Posts

Battle of the B-Sides:: S#arp: Secret Seduction

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 If you've never heard of this group, don't worry. You're not alone in this because they're a first gen group that hasn't released an album since 2003 and they're not one of the names you regularly hear about as being a representative of the first gen line-up. Although, to be fair, even when you do run into one of the big names of first gen, I've found that many people outside of Korea don't know them as well as they should since they're foundational to what we have now. Our second and third gen (and fourth gen now) favorites got to run and be global superstars on the paths that first gen walked down first. You may also have noticed that when it comes to first gen coverage here, I've been focusing on the B-Sides. Part of that is because out of all of the generations of K-Pop that we have so far, first gen has the greatest wealth of b-sides as they were before the mini albums and singles were popularized, so they released full albums. The other pa...

Song Review:: Changsub (BTOB): Lee;Make (Fragmenta Amoris)- Four seasons, and you

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Release date: 2026 September 15 Album tracklist: A Story Like A Movie; Four seasons, and you ; Nameless Star; Evergreen Album runtime: 15  minutes  My cat's bias is pulling out the Latin for his album title, I see. I'm not kidding. I'm actually glad that Changsub is in a different country from me because there's no risk of him ever meeting T'Challa and T'Challa deciding he loves Changsub more than me. In more serious news, this morning I saw the vocal challenge that Jongho did of this song and I about swooned. Partially because of the Mayfly crumbs, but also because even without hearing the original, Jongho and Changsub have such similar timbres that I think Jongho could actually and properly do justice to one of Changsub's ballads. Which he obviously did for the vocal challenge.  Also, nearly four minutes a song. I love this man. It looks like the entire mini album was written by the same people, which is fun. This is a fascinating instrumental. It actually...

Battle of the B-Sides: 9Muses: Miss Agent

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 Someone looked at one of my posts using a Linux operating system in the last week. Wow. My eyebrows are raised and I'm a little bit delighted by that. Hello, Linux user. I don't know if you'll see this, but I'm giving you a thumbs up. Hello, everyone else! Welcome, Champions! I know I'm wildly behind with the plan for September, given that it's almost halfway through and I'm only now getting to those posts, so I'll have to move one of my planned August posts to November and one of my originally planned September songs to December. You will get that first gen song this year. September is going to be reserved for the smaller groups. We had big moments in August, and now we're going to get a little bit of a quieter month with smaller groups. Well, metaphorically because this was a nine-member group. Mostly. Sort of. Hence the name. Kind of what it says on the tin. 9MUSES debuted in 2010 under Star Empire as a nine-member group. Again, hence the name. T...

Song Review:: Close Your Eyes- Open Your Eyes

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Release date: 2026 September 18 Album track list: Open Your Eyes Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  It's partway though September and I don't think I've reviewed a song from September yet. Starting with Close Your Eyes and their song called "Open Your Eyes" feels a little bit funny for me. Which is why I'm doing it. Also, the maknae turns eighteen at the end of the month, so this is the last time I'll probably need to bring up any of their ages. Not that I have been because I haven't needed to. But still. This makes it official. Why does the instrumental sound like the preset on a keyboard? There are a lot of instruments going on in here and it's a little distracting with exactly how much is going on. Jaunty little tune, though, despite how discordant it is. But it's very jazzy at the same time, so discordant is sometimes the name of the game anyway. But goodness, there are a lot of instruments. As an instrumental-only, I would absolutely be jamming ha...

Song Review:: LUN8: Off the Grid- Sneakers

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Release date: 2026 July 22 Album tracklist: SNEAKERS , TO THE MOON, BACK, If I could Album runtime: 11  minutes  I decided to pick this song for an extra stage, since I've been so haphazard with literally everything the last little bit and I'm so far behind, so I'm going to do a review of this one. It's a good way to force me to do it. I almost was lazy and picked a song I know I did a review for, but since that song has gotten wins, I would rather point out the smaller groups. Although I will also point out how nauseating the runtime is. Less than two-and-a-half minutes. There's still something slightly pastel-like about the song, but it's kind of a daffodil yellow. This is a very bright song without too much weighing it down, but without a strong sense of playfulness that I wish that I could hear. It feels like the song wants to be playful but was forced to be a bit more constrained. The whistling and the little woops in the background help a lot, but instead...

Song Review:: Heart of Woman: Heart Byte : LEGACY- TEA

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Release date: 2026 May 28 Album tracklist: ALIVE, SHOW H.O.W, Told U So, TEA , My Vision, Skit.exe, Lost in Proof , ($.$) , Close To Me , One Beat, Dive With Me Album runtime: 28 minutes  I decided to drop this song as an extra stage, which means that it needs a review. We're not on Underage Protocol and I'm going to stop saying that as soon as I'm done with all the songs they've done stuff for from their debut album. And I love the strategy the company has for them. Yes. This is good. This group is not immediately unemployed after debut (Cough...Pledis...Cough...). I also just realized that I missed another b-side, and considering that this is a younger group and needs attention, I'll add it back to the ever-growing list of backlog. This is a fun build of an instrumental. Instead of throwing the skittering beat at us right from the start, it layers the plinking and the playfulness in first. Then we get the piano there during the bridge to give a similar melody, but...

Song Review:: Kim Jaejoong (TVXQ!/JYJ/JK): THE WAVE- Tonight

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Release date: 2026 August 20 Album tracklist: Tonight , Echoes of Us Album runtime: 8  minutes  Ah, I'm so late with this. I'm glad that he's dropping new music because his voice is gorgeous and it's important to the ecosystem of K-Pop that he continues to release music. But I'm also starting to get a little concerned about the girl group he's got at his company. The boys have been getting a lot of attention lately, which as fresh debuts, is their due, but the girls are due for a comeback and I've heard neither hide nor hair of one. Unless they're getting a full album. In which case, carry on. Take a few more months. Stunning runtime on both the single and the title track though. I love that. This is such a retro rock song from the 80s that the instrumental sounds like something my mom would have listened to as a teenager. We've got the good elements of a rock song: drums, a sick guitar solo, delicious synthy goodness, and a little bit of a keyboard ...