During her stint on Produce 101 and resulting group IOI, Kim Sejeong always stood out to me as one of the more interesting members. While she has an incredible voice, it was her undeniable charisma and ability to hook you immediately that really transformed her into a bonafide star. And while her own group Gugudan haven’t released anything since late 2018, she’s constantly been on the move. While the rest of her debut album consists of some promising material, it’s led by the rather boring Plant.
There isn’t really anything new I can say about a song like Plant. It pretty much follows standard Korean ballad tropes to the tee. Yes she sounds great, but other than her vocals there really isn’t anything at all to grab onto here. All too often, these Korean ballads favour sentiment over interesting production or melody. Don’t get me wrong, there have been great ballads utilising this formula in the past, but after so many attempts it gets very stale. This results in track that doesn’t really build to any notable peaks or climax throughout three and a half minute run time. I get that it’s not aiming for anything monumental, but the minimal production and overwrought string arrangement just comes off as incredibly bland. This criticism isn’t just solely directed at Plant, but pretty much all of these plodding seasonal ballads.
In fact, Plant would fit right next to any number of OST ballads. I can pretty much imagine this playing at the end of a k-drama episode. This makes it pretty much perfect as background music, but I doubt I would actively be seeking for it for a ballad or even OST to listen to. There isn’t really anything that Plant does bad, but there’s just very little to get excited about here. Not only does this make it much harder for Plant to stand out, but it gives me absolutely zero idea of Sejeong the solo artist. Her wonderful vocals are enough to make this an enjoyable listen, but that isn’t enough to make Plant anything to write home about. The anthemic guitar driven Flowblow produced mid-tempo Skyline would have acted as much stronger title.
Verses: 6
Chorus: 6
Production: 6
Performance: 7
Final Rating: 6.25/10
KBopped 