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Actually listened to this album many times over trying to find its strengths and understand the project, but i can't say it left a great impression on me. Lyrically some songs like Amygdala, People Pt.2 and Snooze stand out, they have great meaning and were touching. Other songs like HUH?! or Haegeum really didn't convince me much at all, it felt like smthg Agust D has already done, but made less impressively.
It's production-wise that I was the most underwhelmed. I think he has a good ear for guitar melodies & placements, so I liked all the guitar and especially electric guitar parts in the whole project. Haegeum's instruments were interesting in the intro, especially the bass, but the song gets so repetitive that it doesn't convince me in the end. I don't think the songs were that memorable, might be harsh criticism but after seeing his documentary I feel like it explains just how underwhelming the album felt to me, like this might truly be an album born out of artistic burn out, at least compared to his previous release D2 it does Feel different, maybe like it lacks direction, or new inspiration, maybe because he was trying for a more "professional" and "polished" album, who knows. My biggest disappointment with the album was the vocal treatments. There's So much voice effects that each song ends up feeling gratting to me, honestly I feel like it ruins a lot of the album, and like it won't age that well either. Especially harsh because in other songs he's put up in the past, I found his voice matched pretty well w the vocal effects (im talking 'autotune') but in this album, I can't find it good. Overall, I wasn't really floored by his rap either, it didn't particularly feel new or changing, his singing did get better but it's not to the point where it feels like it carries emotion as much as a singer would, so that didn't particularly get me hooked either. He's proved in previous works like Set me Free that his voice Could be emotional, but its something I missed in this album where the vocal effects take over to try and bring out the texture/emotion his voice couldn't give the songs. Maybe that's his personal taste, maybe it's actually that he can't always access this emotional state of singing/rapping unless the emotion is Really overwhelming (artists, you know, it can be pretty tricky), who knows. But my point stands that, musically the project feels quite "simple" in terms of sound, which isn't bad, but it means that a lot of the emotion relies on his vocal performance, & since that didn't convince me, the project just ended up not moving me overall, even just in terms of sound.
My second biggest disappointment was with the featured artists... These are All artists I've listened to and loved. But I feel like in every song, their potential has been cut so Short, to the point where I listened to each song and could literally feel the potential of it being more interesting than the actual sound I was listening to. I feel like Agust D really just asked them for a part, cut it exactly how he envisionned for the song, added it, and moved on without asking them to listen or add their input, and imo it cuts off so Much of the potential for harmonies, added singing, added adlibs, emotions. Instead I feel like IU's part in People Pt.2 cuts the song too harshly, and like it just shouldn't even be there. And the same goes for Woosung, harsh cut to his singing, absolutely no transition, no other part, no background singing. Maybe j-hope was sparred more from this treatment, his part is pretty long, it sounds good, and some of his adlibs still roam free here and there, but I feel like honestly he could've particpated even more in the overall song and it would've sounded even better. I wish all participants had more freedom to add their own spark to each song. They have the talent, it could've sounded way more cohesive.
My favorite song overall ended up being SDL which I really didn't expect but I like his flow in it, and I like Adora's voice who has very pretty harmonies, it feels like a whole song with sense and a calm feeling & a little bit of groove - the song is pretty short and doesn't really grow past its intended vibe but I still enjoyed it. Big up to his rap parts in People Pt.2 which did sound good and calming, and to the Interlude, a very pretty song with a great build up and a story musically that I didn't feel in any other song the same way. I'll look out for his next projects and stay curious, though I have a feeling like D-2 might stay his most impactful project in terms of my musical/personal tastes. We'll see !… Expand
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