Red Velvet’s Wendy made her solo debut four years ago and most of her work has been some form of ballad (Wish You Hell notwithstanding). I’ve always been a proponent of big-voiced pop stars using that big voice over fast-paced, energetic material. There’s nothing better than power notes anchoring a banging dance track, and I’d kill for a full album of Wendy doing 90s house music or something equally as exciting. New single Sunkiss and its accompanying mini album promises more upbeat sounds, but on Wendy’s own terms.
Sunkiss is chugging and anthemic in a vaguely mega-church way, buoyed by guitar and sing-and-sway melodies that take advantage of Wendy’s vocal range. It might be a bit more vanilla than I’d like, but the song is successful in its aim. To me, it sounds like something Taeyeon might have released during her first years as a solo artist. That’s not a bad template for any K-pop idol to follow and Wendy certainly has the chops to pull it off.
In a climate where K-pop is becoming more “easy-listening” than ever, this is a style of adult contemporary music that has a little more pep in its step and for that alone I’m grateful. The arrangement delivers drama, from stabbing percussion to slowly building synth. The final product ends up being a bit toothless, but it’s a pleasant enough singalong and I’ll take that over more posturing sing-talk any day.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 8 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8 |
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I like the chorus melody when it sounds like IU’s “eight”, but I like it less when it descends into the “fall into the sunkiss” part (also an odd phrase). Also, this is nitpicky, but her hard R on “fer me, fer me, fer me” during the bridge was a strange choice.
Still, nice to see her go big with the sound and her vocals. I think she could go even bigger.
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I feel (or hope) that kpop is at an inflection point with Ejae’s Golden success that Big Booming voices become popular again in general kpop. There always has been a market in wider Kmusic the OST’s the noraebang etc in Korea, but these days in the world its the visuals and vibe.
As for today’s song, I am also hearing 1990’s female soloists like Faith Hill type crossed with YounHa. Wendy does a good job with this kind of material and I hope this works out for her.
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I hear Viva la vida, which immediately throws me off and I just generally feel is a sign of lazy writing. Tbh the only way this was made bearable was Wendy’s stellar vocals
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I think it’s closer to “Try” by P!nk. Idk, Wendy’s a little too young to be doing Mom-pop.
I’ve yet to listen to the rest of the album, but I’ll give it a shot. This is certainly better than Wish You Hell, at least.
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her new mini album is a bit more pop rock infused i would say, and it definitely fits her voice a lot. i think this is my favorite album from her so far. chapter you, believe, and existential crisis are my top 3 right now, but i would say all of it is really good!
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As pop rock enthusiast, Wendy album is really like an early Christmas gift. The classic rock arrangements blends well with Wendy powerful voice.
I agree that the album could have a more feral bite taste musically, but there is no bad song in the album at all, no skip album for me.
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