Posts

Showing posts from November, 2025

MAMA Awards 2025: Day 2

Image
 Okie dokie, everyone! My thoughts on things will be down at the bottom, instead of giving a long and verbose introduction, because we all know that what you're here for is actually the performances and the winners. Anything I have to say is a bonus, you know? The artists are the focus here. performances aespa ( Dirty Work + Rich Man ) ALLDAY PROJECT ( FAMOUS ) CORTIS ( GO! + FaSHioN ) G-Dragon (DRAMA + Heartbreaker + Untitled, 2025) IDID X KickFlip (PUSH BACK + My First Love Song + Boy In Luv) izna ( Mamma Mia ) JO1 (BE CLASSIC + Handz In My Pocket) Kim Hye Soo X Felix X Kyoka X Sung Hangbin X ALLDAY PROJECT (HEAR MY ROAR + BAD BOY + FAMOUS) RIIZE (Bag Bad Back + Fame ) Stray Kids (CREED + Chk Chk Boom + DIVINE + CEREMONY ) TOMORROW X TOGETHER (Upside Down Kiss + Beautiful Strangers ) ZEROBASEONE ( Doctor! Doctor! + ICONIK ) covers Ahn Hyo Seop BABYMONSTER (What It Sounds Like + Golden) KickFlip X IDID (Boy In Luv) winners Visa Artist of the Year (Daesang) : G-Dragon Visa Albu...

MAMA Awards 2025: Day 1

Image
Given my relative verboseness and frequent rambling, it would be understandable if you're expecting me to ramble about now as well. But I'm not going to! Yet. That'll come at the end. Instead, just enjoy the performances and the winners.  My little comments will show up at the end.  In the meantime, enjoy! performances Alpha Dive One (Intro + FORMULA) BABYMONSTER ( WE GO UP + DRIP ) BOYNEXTDOOR ( Hollywood Action ) Bumsup/Park Bo-gum (Ink Becoming Flesh) Enhypen ( No Doubt + Bad Desire (With or Without You) ) Hearts2Hearts ( FOCUS ) i-dle ( Good Thing ) IVE ( XOXZ + REBEL HEART ) MEOWW ( TURN IT UP ) NCT Wish ( COLOR ) Super Junior ( Express Mode + Mr. Simple + BONAMANA + Sorry, Sorry) Treasure (2025 Free + PARADISE + I WANT YOUR LOVE) TWS ( OVERDRIVE ) Yeonjun (Coma + Talk To You) match-ups Hearts2Hearts X NCT Wish TWS X MEOVV winners Fan's Choice of the Year (Daesang): Enhypen Song of the Year (Daesang): Rosé X Bruno Mars - APT. Fan's Choice Male Top 10 (B...

Song Review:: NOWZ: Play Ball- HomeRUN

Image
Release date: 2025 November 26 Album tracklist: GET BUCK, HomeRUN , Run with me Album runtime: 8 minutes  Not a single song on this even hits the three minute mark. Although I also just realized that I never did the title track for IGNITION. Whoops. It's also kind of funny how stubborn I am. I just decided that I was going to love them (because I wanted to support them being adults at debut) and then it was a case of waiting for them to drop a title track I liked. I got that with both Fly to the youth  (which to be fair is a pre-release single and is not a title track) and also EVERGLOW , which I have heard even though I haven't reviewed it yet. So I'm curious about where this one is going to go: a return to form or a continuation of the previous mini album.  This single actually has a good range. Those are three very different songs. That is pleasing. You know, for the type of instrumental this is, there's a surprising amount of singing involved. Honestly, I've got...

Song Review:: BE BOYS: Earth and Moon

Image
Release date: 2025 November 25 Album tracklist: Earth and Moon , Earth and Moon - Instrumental Album runtime: 5 minutes   Their debut was one of the few songs I actually covered during the summer months because I was so excited that Hakseong was getting to debut, the first North Korean idol to debut in a South Korean kpop group. I was rooting for him so hard on MAKEMATE1. And there's only one member of the group who wasn't on a survival show. Very curious to see what this one is going to be like.  That guitar gives me life. Oh, hello, you interesting beauty of an instrumental track. I wish I were kidding, but there are like three or four separate songs going on in less than three minutes. It's a bit cluttered, but honestly at no point could I predict where the song was going. It started off feeling like a standard, ball game instrumental track, which would have been good enough, but then it just kept switching up. This entire thing is just delightful. And I absolutely love...

