Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2026 April 24 Album tracklist: Celebration Album runtime: 2 minutes  I've already heard some mixed reactions for this song, but I tried not to pay too much attention to it because I knew I was going to be doing this and I didn't want the strong opinions to influence whatever conclusion I come to. I do already like the group and am hoping that I like their new album, but I also recognize that I may not, and that's fine. What I'm already not  happy about is the two-and-a-half minute runtime, but that's what I'm coming to expect from HYBE groups because of HYBE's obsession with short songs. They need to back off and let songs have lengths again. The plinking water notes are actually pretty repetitious through that first part, although thankfully, they pause and give us a break from that before coming baleck. It's kind of a weird combination of sounds with this track, because we've got the plinking water notes, and then we've got the sc...

Release date: 2026 April 02 Album tracklist:  appear Album runtime: 3 minutes  Here is the sequence of events for why I'm covering this song now instead of one of the more recent releases that I need to get to. Changsub (former CUBE artist) dropped a single last week that I just covered. Then, because I did that one, Hui's (also former CUBE artist) popped up as one I should listen to on YouTube. So I started that review. In the middle of it, I decided to look up the writing credits to make sure I was correct about Hui being the writer for his song. Well, I noticed that it was mixed and edited at Cube Studio, so I looked them up because that felt a bit odd, and yes, they do seem to be connected to CUBE. So I commented about the oddity to my Stay friend, who asked who was left at Cube. I started listing artists (Shinwon from Pentagon, i-dle, LIGHTSUM, NOWZ, CLC technically and or possibly). She said "I forgot about LIGHTSUM." And then I panicked a little bit because wha...

Release date: 2026 April 27 Album tracklist:  Dear Tomorrow Album runtime: 3 minutes I was about to type that it seems like the former CUBE soloists were just trying to take me out with the soft feels and then the song kicked up its heels and got a bit spunky with the instrumental. We've still got all the instruments I like: piano, violin, and guitar. Plus, we've got the staple triumvirate of the piano, guitar, and drums. I love this, actually. I genuinely do. It's fun, it's bright, it's got that brief soften to let you catch your breath before it drags you laughing back into the chaos of the song. I love his voice so much. I don't know what's in CUBE's water but whatever they do to their artists produces some incredible voices. I'm also half in love with his vibrato because he's got a vibrato like a first or second gen idol, falsetto or chest voice or anywhere in between, which this song has all of. If you want a pretty good introduction to his ...

Release date: 2026 April 23 Album tracklist: Youth Album runtime: 3 minutes  My cousin tried to tell me that his reaction to Changsub meant that my cat hates him. And yet, my cat fell asleep today listening to the sound of his voice and his tail stopped bothering him. This is the cat that growls and hisses while his tail is up and relaxed and also bites to say "I love you." Somewhere he learned weird things. And loves Changsub almost as much as he loves me, theoretically. I never want to put that to the test. Piano and then a soft violin to start a song is always a good choice as far as I'm concerned, but then a guitar joins in, equally softly. This is the kind of song that I think should qualify as a lullaby because while it's got a bit of movement and change throughout, the instrumental is so delicately lulling with the exact right BPM to rock a baby to.  And speaking of lullabies, this is one of Changsub's strengths. He's got such a pleasant timbre and vibr...

Release date: 2026 April 23 Album tracklist: Navi Album runtime: 3 minutes  So good news. The rock band is having a comeback. I'm uncertain if this one is a pre-release or not, but for the moment, I'm leaving this labeled as a digital single. And I don't have to worry about ages. Delightfully. You know, traditional instruments being used in a rock song by a rock band was not on my 2026 kpop bingo sheet, but I'm the exact opposite of upset about it. It's not a sound combination that I thought would have worked, but the flute-like instrument holds its own against the guitar, which is impressive, and while it is a little shrill when it's hitting those higher notes, the difference in texture is just fascinating. That's ignoring how the whole song starts out too, because we've got strings and softness and then it just explodes. Fascinating.  I'm not completely familiar with the vocal techniques I'm hearing, which is great and I love learning new thing...

 For the record, if anyone needed some proof that I am not actually picking what songs I do this month, then this would do it. For starters, I literally just did a Baekhyun post and I would never have chosen to do an EXO song that soon after it. The amount of spacing out I've been doing for the EXID posts should be proof enough for that. Secondly, I've got May planned at least by which songs I'm doing, though the order is still a bit flexible and  I've chosen the first couple of June songs, and in that batch is an EXO song. So, apologies if you want more variety, but if you're an EXO-L, well, you'll enjoy the coverage the next six or so weeks. I decided to pull this song from the Roulette Wheel as well, and as a Carat, I'm sure you can guess what clip will be  included for this one. I feel like I'm legally required. But more importantly, I love this song, so I'm the opposite of mad about getting to yap about how amazing this song is, even if the tim...