WHITE NIGHTTaeyang's third album, released on 16 August 2017 with eight tracks. 'WAKE ME UP' and 'DARLING' are the title tracks and Zico features on the closing track.
WHITE NIGHT is Taeyang’s third album, released on 16 August 2017 with eight tracks. ‘WAKE ME UP’ and ‘DARLING’ are the double title tracks, and Zico features on the closing ‘TONIGHT’. YG Entertainment’s album introduction on Bugs describes a record he had spent a long time preparing, and one he wanted to carry his own musical world and taste. It came three years after the previous album RISE.
Idology, a K-pop criticism webzine, ran three writers on the album in the mid-August 2017 issue of 1st Listen, its short-notice column on new releases.
Myo wrote that “Taeyang is a singular figure, able to express a glittering darkness and a plain-spoken sorrow at the same time”, and described the space the record makes as “a dark, vast, damp space; a glitter that feels the more emotional for being ornate; a voice that rings wetly into the distance”. He wrote that “both title songs are handled in a relatively familiar way and are friendly for it, and the grand sentiment of ‘Wake Me Up’ and the eerie plea of ‘Darling’ are both appealing”.
Shim Eun-bo, publishing as GDB, wrote that the album “takes in most of the genres that have been in fashion in pop R&B over the last few years, from Eighties revival music to future bass to music that recalls Ed Sheeran”, and put that down to The Black Label having handled most of the production. He wrote that “the genre changes, but Taeyang’s vocal is as ornate and as persuasive as ever”.
Hamchwa wrote that this is “an album in which Taeyang’s strength — concentrating on what he does well and not overreaching — comes through clearly”, and that “across the whole album he seems to be drawing as many different arcs as he can without leaving the circle he has drawn for himself”.
‘DARLING’ is one of the two title tracks. IZM’s Hwang Sun-eop wrote in August 2017 that “it is not easy to turn away from a combination of a good melody and a good vocal”, and that “the way emotion is realised in fine detail, through a closely calculated stacking of notes and the handling of breath and ad libs, is interesting”.
‘WAKE ME UP’ was taken up on 8 September 2017 by The Singles Jukebox, the column where British and American writers each file a short note of their own on one single. Alfred Soto wrote: “The echo, sudden drops, and passive character suggest an acquaintance with The Weeknd’s anomic moments, but the vocal is warmer, the falsetto suppler.” Ramzi Awn called it “a solid, underscored single that straddles the line between ballad and dance pop well”. Alex Clifton wrote that “‘Wake Me Up’ is dreamy and droppy and much better than I expected”, and that “Taeyang sells it well and lifts a song that could’ve been far more ordinary into a more pleasant number, buoyed by a strong vocal performance”. Stephen Eisermann wrote that “Taeyang has a voice with R&B-leanings and it serves him well on this track”.
‘TONIGHT’ closes the album. Hamchwa wrote that “the last track, ‘Tonight’ with Zico, puts the finishing dot on it and leads it to a close”. Myo picked ‘RIDE’ and this song as the two tracks not to miss, and named ‘EMPTY ROAD’ and ‘NAKED’ as tracks it would be a shame to pass over.
Circle Chart put all eight songs from the album on its digital chart for week 33 of 2017 (13 to 19 August), the week of release. ‘DARLING’ was at number nine and ‘WAKE ME UP’ at 20; the other six landed between 45 and 87. Both title tracks were still on the chart the following week, week 34 (20 to 26 August), at 16 and 32.
The album was at number three on the album chart for week 34.
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Taeyang has released five albums under his own name between 2008 and 2026. The first was the mini album Hot; four full-length albums followed — Solar, RISE, WHITE NIGHT and QUINTESSENCE. Here are the five in order, with their release dates, formats and what the reporting of the day recorded.
