Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Tao has become quite infamous since his departure from EXO. Up until now, I have been sufficiently entertained by his emo brooding, crying spells, and solo efforts. Thus, I was quite eager to listen to his latest song “The Road“. Sadly, the song fell short of my naively high expectations, but at least the music video was worthwhile.
The biggest issue with “The Road” is that the song itself could easily have been one of G-Dragon’s less yoloswag B-sides. “The Road” is quite reminiscent in delivery to G-Dragon’s “That XX”, but unlike even G-Dragon, Tao just isn’t the strongest rapper. Usually, his lacking rap skills are better augmented by his far more adequate singing, but the song’s slow pacing and repetitive backing fail to aid in making either his rapping or singing captivating.
In the end, the most compelling aspects of the “The Road” are the shady English phrases and symbolism interspersed throughout the song and music video.
The music video prominently features masked men who first attempt to recruit Tao, but later make efforts at restraining him.
I wonder what that could represent?!
Lyrics-wise, Tao makes reference to not wanting to “stay back” because not even “the universe” can stop him. And while that’s not quite crying by the window in terms of entertaining references, those tidbits of SM Entertainment shade is enough to make the whole experience at least moderately worthwhile.
