January 2025 Wrap Up: Auld Lang Syne

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 Whooee, it's been a long 164 days, hasn't it? What do you mean it's only the end of January? 

Nope. I'm staying focused. Eyes on the prize. In this case, the prize is the end of December when Minhyun is discharged. So, one month down. Eleven to go. We're also one month closer to several other discharges that will help distract me from the wait, and one month closer to some post-military comebacks that I am absolutely most excited for. And there's one coming out next month that I believe was the first one I was aware of to enlist.

But this is January! A little bit of a slow start to the year, but I'm appreciating the pace as I get back into things and recover from my cold. 

We had only two group debuts that I could find, that of KickFlip out of JYPE and Stray Kids' younger brothers, considering I think they're in the same division. I'm also hoping this is a good sign and the number of debuting groups will drop this year. Fingers crossed. And also XLOV, who seems to have absolutely exploded onto the scene and I'm fully supportive of this because that's my boy, Wumuti. 

So, the releases I was looking forward to. There weren't many. Actually, there were exactly four that I was looking forward to exceedingly and in advance of the songs actually coming out. My algorithm got messed up somewhere.

  • Onew (SHINee): If he's happy and healthy, I'm happy. And I'm genuinely just so happy that he's making music and seems to be enjoying himself that I just want to bask
  • BSS (Seventeen): Mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, BSS is a shot of happy, and Fighting is one of the songs I used to get to a peacefully pumped up and cheerful mood. On the other, I know that it's another checkmark on the to-do list before I have to deal with Hoshi's impending enlistment and eventually Wonwoo and Woozi to join. But the sooner he leaves, the sooner they all leave, the sooner they come back.
  • GOT7: Did I mention that I really like post-military comebacks? And with how squirrely the members were before it was announced, I knew it was happening soon. Two of them still need to go, one this year and one next year most likely, but for now, they're back as a group and I couldn't be happier for them.
  • GFRIEND: Did the song come out last month technically? I think so. Do I actually care? No. Not really. This is GFRIEND and if they reunite and reform, I have hope in NU'EST having a better shot. Plus, with the timing, I knew Seungkwan on particular was going to have a good time, since he seems like he's really close with several of them, social butterfly that he is. And, I know the Buddies didn't really get closure from what happened four years ago. I can't think about the four-day warning too much without The Rage rearing its head, but I'm also beyond happy that they got a reunion for GFRIEND's tenth. Happy anniversary! ☺️ I don't use emojis a lot, but it feels warranted there.

And there we have it. Like I said, not a lot. But I also didn't know about a lot of what was being released until it already had been, otherwise the list would have been a little longer.

However, of the RELEASES this month, I enjoyed a lot more. I started building a playlist on YT music so that I could just share that with y'all and made a whole new channel specifically for these, and also so my Spotify streams can go back to being what I actually listen to instead of being artificially inflated by the streams for the blog as well. I'm still trying to find the balance there. But, here's the playlist you want the sneak peek of the reviews if you haven't seen them yet. Or you can see my list and then take a guess about why I liked the songs before I tell you and you can reread the reviews if you want.

Top Releases of the Month:

  • Onew (SHINee) "Winner": the music video is pretty intense, but he looks so good. Also, the song is cinematic and explosive and the line "we're still young and wild and free" has in fact been living in my head rent free since it came out
  • XLOV "IMMA BE": in one of the highest compliments I can probably give, this entire song, from vocals to choreo to styling, feels like something Taemin would do, and as an artist, I think he's absolutely incredible. Like, have you guys seen this music video? Wow. Stunning debut. Very much looking forward to see what they'll do in the future.
  • CREZL "HAKUNA MATATA": another surprise for me, but it's a project group and they sound amazing. Those vocals are some top tier quality. Plus, they have such nice textures to their voices that I'm not complaining at all. Who's complaining? Not me, that's for sure. And also, I didn't realize Jinho of PENTAGON was in a project group!
  • BSS (Seventeen) "CBZ (Prime Time)": I got to stage one of the understanding the title but didn't catch that it was an acronym. I should have. But I didn't. Still, I knew what the CBZ stood for, and that song is so freaking catchy. I find myself whispering it just at random. Mark one on the checklist
  • Huh Yunjin (LE SSERAFIM) "jellyfish": Oh, I think I forgot to add this to the artist page. I'll do that later. This song took me by complete surprise. I'm not going to lie. Not because I think LE SSERAFIM are talentless (which I don't at all and think that's a ridiculous claim to level at a group, especially one with the experience that they have), but because my ears are so picky with the girl group songs, and this song absolutely blew it out of the water.
  • Lucy "Into the Day": I've been worrying about the violinist for a while now, but I'm happy to see he's back and adding that extra dimension to their songs again. 
  • Dynamicduo & Gummy "Take Care": Y'all. I am all about the first gen groups doing literally anything and Gummy is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the Queens of OSTs. And holy crap, even though my expectations were high because of those two factors, blew me out of the water.
  • ZEROBASEONE "Doctor! Doctor!": I don't know why I'm always surprised when I like their songs. I like the group. I enjoyed seeing them perform. I look forward to their releases. And then I'm always surprised. And this music video is so good!
  • Catch the Young "넌 언제나 (You, Always) (2025)": their first digital single follows their (frankly lovely) trend of covers, but rather than simply cover the existing 1993 song, they remade it, and oh, my goodness, I love it.
  • Jeonghan (Seventeen) (feat. Omoinotake) "Better Half": I miss him. I'm not counting this as his solo debut for reasons I detail in the review, and so am looking forward to that. However, I also struggle to separate how hard it is to separate my emotions from whether or not this is technically as good as I think it is. I'm aware of the bias, but oh, well. I don't care. I love the song.

