Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2026 May 18 Album tracklist: 4SHO 4SHO; YEAH! YEAH! ; NO HI, NO HEY; RUN IT UP; GUKBBONG; MOYA; THE PURGE 4SHOMIX; PUBLIC ENEMY 4SHOMIX (feat. DJ Wegun) Album runtime: 26 minutes  It's kind of adorable that the CEO had the kids join him for an entire album. What's more surprising is that the runtime is a bit over three minutes on average, the title track is over three minutes, and there are several songs over four minutes. But I have to put this on Underage Protocol because of LNGSHOT. So, sorry, Jay Park, except you debuted the child. Most of the instrumental is of the style where it's present but largely unobtrusive and the changes are subtle. Most of it is a couple of different beats layered over each other, but there's a rattle-in-your-bones quality that holds the song with a low center of gravity. There isn't really a quick uptick in energy at any point, nor does it go the other direction and fully drop at any point. It's there. It's suppo...

 This was actually supposed to be the song after After School, but I didn't write it down in my notes. And then when I checked my notes and double checked numbers (because for timing's sake, the last three must be the last three), I was missing one. So you get this one now, instead of when it was supposed to be, but that's fine because it works here as well. We're still on theme for May, and I think y'all will enjoy this one if you haven't heard it before. Funny story about this group, every time I see their name, my brain starts playing "Very Good" by Block B. It's probably a problem, but it's a me problem and I hope it's not a you problem now as well. They debuted in 2014 as a five member group, but by the time they disbanded, there were only two of the original members in the six-member group. Fun fact, they released multiple crowdfunded mini albums, including this one, and the lineup for this album was Taeha, Seoyul, Daye, Sehyung, and ...

Release date: 2026 May 18 Album tracklist:  WYLD , Storm, Hypnotic, I'm a Dancing Cactus, Mermaid, 404 Euphoria, Skiii, Hot, Feeling Myself, Run Album runtime: 28 minutes  Let's do a soloist now. Hello, friend! (And he games with JR, so I am legally required to love him). I imagine that it's been a little difficult for you being the leader of NCT. Hopefully things go a bit more smoothly from now on, flower path and all of that. Ooh! It's a full album! My interest has been piqued, although only two of the ten are over three minutes. One of them is exactly three minutes, but that's not exactly over.  This is a solid base of an instrumental, and it largely stays out of the way for the vocals. I don't have a lot to say about it because it's perfectly, functionally, supportive. It's got a good flow and some interesting halts and reversals, don't get me wrong, but it's easily dismissible.  Y'all know I like lower male voices. He gives us that with ...

Release date: 2026 May 04 Album tracklist: Pretty Pink Socks , People Talk , Awesome, Seoul Album runtime: 12 minutes   Do I have other songs I need to be doing? Always. Is this just a b-side? Yup. But they did just debut and that means they need all the attention that they can get, so with my small contribution, here we are. They are in the CIX/EPEX lineage, in case you missed my review of their debut song (link above), and we have an eighteen-year-old maknae. All is quiet on the western front, everyone. And this one is over three minutes, so I'm happy about this as well. Does this start a cappella? That's what we call a "Bold Choice". It's a very minimal instrumental through most of the song, but then it kicks up into more familiar territory. The interesting thing is that the instrumental doesn't feel like it matches the vocals very well on a structural level, which creates a dichotomy that forces you to pay attention because it doesn't do what it's ...

Release date: 2026 May 19 Album tracklist: Ghost Rider, OKay , Graffiti, Trophy, Outsider Album runtime: 14 minutes They just turned three a couple of months ago, and they're already on their seventh mini album. The kids are very busy, and on top of that, we have been getting prepped for this song for over a month now. And if we look at the album title, we're in a new era for them. I'm excited. I'm so excited. I cannot wait. I'm still looking for another title track that I love as much as Witch, but my expectations are realistically lower. Will we get our first win? Fingers crossed. I just want them to get that first win. I know how important it is no matter their other achievements, and if this were a story, having that first win be at the start of a new era would be thematically appropriate. I'm not super enthused about the runtime, but the title track is over three minutes, technically. Barely. So I'm fine with whatever else is going on.  I love it when w...

