Korean singer’s latest album enriches his classic ballad style
People have wondered why I do this column, or why I even bother being a “critic.” But I do not think of myself as a critic anymore, even though I do present an opinion. Since I got the privilege of choosing every week’s coverage, I have wanted to uplift an artist and give readers something new to enjoy, rather than being an angry typing monkey flinging grammatically correct poop at a creator’s efforts.
It is in that spirit that I am presenting “Will in Fall,” the newest release from Korean singer K.Will, one of the greatest men to ever put his voice to music, because he deserves all the world’s adulation, by God.
I will be even more hyperbolic: His April release, “The Third Album Part 2: Love Blossom,” is undoubtedly one of the best unheard releases of 2013. It is filled with the romantic passion and optimism of spring, and the instrumentation is done accordingly with bright piano, jaunty grooves that send you skipping and the cries from a lover’s heart.
That was then, though. Now, with this new EP, K.Will’s ardor seems to have chilled with the weather. In spring it was “If you tell me that you love me, I really melt,” and in fall it is “You don’t know love, you only know yourself.” Ouch. But in typical artist/fan schadenfreude, Will’s pain is everybody’s gain.
Opening the record with the sounds of a chattering crowd then giving way to a jazzy backdrop, “Fall In Fall” provides a nice image of sitting in a buzzing coffee shop on a rainy day and eyeing the cute barista, before transitioning into the record scratching and smooth guitar of “You Don’t Know Love,” which is almost parasitic in its catchiness as it distills a tale of an immature lover.
Like wrapping up for warmth in a favorite sweater, the cold has made K.Will put on his trademark ballad style again, as he mostly prefers to take his voice to Mariah-like heights over a spartan orchestra/piano combo. Although that is still amazing (especially the heart-tugging “First Love End”), I prefer Will’s voice with a good beat, like on “You Don’t Know Love” and “Bubble” (where he pulls a rap totally out of nowhere). It is like tricking out a car with a faster engine or a knife-shooting gun*; it just makes it more awesome.
If I am truly honest, I might have a different opinion if the lyrics were in English. The foreign language provides powerful mystique, and I once heard K.Will sing an original English song that was just mired in cliché and cheesiness. But Will’s R&B purism is so well-executed thematically and musically, those dissident voices stop mattering and the dream of K.Will releasing an album in English lives on.
*DISCLAIMER: The author has no knowledge of car modification, or for that matter what people might want on their cars. A knife-shooting gun would totally rock, though.
