Tag: YEONJUN (TXT)

A year on from his solo debut with GGUM, YEONJUN from TXT is officially back with his first solo mini-album, NO LABELS: PART 01. Leading the mini-album is the title track Talk To You. Since GGUM, YEONJUN returned to his group for releases like Love Language, Beautiful Strangers, and most recently, Can’t Stop.

Talk To You is a very grungy and intense rock single. I found the instrumental to be very satisfying as a rock release, and I like that both the song and YEONJUN really focused on this influence without too much additional influence. The electric guitars really make the song, ensuring that the grunginess and intensity are a constant presence throughout Talk To You. YEONJUN himself does bring a hip-hop flair to his delivery, which I didn’t mind. With the help of the grungy filter that his vocals go through, he complements the rock influence quite well and allows Talk To You‘s hooks to effectively lean into the same influence. That being said, his vocals were strongest and most engaging when clear. The slurring at the start was a tad distracting, but it wasn’t the biggest deal-breaker. For me, the most significant deal-breaker is simply the fact that Talk To You was too short. The song was consistently in a high-tension mode, and the abrupt ending didn’t provide much closure. But overall, Talk To You is a decent listen that I think will grow on me substantially.

However, there is one caveat to that – I don’t listen to Talk To You while watching the music video. I was a bit slow to realise that the video featured 3 songs from the NO LABELS: PART 01 mini-album – COMA, Let Me Tell You (feat. Daniela of KATSEYE) and Talk To You. Before I figured out the three songs, I genuinely thought that these three songs were one singular song and was questioning YEONJUN and HYBE’s style for a bit. Anyhow, while the idea of three songs coming together to form one video does sound innovative, the music video simply combines three separate videos with what appears to be very little in common. COMA corresponds to a wild dance performance video, Let Me Tell You, which sees both YEONJUN and DANIELA performing sexily with a pronounced R&B style, while Talk To Me sees YEONJUN being a party-goer that everyone cannot get enough of. I wished there were common threads (and they probably are) to make the videos link up and be somewhat cohesive. I just don’t see them.

Performance-wise, YEONJUN only performs Talk To Me on stage. And once again, he does so with so much remarkable charisma and great chemistry with his dancers and the camera. This is definitely a stage worth watching! I liked that YEONJUN is willing to be loud on stage (not in terms of his vocals, but instead, his moves), and this really made various moments stand out on stage. I particularly like how the female dancers made their first appearance one at a time, and how the dancers were reintroduced throughout the performance via interactions with YEONJUN.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 7/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.1/10

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that YEONJUN would make his solo debut with his first mixtape, GGUM. The mixtape consists of only one song with the same title. Meanwhile, TXT is currently in the midst of their third world tour, ACT: PROMISE.

GGUM will be polarising. At the onset, there is a lot within the track that I can see people being against—the song’s shortness, the chorus’s emptiness, and the lack of YEONJUN in a pure and raw form. GGUM is definitely more of a performance piece than a musical piece. Interestingly, I am part of the group that actually enjoyed GGUM. If you have been a long-time reader of my blog, you probably know I like dynamic tracks. If it has an adrenaline-rushing effect, I tend to enjoy it. GGUM has that effect on me. I put it down to a range of factors. The electronic instrumentation, which leans GGUM into hip-hop territory, doesn’t disappoint. It is full of vibrant and edgy energy. The striking piano that forms part of the choruses definitely makes an impression and I cannot stop playing that part of the song. GGUM‘s refrain is very catchy and has me coming back for more. The track also offers various vocal styles – from high-pitch autotuned vocals to YEONJUN’s lower and breathier tones to the grungier “GGUM chomp chomp“. There is a lot of variety in this two and a half minute length song. The only disappointing aspect of GGUM is that it doesn’t utilise all that we know YEONJUN has to offer. But it still has a fair bit to offer.

GGUM is about YEONJUN’s confidence on stage, and the music video shows that confidence. Spitting gum into other people’s hands, putting his feet on the desk, flipping the bird, taking over the microphone, spitting out water, and cursing into a walkie-talkie shows us YEONJUN’s aggressive confidence. His overly confident self puts people off him, but he continues doing what he does. I feel sorry for that host, who got the wrong end of the deal regarding YEONJUN. He pushes her out of the way to take over the microphone and is the first to be exposed to the bubble that YEONJUN blows from his gum.

Elsewhere in the video, he impressively executes the choreography. As mentioned earlier, GGUM lends itself well as a performance piece. The associated routine proves just that. These parts of the music video leave me super impressed. I look forward to the chorus parts of the routine, which screams out confidence (on par with the concept of his solo debut). Meanwhile, the entirety of the routine really shows us what he has to offer in this department. I mean, come on, he effortlessly pulls off that split during the second chorus.

Song – 8/10
Music Video – 8/10
Performance – 10/10
Overall Rating – 8.4/10 [Updated on 27 October 2024 due to calculation error]