청춘의 포말 (YOUTH)

The record

청춘의 포말 (YOUTH) is Doyoung’s first full-length album, released on 22 April 2024 with ten tracks. The title track is ‘반딧불 (Little Light)’. It is his solo debut. The Korean title reads as the foam of youth, the spray thrown up by a wave.

The album introduction on Bugs describes the record as holding the several feelings that rise inside the wave of one’s youth, which is the foam of the title. The same text states that this is the album on which Doyoung’s name first appears in the credits, and points to ‘새봄의 노래 (Beginning)’, which he wrote alone, and ‘나의 바다에게 (From Little Wave)’, on which he shares the writing. Among those who worked on the record it names NCT’s Mark, Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon, KENZIE, Jo Won-sang of LUCY, Seo Dong-hwan, Kangta, Lee Ju-hyung of MonoTree and Gureum.

Reviews

IZM chose the album as its Monthly Pick for April 2024. Han Seong-hyeon wrote one sentence there: “A vocal set down lightly, a guitar slung over the shoulder with ambition.”

Among the tracks

Of the title track ‘반딧불 (Little Light)’, the album introduction says it is a band track built on a strong guitar riff, and that the variation in Doyoung’s singing carries its brightness. Its lyrics, by that account, hold the wish that the small light one has might become a beam of light for somebody else.

The first track, ‘새봄의 노래 (Beginning)’, is the song that put Doyoung’s name in the credits for the first time. The same text introduces it as a ballad holding his resolve that he is now ready to sing, opening on a bright piano line with strings gathering behind it. ‘나의 바다에게 (From Little Wave)’, on which he shares the writing, is described as modern rock setting a weighted octave guitar riff against a wide sense of space, addressed to the fans who are the sea that makes him shine.

‘Time Machine (Feat. 태연, 마크)’ is a mid-tempo pop ballad made with Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon and NCT’s Mark, who wrote the Korean lyric. The album introduction describes it as drawing the different feelings two people bring to a parting. The closing track, ‘댈러스 러브 필드 (Dallas Love Field)’, is a pop-rock song written, composed and arranged by KENZIE, and by the same text it is where Doyoung thanks everyone who travelled the journey of his youth with him.

Around it

The music video went up on the official SMTOWN channel on the day of release. The second full-length album, Soar, followed in June the next year.