Smoke by JAEHYUN review

I flip back to the start of the week when JAEHYUN made his official solo debut with the single Smoke and his first studio album, J. Previously, JAEHYUN teased his solo debut a week ago through a unique music video combining the tracks Dandelion and Roses into one video. Through the NCT Lab project, he has also released other solo singles (Forever Only and Horizon).

Listen here

https://madfind.com.ng/jaehyun-smoke-mp3-download

Smoke ventures into the hip-hop side of the R&B genre. This shouldn’t be a surprise, given that JAEHYUN has shone under the R&B spotlight before (see his pre-release singles). And it makes sense for him to do something a little different, like infusing a bit of hip-hop into the folds of Smoke, rather than just doing straightforward R&B (which we got two sides of last week). While this sounds good, I don’t think it is well executed (more on that in a second). I must really highlight the guitar present throughout the track. It added rhythm to push the song along. Towards the end of the song, we hear a jazzy instrumental background come into the mix, which

I thought was an excellent trajectory for the track. The piano here really sounded great! The Smoke‘s verses and bridge were fine. R&B comes through strongest during the verses, and JAEHYUN sounds like he is in his element. On the other hand, the choruses of Smoke were questionable.

The hip-hop style becomes more prevalent here, and I like the deep, bouncy beat of the central piece. But his spoken delivery just didn’t do it for me. It takes away the sultry flow of the R&B building in the verses and leaves a void that wants to be filled. It also dulls the song, which I found to be an issue in the performances. I get that such a chorus is an attempt to do something different (as noted above), but ‘doing something different’ shouldn’t detract from the rest of the song. Smoke‘s chorus then leaves another problem – how does Smoke reclaim its glory and stand out positively? I don’t think it has the means to. The only logical part of Smoke to look towards is the verses. But while I do like the verses, I don’t think the verses were as memorable as the void-creating choruses and could not have compensated for the choruses. I guess JAEHYUN should have just kept to Roses.

I applaud JAEHYUN for performing during a week of turmoil for his group. It definitely would not be easy on JAEHYUN, and he should be acknowledged for that. I like how the choreography vibes with the different parts of the song. While I am not a fan of the choruses in the song, the way that part comes through in the choreography is my favourite part of the routine. And I like how the jazzy instrumental at the end is used for JAEHYUN and his dancers to show their performance skills in this comeback.