Album Review: Seo Jin Young mini-album - Tears In One's Eyes

Seo Jin Young mini-album – Tears In One’s Eyes

01 Tears In One’s Eyes
02 Star’s Voice
03 L.O.V.E Mode
04 Good Day
05 Tears In One’ Eyes (Inst)
06 Star’s Voice (Inst)
07 Tears In One’s Eyes (Geo’s Remix)

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Seo Jin Young is not a household name, but she’s no rookie either. Debuting at the tender age of 18 back in 2001 with her first album and the hit song "Love Letter", an emotional ballad having an addictive melody, people were surprised that she sang so well at such a young age. In fact, the chorus part of most of her songs have very high notes but she handled it smoothly.

The second time we heard of Seo Jin Young featured in the OST of drama "Tale of Nine Fox". Her song "닮은사람" received good response. However, it wasn’t until her debut song "Love Letter" was re-born to become "Missing You" in the drama "Summer Scent" OST that more listeners paid attention to Seo Jin Young.

In 2008, Seo Jin Young finally returns with a new mini-album "Tears In One’s Eye" to the delight of her fans. The title song of the same name
(track 1) is composed by singer-songwriter Shim Hyun Bo. It is another great ballad with a great chorus that we are familiar with from her. Her vocal has matured a lot since her debut. There is also an instrumental version of this song (track 5) and a remixed version on the last track of the mini-album. The remix was done by Sweetbox’s producer Geo, giving the song a euro-dance style.

Even though this is only a mini-album with 4 songs (track 5, 6, and 7 are instrumentals and remix), all 4 songs have different varieties, giving listeners different choices. "Star’s Voice" (Track 2) is a mid-tempo ballad with a nice guitar arrangement. The tempo of the song gets faster as it goes on. "L.O.V.E Mode" (track 3) is a light acoustic rock ballad. At the beginning and in the middle, the background vocal sings "You and Me, One Summer Night", one can feel Seo’s warm vocal through this song. "Good Day" (track 4) is the most up-tempo song of the album. This time Seo Jin Young tried a rock style. This medium-tempo rocker gives fans a chance to listen to another side of her.

I’ve been following her career ever since she debuted in 2001. Back in that era, k-pop music had focused on appearances and dancing skills while vocal skills were secondary. Times have changed now. With such a sweet voice yet very strong vocal skills, perhaps it is time for underrated singers like Seo Jin Young to emerge. This mini-album is a good start and hopefully it will kickstart her singing career.

5/5

5/5 – Even if you’re not a fan of this artist/group this album is a must buy.
4/5 – If you’re a fan of this artist/group, you must buy this album.
3/5 – If you’re a fan of this artist/group, you might want to add this one to your collection.
2/5 – I don’t think a fan would even buy this.
1/5 – You might as well just flush your money down the toilet