After introducing his solo music with fans in the middle of autumn last year following his solo debut, Youngjae reunites with fans again at the beginning of summer with his second mini-album SUGAR consisting of five new tracks.

Tracklist:

1. “SUGAR” (title)

2. “Focus”

3. “Crema”

4. “Nothing”

5. “With You”

The music video begins with a false start, the eerie piano making you think he’s going to go into a slow jazz or a deep R&B song. These are all hinted at with the dark color scheme of the room he’s in, with the flowers and empty glasses being the only items providing color. Once Youngjae follows the woman out the door, listeners realize that the song is actually quite the opposite. The strumming that starts and stops paired with the synth creates this cheeky, playful energy almost like a “Haha, got you!” moment. The lyrics, “You tease me and drive me crazy,” go well with this beat for this same reason. 

Youngjae is in this state of a sugar rush where he can’t get enough of this person and his infatuation is so strong that even he acknowledges that it's intoxicating: “I wanna taste that sugar / So good but so bad / Just the taste of that sugar / It’s okay if you lie to me.”

The album moves on to “Focus” which feels familiar; those who listened to GOT7’s Flight Log: Departure album will find comfort in this song. With the way Youngjae’s voice carries the melody, he creates a song that’s easy to listen to. This sentiment follows through to “Crema,” which although Youngjae described it as a mature version of GOT7’s “A” lyrically, it definitely feels like a defined version of another one of their 2014 singles, “I Like You,” musically. As an artist, being able to look back on previous years’ work and still find the beauty in it shows that previous ideologies and lyrics don’t always have to be cringy or hard to look back on. Youngjae recognizing this shows that he has pride in his work both past and present.

The fourth track “Nothing” is a nice jazz-pop song; the harmonies and backing vocals bring the song to life without making it feel overwhelming as it keeps its tempo the same throughout the track. The lyrics talk about how Youngjae feels like nothing without his person, and I feel that the most when the song modulates in its final chorus and brings the track back to life, almost to further push the notion that he’s a different person when he’s with them. “Nothing” provides a warmth that would be nice to feel when listening to this track again during the cold winter months.

With the final track “With You,” Youngjae shared that he thought a lot about his fans. Whenever a song starts with just a piano and a leading voice, you already know it's going to be a sentimental song. Youngjae said his favorite lines in the song are, “​​꿈만 같았던 너와 나의 시작 /

우리 둘만으로 펼쳐진 세상,” and that they remind him most of his experience from his debut days to now. Youngjae participated in all the tracks in his second mini-album and his involvement does not go unnoticed by fans.

SUGAR is available now on Spotify and various streaming platforms.

Edited by Erin Rupprecht