Despite many forces working against him, Kim Jaejoong has become one of K-pop’s longest-running success stories. In addition to his music career, he hosts a fun online show and continues to be a successful actor. Through it all, his music hasn’t changed much. At heart, he’s still a rocker.
Rock Star is aptly named, and sounds exactly how you’d expect it to. If you’ve been following his solo work since 2013’s Mine (still his best, in my opinion), this cathartic, shredding sound feels like a natural progression. I often find these kind of straightforward, guitar-driven songs a bit flat, lacking the sonic diversity that keeps me coming back for more. However, Jaejoong’s voice is such a force of nature that it simply steamrolls over the instrumental. This pairs nicely with the song’s emotionally-charged energy. It’s clearly aiming for “anthem” status, but could do with a better chorus to fully reach those heights.
| Hooks | 7 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 7.75 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I would be a little more generous with the score because he is really selling it and sounds great, but you are right about the hooks. This should be addictive and on repeat but it’s close but no cigar. Still will probably continue to listen because I miss rock music. I have been going on a Kansas deep dive recently. Saw them in concert back in the dark ages of the 1990s. The Wall, Hold On, Point of No Return and these aren’t even their most famous songs.
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The vocal is fantastic, and the vocal production is fantastic. All those background vocals he also laid down to add old school sung harmonies layered and overlayered. He belts the shit out of the song.
As for the song, it isn’t a great song per se but it is a great song to belt the shit out of.
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Too bland 😦
Absolute waste of Jaejoong’s talents.
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i completely agree that it sounds kind of flat. i would check out “last vow” though, i think it’s jaejoong strongest rock track to date
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Finally a post I’m aligned with and its sad I feel this way. Feel so bummed out from this EP. But I knew I would get disappointed when I saw the tracklist composers.
Last VoW is the only track I like in this EP. Still nothing comes close to his WWW tracks, maybe his earlier 2025 release Humanity which I liked a lot.
Begging Jaejoong to just go back to composing songs like 9+1# or Paradise or work with experienced KR rock composers like Kim Bada
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