Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2025 February 20 Album tracklist: Bluebird , Winter (unreleased) Album runtime: 5 minutes  I recently rewatched the recorded day of the MCountdown Stage for KCon LA. It was a few weeks ago, but that included her stage with Hyolin, who I've already decided is one of my favorite soloists to come from a group I don't currently listen to. She has a really good stage presence. I was impressed. I also don't know a lot about her, so I'm going to have to look her up a little. Full soloist and has never been with a group, I don't think. Younger sister who also joined the industry. Cool. The run time of this single does make me twitch a little, but I suppose it's fine. Ah, so we're going for the indie-esque with the solo guitar and the soft, rasping vocals. Audience participation snapping gets added, which brings me as much joy as everyone expects, though it doesn't stay. Percussion of some sort also gets added, as does an organ, but it never fully l...

Release date: 2025 February 24 Album track list: I DO ME Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  So this is a pre-debut release, which is something that I generally support. It's a good way to drum up interest from the public before the full debut happens, and gives potential fans something they can use to test the group before they commit. It's almost like a full scene trailer for a movie. And in this case, with the group being a March debut which I gravitate towards for an unknown reason, I'm tentatively excited about this group. But, as they're a debut, I have to check on ages. Debuting under Starship, that makes them IVE's younger sisters. The eldest is eighteen, turning nineteen this year, so that's okay. The maknae, however, turned fourteen two months ago, which is deeply infuriating. So I'm going to underage protocol, which means they get one listen for instrumentals, one for vocals, and at most two for the music video. Also, judging by the Hangeul, the group name...

Release date: 2025 February 18 Album tracklist: TIME 2 SHINE , MY LOVE , LOVERS OR JUST FRIENDS Album runtime: 9 minutes  Yes, I remember this group. This is the group I thought would be more like xikers than TWS, and I was very wrong about that. Or at least I was with the last song they released that I covered. I don't know how indicative of their general sound OUR DAYS  was, but I liked that one. So here we are supporting the adults at debut once more. Also, this is for the title track. I now also understand why I had two XODIAC drafts sitting there. So the pre-release has been re-added to the draft list. I'm also sensing a theme with the song titles.  I've mentioned this before in other reviews, but Final Fantasy X  is my favorite video game and  I love the soundtrack so much that I bought it. I've ironically finished the sequel more times than I have that one, because I'm a chronic restarter (though those numbers are once and twice, respectively). So, to tha...

Release date: 2025 March 07 Album track list: Intro : JANE with FKJ, like JENNIE, start a war, Handlebars (feat. Dua Lipa), with the IE (way up), ExtraL (feat. Doechii), Mantra , Love Hangover (feat. Dominic Fike ), ZEN , Damn Right, F.T.S, Filter, Seoul City, Starlight, twin Album runtime: 40 mi nutes  I wasn't going to just because of how swamped I am, but Jennie got a win on a music show, and so I must review this to follow my pattern. So this is the second pre-release from this album, which comes out in about a week from time of posting this. My apologies that I didn't do this one already. Timing was bad.  It takes a full thirty seconds for the instrumentals to do something more than a drum set with a heavy emphasis on the cymbals. At least the song is three minutes long, so those thirty seconds only take up about a sixth of the total time. But generally, the instrumentals feel a little bit too much like they're stuck in the same band of sound or type of instruments bei...

Release date: 2025 February 25 Album track list: HOME SWEET HOME (feat. Taeyang and Daesung) , POWER , TOO BAD , DRAMA, IBELONGIIU, TAKE ME, BONOMANA, GYRO-DROP Album runtime: 18 mi nutes  There are a lot of earlier releases that are higher up in my draft list. So many. So very many. But my music show wins senses are tingling so I'm just going to get this one out of the way now because it's likely that I'll be needing it. The king is back. Long live the king. In all seriousness, that fact that G-Dragon is returning to K-Pop after so long away from it and after everything that has happened with a certain former member whose name we don't mention and also T.O.P, as well as everything he's been accused of the last little bit. BIGBANG has not been a lucky group. Insanely talented, but not lucky. Also, why is everything capitalized... I'm genuinely surprised by how minimalistic these instrumentals are through most of the song. It's a pleasant surprise, if I'm...

