August 2024 Wrap-Up: Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

-

 This is going to be the least filled out of these. In the future, I'll be more on top of releases, but considering I started this near the end of the month, I'm going to give myself a pass.

Top Releases of the Month:

  • Moonbyul's Is This Love?- I'm really not joking when I say that if this song isn't one of my top listens of the year, I'm going to be really sad. It's basically perfect and...I want more of this. Give me more interesting musical techniques, I beg of the industry.
  • B.A.P's Gone- I just want to wrap myself up in the song and pretend like everything is okay. Is it? I don't know, but what I do know is the fact that they managed to come back together after all the trauma they went through together, even if they aren't fully back together yet, gives me hope for all the groups that didn't deserve what happened to them (and the handful of my small groups that are struggling right now).

Honorable Mentions:
  • xikers's Tsuki (Lunatic)- I may do a review of this one even though it isn't actually in Korean, but they were my second/third group (depending on how you count) and it feels horrifically disloyal not to mention how much I love this song. Actually, I loved the entire single. All three songs. In fact, I was a teeny bit angry about the fact that it isn't in Korean, because I love it so much more than the Korean title tracks, but I absolutely do not have the time nor inclination to learn Japanese for it. Stunning song. Knew they could do it. (Also, LOOK AT HOW LONG IT IS! IT'S AN ACTUAL SONG!) Ugh, and the music video is so good. It's not complicated or flashy. But it's just such a solid video. Wow. How have they not gotten a win yet?


  • Craxy's Masquerade- A July release it may be, but it's been a repeat offender this month in my listening history. I. Freaking. Love it. Every time it shows up in my extensive playlist, more often than not, I'm putting it on repeat and just vibing to it. I'm a huge Phantom of the Opera fan, and one of my favorite songs is, you guessed it, Masquerade. And this song vibes with that one. 


  • Baekho's Thanksful for You- This is a blast from the past. Part of the NU'EST W debut album (W.Here), I'm pretty sure that this was a Woozi present for all the crap Baekho had gone through in the past year. But also, it's been a comfort listen for me now that the other three members are starting to announce their enlistments, which I'm not handling exceptionally well, but I could be handling this a whole lot worst. He doesn't have the world's most soothing voice, but I also don't know what witchcraft Woozi performed to make him sound like he does. Dunno. It's been a comfort song while I deal with the reality of NU'EST enlisting.


  • TWS's plot twist- I wasn't super sold on plot twist when it was released. I liked it. But I liked other songs from the album more. Really it wasn't until hey! hey! that I found a song to hook me in as a fan. But also, literally watching them perform plot twist at KCon, and hearing the entire audience sing along with them, sent me into tears because of how proud of them I was. And now every time I hear this song, I'm reminded of how proud I am of them. So I've been listening to it a lot. Because I'm really proud of them.

  • SHINee's Everybody- This song is another one that is practically perfect. I was rewatching SHINee World IV and went "Wow. I really love this song." There are several others by SHINee that I'm super down with, but this is the one I had on repeat for like two days this month. It's fine. Carry on.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Greatest Hits:: SHINee: Everybody

-
Image
 Finally a moment to breathe where I can get to this one. This was suggested to me via a Reddit comment by a user who asked me if I'd do this song because I'd mentioned it in my August wrap-up in the honorable mention category. No further details were incoming, but that's okay! In this case, I didn't need any. SHINee is the oldest group I've done so far for a Greatest Hits addition, and Everybody  is also the oldest song I've done so far because it's a month older than Hush . So, reviewer hat off, and fan hat on.  Group : SHINee Debut Date : 2008 May 25 Company : SM Entertainment Status : Active Album : Everybody Song :  Everybody Release Date : 2013 October 14 My city doesn't have a ton of K-Pop things happening, so when things happen, I want to go to them, even if it's for a group I don't know well/listen to as a show of support so we can get more and hopefully for a group I listen to. In the case of SHINee, I knew An Encore , because I heard
Read more

Greatest Hits:: Loona: PTT (Paint the Town)

