"The man in the looking glass, who can he be? 

The man in the looking glass, can he possibly be me? 

Where's our young Romeo, the lad who used to sigh? 

Who's the middle-aged lothario with a twinkle in his eye?"

 -- Bart Howard, "The Man in the Looking Glass"

I imagine every MV art direction meeting with J.Y. Park goes something like this:

"We're in a club (or on the way too a club, or on the way home from a club. It doesn't matter, there just needs to be a club involved.). I'm a playboy surrounded by beautiful women. However, I'm bored with the emptiness of my womanizing ways, which we will show to the audience by having me stare pensively off into the distance while I'm supposed to be macking on these sexy girls. They're all too into my hot bod to notice my pensive staring, though, so it's all good. There will be one particular sexy twenty-something girl whom I will obsessively love or hate, depending on what kind of video we're making. Also, I will wear a suit. Did I mention all the ladies want me?"

SEE ALSO: J.Y. Park shares heartwarming family moment with fans

"As usual, Park paints himself as a club-going ladies' man"

The single "Had Enough Parties" is, in many ways, no different. As usual, Park paints himself as a club-going ladies' man staring off into space at the emptiness of it all. However, unlike previous narratives that focus on the object of Park's desire (or ire, in the case of "No Love No More"), "Had Enough Parties" zooms in on Park himself. 

"If everything ends eventually," he asks his frantic and seemingly incompetent makeup artist (in French, for some reason), "Why do we live?"

"We will know as we die," his makeup artist (played by Kim Sung Il, a Korean movie costume designer) answers. He waves a few makeup-free brushes in Park's general direction before spritzing his face with setting spray and skittering away, leaving forty-something Park Jin Young to look his unadorned self in the eye. 

Park spends the bulk of the beginning of "Had Enough Parties" humblebragging about all the money he's made and the sexy women he's been with and how unfulfilling it all is, before begging for the right woman to please save him from himself. It's not until the second verse (not coincidentally, at the same moment that we see Park's most idealized future narrative in the MV) that we really see Park's heart unravelling. "When I'm stable, I want to be unstable. When I'm unstable, I want to be stable... Hangovers in the morning, barely waking up, that feeling I don't want anymore." 

He goes on to list the things he really wants out of life- to be unafraid, to be able to smile, to have confidence. As he repeats, "Save me, save me, save me," he leans forward, staring into the mirror, looking for the answer somewhere within himself. This isn't the man seeking forgiveness from "Someone Else" or seeking true love in "You're the One"- "Had Enough Parties" is a man seeking some kind of salvation as he comes to terms with his own mortality. 

Musically, "Had Enough Parties" plays no tricks on you. The composition is as straightforward as it gets- piano, basic synths, a simple drum track with some occasional bongos, some finger snaps, a barely-there bass and a couple of whooshy sound effects in the transitions. The vocals are exactly what you'd expect from Park- half-air, half-sound, nothing too taxing. A catch, rhythmic tune with a limited range. It's about as textbook adult-contemporary, light r&b-pop as it gets, the entire number riding on airtight production and Park's own sincerity.

And really, that's where J.Y. Park delivers. He's always relished wearing his heart on his sleeve, and 'Halftime' is the most personal project Park has ever brought us. The glossy production gives us just enough distance from the material to keep it from feeling uncomfortably raw and confessional, allowing the listener to decide whether they want to let "Had Enough Parties" roll off their back like any other pop song, or if they want to dig in and wrestle the meaning out of life alongside Park. And if it takes him a couple of humble brags to work through his issues, well, I can't really fault him. When you're JYP, you've earned your bragging rights.

Reviewer's Note: A few hours after I finished writing this review, J.Y. Park announced his engagement and upcoming wedding. I'd like to join allkpop in congratulating him and the future Mrs. JYP, and wish them the very best as they start their new life together.