Buried Treasure: Doh Kyung Soo (EXO’s D.O.) – Sing It Loud

A K-pop act’s title track isn’t always the best song on their album, even if it’s the one most people will hear. Sometimes, b-sides deserve recognition too. In the singles-oriented world of K-pop, I want to spotlight some of these buried treasures and give them the props they deserve. As we move through a couple dry weeks for K-pop due to the Chuseok holiday, I’m glad there was so much solid music released last week that I can feature a string of buried treasures instead. Doh Kyung Soo’s new mini album is quite endearing, made better by his command and skill as a vocalist. Most of the songs are simply “nice,” but he elevates them all. I spend a lot of time (probably too much time) lamenting over K-pop’s current lack of great choruses, but that’s just because there’s nothing better than a great chorus and we all lose out when they become harder to find. Sing It Loud is a perfectly fine album opener, but its chorus is a thing of absolute beauty. The melody here opens in such satisfying fashion. It’s hard not to get swept away in those extended, swooping notes and D.O. is the perfect conduit for this approach. Nothing about the song is overdone or overwrought, but it has a weight to i...