-
Image
Apparently the random wheel generator likes the fourth generation groups at the moment, which I'm fine with because eventually I'll get to do older groups and that's something I'm very excited about. But, in the meantime, we get a group that I initially became interested in because I really enjoyed watching them dance on Queendom 2. Do I actually know much about them? Nope. But I do know that they have a lot of subunits, like tripleS, and are currently promoting under various subunits and/or as soloists. Group : LOONA Debut Date : 2018 August 19 Company : Blockberry Creative Status : Inactive (there are no members remaining at the company, but they were not officially disbanded; additionally, the members have expressed a desire to perform together again) Album : [&] Song :  PTT (Paint The Town) Release Date : 2021 June 28 This song apparently marks the return of leader Haseul! There's usually an immense sense of relief from the members when one who was on hiatus
Read more

Greatest Hits:: B.A.P: Feel So Good

-
Image
 We're heading back to 2016 for this one, and that album cover is so unlike anything else they put out that obviously I had to go with this title track. I like the bright colors and the cheer and the amount of fun there.  And if you want goofy, that music video is unrepentantly so. This song was apparently them taking a break from their dark songs, which, as much as I like dark songs, I really, really love goofy ones just as much.  Group : B.A.P (Best Absolute Perfect) Debut Date : 2012 January 26 Company : TS Entertainment Status : Disbanded (2019 February 18)/ Reformed (2024 June 12) Album : Carnival Song : Feel So Good Release Date : 2016 February 22 You know what? I feel like some screenshots are in order because no one should miss out on these moments. For all the fans out there, in case you happen to have forgotten, this was the one where Zelo had the rainbow pigeon poop hair. Which, you will be reminded of shortly.  I know that I have the music video right there , but there
Read more

Song Review::ITZY: Gold- Imaginary Friend

-
Image
Release date: 2024 October 15 Album tracklist:  GOLD , Imaginary Friend , Bad Girls R Us, Supernatural, Five, Vay (Feat. Changbin of Stray Kids), Born to Be (Final Ver.), Untouchable (Final Ver.), Mr. Vampire (Final Ver.), Dynamite (Final Ver.), Escalator (Final Ver.) Album runtime: 34 minutes  I was actually looking forward to this music video dropping, because as much as I love the title track, I was always surprised by how much I like this song every time it plays. Is there a genre of rock for haunted rock? Because if there is, this is it. If there isn't, well, there is now. It's eerie in a comforting, energetic sort of way. The tone of whatever is going on with the instrumentals is established at the very beginning, and it is carried through to the end of the song, even though more present instruments help to ground the song, but the drums in particular aren't always where I'd expect.  Their singing is absolutely gorgeous. The melody is beautiful. Their harmonies ar
Read more

Song Review:: Jin (BTS): Happy- Running Wild {Debut}

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 15 Album tracklist:  Running Wild ,  I'll Be There , Another Level, Until I Reach You, Heart on the Window , In Longing Album runtime: 17 minutes  This wasn't my first post for the day solely because I wanted to make sure that whatever I said for the last post of yesterday's didn't influence my feelings on this song too much, so I gave my self a buffer. Also, I didn't find out until I woke up that BigHit also had released the music video at least while I was still awake, so that's something I'll keep track of in the future. Happy solo debut, Jin! Congrats! I hope everything goes well. That is an uncomfy run time, and there's only one song out of the six that's over 3 minutes, which is even more alarming when also looking at labelmates' Tomorrow x Together's runtime for their most recent album. Why, BigHit? It's another rock song from him, which I'm genuinely loving, but it also reminds me a lot of video gam
Read more

Song Review:: Stray Kids: GIANT- GIANT {Japanese}

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 13 Album tracklist: GIANT , Chk Chk Boom -Japanese ver.-, NIGHT, Falling Up, WHY?, Saiyan, Aiwokuretanoninaze, Christmas Love, NIGHT -English ver.-, Falling Up -English ver.- Album runtime: 31 minutes  Even though I don't do a lot of the Japan releases, my Stay friend asked me if I would do this one. And so I shall! And I deeply approve of the run time. Ah, industrial music. It's the pinging and clanging of metal that makes me smile fondly, which is likely due to the fact that while I was watching the movie Looper  with commentary (because that's what I, a movie nerd, do in my spare time), they were talking about making the music and going out and recording in a parking garage, I think, sounds while banging different bits of metal together to get the specific sounds that Rian Johnson, the director, wanted with the music. The last time I watched it with commentary was prior to The Last Jedi  coming out, so I may be misremembering specifics. But th
Read more

