Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2026 January 19 Album tracklist: Evolution : Prelude; Amplify ;  Stay In The Dream;  Sail;  Better Days;  28 Days;  From Now On; I'm Already In Love With You; Addicted; Hurricane; Alive; Reperio; To You, Standing Before Me; The Young Wave (2026 Remix) Album runtime: 51 minutes  Look at that runtime, everyone! Look at it! This was apparently supposed to be released last year, but getting all the songs together took longer than expected. Not that I'm complaining, especially because of that runtime. If they're going to put the effort in to having this many songs of this length, many if not all of them written by the members, then I'm going to be patiently happy. Also, generally, I just really love their songs, so I've been looking forward to this. They turned two in November, and you can already tell they've settled. I'm hoping that I love most of the songs in this album. I always leave room for ones I don't quite like as well in my expectatio...

  This is an exciting week for the wins! We've got some first wins for songs, which I'm loving, but more excitingly, we had two different milestones happen! First up, we had a group's first win! Congrats to idntt on that all important first win! And with the subunit's debut as well! That's so cool! Second, we had a triple crown from Inkigayo! Congrats to Hwasa for that! It was also girl group domination this week, so that's pretty cool, ranging from second gen (Apink) to fifth gen (ILLIT). I like the range here. Continuing with my stubborn insistence on supporting the smaller groups, this week's After School Club re-run is ATBO on ep. 576 from 2023. I'm not happy that they've been disbanded, but I hope that the members are doing well despite this. For this episode, we didn't have the full list of members as two of them were participating in King of the Masked Singer at the time. I found a really interesting performance on The Show from earlier...

Release date: 2026 January 16 Album tracklist: 사건의 발단, No Way Back (Fear. So!oON!), 도망자들, Knife , Stealer, 우리가 찾던 목소리, 목격자, Big Girls Don't Cry, Lost Island, Sleep Tight, 사건의 너머 Album runtime: 24 minutes  It was kind of funny when they announced their comeback because I was suddenly very excited and also exhausted. However, I also know that this group has had a problem in recent comebacks, through very little fault of their own, with having songs longer than three minutes. So, I took a look at the runtime and was horrified. But I wanted to see what was the cause of this. So I took notes. Of that tracklist, six of them are actual songs with singing by the members, not the speaking that's going on by I don't know who. Of those, only one of the six is over three minutes. But you know the most sickening thing? There's a song that's shorter that two minutes. That is so far from even pretending to be okay that I want to shake whoever decided that this was going to be how ...

Release date: 2026 January 13 Album tracklist: Backseat, Saucin' , Moonwalkin', FaceTime, Never Let Go Album runtime: 15 minutes  Okay, Jay Park's kids have offi cially debuted so congrats to them! Whoo! I saw a comment from him today that he thinks K-Pop has lost its romanticism, and LNGSHOT are his way of correcting that. Regardless of whether or not he's correct, and whether or not you agree with him, that's a bold statement to make and have be the mission statement, so to speak, for a group. It does give me a very specific forward facing expectation to what they're going to be doing in the future, but, for now, we've got this. And because of the maknae's age, this is going on Underage Protocol. But, even though I'm very disappointed in that, we've got an average of three minutes per song and the title track is a very healthy three-and-a-half minutes. It’s funny that you can hear Jay Park’s R&B roots in this song. It’s a very smooth song ...

Release date: 2026 January 19 Album tracklist: Crown , Back It Up, Crazy, Suffocate, Moonlight Shadows, Back Pocket, Touch & Go, Flatline, I'm Home Album runtime: 28 minutes  My first comeback with EXO coinciding with their first comeback is a delightful happenstance, and I'm excited to be here with the EXO-Ls for this. I'm so beyond frustrated with SM over this whole situation, but until SM decides to be completely nonsensical, I'm going to treat this as a simple hiatus for them from the group. They'll come back. And the average is over three minutes, so I am so, so happy. One of the more interesting things about the instrumental is that there are sirens going on through almost the entire thing, but they’re subtle enough that the song isn’t taken over by them and you’re unlikely to be jump-scared by them while you’re driving. But they’re there and they add a strong flavor to the song, which is otherwise majority a beat and rhythm, rather than having much of a m...

