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Showing posts from August, 2025

Song Review:: Soojin (i-dle): BADITUDE: BADITUDE

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Release date: 2025 August 29 Album tracklist: BADITUDE , Little Bit More Album runtime: 5 minutes  I'm pretty sure that Soyeon is a little bit sticky with regards to this member, so I'm following the leader when it comes to what members I tag with the group name. I also hear that she had to cancel her upcoming tour, which is unfortunate, but her releases have not been consistent, and this is her first release since May of 2024. It's also only a single. I don't know what's going on with her, but this is where we're at. And also, the song is only two-and-a-half minutes long. Why? Why is this a thing? If this were a group song for something, I would expect this to have pretty strong choreography. As this is for a soloist, I would expect the backup dancers to have pretty strong choreography and for Soojin herself to actually have a modified version of it with the occasional burst of big choreography, notably at the dance break near the end. That's what this inst...

Song Review:: GIRLSET: Commas {Debut}

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Release date: 2025 August 29 Album tracklist: Commas Album runtime: 2 minutes  Welp. Honestly, I'm a little surprised that JYPE didn't toss the whole group out with the bathwater, but I suppose either the remaining members are more willing to stick out what are industry wide conditions, mostly, or JYPE sees potential for the remaining members to still do something with what's left of their careers. So, here we are with a re-debut. You'll notice I don't always hit the Katseye releases (and I've been entirely ignoring the British group from SM whose name I do not remember, but I'm also still very angry with SM over the Seunghan situation, and that reminds me, I need to do his solo debut) because they're not K-Pop and my backlog is currently so massive that I'm not going to cover them too much, especially when I'm peeved over things about that group (mostly HYBE related, as you can guess) and I don't particularly like their sound to begin with. ...

Song Review: Lim Young Woong: IM HERO 2: Eternal Moment

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Release date: 2025 August 29 Album tracklist: Unread Message, ULSSIGU, Eternal Moment , Wild flower, Left in the Rain, Wonderful Life, Melody for You, Don't look back at me, I'm sorry, But..., I'm HERO, A Song For Us Album runtime: 39 minutes  This is The Dude. I know this man only as the guy that grabs music show wins every time he puts something out because the older ladies get voting circles together and aggressively vote for him. Well, that's not entirely true. I do have one of his songs in my regular listening playlists, and he has a stunning, gorgeous, rich voice. So this is a case where I accept I'm likely going to be writing his name in my weekly music show wins quite a bit for the next however long, but I'm also not mad about it. His voice is simply too good for any resentment. Right now. I may get irritated with the lack of variety as I usually do when one group/individual/song is dominant for more than a few weeks, but that's also a problem for Fu...

Song Review:: Bada (S.E.S): Love wave

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Release date: 2025 August 05 Album tracklist:  Love wave , Love wave (Inst.) Album runtime: 7 minutes  I've got a special fondness for this woman. First of all, our birthdays are really close to each other, not by year, she's older than my older sibling. And second of all, my D&D character from my last campaign (overly friendly, spy undine druid with a massive fear of the undead) was named Pada (yes, I did that, yes I am that literal; I named a black kitten we had Blackie and an orange one Tiger, not to mention my beloved orange cat, Peaches). Plus, she's a queen of K-Pop like BoA is, a titan of industry, a torchbearer, and a path paver. The K-Pop landscape would likely look much different without her contributions and many of the later idols and groups may not have been able to debut as they did, if at all, without her. Also, congrats to her on being a mama (the congratulations is several years late, but I wasn't listening to K-Pop then) and it's good to see he...

Song Review:: Lee Seokhoon: Renewed Purpose: AFTER GROWING UP

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Release date: 2025 August 26 Album tracklist: Under The Moonlight, AFTER GROWING UP, EVENING PRIMROSE, It must be love, Whisper Album runtime: 17 minutes  You know, I don't know why it's always so entertaining for me to find judges from the variety shows releasing music. Obviously they do, and obviously they're good at it, and obviously they know what they're doing, or they wouldn't be the judges. But much like with Onestar, this was a surprise. Still, I haven't actually heard him properly sing before and my expectations are practically stratospheric. But at the same time I understand that you can have the instincts, the training, and the technical knowledge and not be able to practically do a thing yourself. So let's see if he passes the practical. I assume he will. And also, he restores my faith because the title track and two other songs are nearly four minutes long. There's one that's barely two, but it's not the title track and the others a...

