The second verse is more forgettable, but helps to showcase Jihoon’s versatility. The song’s opening verse is suitably melodic, even if none of it pays off or goes anywhere unexpected. The central instrumental riff should have been replaced by an actual chorus, but what we end up getting has a pretty satisfying climb even without added vocals. I recognize how inherently derivative most of L.O.V.E is, but it carries a lofty sort of sound that makes it feel more exciting than the sum of its clumsy parts. Like Seventeen’s Don’t Wanna Cry and Astro’s Always You, the song has a certain cinematic panache that’s hard to resist. Yet, L.O.V.E’s specific style hits me in one of my musical soft spots. We’ve heard this kind of lovelorn, instrumental-as-chorus structure countless times, and there’s little left to be mined from it. It’s a bit disappointing, then, that L.O.V.E steers hopelessly generic. Like many of the guys from Wanna One, I think Jihoon would be more successful in a group, but his talents as both a vocalist and rapper give him the opportunity to explore a multitude of genres. His agency doesn’t have a history with boy groups (beyond Supernova, who mostly promote in Japan), so it’s not a huge surprise that Jihoon is launching as a soloist with debut track L.O.V.E.
As one of the top two vote getters during season two of Produce 101, Park Jihoon has a lot of spotlight to preserve. It feels like too many of the members are rush-releasing music that lacks any individual spark, designed simply to keep their names in the spotlight.
For me, the post-Wanna One releases we’ve gotten so far have been subpar.
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