Single Review: EJAE, ‘Time After Time’

Written by Joshua Jacob

On February 6, South Korean and American singer and songwriter EJAE released her newest single “Time after Time.” Well known for her vocal work as the singing voice of Rumi in the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters, EJAE has found lots of success between live performances with her co-stars Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami and even writing her own solo song called “In Another World” this past October. 

Turns out that the recent Grammy Award winner already had plans to release a new song, which was revealed to not feature a music video much like its predecessor, but instead be shown in the form of a teaser on an Instagram pre-order, a heart-tugging commercial for the Volvo XC60 where she shares a demo to her boyfriend, and finally a non-lyrical drop on YouTube, Spotify and other streaming platforms at the chime of midnight.

The song starts off with a soft piano before adding in synths and backing vocals that lead into her rapping in a popped up beat. The harmony as she sings the lyrics “New York” and the “I’m Yours” is so beautiful and easily makes them stand out from the rest of the verse. Then the tempo becomes more upbeat as she sings the lyrics to her chorus. While it is very obvious from listening to the lyrics that it’s a love song and probably talks about a past relationship, the overall vibe is already much more different than what she had sung in her first single. 

“In Another World” was more depressing and showcased emotion through soft breathy vocals. In comparison, “Time after Time” is much more upbeat and which is reflected by the vibe of the instrumental with the synths and the way she effectively pairs her vocals (especially the double vocals) to match the beat. It’s also important to note that during the bridge, she slows down into a soft-spoken kind of singing before exploding back into the upbeat chorus again twice before dropping into bass harmonies before finally closing out the song. This shift from fast to slow to fast seems to  reflect someone being present then remembering their past love but then trying to move out to the next big thing and focus more on the present and then the future. Fans of her vocals as Rumi can argue that this is reminiscent of the Grammy Award-winning single “Golden,” where the song starts off upbeat before slowing down into a reminiscent feel and a breathy bridge before building right back into popping off in the popular pop song.

Some listeners of this song might be wondering why the vibe sounds very familiar and almost nostalgic. For some listeners who grew up in their teenage years almost 10 years ago, they can make the argument that EJAE made this song with a nostalgic feel to that old early and mid-2010s vibe. Some songs that immediately came to mind when trying to figure out what genre and vibe it was similar to were Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” (2012), Carly Rae Jepsen and Owl City’s “Good Time,” and Ke$ha’s “Die Young” (2012). With that in mind, fans listening with headphones should be forewarned that this is the kind of song that would get them breaking into dance at the beat. Dance pop vibes were so popular during the early 2010s and now that most DJs like to remix them in dancing club settings, to which this song can be a good addition to a playlist for 2010s hits. 

There is speculation online about whether the release of more than one solo single signifies that she plans to make an album, to which it would not be surprising if she does. She’s a great lyricist and singer and many believe that she can go farther than just the world of KPop Demon Hunters. Fans can continue to listen to her song on Spotify, YouTube Music, and other streaming platforms as they wait for what comes next for their favorite demon slaying, purple-hair rocking vocalist. No matter if someone is a fan of the movie or not, everyone can recognize that EJAE is a name they will not forget and she is just going to keep going up, up, up.