ONEW “DICE – The 2nd Mini Album” EP Review

DICE – The 2nd Mini Album – EP

ONEW

• • Genre: K-Pop
  • Date: 11 Apr, 2022
  • Content: Not-explicit
  • Track(s): 7

• ℗ 2022 SM Entertainment

DICE is a project that explores and dances around the inevitable topic of love and being in it. ONEW lays it all bare as he tries different approaches to the same topic. Though he gets creative with his methods or styles of approach, it still kind of feels like he was on about the same thing; hung up over a certain person. A great project, regardless. Stellar production too.

Album Cover Artwork

This is just a plain, edited photograph of the artist draped in some furry, net-like top over a pair of pants and shoes, as he stoops atop the project’s title written in capital letters but in different colors of blue, red, purple and green.

In many ways the emotions of the artist kind of match with the colors used to write the EP’s title, as he says from happy (green) to sad (blue) to being smitten (red, the color of love) to the feeling special around his lover (purple, the color of royalty).

Tracks and Features

The project comes with 6 tracks encased in it, with zero features.

The EP opens with “DICE”, which shares the same name with the project. The track comes with that Pop feel, alongside an up-tempo beat. On this track, things seem a bit tricky between ONEW and his love interest. Whatever the risk, he’s willing to roll the dice and take his chances, in place of letting go, seeing as him and his heart had fallen flat for the love interest.

Sliding down to the second track, “Sunshine”, ONEW is still gushing about his love interest and how he wants nothing more but being alone with his love interest, possibly on a vacay, somewhere nice. Talking about passports and one-way tickets and nice places like the Bahamas, but the real feeling of paradise comes when he is with them, alone. Great, bouncy beat and flawless vocal delivery.

“On the way” starts off to a harmonious blend of humming voices. He is also hung up on his love interest on this one, expressing his desire to both call and see them and how more than willing he is to hit the road upon their request. The track comes with an 80s-style funk that can be found and heard in the chill, serenading beat.

The singer plies the mellow lane on the next record, “Love Phobia”, where he gets a little vulnerable, expressing his fears about having a lover or being in love which sometimes come with the bad, like when a breakup happens. That is exactly what he has a phobia for, as he sings about how sad he knows he’ll be when or if he loses his lover.

“Yeowoobi” just highlights the way the singer’s love makes him feel. “Your Love’ takes me higher than I’ve ever been”, he sings repeatedly in the chorus. The way he feels is well portrayed in his vocals that sounds a bit passionate on the record. Heck, the song begins with a “Have a nice day” line. He was really in his feels for this, not that it strips the song of its cute niceties.

Drawing the curtains on the project is the final song on the EP, “In the whale”, a very soothing record that also contains some 80s-style elements of Pop music. The singer maintains a certain cool tempo throughout the song, making this an easy song to relax to at the end of a tumultuous day. A really nice way to bring things to a close.

Tracks

NO	Title	Time
1	DICE	3:06
2	Sunshine	3:49
3	On the way	3:58
4	Love Phobia	3:10
5	Yeowoobi	3:34
6	In the whale	3:19

Album Theme

Love, vulnerability and being very bare and expressional with feelings, not caring how it would look to anyone else but his lover.

Production Credits

Producers on this project include Hitchhiker, Cha Cha Malone, Cook Classios, Sam Klempner, Scott Quinn, Lostboy, The 6, Dirty Rice and M. Lee.

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