Song Review:: ATEEZ: GOLDEN HOUR : Part.4- Adenaline

-

  • Release date: 2026 February 06
  • Album tracklist: Ghost, Adrenaline, NASA, On The Road, Choose
  • Album runtime: 16 minutes

 My Stay friend had to remind me that today was the day that this was happening. I swear, I have lost all sense of time in February. Time means literally nothing. Okay. Let's see where they are going this time.

And almost right off the bat we've got a Hongjoong giggle. Okay. That's what we're looking at.

Wow. Okay. I have said that word so many times already that it's ceased to have meaning. This instrumental has gone full Cyberpunk 2077. I can already sense that we're going to get some intense choreography here, and it's definitely another of their war anthems and it's being added to some of my playlists, specifically the road trip one and the work out one. From a technical standpoint, it's well-written for the control of energy, which means that this build is intense. The whole song is intense, and very heavy. It's not just a wall of sound, though; there's a pointedness to the instrumental that feels less a coiled predator and more a very large bird of pray that's already begun the strike. And there's a big dance break.

This is almost four minutes of song. I could kiss the songwriters (I wouldn't because that's weird, but the sentiment is there). But that means that we get so much from the members that they actually get to settle into their parts without having it be a mad rush, and considering that this is an obvious war anthem, that's so satisfying. Jongho gets his big boom, but because it's so short, it almost registers as a scream (which it isn't, but that's what my brain is comparing it to) of fury, especially with the way it's cut off. And Mingi's voice here during his mid-song rap is probably one of the most fitting things I could think of. And there's a call-to-action  shout? What do you mean they're going there?

That was Jongho there are the beginning using his low notes! I knew it! And Yeosang gets to settle down low too? Be still, my soul. There's a point in the choreography that Mingi had my eyebrows raising because sir, what was that? But also, is anyone else reminded of the Tesseract, but in red? There are so many points of lore that I think I'm picking up, but this is not a lore blog. Unfortunately. Instead, I'm just going to have to chew on this for a bit because I'm having thoughts, which is good because this music video is almost four-and-a-half minutes long. Love it. This is what I want.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Battle of the B-Sides:: f(x): Shadow

-
Image
 I love when I get suggestions for groups that I've heard of but haven't actively listened to. I know that f(x) has several songs that are on the list of K-Pop influential songs that pretty much everyone should be familiar with, if they don't know  them. I don't think this is one of them, because this is a b-side, but I could also be wrong. Which is why I like being able to dig into the albums and the songs a little bit. So, this comes from their second studio album Pink Tape, released in 2013, which won a bonsaeng in 2014 at the GDAs, and hit number 1 on multiple music charts worldwide. One of the songs on the album was originally supposed to be Ariana Grande's song, and f(x) got it instead. So that's pretty cool. It's the second track on the album and is described as creepy pop, which I am down for entirely and that was one of the reasons why this song was suggested for me to do as the suggestion included the note that I seem to really like eerie or otherw...
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

Greatest Hits:: Monsta X: Beautiful

-
Image
 I decided to have my first one of these for 2026 be something upbeat.  Plus, considering they had their tenth anniversary last year and I didn’t do anything for them then (because that was during my lean months), I figure that this would be a good one to go with now. I’m pretty sure that this isn’t one of their softer songs, but I like the idea of starting off the year with a song called “Beautiful” anyway because it taps into the romantic and sentimental bit of my soul that attaches like a barnacle to some of these groups. So, this is the title track, and second track, for their first album, The Clan Pt. 2.5: The Final Chapter, which was released in 2017, and what do you mean it was produced by someone whose stage name is Star Wars? I’m completely delighted. Anyway, some other artists that Star Wars ( I can't stop smiling in delight over that name) has worked on songs with are Wanna One, WJSN, Cravity, Billlie, Rania, BAE173, ITZY, TWICE, Sistar, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, and ZER...
Read more

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...
Read more

Song Review:: SAY MY NAME: &Our Vibe- UFO (ATTENT!ON)

