Amateur Recommendation Hour: The Way For Us

Today’s recommendation is an album that is able to rise above the standard Korean ballad formula by making a few smart compositional decisions that drastically changes tone and interpretation. It’s been a while since I’ve been this smitten with an artist in the realm of Korean pop. Unfortunately such is the state of the modern industry it seems. 

The Way For Us by Kwon Jin Ah sets itself apart from similar works in its space by merely teasing comfortable resolution but rarely ever fully committing to it for the majority of its tracks’ durations. Similar Korean pop ballads undermine the emotional punches they’re trying to throw by the incorporation of percussion and acoustic guitars that continue for the final two thirds of the song. 

While The Way For Us does have these moments they only stay around for a finite amount of measures rather than becoming the norm for the rest of the given song which I believe is thematically congruent with the overall message of the album. Thoroughly dower but never aggressively despairing. A gentle fatigue with light hands of reassurance, but only fleeting. As you would expect from a Korean soloist the vocal quality and range is massively impressive. I never want to come to take for granted just how remarkable it is considering how it’s essentially an expectation for Korean vocalists that their talent is of the highest echelon.

My personal interpretation of this work is that painful acceptance absolutely bites. Sometimes there’s no way around the strong feelings. Rather than convey the value of growth through this pain it is more about being in the thick of the emotions of anger, separation, and guilt. Even if time and perseverance does help us move forward and grow there’s an exasperation that comes with constantly finding ourselves in these places. A revolving door that we constantly have to enter and exit throughout our lives. Some of which we’d be more than happy to do without. Personally I think that’s a fairly bold direction to go in for a Kpop album rather than give it a more sanitized spin of “everything is going to be okay” which is obviously not inherently better or worse, just going off the beaten path.

I certainly believe that this album has merit whether or not you are an avid follower of Korean music or just passing by like I assume the majority of my audience is (provided I even have something that could be described as an “audience”).