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Song Review:: ZEROBASEONE: Ascend-- TOP 5

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Release date: 2026 May 18 Album tracklist: Intro., TOP 5 , V for Vision, Customize, Exotic, Changes, Zero to Hundred Album runtime: 19 minutes   This is their first release after the contracts ended for some of them and we now have the new version of ZEROBASEONE. It’s not going to be fun for them to have to rearrange all of their songs for choreography and singing, but unlikely many of their MNET survival show group seniors, they didn’t disband by the end of their initial contract period, so we’re in a little bit of an unfamiliar territory with them in some ways. And I'm appalled at the title track run time. It's barely longer than the intro song. The instrumental is largely a collection of beats. We occasionally get an instrument that gives a little bit of a melody, but it’s not the basis of the instrumental. Which is fine. This feels a little 90s boy group in spots, and I’m cool with that, but I’m not currently over inspired about this instrumental, other than to note that we...
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Song Review:: GPP: ATE!

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Release date: 2026 May 20 Album tracklist: ATE! Album runtime: 3 minutes   If you missed their debut back in December, then thank you for reading this one. This is SM’s new Japanese girl group, they were all over twenty at time of debut, and the song was fire, but SM needs to give them more money for their music videos. Welcome to the show.  Honestly, this feels like a mildler version of something that could have come from f(x) back in the day. This is very synthy and electronic, but there’s a vibrancy to it that feels bolder than either of their two most recent Korean girl groups, if that makes sense. There’s also something a little first-season-of- Buffy about the song that it feels like a fight scene. And there’s a dance break. I’m pleased. Normally I’d be crawling out of my skin a little bit over the amount of repetition with the “ate” line, but it’s not long enough to make me bored, and it’s interrupted by singing. The other thing is the “5-6-7” pause “we ate” line. I c...
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Battle of the B-Sides:: Seventeen: Shining Diamond

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 I hope some of you figured out the group based on that last little hint that has now been fixed on Angel 's post, and I hope at least one of you was able to figure out which song I decided to do. This song sits in a little bit of an interesting spot because while it does technically match the May theme, it's actually fulfilling a much bigger role. If you've been around here for a while, you may know that I've got a massive soft spot for Seventeen that started out because they're NU'EST's brothers (and was resisted for several months even though I'd already attached to SCoups because the jerk decided to shred his knee in a potentially career-ending injury right when I got into K-Pop so that injury was the second thing I learned about Seventeen and resulted in my worry being activated before I ever actually knew anything). So my attachment was inevitable. It has since grown into respect independent of NU'EST, but that's why it's surprising tha...
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Song Review:: Taeyang (BIGBANG): QUINTESSENCE- LIVE FAST DIE SLOW

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Release date: 2026 May 18 Album tracklist: BAD, LIVE FAST DIE SLOW , WOULD YOU (feat. Tarzzan & Woochan), MOVIE, OPEN UP, LOVE LIKE THIS, YES, NOW G.O.A.T, 4U Album runtime: 26 minutes  It's been a hot minute since he released an album, right? I also need you to know that I now just randomly say "I am a good boy" because of this man. That runtime actually isn't as bad as it looks because the title track is over three minutes, the song with Tarzzan and Woochan (who are at the same company as him and I'm glad that he's taking the kids under his wings) is over three minutes, and the last track is over three minutes. It just happens that one of the songs is under two-minutes, which admittedly isn't great, but it's not the title track, so I don't care what the b-sides are doing for time.  We've got a little bit of a skittering beat going on here, which is not entirely unexpected, but it's more of a disco skitter than a hip-hop skitter, but I...
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Song Review:: Big Ocean: Make It Up To You

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Release date: 2026 May 19 Album tracklist: Make It Up To You Album runtime: 3 minutes  I get so happy every single time that they release something, and it looks like we're going back to our debut strategy of singles, then bundling into a mini album. At least, I hope that's what the plan is. It's a good plan for now.  Ballad! Almost a ballad! Okay. I'm calm about this. That was a nice little fake-out they gave us, and I'd be more upset about it, but the song is comfortingly solid in a way that I enjoy a lot. There's nothing particularly grating about the song because the drums never quite go fully into skittering beat territory, though they are in the vicinity without committing. It's amazing the difference in a song when you change the instrumental.  This is such a cute song. It's an apology, yeah. But it's very cute and I think they're speaking French at one point. I'll be checking the lyrics later to confirm that. But there's a decent ...
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Song Review:: Jay Park, LNGSHOT: 4SHOBOIZ Vol. 2: 4SHOVILLE- YEAH! YEAH!

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Release date: 2026 May 18 Album tracklist: 4SHO 4SHO; YEAH! YEAH! ; NO HI, NO HEY; RUN IT UP; GUKBBONG; MOYA; THE PURGE 4SHOMIX; PUBLIC ENEMY 4SHOMIX (feat. DJ Wegun) Album runtime: 26 minutes  It's kind of adorable that the CEO had the kids join him for an entire album. What's more surprising is that the runtime is a bit over three minutes on average, the title track is over three minutes, and there are several songs over four minutes. But I have to put this on Underage Protocol because of LNGSHOT. So, sorry, Jay Park, except you debuted the child. Most of the instrumental is of the style where it's present but largely unobtrusive and the changes are subtle. Most of it is a couple of different beats layered over each other, but there's a rattle-in-your-bones quality that holds the song with a low center of gravity. There isn't really a quick uptick in energy at any point, nor does it go the other direction and fully drop at any point. It's there. It's suppo...
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Greatest Hits:: BerryGood: Angel

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 This was actually supposed to be the song after After School, but I didn't write it down in my notes. And then when I checked my notes and double checked numbers (because for timing's sake, the last three must be the last three), I was missing one. So you get this one now, instead of when it was supposed to be, but that's fine because it works here as well. We're still on theme for May, and I think y'all will enjoy this one if you haven't heard it before. Funny story about this group, every time I see their name, my brain starts playing "Very Good" by Block B. It's probably a problem, but it's a me problem and I hope it's not a you problem now as well. They debuted in 2014 as a five member group, but by the time they disbanded, there were only two of the original members in the six-member group. Fun fact, they released multiple crowdfunded mini albums, including this one, and the lineup for this album was Taeha, Seoyul, Daye, Sehyung, and ...
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