Do Disturb - by 이즘 Izm

If the first solo album from two years ago 'One Fine Day' was an extension of "CNBLUE's Jung Yonghwa," the new album 'Do Disturb' is the fruit of 'pop soloist Jung Yonghwa'. He unfolds his capability by filling half of the 6 tracks with dance tunes and the other half with slow-paced emotional tracks. To create trendy sounds in the dance tunes, he was partially aided by overseas producers, while he takes full charge of lyrics and music for the three ballads, revealing his own sensibilities.

His special forte, the "catchy chorus" is strongly at work yet again. All the songs' choruses are clearly heard. The title track "That Girl," which utilizes funky rhythms reminiscent of reggae and emphasizes the melody through simple sound sources, is the prime example. The hook and the sing-along parts stick to your ears and lets you hum it right away after just a few listens. The partnership with Loco is also fluid. Jung Yonghwa's style of deep house genre, "Password," wherein his sharp vocals lead the song, sheds light upon his new dimension. "Closer" brings back feelings of CNBLUE's recent tracks in its chord progression and structure, re-emphasizing his familiar charms.

The latter three songs stress their strengths in different ways. While "Navigation" coordinates sensibility and tension through piano, strings, and medium-tempo beats, "Not Anymore" is interesting in its resemblance of 1990's ballad in the intro's synthesizer to the melodic progression. The highlight is "Lost in Time," which follows the traditional ballad composition. The vocalist's emotional expression and the melody's charisma surpasses other tracks. The usage of instruments, the structure of the song, and its development are similar to the title track of his first album, "One Fine Day," but it's advanced in many angles.

Though overall satisfying, the shortfall of the album arises from the lyrics. The weakness that had been pointed out previously are still there. The shallow stories don't imbue much depth into one's listening, and one-dimensional metaphors don't amount to repeated enjoyment. The hole in well-made pop tune "That Girl" is also its lyrics. It was a blunder to employ the neologism "yoja yoja hae," commonly denoting how "feminine" one is, as the theme of the song. Aside from the lyricist's original intent or the context within the narrative, it's a somewhat narrow expression to draw a broad-based sympathy from listeners.

Nonetheless, the musical caliber is highly commendable. The album brings well-made tracks, delightfully diverse genres, and distinct yet excellent choruses. Differentiated vocals in each track is another important point. He proves his knack for creating earworm choruses as well as proficiency in elaborate delivery of songs.  Although he must supplement his lyrics for future steps forward, it is clear that he has solidified his competitiveness as a soloist through making this superb pop album, 'Do Disturb', independently from his band.