Before he enlists in the military, NCT’s Jaehyun is set to hold a two day fancon and has released a new single to tide us over while he enters hiatus. Unconditional arrives only two months since his first solo album and continues the vibey, on-trend r&b sound he established there.
This seems to be the preferred mode for solo male artists worldwide, forgoing the bombastic showmanship of eras past for a performance style that’s much more laidback and natural. It may simply be due to my own experience with pop music, but this approach does little for me. Sure, Unconditional is a vibe. It’s relatively groovy, too. Jaehyun’s smooth vocals were made for r&b and from what I know of his personality it doesn’t seem likely he’d be super comfortable throwing down a razzle dazzle, Michael Jackson level set piece. With this in mind, Unconditional is perfectly fine and slots well within his established style.
What actually nags at me the most about Unconditional is its percussion. I just hate those insistent hi-hats. Their tinny tone sticks out like a sore thumb, playing against the instrumental’s sinuous elements. A more unique arrangement might have turned my attention, but as it stands I feel like I’ve already heard this song a hundred times over the past few years.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 7 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 7 |
| RATING | 7.5 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I love this guy so much but hearing that instrumental pissed me off so bad. it was an immediate chop for me.
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I feel like they song is overthinking it. Trying to be this that and the other thing, and just winding up overwrought. Sounds fine(ish), okay(ish), but its a song from the head not the heart.
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I’ve seen some other comments like this about the song? To me it’s a pretty chill little pop song. The only random and unfocused thing is the MV which is truly so random and kind of reminds me of Ateez “Work” like it’s trying to give California boy fun but it’s just like… trying to be too many things? And the lyrics are truly cheddar cheese but I expected as much from Jaehyun with a lot of his solo music serving such corniness
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True, the MV was trynna be funky but the song isn’t. I think that’s why it felt kind of a mismatch for me.
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True. The MV was trynna be funky while the song isn’t. that’s why I felt a mismatch overall visually.
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The only thing I disagree with here is the head VS heart thing. I am of the inclination that pretty much all KPop (and most industry level pop period) is from the head with the kick being the idols’ ability to sell it otherwise. To me, material like this is impossible to sell no matter how well it’s produced because how many times have we heard a sound and/or lyrics like this? Material like this is something I believe to be inherently insincere.
Then again when it comes to pop music I am that level of cynical where if it’s a plausible insert in a current day pop set on the car, it’s an instant pass because none of it draws me in. It’s partly why I do find myself souring on the genre unless if it’s something that really catches my interest (the other part is personal experiences I will not unleash here). Definitely went a bit long but I thought I would add,
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What really resonates with us is always about the heart. For many of us, there is not much of that in contemporary pop, but we do find gems here and there.
To date myself as the mom here, I feel like pop music today is like 1980-1981 or so. Disco is over, even funk feels stale. The mainstream is yacht rock (Captain and Tennille anyone?) and really smooth corny R&B ballads. The cutting edge are the punk bands safe enough for the radio, the post-punk, and the start of New Wave and the MTV era. Then the 80’s proper kicked in, MTV in late 1981, and it was awesome. I still have hope kpop will get it back into gear, the next gen will pop up and it will be awesome.
We had bootleg MTV at home, so I am truly a child of the MTV era.
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Lol!
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hes so fine
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hes so fine
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Comment so real WordPress published it twice
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The song really fits his vocals as well as his overall personality. Also, as a person who will take anything even remotely R&B, I really liked it.
But who wrote the lyrics, LOL, it goes from sweet to cheesy to sweet again so quickly, I didn’t know whether to “aww” or laugh at it.
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I think Jaehyun is credited? I’m sorry but I don’t believe he has a girl in California but I guess anything is possible when you’re Jaehyun
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Well, he could have a girl in California, who knows. Given how good Kpop idols are at giving surprises (good and bad😅), I won’t refuse it.
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“I don’t believe he has a girl in Cali…” It will be boring to write songs about ourselves and our feelings 24/7. LOL! It’s like saying an actor needs to be a murder in order to play a murder.🤣
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I’m going to miss Jaehyun when he enlists. This song is okay.
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the lyrics in the first couple seconds were too much for me
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K-pop fans are prudes, lmao!
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Lyrics are hella corny, but cause it’s Jaehyun, I’ll let it slide ❤️
Rating’s the same
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The English lyrics made me chuckle a bit lol.
It doesn’t resonate with me whatsoever, this vibey type of song is just never for me. It goes in my one ear and right out of the other.
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LOL! It’s funny considering you like Xiumin.🤣
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While reading your review, NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye was playing on the background and I had an epiphany. While Jaehyun might not be the Michael Jackson-type like Taemin is, I thought a song like Bye Bye Bye (or maybe an early Timberlake solo type of song) would suit him very well.
I thought the song was okay, nothing to write home about. One thing that did incredibly irk me was the ‘unconditiona-nal’ rhyme (?), I found it clashed too much and sounded grading to my ears. Likely would not listen to it again. I prefer Smoke over this, and I don’t particularly love that song either (the mvs are working the real magic here, especially the ‘smoke’ mv, truly stunning)
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I agree, but I can’t help but laught at the “Michael Jackson-type”. LOL! Taemin is not talented enough to be a Michael Jackson-type.🤣
He is overhyped.
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As a Jaehyun-biased guy, I can’t ask for more. I’m a R&B head and I just have to admit this literally hits all the right spots for me. My favorite thing about it is how the verses have Jaehyun delivering a sing-talk approach and then the pre-chorus and the chorus have his smooth vocals shining through.
I would love this song to be in a re-edited version of his debut album (which I loved by the way, the only song I found bland was Dandelion). But if this is what he is saying goodbye with before his military enlistment, I will not complain.
While the lyrics are a little corny, I do appreciate them as a person who frequently listens to current R&B. I understand sex and attraction are a common topic in this genre, and I like artists like Bryson Tiller, Brent Faiyaz, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and Chris Brown. But with them songs can get very raunchy, very quickly. So it’s cool to see Jaehyun doing the same genre but kind of going “old school” with the corny lyrics.
makes me wanna have a girl in california but i’m gay af.
A 10 to me, no doubt.
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It’s a little too chill and detached for me. And yeah some of the lyrics are corny lol.
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LOL! But it’s funny that they say the lyrics are corny considering they consume K-pop, an industry widely known for not having thought-provoking lyrics. Lmao. I imagined chaos when I read the comments on “Unconditional”, but it’s just a generic song. It even reminded me of the lyrics to Silk Sonic’s “After Last Night”, which was praised despite being common.🤣
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This is a song that I only love when I listened the second time, the more you came by this song, the more you live the chill feeling and I somehow like the corny lyrics.
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