This is the problem with following so many groups. Releases slip through the cracks if you're not paying attention otherwise Catch the Young, Lucy, and Wheein would have been included in the looking forward to list.

The full list of the January reviews can be found here. Other reviews I've done this month include:

Only managed three Greatest Hits post this month. One second gen girl group, one third gen girl group, and one fourth gen boy group. The variation is good that way, but hilariously, they're all kind of on the same topic, though how that topic is approached does have some range. 

  • Pattern "Malibu": I got the suggestion over on Threads, so yes, I will take suggestions literally anywhere. This was the group's debut song with seductive vampire vibes, the lyrics to match, and choreography that melted my brain a little
  • EXID "Up & Down": My prediction was correction and I am in fact "위아래"ing all over the place at random and inopportune times. It's scarily catchy. My word.
  • Brown Eyed Girls "Abracadabra": Another of those "must know" K-Pop songs out and about, one could argue that this was one of the first "dance challenges" to come out of K-Pop. Also, hilariously, this feels like the sister song to VIXX's VOODOO DOLL. 
Like with the Greatest Hits posts, I only managed three of the Battle of the B-Sides posts. However, also like them, the variation is good, although we do kind of have a trio of ballads. Two of them are sappy and sentimental. One of them is...less so. 
  • f(x) "Shadow": The song is gorgeous. It really is. Little bit creepy, but very pretty. The suggestion was spot on about me liking the creepy songs though.
  • NU'EST "ONE KISS2": Sentimentality is the name of the game for this song, and that's even worth seeing in the name of the song, where the final 's' and the 2 form a heart. The same group that debuted with EDM dance break heavy FACE four years later became so incredibly sappy. It's so sweet.
  • LABOUM "빛이 되어쥐 (Be the Light)": If I had to make a guess as to what would be the fan song for LABOUM, I'd guess it's this one. The fact that it has so many of their other song names makes me nearly giddy even the song isn't for me.

Honorable Mentions:

  • NU'EST "FACE": This is why this song is a top listen every year since the first time I heard it. It's also why NU'EST always ends up being a top group. Because I listen to this song a lot. I also really like how all you have to do is search "NU'EST" on YouTube and this is the first video. As it should be. 

  • Seventeen "Snap Shoot": I don't know why I decided that I just wanted to listen to the song with the best Dino moment of any of the Seventeen songs on repeat for hours, but here we are. Also, it's just so much fun. 

  • Seventeen "Ima -Even if the world ends tomorrow- (Korean Version)": The first time I heard this song at the first livestreamed Follow Again concert, I fell so in love with it but there was only the Japanese version at the time. And I was in distress and confusion because I could only find the Japanese version, but I knew it was in Korean because I recognized some of the non-English words. Since then, it easily rivals Smile Flower for my favorite Seventeen song, shoving Don Quixote down to third. The music video is for the Japanese version. 




  • Hui (PENTAGON) "Hmmm BOP": Y'all. This is legitimately an incredible song. He absolutely ate his solo debut and left no crumbs. And the song is so fun. This is what I call a successful debut, and it's weird. and he's just fun. It looks like he had fun. The song is delightfully fun. And his voice is glorious.

  • BTOB "Blue Moon - Cinema Version": I mean, what is there to say about this song other than it's the absolute bomb? This is the Kingdom version of this song, I love it performed live (and on Killing Voice), and the Extra Jazz that Minhyuk added to it from the original Blue Moon gives me life. So you're getting the Kingdom video with this because always yes. Even if Changsub wasn't feeling well.

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