Neverland (U-KISS album)

Neverland
Studio album by U-KISS
Released	September 1, 2011 (South Korea)[1] 2012 (Philippines)
Recorded	2011
Genre	K-pop, R&B, electropop
Length	47:18
Label	NH Media, Neowiz Internet, Windmill Media
Producer	Ryan Jhun
U-KISS chronology
Bran New Kiss (2011) Neverland (2011) A Shared Dream (2012)
Singles from Neverland
"Neverland" Released: September 1, 2011 (2011-09-01) "Someday" Released: October 21, 2011 (2011-10-21)

Neverland is the second studio album by South Korean boy band U-KISS released on September 1, 2011. It is the first full-length album to feature new members, Hoon and AJ. The album's first buzz single, "Someday", was released digitally August 26, 2011. The first official single off the album, "Neverland", was released on September 1, 2011, on M-Net along with the rest of the album.^[2] The album debuted at number one on the Hanteo Chart overcoming Super Junior and Leesang, while the song, "Neverland" peaked at number three on Bugs Music Chart.^[3][4] The album was released in the Philippines on 2012 under Universal Records (Philippines).

Background and development

During U-KISS' promotions in Japan for their official Japanese debut, they planned to work-out with their upcoming album.^[5] On July 11, 2011 they announced that the band would be come back to Korea in September to surprise their fans with a full-length album.^[6] It has been reported that the boys worked with the best sound engineers in both Korea and Japan, while they also worked under an American producer, using top-notch facilities in Osaka, Japan.^[7] It has also been revealed that U-KISS would be working with co-label, Paran to produce a collaboration track.^[7] On August 25, 2011, an album teaser was released on U-KISS' official YouTube Channel, while the full-track for Someday was revealed on August 26, 2011, on M-Net.^[8][9] The music video for "Neverland" was revealed on September 1, 2011, along with the official release of the album and a live performance on-screen.^[7]

Singles

The album has a total of thirteen tracks which were mostly composed and recorded in South Korea and Japan.^[7] The first official single, "Someday", was released on August 26, 2011, via M-Net, preceded by Soribada and other Korean MP3 sites.^[8] "Someday" was composed by Denzil "DR" Remedios, who composed hits for Super Junior, and Ryan Jhun, who composed most of the hits from SHINee, f(x) and the like. Just after the release, U-KISS became the second most-searched topic on Korean sites, Naver and Nate.^[10]

The second single, "Neverland", was released on September 1 along with the other tracks from the album.^[8] "Neverland", in contrast to the autotune trend, the vocals were recorded one by one to show off the member's singing ability. It was written by JD Relic,^[11][12] produced by conductor Ryan Jhun as well as Adam Kapit, and Korean lyrics by Misfit.^[13]

Music

The title track, "Neverland", is an electropop song and another installation of the "U-KISS Power Dance" genre in which the group has been consistently pursuing since "Man Man Ha Ni" (2009) and "Bingeul Bingeul" (2010).^[14] Songs encompassed with synthpop elements include "Baby Don't Cry", "Obsession", "Tell Me Y", "On the Floor" and "Top That".^[14] However, the album is dominated mostly by ballads. One of these is "Someday" which shows how vast the vocal ability that U-KISS possesses.^[14] Another ballad track included in the album is "Take Me Away" which is a duet of lead singers, Kevin and Hoon.^[14] Other tracks present are "Love of a Friend" and "Story of April" which is a duet between leader Soohyun and Brave Girl's Eunyoung.^[14] Aside from that, one acoustic song is also attached in the album--- a U-KISS-Paran duet entitled "We'll Meet Again".^[14]

Music Video

The "Neverland" teaser was released on August 24, 2011 on U-KISS's official YouTube page. The official music video for "Neverland" was released days later on August 31 and the dance version was subsequently released September 25.

