Song Review:: ASC2NT: Replay

-

  • Release date: 2025 December 23
  • Album tracklist: Replay

  • Album runtime: 3 minutes

 It's been a hot minute since I've done a review from them because apparently I didn't notice that they did a July release, otherwise I would have made sure to do it. I like these guys. I like these guys a lot. And I like that runtime.

Oh, that's a fantastic instrumental. It's also, surprisingly, definitely a winter song so that's going to be labeled appropriately. Huh. It starts off pretty mellow, and I was into it basically from the start. Then the energy kicked up a little bit, the bells started in and the entire song just brightened. The flow of the song is lovely. 

Even the rapping in this song is lovely and lyrical. This is a great example of why I like them. The rapping and the singing styles flow so nicely into each other that the song sounds so cohesive, and that's ignoring the vocals layered over the rapping and the ad-libs and whoo-ing. You shouldn't ignore those because the song is vocally phenomenal, but this is a wonderful song. I highly recommend this one.

Those lyrics are a bit sad, but I do have to say that I'm kind of in love with the lighting. Lighting Director, you did a great job. It's very much a vibes and visuals music video, but I'm down with it.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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...
Read more

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...
Read more

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...
Read more

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...
Read more

November 2025 Wrap-Up: Happy Burstday To You

-
Image
 By the time you read this, there will be less than a month left in 2025, which is crazy because it feels like January was simultaneously two months ago and also eighteen years ago.  First up, we have the debuts. Technically one of these that I covered was in fact posted in December, but I am counting it because it was a November debut, though not for a group. The group I covered was AM8IC , a boy group made up entirely of Chinese members that is based in South Korea and debuting in South Korea in K-Pop. I wanted to be very specific about this. The only other group I can think of that's this interesting in terms of demographics, starting location, and target audience is 1verse, which also doesn't have a South Korean in the group. Anyway, they debuted this month. And for the solo debut that I covered, that would be Jungwoo of NCT , right before his impending military enlistment. This means that all three members of the NCT subunit DoJaeJung will be in the military within the we...
Read more

Battle of the B-Sides:: NU'EST: Thank You (Evening by Evening)

-
Image
 Whichever LOVE sent this in and specifically requested I time this release to come out when Minhyun gets out, I love you. GUESS WHAT EVERYONE! MINHYUN HAS BEEN DISCHARGED. I try to avoid the caps lock, but I'm honestly so happy I could cry.  Thank You (Evening by Evening) is the fourth track from their fifth mini album, Canvas, which sold a grand total of 10 first day units and was released in 2016. I'll let that sink in for a second. The things you learn, and honestly, I couldn't be prouder of their survival with that little factoid. Writing credits include Bumzu, who recently won Legendary Producer at the 2025 AAAs and is most well-known for being Seventeen's producer alongside Woozi but also has done songs for Jin (BTS), Block B, TWS, 2PM, fromis_9, NCT Dream, Pristin, EXO, and Rain among others. Also with the writing credits is Jo Jayoung, who along with Seventeen and NU'EST songs as well, also has songs for UP10TION. And then the most surprising credit and I...
Read more

Song Review:: ALLDAY PROJECT: ALLDAY PROJECT- ONE MORE TIME {Pre-Release}

-
Image
Release date: 2025 November 17 Album tracklist: ONE MORE TIME Album runtime: 3 minutes  We've got about a month before the mini album drops, but in the meantime, we've got this pre-release and  it's over three minutes long. Unfortunately, because of certain, hmm, choices that have been made, I'm putting this on Underage Protocol. Although I wanted to check the music video briefly, and there seems to be a different choice being made with regards to certain things. I'm not going to pull them off U.P. yet, but I hope that this trajectory continues so that I can. This is a very Teddy song full of synthy goodness and a skittering beat that isn't overpowering through the entire song. The variation is good. The flow of the song as a whole is good. There's also a song that this reminds me of, but I don't have enough pieces of it to figure out even what group it, but if I figure it out, I will let you know. But otherwise, I really enjoy this song. It feels famili...
Read more

Asia Artist Awards 2025

-
Image
 So, as with the other award show posts, my comments will be found down below, after the performances and the winners. I know. It's me, and I like to ramble, but for these, I'm giving you the stuff you're more likely to be interested in first, and then if you want my rambles, they're at the bottom.  Anyway, enjoy the performances and congrats to the winners! I'm only listing the music related winners, with two exceptions. performances AHOF ( Rendezvous ) ALLDAY PROJECT ( FAMOUS + ONE MORE TIME ) ASH ISLAND (Don't go + OST) ATEEZ (Man on Fire + Dance Break + In Your Fantasy ) Cortis ( GO! + What You Want ) Cravity (Intro + Lemonade Fever ) IVE ( XOXZ + ATTTUDE + 삐빅 (♥beats) + REBEL HEART ) JJ Lin (Bedroom + 修煉愛情+背對背擁抱 (with WOODZ)) KickFlip (Intro (특이점) + My First Love Song ) KiiiKiii (Intro + I DO ME ) Kiss of Life (Maestro of My Heart + Lucky ) Leejunyoung (BOUNCE + BACK) LE SSERAFIM (Born Fire + Ash + HOT ) MEOVV ( BURNING UP + HANDS UP ) Monsta X (Tress...
Read more

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....
Read more

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...
Read more