Nam Woohyun: Second Write.. 2nd Mini Album Review

September 3rd, 2018 marks a special day for Inspirits as it's Sungjong's 25th birthday and Woohyun's first comeback release! It's been almost 2 years and 4 months since Woohyun debuted with Write.. and now he has come back with his sequel Second Write.. This album is Woohyun's second mini album and there are two versions. I'll blog about both versions below.

I pre-ordered both versions without posters from YesAsia for just under $40 with free tracked shipping. My package shipped on September 5th and arrived on the 19th, in exactly 2 weeks. My albums came wrapped in a layer of bubblewrap inside a larger cardboard box, with additional bubblewrap filling up the remainder of the box. My albums arrived in almost perfect condition.

Here are the albums! Version A is on the left and Version B is on the right. These albums are much smaller and thinner than I had anticipated (not that I'm complaining, since I'm running out of shelf space anyways >.<), with dimensions 5.5" by 7.5" by 0.375".

The spine lists the album title.

The back cover displays the tracklist.

The packaging of these albums is like a book, with a smooth translucent plastic outer sleeve.

Opening up the front cover reveals the photobook on the right and a postcard on the left.

Here are the postcards. I think that the postcard design is random too, however I'm not sure how many designs there are.

Here are the backs of the postcards, which can be seen through the plastic sleeve as part of the front cover. Because the artist and album title are oriented differently for these, I'm thinking that those with the title on the bottom is for Version A and those with the title on the top is for Version B?

Removing the outer sleeves, this is how the front cover of the photobooks look like.

Each album comes with a bookmark and a photocard. In my Version A, they were both tucked in between pages 20 and 21.

The bookmark and photocard were tucked in between pages of 42 and 43 for my Version B.

There are 2 versions of the bookmark. I ended up getting 2 of the same version, so if anyone is willing to trade for the other version, please let me know! The bookmark is highly reflective and monochromatic, with the album logo on the front and back. The dimensions are 4.0625" by 1.5625".

There are 5 versions of the photocard. The photocards are glossy and have the same dimensions and roundness of the corners as Top Seed and 10 Stories.

Here are the printed messages and autograph on the backs of the photocards.

The photobook contains 76 pages. I'll compare both version together to show the similarities and differences. For the pictures with both photobooks, note that the page numbers are the same for both versions, so I'm comparing them page by page.

The second page reveals Woohyun's Thanks To message, with a picture of a pocket watch on the opposite page. The concept of time is very apparent throughout the photobooks, with random pictures of this pocket watch throughout both.

There are photos from 5 different shoots mixed throughout the photobooks, while the layout of the photos is generally similar per page across versions. I absolutely love the black and white photoshoot and wish they had included more of these photos!

Here are photos from 2 more photoshoots. All the photoshoots evoke a sad, regretful feeling that fits so well with the title track.

The lyrics and song credits are spread throughout the photobook, and are always on the same page in each version except for "I Swear."

I cannot express just how much I love this black and white photoshoot. That photo on the top especially makes Woohyun look like a professional model.

I also like this photoshoot. Woohyun's so talented, painting with both his left hand and write hand!^^

The last page contains the album credits and the inside of the back cover contains a slit to house the CD.

Here are how the CDs look, again with a time theme with the roman numerals displayed like a clock.

This mini album contains 7 tracks, listed below. I'm so proud of Woohyun to have worked on 3 of these songs and hope next time Woollim will allow more of his self-composed songs in his album.

1. Second Write.. - is a beautiful instrumental intro track for the album. It sets the tone of the generally ballad-heavy tracklist.
2. 너만 괜찮다면 - is the title. I'm so happy Woohyun co-wrote and co-composed the title, it's definitely a lot more meaningful!
3. You're My Lady - Woohyun also co-wrote and co-composed this song. I'm happy that this is one of the songs he has been promoting, because he sounds so genuine serenading to fans with these lyrics! It gives such a different feel to Toheart's "You're My Lady."
4. I Swear (ft. Dongwoo) - I'm so happy to see Dongwoo being featured on this album! This song is definitely different from Woohyun's usual ballad style, but this does remind me of Toheart's style.
5. Smile (ft. 김정모 of TraxX) - is the most upbeat track and definitely one of my favorites. The song naturally makes me smile every time!
6. 같은자리 - this is the ballad that Woohyun performed for his solo stage at Infinite's Begin Again fan meeting.
7. 사랑해 - is solely written by Woohyun. Woohyun said he wrote the lyrics while thinking about Inspirits during his solo performance at the 2016 Dream Concert, making this song that much more special!

