2 years with April, and a flower
a mini masterpiece
“April, and a flower” is the story of all of us.
You who are alone in the wound,
you are ready to say goodbye, leaving behind the hot love,
you are crying because you aren’t honest in front of love,
you’re excited by the new love,
you want to stay in someone’s memory for a long time,
and your story passing by the time of longing.In the spring day of April, with a warm breeze the flowers bloom in your heart, and I hope my song will be comforting and healing for you.”
When Chen announced his solo debut, I really wanted a pop or rock album. So did a majority of his fans. He went the ballad route instead. I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest, because this was his solo. And I gained a new appreciation for the genre. EXO’s music is extravagant; high energy dance tunes that sometimes make you want to commit arson. Chen takes a much gentler approach to his first album. April, and a flower and its artwork are straight out of a storybook, something you’d find on a shelf in the children’s section of the library. His versatility is unmatched when you compare his solo album with EXO’s Obsession later that same year.
April, and a flower is practically perfect in every way. Though a mini album, its breadth is impressive. It has a cinematic quality, his angelic voice paired with dramatic orchestral arrangements. An album of both heartbreak and compassion, there are lots of tender, delicate romance films that complement it very well; films where lovers are separated by fate or death.
This is one of the weepiest movies ever. The first time I watched it, I fell asleep, but not because of boredom. And when I awoke, it was like falling into a dream, where the shimmering dissolve revealed Greer Garson’s magical face. She plays Paula, a showgirl who meets a WWI amnesiac, Charles (Ronald Colman) whom she nicknames Smitty. The two fall in love but tragedy strikes when Smitty suffers another bout of amnesia, this time forgetting Paula and their life together. Every song on this album is about them 💔
Two years later, and this album still floors me. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote more than a century ago that he knew little of music and had no technical knowledge. That’s how I feel about my own ability as well. But I still have to write about music and one of my favorite albums ever. April, and a flower truly is a gift.
Flower
Chen wrote this anthem of hope. The soft chimes at the beginning make me think of a lullaby before it, and his voice, steadily gain power. He has such an eloquent way of looking at the world, like when he said his fellow EXO member Chanyeol still has the purity of childhood, and that the sunrise is the beginning of everything. During promotions for this album, he compared life with all its highs and lows to a flower.
“Although people often say stars should shine bright forever, I am also a human being where there will be happy times, and times that I am not (happy). It is kind of like how flowers bloom and wilt according to different seasons.”
We wither and we bloom. Winter passes and the world comes alive again. Persephone leaves the underworld, the One who was laid in the tomb rises to life.
“Arise my friend, my beautiful one, and come!
For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the turtledove is heard in our land.”
-Song of Songs 2:10-12
I love this song because it feels like such a triumphant moment. It alternates between lullaby softness and a grand orchestra. Chen’s voice is so delicate at the start. His voice covers so much distance and I just love how it is both gentle and strong in ‘Flower.’ For all its melancholy and pensive qualities, it becomes a stirring anthem of renewal.
In Only Yesterday, Taeko is an unmarried office worker in her late 20s who is often made to feel like an old maid. When she takes a vacation in the countryside to help with the safflower harvest, she has vivid memories of her adolescent years. The film is just as much about her younger self too. We see how Taeko has withered and bloomed over the years, and I get the sense that she’ll continue growing, with old petals falling.
Beautiful goodbye
This was South Korea’s favorite song. It was so well received by the general public that it enjoyed many weeks at the top of the charts. And that also spawned lots of jokes about men listening to the song post-breakup. Chen is such a skilled storyteller, that even if he didn’t write this song or experience this sort of relationship, he makes you feel as if he did. And he meant for this album to be a source of comfort for people. He imbues it with so much raw emotion.
The music video was so bare, featuring women in gauzy dresses dancing in this barren landscape. None of the warmth of spring, but a gloomy poetry. A woman plays a piano while Chen is seated next to a dead tree. “April is the cruelest month…And the dead tree gives no shelter.”
This was my favorite song of 2019. It’s just incredible, the way Chen shows restraint while still allowing his voice to expand.
Brief Encounter, about an affair between two people who meet by chance, is exquisitely devastating. Chen wondered what could a beautiful goodbye actually be, and it looks an awful lot like Brief Encounter.
“I didn’t think such violent things happened to ordinary people.”
Sorry not sorry
This is one of Chen’s most underrated songs. It didn’t impress me much when I first heard it, but repeated listens gave me a deeper appreciation. He does really beautiful things with his voice that almost go unnoticed. There’s a slight hush in his texture, almost like he’s whispering. Like ‘Beautiful Goodbye,’ this is a breakup song, one that’s much more bitter and filled with regret.
