hush rush; lee chaeyeon
oct 14 2022
Lee Chaeyeon has finally escaped from whatever basement her company was holding her hostage in and has released her first EP, Hush Rush. Chaeyeon has always been more of a performer and dancer than a vocalist, so I was interested in seeing what she would do as a soloist. Okay, well, let me be honest: I was mostly interested in this comeback because of the awesome art design, which I loved so much that I will probably put some pictures of her teasers below, which I usually don't do for music reviews. Like I said in my "Underwater" review I was never really interested in IZ*ONE and Chaeyeon, as a dancer, was one of the people that I really wasn't super interested in. But the visual design for this album really piqued my interest; it was clearly low budget, but it didn't look that way. The kitsch-vampire thing they're going for is unique, cute, and perfect for October.
Unfortunately, that's kind of where my compliments end. For a song composed and produced by DemJointz, it's remarkably boring and unimpactful. I listened to the song like three times to write this review and I can't remember a bit of it, which is funny because the song is incredibly repetitive and doesn't have a lot going on. Despite being repetitive, it's forgettable because there's nothing memorable about it. It's also incredibly jarring to hear the producer tag "INCOMINGGGG," which I associate with crazy songs like NCT's "Sticker," "Kick It," "2 Baddies," and NMIXX's "Tank," and then segue into a laid back groove. Especially when the teasers and art design seemed rather dark; there seems to be a mismatch here. It was underwhelming, and originally I only listened to about a minute before I got bored and clicked off. I also thought Eunbi's "Underwater" was underwhelming, but at least that held my attention for the entire song.
The rest of the EP doesn't make up for the boring title track, either. It's composed of a bunch of laid back, formulaic bedroom-pop tracks that feel more reminiscent of something Clairo or Girl in Red would have released five years ago than something from IZ*ONE's power dancer Chaeyon. Even the most promising track, "Same But Different," ultimately lacks the substance and teeth to be truly interesting.
This is the kind of song I would only play absentmindedly in the background while trying to bang out a ten page paper, or something. There's not really a lot here. It's not bad enough for me to get really mad over, but it's just not something I see myself revisiting at all. At least songs like "Sticker" are fun to hate; this is just nothing. Chaeyeon clearly has a lot of potential and I'll still be tuning in next time she releases something; this is just a pretty weak debut, in my eyes.