Lee Han Gyul has an impressively large record in the K-pop industry. Over the course of his career, he’s been part of X1, BAE173, IM, H&D and Polarix. That’s a ton of different groups and projects, most of which came and went pretty quickly. The guy is certainly tenacious, and has earned the right to debut as a soloist with his first mini album.

Title track Bunzi leads this album with some familiar 2026 K-pop sounds. It takes many of its cues from Latin music and ties that production to a talk-heavy hook that extolls how fantastic Han Gyul is. This is subject matter I’m pretty tired of, but Bunzi has an endearing bounce that carries it through its more eye-rolling moments. Honestly, if the song had a different chorus entirely, I’d probably be raving about its energy. The sung moments are solid and Bunzi‘s intensity never really lets up. I just need K-pop producers to understand that, if you must fashion your hook around spoken word boasts, you have to find a killer rhythm or phrasing to make this gimmick stand out. Too many times, these choruses come across as monotonous and repetitive, and unfortunately that’s the case here.

Grade: C