T.O.P’s Long Awaited Return to the Music Industry
Photo: TOPSPOT PICTURES
T.O.P is a particular idol that evokes some very deep emotions within me. BIGBANG was the first K-Pop act that I saw live in 2015, and he was the bias I chose in the group. Seeing “DOOM DADA” live was one of my favorite experiences. I remember very vividly in 2017 when the news broke that he had overdosed during his military service, how there were discussions that it was an attempted suicide, how deeply that news affected me personally at the time, and how relieved I was when it was finally reported that he was recovering. T.O.P is an idol that has publicly been through so much, and so it wasn’t surprising when he had said he would never be active in the music industry again after withdrawing from BIGBANG. After everything he’d been through, it was a very fair conclusion for him, at least in my opinion. Sometimes it feels like the public is extremely critical of him in particular, so I never really could blame him for wanting to step away from that.
So for myself and many others, it was a very surprising announcement when he revealed he would be releasing new music, and his first full-length album at that. I admire his resilience in the face of endless criticism, and I’m so excited to dive into his album.
The Title Track: “DESPERADO”
T.O.P is a very quirky kind of person, which also shows through a lot in his musical creativity. It was a bit surprising for “DESPERADO” to start off with him singing in a high register, especially given he’s known for his deep voice and rap skills. This vocal line, later repeated in the chorus, is quickly replaced with his signature rap flow. The track has more of a chill and relaxed vibe throughout instead of going super hard as he has in the past. I am surprised with how often the track has him in a higher register, contrasting his deeper rap verses. The relaxing nature of the song is pleasant, even if I tend to prefer his harder stuff.
What I am most surprised about is how normal the music video is. I’m not sure quirky is a term that fully encompasses T.O.P, because a lot of his visual artistic taste is downright weird (and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way). It’s a very straightforward video, mostly showing him singing this track to a female companion with very minimal background elements. The chairs used in the video are very art deco, which seems fitting given T.O.P’s art style. Even without all the eccentric elements, it still feels very him, which is comforting after all his time away from the music industry.
The Album
TOP SPOT - ANOTHER DIMENSION features ten new tracks including the title “DESPERADO” at number 8. “SELF CRUCIFIXON” opens the album with an otherworldly space kind of feel, fitting since T.O.P has a very loud fascination with space. I really like it as the album opener, it fluctuates between that more chill R&B vibe of the title with a harder rap expression, and it feels like a distinctive artistic choice that isn’t particularly K-Pop. Though I can’t understand the spoken Korean fully, I felt that it was meant to make a statement, and sort of implicitly understood he was probably pulling samples from news reports of himself. I went and looked up the translations of the lyrics for that confirmation, and the statement of this track alone is truly so powerful. To be so vulnerable about all of that truly speaks volumes about him as an artist and yet again left another deep impression on me.
This opening track really is just the beginning, and you can feel that T.O.P weaved in his whole, raw self into this album. In each song he speaks so candidly on his experiences, and in many ways I feel like that realness is lacking in a lot of released music these days. And on top of such meaningful words, he explores many different genres within the album while also tying them back together to the otherworldly theme set by the first track. In many ways, “DESPERADO” is one of the weakest songs on the album because lyrically, it’s more shallow. But, that’s just my personal taste; I much prefer the deeper stuff from my artists over the viral attempts with shallow lyrics.
This kind of artistry, the real, raw, and powerful expression of life experiences, is what truly makes the greatest musicians. For those in the K-Pop sphere especially, it’s very rare that we get songs that express the true hardship of life so openly, but that’s exactly what the world needs to heal ourselves and understand our artists deeply. I’ll admit, I didn’t expect to dive into this album and be moved so completely by it, but I’m so glad that T.O.P has come back and chosen to show us so much of his true thoughts and experiences. It’s so refreshing in my opinion, and I feel like this album might give people like me a piece of healing through his words. I hope that he, too, has been able to find peace and healing through making his music.
Welcome back to the music industry, T.O.P. We missed you, and you truly can’t be replaced.