Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2024 November 04 Album tracklist: Easy Lover , Easy Lover (Inst.) Album runtime: 5 minutes  When I was going through the comeback list for today, I saw a name that immediately put stress in my soul, and I promptly texted my Stay friend to ask which one that name would belong to, as there are two artists I know of with the name Park Jinyoung: GOT7's and JYPapi himself. I was not lucky. But, it would have happened eventually. This is like doing a review of a new H.O.T. or Baby V.O.X song. Like, what do I do with this?  My best to be honest is what I'm going to do with this. It's fine. I'm fine. I've never had imposter syndrome before, and I'm not going to start now. Every time I look at this man's face, I just picture Taec whispering, "JYP." Really. It's fine. Except those song lengths are deeply disappointing from him. This is the gospel version of a Jackson5 song. I genuinely don't have any other way to describe this song. I a

Release date: 2024 November 04 Album tracklist: Heaven, Over The Moon , Danger, Resist (Not Gonna Run Away), Forty One Winks, Higher Than Heaven Album runtime: 15 minutes  Ah, yes. One of my March debuts. They're also one of my groups that I worry about due to potential overworking, and Hueningkai's recent health issues at the concert hasn't helped that. They've been all over the place this year, which is sort of good because that means more fans can see them, but also worrisome. They need to be better taken care of.  Oh, good heavens. What is that album length? That was rounded up, which makes it an average song length of less than two and a half minutes. Apparently, the producers took "mini" album a bit too literally. What happened to the days of three minute songs? I'd like an average length of four, but I fear that's too much to ask. Has shrinkflation affected song lengths  as well? None of the members have even a writing credit on Over The Moon ,

Release date: 2024 November 04 Album tracklist:  CALL BACK,  Slow Down, FIREWORKS, Came And Left Me, Something About U, Round Kick, Affection, I Don't Miss You,  Because Of You,  Would You Mind Album runtime: 31 minutes  And with this marks the last active member of SHINee to release an album in the latter half of this year. Most excitingly for him, this is his first full album! Whoo! A quiet 박수 for him because my dog is asleep, and I don't want to wake him. They've all been busy bees, and if I am allowed to be a little bit greedy, I'd like as much of a full group album as I can get in the next couple of months, but I also understand if that's not feasible. But! Regardless, the Shawols have been well fed the last little bit, and I'm grateful for that for them. Minho also teamed up with Sohee of RIIZE on FIREWORKS  as well as Ningning of aespa on Because Of You . I know that both groups are very impressive in their own right, but Minho has at least twelve years s

Release date: 2023 August 24 Album tracklist: Starlight , Crazy Love Album runtime: 7 minutes I know literally nothing about this group other than they're a fourth gen girl group. That's it. I have a single song of theirs (it hilariously happens to be this one) in my Junk Drawer playlist, which is filled with songs I just haven't gotten around to listening to, so this will be a nice treat, and also my very first impression of the group. So let's get to it! The song is plagued by much of the same trends that are still going on with girl groups, but this time with a space theme so the airy, floaty vibes actually make sense. One of the cool things about this song is the fact that it takes advantage of a dual speaker system to make the sound of the song bigger without adding anything or actually affecting the volume in anyway. Plus, the song has some very distinct science fiction warbling and warping, and the section where that becomes very blatant is also where the song en

I don't actually know much about this group other than they're a JYP group and some very general details. I think one of their songs was covered on a survival show I've seen, which doesn't help. (This is also proof of the random wheel generator because if I was going to go with a second gen girl group, I'd have gone with After School or ChoColat or SNSD. I like my Pledis groups, SNSD is legendary, and I'm just a huge fan of ChoColat and they deserved more). So let's go back to 2013 and take a look at Hush , shall we? Group : miss A Debut Date : 2010 July 01 Company : JYP Entertainment Status : Disbanded (2017 December 27) Album : Hush Song :  Hush Release Date : 2013 November 06 In miss A's discography, there are few songs that stand out like Hush  does. Not only is it a return to the brash and bold sound of their rookie days, but that chorus is incredibly catchy. The entire song is and manages to get away with repetitive lyrics that from a different gro

Release date: 2024 November 03 Album tracklist:  Aftereffect , Aftereffect (inst.) Album runtime: 7 minutes  Grim Reaper boy from Build Up! Their performance of Pray lives in my head rent free. Also, I shouldn't call him that because he is technically two years older than I am, but if I ever meet him, I'll be more respectful. Until then, he gets that nickname.  I love his voice. Yowza. Also, that is what we call a proper song length. I'm very happy that I can listen to just the instrumentals on their own because I have a feeling that I'll be thoroughly distracted by his voice once I listen to the song as a whole. And honestly, this is so cinematic that I can almost picture the movie it came from. Starting off with the mellowness of the piano and whatever the hollower instrument is gives the song a melancholy air, but when the percussion and the strings enter the scene, the swell of music turns the melancholy into determination. There is a sorrow to it still, but the bu

Release date: 2024 September 06 Album tracklist: Watch Out,  Witch , BACK OFF,  Bittersweet , Sandcastle , Hang Around Album runtime: 17 minutes  Did my favorite track from the album get a video? Yes, indeed it did, which means it qualifies for a review. Also, I apparently decided on this one as my favorite right at the moment of writing this, so yay, me? But mostly yay, roadys! In the world of xikers's discography, a mellow instrumental track is a rare thing, which makes it all the more precious. The thumping of the drums is notable during the chorus and the refrain especially, because of their prominence. Even though there is percussion in other sections, the drums here go hard and there's very little else happening in the instrumentals to take away from that sound, as well as their voices. It's a xikers song so it can't be completely mellow (at least not yet, I'm waiting for a ballad), but it's mellow enough that this is their hug song. In light of the fact t

