Only a month after her last solo release, ex-Fiestar member Yezi has already returned with another track. For most of her solo career, she’s capitalized on her skills as a rapper. However, January’s My Gravity painted her as a power vocalist, pitched at the OST-loving public. New single Home continues this trajectory, but injects a welcome dose of dancefloor energy.
Like My Gravity, Home is pretty generic. But, it’s a kind of generic that we don’t hear that often anymore. It’s an old-fashioned EDM-pop anthem, free from needless tempo shifts or genre-splicing. About a decade ago, this kind of sing-along fare was all over the place, and if Home had been released back then I’m sure it would have just faded into the background. In 2020, it’s a nostalgic little bauble, held aloft by its positivity and chugging electro beat.
Still, bucking trends doesn’t automatically make a killer track, and Home never forges a unique perspective. Take away the nostalgia, remove the surging instrumental, and you’re left with a pretty inconsequential pop song. Yezi does a good job bringing it to life, even though I think the track would benefit from a larger diversity of tones and performance styles. Its straightforward arrangement is both a help and a hindrance. It feels good in the moment, pumping your fist in the air as the production explodes, but Home doesn’t leave much of an aftertaste. Even so, I won’t be mad when this comes up on shuffle. Every once and awhile you just need some uncluttered musical catharsis.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 7 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
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The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
This sounds like a basic girl group kpop track that has been disguised better than most productions to make it a solo track. She gets really shrill at the higher parts of the chorus. The added vocal effect makes it sound worse actually, not better, “Gravity” had that as well.
Other than that, it is good listen.
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Commenting on the song, itself, there’s some muddy studio work. Listen to the part at 0:34, the compression ramps up and noticeably suppresses the entire piece until 0:40. At some points the percussion gets drowned out too much. There are too many layers during dramatic parts and there is too much post-processing. I could go on….
I love Yezi and I applaud her spreading her wings. It’s a decent song, but she needs to reconsider her studio options.
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Wow- you’re totally right about the compression especially on the percussion/bells. But I think that’s youtube’s audio compression’s fault. When I listened to it on Apple Music with my setup the separation was much better. The kick is still a little compressed though but it sounds like that’s intentional.
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Thank you for bringing that to my attention. You could be right about some faults existing only on YouTube. It wouldn’t be the first time that Google’s codec ham-fisted an upload. Still, there are issues I have with the composition that are baked in at the studio level; such as the arrangements and structure.
I tried to be forgiving of the piece because I’m a Yezi fan. My “non-Yezi” review would’ve listed everything in my original post under an intro of “Oh, it’s another ballad! (*yawn*)”.
Note: I don’t hate all ballads, but the exceptions are few and far between.
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She has a pleasant voice, but the song is a bit too generic for my liking.
Nick, just curious if you knew about Lim Kim’s newest EP, Generasian. Not sure if her evolved music’s something you would like (is she even considered as Kpop anymore?)… but she has become one of those rare artists that had stunned me upon first listening. Do check out Yellow. Or Mong. Or Digital Khan. Or even better, her live rendition of 민족요(ENTRANCE).
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