  ...There will be a link to the review for Jennie and Dominic's song review when I post it tomorrow. I wasn't paying attention to the music shows this week. My apologies. As always, the links in the chart below go directly to my reviews. Moving on, I was so excited for Show Champion to resume their episodes, and this week, I was mightily disappointed. I think this is the last Triple Crown that IVE can get for Rebel Heart , at least with the shows that are currently airing, and that's genuinely impressive. On ASC, we had the rookie group (and kids considering five of the seven are seventeen or younger) ARrc, who reminded me a little bit of labrador puppies. I don't know if I've said this before, but I'm actually really grateful for After School Club and Simply K-Pop for giving an extra space specifically for the rookies and the groups with smaller fandoms a space to show off when they have comebacks. They need these opportunities.  Show Champion: N/A MCountdown...

Release date: 2025 February 18 Album track list:  The Stranger , Night Tale, Nothing but a stranger (ON Team Ver.), Anti Hero (OFF Team Ver.), Good Place, Collab Album runtime: 18 mi nutes  FINALLY I HAVE GOTTEN TO THIS ONE. Spotify has been yelling at me to listen to this song. YouTube has been yelling at me. Instagram has been yelling at me. The members have been throwing content at me. And it's not like I wasn't intending to listen to it! Beautiful Shadow from last year was fully 1000% a no-skip for me, so why wouldn't I get to this album? Oh, boy. As soon as this started up, my foot started tapping. So that's where we're at right now. I'm reminded strongly of Play That Funky Music  and I think it just generally reminds me of the 70s. I'm just generally enjoying this for them. It's fun and funky, not as dramatic as I generally like, but the song still has some very smooth instrumentals and very much of the makes you want to dance with the song. Also, ...

Release date: 2025 February 10 Album track list:  ROMANCE Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  The PENTAGON maknae has dropped his first solo music of the year! Whoo! I'm curious about when he's going to release a mini album, because so far I think he's only released singles, but that's still okay. My volume was up much too high for this song. Rock. Okay. Heavy electric guitar and drums here. There are moments where the instrumentals back off, which allows the lyrics to seem a lot softer, which shows that this is actually a really good show of technical skill, so kudos to the writers. But, otherwise, a solid entry into the genre. His voice suits this genre astonishingly well. Put this man in a rock band pronto. That's it. That's all I've got. I'm kind of half in love with his voice now, so this is something that I have to process. Normally, because he doesn't have a very strong variation going on in this song, though there are bursts of power, I'd be whini...

Release date: 2025 February 13 Album track list: Killer (feat. Jae Chong), Coincidence Album runtime: 8 mi nutes  Y'all. Baby V.O.X dropped new music (sort of but not technically) for the first time since 2016. This is legitimately one of the OG girl groups, older than all of the members of ATEEZ, the same age or older than all of the members of Stray Kids. We would not have K-Pop as we do without them. I was just glancing through the list of new releases and I saw this. Now, granted, these are re-releases of their old songs (one from 1999 and the other from 2002, which again are older than some of the members of entire K-Pop groups, which is crazy to think about), and neither of them have an accompanying music video, so I basically flipped a coin about which to cover on here from this single. Now, you could argue, "Fangirl, if they didn't actually release new music and there's no new music video, like with Fiestar, then why are you doing this when you have other songs...

Release date: 2025 February 18 Album track list: nu kidz, loop.dll, accident ~ at the studio, alien in Seoul, connected Album runtime: 16 mi nutes  So I'm having to move up my planned review of this because they're going to be on ASC, so I need that review done for my pattern to hold up. I’m not actually sure that I've ever done a review for them, and I'm not sure I've ever heard them before. So this should be interesting. But that also means I get to do a quick check up on the group. Unfortunately, due to the number of members that were underage at debut, this is a group I can't listen to on my own time until the maknae is eighteen. Good news, that's next year. Bad news, five of the seven at debut were seventeen or younger. That seems a little excessive. I'm writing this one on my phone as well, so pardon any errors. I'll take a look at it when I get back home. There's something really familiar about these instrumentals, like there's another...