All the tracks are beautiful and show off Woohyun's talent as both a vocalist and a composer. The various genres also make this album well-rounded. It's honestly really hard choosing a favorite, but my tops are "너만 괜찮다면," "Smile," and "사랑해" though I also really love "You're My Lady" as well.

This era also comes with 2 exterior first press posters, however I opted out of them this comeback.

Overall, I'm really happy that Woohyun has finally come back as a soloist after such a long time. Though it may be a bit unoriginal, I also like that this album is a sequel to Woohyun's debut album. While I'm looking forward to Woohyun's future releases and events as a soloist, I'm nervous for when he'll finally announce his imminent enlistment like Sungkyu.

Golden Child: Goldenness 1st Single Album Review

On July 4th, 2018 Golden Child released their first single album entitled Goldenness. This follows the footsteps of Infinite's and Lovelyz' first single albums being titled after the fandom name. The concept of this album is a graduation vacation, and completes the youthful trilogy after baseball team and high school. There is a red version and a black version of this album. I pre-ordered 4 copies from YesAsia and I ordered 4 more copies from Amazon.com, which I blogged about here.

The packaging of the album is designed with the graduation vacation theme, with the exterior looking like a hardside luggage. The ridges and corner accents on the front and back covers are even embossed, giving the texture of a luggage.

The backside has a similar design. The exterior is quite glossy. The album has dimensions 6.125" by 8.875" by 0.875".

The spines have the album title printed. The red version has silver print while the black version has red print.

The other side has the tracklist and album credits printed.

You open the album from the top flap. I had made this mistake 4 times by just using one finger and putting pressure in the center to lift up the flap, but that forms a crease. Now I know to use both hands and apply a finger at each end to alleviate the pressure and have a much lower chance of forming a crease on the flap.

Here are how the contents are placed inside the box. From bottom to top are the photobook, sticker set, and CD case. There is also a foam sheet so that the CD case doesn't slide around.

Here are the front covers of the translucent jewel case.

Inside the jewel case is a cute sticker along with the CD on the right.

The CD design also fits the travel theme well, looking like a compass. Each member's name is printed along the outer ring with their associated number in the inner ring. On the very outside contains the tracklist and album credits.

Each album also comes with the same set of stickers.

There are 5 sheets of stickers. There's a sticker for each member's face, name, and prop, along with variance Golden Child stickers and album title stickers, and random emojis.

These stickers are meant to decorate the exterior album box, like you're decorating a luggage. Out of all the random items Kpop goods have come with (stickers, diaries, etc.) I have always preserved these items. But with so many copies, maybe I can have a little fun and decorate one album!

I wanted to use all the Bomin and Jibeom themed stickers, and also as many of the Golden Child and travel themed stickers as I could. I ended up really cluttering the album, but I still love it. I covered the front and added 2 stickers to the spine, partly to reinforce a sticker that wrapped around the edge.

Honestly I had some difficulty with the fifth sticker sheet. When I peeled the stickers off, the backing came off with it so basically there was a layer of paper underneath the sticker. I had to really use my nails and crinkle the edges until I could properly peel the sticker free. On another note, I'd suggest peeling the stickers slowly, because they can rip at the crooks of the stickers with jagged outlines.

Here are all the stickers I have left from this set. Even though I used so many stickers to cover the front, there is still at least half remaining.

Each album comes with 1 photocard and 1 ticket, both tucked together within the photobook. There are a total of 20 photocards, 2 per member. One set is the red version while the other is the black version, however in every album (it doesn't matter if you bought the red version or the black version) there is a chance you'll just get one of the 20 photocards. The top row is the black version, the bottom row is the red version. Here is my incomplete collection; while I'd love to complete it, it seems too difficult this time around especially with 20 random cards where each album only contains one.