Song Review:: Sunmi (Wonder Girls): BLUE!

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Release date: 2025 August 26 Album tracklist:  BLUE! Album runtime: 3 minutes  She's had a really good track record with her title tracks so far, which pleases me. I'm also pretty familiar with her voice because some lovely person suggested I do Heroine as a GH post and I spent quite a bit of time with her voice for that song. I'm excited about getting to do a proper review for her though, especially for a proper length song. I also had to delete like half of this review before I could post it because the amount of nonsense and spinning around in circles that my brain produces that it thinks makes sense when I'm too tired is both hilarious and irritating. Of course things result in results.  Goodness. The song is surprisingly upbeat for what I suspect to be devastating lyrics. It feels delightfully familiar while also feeling somewhat new. I'm reminded of the soundtrack to Parent Trap , not the 1961 original with Hayley Mills but the 1998 remake with Lindsay Lohan....

Song Review:: ZZONE (cignature/Good Day): Devil's Jam {Debut}

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Release date: 2025 August 25 Album tracklist:  Devil's Jam , Devil's Jam(Inst) Album runtime: 7 minutes  Okay, so if you're a fan of cignature, you might be confused about that name because none of the cignature members went by that name. This is Jeewon! Whoo! Apparently this is her official solo debut, although she did release a solo song earlier than this. I also can say that I do occasionally listen to cignature. They're not one of my groups that make super excited to see music or content from, but I do have some of their songs in some of my playlists. So I am looking forward to seeing what she'll give us with this digital single. It's interesting that there have been a couple of songs released in the last month or so that have sort of an Indian vibe or overlay or something of the sort. It does make me wonder if something was prompting this the last couple of years for songwriters and for the companies to pick these songs. There are some synth effects that ki...

Song Review:: Chanyeol (EXO): Upside Down - Happy Accident {Pre-Release}

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Release date: 2025 August 25 Album tracklist: Upside Down , Back & Forth, Ocean Drive, High & Dry, Happy Accident (feat. Sole) , 123 Dance  Album runtime: 18 minutes  Yes, the album is already out, but I wanted to get to this one first because if he gets a win for the album, a win on this one will likely come first. Also, I thought the present he got from Kai, I think, was so sweet. I love that. Wholesome support from the members. Ooh, that's some smooth and swanky R&B. That's actually really nice. It's slow and mellow, but it's not flimsy. The beat is really pronounced, though unhurried. This is an early Sunday morning kind of song, or perhaps a Tuesday night kind of song. Slow dancing in the kitchen to a song only the two of you can hear. Domestic and comfortable, but at the same time the amount of sheer, undiluted love wafting off this moment could probably power the room.  Chanyeol has such a good voice. I mean, the entire group is incredibly skilled and...

Song Review:: IVE: IVE SECRET- XOXZ

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Release date: 2025 August 25 Album tracklist: XOXZ ; Wild Bird; Dear, My Feelings; GOTCHA (Baddest Eros); 비삑 (♥️beats); Midnight Kiss Album runtime: 17 minutes  There are two songs that are reasonable lengths on this. That's it. I feel like I should be grateful that any of them are over three minutes, but I don't understand why I should have to accept crumbs when other than those two reasonably lengthed, not a single one is over 2:45. Sigh. As a side note, I was actually rather impressed with them at KCon, and not just because I thought they exhibited good professionalism with the mic collision and loss incident. I'm actually pretty pleased with this instrumental, but there is an asterisk to that statement. It would have been really easy to have this song go fully the route of the milquetoast, and I think there may still be some residual from that trend within the song, but there's enough of a bite that the sound has moved on from the trend. Which I appreciate, hence wh...

