October 2025 Wrap-Up: A New Nightmare

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 What is up! I completely spaced out needing to do this, and time both has no meaning and is soup. Little nerdy D&D reference there for you. Warm you up for the fun times.

So, first up, as always, we have the lovely debuts. I covered none of them, and I feel bad about that. So I'll probably snag one or two and do a later review for them. Still, even without that, I'm still going to hand them over to you lovely readers so that you can take a listen and decide if you like any of them. BE:MIN, the subunit of the boy group XEED, now called XD. LUVITA, virtual girl group made up of V-Tuber. Global girl group NWH:I. Girl group ARVVY (who debuted with everyone over twenty, by the way). Girl group E11iVYN (which is only a four-member group, and you pronounce that as "eleven"). &TEAM had their Korean debut (with three accompanying music show wins, and now they have their very own younger brother group, aoen who is going to get a review from me in a couple of days).

Just as a fun fact, there were six total groups that debuted in 2004.

Songs I was looking forward to:

  • QWER- I saw a post last year or late in 2023 that if you want Korean music that the general public is listening to, you want to listen to QWER. I still don't know the validity of that statement, but I for one really like them.
  • Synsnake- Y'all. Speaking of Korean bands, I've been looking for a metal band to help scratch that itch when I have it. And now I have one!
  • TWS- I love these kids. The very adorable maknae is now an eighteen-year-old, and he's even taken the CSAT now. Hopefully it went well.
  • U-Know (TVXQ!): I've got a few songs by Max Changmin that I absolutely love, but I don't know that I've ever listened to his songs. And, yeah, this is a pre-release, but I'm still curious.
  • Hwasa (MAMAMOO): She's gorgeous with the voice of a siren. I love her. 
  • Changsub: I'm a simple girl and I support my cat's love of this man.
  • LE SSERAFIM: Another one of the girl groups that I wish I could love more because they were described to me as being MAMAMOO's spiritual successors in hilarity and volume. But I'm worried that if I get too into them, they'll go on hiatus or disband as has happened to almost all of the girl groups I've decided I really like.
  • xikers: These are my other kids that I love. And every release it's me hoping that a) I will love the song and b) it'll get them their first win. And I also recognize that even if I don't like the song now, it'll likely grow on me especially once I see their live performance of it because they're top four favorite live performers. If you get the chance, you need to go see them live. (Witch is still my favorite of their title tracks, though. So there's that.)
  • Yuta: My man, Yuta! I don't care that this is a Japanese release! I'm here to support my yearlings.
  • Roy Kim: He feels a little bit like sunshine and his confusion over the barking and then his sudden delight over it was the single most endearing thing. And his voice is unbelievable.
  • Eunkwang: Speaking of men with incredible voices, this one. This man right here.

I do have a page where I house the links for all of the Music Show Wins each week (which is found here if you're new and curious about previous months), but if you're only wondering about October's wins, I'll hand these over for you. They include performances and such, so if you read my review, listened to the song, watched the music video, but you still need something more to decide if you need something a bit more to decide if you like a song, there you go. 

Week of 10/01 - 10/07

Week of 10/08 - 10/14

Week of 10/15 - 10/21

Week of 10/22 - 10/28

I'm going to interrupt this to say thank you to everyone who reads any of my posts (including this one). Really and truly, thank you. And for everyone who gave me any suggestions as a comment somewhere or in the submission form, thank you as well. Not that I couldn't come up posts myself because it's incredibly easy to find songs, but I like being able to present these gifts to specific people.

Moving on, it's my favorite segment, the top releases of the month! Whoo! (You'll notice that some of the ones I was looking forward to never got reviews. That will likely change.) Also, the playlist where I'm storing the songs for this year hit 100 songs this month. That's just the title tracks. That's it.

