MUSIC REVIEW: Japan & Korea's version of Justin Timberlake -- SE7EN

I finally decided to listen to SE7EN, since he's been staying near the top of Japan's MySpace Music rankings for quite awhile. SE7EN is a Korean J-POP and R&B singer living in Japan, signed by a major label there and I suspect, quite popular with girls.

Listening to him, I can hear some R&B smoothness, with an emphasis on romantic ballads. And although his Myspace site says he also is Hip-Hop, I don't really hear that in the samples of music provided--or what I did hear didn't really sound too hip-hop (or rap) to me, rather a weak attempt.

His voice is pleasant, though his vocal range seems limited, but he knows how to stay within that range (most of the time) and avoid any musical issues -- and he's got pop star/male model looks, which undoubtably pleases his fan club no end.

He actually reminds me of Justin Timberlake, and not just his voice and pop-star looks. But also his presentation reminds me of Timberlake and the fact that he is trying to fuse musical genre's -- and like Timberlake, not really doing it that well. Timberlake keeps trying to add rap and hip-hop into his pop-oriented voice and delivery (and failing to really do it well.) SE7EN seems to be trying to do the same thing. I think both of them somehow think it will make them 'cool' to be more rapper-like. It doesn't.

Both SE7EN and Timberlake are good at ballads and soft pop, romantic tunes and there is nothing wrong with that. I applaud both for trying to mix it up a bit and to stretch themselves musically, but in both cases, I don't think the mix worked well.

In fact, I think SE7EN did a better job at adding R&B and a bit of rap and hip-hop influences into his music than Timberlake did in his last album, so kudos to SE7EN. Perhaps he succeeded because he wasn't trying to be as ambitious as Timberlake in the fusion.

Or perhaps the song selection on MySpace didn't show the 'bad tries'...either way, if you want some eye-candy with a pleasant voice and easy-listening songs, give SE7EN a try.

What do you think? Is he a Japan-Korean version of Timberlake? Or is that unfair? Perhaps Timberlake is an American version of him? heh! heh!

You can find SE7EN's Myspace Music site at http://www.myspace.com/se7enhello7

Cheers!
CG Anderson

Definitely time to start looking for rock and metal bands again...enough J-POP and pop for awhile! But I need pointers, folks! Got a fav? email the band's or singer's name and site to me! My email is on my profile here.