The album was announced on November 12, 2015. A release date of December 9, 2015, was later confirmed by FNC Entertainment. The name AM302 is a combination of the AM radio frequency and Lee Hong-gi's birthday, which is March 2. The radio concept is supposed to reflect the idea that the album contains various genres of music that people can listen to at any time, much like a radio.
The lead single "モノローグ [Monologue]" was arranged by Lee Hong-gi himself, who also considered doing the song with the full F.T. Island band. The theme of the song is parting with a lover, and Billboard Japan characterized the song as painful, sad, or heartbreaking [切ない]. KpopStarz described the song as a "sad ballad". The music video for "モノローグ [Monologue]" was released on November 12, 2015 [JST].
To promote the album, Lee Hong-gi held the LEE HONG GI 1st Solo Concert「Merry 302 MHz」 at Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama from December 16–17 and at Grand Cube Osaka in Osaka from December 24–25.
Track listing[edit]
CDNo.TitleLength1."モノローグ" [Monoroogu / Monologue]3:552."Anywhere"4:153."Let's Seize the Day"3:254."Kings for a Day"3:205."Be Your Doll"3:086."LOL [Loudness of Love]"3:497."비가 와요 [雨が降ります]" [Biga Wayo [Ame Ga Orimasu] / In the Rain]5:148."Miss X-Mas"4:41Total length:31:50
DVDNo.TitleLength1."モノローグ ＜Music Video＞" [Monologue [Music Video]]4:072."モノローグ ＜Studio Session＞" [Monologue [Studio Session]]4:023."モノローグ ＜The Making Of -モノローグ-＞" [Monologue [The Making Of "Monologue"]]10:45
Vào ngày 18/11 vừa qua, Lee Hong-ki, thành viên của nhóm nhạc nam FT.Island, chính thức phát hành album cá nhân đầu tiên trong sự nghiệp ca hát của mình sau tám năm khởi nghiệp. Album lần này có tên “FM302”, là từ ghép giữa “FM” là dạng sóng cực ngắn đối với tín hiệu radio và “3 tháng 2” là ngày sinh nhật của chính anh. Nhóm FT.Island vốn nổi tiếng với các ca khúc thuộc dòng nhạc rock. Vì thế album lần này với các bài hát mang phong cách nhẹ nhàng và sâu lắng đánh dấu sự thay đổi lớn, mới mẻ của Lee Hong-ki. Lee Hong-ki ra mắt làng nhạc Hàn Quốc với tư cách là giọng ca chính của nhóm nhạc FT.Island vào năm 2007. Anh còn tham gia vào các lĩnh vực khác như đóng phim, xuất hiện trong các chương trình giải trí cũng như làm MC cho các chương trình truyền hình.
The trend in 2015 seems to be heavy experimentation with House, and its less melodic relative, Techno. FM302 goes the route of a more belligerent, club-ready composition with opening track “Let’s Seize the Day.” The track opens the album on a somewhat positive note. While the title suggests Hong-ki’s desire to grasp at every opportunity to better his life, the lyrics express the sentiments of a man in pain who’s searching for release from his burden:
Every night I’m looking for a place A bottle to drink the pain away Looking for things I never knew
While I’ve always been on the fence regarding the genre, there’s no denying the catchiness of the beats and the infectiousness of the rhythms. A testament to just how much control Hong-ki has over his instrument, the music—which by its very nature is meant to be over-the-top—doesn’t at all swallow his voice. It’s your standard thumpa-thumpa, but it’s catchy enough to keep listeners invested.
Hong-ki follows up the crunch and pop of “Let’s Seize the Day” with an absolutely gorgeous ballad. Though lyrically it follows the same maudlin tropes of being lost in the throes of inextinguishable pain after a bad breakup, “Insensible” has a simple melody that allows room for Hong-ki’s voice to explode and expand. As ballads are meant to do, it highlights the vocals. There are few places to hide in a ballad, unless, of course, the composers were intent on the music overpowering the vocal. However, this is a perfect balance of sweeping composition and powerful vocals, the likes of which even erase the bad taste left in my mouth after the tracks that follow.
[youtube //youtu.be/Tf75CWSJ7Qo]
“Kings for a Day” was a bit disappointing both lyrically and musically. While I’ll never begrudge a song’s positive message, this song was just way too generic and uninteresting, disrupting the flow of an otherwise intriguing debut effort. “Be Your Doll” goes the route of typical K-pop, adding another musical dimension, but nothing much in terms of anything as interesting as what came before or what, thankfully, comes after it. Both songs do the job of adding upbeat pop in the middle of a more mellow album, which makes sense. No one really wants a dreary mini-album to represent their debut as a solo artist. However, it is rather unfortunate how generic sounding the pieces are in comparison to the more musically interesting Techno and inherently emotional balladry.
”LOL [Loudness of Love]” managed to bring FM302 back from the depths of mediocrity. It’s a flawless synth-driven electronic composition that meshes beautifully with Hong-ki’s guttural timbre. “LOL” follows our protagonist, who is going through a bout of loneliness where the only cure is to be closest to the one he loves, holding tight to a moment in time that will alleviate all his self-doubt and feelings of isolation:
I just wanna have tonight Don’t worry just Enjoy the ride, the ride Oh, I feel alive with you You make me high, so high Stay right here with me closer Touch me now Let me show you how
The album ends with “In the Rain.” As with “Insensible,” we get a flourishing composition – complete with winds, drums, and heavy bode instruments – that perfectly captures the smokiness of Hong-ki’s high tenor. Though it does err more on the side of the OST ballad, as it seems most ballads do as a means to appeal to a wider audience, that doesn’t detract from its power and purpose. It is a bit unfortunate to close an album on such a generic ballad, but it does solidify the boldness of Hong-ki’s voice.
Lee Hong-ki is an exceptional vocalist. No one in their right mind could ever deny that. Be that as it may, as with many debuts, especially from artists venturing away from the comfort of a group, FM302 suffers from a lack of cohesion and focus. Though this variety seems to be the purpose of an album whose title suggests a radio station, it does leave one with the same dizzying sensation left by a station that plays any and everything as an attempt to reach the widest audience. Experimentation with electronic and Techno sandwiched with more typical K-pop/rock fare and heavy ballads with varied results and inconsistent quality. However, what it’s missing in direction, it more than makes up for in some of its composition and the enormity of Hong-ki’s talent. If nothing else, the F.T Island singer’s debut mini highlights just how powerful an instrument he has.