Release date: 2025 February 17 Album track list:  Gimme Love Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  With what I'm assuming is probably a digital single, POW has officially stepped into 2025. Their singles I covered last year, and it's a little crazy I've been doing this long enough that I'm starting to see repeat names, were enjoyable and a little surprising. Full disclosure, I'm writing this on my phone at an airport, so if there are any mistakes, I'll try to catch them, but assume it was autocorrect and I'll go back over it when I'm back home. We've got the standard guitar and drums for the instrumentals, soft, mellow, and wholly fitting for the topic at hand. This is one of those super soft love songs that speak of the peace one finds with a partner who understands. We get some audience participation snapping that could very much function as audience participation clapping. Much in line with the instrumentals, their voices are so soft. This is the kind of son...

Release date: 2025 February 17 Album track list: My Memory , My Memory (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 mi nutes  My man, Hui. Apparently there's a twentieth Hallyu anniversary that he released a song for. I don't know what this whole thing is. His is the only release I've seen for it. I don't know. But regardless of what this is, Hui is one of those that I'll automatically and immediately add to my list, if I don't automatically do the review. Obviously, I didn't get it done right away, since this came out just under a week ago, but we're moving in the correct direction. Progress. And also, I'm really excited to listen to this song. Haven't yet, because I've been waiting to do this review. And good heavens, a four minute song. Hui. You spoil me. This is why you're my PENTAGON bias. That and your voice has an instant calming effect on my brain. Violin taking center stage with a piano right behind it and other orchestral instruments behind that. O...

Release date: 2025 February 10 Album tracklist : HOT MESS , Birthday, Love Like That, CROWN, Youth, Keshiki - Korean Version Album runtime: 19 minutes  This one is a little bit earlier than the ones that I've been doing recently, which makes me sad because I thought I was making progress and getting later  in the month, instead of earlier. But it's fine. At this point, the entirety of the group is at least eighteen, the youngest actually turns nineteen this year, so that's good. Project group formed from Boys Planet trainees, including Keita! Which is exciting! I liked him! But the length of the title track? Really? What is this? That beginning startled both me and my cat. Goodness. This song is chock full of energy from start to finish, a veritable runaway train. But like. Also if the runaway train wasn't going at breakneck speed? It doesn't make me feel out of breath listening to it, in other words. There's also a lot going on with the various instruments, to ...

Release date: 2025 February 12 Album track list:  한걸음만 , Hoodie,  한걸음만 - Instrumental, Hoodie - Instrumental Album runtime: 14 mi nutes  I had to check YouTube for which track of the two was the title track, and neither of them has a music video, so I picked the one that had a visualizer come out first. 한걸음만 also doesn't seem to have an English translation, so any time I refer to the title of this song, I will be using the name over in the parentheses. I'm lazy and that's not how I'm choosing to practice Korean right now. Hello, Just B. Glad to see you putting out music. This is their second that they've released so far this year, which currently makes their track record a new song or more once a month.  Ooh, this is nice and cinematic. Soft rock ballad, here I come to settle into this. I can't decide which part of the movie this would be in, but it's definitely something emotional, like the confession moment not in a romcom or the moment when the hero, bea...

Release date: 2025 February 13 Album tracklist: moonwalk , moonwalk - inst. Album runtime: 4 minutes  The time has come. This has been sitting in my drafts, titled but otherwise unused since the song came out. If you remember, the last time he released a song , I basically had it reviewed within a couple of hours. This time I was so far behind that I didn't dare skip the line because then it would simply be chaos. So I haven't listened to it yet, and also partially because I had a feeling that it would devastate me, which was kind of confirmed by my mother who today asked me if I'd listened to it yet and then told me to make sure I had tissues. She has wonderful timing, dearest readers. Still, it's not on purpose that I am doing the reviews for both Changsub and Ilhoon one right after the other. They released songs about the same time that I learned about at about the same time, so their started drafts for me to do in order were right next to each other. Really. That...

