Photo courtesy: EXO’s official Twitter account | @weareoneEXO
D.O., main vocalist of the South Korean-Chinese idol group EXO, made his solo debut on Monday, July 26, with the release of his highly anticipated first solo album “Empathy,” alongside the music video of its title track “Rose.”
The music video was released at 5 p.m. Philippine Standard Time and featured the 28-year-old singer and actor vibing with the acoustic rhythm and refreshing melody of the song.
In an interview with Soompi, D.O. revealed that he focused well on the album and decided to fill it with acoustic music.
“Since it’s my first solo album, I think I focused on doing music that I wanted to do. Personally, I really like the sound of acoustic guitar, and I felt comfortable listening to it, so I decided to go in that direction,” he said.
“Empathy” has eight songs including the title track, “Rose.” Other songs include, “I’m Gonna Love You,” “My Love,” “Dad,” “I’m Fine,” the English version of “Rose,” and “Si Fueras Mia,” which is the Spanish version of his another B-side track, “It’s Love.”
The title track ”Rose” is an acoustic folk ballad with a refreshing guitar rhythm and an easy melody that everyone can sing to.’
D.O. wrote the lyrics for both “Rose” and “I’m Fine,” which talk about ‘love and other emotions that anyone could feel.’
“After deciding the theme of the album would be ’empathy,’ one of the things I thought of was love, an emotion that anyone could feel, and I felt that it would be nice if my songs could comfort others like my previous song ‘That’s Okay,’ so I tried to write the lyrics myself,” he added.
D.O. released the single “That’s Okay” in July 2019, through SM Station, a digital music project by South Korean record label SM Entertainment, as he enlisted in the military.
Jae Park, the lead guitarist and main vocalist of the Korean rock band Day6, was also one of the album’s composers, for the song “My Love.”
Rapper Wonstein is also featured in one of the B-side tracks, “I’m Gonna Love You,” a song with a rhythmical guitar sound.
D.O is now the sixth EXO member to have a solo album, following Baekhyun, Lay, Suho, Chen and Kai.
He finished his mandatory military service last January and made a comeback with EXO in June with the album “Don’t Fight The Feeling.”
As of writing, the music video has garnered 3,643,144 views and ranked number one on the iTunes chart in 59 countries.
D.O., whose real name is Doh Kyungsoo, debuted as one of the members of the South Korean-Chinese idol group EXO in 2012.
Aside from his successful idol career, he is also an award-winning actor, appearing in Korean dramas such as, “It’s Okay, That’s Love,” in 2014, and“100 Days my Prince,” in 2018. Jade Veronique V. Yap