Song Review:: Sevenus: WHITE FALL- Airplane mode

Image
Release date: 2025 November 25 Album tracklist: Airplane mode , Sunny side up, An enduring dream, Airplane mode - Instrumental Album runtime: 12 minutes  I was hoping to get this out yesterday, but life got in the way a little bit. Happy Thanksgiving to those of y'all in the States! Even if it's late. Sevenus is one of those groups that I wish got a lot more attention because they are dang talented and not just because they introduced themselves on Peak Time with Hello by NU'EST , which I will never shut up about because that's one of my favorite covers done on a survival show. Also, we don't have to worry about any of the problems with minors with them because those two haven't been minors in over a decade since before they debuted as part of MASC. So, to recap: dang talented, amazing and mature voices, experienced. And I'm fine with one of the songs being barely over two-and-a-half minutes because it's not the title track and the total runtime is sti...

Song Review:: RESCENE: lip bomb- Heart Drop {Pre-Release}

Image
Release date: 2025 November 25 Album tracklist: Heart Drop, Bloom , Love Echo, Hello XO, MVP Album runtime: 15 minutes  I know, I know. The album has already come out and that's probably what you were expecting me to do, but I apparently didn't get to this one, but both songs are on Underage Protocol because the maknae is far too young. It's really unfortunate. I feel like we've moved from the light and milquetoast to roughly the same instrumental that would simply be the milquetoast of old if we removed the percussion from it. On the one hand, it's no longer a single note scent, which I deeply appreciate, but on the other, it still feels a little too safe. But it's nice. Even if it doesn't completely catch my attention, I'm not bored, which sounds like a backhanded compliment, but I promise that it's a good thing in my head. Instead, we've still got some layers to the song, which is good, and it sticks a little, which is also good.  They have su...

Song Review:: RIIZE: Fame- Fame

Image
Release date: 2025 November 24 Album tracklist: Something's In the Water, Fame, Sticky Like Album runtime: 9 minutes  I'm still furious with SM and I don't see this dying down anytime soon. And I had to round up for this runtime because the first song is under two-and-a-half minutes, but the title track is a doable length. That's a bold start to the song, almost overwhelmingly so compared to the vocals, so take everything with the understanding that I think it might be a touch too loud compared to the vocals. But oh my word. Who worked on this song? Inquiring minds need to know. Names I didn't recognize by sight, is the answer, but I did recognize the lyricist. Either way, this is good stuff. It's deep and dramatic, with plenty of movement and a solid beat. Like, genuinely, this so fully has my attention. That guitar alone is absolutely gorgeous and so arresting, even if it is a bit repetitious, but it's doing the opposite of irking me. The ending of this s...

Song Review:: ILLIT: NOT CUTE ANYMORE- NOT CUTE ANYMORE

Image
Release date: 2025 November 24 Album tracklist: NOT CUTE ANYMORE , NOT ME Album runtime: 5 minutes  That is a lot of capital letters up there. Anyway, I'm always pleased when I think of this group because they are young but also a decent age to debut. No one was fourteen and almost all of them were already adults. With survival shows like this, you can get kind of a mixed bag. But, I do look forward to them having comebacks because of it. I'm also even happier that they got a good break (hopefully). They needed it. BeLift can be a bit of a problem for both of their groups in that respect. Now, if only we could get HYBE to let them have a song that's three minutes long, that would be great. Okay, I'm going to be honest. I recently restarted FFX  and that also means that I've got the soundtrack in my head. So is it a surprise that I'm immediately reminded of Prelude  from the very beginning? No. The warbling and other various sound effects do a good job of adding ...

Music Show Wins:: Week of 11/19 -- 11/25

Image
  Okay, first up. We got another Triple Crown, and this should be the last win for this song if my math is correct between the age of the song and the number of wins already. Y'all, I have had NMIXX tagged in here four out of the last five weeks. That's kind of impressive. Also, this was ITZY's first win in almost two years. Girl group power this week for the win, with three of the four slots taken by them. Nice. And I'd really like MCountdown to start doing shows again, but it's award season. Okay. So, funny thing about the After School Club episode (episode 334) this time around. So, the group is 100%, a 2012 debut group (you know how I love 2012 groups and this was around their 6th anniversary), and currently sort of reformed as the group FAVE1 (who I just realized dropped a Christmas single last year, so I'm updating last year's Christmas Caroling post with it because that was adorable). The four of them were so much fun to watch and that album had a l...

