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Not everyone could live up to being born on Valentine’s Day, but K-pop star Jaehyun makes it very clear that he is indeed a man who understands love and all its complexities. On his debut album, ‘J’, the NCT singer spends most of its length submerged in impassioned R&B, revelling in his multifaceted voice, never shying away from falsettos or weaving his lower registers into layered harmonies, while navigating through the ups and downs of romance.
As someone who’s been a part of a boyband for the better part of the last decade, Jaehyun hasn’t had many opportunities to showcase who he is as an individual – the handful of SM Station and NCT Lab tracks notwithstanding. So, it’s unsurprising that the K-pop star’s fingerprints are all over this record, including writing credits on a majority of the tracks and a couple of production assists, as he takes a step into the spotlight solo.
The dark, moody ‘Roses’ is a standout showcase of the singer’s artistry and sonic identity. Affecting and effective, the freefall of a lost love is relayed through Jaehyun’s mournful verses. When the chorus arrives, he’s overwrought in immensity, enhanced by an echoing choral backing, and discordantly overwhelmed by wailing synths repeating the titular phrase as if breaking up and tearing apart ‘Roses’ can make everything better.
Album opener and lead single ‘Smoke’, meanwhile, is a sensual ode to a lingering romance, slinking through a smooth, aura soundscape. Jaehyun’s rich vocals are on full display here as he weaves in-and-out of harmonises, then sing-songs his way in the chorus, drawing us in over snapping beats, bold bass and groovy, fingerpicked strings.
‘J’ really starts to shine, though, when it opens up to a lighter, more earnest, at times even cheeky, view of love. The honey-tinged ‘Flamin’ Hot Lemon’ is sexy and playful, interlacing humour with honey-tinged romantic overtures as the Valentine Boy declares how he “loves the way you taste”. Jaehyun continues to ride this vibrant and bouncy vibe on ‘Dandelion’ and ‘Easy’, which are as charming as they are easy on the ears.
Closer ‘Can’t Get You’ – notably co-written by legendary songwriter and producer Babyface – is sophisticated, with each moment introducing a new, jazzy musical element to bolster the complexity of being overwhelmed by the object of affection. As the song builds in intensity, it turns from a simple jazzy slow jam into a full orchestral arrangement, with hypnotising synths and dramatic backing vocals bolstering Jaehyun’s profession of love.
As a formal introduction to who Jaehyun really is as a singer, ‘J’ makes quite a stylistic declaration, dedicating itself to slow jams and sensual love songs – and it works, even if piano ballad ‘Completely’ breaks the flow of the record. The problem with it, like so many albums nowadays, is the length. For a release that’s billed as a full-length, ‘J’ is absurdly short, clocking in at under 25 minutes (even less so without the English version of ‘Smoke’).
By the time ‘J’ starts getting warmed up, the adventure is over. The record almost feels like being ghosted half-way through a relationship that had seemed to be going so well – though, in its own way, that’s quite apt for an album that explores the many facets of romance. And now that it’s over, you look back on the tantalisingly sweet moments with a wishful yearning, pining for more of what might have been.
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If a video game allowed you to create a rapper with all the statistics needed to attract mass attention in today’s digital climate, the figure you end up with might look like Philadelphia newcomer Skrilla. Physically, he’s regionless—or, better yet, doesn’t read as belonging to a specific American city. His understated fashion sense (primarily all black) is indicative of present-day Northeastern simplicity, where Nike Tech sweatsuits, Under Armour tracksuits, North Face bubble jackets reign. His long dreads and mouthful of gold slugs could land him below the Mason-Dixon or even in the Bay Area. Musically, his work isn’t technically drill because it doesn’t prioritize violence but, in texture and sound, it evokes palpable darkness. The distribution and use of addictive substances is a recurring theme in his work. And, most crucial to his rise over the past year, Skrilla is adept at engineering a mixture of fascination and revulsion with his visual output; you’ll want to look away out of sheer discomfort while still sneaking a peek because you can’t believe what’s happening.
The rapper staunchly represents Kensington—or, as he calls it, ZombieLand—a section of Philly that has long drawn headlines due to what’s often called the biggest open-air drug market in the United States. Like many deindustrialized areas along the Rust Belt, the neighborhood is weathering an opioid crisis; images of folks maimed by faulty injections or inebriated to the point of immobility have become fodder for social media spectacle in a way that, at the very least, feels like barely cloaked exploitation. However genuine his connection to the area and its citizens, this is the foundation of Skrilla’s rap persona. For the past two years, his videos and performances have featured, to varying degrees, people noticeably dealing with addiction. Sometimes they surround him while he’s rapping, many clearly uncomfortable in front of the camera. Sometimes they gleefully dance along to the brooding production. Sometimes, he’s administering Narcan to save someone from an overdose.
