Rain and It’s Raining
On October 8, 2004, Rain released his third full-length Korean album It’s Raining. This was the first album that Rain released as Rain rather than under 비, the Korean word for “rain.” The album consists of 15 tracks and includes a feature from Epik High. To promote this album, Rain released three music videos: one for title track “It’s Raining,” followed by music videos for “I Do” and “난.”
Rain released three music videos for tracks off of It’s Raining. The first was for the title track of the same name, “It’s Raining,” with music videos for “I Do” and “난” following after. The music video for “It’s Raining” sees the soloist traveling in the back of a semi-truck, the interior of the trailer turned into a white and silver seating area for Rain to travel in style. The walls of the trailer are lined with outfits, and shortly before Rain reaches his destination, he changes into something else. Cut between shots of his arrival are scenes of a bustling club, a DJ spinning tracks on a raised platform as clubbers dance around him. Once Rain arrives at the club, the back of the trailer opens as paparazzi swarm the back, taking photos of him as he enters the club, where he performs “It’s Raining.”
The music video for “I Do” follows a similar, simple format as the music video for “It’s Raining,” except for here we see Rain looking back at photos of him and his girlfriend, filming a video for her in his messy bedroom and trying to look as cool and sexy as he can (not a tough thing for him to accomplish). Once he has his video made, he puts the tape into an envelope, grabs a jacket, and heads out. Along the way, he runs into happy couples of all ages, the first being an elderly couple, and we get scenes of him dancing paired with more shots of the video. The video ends with him reaching the restaurant where his girlfriend is waiting for him, handing her flowers while he holds the envelope down by his leg.
The “난” video is less a music video and more a slideshow of very pretty Rain pictures alongside performance footage. It’s a very sweet look back at Rain’s early years, so if you’re feeling sentimental for rookie Rain, make sure to give this video a watch.
It’s Raining saw Rain experimenting with different genres, including hip-hop. The sales and success of the album cemented Rain as one of the top musical acts in Korea, separating him from the idea of just being J.Y. Park’s protégé. At the year-end awards shows, Rain took home awards at the Golden Disc Awards, KBS Music Awards, MBC Gayo Daejejeon, Mnet Asian Music Awards, SBS Gayo Daejeon, and the Seoul Music Awards. After the release of It’s Raining, Rain embarked on his first tour ever. Taking place in 2005, the Rainy Day Tour saw Rain performing a total of 14 concerts in eight countries.
“It’s Raining” has been covered by many K-Pop groups, with notable covers in recent years being the Stray Kids performance at KCON 2018 Thailand, ONF’s cover on Road to Kingdom, and most recently ATEEZ’s cover on Immortal Songs 2, which earned the group their second win on the show and the respect of the second generation soloist.