Jang Dong Woo: Bye 1st Mini Album Review

March 4th, 2019 marks another special day for Infinite and Inspirits as it is the day Dongwoo makes his debut as a solo artist! This mini album, is entitled Bye, was made with the intention of being Dongwoo's debut shortly before enlisting. Bye has the obvious meaning of Dongwoo leaving, but also stands for "by your every moment", meaning that Inspirits have Dongwoo's music that we can listen to while we wait for his return.

I ordered Dongwoo's album along with another album and found that YesAsia, Kpoptown, Ktown4u, and Choice Music all charged about $39 to $42 USD total. I chose YesAsia which also provides tracked shipping. My package shipped on the 6th from Hong Kong and arrived on the 21st, a few days longer than usual. My two albums were stacked together then placed into a bubblewrap bag so there was one layer of protection, then placed into a cardboard box that fit perfectly. My albums arrived in excellent condition.

The album is rather small, with the same dimensions as Woohyun's Second Write.. albums (roughly 5.5" by 7.5" by 0.375"). The cover is matte while the photo has a gloss finish.

This is the first product Woollim released with the new logo design. I'll most definitely miss Woollim's old logo...

The front cover is simplistic and has a magazine design to it.

Here is the back cover.

The packaging of this album is like a book. The inside of the front cover displays the tracklist. (This photo was taken after I had removed the cards)!

You can flip the front flap again to reveal an image. There are at least 3 different versions of this inside cover. The photocard and postcard were also slipped into the first page.

Each album comes with 1 photocard out of 5 designs. The photocard is glossy and has the same dimensions and roundness of the corners as Top Seed, 10 Stories, and Second Write...

Here's the backside of my photocard.

Each album comes with the same postcard. This card is glossy and is about 4" by 5.75".

On the back of the postcard is a printed handwritten letter by Dongwoo.

The next page of the photobook contains the tracklist and song credits.

The photobook contains 100 pages and photos from about 7 different photoshoots! The following 14 pages show photos from all 7 shoots.

Here are the next 2 pages. The photo on the left definitely shocked me!

And here is the next photoshoot. This is the same outfit from the "Party Girl" music video.

And the next 2 pages. Though Dongwoo has many outfits in this album, majority of the shoots give off a very similar, artsy vibe that reminds me of one of Infinite's Reality photoshoots.

This photoshoot has a more down-to-earth feel.

And another shocking photoshoot!

Here is the final shoot.

Towards the end of the photobook is a page for each track's lyrics.

After the lyric pages is a page for the album credits.

The last 2 pages have Dongwoo's "Thanks to" message.

The back cover flap houses the CD.

The flap design is really pretty, with a pattern of Dongwoo's initials.

Here is the CD design.

This is a mini album, with a total of 7 tracks. I'll briefly go over the tracklist here.

1. I AM - is the instrumental intro track for the album.
2. News - is the title. Dongwoo co-wrote the lyrics! And BLSSD co-wrote and composed the intro and this track! BLSSD of Rphabet worked on many of Infinite's title songs ("Destiny", "Back", "Bad", "Typhoon", "Tell Me"). This song is a masterpiece. Also the fanchant is very simple.
3. GUN - Dongwoo wrote the lyrics for this track as well! This is my favorite track, other than "News". It sounds like Dongwoo is telling a story; the way he delivers his lines just sounds fantastic.
4. ROMEO - Dongwoo said that this is his favorite track!
5. Party Girl - the other track that Dongwoo promoted.
6. PERFECT
7. Something Between

Overall, I'm so happy Dongwoo debuted as a soloist before his enlistment and I'm so proud of him! He definitely showed a different side of him in these songs, photoshoots, and performances, and I'll continue listening to this album as I wait for his return!