 Triple Crown this week! Grand Slam (still not sure of the term) this week! Congrats to the rookies! For the After School Club re-run, YouTube actually gave me one I hadn't seen yet when I looked the show up. So you all get it. Kevin (singing voice of Mystery Saja) is absolutely adorable in this and the entire group is hilarious. Ep. 73 from 2014, featuring U-KISS! For The Show, I went with Wonho in 2022 with Eye On You. And I'm only giving you one extra stage this week, but that's for a debut in the form of NAZE! As always, the links in the spreadsheet go directly to my reviews and the link down below with ASC goes to the actual episode because the videos sometimes get a bit weird when I try to embed them. Enjoy the performances! Show Champion: Cortis "RedRed" MCountdown:  Cortis "RedRed" Music Bank:  Cortis "RedRed" Show! Music Core:  Cortis "RedRed" Inkigayo:  Cortis "RedRed" ASC Performance: 20140610 UKISS "Quit Pla...

Release date: 2026 May 11 Album tracklist: Crescendo, Heavy Serenade , IDERSERVEIT, Different Girl, Superior, LOUD Album runtime: 16 minutes  Well, the album is out and I'm doing the pre-release first. It's fine. Again, it's a weird mental thing where because I've spent so much time with this group lately because of an Expanded Offerings post, I feel like I've already done this, even though for NMIXX it's been literal years since Tank was released. But I'm not overly worried because I'm going to be heading to Vegas this weekend, where I'll be confined with many kpop songs to cover and hours to spend them on. Ugh, two-and-a-half minutes. I'm so tired of this.  There's a particular grindy, clangy quality to the instrumental that has a flair for the dramatic to prevent the song from being too far on the side of noise. It's got kind of a heavy-handed rhythm to it, but the speed, despite the skittering beat we've got through part of the s...

Release date: 2026 May 13 Album tracklist: WXW (Wish With W) Album runtime: 3 minutes  The only real downside to doing The Expanded Offerings, as I've now decided to call the Greatest Hits and Battle of the B-Sides posts collectively, this close to when a group releases a new song, my brain often gets tricked into thinking I've already reviewed it because it's been so involved with the group.  That's an aggressive electric guitar right there at the start. It almost immediately mellows out, but it doesn't change that the song throws open the double doors to the room you're in. There's something oddly, early 2000s Disney Channel artist about the instrumental (and the melody too but that's for the vocals section). Early Hilary Duff and Kelly Clarkson. There's a good rhythm to this, a lot of which I'm attributing to the three-and-a-half minute runtime because it's got the room to have space and changes and all the things you expect from a song. T...

 Well, well, well, everyone! It looks like we're here for another rousing installment of "Guess the May Theme!" I'm the host, your Friendly Neighborhood Fangirl, coming to you with one of the most iconic third gen girl group songs we can look at. And there have been a lot of iconic third gen girl group songs, let me tell you. Actually, there are a lot of people who both lived through when third gen was new and also people who follow the girl groups a lot more closely, so you'd probably get more information from one of them. I can simply do my best by doing digging on the internet, much like I do with history when I go down rabbit holes and learn about moonshine brewing during the Prohibition when my question was about the alcohol content of whiskey and if you could use it to disinfect wounds. I was writing a Fallout fanfic. GFRIEND debuted with six members in 2015 under Source Music, though they're not Source's first girl group, technically. Source and Bi...

Release date: 2026 May 11 Album tracklist:  Feel It , Feel It (inst.) Album runtime: 6 minutes  I'm pretty sure this man needs no actual introduction because it's Rain. Pre-release? Not a clue. If it is, I'll tag it as such later. We're starting off with a surprising and strong use of a stereo system. That start pinballed a little, and I love it. I also love the prominent use of the brass instruments here. The drop at the very end is a little sudden, but it lingers long enough ease you back down instead of opening a hole underneath your feet into an endless abyss. I appreciate it when songs take care of the listener like that. But as much as I like the instrumental, it doesn't quite feel complete, but I'd bet it's because it's missing the vocals. There we go. There's the missing piece. That's actually really strong of the song to require both instrumental and vocals to need each other to have a complete sounding song. The vocal gymnastics this ma...