Synopsis

The video starts with DJ Itae flipping a red disc.^[15] As DJ Itae plays the disc, a silhouette image of U-KISS is shown along with the snow that falls into them.^[15] The beat starts with Kevin's singing his part accompanied by a heavily-choreographed routine.^[15] Kiseop comes singing next changing his clothes from all-black suit to a suit with snowy-white fur. Eli sings next as the group appears dancing in a white-furred suit.^[15] Hoon and AJ come next singing their parts as the dance steps are being emphasized.^[15] The maknae, Dongho buzzes his lines next as he runs his hands into his face as he ends his part with a line, "...and we stay forever young".^[15] Soohyun then supplements the video singing as diminutive snows fall into him. Kevin then comes stretching his arm while singing, whereas Soohyun opens for the chorus.^[15] The chorus of the song offers an intense choreography ranging from dark to lighter video shots, which then ends to the members falling into the ground while AJ raps another stanza.^[15] The members then standing one-by-one as Kevin lift-offs his second stanza. Kiseop appears next singing with a black-violet colored hair as choreography shots continue with Kevin. Hoon starts his line with "Hey" as the members jump in a slow-motion shot.^[15] Eli, Kiseop and Dongho sing respectively while they dance to the beat. Hoon and Kevin sing the second refrain while Soohyun opens the second chorus with,"...kkeuteun eobseo neverland" again.^[15] Suring the bridge of the song, a U-KISS shaped ice becomes rapidly thicker while Dongho is shown first rapping in an area with ice-stalactites, followed by AJ and Eli.^[15] U-KISS then wearing an all-white suits dancing a heavily-choreograph routine with complex hand and feet gestures in a dance floor filled with water. Leader Soohyun then gives the highest note in the song, then the bridge of the song continues.^[15] It then goes on to the chorus showing a powerful and concentrated dance moves. The video ends with U-KISS forming a trianglular position with Eli at the front, while "U-KISS Neverland" appears on the top and the NH Media Logo on the right-most bottom while the TwelveRounds logo appears on the other side.^[15]

Critical reception

SEOULBeats rated the album 4.2 out of five, and praised the title track as "mindblowing and effective...the verses themselves are almost abrupt, but the pre-chorus gets it absolutely right. And we need to hand it to the chorus as well, it has a simple kind of intensity." However, they criticized the pre-chorus and the rap part where they stated, "...pre-chorus seems almost detached from the rest of the verses,[...] kind of gets lost in the song, something which could be fixed with a cleaner transition. The rap as well is questionably placed, and that awkward instrumental portion that follows it[...] but still, generally a good job".^[16]

Promotion

The teaser of the music video was U-KISS's most-viewed teaser on YouTube, garnering about 360,000 views in a week and increased another 48,000 views 24 hours later.^[17] The music video was released on September 1, along with the album. The video for "Neverland" reached a total of 730,000 views just within 72 hours of release and reached a total of 1,000,000 views within the next two days.^[18][19] Promotional television appearances were done in early September.^{[20][21][22][23]}

Neverland Asia tour

U-KISS promoted Neverland on a tour to six different countries in Asia.^[24]

Track listing

Chart performance

Unofficial single, "Someday" entered the Gaon Chart on August 21 after selling 1,629,879 digital download sales from August 21 to August 28. It climbed six spots in its second week on the chart from its debut at Top 140.^[28][29] Meanwhile, "Neverland" entered the chart landing at Top 50 for garnering a total of 6,151,934 digital downloads and streams from August 28 to September 3, 2011.^[30] On September 12, "Someday" entered the Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100 at number 100 while "Neverland" occupied the number 58 position, the latter also placing as the tenth Biggest Jumper in the chart on the said week.^[31] Meanwhile, "Neverland" dropped out of Hanteo Charts four days after its release, but zoomed back to number one on September 15, 2011.^[32]

Single chart

Album chart

Sales

Album personnel

Credits to the album are as follows:^[36] Recording

• U-KISS - artist, chorus
• Kevin Woo - lead vocals, vocals
• Shin Soohyun - main vocals, vocals
• Shin Dongho - vocals, rap
• Lee Kiseop - vocals, rap, composer
• Yeo Hoon Min - back vocals, vocals, composer
• Kim Jaeseop - vocals, rap, composer, lyric producer
• Kim Eli - vocals, rap
• Paran - chorus

Producers and composers

• Ryan Jhun - composer, producer, arranger
• Adam Kapit - composer, producer, arranger
• Misfit - lyric producer
• JD Relic - arranger, chorus
• Antwann Frost - arranger
• Denzil "DR" Remedios - composer, producer, arranger, chorus
• Ryan Jhun - mastering (mastering done at Marcan Entertainment)
• Jay Deasel - producer, arranger
• C-LUV (Groove Network) - Lyric producer, chorus
• Gim Chi Hyang (김지향) - Lyric producer
• JUNE - Lyric producer
• GR8MOON - Lyric producer
• &E - Lyric producer, composer
• Bag Seong Cheo (S2 Revolution) - Music producer
• SWIN - Music producer, Composer, chorus
• Stay Tuned - composer, arranger
• Min Syeong So - chorus

Guitar

• Tommy Kim
• Ham Jeon Ho

• VanD - Creative director
• Ee Yeong Hin - Art director and design
• BBOWOO - Photo
• Choi Bo Yoon - Photographer

Choreography

• A TO Z
• Sin Hyeong Chon

Make-up

• J. Chiyeon - Hair designer
• Hyoyeon, Namcho - Make-up artist

References

External links

• Official website (Korean)
• Official website (Japanese)