EUNJI – SPACE
Track List:
1. The Spring (Feat. Hareem)
2. First Farewell (Feat. Kwak Jin Eon)
3. First Love
4. Full Moon
5. The Spring (Piano Ver.)
A Pink's Eunji has a spring surprise for fans: her sophomore solo effort 'The Space.' For this comeback, she teams up with Longcandy and Duble Sidekick ("Hopefully Sky") for the title track, and other top musicians such as Tenzo and Tasco, Yoon Gun, Hareem, and Superstar K6 winner Kwak Jin Eon. She also has two songs to her credit, "The Girl's Boy" and "Seoul's Moon."
"The Spring" is Eunji's title track, and to me, it sounds like nothing less than a French song. That may be because of the instrumentation, but I get visions of Eunji sitting in a square singing in Paris. But as for the song itself? It's about love and loneliness. Eunji has a very pretty singing voice, and it really comes out in tracks like this one. While it's not particularly emotional in this track, it's appropriate, more representing idle thoughts than depressing ones.
"First Farewell" is a duet between her and Kwak Jin Eon, and it ends up being a rather tepid affair. It's meant to be upbeat and happy, but it really is rather bland and unremarkable. I've heard a lot of these, and the best I can say about this song is that it is just okay. It's nothing special. And that's a shame, coming as it does right after a sweetly sung title track.
She injects some energy into this EP in "First Love." It's a jaunty, upbeat soft rock piece. Very middle of the road as far as rock n roll goes, but here it's a breath of fresh air. It's very different from A Pink, but not that different from American pop. Her voice here is pretty incredible, soaring all over the track. Happy and majestic at the same time, this song really pops. Easily my favorite on the disc.
"Full Moon" is where she really gets emotional. There's some tender desperation, not to mention a single moment where her voice goes stratospheric. It's a gorgeous ballad, and Eunji proves she has the pipes to handle it. She goes from gentle to grandiose, and it's a wondrous sound. Not to mention that she had songwriting duties on this track. Very well done.
So, where do we stand? I think in many ways, the good tracks make up for the single dud. I find that my opinion improves if I set my playlist to skip that one, so there you have it. On this disc, Eunji evokes the quiet warmth of spring, and just about every track aids in this. I love her voice here, and the fact that she's taking a more active role in her solo sound. I really like this one, and I think it's even better than her last.
MV REVIEW
The producers took the song quite literally, using her lyrics as a narrative to construct the MV around.
Eunji is a taxi driver, ferrying lovers around in the spring. She watches them at play, holding hands, kissing, staring into each other's eyes, and gets disgusted. She catches herself just as quickly and flashes a wide, warm smile instead.
It's a cute affair, and there are scenes not only of other lovers but of her remembering her time with another, a wistful reminder of what she once had, which also explains why she is slightly envious of other couples. There are some pretty scenes in the video, which really helps it. But then, I'm a sucker for MVs that contain love scenes, so I might be biased.
Her company has crafted a pretty convincing little mini-drama, without needing dialogue or any of that. Eunji's already proven her acting chops, so her charm shines through naturally through her facial expressions. There are no real gratuitous shots here, nothing terribly over the top. It's a comfortable fit to a comfortable song.
There's not much more to say about it, other than I really enjoyed both song and MV.
Score
MV Production.........9
MV Concept.............8
Album Production....9
Album Concept........8
Tracklisting..............8
OVERALL...............8.5
SEE ALSO: Actor Lee Jung Hyun reveals his unexpected attempt at Kia’s production engineer job
Log in to comment