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Song Review:: KickFlip: My First Kick- Twenty {Pre-Release}

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Release date: 2026 March 09 Album track list: Twenty Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  The mini album comes out next month, but you know what? Mini albums two and three were amazing, and I hope that this continues their trend for me. Freeze has been frequently played on my playlists the last little bit, and I'm the opposite of offended by this.  Two seconds. I love that these guys have fully leaned into the rock genre. There's a good ebb and flow to the amount of energy that the instrumental is giving to the song, though, granted it is very much more on the energetic side than the softer side. We get a quick burst of energy at the beginning, and then it settles to let the listener anticipate the return of the instruments. But, generally this is a solid instrumental. I would have been happy with this as a title track, which does make me a little worried for the actual title track.  The rapper with his much lower voice to the rest of the group provides such a good contrast to the...
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Song Review:: ODD YOUTH: Babyface- Babyface

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Release date: 2026 March 12 Album track list: Babyface ,  C♡NDY.exe Album runtime: 5 mi nutes  My girls dropped a new single! You almost just got a lot of capital letters and while I am mentally shouting I don't want to scare y'all away from my enthusiasm over this group! I can't wait for how weird the music video is. They've gotten second gen weird music videos and I love it. I'm disappointed by the runtimes for the two songs here though, but at least the title track is closer to three minutes than two. The restraint I'm having to use to not just watch the music video. As a side note, C♡NDY.exe is a delightful little song. That is a lovely bass for the beat. We get some spots where the bass goes away which immediately changes the sound of the song, but we also get quite a few where it's just the bass. The overall drama level of the song is medium, but it's still solid enough on the whole with good movement and flow that this song moves well. Here's ...
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Song Review:: V01D: 01- Tug of War {Debut}

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Release date: 2026 March 11 Album track list:  Tug of War , ROCKROCK ,  The One, LUNA, Tug of War - Instrumental, ROCKROCK  - Instrumental, The One  - Instrumental, LUNA Album runtime: 26 mi nutes  They're now officially a March debut, and you know what that means! I'm probably going to love them. Also, we got some updated birth years, at least, from the ones missing, and I'm pleased to confirm that they're not  on Underage Protocol as hoped, which means that if I like them, and I probably will, that I can happily listen to them to my little heart's content. And every single song on here is over three minutes. Ooh, that starts out surprisingly mellow. I'm actually a little bit fascinated by the fact that the song gives the different sections so much time before changes happen. We're talking like four bars at a time or more. The beat is actually surprisingly slow overall as well. This feels like a low bpm. But this build is so wonderfully steady. There's ...
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Battle of the B-Sides:: AMPERS&ONE: I Know You

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 As promised, if you weren't vibing super hard with HyunA's post, here's a boy group that turned two last year and I haven't heard of any issues with them. Also, for the person who submitted this song, it took me a bit because I wanted it to have a good spot where the song could be highlighted well and the group could get the attention it deserved. Coming off the second gen soloist wave and ahead of the soloist for next time, this is a really good spot for them, especially since this song sounds unlike anything around it. I want the submissions especially to be highlighted. If the submission is for a specific date, then I might not have the room and flexible to lead into it well, but if it doesn't, then I get to slowly plant and nurture the area around the submission. And other than the Stray Kids submission that's coming at the end of the month for their anniversary and the three EXID songs I have left to cover (but want to space out because I did three last ye...
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Song Review:: X:IN: Hyper- Dazzle Flash

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Release date: 2026 February 20 Album track list:  Dazzle Flash , No Clarity, Coming Home, Who Dat, Dazzle Flash - Instrumental, No Clarity  - Instrumental, Coming Home  - Instrumental, Who Dat  - Instrumental Album runtime: 25 mi nutes  Good news, everyone! This group is so not on Underage protocol that there are multiple members with a one in front of their birth year! And the maknae turned twenty the year they debuted! This is fantastic. I am fascinated with the runtimes though. Ignoring the fact that the title track is just over two and a half minutes for a second, there are two sets of songs that have the same runtime, and they're paired in an ABBA...I almost called it a rhyme scheme, but I suppose it is sort of. But that's the sort of thing that feels deliberate, you know? That scream at the beginning startled my cat. He paused purring for about two seconds, which is momentous because PJ purrs in his sleep. The rest of the instrumental, the occasional screa...
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Song Review:: Hearts2Hearts: RUDE!

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Release date: 2026 February 20 Album track list: RUDE! Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  Hearts2Hearts is one of those groups that have to be on Underage Protocol because the maknae was too young at debut, so I can't listen for another two years. But, that's fine. Also, congrats on the win now that I'm super late, you know? But I am happy about the fact that it's over three minutes. A mild instrumental without it being a weak one. The beat is good, even if it lacks the attitude of the lyrics. There feels like there's a ceiling holding the instrumental from getting any louder or exciting, which isn't necessarily a problem, but the song isn't feisty enough to warrant the ceiling being in the mid-range for both energy and complexity like it is. The sing-songy vocals is an irritating trend, but recently I've been well-fed enough on bigger vocals that I'm able to better tolerate it here. I would have liked it if the song had waited a little bit before that style...
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Music Show Wins:: Week of March 04 - March 10

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  I decided to stick with the girl groups for the extra clips and stages, because IVE has been absolutely dominating lately. And congrats to Hearts2Hearts for their first win for Rude! For the After School Club re-run, I went with 9Muses in 2015, and episode 141! They did a lot on this episode, including showing off the point dance (AKA the pre-cursor to the dance challenge) and having the rappers and the vocalists swap parts. The point dance is the clip embedded here, while the link goes to the full episode because things get a bit weird if I just try to embed the episodes. The old The Show  performance is from 2019, and it's AOA. The extra performance from this week was from Show Champion and I picked X:IN! The links in the spreadsheet go to the reviews I wrote. Show Champion: IVE "BLACKHOLE" MCountdown: Hearts2Hearts "Rude!" Music Bank: IVE "BANG BANG" Show! Music Core:  IVE "BANG BANG" Inkigayo:  IVE "BANG BANG" ASC Performance:...
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