It’s been a long time coming, but Big Bang’s Taeyang has made his solo comeback with the release of his solo album ‘White Night’ and double solo tracks ‘Wake Me Up’ and ‘Darling‘.
‘Wake Me Up’ is about not wanting to wake up from the feeling of true love. The track is emotional and builds a suspenseful atmosphere very cleverly. It starts off very quietly, almost silently and slowly builds up to Taeyang’s haunting vocal.
You almost believe that the song is meant to be sung acapella, until the beat drops on the chorus, and you understand the true mesmerising nature of this track. It is repetitive but that’s the beauty of the song, he is pleading to stay in that place of true love.
The video itself matches the song perfectly. It is devoid of colour for the most part, it’s not black and white, just colourless but then it explodes with colour and light as he escapes from the darkness – including Taeyang covered in glitter!
Let’s face could there ever be anything wrong with a Taeyang who is covered in gold glitter?
Watch Taeyang’s ‘Wake Me Up’ music video:
‘Darling’ is the torch song of the album. It highlights the sadness and loss of a relationship breakdown. The production is stripped back to a minimum to allow Taeyang’s powerful signature vocals to shine.
Taeyang pours his heart out in a track that is driven by a piano instrumental. Very few singers could captivate a listener with such a stripped back track, but Taeyang’s vocals are so powerful and compelling that you could forget that there is a piano playing. That’s the beauty of this track, his vocal is so strong while he’s emotionally torn and begging.
This is a powerfully evocative song and it feels like a worthy successor to ‘Eyes Nose Lips’.
The music video paired with the track is completely visually stunning. It builds on the feeling of despair by putting the singer in a series of locations that only serve to emphasise the emotional nature of the track; from appearing through the midst of a raging sand storm, kneeling before an altar, and standing on the top of an ice floe in the middle of an arctic wasteland.
The imagery is stark and desolate but beautiful much like the lyrics of the song itself.
Watch Taeyang’s ‘Darling’ music video:
Keep an eye out for our full album review of ‘White Night’ which will be up soon.
What do you think of the tracks and music videos for ‘Wake Me Up’ and ‘Darling’? Let us know in the comments below.
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Written and edited by Narelle
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