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Song Review:: Kim Sungkyu (INFINITE): OFF THE MAP- Over It

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Release date: 2026 March 02 Album track list:  When I think about you , Over It , Dreaming, Portrait, Answer, When I think about you (Inst.) Album runtime: 15 mi nutes I was looking ahead at the March comebacks and releases so I can get them added to my planner, and I recognized one of the names as someone who dropped a song in February, which means that this was a pre-release, which means I'd like to cover it before doing the title track. I really like the word "which" apparently. It turns out that he is the leader of INFINITE and my expectations raised a lot. First, he's a second gen idol. If you've been around this long, then you'd better have the skills to warrant that longevity, and he debuted as a soloist in 2012. Second, it's INFINITE. They're one of the reasons why K-Pop today has the standards for synchronization that they do, and that's on top of their vocal skills. Third, I expect a lot from leaders because the good ones rise to the occa...

Song Review:: IVE: REVIVE+- BLACKHOLE

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Release date: 2026 February 23 Album track list:  BLACKHOLE ,  BANG BANG , Hush, Stuck In Your Head, Fireworks, HOT COFFEE, 8 (Jang Wonyoung Solo), Odd (Gaeul Solo), Super ICY (Leeseo Solo), Unreal (Liz Solo), In Your Heart (Rei Solo), Force (An Yujin Solo) Album runtime: 34 mi nutes  Okay. Let's get this one out of the way now so that if it gets any wins, as I suspect it may, I have it already done and don't need to worry about it in the future. Congrats on the comeback, IVE! Ah, such lovely saturation to the instrumental. There's heft to this instrumental, which immediately balances out their lovely vocals and creates quite a nice level of contrast for the song overall. There are some disruptive beats of rest to make the song responsive and bold in a way that sounds very nice for the group. I'm enjoying this one. I love the vocal slowdown effect at the beginning. Even in spots where there is a bit of repetition, we get other things happening around the repetition. Lar...

Song Review:: NCT JNJM (NCT): BOTH SIDES- BOTH SIDES

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Release date: 2026 February 23 Album track list: BOTH SIDES , I.D.O.L, What It Is, HASHTAG, WIND UP, sexier Album runtime: 16 mi nutes  Well, another NCT subunit has debuted. This one is a duo like DoJaeJung was a trio, but comprises of Jeno and Jaemin, both of whom are members of NCT Dream and NCT U already (and have a lot of personal history between the two of them). Even though the NCT Dream members are generally quite young, I'm going to go out on a limb and say I don't need to double check their ages because Dream debuted almost ten years ago, even if the current lineup was set years later. I will say that, even though they don't have a single song actually at three minutes and two songs that don't even average out to two-and-a-half minutes, the title track is the longest song on the mini album and it's within an acceptable distance shy of three minutes. Well, as we know, I'm not overly fond of hip-hop, but I will attempt to be fair about this. The use and ...

Song Review:: Jiwoo (KARD): (EX)IST- Home Sweet Home {Debut}

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Release date: 2026 February 11 Album track list: Home Sweet Home , Mutual, Dang Dong (feat. BM of KARD), Lily, Home Sweet Home (Inst.) Album runtime: 15 mi nutes  Congrats on your solo debut! I'm really excited to see what you have for us even if I'm posting this much later than I probably should have! She debuted in 2017, almost ten years ago, in the co-ed group KARD, and not to put too much pressure on her, but given that level of experience and how good her voice is in the group setting, I have high hopes for her as a soloist. This instrumental is so heavy that if it were faster, it would be called noise music, especially in the later part of the song. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the buzz saw sounding bit, because it was incredibly jarring. But interestingly, the song becomes more "noise" as the song goes on. That steady build, though, I really like. The buzz saw being added wasn't jarring because the song had built itself in that direction, but ...

Battle of the B-Sides:: xikers: Rockstar

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 I've done a good batch of submissions. I've done my remodeling on the older posts. And now I'm ready for some energy. Not that the previous one didn't have energy, but this is full youthful energy rather than melancholic energy. This group also has the distinction of being my first baby group and my first K-Pop concert because I decided to go on a total whim and have an adventure for my birthday since they were performing near then. My cousin and I were concerned that we were going to get stuck in San Francisco but it was fine! Also, remember how at some point I said that the first five groups I got into were all March debuts (the first three K-Pop groups I saw were also all March debuts...I don't know why either)? These guys were number three behind NU'EST and BTOB, even though I saw NINE.i perform first (also a March debut for anyone keeping track). And because the end of the month (with their debut) is going to be taken up by a different group's annivers...

Song Review:: ASC2NT: STILL : I- Still Rose

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Release date: 2026 February 26 Album track list: The Boy In The Mirror (feat. Yun Hyerin), Still Rose , Purple Rain, Full Moon, Replay Album runtime: 15 mi nutes  Their first mini album! Y'all,when I tell you that I love this group, I'm not kidding in the slightest. One of my favorite 2024 debuts, and I had quite a few that year that I kind of fell in love with. I'm actually tentatively excited to review this for you all. I haven't heard it yet, but I have more or less really liked what I've heard of them so far. Also, even to this day, every time I hear "Sweet Devil" I could swear they're saying "Sweet Denim", and it makes me giggle every single time. And I couldn't be happier about the fact that a) second gen idols are getting another chance and b) that the younger ones are still full-grown, in-their-twenties adults. It's like five stresses get lifted off my shoulders when groups debut as adults. The song goes through like three di...

Song Review:: BLACKPINK: Deadline- GO

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Release date: 2026 February 27 Album track list:  JUMP , GO ,  Me and my, Champion, Fxxxboy Album runtime: 15 mi nutes  Well, here we go. Four more songs added to their discography, which means their entire group discography is still less than forty songs after ten years. Still, despite that, I'm very happy for the BLINKS to be able to get this from them, and I hope you all really enjoy the songs. Good news, the title track is over three minutes, so it's not skimpy that way and I am pleased. The instrumental sounds like two different songs. I actually really like the less packed version, because it reminds me of a song that comes during the ending credits of a YA dystopia based-on-the-book film. It's agitated enough that there's a strong energy to the song, but it's settled enough that the energy reads as determined rather than distressed for the most part. The chorus has a very strong sound by contrast and it's a continued disruption of the rest of the song, bu...