Seo In Young delivered an incredibly strong (and totally underappreciated) club track last year with Scream, but now she’s slowed things down with Embraced In Your Arms (너에게 안겨), which allows her to show off her unique vocal tone without many distractions.

The track’s midtempo pop sound feels like it could have been sung by Taeyeon and been a massive success, but for some reason Korea just doesn’t give Seo In Young the attention she deserves. I doubt that Embraced In Your Arms will change that very much. It’s the type of song that’s incredibly pleasant to listen to, with solid production and performance all the way around. But its swelling chorus stops just short of being truly memorable, unwilling to go far enough towards the vocal or instrumental bombast that would really cause it to stand out. Instead, Embraced paints an introspective, unassuming tone that would make it a strong album track. As a single, I’m not sure it leaves much of a mark.

Luckily, this is a Seo In Young song, and her voice carries what might otherwise be completely forgettable. She possesses an ethereal, highly emotive ability to story-tell through her music, and as basic as Embraced In Your Arms is, at least it gives her a spotlight for that considerable talent. Still, Scream‘s verses offered an 80’s sound that positioned her voice as Korea’s answer to Cyndi Lauper or Belinda Carlisle. I’d rather see more of that than the typical midtempo pop she’s giving us here.