Review: Junny – "Dopamine"

Since 2018, Canadian composer Junny has established himself in the K-pop world as a force fuelling some of the top artists – Baekhyun, IU, Luhan, NCT – to the summit of the charts. With his new EP, he steps out for the fifth time on his own with Dopamine, his sexiest release yet. For the most part, it shows off Junny's songwriting ability, albeit with some lackadaisical missteps.

The album kicks off with the single “Rush,” a raunchy groove reminiscent of his most successful composition, Kai’s “MMMH.” The only drawback is an unnecessary feature from Bobby of iKon that crudely interrupts like an obnoxious ringtone during the halcyon of intimacy.

“Here We Go Again” then picks up the pace with an aggressive electronic drum that escalates arousal, but never fully delivers on its promise of a climax. Nonetheless, it maintains the momentum of the opener and remains pleasant enough while it's on.

Dopamine slumps in the middle with “Taste” and “Complications” which only bring standard RnB grooves that indicate nothing unique to Junny’s talents. He is too talented to deliver something bad, per se, but neither of these songs offers anything to the standard that he has set for himself.

But things pick back up with “Daylight,” a disco-inspired bop that stands out as the best cut on the album. All aspects of production from the synths, drums, and guitar dovetail over a compact three minutes that could have easily been the album’s single. By the time the song reaches its tasteful guitar solo-cum-coda the listener feels like they’ve eaten a full-course meal when you’ve only been served a simple dessert.

Junny concludes with the yearning “figure8” which effectively merges its warm acoustic track with evocative lyricism that shows Junny at his understated best.

Dopamine won't go down as an all-time great album, but it does remind us what Junny is capable of when he is firing on all cylinders as he does on "Daylight" and "Rush." If he can nurture those skills as artistically as he does professionally then there will surely be more success on his own name in the future.

Rating: 2.5/5