Kim Sung Kyu: 27 2nd Mini Album Review

After 2.5 years since debut, Infinite's leader Kim Sunggyu has finally come back as a solo artist on May 11th, 2015. His mini album is titled 27, and was released just a couple of weeks after his 27th (Korean age) birthday. I'm especially proud of all the work Sunggyu put into this album, as he was disappointed about his first solo album not being successful. This album is entirely produced by Sunggyu's longtime idol and of the same label, Nell's Kim Jongwan.

The album was released on May 12th. I ordered mine from Kpoptown.com, it was shipped out in two days, and arrived in 9 days, sadly a little dented in the corner as usual.

The album is the same size as most of Infinite's albums. Sunggyu kept his hipster-artsy theme for his font^^ The album comes with an exterior album cover, which has a little flap on the right to open up. It's matte black, so it's easy to get fingerprints on it...be careful!

The backside is simplistic, with only the album title.

Because this exterior album cover is made of paper, it's fragile and easy to rip the flap. I just slid the album from the bottom, and then gently undid the flap. This is the thing that many people were confused about-each album comes with a random hidden back cover out of three designs, and this is it. Also these three designs aren't in the photobook. This is such cool packaging, to have a random back cover!

The actual album is matte white and looks similar to the exterior cover.

Sunggyu's name is intended with a silver font while the album title has a reflective layer over it.

The backside has the same 27 logo, and the tracklist printed on the top.

Inside, it looks like an art gallery with its white background and black and white theme.

The disc is really pretty too. It matches the design of Sunggyu's top; this is like the same style for Infinite F's album, how they used the blue print on Myungsoo's sweatshirt to make the design of the album. The print is also on the album underneath the disc.

The first page of the photobook reveals the photocard sticker.

Here's my sticker; it's maybe just a bit smaller than Infinite's small photocards. There are five designs, which don't look like images from the photobook (except for one) and all from different photoshoots.

The backside of the sticker has his name and the album logo. Because it's a sticker, it's really thin so it curls easily. The backside splits in half horizontally, so that's how you'd use the sticker.

Here is a closeup of the tracklist printed in the photobook. There are double titles, the first being "너여야만 해" and the second being "Kontrol" (with a "K" because Sunggyu's officially with a K). The intro, "27," I think is intended for "Kontrol." I love all the songs, as they're so beautiful and showcase Sunggyu's amazing voice and talent. At first I was disappointed that Sunggyu didn't participate in writing any of the songs, as he wrote "Light" which was so spectacular, but after listening and falling in love with all the songs, I'm also happy Jongwan did write all the songs.

The photobook is 48 pages long and has many gorgeous photos.

There are several photos from all six photoshoots (the six teaser photos for the songs are all from different photoshoots, so that's what I'm referring to). Among those teaser photos, only the last three photos are in the photobook. I'm really sad they didn't include any of the bubblegum photos in this album, except on one of the photocard stickers (in black and white though).

Many photos are artistically grainy, which match the photoshoots that seem to be portraying a hipster feel.

Some photos are also in black and white to also have that old-school feel.

It's really cool seeing the song credits, and how the tracks were all recorded at Woollim Studio.

The last two pages are of Sunggyu's "Thanks To" and staff credits.

This album also has three posters. Two designs are photos from the photobook, so I didn't find it necessary to get a random poster.

Overall, I'm glad Sunggyu has finally come back with his second mini album, and that this time around I hope he feels more successful with this album due to all the support he's received and to the two well-deserved wins he's gotten.

Infinite: That Summer Concert DVD Review

In August 2012, Infinite began the first run of their Summer Concert series. These summer concerts are held at smaller venues and for a longer period of time (this one being five days), so Infinite and Inspirits can be closer together. They are meant to be more casual and relaxed, like a summer vacation setting. In late April 2013, Woollim released the last day's concert on DVD. There is the Korean version that is for all regions except Region 2 and contains Korean, English, and Chinese subtitles, which I'm reviewing here, and then there is the Japanese version that is for Region 2 and just has Japanese subtitles.

This was one of my first Infinite products, yet I don't know why I never blogged about it. But it's better to be late than never, so here it is~ I bought this from Kpoptown.com and sadly my box arrived a bit squished...I didn't think much of it at the time though, because I just thought that that's the way it was. The box is made of cardboard and all the contents inside have a papery finish. It's also the same dimensions as Infinite's typical albums (obviously just thicker).

Here you can see the third item from the left was squished, creating that huge crease along the spine.

The backside of the includes the setlists for all three discs, as well as the DVD information.

This collection includes, from top to bottom, the set of photocards, the pouch,  the photobook, and lastly the DVD box.

All four contents come in a thinner cardboard container. The front cover has a basic image of the content; it reminds me of the materials page of those instruction manuals for building furniture.

Here is the backside of those contents. It's simplistic, with just the concert emblem and that content's respective bring color.

Photocards

The case of the photocards is like a mini folder with a sleeve. It contains eight photocards sealed in a clear wrap.