Zombie Love Kensington Paradise, Skrilla’s late 2024 project, underlined his affinity for the neighborhood while displaying his vocal flexibility and off-kilter delivery. A new deluxe version, which adds eight new tracks to the existing 19, suggests that, at his best, the Philly native could very well be on the road to rap stardom. Zombie Love’s deluxe starts with the Thankutimmy and Paculiarbeatz-produced “Big Opp,” a convincing opener in which Skrilla makes a compelling case for his skill for knowing how to utilize space. Rather quickly, he goes from listing off a number of potent substances (codeine, horse tranquilizers, oxycodone) to gleefully talking about his taste in fashion before stressing that he has folks around him that’ll handle his dirty work. Delivered in a congested whine, it’s busy but still measured. There’s no hook—most of his songs don’t bother with having one. Instead, Skrilla administers chapter breaks with signature outbursts like “Goooo,” “What the fuuucck?” and “It’s me!”
Throughout the project, those vocal qualifiers are paired with a production style that’s become synonymous with Philly’s new wave of street music. From Ot7 Quanny to Hood Tali to Lil Buckss and beyond, the city’s rendition of drill is characterized by its minimalism: ominous chord loops, very sharp claps, spaced-out 808s, and not much else. That leaves ample room for Skrilla’s scattered musings. “Palo Mayombe,” which follows a similar template, continues Skrilla’s years-long interest in West and Central African spirituality—something he says he’s practiced at home since childhood. When he fantasizes about hopping out of his car to shoot an adversary, he stresses that he’s protected by Ogun, to whom he sacrifices chickens (if you follow him on Instagram, you’ve seen the aftermath). On the slightly more uptempo Prod.Yari-produced “NYFW,” he elects for a more animated flow and raises his voice to the point of cracking.
Zombie Love's most fun addition to its deluxe version is “ABC,” a song that was initially performed as an On The Radar freestyle in January of 2024 where Skrilla—exercising his love for spectacle—hilariously wore a brown Viking beard mask. Produced by Broward County’s Trippy XVI, Skrilla builds on the age-old hip-hop tradition of rapping your way through the alphabet. In his version, E is for the ecstasy he enjoys, R is for running on the plug, and, of course, Z is for ZombieLand. He cleverly breaks up the predictable nature of this formula by periodically repeating back letters to himself as to suggest he actually might be genuinely freestyling. The feverish way he powers through songs frames Skrilla as something of a twisted rap jester—a person who harnesses dark forces while appearing either indifferent or amused.
It doesn’t always click, mostly due to his inability to trim the fat. If most of Zombie Love Kensington Paradise—deluxe or original—had observed this balance of Philly drill, African spirituality, perfectly paced flows, and a healthy amount of shit-talking, it would be a much stronger project. Unfortunately, Skrilla often prioritizes collaboration with fellow upstarts, hard-to-turn-down features, and random experimentation. On “Maybach Seats” and “On That Money,” popular New Orleans rapper Rob49 throws around inconsequential lines; each song would have been better without him, but the way today’s street rap ecosystem operates, cross-country networking is essential to extend one’s reach. Lil Baby sounds lost on “Talk,” where he tries to adopt Skrilla’s start-and-stop approach to make his voice fit on a sinister Philly drill beat. “F.W.A.G.” and “Wockstar” are attempts at making melodic music aimed at a love interest, but both feel like bad impressions of South Florida’s Loe Shimmy.
Despite the missteps, Skrilla impresses when he dances through harrowing beats, coloring outside the lines to bring something jovial to what is otherwise sinister. He’s a rap weirdo following a long lineage of Philadelphia hip-hop outliers. At face value, maybe you don’t align his output to predecessors like Santigold, Tierra Whack (who has repeatedly shouted him out), or Lil Uzi Vert (the two have a handful of unofficial collaborations), but he’s closer to them than he is Meek Mill, Beanie Sigel, or even Ot7 Quanny. It’s just gonna take a little more time to find out whether his music will outshine his excessive use of shock value. So much music in the realm of drill already depends on caricature to accentuate its validity. If ZombieLand and its denizens are sources of Skrilla’s love and the cherished community he claims it to be, he should probably consider ways of exhibiting that relationship that run counter to treating it like a Youtuber conducting hood safaris.
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