Music Show Wins:: Week of 8/20 - 8/26

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  Ooh, this week had some interesting wins. Well, okay. First of all, this is the first time in a while that we've had a full batch of wins. The only way this could have been better is if After School Club had come off of hiatus. Alas. But that's fun regardless. But you know what's more fun? Three of the six were first wins for songs. And one of the six wins got a triple crown! That brings the song to ten wins, which is apparently 1/7 of the group's total wins, and makes that triple crowns from Inkigayo, Music Core, and MCountdown.  I picked a group that for the ASC re-run this week that is currently on a survival called A-IDOL, and I don't know how I feel about it because of the nature of this survival show. My girls Purple Kiss, Lightsum, and DreamNote are also on it, which is...concerning for a completely different reason. So give them all some love, yeah? (Other groups on the show are WOOAH and iCHILLIN, so give them some love too). Anyway, this is episode 571 f...

Song Review:: In A Minute: BGM : HOW WE RISE - PLAY- How We Do

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Release date: 2025 August 25 Album tracklist: Press Play, How We Do , 5ive, At Dawn Album runtime: 11 minutes  These guys were not on my radar for a new release, at all. But, thankfully, YouTube's algorithm has my back. And you know the best part of this? Even if it's only four songs, this is their first mini album! Whoo! The runtime is abysmal and I'm looking at the title track specifically in horror, but while I'd like to say something positive about this, not a single song is over three minutes. It's so unnecessary, you know? But I am diligent with this group because they need love and I really like them.  Going into this, if you were to tell me that the two-and-a-half minute song had a dance break, I would have laughed in your face. Across the board, the song could benefit from about another minute in length, so keep that in mind as true for both instrumentals and vocals because I don't want to repeat myself, and I'm not going to. There's a funky gro...

Song Review:: AB6IX: UPSIDE DOWN- STUPID

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Release date: 2025 August 25 Album tracklist: Square Up, STUPID , Friday Trouble, A Million Dreams, Plan for You Album runtime: 15 minutes  So what's kind of funny is I've been watching the survival show B:MY BOYS (which has been about 1000% more pleasant than Boys Planet 2, by the way, not in a small part because there have been at most four people going home so far) and their rounds are centered around a specific idol group, members of which come on and are the judges for the performances, which I actually adore as a concept. One of the rounds, former Wanna One members came on (which was simultaneously also funny because of who the Planet Master is over on Boys Planet 2), including two of the members of this group, Lee Daehwi and Park Woojin. And look at how long the album and the title track are. This'll do. Wow, okay. I'm loving the amount of rock, or rock-adjacent, songs coming out as title tracks recently. I will likely get a little antsy in looking for a differen...

Song Review:: Just B: Too Late

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Release date: 2025 August 24 Album tracklist: Too Late , Too Late - Instrumental Album runtime: 6 minutes  Sorry, JustB. I left my list of August releases elsewhere yesterday and couldn't get yours done. I am glad that they're still releasing music though. Considering the news I got this weekend, it's a little bit of a relief.  Okay, so we've got a little bit of a punk vibe going on here with this instrumental. We've got majority drums and guitar, and I'd definitely argue that the primary instrument is the electric guitar, but most importantly, there is a rhythm and a flow. It doesn't just go hard the entire time. There's a relative softness in places as well as an actual softness to join with the more vibrant emoting of the instruments. And there's audience participation clapping. This genre is a good sound for the group. Enough of them have an edge to their voices that it there's a pleasing harmony with the guitar. Interestingly, there doesn...

Song Review:: NCT Wish (NCT): Surf {Pre-Release}

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Release date: 2025 August 12 Album tracklist: Surf Album runtime: 3 minutes  Well, I was going to sleep after I did the VANNER review, but as it turns out, I need to emotionally recover, or at least make it so that I'm not crying as I'm trying to sleep because I don't need my eyes to be that red and puffy at work tomorrow. So instead, I'm going to focus on NCT Wish, because they got a win, so I need to write a review for this anyway and having a good distraction will help. Focusing on something happy, no matter how small, is a powerful tool. And I like NCT Wish, anyway. Such a summery song. The instrumental does make me laugh a little bit because the instrumental track for this song reminds me a lot of a theme song for a comedy set in the 70s. Though, to be fair\, it doesn't have to be a full comedy because it also reminds me a little of Hawaii Five-O  or Magnum, P.I . Though, to be fair the latter one is mostly from the 80s, but my point still stands. It's summ...