The photocards came in the order from top left to bottom right. The member cards have their printed autographs and a little message to Inspirits. The last card is of the group. Some of these images are the same as the one on the member's profile page in the photobook.

The front is matte while the backside is glossy, silver, and has the matching, simple design as the back of the photocard case. These are really postcards, just larger than 5" x 7", and are really thick and high quality. They're very similar to the format of the postcards from the Be Mine Japanese single postcards.

Pouch

This collection also, oddly enough, includes a pouch. The container is a thicker version of the one for the photocards, but because the pouch is so roomy and the cardboard so thin, this is the container that the spine got crushed. The pouch also comes in a clear wrap.

The pouch is simple with its canvas material and the concert emblem. It's of really nice quality, but it's too precious to be used! Like the photocards, it's also 7" x 5" and is 3D (like there's a flat bottom) so you can store a lot.

Being the oblivious person that I am, I didn't notice the cute details of this pouch until now, two years after I've had this. The zipper has "INFINITE" on one side and the Over The Top era logo on the other side. And if you flip over that bottom part, there's a cute little concert logo too!

Photobook

This photobook is definitely one of my favorite concert DVD photobooks. It has 112 pages of high quality, color photos and conveniently has page numbers (in lime green, to match the photobook font color).

The first 10 pages show a two-page photo spread for each day of the concert, but at different stages of the concert.

Then there are four pages per member spread throughout the photobook. It also includes a profile of each member.

There are also four to six pages for each unit stage. I'm happy they included photos of Infinite Band, despite not including the performance on the DVD.

One section is dedicated to rehearsal the day before the first concert. XXX

The remainder of the pages are filled with gorgeous pictures of the rehearsal, behind-the-scenes, and on stage. The last two pages are for the credits.

One of the outfits Myungsoo is wearing, he also wore in the She's Back photoshoot^^ It was really hard taking this photo while holding down both photobooks...

DVDs

The DVD container is in a trifold case, where the right flap lists the setlists of all three discs. Also I thought it was cool how the underside of the spine has the intent of the lettering. The discs are really sturdy in this case and don't fall out, unlike some of Infinite's other DVDs.

Here is a closeup of the backside of the entire set, though I'm so sorry you probably can't read it, it's so small. The first and second discs are 80 minutes long each, and contain the concert and "Special Live Cam." The third disc is 100 minutes and contains special features.

The concert itself is really amazing. It's a very small venue, holding just a few thousand fans, and it feels like you can connect with Infinite more because of the closeness. Also the summer theme has such a relaxing feel, which matches with Infinite performing some of their songs acoustically (such as "That Year's Summer," "Amazing," "I Like You," and "Wings"). It's just nice seeing a different type of concert than Infinite's past giant and powerful concerts. The VCRs also fit the summer vacation theme, with Infinite having fun at a summer house, having an indoor campfire, and playing games like the Truth Game and Rolling Paper (this is not paper for cigarettes...it's where you pass a piece of paper around, writing messages about a specific person). Another VCR is like a chat room, where L gives advice to the other members. As for solo and unit performances, Infinite H performed "Without You" before its official release, Infinite V Sunggyu and Woohyun performed "Lately" and Infinite Band, consisting of Dongwoo, Sungyeol, Myungsoo, and Sungjong, performed, but sadly the DVD didn't include this performance (possibly due to copyright issues?). Some footage of Infinite Band is included in the behind-the-scenes and photobook, however. Also this concert is the only time Infinite performed "Feel So Bad" live. The last song, "With..." was especially emotional. In the middle of their performance, the music stopped and a VCR of Infinite working hard and Inspirits thanking Infinite appeared, and then a cake (from Paris Baguette!) with candles arrived in celebration of Infinite. The member became emotional, especially Dongwoo who cried a lot. As the members performed the song again, Sungyeol, Myungsoo, and Dongwoo choked on their lines and Woohyun teared up during his...ahh, it was all just very touching and emotional, and what a way to end a concert.

The second disc also contains a "Special Live Cam," which is like a high quality fancam of each member. Oddly enough and disappointingly, they didn't include one of Myungsoo. The songs for each member are "I Like You" (Sunggyu), "Without You" (Dongwoo), "Be Mine" (Woohyun), "She's Back" (Hoya), "The Chaser" (Sungyeol), and "Entrust" (Sungjong). It's fun seeing how the different members perform in various stages; like with Sunggyu, you could see how much emotion he put into his lines, and how he was having fun lip singing the other members' lines.