Greatest Hits:: Crayon Pop: Bar Bar Bar

Image
 I think this is the third girl group in a row that I've done one of these for. Not specifically for the Greatest Hits posts as the last one was obviously F.T. Island, but one of the specialty posts in general. Why? I'm feeling like the girl groups need some love right now. Especially Crayon Pop. I rarely see them get mentioned, which is a shame because what little I know of the group, they were fun . And with the award season coming up and so many fandoms that are tense and stressed over potential wins, I wanted to give you all something a bit more cheerful. So, no, this isn't a recommendation that was given to me, but at the same time, this is just some fun, second gen goodness that I want you to just enjoy, you know? Have some fun. Take a breather. Relax a bit. Also, their fandom color is apple green with their fandom called Sketchbook. That's adorable. I love that. (Also, congrats on the pregnancy, Choa! I hope everything goes well, and all three of you stay healthy...

Song Review:: LE SSERAFIM : SPAGHETTI- SPAGHETTI (feat. J-Hope (BTS))

Image
Release date: 2025 October 24 Album tracklist: SPAGHETTI (feat. J-Hope) , Pearlies (My oyster is the world), SPAGHETTI (Member ver.), SPAGHETTI (English ver.) (feat. J-Hope), SPAGHETTI (feat. J-Hope),  Pearlies (My oyster is the world),  SPAGHETTI (Member ver.),  SPAGHETTI (English ver.) (feat. J-Hope) Album runtime: 22 minutes  Thank you, Fearnots, for forcing me to get this one done. And congrats on the win! (If any Armys contributed to this, given J-Hope's involvement, congrats to y'all too!). Also, that is a list of songs. Technically I think we should count this as a single because there are only actually two different songs on there. And before we are concerned at the fact that I seem to have listed songs twice, the first half are the explicit versions, and the second half are the music-show-performable versions. Why does this song remind me of Wife by i-dle? That's not a bad thing because I unironically love that song and have it in probably at least five pla...

Song Review:: Rocky (ASTRO): Forever and Ever- Forever and Ever

Image
Release date: 2025 November 22 Album tracklist:  Forever and Ever , Forever and Ever - Instrumental Album runtime: 8 minutes  I don't know about you, but I'm delighted to be able to post reviews for both Eunwoo and Rocky side by side, as I very pointedly gesture to the title of this review. And we get almost four minutes of song with  the instrumental as a separate track. I'm so happy about this. That being said, I did miss a release Rocky did at the end of August. Will I get to it? I intend to, but there are no guarantees. This sounds like a happy song, and I'm all about that. I like the way that the twinkling and the guitar work together, because it gives the song a nuanced sound. But you know what I'm happiest about in this song? There's an entire section that is solely dedicated to audience participation clapping! We've got another one, folks! That has been sorely lacking of late unless I simply just missed any, which is always possible, but the presence...

Song Review:: Cha Eunwoo (ASTRO): ELSE- Saturday Preacher

Image
Release date: 2025 November 21 Album tracklist: Sweet Papaya, SATURDAY PREACHER , Selfish, Thinkin' Bout U Album runtime: 12 minutes  I'm trying to decide how I feel about the idols having albums released during their military services. Because on the one hand, it's keeping them in the public mind, which could be good. On the other hand, it prevents a big triumphant return as well as wasting the opportunities for album promotions. I don't know. I assume they've had the cost-benefit analysis worked out between them and their company. Still, he hasn't really been in that long, although it feels like it's been an eternity. I've got a long list of photocards to pull off my wall before I can pull his off though.  Serve well, Lee Dongmin. Serve well. This is a smooth instrumental. I mean, it's a little slinky while being a little funky. Yes, there's glitter and rhinestones, but it's still a shiny silver jumpsuit, big hair, and bold eyeshadow with t...