Song Review:: VANNER: Goodbye & Hello- Goodbye & Hello

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Release date: 2025 May 21 Album tracklist: Goodbye & Hello , Pinch Me, New Heights - ENG Version Album runtime: 10  minutes  Maybe I'm just being sensitive, but the title of this digital single puts my hackles up. Could simply be the time of year combined with the title, but I also don't like the implication right now. Not for these guys. Also, weekends are a great time right now for me to hit some of my backlog, and while I know this is a relatively older song, I really like VANNER and want to make sure that I give them the attention they deserve. Even if it's late. Also, Junny is on the credits as composer and lyricist, so that's super exciting. This is a pretty soft and chill song. I just want you all to know this. The beat is actually pretty slow and when more volume is wanted, more instruments are added rather than an increase in the dynamics. But even when more volume is created, it's never aggressive or relentlessly energetic. I'm not entirely sure wh...

Song Review:: xikers: ICONIC

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Release date: 2025 August 1 Album tracklist:  ICONIC Album runtime: 3 minutes  Is this their first single? Ooh, this is exciting. And I know I'm super late with them, but I've also been avoiding listening to it until now because I wanted it to be fresh for when I did the review, and I was in LA when this dropped and didn't have a lot of time or energy to review much at the time. But, here we are with my first rookie group! (Not my first group I was there for their debut, that was RIIZE.) One day, we'll get a win for them. One day. Hopefully soon. Also, this has a perfect runtime.  The beginning part of this hilariously sounds like the very beginning of Your Idol , just after the chanting. I doubt there's any way the two are connected, but I just think that's kind of funny considering ATEEZ are basically the Saja Boys in real life . The song has a good, strong beat to it, and there are fun little quirks that pop in for emphasis occasionally. But do you hear that ...

Song Review:: from20 (BIGSTAR): Eye Candy

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Release date: 2025 April 11 Album tracklist: Eye Candy Album runtime: 2 minutes  So, I, uh, saw this for the first time at KCon. Figured I wanted to review it, because goodness. I also don't remember much of the song itself, because my brain short-circuited a little watching him, but since I've seen him perform it live, I thought I should. I'm also going really far back for this one because I would eventually like to get my April wrap-up finished. Also, it turns out that he's one of my 2012 debuts, which honestly tracks more than I'd like to admit, but the group disbanded at the seven year mark. This is a painfully short song though. Interesting thing, I think he was 20 when he debuted with BIGSTAR. Is that where his stage name comes from? Maybe. So, the song has a lot of repetition in the instrumentals, and sounds pretty science fiction warbly, but if it was science fiction from the 70s with some hip-hop dumped into it. It's got a quiet swagger that is occasion...

Song Review:: The Boyz: a;effect- Stylish

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Release date: 2025 July 28 Album tracklist: Stylish , Talk, You and I, Constellation, AURA Album runtime: 15 minutes  Taking advantage of the weekend and the slowdown in releases to get this one done so that I can finally add it to the week it got a music show win. I'm deeply frustrated by what's been going on at their company with them, and I cannot imagine how angry the fans are. I'd be stubborn about some things, like with fan chants. But, anyway. Here we are. And even though the album runtime is fifteen minutes long, the title track is the shortest of the bunch and gets averaged out by the three-and-a-half minute song. Not my favorite thing, but it could be worse. There are some interesting things going on with this instrumental. It's got some sirens in it, which I really appreciate, but they're kind of constant through the entire thing, which I don't like. It's a little bit too aurally grating, so I can't actually listen to the song on repeat like I...