The entire album is a showcase for his voice, which always stands out clear and strong. He doesn’t ever get overshadowed on the more complex arrangements, but with this song, where the instrumental is so bare, he really gets the chance to let his voice carry. It’s this push and pull, where he holds back and lets his voice soar, pulls back a little.
On Your Wedding Day tells the love story of two people who meet as high school students, but they never get the timing right. It has its bitter moments too.
Love words
This is the most popular song on this album, the closest thing to an uptempo melody. I love the way Chen’s voice weaves in and out of the piano, almost like skipping. He sounds so whimsical. His voice has a playful quality without ever losing its force. This song’s arrangements have just as much influence on the song as his voice, but they don’t ever overpower or eclipse it. He captured the essence and immediacy of it when he performed it live accapella.
Then the way he belts out “always / saranghae” drawing out each word and syllable. Always, I love you. Four little words that take on new meaning when you hear them like that. A clear cut declaration of love with so much truth and power behind it. The speaker admits their immaturity, and the way Chen sings it, you know he means it. “I’ll throw away my immature, petty pride / and fill that space with words of love I was too awkward to say.” And fill that vast space he does!
Man’s Castle is flush with the same sort of emotion and big, expanding love. Bill and Trina (Spencer Tracy, Loretta Young) are a homeless couple living in a shanty town in New York. He’s a gruff man of the streets and she’s a fragile urchin. It’s such a poetic film about poverty that treats these two with a lot of dignity and care. There’s lots of potential for heartbreak and abandon. Offscreen, the two stars had a chaste romance, as they were both Catholic (although Loretta was more serious than Tracy), and Tracy was married. Loretta was ridden with guilt and a priest counseled her to end things, which she eventually did. This film really encapsulates their love story and ‘Love words’ so much.
I’ll be there
I’m in love with the repetition of words in the chorus, the inflections he gives certain words, the piano, the slow stillness before he begins to sing. It conveys a lot of atmosphere. He sounds exquisite without doing “much.” This song is similar to ‘Sorry not sorry’ in how the instrumentals are pared down while his voice breathes and shimmers. I love replaying 2:59 where there’s no music or singing at all because of what comes next. Another shattering high note.
The instruments are keeping up with him. The music swells, and it’s hard for me to choose, but I think that’s my favorite thing about this track; how the arrangement becomes much fuller when he unleashes his voice. (Ryeowook’s ‘I’m not over you’ does something similar). He manages to sound so raw but not unpolished, even though he’s practically yelling.
This song shifts from an unassuming, melancholy, stripped back tune into a full bodied symphony. Then it settles back into that softness. To me, it’s like an ancient monster being lulled back to sleep.
Chihiro discovers that her friend Haku is a river spirit who once saved her in Spirited Away. Theirs is a brief reunion, but she helps to break his curse. I easily think they could be in the couple in this song. Chihiro does have to leave him behind when she returns home. But maybe he’ll still be with her, just unseen.
Portrait of You
This song has the most enchanting Ghibli melody. I feel like I’m on a long train ride with meadows gliding past the windows. And Chen hums so sweetly on this.
His voice is a bit more relaxed like the song’s atmosphere. But it is still ethereal, especially with those haunting backing vocals. There’s a slight change in the melody where it begins to sound eerie. I want to imagine an entire song like this. Then the arrangement crescendos into his pulsating voice. Not as dramatic as ‘I’ll be there,’ but damn great.
There are Ghibli movies that go really well with it, like The Secret World of Arietty, Howl’s Moving Castle, Kiki’s Delivery Service. But I chose Portrait of Jennie, which is about an artist who falls in love with a ghost. My dream romance! “Destiny seems to unite them both in a shared oblivion.”
I think the reason April, and a flower is so impressive is because each song is so spacious. And Chen’s voice inhabits each space boldly and confidently. As I mentioned before, lots of fans wanted a rock album. I know there are people who think ballads are boring, and sometimes so do I, but that’s just not the case on this album! Not with the sweeping, evocative instrumentals and Chen’s incomparable voice and technique. Not once does he sound anything less than 100%. The album is dramatic, but not in an overblown way, in a cinematic way. It’s broad but also intimate. There are many little moments juxtaposed against those big ones, and he is still able to fill each of them equally.
Only six songs and not a minute or second of them wasted. Each choice, each breath, each note, each string deliberate.
Happy 2 year anniversary soloist Chen. ♡♡♡