Top Releases of the Month:

  • Wonho (Monsta X) "Good Liar": Yo. This song is so catchy. Fully in English, but oh, this is a catchy song.
  • W24 "I gotta feeling": This is a trilingual song and I am in love. The trilingualism is enough to make me ignore that it's a bit repetitive.
  • Hwasa (MAMAMOO) "Good Goodbye": I like that we got the confirmation that this was in fact written about/for an ex. But, also it's a completely gorgeous song, and I am so here for it. (I actually like the other version better, but it's fine).
  • NMIXX "Blue Valentine": I still think that song sounds like it's saying "Blue butterfly" but it's fine. That's my ears being weird more than anything.
  • BABYMONSTER "WE GO UP": Here's the thing. Just because a group is currently on Underage Protocol, that doesn't change it when I really, deeply love songs. This one is a prime example of that.
  • TWICE "ME+YOU": Happy anniversary, TWICE!
  • Joochan (Golden Child) "Rise & Shine": We got vibrato and scales and the cutest little slice of life music video.
  • Lee Chanwon "Maybe Today": I spent two days listening to this album and falling in complete head-over-heels love with his voice. 
  • &TEAM "Back To Life": Again, this was their Korean debut as well as giving them music show wins. But I love this music video specifically so much.
  • TEMPEST "In The Dark": This one is another music video shout-out because you know what? The acting is incredible, the storyline is incredible, and it's so delightfully Grimm fairytale that I want to shout about it from the rooftops. Not that the song (and the whole album) aren't good too But this music video. Top Tier.

Full list of the October reviews: here

Reviews for other months:

As a side note, EPITHYMiA is ridiculously active. They go live on YouTube 2-3 times a day, sometimes solo and sometimes as the full group. I'm not kidding.

Because this is October, there was one special post I made, and that was for the Halloween Spookening recs for this year! Twelve more spooky recs for you all!

We got through only a single Greatest Hits post. I say we. I mean, I wrote it, but we went on the journey together and someone submitted it to The Form. So it is sort of a we situation as the post wouldn't exist without one of my lovely, lovely readers.

F.T ISLAND's "Wind": I think my favorite part of the music video was when the two guitarists were standing back to back. It is such a good image. Also, the song is vibrato central. This is a fifteen-simultaneous-divorces kind of song and I love how absolutely beautiful it is.

As with the GH posts, there was only a single Battle of the B-Sides post. Still, I thought this one was appropriate for the spooky season, so, once again, thank you for the suggestion. (Because this was from a message on Tumblr, I would say who it is, but when I asked if I could, they requested I don't. So, I'm not going to. But I'm going to publicly say that I would have if they'd been chill with it).

LE SSERAFIM's "Impurities": Eden, who produced my favorite BTOB song, is listed as producer for this song. The choreography for this song is phenomenal. But there's a level of sophistication to the sound of this song that brings me joy. And the camera work. Shout out to the cameramen.

If you also have a song you'd like me to cover, please go ahead and drop a comment somewhere (or a message/ask on Tumblr) or you can leave it for me in The Form.

Honorable Mentions:

  • DK (Seventeen) "Happy Virus": The reason it's so high on the list and competing with the following songs from my Halloween playlist was because of the Seventeen concert. I wanted to make sure that I had it memorized because I was not going to make him sad for not knowing the song if he asked us to sing it. 
  • Red Velvet "Nightmare": I freaking love, love, love, love, love the instrumental on this song. It's a little bit haunted doll vocally, maybe haunted music box. Not that it really matters because the entire thing is so pretty. And the rapping is just creepy. In love. Perfect for Halloween.
  • Dreamcatcher "Chase Me": (As a side note, this is an incredible music video) This song came out on Friday the 13th. I love my spooky, rock, witchy queens. The lyrics themselves aren't super spooky, but their concept is. And also, I love this song and the group.
  • VAV "Poison": So this was a new addition to the playlist. The music video has all the poisonous (and some venomous...) things, but the lyrics are such a relatable break-up song. I also enjoy this song enough that I added it to some of my normal playlists so I can listen to it year-round.
  • Brown Eyed Girls "Abandoned": Another break-up song, but this time flavored with being abandoned by a lover who took everything. The music video is very fairytale, but the kind of fairytale that reminds me of the movie Brothers Grimm. AKA depressing and very dark. That is one haunted tower, y'all.
  • PURPLE KISS "ON MY BIKE": I love this song. I'm so sad about them, but this song is superlative. Fallen angels in the music video, intensity to match Dreamcatcher. It's just gorgeous. There's one part of the song, where I instinctively want to toss my head and tap into the sass in my soul. Yes, my spooky Queens. Yes.



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