~feel free to shoot me a DM and recommend other eras I should do next!~
Welcome to part 1 of "Vi relives older k-pop because it reminds her of better times!" Reliving An Era!
The purpose of this series is to not only revisit old eras but to help people discover new older music.
Enjoy!
Taemin- Press It
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Release date: February 23, 2016
Tracklist (links included):
8. Sexuality (Rearranged Version)
Teasers:
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Album versions:
Music videos:
Performance videos:
The best b-sides:
Album scans:
My take:
Do I feel like this album was critically underrated because it was a February release? Yes.
Should it have gotten more attention? Also yes.
This was Taemin's first album, which is pretty huge! I adore the rugged tan, pale blue of the photobook contrasting with the black and red colors of the teasers. I remember being a *bit* iffy about his hair in some of the photos (someone here has to know what I'm talking about) but they turned out so well! Taemin definitely went 0-100 on the mature scale when it came to both the aesthetic and the musical aspect of this album. I remember when it first came out, people were going crazy over the "I'm feeling freaky" part in "Press Your Number".
Adding onto that, Bruno Mars truly did do an amazing thing with "Press Your Number" and I'm so glad that it ended up into Taemin's hands! Also some of you may not know this, but the song "Already" was written and composed by Jonghyun! Another fun fact, "Hypnosis" was originally supposed to be on his first mini album, "Ace", but he saved it for this album! "Drip Drop" was so well done too, he somehow managed to make the song sound like water without explicitly using water sounds (which is pretty talented imo), and I ADORED the performance MV when it came out too- the dance skills + the desert-esque aesthetic combined with the cerulean blue? *Chef's kiss*
I linked my fave b-sides above but I want to quickly explain ~why~ they're my faves. "Guess Who" is so fucking original, I honest to god have never heard a single song like it- between the beat and the murder-y intro, it's just so perfect to me. "Guess Who" was actually the song that inspired this thread! "One by One" has these amazing guitar riffs (so catchy) and it sounds like something Red Velvet could've done! Speaking of Red Velvet, "Mystery Love" is a song that also definitely reminds me of them, the spooky Melanie Martinez-esque music box tune and the mysterious lyrics really make it so unique! Finally, there's "Sexuality". Taemin is the first SM artist with a song title like that, so congrats to him! In all seriousness though, that song is groundbreaking and that metallic/dance-heavy sound is executed flawlessly- the song is HOT.
Speaking of "Sexuality" (and I know I've complained about this before), I WANT THE REGULAR VERSION BACK! After the album was released, a new "Rearranged version" got put on all streaming platforms and the original was gone! It's a shame for sure and I need to ask...
Please lmk your thoughts + if you discovered a song you like!
- Vi 
