Song Review:: EVERGLOW: CODE- CODE

-

  • Release date: 2026 March 03
  • Album tracklist: BREAKOUT, FOCUS, CODE, Can't Be Broken
  • Album runtime: 10 minutes

 I'm glad to see that they're still mostly together and still releasing music after leaving their company last year. They had me worried because I kind of like them and I'm kind of a curse on girl groups, it feels like. Their new company has an amusing name because it looks very censored. I'm generally less pleased about the song lengths for the album, because there isn't a single one that's three minutes long and one that's exactly two minutes. Still, in their case, I won't be too picky this time because transitioning to a new company can be incredibly stressful and I understand if song length was the thing they decided to drop. 

We've got a good beat with this song. It took me three listens to figure out what the instrumental reminds me of, at which point I promptly choked on my water because I inhaled in excitement at the wrong moment. This sounds like GGUM by Yeonjun (TXT). The chorus has some similar chords and rhythms, and there's a particular attitude that the two songs share in the instrumental, along with the genre, so for those of you who really like GGUM, you'll likely like CODE as well.

Okay. My prediction for the year is that this may sneak its way onto my favorite releases of the year list, because it feels like I'm moving in this direction after listening to it for forty minutes on repeat. Somewhere close to that. Right now, it's not giving me the wow factor that I want to be hearing. There's a bit too much shouting here, but, crucially, I'm pretty sure that because that's gone out of fashion, I'm tolerating it here a lot better. And also the fact that I now cannot unhear GGUM, which I'm not overly fond of. There are points that, if I end up adding it to the list, will be the reason why, and the biggest one is the vocal-heavy section where the instrumental becomes a very quiet support.

The undereye blush has been popular for about a year now. And I'm starting to look forward to the next trend in makeup. But, I'll add it to the list because that music video is so very cool. It feels a little bit like Birds of Prey, but more Ocean's 11-esque. However. If you notice during the credits, the special thanks? That's a very nice touch. Instantly warms me to the music video and their new company.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The World of K-Pop in 2025

-
Image
 Come one, come all to the 2025 recap from your 15th favorite Fangirl! We had a lot of very fun and special moments throughout the year and some absolutely killer albums dropped. This is going to be a beast of a post, so please buckle up. I will attempt to be entertaining, but that means there may be puns and quips involved. I'm also going to scatter random stages from this year throughout the post, just to break things up, and so you can have some music, although I did include that big playlist that I was forming throughout the year. I also included the pet tax, because I talk about them often across all sorts of posts, so you can look forward to that.  Here's your first brain break! Make sure that you've got something to drink! Reading is thirsty work! I'm going to break this up into sections so you can Ctrl+F your way through to each section depending on your interests and how much time you have. And I'll give you a table of contents, because I love table of cont...
Read more

Battle of the B-Sides:: ONEWE: AuRoRa

-
Image
 Submission! Submission! Submission! Whoo! I thought this might be a good spot for this, so thank you for your patience! And when I'm finished with this, I'll head over to Threads and send it your way since you wonderfully left a username for me to deliver it to. I actually like ONEWE. And it's funny, after the administrative work and remodeling I did (some of it quite extensive) on almost all of these posts, I'm looking for something that hits my brain to do after this one (since I'd done some planning before I decided I temporarily hated myself). So I'm just listening to my playlists. And other people's playlists. And watching videos on YouTube looking for a sparked song. But I had another ONEWE song come up that caught my attention, and then I remembered that that would be after this one, so I couldn't. As of writing this paragraph, I'm still looking. But I just thought that was kind of funny. ONEWE is a five-member band currently under RBW that r...
Read more

Song Review:: NCT Wish (NCT): poppop- poppop

-
Image
Release date: 2025 April 14 Album tracklist: poppop , Melt Inside My Pocket, Design, 1000, Silly Dance, Still 3PM Album runtime: 18 minutes  Okay, this song shouldn't make me emotional. I started a certain group's tenth anniversary release and realized that my current emotional space is not good for that. So I can't right now. Instead I'm going to go for a rookie group that I've liked so far, NCT Wish. They're adorable and with how much I absolutely adore both Dunk Shot and Steady, I'm tentatively hopeful for this one as well. Also, the title track is over three minutes, so the fact that I had to round up to the eighteen minutes (it was still pretty close) isn't too much of a problem for me. Also, I definitely need to get this review done because they've gotten wins, and y'all know what that means. Okay, so this song has more of the classic NCT sound than the two tracks they promoted with the last time, both of which I absolutely loved. The bass ...
Read more

