In the five years since his solo debut, former X1 and VICTON vocalist Han Seung Woo has released a diverse range of projects, experimenting with his sound and expressing his inner thoughts through honest lyrics that depict different chapters of his life.
His 2020 debut mini album, Fame, featured mainly R&B tracks with a balance of uptempo and slower songs about the pressure of fame, navigating relationships, and more. 2021’s Fade serves as his most somber mini-album to date, as Han explored isolation and loneliness through mostly mellow R&B and pop songs on his last project before taking a break to complete compulsory military service. His 2023 third mini album, FRAME, and 2024 single album, SCENE, showed Han in a new light compared to his pre-enlistment projects, as he continued exploring pop and R&B while also beginning to dabble in pop-rock.
Now, he is continuing down the pop, pop-rock, and R&B lanes with his fourth mini album, TOP NOTE. A top note has multiple meanings, mainly about fragrances and music, respectively. Top notes can refer to the initial smell of a fragrance and high notes in music. This project’s title takes inspiration from both meanings, with Han hoping to entice listeners from the first listen of TOP NOTE through his fascinating vocal capabilities.
TOP NOTE commences with a sweet lo-fi pop song, “Feel your love.” The song is composed of minimalistic instrumentation, with low, slightly distorted hums, guitar, and some additional beats flowing under Han’s beautiful voice. In one of the few all-English tracks on the album, Han sings about a love that consumes his every thought.
“You know, I just wanna say you’re all I need / Your love is the only thing I breathe / I can’t stop, you’re on my mind / The night feels short with you on my mind,” Han sings.
The mini album’s title track, “STOP IT,” is an explosive pop-rock number. Through this track, Han looks back on a past relationship and tries to move past feelings of pain and heartache. Although he has moments where he reflects and misses what he had, he also realizes that life moves on and he will overcome these feelings. The music video for “STOP IT” features multiple scenes, including some of Han jamming on the roof of a building and others of him with a woman in a diner.
The pop-rock vibes persist with “Falling Too Fast,” a dynamic, passionate track about a love gone awry. The bridge is the highlight of this song, as Han flaunts his signature high notes. His emotive delivery throughout the track complements the honest lyrics, where he questions if he fell in love too quickly and missed pivotal signs in a past relationship.
Han viciously sings over a blaring electric guitar and drums on the heavy metal track “Chill guy.” Through this song, he proclaims to be a chill person who does not care what others think.
The pace of the project slows down a tad with “Lonely,” a rock song with abstract production filled with electric guitars and drums. In “Lonely,” Han expresses how he feels alone now that he no longer has his former partner in his life. Although he is slowly attempting to let go of the past and acclimate to his new normal, he wishes this person the best.
The mini album closes with “Comma,” an introspective R&B ballad with simple acoustic guitar instrumentation. In another song that is solely in English, Han tenderly sings heartfelt lyrics encouraging listeners, and himself, to take time to reset their minds and take deep breaths amidst life’s stresses. When reflecting on the journey listeners are taken through with TOP NOTE, “Comma” serves as a fitting way to put a bow on a project filled with the internal emotions one may experience in a post-breakup state.