[Review] 2AM - One Spring Day

Vocals: 9 / 10

I’m upset that Jinwoon was so poorly underutilized. He appears at the beginning and then again towards the bridge / end. Looks like other groups have yet to follow in Miss A’s footsteps of good line distribution. Changmin and Jo Kwon provide the brilliant belts throughout the chorus, and everything else, really. Seulong is also not given enough time like Jinwoon, even though I feel both their voices were more suited for the song. Everything is a little bland though, but there’s enough powerful notes, high belts, and use of emotion to make me forget that more often than not.

Appearance: 9 / 10

Jinwoon looked the best, which is a recurring theme for 2AM, in my opinion. Jo Kwon’s hair and glasses looked pretty good, too, while Changmin and Seulong were a little awkward with the hairstyles. Changmin looks best in spiked hair, like some looks while promoting under “Homme” but ballads aren’t the place for that. Seulong always looks a little weird unfortunately, so I don’t know what he could do to remedy that. Some article noted that 2AM always has the same positions for performances and music videos, because of people “looking better from one side”, which I wouldn’t have actually guessed.

Music Video: 9 / 10

Given that 2AM is a ballad group, they really need to maximize attention with the vocals and the music video. And usually, this has been executed fairly well, throughout “You Wouldn’t Answer My Calls” and others. This one was good enough, but I’m much too lazy to actually talk about the plot. I did like the use of the doors and hallway to illustrate the passage of time. Seulong continues to show some merit in acting. Perhaps we’ll see some greatness out of him in “Heaven’s Order”.

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Overall: 82 / 100

As far as standout ballads go, “One Spring Day” falls a little short, leaving half the members with unfavorable distribution and a decent music video to go along with it. Vocal presence is good but strangely lacking in comparison to past hits. For 2AM, this isn’t so much a step forward or step back as it is a step to the side, while Big Hit continues to look for where to go from here.