 While I wait for The Form to fill up a little bit more, I'm going to return to the Tumblr poll I dropped that one time that gave me My Pace by Stray Kids to do because that's what y'all voted on. Second place was the lovely Dreamcatcher. I'm delighted by this. You mean I get to do one of my spooky girl groups? Yes, please. Always a pleasure. What's funny about this particular song (and the reason why I started looking into Dreamcatcher in the first place is that the very first time I heard this song, it was actually a stage from  The Show on the livestream that THE K-POP (AKA the YouTube channel that The Show was attached to) has running basically all the time. And it was only like the last fifteen seconds of the song, but I was hooked. Done. Sold. And now I'm hunting down their albums. It's crazy how things turn out. I know that one of the songs I've done recently had a producer or songwriter who has worked on a lot of Dreamcatcher songs (part of ...

Release date: 2026 January 07 Album tracklist: X O, My Cyberlove ; Canary ; Cocktail Dress; Limoncello; Teeny Tiny Heart; Love Potion; Heart Tea Bag; Hide & Seek; Loving You! Album runtime: 25 minutes  A b-side from this album had its music video dropped either yesterday or the day before, so that's the prompting to get my distracted self to actually do this one now. I think, if I remember the last song I reviewed for her correctly, that I do like her voice. There are a couple of songs on this album that have my attention a little bit and I'm curious about, so after I finish this review, I'm likely to go and listen to some of them.  I don't necessarily know what I was expecting from this song, but this is a lot softer than I was expecting. It was a surprise. It kind of reminds me of a less guitar focused early Taylor Swift instrumental, which is fascinating to be hearing in a new song twenty years later. I haven't been following her new music very closely since ...

Release date: 2026 January 14 Album tracklist: Ferris wheel Album runtime: 7 minutes  Well, well, everyone. Hello! The ever so lovely band ONEWE has dropped a new single! I've enjoyed what I've heard from them so far, though they're not one that I've actively sought out to listen bigger chunks of their discography yet. But I am glad that I went digging through upcoming releases, because I found out that this is actually a pre-release! I love that we get the instrumental for this. The use of the bells makes it sound almost a little Christmassy, but at the same time there's a very festival vibe to that opening. It actually reminds me of when I was little when we lived on the farm, and the neighborhood kids would get to go on sleigh rides because my neighbor two miles down the highway had a gorgeous sleigh his grandfather had made by hand that he'd have his (award-winning) Belgian draft horses pull. So there's a very nostalgic sense to the song for me, but at t...

Release date: 2026 January 12 Album tracklist: FORMULA , FREAK ALARM , Raw Flame, Chains, Never Been 2 Heaven, Cinnamon Shake Album runtime: 18 minutes  I recognize at least two of those titles as being from the survival show, but I also cannot remember what either of them sound like. I'll probably take a listen to the whole thing, especially because I can, what with all of the members being adults and whatnot. Congrats on the debut, everyone! Whoo! This is the most hip-hop sounding track that I've heard in a while. It also feels very 90s hip-hop. But it's an interesting choice to start off the debut song a cappella. Regardless of whether or not I like that choice, it's a bold one and I like that. I'm struggling a little to get a sense of what kind of choreography this is going to have because the different sections are so disparate. The amount that the song softens is surprising as well. I guess I'll have to wait until the music video. But I do have to give kud...

  And the music shows are officially back with new episodes, which means new stages and new wins! Whoop whoop! Although there's only actually one song on this list of wins that is a new release. Some of them on here are months old, which is kind of fantastic. I expect to see newer songs moving forward, but for now, this is a good last hurrah for some of them. Unless they get more wins. For the After School Club performance, I've picked EVERGLOW, ep. 475 from 2021. The vocals on those members. Whoo. They're also delightfully chaotic and I was entertained watching them (also, they got a win for this song on The Show, which continues to prove my point). For the past The Show stage, I picked one for WEi. And while I normally would have picked another stage from one of the shows this week, last week while I was wandering around looking for stages, I found this one from ATEEZ's debut song after I'd already picked one for last week. So, I put that one for this week, which ...

 Every group that debuts, no matter the size of the company, regardless of whether this is their first group or their twentieth, is significant. When you have a group debuting after a major player in the game, there are two routes the company can take: ignore that or acknowledge it. Pledis has, historically, used their debuted groups to introduce their debuting ones. We saw that with After School introducing NU'EST, NU'EST introducing Seventeen, and now Seventeen introducing TWS. It's possible that Seventeen also introduced Pristin, but as they're no longer an active group, it would be difficult for Pristin to have introduced TWS. Still, I like that Pledis does that. I needed something a bit lighter, and this recently got submitted erroneously as a Greatest Hits post, but while this is a  single, it's not the lead  single. It's fine though! If something gets put into the wrong category, well, I can nudge it back into the correct one. The important thing is that ...

