For a group as active as TXT, I’m surprised at how quickly Yeonjun released his second solo album, No Labels: Part 02. It may not have been in the standard six-month interval that most groups crank out new music, but it was pretty darn close.
Somehow, I think this new ablum as a whole is stronger that the first part, though I don’t know at this point that anything beats the incredible sound of “Coma.” Is his single, “Ice Cream,” incredibly catchy? Why yes, of course it is. But something about “Coma” was just so strange that for me it crossed over into the genre that I spend most of my time and energy listening to – that’s an incredible feat! As I still haven’t put much time and effort into discovering the silly quirks of TXT, I have yet to decide for myself if this album is a truly unique position from Yeonjun, but I definitely like what I’m hearing from him so far.
Based off the single’s title and the opening track, “Vanilla,” I was thinking maybe this whole album was going to be ice cream inspired, not that I would have minded. No, instead those two tracks kind of provided the roadmap for the rest of the songs (another six in total!). The opening track featured a really old school hip hop attitude, but somehow managed to incorporate an insane cacophony of guitars a the very end that just added to its cool factor. “Ice Cream,” as stated before, is incredibly catchy, but it’s too damn short! One review I found of this song described my disappointment perfectly. He said that it feels like it’s building up to something more and then just ends. I think the song is barely two full minutes.
Two other songs on the album boast a really smooth vocal delivery, more in the vein of R&B. That particular style isn’t something I’ve heard from Yeonjun before, so it was a little jarring on the first listen. “Baby Wassup?” did draw me in more on further listens and that’s perhaps because it’s a little more upbeat and fast paced compared to the closing R&B-style track, “Long Way Long Ride.” I don’t typically find myself drawn to that style, but intermixed within the other tracks on this album really adds some nice diversity to it, and I found myself really liking them a few more listens in.
After listening to the medley released a couple of weeks ago, I would have bet money that “Fxxking Star” was going to be my favortite song on the album because it leaned so close to alternative rock. Even listening to it, it totally towed the line of that sound. Even with songs from his first solo record, I hope someday he commits, because he would totally ace it. In any case, I enjoyed the swearing, and it leant itself to this song, which is basically an anthem for a confident king. Slay, Yeonjun. Perhaps my favorite song off the record is “No More Disco.” Truly, there is no disco sound to this thing at all, but it still did make me want to dance. It really, really sounded like something Stray Kids could have released with all of the vocal treatments. It’s also criminally short, but I loved it.
Overall, I found this to be a really good, cohesive album. And it’s awesome that at least I think it’s better than its strong predecessor. Yay, Yeonjun!