Just A Little Fangirl Love

 Hello, everyone! I went for a pick from my playlist that I've heard before but haven't decided where I want to slot it, the appropriately name "Maybe" playlist. Threw it on shuffle, and here we are. I'm actually pretty amused that two of the three male soloists I've done for this will not just have been from SM groups, but were also the two soloists who performed in Las Vegas a few months ago. I don't know if this was on the setlist or not. I just think that's really funny. I also find it kind of funny that even though I'm only loosely picking where songs are coming from, we're still ending up with some kind of cohesive flow.  Baekhyun originally debuted under SM Entertainment as part of the boy group EXO in 2012, but later debuted as a soloist in 2019. He's known for his voice, though to be fair, EXO is one of those groups that's renowned for their vocals, and their somewhat persnickety and often amusing opinions when the fans are not...

Release date: 2026 April 15 Album tracklist: I'll Be There, Hazy (Daisy) , Padam Padam, Touch, Forever Us Album runtime: 14 minutes  The maknae was fifteen at debut, so unfortunately they are on Underage Protocol. If you're new here (welcome! I love to see new faces! Glad to meet you!), Underage Protocol is part of my refusal to support the companies debuting anyone under the age of sixteen or if the group debuts with more than fifty percent of the members under the age of eighteen. The reason for this is, the members of groups often do not have their parents to step in and protect them from predatory adults and being exposed to everything at a young age can mess up the artists (multiple of the ones who debuted at fourteen, for instance, have said that they wished they'd debuted when they were older). I'd love to say I trust the companies to protect them, but that requires a level of faith in companies to be human and not exploitative in a way that I simply cannot trust...

Release date: 2026 April 15 Album tracklist:  Cherry Blossom Album runtime: 3 minutes  This group is definitely on Underage Protocol. Two fifteen-year-olds at debut. Still, I think they're in a good position to potentially carve out a similar niche as a group like Lovelyz based on what we've gotten from them so far. If I had to describe this song, it would be solidly dreamy. We've got audience participation snapping through most of the song, with solid but not excitable percussion and a softness to everything else that it just generally sounds very spring-like, which is deeply appropriate considering that we're in early spring now. The moments where the percussion drops out and we gets just the dreaminess with the audience participation snapping are very well place to let the song take a big breath.  Every part of the vocals are a little breathy, including the rapping. There isn't a whole lot of variation with the vocals, although one of the members does have a lowe...

Release date: 2026 April 15 Album tracklist:  SLAM DUNK , SLAM DUNK (inst) Album runtime: 6 minutes  I'd like to see them drop more music or more regularly release singles. They need the attention. And not just because I'm loud and vocal in my support for my boy, Hakseong, the first North Korean idol to debut. They've got a lot going for them. (I'm also writing this after the JUSTB concert and my flabbers are gasted. I'm going to need 3-5 business days to recover from what happened for my friend and me; trust me, it was a very good thing (on an unrelated note, I feel so bad for them because they were having the worst sound issues and Bain promised to come back to do a better concert)). This is a very odd instrumental. I don't think I'm the target audience for this song, at least not in this stage of the listen, but that could change with the vocals. There's audience participation snapping in some spots, and a lot of record squeaking. Seriously. So much r...

Release date: 2026 April 14 Album tracklist: LOVE IS PAIN Album runtime: 3 minutes  This guy looks a bit like Hyunsik from BTOB. Or, well, I suppose Hyunsik looks a bit like him given that I'm assuming Kangin is older. Also, given past events, he probably should just stop drinking. It doesn't look like that's been going so well for him, and he got kicked out of the group because of the poor decisions he's made while drinking. That being said, I did have to dig a little to figure out if this was his debut single or not. It looks like he may have released that back in 2016, a decade after his group debut. I am, however, a little amused that he releases music every ten years. Group debut in 2006. Solo debut (possibly) in 2016. New music in 2026. Edit: I'm almost positive that this might actually be his debut now. So that's been updated. I love the almost gospel-sound to this instrumental. And I was sitting here on my first listen, just kind of absorbing the sound t...

Release date: 2026 April 14 Album tracklist:  SSS , White Tee Album runtime: 7 minutes This is the group I have associated with bright green for some unknown reason but it turns out that bright green is one of their fandom colors. So that's appropriate. Ooh, we've got some audience participation snapping. Excellent. It's been a moment since the last time I got that in a new track. There's actually a really good blend of the instruments, where none of them quite manage to be the "main" instrument, if that makes sense. Because even while the drums are doing their necessary beat thing, we've got the guitar doing a lot of heavy lifting with melody, but that synthesizer is a constant presence. And! The drums aren't even the only percussion instrument we've got. We also get some a cappella, or near a cappella, and it all adds up to a solid instrumental. I've got vibrato and a belt, and that belt turns into a run at the end. We actually get vibrato in...