Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Following in fellow Super Junior member Kyuhyun’s footsteps, Ryeowook’s much-anticipated (…by SuJu fans, at least) solo debut was with a ballad, titled “The Little Prince” (and a mini-album of the same name). That it was going to be a ballad was no surprise, but my interest was piqued when I saw that it was, quite obviously, inspired by the French novella ‘The Little Prince‘ — I was curious to see where they would take it, as SM Entertainment’s concepts are generally of good quality.
Unfortunately, “The Little Prince” fell short of my expectations. The thematic utilization of the story felt rather shallow — as if someone had taken a generic love song and tried to fill in the gaps with references to ‘The Little Prince’ — and the music video, while pretty to look at, was little more than a replica of the story. I guess I forgot that SME spends all of a thousand bucks on Super Junior these days, despite them printing money for the company, and I shouldn’t have trusted those damn teasers. I haven’t listened to the album yet, but hopefully as a cohesive whole, it takes the concept to more interesting places.
Regarding the song itself, it’s an embodiment of the typical Korean ballad. It starts out soft, gets a little too waily at parts, and is basically a template for vocal show-off. Pleasant enough, but it would have been much more enjoyable had it been sung by someone whose voice I actually like.
Thus, as it stands, it’s pretty forgettable. Never fear for your oppa, though, fangirls; song’s in the top 20 on Melon already and probably even higher on all the irrelevant charts. The ballad effect is real.