Release date: 2025 February 14 Album tracklist:  Feel The Groove Album runtime: 3 minutes   Finally I can get to my cat's ult bias .  Which is Changsub. In case you didn't catch that. He seriously loves this man's voice and I genuinely do not understand how my demon child who loves horror movies can love the balladeers of BTOB so much, but specifically Changsub. I asked T'Challa once if he would abandon me if he ever met Changsub and he screamed at me. I'm taking that as a yes, feral demon child that he is. So, congrats to Changsub for taming the wild beast. And sadly that's not a metaphor. T'Challa was feral when I got a hold of him and some days I think he'd like to ignore the last seven years and go back to that. After this review, I'll have to put this on for him.  Oh, you're just going to casually throw around an organ? That's fine. Bring on the funk, Changsub. I'm reminded quite a lot of one of the tracks from Final Fantasy X  with ...

 This one is for my personal indulgences, because I wanted something first gen and I wanted something fairly recent. So, I'm going with Queen BoA, all hail the queen. The song does turn five this year, so it's not completely recent, but she's also got her 25th anniversary this year and I'm hoping she releases something for that. She also debuted at the age of thirteen, but we're not going to talk about that because then I'll be a little too filled with The Rage on her behalf and these are supposed to be not-rage-filled moments. This song comes from BoA's tenth studio album, Better, released in 2020 to mark her twentieth anniversary. Eleven tracks, of which Start Over is the ninth, for a total of thirty-eight minutes. Produced by SM the Dude and Marcus Andersson (who has produced for LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, Demi Levato, and VCHA, among others) and written by Lee Seu Ran (who has written for BTS, TxT, IVE, Everglow, NCT, Super Junior, and GOT7, among others), Rosi...

Release date: 2025 February 14 Album tracklist:  Wonderland , Unusal, Flashlight Album runtime: 11 minutes  Independent and self-founded company? Well, they debuted under a different one, left within the year, and founded their own company, and this is their first album under their new company. Two of the members are former members of X:IN and Melody Pink. The maknae turns 24 this year, and the eldest turns 27, so they're fully adults at this point, which, again, is something that I'm incredibly supportive of. Wishing you all the best, I:MOND. Ticking clock is a good way to start this. I thought this was going to be soft and fluffy, but there are shades of GFRIEND and AOA to the group. The mellow, R&B-esque sections have a rolling rhythm that both propel the momentum forward and slide seamlessly between the higher energy dance pop. They're surprisingly well-done instrumentals that move without sharp breaks, because even when the energy drops, it builds back up quickly b...

  Release date: 2025 February 12 Album tracklist: High Alone Album runtime: 3 minutes  It feels like just last week GOT7 was having their full group comeback post-military discharge. And while I think that we've still got the maknae to go, though that's mostly just a guess on my part and I could be wrong, it was relieving to see them doing one on principle. Now, Jackson has dropped himself a single, which I'm curious about. I don't know that I've heard any of his solo stuff before, so this should be rather interesting. This is also marked E for explicit, so I'll be sure to let you know in what capacity that is warranted. There's a fine line between water instrumentals and space instrumentals, but I'm pretty sure that this one falls under water instrumentals. There's a density to the echoey instrumentals that feels more of water than space. The garbled static at the beginning is well-utilised to bring to mind old radio shows, but the rest of the song...

Release date: 2025 February 13 Album tracklist: Time limit ,  君は輝いている (Kun Wa Kagayaite Iru) , Time limit - Instrumental,  君は輝いている (Kun Wa Kagayaite Iru)  - Instrumental Album runtime: 14 minutes  Look, I scream it from the rooftops enough, but if you're going to give me a group that disbands and then reforms or reunites, even under a different name, I'm going to love them automatically out of the probably misguided hope that NU'EST follows suit. Not that I didn't already like the limited songs I've heard from them. And now I find out that Boyfriend did in fact actually get their name back? Also, fun fact, between Seventeen, NU'EST, and Boyfriend, we've got a grand total of 10 members of the 95z. Boyfriend also gets some renown for having a set of identical twins, which is cool but stressful for those of us who can't tell identical twins apart. Although, this release is actually in Japanese, but you know what? I'm not picky. This is the exact situati...

