I was waiting for Taeyang
to release his second album like a shipwrecked desperately waits for a boat
to pass by. Four years after Solar, here
comes its successor Rise (released
the first week of June). Some died while waiting but I stood still. I hold my
ground while sending him once in a while some mental threats to hurry up. But I
guess sometimes one needs time to give birth to a pure opus. And it was worth waiting.
So far Rise is my favourite Kpop
album of the year. Taeyang’s voice on these lyrics it’s like ice cream melting
in your mouth!
If I have to enter the territory of favouritism well
my ultimate favourite tracks on Rise
are ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Throw it Away’. A collaboration with G-Dragon is rarely bad (all right ok, I
have a huge crush on Big Bang’s leader and the group itself and it can
interfere my judgment but nevertheless I’m super objective right now). I’ve
been seduced by the song mostly
because of the beat and the melody. That’s what caught me first. G-Dragon never
deceives me when it comes to produced a track. Seriously. He’s basically
everywhere his group mates are in solo and that add a special something to their
collaborations. See Seungri with his
second mini album Let’s Talk About Love.
The eponym track is feat. G-Dragon and Taeyang.) ‘Stay With Me’ talks about a guy’s trying to get back the one he
never stops loving. How touching is that? That touched me at least.
‘Throw Away’, is the moving
and somehow manly declaration of Taeyang
who’s ready to throw away his past of selfishness and greed to give love
another chance. I don’t know who’s the lucky ‘you’ he refers to in the song, but maybe I should just go to him and
check? You know out of professionalism. Anyway the singing melody added to the
lyrics it’s like hitting the jackpot for me. It took Taeyang four years but
when he comes with a ballad like that can’t I blame him? No, definitely.
I honestly didn’t expect to hear many ballads after
the release of ‘Ringa Ling’ in autumn
last year. Taeyang’s words in an interview (he declared that his first love in
music was hip-hop), leaded to think that Rise
would be more a turned hip-hop album. I was ok with that because I liked ‘Ringa Linga’ enough to be ready for
more songs of the same genre (and I also shook my booty on it. And a shake never
hurts anyone).
Because I can’t just skip it, ‘Eye, Nose, Lips’ also won me over. Someone told me once that a
broken heart delivers beautiful songs. I’m not going to say the contrary here. The
song is gorgeous. And the MV is only for the eyes.
Go and give Rise a try (below the 3 songs mentioned in this post). I can guarantee that you won’t regret it. And if somehow you dislike the album and decide that I lied to you, well I’ll accept your punishment. But I seriously doubt you’d kill me or something because the album is a bomb.
Download the album here.
OR 
