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Song Review:: V.O.S: I Can't Go to Shinchon

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Release date: 2025 December 26 Album tracklist:  I Can't Go to Shinchon , I Can't Go to Shinchon (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 minutes  We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming of 2026 releases to do a review for a song released in December of 2025. Why am I suddenly doing this song four months later? Because I was just looking at the second gen groups because there have to be groups between TVXQ! and Super Junior. Enter: V.O.S with a 2004 debut. And then I was going to go look at their discography, and saw that they'd released a song in 2025. And for the record, with Spotify's recent slop of AI songs released under the older gen artists who aren't as active, I didn't look on Spotify. I was looking on Melon because I wanted the title track of the song for their second album and I saw the new release there. I think they actually put out two things last year, another Best Of album and a digital single. This one is the digital single. I know nothing about them, ...

Song Review:: &TEAM: We on Fire- We on Fire

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Release date: 2026 April 13 Album tracklist: We on Fire, Bewitched, HOTLINE, Sakura-iro Yell, We on Fire (Korean ver.), Bewitched (Korean ver.) Album runtime: 17 minutes  The cold continues to kick my butt. However, &TEAM dropped a new song and I've recently been sniffing around the group trying to decide if I want to listen to them more, so this is actually a pretty strong sign I should. And while I'm pretty sure that this is a Japanese release, they added the Korean version to the album, so here we are. The funny thing is that they're not even the first HYBE group to drop something this month. ILLIT dropped an OST last week. They also won't be the last because almost every group under HYBE has music expected to be released this month. Which means that we can also expect unpleasantly short songs from all of them because HYBE is the way it is right now and seems to think that shorter songs are better. Case in point: this one is barely over two-and-a-half minutes.  I...

Song Review:: T.O.P (BIGBANG): TOP SPOT - ANOTHER DIMENSION- Studio54

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Release date: 2026 April 03 Album track list: SELF CRUCIFIXION; THE GIANT;  Studio54 ; A SMALL, FILTHY SHOW WINDOW; ZERO-COKE; Another Dimension Holy Dude!!!!!!!!; SEOUL CHAOS;  DESPERADO ; FOR FANS; STENDHAL SYNDROME; BE SOLID Album runtime: 37 mi nutes  Second song to get a music video from this album! Let's go, T.O.P! This song is so soft at the start, relying on the vocals and background vocals to set the mood, but even once the beat kicks in and the synth starts to synth, it still stays so soft because of that extended note from whatever that instrument is. It's got weight. It's got power. There are a couple of spots where it pretends to kick up its heels a little, but the actual speed never actually increases and the energy level remains surprisingly heavy and occasionally chaotic. I have a high suspicion that I'm probably going to get to confirm with the music video if the lyrics are included what I think I'm hearing, because if I'm hearing it and underst...

Battle of the B-Sides:: MAMAMOO: Destiny

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 I went back to the roulette wheel for this one because I figure that I can stray again from what I'm familiar with, and instead it gave me the first song I started listening to by MAMAMOO and the reason I continued listening to them. 6000 songs, at least a third of which I've never heard before. And yet, ironically, it's a song called "Destiny" that chaos decided for me. What's even funnier about this is the last song I did was by their younger brothers, who debuted the year this came out. Ah, I'm excited for you to hear this one if you haven't already. MAMAMOO is a four member girl group that debuted in 2014 under RBW. They're known for industry defying behavior (especially when told not to do something), insane vocals, and a level of chaos that has caused them to be called the female BTOB (and BTOB gets called the male MAMAMOO, which is accurate and funny). Also, Changsub and Solar are besties and she's about two days older. Or a day older. ...

Song Review:: LOVEONE: UNICA- UNICA

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Release date: 2026 April 09 Album tracklist: UNICA , Bloom Again Album runtime: 6 minutes  You know, I'm really proud of the amount of progress we've seen this group make and I'm equally glad that more people seem to be finding them.  Ooh, that's a funky beat. That's a very nice beat. It's still a pretty simple beat, but it manages to be upbeat and vibrant to provide a strong base for the vocals. There are a few spots where it settles a bit more and strips itself, but there are also a few spots where the energy also kicks up a bit ore. Both instances are still relatively mild changes to the overall sound of the song, but the happy wiggle appeal is high despite that. It's just a fun song. Vocally, this reminds me a lot of a group like BOYNEXTDOOR with that persistent energy and brightness. It's nice to see. Also, we're still not getting a big belt from the members and I'm beginning to think we may never get one. But! Hope springs eternal with this...

Song Review:: hertz.wav: The First Wave- NINETEEN {Debut}

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Release date: 2026 April 08 Album tracklist: Dream, NINETEEN , Highlight, I AM SO FINE, Outta my mind, Close To Me Album runtime: 19 minutes  So this is a band, I think. I'm pretty sure. They came out of some sort of a survival show and one of them is a pretty famous Japanese influencer, so the group is pulling a PinkFantasy and keeping one of them in a mask. I have no idea who he could be and I'm not super interested in knowing, because if he wanted us to know, he wouldn't hide behind the mask and I'm going to respect that. The rest of them are all fine in age, and I'm going to guess he's at least sixteen. So let's check them out, shall we? The average runtime is excellent, but our title track is the shortest of the bunch at a less than comfortable time Okay. You know what? This is solid. It's a good example of a band, but it's a very soft example of one, which is nice to be hearing occasionally. The song follows the formula for a rock song really w...

Song Review:: Hwasa (MAMAMOO): So Cute

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Release date: 2026 April 09 Album tracklist: So Cute Album runtime: 3 minutes  I'm so excited for them to have their new album. I'm so excited. And they're all dropping solo singles ahead of it.  Ah, we're going for the 80s vibe for this song, and it starts very much like the instrumental for Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid . We do get a little bit of a melody in the instrumental using the synthesizer, which is nice to be hearing, but it's also so stable and constant the entire time that it feels like there are basically two energy levels for the song: the normal state at equilibrium and then a slightly less agitated level. It's really pretty though. I like this. She's got such a distinct tone and vibrato combination. I love her voice, even when she's not using it to what it could be. But we do get breathier and more supported for the range instead of the pitch. This isn't quite scratching the itch for me, but it really is quite pleasant ...