Song Review:: Hyunsik (BTOB): The Answer

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Release date: 2025 August 22 Album tracklist: The Answer Album runtime: 5 minutes  Goodness, Hyunsik. Over here dropping a song with almost five minutes on it. I expected something close to four, probably a little bit over, but not more than four-and-a-half. This is actually kind of funny because the last song I played on Spotify was a song by Changsub, so, apparently today is just BTOB day. Also, I appreciate a man who does understand the decision of "single", not that I don't like multi track singles, but that phrase itself is kind of an oxymoron.  You can really tell where Hyunsik learned music from because that instrumental track practically screams it. It's soft. It's mellow, but it utilizes the drum set to keep track of things, occasionally pop in and be a bit more obvious, but for the most part, it isn't there for the drama, but rather to keep the song on track. The guitar is where you get most of the texture of the song, which I think is also his prefe...

Song Review:: Stray Kids: KARMA- CEREMONY

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Release date: 2025 August 22 Album tracklist: BLEEP, CEREMONY , CREED, MESS, In My Head, Half Time, Phoenix, Ghost, 0801, CEREMONY (Festival Version), CEREMONY (English Version) Album runtime: 32 minutes  Congrats to my Baby Stay friend who has graduated to Toddler Stay! Whoooo! And the fact that they spent the tour giving spoilers and no one noticed. When they revealed that, I had to blink and sigh. It's fine. I'm just being clowned this year by my groups.  I could swear, I can feel that drum or bass in my bones, but I'm not even listening to it in a way that would allow me to feel it in my bones. This song doesn't feel like it's as long as it is, which is both weird and a shame. We've got kind of an Indian vibe to the whole thing layered over the top of the bass and the drums that is just satisfying to hear, you know? Also, the siren alarms is a very nice addition. This is going to be a really good performance song, which is good considering K-Pop in general i...

Song Review:: TEEN TOP: Just 15, Just Teen Top- Cherry Pie

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Release date: 2025 August 21 Album tracklist: Umbrella, Cherry Pie , Home Alone (But U), Ce Chaos, I Wanna Love 2025 Album runtime: 14 minutes  Mild disappointment in the old group because that runtime. However, Happy fifteenth anniversary, Teen Top! Good to see you alive and kicking! Even if I'm disappointed in them falling prey to that modern trend and even though that does make it slightly more difficult for newer groups when the older groups remain active, it's also good for the newer groups to see the older groups and how they interact to model their behavior after when it comes to interacting with other groups. It's like that one part of the book Lost World by Michael Crichton. The raptors didn't have older members of the pack to teach them how to behave and interact with the world as examples and so they were more feral than they should have been. The presence of the older groups is good because they provide both examples to aspire to as well as role models for a...

Song Review:: 8TURN: Electric Heart : Born to Glow- Electric Heart

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Release date: 2025 August 21 Album tracklist: Electric Heart , Close To Me Album runtime: 7 minutes  I was actually really pleased with them when they were here on tour, and also, two of the members loved it so much, they were like "I want to move here." That makes me happy, and hopeful that we'll get more kpop coming here because so far, our numbers have not been high for that. Beyond that, I thought they performed well and even though they were not quite as polished as some other groups I've seen, even amongst the rookies, I'd see them again. And they sound better in person, which is what I am always hoping for. Plus, the whole group are eighteen or over now! The best part of this little single they've released is the title track is over three minutes and the other one is almost four minutes long. Y'all.  We have some good sound design in this music video, which is exciting. We have the sudden cut off in the instrumentals just before the climax, a soft, ...

Song Review:: TOMORROW X TOGETHER: The Star Chapter: TOGETHER - Beautiful Stranger

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Release date: 2025 July 21 Album tracklist: Upside Down Kiss, Beautiful Strangers , Ghost Girl, Sunday river, Dance With You, Take My Half, Bird of Night, Song of the Stars Album runtime: 22 minutes  Okay, I have two left of these to review to get caught up on the music show wins this quarter, and since I have time right now, I'm going to get to work on this one. I've been deeply disappointed by their album runtimes of late, and I'm largely blaming that on HYBE for several reasons, but also some other things. But! This time we have two songs that are over three minutes long and one of those is nearly three-and-a-half. So. We're moving in the correct direction. Unfortunately, the title track is neither of those two songs. Instead, this song comes in at a paltry two minutes and eighteen seconds. Not even two-and-a-half minutes. Why. Okay. Let's see if this can avoid being milquetoast. I'm really, really hoping for this. We're moving away from that sound in gen...

