Close Your Eyes will be returning with an album at the end of the year, but they’re teasing the project today with a pre-release. I’m a fan of this group, but never know what to expect from them. Each album has been markedly different from the last, which means I have strong preferences about which sounds I enjoy most from them (debut era for the win!).
This time, they’ve taken a jazzy approach for Open Your Eyes, featuring pianist Yohan Kim and saxophonist Jacob Scesney. It’s a novel turn, especially in our world of cut-and-paste sample packs that cause so many songs to sound the same. I’m not a big fan of jazz music, so the genre itself gives me pause, but I like how they’ve meshed it with more classic K-pop tropes. And really, elements of the genre have colored all forms of music for decades. It makes an especially strong conduit for hip-hop tracks and Open Your Eyes‘ free-flowing vibe takes advantage of this.
The song’s selling point is its ultra-smooth chorus. It’s short and sweet — more of a “hook” than a full-on refrain — but the vocal layering here is gorgeous. As far as vibes go, this one’s pretty elite. I just wish parts of the instrumental hit harder than they do. I know that’s not really the point with a track like this, but jazz’s improvisational style could have resulted in some very compelling breakdowns at key moments.
| Hooks | 8 |
| Production | 8 |
| Longevity | 9 |
| Bias | 8 |
| RATING | 8.25 |
Grade: B
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
The song vibe reminds me a bit of ‘Jungle’ discography just with more hip-hop elements. In normal times I would bemoan the reason for wasting these types of melody in hip-hop track, but now I am actually quite intrigued by this uncommon combination. It will be quite interesting if the whole album actually have this type of jazz sounds trope.
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chorus is beautiful, lovely harmonies and vocal layering. but outside of that, the songwriting is all over the place for me.
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Oh I love these guys. Uniqueness 100/10. I’ll take this all day over the shouted repeat word choruses from most other acts.
Agree it feels a bit disjointed, but I have a feeling this will grow on me over time. Even if it doesn’t, I agree, the vocal layering in that hook/chorus is beautiful. One of the few groups that harmonizes, and I can’t get enough of it.
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This makes a lot of sense as a prerelease as it shows another side of them (like SOB did but its polar opposite). I can imagine it serving as an intro to the upcoming album in the way “Close Your Eyes” did with their first album. Kudos to them for doing something different, I’d rather listen to this than the usual coffeehouse sludge.
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The rating is about what I expected. I was fearful Nick would give this a 7. I think Open Your Eyes alongside NMIXX’ recent string of singles have been gamechanging in terms of what K-Pop can still offer and can still innovate. I have never seen a jazz fusion track this well executed in a very long time. CYE continues to impress me with their technique here and with Lee Haein’s creative and musical direction. This is just what I would expect innovation to be. 9.5/10. This is definitely some SOTY material here (and imo there’s been quite a few standouts this year).
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I forgot to add. Jazz music to me is very dear because people think (Adorno) it is too populist, while I think a poorly executed Jazz track, let alone a Jazz fusion arrangement, is a self-imploding barrage that just desecrates the art of the pioneers of the style. So jazz has to make an impact or its Senorita slop (sorry i-dle).
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Dare to say this is my favorite chorus of the year although it’s short & simple… The harmony is so juicy and flavorful. I like how “blurry” in terms of the song structure, as the whole song just like a whole without the jarring feel of here’s the verse, here’s the pre-chorus, here’s the chorus.
A 9/10.
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On balance, I say Yes. Yass. Finally a fresh sound in kpop.
That said, however, I am hearing one thing new and fresh, and in the video I am seeing basic boy band moves emoting through vigorous arm movement.
I also wish the approach to the vocal styling was different, especially in the chorus. The harmonies are too smooth melodyne to match the instrumental texture – either make them even more smoother or go back to rawer to match just not where the producers landed. It might also help to just turn the vocal volume up a touch louder to be in front of the band. This song is about the boys in the group not the session musicians who right now upstage the boys. Really, I was listening thinking this was a kBand, looking at the visuals corrected to kpop idols.
But overall, melding jazz musicians with a pop start is a good pivot. I am reminded how Sting did it well some (checks notes) 40 years ago on his debut solo album The Dream of The Blue Turtles (which also had a sax solo).
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