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Song Review:: BTS: Arirang: Normal

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Release date: 2026 March 20 Album tracklist: Body to Body, Hooligan , Aliens, FYA, 2.0 , No. 29, SWIM , Merry Go Round , NORMAL , Like Animals, they don't know 'bout us, One More Night, Please, Into the Sun, Come Over Album runtime: 41 minutes  We're just going to toss another of the BTS music videos in right now so I can finish getting all of them covered. This one was actually the first song of the album that I learned the lyrics to, even with the Korean later, so bear in mind that I already love it.  There is a heavy weight to this song that doesn't change too much. There are spots where the song smooths out a little and the heavy thump turns into a smoother glide, though no less heavy, but generally the instrumental is largely the same from beginning to end. And it's a heavy instrumental. The contrast between how low the instrumental is and the vocals is the best part of the song. The second best part is that everyone is singing, or at minimum doing the melodic ...
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Song Review:: LIGHTSUM: メリキス (Merry Kiss) {Japanese}

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Release date: 2026 November 06 Album tracklist:  メリキス (Merry Kiss) Album runtime: 3 minutes  Look, I literally do not care that this is both a Japanese release and the first holiday song of the season. They need attention. It's been two years since they last released anything, and if it is going to be in Japanese and not Korean, then it's in Japanese and not Korean. The other songs they've released as a full group this year have also been Japanese releases. Am I sure why? No. Do I care? No. If I'd noticed LIGHTSUM back in September, I would have done that one as well. It's starts off all soft and gentle. Don't believe it because that is a trick and it launches into a Christmas rock instrumental shortly after the start. The bells throughout are an excellent touch. Very Christmassy. There's a good range here in what we're actually hearing, and I'm very much enjoying how much fun this instrumental is. This is the most J-Pop melody I've heard in a bi...
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Song Review:: Baby DONT Cry: Replay

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Release date: 2026 November 05 Album tracklist: Replay Album runtime: 3 minutes  That is at least a six year training period for the maknae who was sixteen at debut. Which means she was training since she was at minimum nine years old. I left them off Underage Protocol because of a technicality and a rarely used sub-rule, and so far I haven't heard of a reason to put them on it because the company sucks, but there's still over a month where they could be put on Underage Protocol.  I feel like the majority of songs, especially in the latter half of the year, have been either heavy electronic music or they've been more easy listening. This is one of the latter songs. It's a very mild instrumental. It's pretty, don't get me wrong. but the main problem with songs that sound like this is that they're almost designed to be put on in the background and be ignored, which is not the place for a title track to be. I do appreciate that we've got some a cappella lea...
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Song Review:: HEART OF WOMAN: ETERNAL FADE- LIT IT

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Release date: 2026 November 05 Album tracklist: Footsteps, Melt , Blue, Glow, LIT IT , Find U Album runtime: 15 minutes  Okay. I think this is the song that I'm going to consider the main title track, but this mini album does technically have a proper double title track. But. I think this one is getting promoted first. All adults at debut. We're supporting this. I still haven't managed to get all the songs reviewed from their debut album that got music videos. But it's fine. My interest has been piqued. I'm quite pleased with the high level of variation that's going on in this song because even though there are long stretches of a specific beat with what's almost a series of button presses in tone, there's still a surprising amount that's actually happening and there are all sorts of sound effects. It's a very distinct instrumental, which has been a slightly common complaint from me the last little bit. Or, well, the opposite has been a common co...
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Song Review:: tripleS: World Wild Women {OST}

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Release date: 2026 August 17 Album tracklist: World Wild Women Album runtime: 3 minutes  Looks like this is a full group song, so we're on Underage Protocol. It's a shame. I'm really glad that we've mostly moved on from the soft, floaty instrumental as a default trend and sound. The song has a good strong beat, with brief bits of rests to give some textural variation. It's strong without being overpowering, and it flows well. There's nothing that makes me catch my breath in delight, but it's still enough to have a bit of a presence. You know, I was watching a compilation video on YoutTube about songs with the hootin' and the hollerin', and another one about songs that have a member hit some seriously high notes (Angel by BerryGood was on both lists, and it's worth repeating that Angel has twelve high notes over the course of the song). I bring this up because I realized how few fifth gen groups actually have songs where the vocalists get to go ab...
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Song Review:: Dino (Seventeen): AUTOMATIC

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Release date: 2026 November 03 Album tracklist: AUTOMATIC Album runtime: 3 minutes  Dude just  enlisted and we're already getting more music from him, even if he already performed it at his solo concert where he performed fifty songs. I cannot keep up with everything this group is giving us during their group hiatus. This is in fact when we should all realize that thirteen members as a group is a lot, but manageable. Thirteen members as individual artists with their own solo careers? That's a lot.  This really does sound like such a Dino song. I know he just debuted and under technically a different name, or concept really, but this sounds like him because he's got that 1970s dancer vibe to him. And considering that was at least twenty years before he was born, that's impressive. I was spending a lot of the song waiting for something big to happen in the instrumental, and I didn't really get it, which is a disappointment, but as the dance break section at the end pr...
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Song Review:: Irene & Seulgi (Red Velvet): Cheetah- Cheetah {Japanese}

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Release date: 2026 September 14 Album tracklist: Cheetah , Fall 4 U, Love Anxiety, Wave, Free Album runtime: 14 minutes  I'm very happy this subunit dropped a new mini album and also happy that they're getting a Japanese debut. I'm deeply displeased about the runtime for the title track. That is all. And why was this music video dropping over a month after the mini album was released? SM. What are you doing? Oh good. I'm not sure what genre this is, trap or house if I had to guess, but regardless of the genre, this is a generic instrumental. Again, I don't mean generic as a bad thing, just that it adheres to the genre well, but I'm not hearing anything specific that would immediately point me to this song if I were to hear just the instrumental. Of course, that may require the song to be longer. We have a couple of moments where we get something a little bit sparkly, which is helpful, and there is a little bit of variation within the instrumental, which is also ...
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