Quick Thoughts: Baekhyun – Hello, World

Baekhyun has really become one of my faves soloists over the last like three years. Every release just keeps getting better and better. I can’t help but to be excited about a Baekhyun release.

I listened to Hello, World the first time on my drive to work. I’m playing roulette when I do this. Because my route has just enough stop lights where I could maybe pause to quickly switch over to something else, but ideally I just need to have a playlist or album going and not have to touch my phone. Maybe skip around with the button on my steering wheel, but that’s it.

But I had faith Mr. Baekhyun would deliver, and boy did he. I haven’t been this excited start to finish about an album from him since City Lights, his debut solo album from 2019. And it’s not because the other albums were bad. Delight is my third favorite as of writing. I wasn’t as big of a fan of Bambi, but now I think I need to revisit it to confirm.

I still listen to City Lights regularly. Shits on rotation like it dropped last week. And I think listening to Hello, World along with EXIST, my respect for Baekhyun as a musician has continued to grow exponentially.

So let’s talk about Hello, World in track listing order, starting with the opener “Good Morning”.

“Good Morning” is a chill vibey song and I love the concept of it being the album opener on an album called Hello World. For context, because I don’t know how many of y’all reading this know this, or maybe have forgotten, but Baekhyun’s solo activities are no longer under SM Entertainment. He has his own agency INB100 (clever name, I see what you did there) but EXO related work is still under SM. And if I understand correctly, Chen and Xiumin’s solo work is also under INB100.

Sidenote, I love when this happens. I think it’s easier for all parties involved. The original company still gets money from the artist, the artist has more control over their personal activities, and the fans get both group and solo stuff from the artist that isn’t thrown together because the original agency forgot the artist exists outside the group. It’s a win for everyone.

Anyway, “Good Morning” and Hello, World being like a new beginning is great. I love that move for one of the themes of this album. And the overall energy of the album. Even though it’s a new start for Baekhyun in his career, musically, it feels like nothing’s changed in the best way. “Good Morning” feels like a hug from a friend you haven’t seen in a long time. It’s so refreshing to pick up where you last left off. And that’s just the vibe I got throughout the entire album.

Plus, Colde wrote it, and I totally hear it now. Colde has a similar style to Baekhyun on his more upbeat songs. And we’re gonna see Colde again on this album, omg??

“Pineapple Slice” is such a fun dance track. Another midtempo one, but it has me hyped. I love the vampire agenda in the video for “Pineapple Slice”. It reminds me a bit of “Get You Alone” my favorite Japanese song of Baekhyun’s at the moment. Actually listening to it while I’m writing this segment, it’s like he knew the people wanted “Get You Alone” again, but in Korean. Love that for us. There’s a slight retro sound to both songs.

The styling in “Pineapple Slice” is great. I love a bougie setting. One day, I will talk about BTS’s “Black Swan” on here, but that type of scenery for a music video is one of my favorite concepts. The choreo is great, and I love the diversity of background dancers and actors in the video.

I’m not exactly sure where I’d rank “Pineapple Slice” in my favorite Baekhyun title tracks, but I love it a lot. I think I’ll be listening to it a lot the rest of the year.

Oop and It’s time to talk about Colde again. Colde wrote the lyrics for “Rendez-Vous”. Something I meant to talk about in my J review is how K-R&B tends to have a little bit of coffee shop jazz vibes to it. And the piano on “Rendez-Vous” trigger that memory for me. I really like this one too. I’m not gonna get too into everyone who worked on this album, but you can read more about that here.

“Cold Heart” is my favorite song on the album. The piano in the beginning reminds me of TXT’s “Opening Sequence“. There’s a bit of a trap sound going on in both songs. But I love how different this song, “Cold Heart”, sounds compared to everything else on Hello, World with the slight autotune. It also feels parallel to my favorite song on City Lights, “Ice Queen“.

“Cold Heart” feels a bit more dramatic and theatrical compared to “Ice Queen”. Like a lover scorned. Like Baekhyun’s over it.

“Woo” is so good. We make a turn after “Cold Heart” and it feels like we get a taste of old school Baekhyun. Like “Woo” isn’t doing anything new for Baekhyun’s sound like “Cold Heart”, but it uses the same formula that works so well for him. I have so many of the same thoughts about Jaehyun’s album and Baehyun’s album. Truly, two artists that get it. They know what we want to hear, and their execution of that sound and direction is flawless.

“Truth Be Told” is our album ender, and it’s my second favorite song off the album. It feels like a Timbaland tribute song in a good way. My mind immediately went to “Are You That Somebody” by Aaliyah. “Truth Be Told” has a slightly different sound to it as well, like “Cold Heart”. I think that’s why my ears are immediately drawn to it. It’s dramatic as well.

I wish we had one more song on Hello, World because it feels a bit short to me. But I like the pacing and journey we went on with it. It’s a fantastic start to a new chapter like ETERNAL is for Taemin. Idk 2024 for a lot of soloist feels like that. A new start. And I can’t help but feel excitement for what’s next for everyone, Baekhyun definitely included. I want a US tour sir, an Atlanta stop please!! I’ll save it in my calendar for 2025. See you then, okay 👌🏾.

So, what are y’alls thoughts on Hello, World? Are you a Baekhyun fan? Is this your first album of his you’ve listened to? Tell me everything in the comments below. Next up is LOOSSEMBLE. Gotta talk about my girls ✨✨. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for blog updates, concert videos, Kpop memes and more. See y’all next post!

Ash💫