  Sometimes a group win forces me to write a review because this is the pattern that I've established. So it was this week. I still don't know how I feel about it, but the song was really good and deservedly won, even though I don't know how to classify it. We also had our first Show Champion  win of the year, so that's almost a full set of music shows! And a Triple Crown! On After School Club, we had ALL(H)OURS on. They had a moment where I was concerned that one of them just sat down and for kicks and giggles counted how many times the word "gimme" is said in that song. You may be shocked at the number. No spoilers here. Also, I was seriously rooting for that maknae during the game. And one of them is almost exactly nine years younger than me. Show Champion: Plave "Dash" (note: rather than a performance here, I'll give you the winning interview)  MCountdown: IVE "Attitude"  Music Bank: IVE "Rebel Heart" (note: this is from 2...

Release date: 2025 February 03 Album tracklist: Chroma Drift, Dash , RIZZ, Island, 12:32 (A to T) Album runtime: 17 minutes  I wasn't originally going to do a review for this group because I don't know where to put them in my mental classifications (I had to work really hard as a kid to learn that animation = not real because I believed literally everything was real until I was about seven, which also coincided with my realization that I couldn't actually visit Jurassic Park, so I struggle with the idea of a virtual group in general), but because this song got a win on a music show, I kind of have to for the pattern I've established. So, here we are, although I honestly don't mind being forced to do a review because of my pattern. PLAVE is a virtual group using motion capture that debuted in 2023. And that's all I've got for you on that end. I apologize for the rambling thus far. I'm assuming the real people are all adults for my own sanity, but I also h...

  Release date: 2025 February 12 Album tracklist: Creepin', Salty (with Sunmi), Loyal, STRESS , Beat of My Heart, Even Steven (Happy Ending), Thanks for the Memories, Still a Rose Album runtime: 24 minutes  Hello. Yes. I am tired. A weekend of fan meetings that were livestreamed, which happen in the middle of the night where I live, and my sleeping schedule has been badly impacted. So I'm hoping my coherency is there for this. Also, it's been bothering me since I added this to my drafts so that I'd write this review about where I knew her name, because a quick search didn't spark why specifically I knew her name. Member of I.O.I wasn't exactly helpful because I don't know that group other than being the older sister project group to Wanna One and part of the impetus for the NU'EST members to join up for season 2 (because of the Pledis trainees). I wasn't until I looked at her discography to find this song that I finally understood why I recognized he...

 I haven't done a lot of the Big 3 groups in these, which is fine. I like that because while they've done a lot of groups, they haven't done all the groups and there are a lot of very good groups that aren't from one of the Big 3 companies. But I'm also not going to discriminate against a bigger group because though they've had more opportunities to grow because of the weight behind them, that doesn't mean they don't also deserve their renown. And so, thank you to whoever tossed Red Velvet at me from The Form. They're one of those groups that while I haven't heard a lot of their songs, the ones I have heard, I've loved ( Red Flavor is my absolute jam), so this opportunity for me to deep dive into one I haven't heard is awesome. Also, find me surprised that while looking up this song, I found out that the group did an OST for Hotel Del Luna , which was almost the second K-Drama I ever watched and could have sent me on an entirely differen...

Release date: 2025 February 10 Album tracklist: Jelly Bean Album runtime: 3 minutes  You know, this is likely a contributing factor to why Allen and Taeyoung weren't on ASC this last week. Huh. I'm glad that I have an explanation now, even if it's not the correct one. I don't like not knowing things. I love things like whistles in songs. They bring me a lot of joy because they add an element of audience participation to the songs, and I love places where that occurs. And, honestly, I'd slotted this song into being representative of the genre, despite those lovely whistles, but then the big, dramatic bursts of instrumental happened. That's exactly the kind of music I particularly like, even though I know that not all music can and should be like that because diversity and variation is good in any ecosystem. But that part is so much in my wheelhouse that I was immediately reevaluating. So there is quite a bit of bias here.  We've got some interesting vocal lay...

