South Korean based-R&B singer Taeyang of high-profile boyband Big Bang has released his widely anticipated solo album, “Solar” on July 1 (Korean Time).

Last year, Taeyang released ‘Wedding Dress‘ and ‘Where U At‘, opening a huge interest from Kpop fans for his solo debut.  Taeyang’s full length album was said to be unleashed early 2010 but was pushed back to July. Now, the thing is out and bursting on Kpop online communities like the plague.  Has all the hype bared a satisfying result, or did all the buzz raise expectations a little too high?

Solar opens with a 1 minute intro track that I personally feel should have been made into a full length song.  It possesses Taeyang’s distinct charm that I found pleasing in both ‘Wedding Dress’ and ‘Where U At‘.  It’s a shame that YG decided to cut this slice of perfection down to a mere introduction to something else.  It could have quite possibly taken this album to a whole other level of awesome, but I have to digress.

‘Superstar‘ initiates Taeyang’s crusade to beat the living day lights out of the idea of possessing a girlfriend. It may be a universal woe, but as you’ll hear here, it quickly becomes aggravatingly redundant, at least to me it has (note: I ain’t a female).  I would probably be rolling my eyes even more if I actually understood Korean.  Lucky me.

Desperate concept aside, ‘Superstar‘ is a fantastic summer song. The horn effects were unsettling at first, but the rest of this song quickly grew on me.  Taeyang is a pro at singing smoothly through a song without necessarily having powerful vocals (which becomes evident later on in this album).  His voice in particular sounds like it must be fun to process.  ‘Superstar‘ finds its selling point in the vibrant hook and the feel-good chorus.  It’s a great follow-up track to the intro song, transmitting the same uplifting aura already established from the start.

The title song ‘I Need A Girl‘ is one of the better tracks – it’s not an explosive single to promote, but that’s irrelevant when the song is nicely woven together as it has been done here.

Taeyang’s dainty voice compliments perfectly with the calming instrumental.  Even GDragon‘s voice seems to fit in well with the entire song.  I like how Taeyang is playing with melodies and switching up keys; It’s definitely adding some whimsy.  I don’t know about you though, but I find it comical how Taeyang went from flattering the female gender to now declaring that he in fact is in need of one.  Let’s see how he unfolds this cheesy theme…

The 4th track is YG’s way of experimenting with electro-pop.  ‘Just A Feeling‘ is the blueprint of a potential pop anthem.  Place it in the hands of the likes of Pet Shop Boys and they’ll take this (already) nice song to a much greater territory of awesome.  However, what’s been done here is just fine with me.  I’m not a fan of hearing a singer’s voice crack, specifically on recordings, and that’s what I hear quite often in ‘Just A Feeling‘.  But this song pales in comparison to ‘You’re My‘, which is a contender to win the title for my least favorite song on Solar.

‘You’re My‘ is a valiant effort to be the quiet, delicate track in the entire album.  However, it partially falls short by Taeyang’s performance, which is basically all we hear in this short song.  The melody itself is absolutely beautiful, but hearing Taeyang sing it makes me uncomfortable.  Fangirls will pass the hell out from this song, but I’ll pass out for a completely different reason – It’s just too awkward.  His vibrato isn’t as controlled as I would have expected, and once Taeyang starts venturing into the dangerous turfs of falsetto, I just can’t handle it.  As I said, valiant effort, but ouch.

The following song, ‘Move‘ featuring Teddy isn’t inspiring, either.  It’s too one-note and frankly, forgettable.  The production is the redundant style I keep hearing from Teddy and I just want to say – without being shanked! – that I’m gradually resenting his production style.  I used to think whatever Teddy touched turned to gold, but I take that back.  It’s a hit and miss with Teddy.  And unfortunately, ‘Move‘ is a miss for me.

As is ‘Break Down‘.  Too severely cheesy for words.

What is probably my favorite song off Solar, ‘After You Fall Asleep‘ featuring Swing captures all of Taeyang’s fortes and fuses them with a glamorous instrumental to produce what I’d like to refer to as an incredible experience.  If I’m allowed to be picky, I would have loved to hear the second verse consist of even more of an intricate instrumentation.  Kind of like amplifying the fun factor to really build up this song.  But yes, ‘After You Fall Asleep‘ is fantastic from beginning to end.

By the way, Swing’s rap just does it for me.

The ending song, ‘Take It Slow‘ should just replace ‘You’re My‘ (sorry!) and this album would work wonders on my stereo.  This song is slow but it works for me.  As I mentioned before, Taeyang doesn’t posses that strong of a vocal ability, but what I will acknowledge is that he knows how to work with what he’s got.  He knows what he’s doing with his voice, even if it cracks all over the place.

I had lowered my expectations of this album once I started hearing the previews spew out of the YG headquarters, but after listening to it several times today, I’ve grown to appreciate what Taeyang has delivered.  If you can get passed the prevailing theme of female companionship and Taeyang’s desperation for it, you will find something to enjoy on this album.  At least musically.