Song Review:: Moonbyul (MAMAMOO): laundri- Goodbyes and Sad Eyes

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Release date: 2025 August 19 Album tracklist: Cotton, Goodbyes and Sad Eyes , Da Capo, Chocolate Tea, DRIP, Over You, ICY BBY , Take-off Album runtime: 3 minutes  We have a four and a half minute song, everyone! Alert! This is not a drill! The title track is even three-and-a-half minutes long. I love her just a little bit more for restoring my faith in K-Pop song lengths, because we are over a three minute average. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Y'all, she has been so active as a soloist the last little bit. I am waiting somewhat impatiently for the next MAMAMOO comeback, but Moonbyul is doing well to be active while I and their MOOMOOS wait.  Twenty seconds was all I needed. Done. Sold. This actually reminds me a lot of the rock-country music I grew up. It also feels pretty 00s alt-rock, so it feels really familiar. The only way that this could feel more targeted directly for me to drag me back to my childhood is if this had been a proper country song. It doesn't go hard the en...

Song Review:: Kep1er: BUBBLE GUM- BUBBLE GUM

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Release date: 2025 August 19 Album tracklist: Taste Better, BUBBLE GUM , Don't Be Dumb, Ice Tea, Yum (KOR ver.) Album runtime: 3 minutes  I am glad to see them continuing to make music as a group. Would I have liked to have all of them renew? Yes. But it's fine that that didn't happen because Kep1er did something I don't think any other project group has done. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're the first group formed solely from a survival group with the temporary contract to sign a new, longer one to make them a permanent group, right? That's pretty cool. I'm however appalled at the album runtime. Even removing the first song, which is barely a minute long, the average still doesn't make it to three minutes. I'm so annoyed that this isn't the exception anymore. And here's where normally, I'd be like "It's fine" but you know what? No. It's not. Why do kpop companies give them diet songs? It's bad enough that so...

Song Review:: Monsta X: THE X- Do What I Want {Pre-Release}

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Release date: 2025 September 1 Album tracklist:  Do What I Want , N the Front , Savior, Tuscan Leather, Catch Me Now, Fire & Ice Album runtime: 19 minutes  I was actually really excited to see them at KCon. They're on my list of groups I want to get into, and now I can identify and put names to most of them. I'm not sure that I can recognize them outside of the context of "Monsta X" but as long as I have that, I think we're good. I think this may also be their first post-military release? We have two weeks until the album comes out, and also, happy tenth, Monsta X! I'm a little late because they're about a week older than Seventeen, but this is the first song they've released in at least a year given that this is my first review for them. Unless I missed one somewhere. Also, they have a pretty big discography and if anyone wanted to send me a song to cover via The Form, that would be great. Oh! That's right! They re-recorded a bunch of songs a...

Song Review:: Secret Number: Don't Touch

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Release date: 2025 August 19 Album tracklist: Don't Touch Album runtime: 3 minutes  So other than an OST done for Business Proposal, this review will mean that I've done both of their most recent songs as it's been almost exactly two years since then. Starlight was part of my attempt to make the obvious favoritism for NINE.i for their songs released in August of 2023 a little more diluted, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. And now, two years later, they've released their next song. I don't know about you all, but I'm concerned about that. I do have to give a shout out, though, because even though this is only a single and it's their first release in two years, we didn't get a two-and-a-half minute song. In other words, I have mixed feelings and a lot of concern. However, because four new members have been added to the group, I do have to take a look at ages, to know if I can listen to this  song. Ages are fine. The new maknae turned nineteen this ye...

