Just A Little Fangirl Love

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...

  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:...

Release date: 2026 March 09 Album track list: Dot dot dot (...); TOUGH LOVE ; Flex on me; Lie; X, Oh Why? Album runtime: 15 mi nutes  My man Onew! Look! I'm actually doing this when it comes out instead of months later like with what happened last time! Everyone, I love his voice. I really do. It's so gorgeous, and while I've found a few other artists who have a similar vocal tone and quality to him, they're pretty far between. I am however deeply disappointed in the runtime for the title track and the album runtime overall does not hit the three minute average. It rounds up to it. This is a very grindy instrumental while simultaneously being soft and floaty. It's an interesting combination. I'm not sure how well this works though, so this might take me a minute to decide on exactly how I feel about it. It could just be that the song doesn't have the space to be able to finish what those two parts of the song could have been together.  Crucially, even during...

Release date: 2026 March 05 Album track list: Still Hurts , Still Hurts, (Inst.) Album runtime: 6 mi nutes  This is the most interesting co-ed group to drop in years, arguably one of the most interesting groups full stop in years. There are two notable K-Pop names in here: Narsha from Brown Eyed Girls and MJ from ASTRO. That right there is a duo to raise eyebrows considering they debuted ten years apart, but to join them are all-rounder entertainer Kwon Hyuksoo and comedian Na Hyunyoung.  I'm getting a very strong second gen vibe from this instrumental, which we get because the debut single includes it. Yay. There are shades of 80s techno as well, which is a delightful combination. There's a strong energy to the song that I'm excited to see how it translates vocally, especially with this combination of artists. Honestly, this instrumental would make for a good workout song if you were in the market for one. Why am I getting Orange Caramel vibes off this song? There's no...

 As messy as her private life has been in the last decade, I wanted to do this song now because it's a good pairing for the one I just did, and also, the second half of this month is going to be very boy group heavy, so I wanted to counter balance that a little. This was also long before any of her messiness back when she was nineteen and had all of those mistakes yet to make, but I don't want to punish this song for her choices. Now, that being said, if her choice of husband has soured all of her music to you, then thank you for reading this paragraph, and I'll let you keep going with your life. You'll like the next one I do though. No scandals attached to it or the artist. Promise. So, HyunA debuted as part of...a lot of different groups. She originally debuted with Wonder Girls in 2007 as the main rapper, then she debuted in 4Minute in 2009 as the main rapper and main dancer. She debuted as one half of the duo Troublemaker, and one third of TripleH. She also debuted ...

Release date: 2026 March 05 Album track list: Siren Song, Hold My Breath , Crying Child, Juliet and Romeo, Forever Yours, Save Your Tears Album runtime: 22 mi nutes  So 7Princess was a 2nd gen kid group (debuted in 2004 at the age of nine), so she's got a bit of experience from a young age and she debuted as a soloist last year in 2025. I obviously missed it. But, I'll cover this one so that if you're interested in getting to know her more, you have a starting point here. Also, while every song is over three minutes long, the title track is an unbelievably fantastic five minutes long.  There's a very dreamy floating to this instrumental. It's steady without being loud, soft without being fluffy. I like the balance here, because it keeps the song in the same sphere as an Enya song, but it lets the vocals be ambitious without being ambitious itself. It just is, with no fuss and nothing to get energetic about. That sort of steadiness is so soothing. It's genuinely ...