The third disc contains three special features. The first one is the "Making Film: Concert Marking," which is 27 minutes long and shows Infinite throughout the seven days prior to the concert. It was cool seeing the various stages of practicing for the concert, such as rearranging the songs, practicing the choreography, and actually rehearsing at the venue. They also had a long segment of Infinite Band, which was really nice. The second feature is "Making Film: Concert D-Day," which is 40 minutes long and shows Infinite during the five days of the concert series. It showed them arriving at the venue, rehearsing on the stage, as well as actual footage from each concert day. I liked how they also showed a bit of Infinite Band here, though they didn't provide the audio of it. It was also cool seeing Infinite wearing different costumes, like sometimes they wore black outfits instead of the feathered ones used in the concert DVD. The last day also included Infinite's celebration afterward, which included other celebrities like Seo In Guk from Reply 1997. The last feature is titled "Special Interview," and is 32 minutes long. It is a more formal interview with Infinite wearing their Chaser outfits and answering questions such as their childhood aspirations, when they knew they wanted to become singers, during their trainee days, what they plan to do 10 years from now, etc. My favorite was seeing Hoya go through the dance points of their songs~

Overall, before I received my One Great Step Returns concert DVD, That Summer Concert was definitely my most favorite of Infinite's concert DVDs. I absolutely loved the new and different arrangements of many of their songs and how they made them acoustic. Also the relaxed, casual vibe was cool as I could almost feel like I'm on a more personal level with Infinite. Now that the That Summer Concert 2 DVD has been released, I can't wait to see that one as well!

Infinite: One Great Step Returns Live Album Review

On February 28th and March 1st, 2014, Infinite held the encore concerts for their 2013 world tour, One Great Step, titled One Great Step Returns. Shortly after releasing One Great Step Returns on DVD in March 2015, Woollim released the accompanying One Great Step Returns Live Album on April 9th, 2015. This is Infinite's first live album, and I'm so excited for it as the members truly have outstanding vocals and hearing them live is simply breathtaking.

I pre-ordered this album and poster from Kpoptown, and the poster arrived 8 days after shipment (12 days after its release) and the album arrived 14 days after shipment. For the most part, it was in good condition, but there was a little dent on the bottom edge of my album.

To my surprise, the album is actually very compact! It's almost the size of a jewel CD case, but much thicker.

There is an exterior slip cover. It's nice with the geometric lines being in 3D and the reflective wording. It was actually really difficult for me to take off the slip cover, but within time it'll be looser. The album has a nice canvas texture, but because it's white, it's easy to get dirty (there were some gray marks around the corners, possibly due to the slip cover?).

Here you can see the reflective wording and the geometric lines on the album.

The side of the album and slip cover also have the album title in its reflective lettering.

The album is tri-fold, with both discs on the sides and the photobook attached in the middle. After opening the first flap, it shows the tracklist for both discs.

The disc and underneath also have the geometric line design, and underneath also includes the gorgeous OGS era logo.

Here is a closeup of the tracklist, which you probably can't see clearly. The first disc contains 12 tracks, from "Destiny" to "Still I Miss You." The second disc contains 13 tracks, from "I Like You" to "With.." Oddly enough, "Inconvenient Truth" wasn't added on this live album, despite being in the OGSR DVD, and "As Good As It Gets" is on this album, despite not being on the DVD. I really like these tracks, besides hearing them sing live, but it's cool to also hear the members' interactions with fans and random interjections, the way they alter their singing and rapping at a concert (I don't know what that's called...intonation?), and the fanchants, so I don't feel as stupid doing fanchants to the studio versions. I also like how they include the dance transitions before "Paradise," "Be Mine," and "BTD," so it really feels like I'm listening to the entire concert except for the VCRs and Infinite's talks. I absolutely love Infinite's interjections (like all those at the beginning of "I Like You" and "Lately"); I need to rewatch OGSR to see if the album is from the same day as OGSR. Also, I love listening to this album because you can really focus on the voices, whereas watching OGSR, you get distracted by watching everything and taking it all in. For instance, I never noticed Woohyun harmonizing in the background to Myungsoo's part in "I Like You"!

The photobook has about 72 pages, and is first off really cute due to its small size (kind of like The Origin note sheets).

The photobook is broken up into sections, one per each member, from oldest to youngest. Each member is given six pages of individual shots from various stages throughout the concert.

In between each member section, is a group shot on a beautiful two-page spread. I especially love the bottom page of the members looking out into the audience during the last performance.

The last pages include the lyrics and credits for all the songs, and then the album credits at the end. Overall, the photos do seem different from the OGSR DVD photobook. Even if they are the same, I think the live album's photobook has a really nice format and organization of the photos that I wouldn't mind if they were the same photos. Also I didn't bother checking if the poster photos were within the photobook, since I like the photobook so much.

The poster is very similar in format to the One Great Step Returns DVD poster, and they're the same size (as Infinite's latest posters starting with New Challenge). The DVD poster's concept is very dark and serious, and the live album poster's concept is much more light, happy, and emotional. I don't know why they couldn't choose sharper images for some of the members though...because of this, I like the DVD poster much more.

On the positive side, none of these images are in the DVD photobook, except possibly Dongwoo's (bottom right on the left page).

Overall, I absolutely love this album. I also love how this is a compilation album of Infinite's various songs since debut, so we can hear how they've improved since the release of these songs to "now" ("now" being early 2014).