Even though I'm prepping (or really trying to!) the blogathon next week, it won't hurt if I do a first take this week, right? Actually, there's a few songs that I want to first take, because apparently a lot of really nice songs came out recently. But today, I want to first take a song that I've been obsessing for days now, since its release. It's John Park's 'Falling'!
For those who don't know, John Park is a Korean-American who is quite famous for his stints on competitive television singing competitions, specifically American Idol and South Korea's Superstar K2. His stint on American Idol didn't last that long. He only stayed until Top 24. But on Superstar K2, he achieved quite a feat by getting the runner up position after Huh Gak. It's been a year or so since his win, and other SK2 alumni have been releasing an album or so themselves. John Park took his time developing himself under Music Farm Entertainment. His first solo mini-album, Knock, was released last week on the 22nd of February. His lead single is the mellow awesome entitled 'Falling'.
I can't stress this enough but I'm in LOVE with this song. It's just so awesome. The truth is, I wasn't particularly in love with it the first couple of rounds. It was a nice song. Very nice vocals, a cool video to back it up. But I just wasn't digging it that hard at first. But the song just begged to be listened again and again. Now, I'm just obsessed with it. I sing everywhere now. It's crazy.
What I love in particular in this song is how his voice progressed throughout the song. This actually bugged me a little in the beginning. But whatever magic John Park was casting apparently worked because hey, here I am praising this song to high heavens. What used to be something of an annoyance now became something that I found so charming about this song. The song starts out with John Park almost whispering. On the second verse he was singing in a clear voice. On the third verse, the voice echos and we hear him almost screaming. The song is about falling out of love, but still wanting back in. Perhaps this gradual volume change signifies his desire to come back to his love grow more and more.
The highlight of the song would be his falsetto. Apparently he's famous for it or something. I've never really been a huge fan of falsettos, but I think it works really well in here. Maybe that's also the reason why I wasn't totally in for the song in the beginning. I guess the key to falsettos is that you have to be excellent at it or else it'll fail. In John Park's case, I think he nailed it.
Let's now talk about the video. How cool is it! I love how simple the video is. It doesn't blatantly talk about lost love, but John Park is literally falling out of an airplane. It's not really that difficult to find out the associations here. He was thrown out of a plane, which means he was thrown out of a relationship. But in his cargo box (is that what it's called?), he's still falling. For her. And in the box are his memories which he brings with him. Soon, he hits the water and starts drowning. In the end, he comes out of the box freshly new (he didn't bring any of his memories with him). The video is straightforward, without hidden meanings or complicated story lines. Even the props are kept to a few. The effects are also pretty cool, even if there are a minimal.
I could write on an on about this song. It's just so good. I've listened to the rest of the album, but I'm always coming back to this song. The other songs are great. It shows his voice beautifully. But man does this song has an awesome pulling power. If you haven't listened to this song, do it now! It's really good.
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