Song Review:: AM8IC: LUKOIE- Link Up {Debut}

-
Image
Release date: 2025 November 10 Album tracklist: Paracosm, Link Up , Escher, Buzzin' , LUKOIE, Black Moon Album runtime: 15 minutes   There are two pre-debut songs I have to cover, because with The Show vanishing and ASC being canceled, the rookies and the smaller groups need more active attention than ever if they want to have a shot at surviving. If they’re good, I want to help introduce more people to them. The whole lot of them are twenty-one or older, which is great. All of them are also Chinese, which is kind of cool. One of them is a Carat, so I automatically like him. Fingers crossed. I did get up early to vote on The Show and heard them perform. Live vocals, which was good. Supported some of my grumping, which is less good. And now that I’m awake again (for good this time, and properly awake), I don’t remember what they sounded like other than some breathing in the mics. That’s no shade to them; I fell back asleep after my alarm and the only reason that I woke up to even...
Read more

Song Review:: Moon (tripleS): msnz - Cameo Love

-
Image
Release date: 2025 November 24 Album tracklist: Magic Shine New Zone, Fly Up, Cameo Love, Bubble Gum Girl, Q&A, Christmas Alone Album runtime: 15 minutes  This subunit I can listen to all I want, so hopefully this song is one I really like. Keeping track of this group feels like it should almost be a full-time job, so for those of you who are fans, you have my respect. The annoying thing is that even if you remove the song that's less than a minute long, the average is still under three minutes.  So this is a problem. There is something about this song that is interacting unfortunately with my brain. I started off with a lot of like for the song but at some point, something about this song started to set my teeth on edge. I think it's the combination of the beat with the higher keyboard that is bothering. It's an unstable instrumental. Even though we do occasionally have something that's a little heavier, it doesn't weigh down the song at all, and with the speed...
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

Battle of the B-Sides:: KOYOTE: 웃자 (Let's Laugh)

-
Image
 Okay, so, Koyote is a co-ed group that originally debuted in 1998, and since has had line-up changes like they're one of the Doctors. The current line-up is Kim Jongim, Shinji, and Bbaekga. Also, I just learned that they did a Killing Voice a year and a half ago (2023) so I recommend you all go check that out. They're there to have fun, and also sing. First gen idols are just built different, you guys. Also also, if you look into their history, there's a really good reason for all the line-up changes. It's a miracle the group has made it this long, even with these members, because it has just been one thing after another, so I'm really happy that we have a current line-up that is stable, long-lasting, and a lot less problematic. And I know I said on the review for Four Seasons  that I'd be doing a GH post for this group, and I still intend to do so (so let me know if there's a title track you really like), but I'm doing one of these instead. 웃자 comes f...
Read more

Music Show Wins:: Week of 01/28 - 02/03

-
Image
  Well, everyone, there's a single name on this week's win list. Congrats, EXOLs, and welcome back, EXO! First of several dominations of the year, I expect, but for now, Crown  has a full grand slam!  So, for the extra stages, we've got NOIR on After School Club , in ep. 420 from 2020. They're a boy group that debuted in 2018, and it looks like this was their final song, but that doesn't negate the five releases they had. I took a listen to the whole song before I watched this episode because I was curious about it since I'd never heard of the group before. It's a solid song (I also recommend Panic and Think About Chu from the same album because those are really good songs and do not be surprised if after this next batch of suggestions, you see something by the group show up in my GH or BBS posts). They showed off their vocals and I'm impressed. I cheated a little for The Show because I really wanted to show off Rocket Punch but it was a cover (which ...
Read more

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...
Read more

Song Review:: fromis_9: White Memories

-
Image
Release date: 2025 December 02 Album tracklist:  White Memories Album runtime: 3 minutes  If this isn't a Christmas/winter song, I will be so sad. It looks like it should be. The title looks like it should be. But we have had a dearth since I started the Christmas/winter list of songs, and I want more of them. I also really hope that fromis_9 is doing well and happy in their new home.  It sounds like one. So I think this is in fact a duck. I do have to say that I'm a little bit surprised that we have a few different song shifts and transitions because that's not the most common thing with this genre of song, but I like it. You know what else I like? This song uses the full three minutes of song to do something with them. Instruments come in and out. It ends somewhat decisively like a firm nod. It's just pleasant. Their voices. This is the real reason why I like this genre because we get a lot of big vocals and demonstrations of vibrato, both of which we get here. There ...
Read more