When he was working on his just-released debut solo LP, J, NCT member Jaehyun was striving for a “classic” vibe with the hope that “as time passes by, you could still listen to the [whole] album,” the 27-year-old singer told The Hollywood Reporter.
The eight-track collection available now on all streaming platforms includes the slinky R&B single “Smoke,” along with the previously released songs “Dandelion” and “Roses” and one that Jaehyun said connected him with one of his musical heroes. “Can’t Get You” was composed and written by R&B powerhouse Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, whose participation was a high point for the K-pop star.
“I used to listen to his songs,” said Jaehyun. “[From] the old albums to the recent one where he had all the female vocalists with him,” he added in reference to Babyface’s 2022 LP Girls Night Out, which featured collaborations with Angie Martinez, Ari Lennox, Kehlani, Ella Mai, Muni Long, Doechii and more. “Participating in his song, and having a track [on] my album of his song, it was huge for me.”
Earlier this week, the singer from SM Entertainment’s 26 member supergroup — which is broken into six sub-NCT units, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, NCT U, NCT DoJaeJung and WayV — released the dramatic video for “Smoke,” in which he battles an unseen enemy. Jaehyun told THR that “Smoke” is his favorite track right now, but that his pick-to-click “changes every 10 minutes.”
Excited and also understandably nervous about going it alone, the singer said his conflicted feelings while making J can be experienced in the recently released 21-minute mini doc The Journey of ‘J’. “[It’s] definitely a motivator because yesterday the album released,” he said of his fans’ rabid anticipation for the LP. “All the love and all the comments from my fans… I feel thankful to see them loving the album and feeling the same way as I do, or vibing with the songs that they like.”