Song Review:: OH MY GIRL: Weather Diary

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Release date: 2025 July 22 Album tracklist: Weather Diary , Weather Diary (Inst.) Album runtime: 6 minutes  I am fairly confident in saying that this is their tenth anniversary release that was first heard in their concert back in April. Do I get a little twitchy around tenth anniversaries? Yes. But I'd have heard if the d-word has applied to them, and it hasn't. So, yay! Also, I'm quite pleased for the song length. Songs seem to be both lengthening and shortening these days. and obviously I'm an advocate for them being at minimum three minutes long. OH MY GIRL delivered on that here. The good news is that even though this is a pretty relaxed song, it's actually got quite a lot of different bits making up the instrumental, which makes the mellowness feel intentional, rather than an apathetic consequence. A stronger drum line would make this song quite energetic, but the song doesn't need it. This is a ten year anniversary song, and a sense of celebration, but no...

Music Show Wins:: Week of 8/13 - 8/19

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  This is the first week in a hot minute where I've actually already had the songs reviewed in full! It helps that we had two repeats, but I'm also excited about the two first wins for songs on here! And we got a Triple Crown for JUMP even though it has not been promoted! Whoo! The Triple Crown also means that next week, we're guaranteed a new win on Inkigayo, which is helpful for the other groups.  With After School Club still on hiatus, here's the re-run for the week. It's actually pretty fitting because I'm starting to migrate into wanting to actually learn about the members in the group rather than simply loving every single song I hear from them. That's right, it's episode 458, featuring a 2021 Dreamcatcher! This was convenient because it made it easier for me to connect some of those personalities to their names. We'll see if it sticks. In the meantime, the group is wildly loud and chaotic, and I mean this in the best way. Same kind of idol as...

Song Review:: Minhyuk (Huta) (BTOB): HOOK- Bora

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Release date: 2025 July 21 Album tracklist: V, Bora , Wet, Rosy, XOXO, Colorful, Break Free Album runtime: 18 minutes  That is a weird combination of runtimes, my dude. You've got one minute-and-a-half song, which I assume is some sort of introduction. You've got two that are under two-and-a-half minutes, one of which is the title track and gets a disapproving stare from me. The other four are all three minutes or over. There is no middle ground here. I know he debuted one of these at Water Bomb, and that's one of the three minute songs, but it's just kind of funny. Also, I need to get this one out because Changsub and Ilhoon also had songs come out, and Hyunsik has one coming out on Friday. So. Here we are. Strong beat, y'all. It's actually as I'd expect from him because he seems to really enjoy dancing and this sort of instrumental gives him a lot to work with, especially where he wouldn't necessarily get to do this with his group. I love them to piece...

Song Review:: CORTIS: COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES- What You Want {Debut}

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Release date: 2025 September 08 Album tracklist:  GO! ,  What You Want ,  FaSHioN , JoyRide, Lullaby, What You Want (feat. Teezo Touchdown) Album runtime: 17 minutes  I can jive with this one a lot more than their pre-debut song. Instrumentally, it doesn't quite feel full or complete, but on the other hand, with what we have of the song, it feels a lot like a teen song from the 90s. We're talking skateboards, surfers, the chill California vibe. This feels like a summer song, which is a little bit of a bold move to go with for a debut, but I'm actually fully supportive of this move., because while it matches seasonally, it doesn't quite match the current fifth gen sound. Because it does feel rather bare-bones, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it being the debut track, but from a sound and genre standpoint, it's an old enough sound that I have to remember that this isn't an American boy band from the 90s doing a stripped out version of one of their songs...

Song Review:: Joy (Red Velvet): From JOY, with Love- Love Splash

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Release date: 2025 August 18 Album tracklist: Love Splash! , Get Up And Dance, La Vie En Bleu, Unwritten Page, Scent of Green, Cuddle Album runtime: 20 minutes  So this is apparently her first mini album, which is exciting for all of us. This isn't her solo debut though. Not that I think it really matters, but regardless, it's still exciting. Red Velvet in general have phenomenal voices, so I'm looking forward to this. But also, there isn't a single song on this album that is shorter than three minutes, so everyone! Listen to the album on principle of not having any ridiculous songs! The song has a bit of a dreamy swirl moving through it occasionally.  It's a very pretty song. There are bits with a somewhat strong beat that give the song a stronger flavor, but overall, the blend is quite nice. There are spaces in the song where it would make sense for the choreography to be a little bit stronger, which I'm hoping is the case. It's a very summery song, althou...