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

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

Release date: November 1 Album tracklist:  CLIK CLAK ;  DRIP ; Love Maybe; Really Like You;  BILLIONAIRE; Love in My Heart; Woke Up In Tokyo; FOREVER; BATTER UP (Remix) Album runtime: 28 minutes  Apparently the highlight thing for the album has mixed reviews. I wasn't particularly fond of Click Clak , but that's through no fault of the members, and I'm not holding that song against this one. The instrumentals have a very similar sound to G-Dragon's recent release  Power , which is an interesting thing to hear when I know he's got writing credits somewhere. And like Power , this one should bother me a lot more than it does, but it doesn't, and I don't know why. There's a section in the instrumentals where I think it got sampled from another song, and I know the song, but I have no idea what it's called. It's the one that gets attached specifically to basketball games in movies and shows and stuff. Oh good heavens, the power belting. Be still, my s

Release date: 2024 November 01 Album tracklist: Please Stay Album runtime: 3 minutes  So, last night, I was looking up what the members of Shinhwa have been doing lately, because I would love to see them release a new album, but I'll likely have to wait for another anniversary album. Which is fine. Anyway, as I was looking in to them, I found out that the maknae, Andy, has been busy with groups! (Also, it wouldn't surprise me if he named the company after their first financial success, which is a fabulous song and I love it). He had both TEEN TOP and UP10TION, which is super exciting for me to discover because I like both of those groups. Why do I bring them up? Because ODD YOUTH is the latest group to debut from one of the OGs of K-Pop and join their older brothers, MCND, as one of the active groups under TOP MEDIA. I do have to decide on if I can listen to this group, if I end up liking them though, because yes, the maknae is 16 and yes, they don't have majority adult mem

Release date: 2024 October 31 Album tracklist: Please Stay Album runtime: 3 minutes  OUR HEALERS ARE BACK. It's only four of them, but four is better than none. I can feel my skin clearing already. And they are the youngest group in the Battle of the B Groups today, though they are the middle child in terms of age. It also irritates me that BTOB seems to get a lot of "You're too old to be idols" comments, and have for a few years now. It's not fine, but I'm ignoring it because they have it handled. This wasn't what we were promised earlier in the year, but honestly, who cares? This is BTOB's first release, even as a partial group, since they left CUBE just under a year ago, and I'm very much looking forward to what the healers have to give us with this first single of several they have planned. The guitar takes front and center focus, even with the drums and keyboard. As that's one of the instruments Hyunsik plays, I'm not surprised by this

  Release date: 2024 October 31 Album tracklist: Room, Feel Me,  Love Bomber ,  TWIST YA , Muazigyoung, Different Night (feat. GODOK, Ken), Peter Fan Album runtime: 20 minutes This is the second oldest of the B groups to have a song released today, though the youngest member out of the members of the various groups participating in the releases, and the second soloist of the bunch. AKA, Moon is two years younger than Peniel, who is the youngest member of BTOB that also dropped a single today. Too bad Baekho of NU'EST couldn't have dropped something today too, as well as someone from EXO. We could have had a major 2012 reunion. Ah, well. It's probably for the best. This way, things are still weirdly balanced in the tripod of BIGBANG, BAP, and BTOB. I'm deeply disappointed by that runtime. What is this nonsense. We're getting some major futuristic vibes with the synthwave instrumentals here, and the way they build and layer on each other gives it a very eerie feeling.

Release date: 2024 October 31 / TBA Album tracklist:  Power Album runtime: TBA minutes  If anyone has the earned right to just casually drop a pre-release single with very little warning, and without telling us when the album is coming out other than presumably sometime next month, it's him. I also decided to do the Battle of the B Groups today (because apparently the Spirit of Halloween shunted us all back in time) in debut order, so I'm starting with G-Dragon of BIGBANG first. Which is funny because he's also the oldest one of the bunch, by only a couple of years. Bro needs no introduction. Well, he introduces himself in the song. But other than that. I don't like the runtime for this song, and I'm a little disappointed in him for that. Initially, I didn't like the instrumentals. But it took me about halfway through the first listen before I realized I was actually vibing to the song. I don't know what happened, and frankly it's a little disconcerting.

 October is my Spookening month, my favorite month of the year. It also marks the anniversary of my first K-Pop performance that I saw! Thank you for coming, NINE.i! Also, once more, I want to thank you all for reading any of the reviews thus far. You are all lovely and amazing, and I hope you always have a cool side to your pillow.  I'm also already seeing the personal benefits of doing this, namely how distracted I am from the recent enlistments and the upcoming ones across groups. There is a lot to be doing, and a lot to be paying attention to. So, let's get to it! Starting off with my space to be indulgent and a fan, as I sit here sipping from my Seventeen tumbler and wearing a NU'EST shirt, there were some releases that I've been looking forward to for months, one that might qualify as a historic occasion, and some that definitely piqued my interest more than others. Google already thinks I'm obsessed with only G-Dragon. There is only G-Dragon. (I have exactly