Song Review:: Hui (feat. Jang Hye Jin) (Pentagon): Nameless

-
Image
Release date: 2024 October 06 Album tracklist: Nameless Album runtime: 5 minutes  Hui has dropped a new single!! His voice is absolutely incredible, and I'm three-quarters in love with it. That's all. Carry on. Oh, and he's got an incredible producer ear too. Forgot to mention that part. I love it when piano gets the main stage in songs, almost as much as I love acapella. And I get both in this song. But not only is the piano front and center in the instrumentals, but there are strings . There's audience participation snapping on the beat in a section, quiet and subtle unless you're looking for it. But the absolute swell of music in the most cinematic way he could have gone dominates the second half of the properly lengthened song, only for the instrumentals to stop to let their voices bloom and glow. I'm really struggling to focus on the instrumentals here because their voices bring tears to the eyes, and everything about the instrumentals enhances their voices
Read more

Song Review:: Kep1er: TIPI-TAP- TIPI-TAP

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 01 Album tracklist: sync-love, TIPI-TAP , Drip, Bitter Taste, Heart Surf Album runtime: 14 minutes  Kep1er and their fans have had to deal with a bit this last year regarding the contract negotiations and whether or not there would be a group afterwards. It's always a stressful time, though doubly so for a project group that isn't designated a permanent one. But, although there has been a line-up change, happily the group has survived. And there isn't a single song on the album over 3 minutes. This song sounds a lot like fromis_9's most recent title track, Supersonic , which I liked, though I wish the members had been give more to work with. The same is more or less true for TIPI-TAP , although the parts of Supersonic's  instrumentals that I really liked are missing and that leaves the entire thing flat and nearly lifeless. At least it's got a low bass to ground it. I appreciate that. None of this is to say that the song doesn't s
Read more

Battle of the B-Sides: Jin (BTS): Heart on the Window

-
Image
 My first BBS request! I just saw some of the memes being made about their performance and the amount of space between Wendy and Jin, and I just have to say that they're hilarious and the amount of trolling I'm seeing from the fans gives me life. The timing is actually really helpful for me to get into fan mindset. This request comes from a user on Reddit, who simply said there was too much, they were obsessed, and then linked me to an appreciation post they'd done. This is what I like to see, and it gave me a very good place to start: Jin and Wendy's voices. As a side note, Jin really does have the perfect trot voice. This isn't even in that genre or anywhere approaching it, but that honestly doesn't change this fact about him. If he's willing to give us more trot or trot-adjacent, I'd be a happy camper and eat it up. Heart on the Window comes from Jin's debut album and is the fifth track between a soft rock ballad and a full fat ballad. With the t
Read more

Song Review:: ATEEZ: Golden Hour : Part.2- Ice On My Teeth

-
Image
Release date: 2024 November 15 Album tracklist: Deep Dive, Scene 1 : Value, Ice On My Teeth , Man on Fire, Selfish Waltz, Enough  Album runtime: 17 minutes  Because of the heavyweights releasing albums today, and because KQ has a fantastic track record of releasing albums when I'm still awake, I'm going to review this one now to give enough space to both it and the other releases for today. Ooh, I'm excited for this one as it's the first comeback (that isn't a Japanese release) since I saw them in concert. For the record, the two that surprised me the most with their raw levels of charisma that had me fully entranced were Seonghwa and Yunho, so with that new awareness, I'm a little nervous. Okay. Let's do it. The album runtime would be a lot closer to an average of three minutes if it wasn't for Scene 1 : Value  being only about a minute long.  Violin! Violin alert! There are a couple of spots where it almost sounds like a fiddle, even if realistically i
Read more