Song Review:: Stray Kids: DO IT- Do It

Image
Release date: 2025 November 21 Album tracklist: Do It , DIVINE, Holiday, Photobook, Do It (Festival Version) Album runtime: 14 minutes  Okay, everyone. I managed to dodge some spoilers when I did my morning check on Threads. While the Stays were freaking out a little bit, the Atinys were kind of like landed fish over San's music video, and the Armys were just happy about the live that happened. Carats are still having a field day over Jeonghan's surprise appearance. It's a good time to enjoy so many groups because I also get to enjoy having so many different fandoms having a really good time for completely separate reasons all at the same time. The Monbebes also made a surprise appearance on my feed recently, which I thought was cute. But I think the cutest posts were the baby Stays going "Wait. Didn't Ceremony just come out? Are they always like this???" Stray Kids don't seem to have comebacks. They just...stay. Heh. Heheheh. Anyway. Oh, I like this one....

Song Review:: EPITHYMiA: UP- Turn Up {Japanese}

Image
Release date: 2025 March 15 Album tracklist:  Climb Up , Turn Up, Climb Up - Instrumental ver., Turn Up - Instrumental ver. Album runtime: 14 minutes  Okay! This is going to sound a bit convoluted. They have an album coming out in December. That album will have all of their songs they've released since debut. This one came from their one-year-anniversary single released back in March,  and now has both an English version and this music video. I don't actually know which one was the title track. I'm assuming the other one because it has slightly more streams on Spotify? But I did really like the first song I reviewed for them ( found here ), and I'm bound and determined to shout about them from the rooftops. I think you may be confused as to why I'm suddenly reviewing, and championing if I'm being honest, a J-Pop group because I've been trying to keep this mostly Korean for my own sanity. That's fair. I also am a little baffled, and yet, here I am with t...

Song Review:: Kiss of Life: Lucky (Korean Ver.)

Image
Release date: 2025 November 18 Album tracklist:  Lucky (Korean Ver.) Album runtime: 2 minutes  Welp. Okay, another mini album I didn't get to during my apparent vacation this summer. This isn't from that though. This is just a single that they performed on the KGMAs. Actually, now that I think about the timeline, this song came out after that. The Korean version anyway. Huh. Well, good for them. Because of certain choices the group has made, I'm unfortunately having to put this on Underage Protocol. I need groups to stop doing this and being unapologetic about it. The runtime isn't where I'm happy either. Disappointment across the board. This one specifically is the Korean version of their Japanese title track (I may have to watch that music video as well, out of curiosity because I'm not going to cover it most likely). So this is interestingly both very smooth and also pretty hip-hop. It's one of those things that has a lot of repetition, which isn't he...

Song Review:: Kyuhyun (Super Junior): The Classic- Like Our First Snow

Image
Release date: 2025 November 20 Album tracklist: Daydream; Like Our First Snow ; Goodbye, My Friend; Still in Memory; Compass Album runtime: 19 minutes  Do I get to start on my Christmas post already? I assume so based on the fact that we have a song called "Like Our First Snow" but it's also not even the first one of the season. Such is life. You think you're prepared for something and then the unexpected happens. But here we are. And as a side note, I'm thoroughly delighted that I understand the Korean of this title! But also, there's only one song that's shorter than three-and-a-half minutes. Bless him. Are you ready for me to squeal delightedly over this instrumental? Because you should. This is absolutely gorgeous. It's soft and slow, with the occasional weighty drum to hold the song down and give it depth. The piano almost makes me want to cry a little bit from how lovely it is. The plaintive guitar. And my favorite instrument for just about anyth...

Christmas Caroling: 2025 Edition

Image
 Hello, everyone! This is the Christmas and/or winter and/or holiday songs for the 2025 season. We're going to get this one started early because, well, I think we've already had a release for the season. I'm counting it because it's talking about snow. Also, as with 2024's, I'm going to be updating this as regularly as I find songs for it.  Minimal commentary from me! Just music! 2024 Edition The Old 10CM Winter Breath Moonbyul (MAMAMOO) A miracle 3days ago Monsta X Lonely Christmas NCT Dream JOY billlie snowy night Lee Haein Santa Lullaby (We Used To Sing) K.Will, SISTAR, BOYFRIEND Snow Candy TVXQ! Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town JUSTB I luv you Merry Christmas LUNCH Mr. Santa And here's the annual, 11th addition because it's funny if you think I'm not going to include this when MINHYUN GETS DISCHARGED AROUND CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR!!! First one to come home! Even if he technically got to stay at home most of the time because of the nature of his mil...