NIve (니브) is back with a new mini-album, THE INFORMATION, which has everything it takes to get stuck in your head right after the first listen, starting from the title track “TMI”.

For the singer, whose real name is Park Jisoo (박지수), this is the second EP after Broken Kaleidoscope which came out in July 2021, and the first under the agency he launched in October 2023.

On the day after the release day (which was July 27), NIve explained the title he chose for the record by saying: “Recently, I've been wondering what is real and what is not in this overwhelming world of information. The internet, online and offline human interaction, different mindsets, and everything else”. In his typical expressive fashion, the singer opened up a bit more about his feelings and thoughts, adding: “I truly feel that what is real for me is what comes to my mind naturally. I wanted to sing about love in general but also wanted to try things in different styles than usual.”

So that’s the mindset where the five songs of the EP come from, starting with “TMI.” The English expression is now widely used in everyday Korean, even though it first appeared only in 2017. In the language that adopted it, it has retained a more literal (innocent, perhaps?) meaning than the one it evokes in English-speaking countries: it still refers to the sharing of opinions and personal details for which the listener might not necessarily have an interest. 

The way NIve uses the expression puts a bit of a spin on such use of the slang, as in the lyrics he says: “I want the thoughts in my head to be erased, to disappear, to be lost in the sea of information that plagues me.I want my TMI to be you”. So he’s wishing that he had something to ramble about without control and that something - someone - is the girl he loves. As the song moves to the chorus and beyond, we find out that she actually “became” his TMI and turned his vapid life upside down.

The song laid-back, R&B vibes of the official recording become even more intimate in the acoustic version, whose video has been released on August 2.

The second track, “Hyper Midnight,” adds a bit of bite to the dreamy melody we hear in the opening by mixing it with some rap and then building up its rhythm with an addictive hook. This trait, the repetition of a musical phrase and lyrics that get stuck in your head, albeit with delicacy, is a trademark of NIve’s music, and we can appreciate them also in the chorus of the following “U U” and the following tracks. On the fourth tune, “Day By Day” NIve’s vibrating vocalizations take center stage, while in the closing song “Rewinded uNIverse” our attention goes all to the simple and repetitive synthetic melody whose high-pitched and metallic tones remind us of vintage games. 

NIve, born on June 6, 1993 in Seoul, South Korea, grew up between the United States and Australia and has classical music training in clarinet. He made his official Korean debut with the song “Like A Fool” on April 2, 2020, a duet with Sam Kim. He is also very active as a producer for artists like HYNN, Paul Kim, EXO’s Chen, Sam Kim, Park Bogum, and BTS among others.

Edited by Rachael Lovette