review – mominatalks

On 22nd June 2026 at 6PM KST, Evan, also known as Lee Heeseung, dropped his first solo album – RIDE OR DIE.

His solo debut album consists of two tracks – Overflow and Ride or Die, both with contrasting themes. Overflow has a soft, sentimental vibe, whereas Ride or Die is more hyperpop.

Evan on Weverse live (22/06/2026) about the making of Overflow:

I wrote it during a difficult period of my life. It was a period when countless emotions surrounded me, yet they simply wouldn’t resolve. The verse starts as if there is no hope, but in the hook, the line “Here we go again” is repeated, looking towards hope. In the end, it is a story about overcoming hardship.”

The music video for Ride or Die compliments the song’s themes through a symbolic narrative. In the opening scenes, Evan is shown alone, disconnected from and ignored by those around him, while a mysterious car follows him throughout the city. The imagery creates a feeling of uncertainty and restlessness that matches the song’s energetic sound.

The turning point arrives when Evan enters the very car that has been chasing him. Accompanied by the lyric, “It’s gonna be alright,”. This moment suggests a shift in mindset, from being pursued by uncertainty to confronting it head-on. The atmosphere changes noticeably afterwards – rather than ignoring or judging him, the people around him begin dancing around him as he is on-top of the car. This contrast between the beginning and end of the video reinforces themes of self-acceptance and confidence. As Evan has described his music as reflecting himself, the narrative can be interpreted as a journey towards embracing one’s identity and moving forward with conviction.

The debut of the soloist garnered lots of expectations and reactions online due to his previous music presence in the K-pop group, ENHYPEN. Many fans (known as EVER) even had theories to what the Ride or Die music video was trying to convey:

The posts online range from high praise to deep analysis of Evan’s debut.

As this marks a new era, Evan is expected to appear on various music shows and broadcasts, including KBS and M-Countdown, as the promotion cycle begins to unfold. And with this new era in motion, fans can only wait in anticipation for what Evan will do next.

-cover image credits–

— This article will contain Squid Game spoilers —

Squid Game is a South Korean dystopian survival thriller horror television series created, written and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk for Netflix. The series revolves around a secret contest where 456 players, all of whom are in deep financial hardship, risk their lives to play a series of children’s games that have been turned deadly for the chance to win a ₩45.6 billion (US$39.86 million) prize.

INTRO

Before I begin to yap, I am not trying to kill the fun of the show, I thoroughly enjoyed the show, but that doesn’t erase how stressful it is – I was quite literally gripping sofa during Season 3 Episode 4’s game. From the very first season, we are not eased into the horrors it displays, we are flung into high-stakes of violence, with bright colours and eerie music. When did our idea of entertainment become so anxiety-inducing?

DATA ANALYSIS + ANECDOTE WITHIN

Squid Game didn’t just just torment its characters, also the viewers; according to ScreenRant, the second season of the show garnered 68 million views in the first three days and became number one in every country on Netflix! That is insane – we all know good shows but for them to excel everywhere?? What’s crazy is that it isn’t a lighthearted fun show – people were tuning in to feel tension.

A study by Mathias Clasen and Marc Andersen involved running several experiments in a haunted-house setting in Denmark which they called “Dystopia”. They hooked heart rate monitors to the participants and recorded how scared they felt and how much enjoyment they felt throughout. They found the participants’ results to have an upside-down U-shape; if participants weren’t scared at all, it wasn’t fun, but if they were too scared the enjoyment level dropped. Andersen worded it as “It is as if humans dislike being very far from their normal physical state but we seem to like being out of our comfort zone,”. This makes sense when applying it to Squid Game; we do not want real physical harm but we enjoy the thrill – the feeling of being off-balance.

The last game in Season 3 Episode 4, let’s be so for real, we all KNEW that Jun-hee was going to die before she even got eliminated, so why were most of us bawling? Even after that you continued to watch it at “torture” yourself, when you KNEW it was going to be emotionally scarring. ACTUALLY NOT EVEN THAT – WAS SEASON ONE NOT ENOUGH FOR YOU?! God bless my girl Sae-Byeok, Ji-yeong and Ali 😔- literally became ill from the amount of tears that were shed.

Anyway, so you’re not insane for finding joy in these types of shows !

#ileftthisforagessohavelostmyflowimsorryloveyoux

Tag: review

[ARTICLE] EVAN Releases Album – RIDE OR DIE:

[ARTICLE] When did entertainment become so stressful? – Squid Game