Release date: 2026 January 12 Album tracklist: Rockstar (DK Solo), Blue , Guilty Pleasure, Silence, Dream Serenade (Seungkwan Solo), Prelude of love Album runtime: 19 minutes Well, the day has come, everyone. The main vocalists of Seventeen have arrived with the debut of their own subunit and that means their enlistments have officially been slated into position. At least in my head. I don't know if they've gotten their dates yet, especially since Seungkwan theoretically wouldn't need to go this year, but the pattern persists. Also, I have to laugh a little, because you could take thirty seconds from Seungkwan's song and give it to DK's, and Seungkwan's would still be over four minutes. As far as the title track goes, it's a healthy three-and-a-half minutes. I'm so excited about this one because good vocals are what give me life and considering both of them have voices that literally made my knees buckle listening to them live, as long as they have a goo...

Release date: 2026 January 09 Album tracklist: Running to Future Album runtime: 3 minutes  The group is in a weird sort of limbo right now, where their original contracts are technically up and they're on an extension of sorts. I want the members to make the best choices for the group and for themselves, and I hope the various companies involved put the members first and foremost in the negotiations. Ah, this is appropriate for the context around this song while simultaneously being pretty true to ZEROBASEONE's sound. It's got really good energy, and the danceability of this song is really high. I'm looking forward to seeing how beautiful this choreography is, because anything less and it's not worthy of this instrumental. It's a difficult balance to achieve, what with how soft the energy is and how smooth it is. It's not necessarily heartbreaking, but the softness lends a level of bittersweetness to the song that I love. This is the kind of song you sing al...

Release date: 2026 January 08 Album tracklist: 11:59, LiKE THAT , Lucid Dream, Revive, 10 outta 10, Dawn Star, Feeling, Sugar Crush, Drop Out, Dreaming Talk : DAY 3 Album runtime: 37 minutes  If we remove the last track, that's nine tracks and 28 minutes. This group debuted in 2024, which made me raise an eyebrow, but we're good. The maknae turns twenty-three this year, so at minimum he was twenty-one at debut. I'm also not positive that I know a lot about them. Though, to be fair, they've only released a single and an OST since I started writing this, which is now over a year. So that's a little worrisome. I hope I like this so that I can be loud about them. I have however heard Vanilla Choco Shake , now that I think about it. I think I liked that one. The title track is unfortunately one of the two-and-a-half minute songs, but things could be worse. The entire album could be under three minutes per song.  The instrumental is in that same funky vein as Boom Boom Ba...

Release date: 2026 January 08 Album tracklist: It Was Love Album runtime: 3 minutes  Is this the first debut of 2026? I can think of two others that I know about that are debuting, but they haven't happened yet. Of course, there's also yesweare, but they're a subunit of idntt, so I think this might actually be the first debut of 2026. But on the other hand, this is a band, so maybe not? Not that I have a problem with bands because, as we know, I tend to love them. As far as the members go, ages are fine. Maknae turns 24 this year. But! There are three former members of cignature: Semi, Haeun, and Jeewon (who recently debuted as a soloist with the song Devil's Jam , which is actually my jam and I loved it). There's also a member of LOONA and Loossemble in here: Hyunjin. The fifth and eldest member, Heeyeon, is a guitarist YouTuber, who seems to be quite famous. So that's the line-up. I'm excited. Fingers crossed. Y'all, I am going to have half the beloved...

Release date: 2026 January 07 Album tracklist:  Our Loud Goodbye , Our Loud Goodbye (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 minutes  I perked up so much when I saw that she'd released a new single. I'd like something a bit more substantial from her, but at the same time, her life cannot revolve around music anymore and I'm happy with whatever she chooses to give us. And it's a four minute song, so once again, our first gen leader is coming through for us. And we got an instrumental for the song so I'm a happy camper. And you know what makes me even happier? The song starts out with strings. Strings and a piano, two of my favorite instruments. This is just so pretty, you guys. I'm practically giddy and over the moon. Then we get guitar and drums to join in, but that introductory instrumental is sweeping and orchestral and cinematic in the best way. The song reminds me of some of the old soundtracks for movies, with the soft lighting and the gossamer and all of that. Oh, I canno...

