IM NAYEON | A ‘POP!’ Star’s Solo Debut

K-Pop Girl Group TWICE has had a prolific run since their debut back in 2015, and this year has not been any different. Already one of the most popular girl groups in Asia, they have been welcomed with open arms in the United States. TWICE concluded a sold-out North American tour just a few months ago, only to return for two encore shows at the Banc of California Stadium. Although the group put out music in unofficial sub-units for their most recent album Formula of Love: O+T=<3, none of the members have had solo music. Well, not until now.

On June 24th, 2022, TWICE’s eldest member Im Nayeon made her solo debut with her 1st Mini Album titled ‘IM NAYEON’. Coming with 7 tracks, the initial track ‘POP!’ serves as the album’s title track.

Nayeon’s 1st Mini Album was first teased back on May 18th of this year, through both TWICE’s official Instagram account and Nayeon’s Instagram account as well. While the first teaser image did not show much; providing the image of a teacup, sunglasses, and nail polish, fans including myself were excited that Nayeon was going to have her solo debut.

The leading track ‘Pop!’ conjures from classic TWICE, from the fun bubble-gum beat to the addictive melody and cute lyrics. In true TWICE fashion, the song’s music video is a spectacle you would not want to look away from for a second: colourful, visuals, striking sets, fun choreography, and outfits reminiscent of a flashy High School Musical number. Nayeon stands alone without her eight bandmates for the first time, but she manages to fill the stage solo and prove that each member of TWICE brings something unique to the table.

The title song is a great introduction to Nayeon as a soloist, which would be a promising career path when TWICE eventually disbands sometime in the distant future. Not to mention, ‘Pop!’ is a bop that will keep you cool all summer long.

The song’s lyrics, both in Korean and English, are about teasing a love interest who hasn’t been great about hiding their feelings. “It’s too late for you to escape me,” she sings. “Your quivering glances, your obvious gestures baby/I want to pop you.”. It is by far one of the best summer releases in K-Pop so far.

The album’s second track titled ‘NO PROBLEM’ is an all-English song featuring Felix from another JYP group, Stray Kids. ‘NO PROBLEM’ is a disco electronic pop track while the lyrics tell us about love being unstoppable between a girl and her partner.

During my first listen-through, I was shocked to hear that it was fully in English. I never expect a track on a K-Pop artist’s album to be in English, as it’s not their native language. But when I do hear a full English track, I’m always astonished. In a TW-Vlog during TWICE’s most recent U.S tour, Nayeon revealed that she had been practicing her English. Nayeon’s English has improved so much over the years, and her pronunciation makes her seem fluent in the language.

Felix’s voice is a great contrast to Nayeon’s. When the tracklist for ‘IM NAYEON’ dropped on May 31st, fans were excited to see that Felix would be featured on his senior’s track. A Twitter user exclaimed the following, “I don’t think we realize how big this is for Felix. Like imagine how much trust she has in Felix’s potential to make this collab happen, I am very proud of Felix and how far he has come.”. Fans even called Felix a successful fanboy, as the Korean-Australian rapper and vocalist has expressed his love for TWICE multiple times.

During an interview with Vulture conducted by Jennifer Zhan, Nayeon mentioned that she did not really communicate with Felix during the process, as the lyrics for the song had been written, and thus all that Felix had to accomplish was recording his verse and ad-libs. “For Felix, since he was singing parts with lyrics that were already written, we didn’t really need any communication. But I did run into him in our company, and I thanked him for doing the recording so well.” Nayeon stated. Although the 2 JYP artists did not communicate much for ‘NO PROBLEM’, it still came out to be such an amazing track, and currently the one that I have been playing on repeat for around half an hour now.

The third track titled ‘LOVE COUNTDOWN’ is what I can best describe as a part bubble-gum pop, part hip hop song that features and is partly written by Korean Hip Hop artist Wonstein. It has such a cozy and comfortable feeling to it. Wonstein’s soft vocals are a great compliment to Nayeon’s, bringing the song together.

‘LOVE COUNTDOWN’ as a track is a wonderful contrast from ‘POP!’ and ‘NO PROBLEM’ as it has a slower tempo, which is refreshing at times. With acoustics in the background, paired with soft vocals from 2 incredible Korean artists, this is the song you would want to play while sitting in a beach chair, enjoying the sun.

Following the featured tracks come ‘CANDYFLOSS’, composed by Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall, and ‘ALL OR NOTHING’, composed by Destiny Rogers. The former is light and airy, just like candyfloss/cotton candy is, while the latter has a similar beat to that of Charlie Puth’s newest single ‘Left and Right’ which features BTS’s youngest member Jungkook.

The final 2 tracks both share similar vibes between them. ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU’ and ‘노을만 예쁘다 (SUNSET)’ are both slower, more vocal pronounced tracks. They have this calming sense to them, where the instrumental is not super punchy or bass heavy so that you can enjoy and appreciate Nayeon’s vocals more as they shine through the entire album.

Overall, this album does not disappoint in my opinion. It may have taken almost 7 years for a TWICE member to make her solo debut, but it was surely worth the wait. Exuding all of the summery vibes, Nayeon’s 1st Mini Album ‘IM NAYEON’ is one to listen.

24.06.2022