: [REVIEW] After waiting nearly three years for the follow-up to In Heaven, the men of JYJ return with their third and final full-length album before it’s off to fulfill their military duties. Just Us is meant to be an album highlighting their matured style and musical outlook. Man, oh man, do these guys know how to make a comeback. The interlude is most certainly the most beautiful JYJ have ever conceived. While in the past solo and group intros were usually more dance focused or esoteric in that “pop star trying to be deep” sort of way, “Just Us” sets the stage brilliantly for the album’s concept. Simple music beautifully composed, their voices proclaiming independence from any expectations besides their own—Junsu and Jaejoong whispering, “Just us,” while Yoochun utters the group name. Remarkably their English is vastly improved from their debut, and the playfulness of the track meshes well with their vocals without being unnecessarily ostentatious. Reputation aside, Chris Brown and his team gave the boys a commendable piece of Top 40 R&B/pop. The hallmark of the JYJ sound is their vocal strength. Just Us is a testament to that tight-knit harmonic brilliance. It speaks not only to their vocal maturity, but also their undeniable connection as a group. It’s been three years since fans have had a complete project with all three voices, and they’ve come back sounding better than ever. Many, including the members themselves, questioned how they’d sound after so long—Yoochun hadn’t recorded more than one song with them, and Jaejoong and Junsu both had found varying levels of stylistic independence with their solo efforts. Not only did Just Us allay any doubts, it provided fans with hope they haven’t had for quite some time. It’s a brilliantly constructed album from beginning to end, the combination of their own compositions and contributions from different writers and producers resulted in one of the best comebacks of 2014, and arguably one of the year’s best albums period. Like a rare few albums in 2014, JYJ’s comeback falls outside the small bubble of what most consider “K-pop” into the coveted realm of just beautifully rendered music.
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 12:37:06 +0000
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