Release date: 2026 January 05 Album tracklist: Gwang, Fear, STING (feat. Muhammed Ali) , Push (feat. Rei (IVE)) , Bite, Touch the sky (feat. Tiger JK), NO BRAIN NO PAIN Album runtime: 18 minutes  I'm glad to see his album is out, because I know that there are a lot of Monbebes who were looking forward to it. That makes me excited, even if I'm not as familiar with his work. He does remind me a lot of Hoshi from Seventeen, so I'm inclined to see him positively because I adore Hoshi and given the general friendship between the two groups, I'm also inclined to look forward to anything Monsta X does. While this is not the shortest song on the album, which does take a bit of work, the title track is still under two-and-a-half minutes. This has that very specific BMP and beat that makes for an excellent work out song. This one feels like it could be a weightlifting song specifically, because there's a weight to the song that is so wonderfully contrasted with the whistling....

Release date: 2026 January 05 Album tracklist: Not Like a Movie Album runtime: 3 minutes  I did take a quick check on ages because even though they debuted in 2022, that doesn't guarantee adulthood at this point. But we're good! I'm vaguely familiar with this group, mostly because one of their songs was covered on Boys Planet II, but otherwise, this will be a new and interesting listen for me. Ooh, I like that the song starts off with film projector sound effects. That's thoroughly appropriate for the title of the song. There's also a bright jauntiness to the instrumental. Actually, yeah, "jaunty" is the correct word to describe this song. The piano and the drums do a great job of putting a sense of spring into the song, but then there are brass instruments that pop in just to say hi and inject a quick shot of energy. There are also some very pointed rests here in the instrumental. But this song is one that I just want to dance and vibe to. I may actually ...

Release date: 2026 January 07 Album tracklist: Ready, Set, Go!; Killer Joy ; Lowkey; To The Moon And Back; Bliss; Still, a Flower ; Again; The Temperature of Memory; Little Things, Anthem of Life Album runtime: 32 minutes  Okay, title track for the album has been dropped! Whoo! Actually, the entire album has dropped, but whatever. I'm excited because this is a band and a second gen band, and both of those things are things I look forward to. Whoo! And, if you'd like, my review for the pre-release is available at that link right there. Ooh, that guitar is fun. This is what we like to hear. There's a nice steady build in the energy and tension throughout the song, but we also get a bit of a melody in the instrumental, courtesy of that delightful electric guitar. It's a great pairing. The strategically placed instrumental rests, which let the vocals do their thing, are so important to give the song a breather, but at the same time allow the energy to build back up quickly....

Release date: 2026 January 05 Album tracklist: BOYS, Yes We Are, Pretty Boy Swag , Rage Problem, Moon Burn Album runtime: 12 minutes  Well, we're on our second subunit from this group, and now I have to double check ages again. I could listen to the first subunit all I wanted to, and they had some songs I liked, but I cannot listen to this one because that maknae is fifteen, which means Underage Protocol. He's also already a big boy and over 6', so hopefully the company can keep him fed while he finishes growing as he should. I find it both hilarious and adorable when the maknae is the tallest/biggest member of any given group. I thought that this would be the next eight members on their own, but apparently this subunit is the next eight plus the original seven, and it's unfortunate about the kid who was supposed to debut with the original eight.  It's got a good beat with some fancy keyboard work going on, which is a good sound for the song. I'm also a big fan ...

 The submitter told me to let you all know that "their company is trash and can burn in a wte plant because then at least they'd be useful but the song itself is fire and i want people to appreciate it. and you can quote me on that if you want". WtE is apparently a waste-to-trash facility, AKA a trash-burning plant. I had to look that up. That's funny, and also I have to compliment the submitter for holding with the metaphor. I don't know if they meant to, but I'm going to believe that they did, in fact, do that on purpose. It's very clever. After digging into the situation a bit (which wasn't hard, by the way, and left me with the idea that a lot of Stellar's fans, on the whole, are really creative with their feelings towards the company), I feel about the same about their former company as I do about TS Entertainment, for two very different reasons, but the outcome is ultimately the same, as is the company defunctness. Thank goodness. So, let...