Here are the backsides of the photocards. The design is really cute, with the corners matching the exterior album box like a luggage. The cards are glossy and almost the same dimensions as Golden Child's previous album photocards, though these are less than 1mm taller and wider. Both Jangjun's and Seungmin's messages say "Goldenness Forever"!

There are a total of 10 tickets, one per member. The hyung line tickets are accented in red while the maknae line in black. These are made of paper just a little thicker than printer paper and have a matte finish. There are 2 perforated lines at the edges of the group photo, so you can rip the sides like a boarding pass.

Here are the backsides of the tickets. The ticket is 6.6875" by 2.75".

The backside is really detailed and tailored to each member. The destination is to whichever location the member had chosen in a previous Q&A earlier this year, the date and time are July 4, 2018 at 6:00PM (comeback date and time), the seat is the member's first initial and squad number, and the flight number is G - S01 (Goldenness - 1st Single). And I just realized, the bottom of the ticket has a nice message which is unique for each ticket.

The photobook is designed like a school composition book, colored either red or black to match its version.

The backside is simple, with just the album credits at the bottom.

There are 95 pages in each version, and both versions have the same layout. I'll compare both versions together to show the similarities and differences. For the pictures with both photobooks, note that the page numbers are the same for each version. There are 3 photoshoots. The first is nautical themed, the second is with recreational objects, and the third is the natural photoshoot in Japan.

The first 4 pages are the same, including this 2-page spread for the album credits. This is one of the two group photos included in the photobook.

The first 15 pages are from the nautical photoshoot. Other than the first group photo,  all other photos from this photoshoot are individual shots. The lyrics and credits for each song are also spread among the photobook.

Pages 16 to 27 are all individual shots from the recreational photoshoot.

Pages 28 to 67 are from the photoshoot the members had on the streets of Japan during their fan meeting tour. There is one group photo.

There are also several subgroup photos from this shoot. While generally the lyrics and group photos are on the same pages in both versions, the subgroup photos are dispersed throughout the Japan photoshoot section.

The remaining pages in this section are individual photos. In this section they also continue the school theme, with notebook paper images in the background, and the graduation vacation theme, with Polaroid frames around several pictures.

Pages 68 to 77 are more individual photos from the recreational photoshoot. 

Pages 78 to 87 are remaining individual photos from the nautical shoot

The last 6 pages are for the thanks to section.

This era comes with 2 first press exterior posters, one from the Japan photoshoot and one from the nautical photoshoot. The poster design matches the vacation theme, with the video recording styling in the corners. The image quality is much better than Gol-Cha!'s grainy posters. The posters have a matte finish. The dimensions are roughly the same as Woollim's usual posters, however this time the posters are a few millimeters shorter and longer than their usual poster dimensions.

As a single release, this album contains 3 tracks. The title track "Let Me" was created by some of the same people as "Damdadi" and "All Day." The song is very upbeat, fitting Golden Child's image well. The b-side track that Golden Child also promoted is "If," composed by some members of the same team who worked on "What Happened" and Lovelyz' "Twinkle" and "SHINING★STAR." This song and its matching choreography are really cute; I'm always especially drawn to Joochan whenever I see this performance! The third and final track is "Thank You," composed by the same team who worked on Infinite's emotional ballad "Why Me." This ballad rounds out the album well and I absolutely love Jibeom and Jaehyun's lines to begin the song. The only downfall is that Jangjun and Tag don't have individual lines in this song, but at least this isn't a promoted song (unlike "Lady" which I'm still quite bitter about for Jaehyun and Bomin).

Overall, I love this entire era of Golden Child. I'm sad that there was no "branding" of their outfits this time, but this graduation vacation concept fits so well with their high school trilogy. While all of Golden Child's title tracks have been legit bops, "Let Me" is definitely my favorite. Honestly it might just be because of how fun the fan chant for this song is, where we shout the members names and have lines that aren't just repeating the song (my 2 criteria). Now that promotions for "Let Me" and "If" are over, I miss Golden Child but am nervous what concept they'll go for next!