-
Image
Release date: 2025 December 30 Album tracklist: Bad Idea, UFO (ATTENT!ION) , Delulu Solulu, Hard to Love, SAY MY NAME Album runtime: 14 minutes  This set of song titles brings me so much joy. First of all, the title track? I think that's actually a password, and I love that. I also am wholly in love with the song title "Delulu Solulu". Plus, this feels like an important note, we've had a new member added to the group since the last time I wrote something for this group, and  she is not a minor. I still can't listen to them because the maknae is fifteen, but, you know. One day she won't be and hopefully the company won't debut someone that young again. But in the meantime, their reviews are on Underage Review, and I have a playlist just for songs I can't listen to yet but that I like. That opening has no business going as hard as it does. They're ending the year with rock, and it's glorious. I'm actually kind of sad that I can't listen t...
Read more

2025 Music Show Recap

-
Image
 And that's it, folks! That's a full year of the music show wins! Which means it's now time for the recap and data analysis! Delicious, delicious data. Now this is on the assumption that I counted correctly. I did double check my numbers to make sure, but I could have had a mental blip somewhere at the exact same time or skipped something twice. It's possible. I am however about 97.35% positive that I have correct numbers in the raw data and that I did the math correctly before dumping it into the spreadsheet for chart creation. Because I like charts and numbers. Not enough to take any math classes in college, but enough that I've always done well in and enjoyed math. Also, because I do not  want the thumbnail of this to be a graph, I'm going to share a stage I really liked. (There's also a reason for it, but you'll have to read on to find out what that is.) Enjoy some Seventeen. Now, just some interesting numbers and points of interest before I fully ge...
Read more

Song Review:: EXO: REVERXE- Crown

-
Image
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...
Read more

Battle of the B-Sides:: NCT 127: Vitamin

-
Image
 I got this a bit ago as a suggestion, but I just kept putting it on hold. However, considering Taeyong is now discharged (and I get to pull his photocard off my Enlistment Wall now yay ), I'm going to dust this one off and do it. I would have had this out for his discharge but I lost track of when he was getting discharged. Sorry. I am also slightly afraid of this song because I haven't heard it and whoever submitted it wrote "enjoy the lyrics ;)" and I can't decide which is likelier: if this is going to have lyrics like Smoothie or if it has lyrics that I am definitely going to mishear and make them worse than they are, because a comment like that could go either way. I also got an apology because this submitter isn't sure if this was ever performed live, but this isn't the first one I've done and it certainly won't be the last.  And with regards to the T-named elephant in the room, I also had to decide how I was going to handle this and him, wh...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: B.A.P: Feel So Good

-
Image
 We're heading back to 2016 for this one, and that album cover is so unlike anything else they put out that obviously I had to go with this title track. I like the bright colors and the cheer and the amount of fun there.  And if you want goofy, that music video is unrepentantly so. This song was apparently them taking a break from their dark songs, which, as much as I like dark songs, I really, really love goofy ones just as much.  Feel So Good is the third track on their fifth mini album and has quite the list of contributors to the writing of this song. First up, Team One Sound has spent a lot of time with Super Junior Songs. CR Kim, on the other hand, wrote for Ailee, SF9, TWICE, MAMAMOO, ASTRO, and DRIPPIN. Bang Yongguk, member of the group in question, has written a lot of B.A.P and his own songs, but there's a specific JustB song that definitely catches my attention ( Damage , I really love that song) and a specific group that, if there was a sort of rival group th...
Read more

Battle of the B-Sides:: NewJeans: Super Shy

-
Image
 Before anyone comes at me with pitchforks and torches and chases me up a rickety windmill before setting fire to it for me to dramatically fall in a blaze of heartrending glory (I've been thinking a lot about the end of Frankenstein 1932 if you cannot tell), I'm labeling this as a b-side because it was a pre-release of an album, not the actual title track. You may also be wondering why, at this point in the year, I'm covering a NewJeans song when according to my own rules, I won't listen to groups if they had too many members debut underage or if they had members debut too young, both of which actually still apply to this group for a few more months but will soon be removed from the U.P list so that I can actually dig into their discography. To which I say, Underage Protocol does not apply to the Greatest Hits or the Battle of the B-Sides. If you're also curious about the timing, it has been almost two years, two very long, stressful years. No matter what I or any...
Read more