''How To Avoid The Sun'' (), alternately referred to as ''Rain 2'', is the second Korean-language studio album by
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
n
pop and
R&B singer
Rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
. Commercially, the album peaked at number six on the monthly album charts in South Korea and was the 19th best-selling album of 2003 in the country, selling over 127,000 copies.
Singles
"How to Avoid the Sun" was released as the first single. The single put Rain on the map in Korea, going to number one on the charts. At the time of the album's release, there were two versions of the song: the radio mix, credited as the guitar remix, and the original version. The song lyrics describe feeling a love so strong that it is impossible to run from. The music video was shot in Seoul. In it, you see Rain running from the sun throughout the city, trying his best to avoid it, but always failing.
On the May 10, 2007, episode of the ''
Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late-night talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show foc ...
'',
Stephen Colbert
Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
presented his audience with a parody of the "Ways to Avoid the Sun" music video. The parody featured Colbert singing in Korean and mimicking elements from the Rain video including running from the sun and dancing in a parking garage. The video was created in response to Rain topping Colbert in ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
''s open online poll.
"You Already Knew" was released as a promotional single as a follow-up to "How to Avoid the Sun".
Reception
From October 2003 to February 2004, the album sold 166,731 copies in South Korea.
In 2021, "How to Avoid the Sun" was ranked at number 62 in
Melon
A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet, edible, and fleshy fruit. The word "melon" can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit. Botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a "pepo". The ...
and newspaper ''
Seoul Shinmun
''The Seoul Shinmun'' (translating to The Seoul Newspaper) is the oldest daily newspaper in South Korea with more than a century of publication. Its original name was ''Daehan Maeil Sinbo'' (''The Korea Daily News''), which was started on July 1 ...
''s list of top 100 K-pop songs of all time, with critic Jung Min-jae praising "Rain's rich emotional performance" and wrote that it was through this work that solidified his career as a singer.
Accolades
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Monthly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
Rain (entertainer) albums
JYP Entertainment albums
2003 albums
Korean-language albums