Zion T(자이언티) - Poser Mini Album Thoughts (k-indie/RnB)

 

 

  

  I've RETURNED!!! It's been awhile, Hasn't it!?! Blogging is something that I miss doing but life happens. A job change happened that took a lot of my time. I'm STILL currently trying to manage my time but, I promise to update this blog more often..... 

   Let's talk a bit about some South Korean indie music by the name of Zion T. This man has been around about the same amount of time that I've been into Korean pop music. He came on the scene participating in hip hop collaborations that garnered attention in the Korean indie street scene as well as abroad. He sounds like a mixture of Micheal Jackson and Pharrell Williams if they were born Korean. His new mini album is titled Poser. 

01. LOVE ME
02. Heroine
03. Suspicious
04. Fish
05. CLOSER

   

   Poser was an interesting release for me. Especially in an age where South Korea's RnB/soul scene as kinda died on a mainstream level. Even huge artists like Taeyang(BigBang) have redefined their once popular trademark sound for a more pop effort. This mini album shows that you can't take the Soul out of this guy, even when the general public might not rock with the genre anymore. Zion's fanbase manages to stay strong though.  A lot of the tracks here do sound quite dated which isn't too surprising to me. Love Me is a groovy RnB number that tries to walk the fine line of being pop. If only the chorus wasn't so ABC - 123 plain. I actually like this song as an RnB lover but, I do feel like some of this favoritism comes from the fact that the other songs aren't much better. Heroine is the title track, I believe. The piano combined with the flute and xylophone playing periodically under the beat. Once again you can hear many soulful influences in this track that are great, especially in the chorus. Things take a bit of a nose dive into the mediocre category after this. Suspicious is not too bad...just kinda bland to the point that you won't remember it later. Fish and Closer sound like they were produced by AI and I think this was Zion's attempt at trying to sound current. Autotune is popular in Kpop. Sometimes it's used in a revolutionary way. However, a lot of the times it is not. Here is just feels tacked on to prove a point that didn't need to be proved. Poser probably would have been better off as a two track digital single.

   I would like Zion T to experiment with other genres of music more. He has done a little genre bending in the past but never full committed in my opinion. He would be amazing at rock that's a bit more soulful. Are you a fan of Zion T?  Is this your first introduction to him? Let me know your thoughts.