyone else but him. So it looked a little awkward.

The choreography looks amazing. It’s not groundbreaking but it pretty good. I could only dream to be half good as he was. The first time I watched the choreography, I didn’t notice the sixteen symbol he made with his hands. But now, I notice it every single time the chorus kicks in! That, to me, was impressive.

Song – 6.5/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 9/10
Overall Rating – 7/10