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Song Review:: AxMxP: 24 Hours

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Release date: 2026 June 24 Album tracklist: 24 Hours Album runtime: 2  minutes  The maknae is currently on a medical hiatus for an inner ear issue related to vertigo. I hope he recovers quickly, that therapy goes well, and that he can return fully without having it come back and without needing surgery. He also turns sixteen in a couple of days, so happy birthday in advance (along with the two oldest members)! And even though he's not active with the group right now, I'm leaving them on Underage Protocol.  This is a surprisingly soft instrumental with a touch of something sultry and a bit of what feels like it could be longing. It's almost an acoustic version of a song with soft, floaty bits and spots where it's about 3% more active than the baseline of the song.  We've got a little bit of rapping, and a little bit of singing, and, like with the instrumental, everything is just really soft. There's no bite here, but there is a good amount of variation to vocals,...
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Song Review:: Ryeowook (Super Junior): Runaway- Runaway

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Release date: 2026 June 23 Album tracklist: Runaway , Defined, Chamomile Album runtime: 9  minutes  It's a single, but he's got a stunning voice. And congrats on the wedding last year, my dude! Ah, that's a strong guitar. It's easily the strongest and most prominent of the instruments going on here, but it's comfortingly country in a way that I personally really enjoy. I mean this is very country, but not honky-tonk, which is what I think a lot of people think of when they think of country music (I love honky tonk music, for the record, and you can pry Watermelon Crawl out of my cold, dead hands), but this feels more like your classic country love song. I'm fascinated that we're getting so many songs that have country music elements that feel like country music in K-Pop right now, because there's a very big difference between country music from someone who understands country and someone who knows what pieces should be included. Like, I could write a ro...
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Song Review:: BOYNEXTDOOR: HOME- ADIOS!

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Release date: 2026 June 08 Album tracklist: 06070, VIRAL , ddok ddok ddok , ADIOS! , Upside Down, DIVE, Forever You, I Wonder Album runtime: 25 minutes  I'm super behind but I'll hit this b-side all the same. This sounds like a summer pop song from the mid-2000s. Remember when everything was just a little bit alt-rock? That's what this instrumental is doing. It feels a bit brighter than you'd typically expect from a rock song, but the guitars are doing their job and alternating between being supportive and then aggressively emotional. We've got some variation going on with the drums as well with changes in their rhythms, so that they're not just doing the beat. And I love how it ends with just the vocals and cuts the instrumental out. That actually does a really good job of ending the song on a sense of goodbye, having it be just the vocals. After the amount of sound that the rest of the song has vocally, especially leading up into the ending, having there be a ...
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Song Review:: Stray Kids: THIS & THAT- RUN IT {Pre-Release}

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Release date: 2026 June 24 Album tracklist: RUN IT Album runtime: 3  minutes  Look at all the capital letters. We've got a little over a month and a half before the album is going to be released, and between now and then, their next tour is starting. Seungmin, I hope you're well by then. Chan, you'd better have that surgery before then. The timing of the tour feels very rushed, but there is a looming e-word sitting over Lee Know's head dropping closer every day, so despite how ridiculous the schedule is, before we find out what that is going to look like for Stray Kids, I'm willing to chalk it up to them trying to get one last tour in before that all begins. The runtime on this one has me very hopeful for the rest of the album's runtime. Fingers crossed. Y'all know I'm down for brass instruments. As fierce and dramatic as this instrumental is, and it's pretty dramatic in the "we're marching off to battle" sort of way, I'm intrigued ...
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Greatest Hits:: Girl's Day: Something

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 So when I was trying to decide how I was going to honor my boys getting discharged, I decided to give each one of them a song to represent another aspect about them other than just as idols. For Minhyun back in December, it was a NU'EST song he was a lyricist for (thank you Submitter, for tossing that into my lap and helping me decide how I was going to do this). For JR back in March, it was a song for which he learned to play the bass guitar that was in a drama he acted in. For Baekho, I'm going to do a song he has writing credits for (y'all are going to be surprised by what song I pick, but you've got about a year before you get to find out which one it is). For Ren, as soon as I decided it was going to be some sort of a representative song, there was literally only one choice I could do: Something by Girl's Day. For those of you who know, of course I'm going to include that. For those of you who don't, look forward to a very funny comment section. I als...
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Song Review:: Ravi (VIXX): Dust

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Release date: 2026 June 22 Album tracklist:  Dust Album runtime: 2  minutes  I would have had no idea he'd released a new song if I hadn't been wandering about Tumblr today and if one of my mutuals didn't post about the song like twelve times. And now you all get to know about it too! I'm going to leave him connected to VIXX here and in the future, because while the whole mess over his enlistment is deeply serious, as are his health problems, and he did finish his military service back in December with a double enlistment. He may not be able to be part of the group anymore since withdrawing back in 2022, but I'm accepting what happened as the final consequences as far as I'm concerned and I'll leave him connected to his group. As long as nothing else happens with him. I will be most cross and disappointed. I'm also disappointed in the runtime, but you know what? It's his first one back after years. I'll give him this one, but I'm not rounding...
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Song Review:: aespa: Lemonade- LEMONADE

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Release date: 2026 May 29 Album tracklist: WDA (Whole Different Animal) (feat. G-Dragon) , LEMONADE , SHAKIN', Can't Help Myself, Camouflage, Bite, Switchblade (feat. Ty Dolla $ign), Roll, My Plan, 'Til We Die, LEMONADE (feat. Becky G) Album runtime: 33  minutes  And continuing with the SM obsession with lemons. It's a proud tradition at this point (with even Onew having a bunch of them in one of his music videos), and I know I'm doing things out of order, but this one got a win (congrats!) so I want to make sure I have it done before I post the Weekly Music Show Wins that I'm behind on. I just think it's really funny that we got two SM lemon songs this season. First this one and then Lemon Tang by Hearts2Hearts. And, delightfully, the runtime is acceptable. This sounds very Whiplash . It's not my favorite sound for an instrumental, because it's not complex enough for my brain to really enjoy it, but this one is very science fiction in a Tron sort o...
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