Release date: 2025 February 14 Album tracklist: & Heart, WILD:, B2U, wait!, Confession , 100! , Never Stop Album runtime: 21 minutes I very much look forward to One Pact releases. They're not one of my groups that I know a lot about, but I do know Jay and I like Jay well enough that I look forward to the releases, but I wouldn't call myself a fan of the group. I apologize if that was a bit of a ramble. Is Jay in this release considering he's still ostensibly part of B.D.U? I don't know. I will find out. This song is delightfully funky and I am here for this. Now, granted, I'm writing this while I'm sitting in case my family members needs assistance filing her taxes so I'm very bored. This song could be saving my sanity because of the situation I'm in. But, I can also say that it has some spicy saturated colors to the song that are making me gently wiggle while I listen to the family member talk their way through filing, meaning there's good dance...

Release date: 2025 January 30 Album tracklist:  Hollo , Hollo - Instrumental, Hollo - Drama Version, Hollo - (Drama Version) [Instrumental] Album runtime: 16 minutes  Do I have other songs I should probably be reviewing because they're actual title tracks and not OSTs? Yes. Do I have this and another set up to review instead? Also, yes. But, in my defense, I love Bang Yedam's voice now that I've discovered it, and also this is an OST for my boy Minhyun's newest drama, which I'm obviously going to support because it's Minhyun. Also, I have some options about what to review because this comes with multiple versions, but I think I'm just going to go with the vanilla version. Even though part of me is arguing quite loudly for the drama version instead. I would have been happy with just the piano, but the introduction of the other instruments takes what started off as an incredibly melancholic sound and turns it into something a lot more hopeful. Because the laye...

Release date: 2025 February 07 Album tracklist:  SATURN , SATURN - Accapella, SATURN - Instrumental Album runtime: 7 minutes  It does make me feel a little icky doing a review for a group that is having problems because they have an icky CEO. But I'm also willing to do it so that others are able to decide if they want to listen to it themselves. I'd be able to listen to them without issue otherwise because they debuted last year and the maknae turns eighteen this year, so she does fall within my rules for myself, but given the icky feeling, I think I'm going to treat this as though she wasn't old enough though, to minimize the amount of views or streams I contribute. And I get to split this up because the instrumental is included. Acoustic guitar does a great job of contributing to the home-spun, lonely feeling at the beginning. I'm not sure that it necessarily needs to stretch on as long as it does, but the subsequent shift to intense science fiction warbling synth...

Release date: 2025 February 05 Album tracklist: Hoshiakari , Because of you, Is This Love? (Japanese Ver) Album runtime: 10 minutes  Japanese Debut incoming! I obviously don't do a lot of the Japanese releases, but this is Moobyul and  it's her Japanese debut, so obviously, I have to review this one. Obviously. She's stunning and phenomenal. She went for somethin gloriously soft for her debut. The guitar is quiet and sentimental, and even when the energy starts to spark up, the beats of rest that act as a reset for the song do a phenomenal job of specifically delineating the different sections and allowing the softness of the verses to come to the forefront without making it too jarring. Really, even when the energy has increased, this is just such a soft song that I'm delighted by this. Strictly speaking, debuts are how to announce what form the artist's career will be like, at least for a little bit, so with Moonbyul's being just so soft, it makes me genuinely...

Release date: 2025 February 10 Album tracklist: brighT Album runtime: 2 minutes  Guess who released a new single! Guess who I am very excited about releasing a new single! If you answered "Big Ocean" to both of those questions, you'd absolutely be getting those answers correct. Here's your celebratory lollipop. I'm not a fan of the runtime, as we can also guess. This is like a midi lullaby. The first thing I was reminded of with that opening is an 8-bit video a la Pokémon or Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest , the early ones with the incomprehensible coding. It maintains threads of those vibes through the rest of the song, while also reminding me of a very specific alarm sound that is genuinely raising my heartrate in the panic of hearing it. I'd almost call it threateningly soothing, discordant in its instrumentals without being grating, but it doesn't quite lean into that sound enough. With this specific group, there are certain vocal things I normally look...