Release date: 2026 May 13 Album tracklist: Us Album runtime: 3 minutes  Digital single, incoming! Odds are decent that this one will eventually be included with whatever their next mini album is (or maybe an upcoming full album? They're due for one) Since their rebrand from Nowadays, I've been enjoying their music a lot more. But this one, this one I'm going to like. I have a very strong feeling that I'm going to like it. One, it's member written with three of them being the sole lyricists and one of those three also working on the composition. Two, it's for the fans, and if there's anything I'm a huge sucker for, it's songs that sound like they could have come out of a musical based on a French book. But also, it's fan songs. I love fan songs so much. And this is a full three-and-a-half minutes.  When this song softens, it really softens. The electric guitar gets a lot of time and attention to propel the song, which it needs to provide that stro...

Release date: 2026 May 07 Album tracklist: Rush Rush , Supalove, Rush Rush (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 minutes  Two and a half minutes for a debut song. Not even, technically. That's a big sigh from me. So! Who is this group? Well, it's the debuting team from the survival show B:Boys, which was as pleasant to watch as Boys II Planet was brutal. I didn't go into every episode dreading the elimination because they didn't have fifty getting eliminated at a time. Not that they didn't work incredibly hard, but it's easier to take as a viewer when it's at most three trainees getting eliminated, you know? I'm very excited to see what they'll do, though even if I'm as disappointed by this runtime as I am. Also, the eldest has already completed his military service (yay) and the two youngest are the only members who are underage, and they'll both be seventeen by the end of the year. Also also, there is a huge Monbebe in the group. He was beside himself w...

Release date: 2026 May 06 Album tracklist: WE WANNA GO , WE WANNA GO (Instrumental) Album runtime: 5 minutes  You know, I would not have guessed that I'd be doing a review of a Wanna One song unless someone requested a review, but I definitely wouldn't have expected to do a new Wanna One song when I started this little blog. I have a bit of a complicated feeling toward the group, for some obvious reasons, but that doesn't mean that I'm not happy that most of them are back together. But it's less than three minutes. But it's a good thing that this is an OST otherwise I'd be very grumpy about this being less than three minutes. This sounds like a third gen version of ZEROBASEONE. There's a lot of bright energy to the song, an abundance of joy, as it were, which is probably the most fitting thing that I could think of for a reunion OST song, you know? This isn't an official comeback, so it's not dependent on declaring "We're back" with...

Release date: 2026 April 29 Album tracklist: Hello-Goodbye; AWAKE ; FEVER; Adore; Love Me Like You Do; Spring, with You Album runtime: 18 minutes      Okay, this is the last of the new songs I downloaded for the productive captivity I’m in on the plane. After that, it’s time to head over to the BBS post that I’ve already started, thank goodness, and start yapping about that. I’m not what it is about this song that makes me think of cold and ice, but I’m picking up on a very particular coolness to the song. There’s a range in the pitches and tones of the instruments we’re hearing, from the low buzz that make for an almost EDM nightclub situation to a skittering beat. The song also uses the stereo system well, though it’s subtle enough that I didn’t catch it until after my half hour nap and I let everything get a bit of a recharge on my end. I feel like this may be a yearning and pining song, which I cannot tell you how much I am here for it. Maybe more yearning than pinin...

Release date: 2026 May 06 Album tracklist: $ECRET no more, ZAP , WORK , TBD, B'yond me, SOUPASTA, OFF-AIR, ZAP - ultraviolet remix, WORK - anonymous remix, SOUPASTA - unconscious remix, DOMINO ~ butterfly effect, cloud palace - collective soul remix Album runtime: 34 minutes  The title track is too short for me to want anything to do with it, not when the first track is obviously a callback to a song I really like of theirs and is also three-and-a-half minutes long. It's also not the shortest song on here, although that's only because the song shorter than it is a remix of this song. Big sigh from me. Big sigh. Still, it's good news that Billlie continues to make and release new music, which is what we're looking for. Bad news (and this is nothing against the members because they had nothing to do with it), this album is currently embroiled in a potential-use-of-AI legal battle. That's another big sigh from me. That's interesting. While most of the aural lan...

Release date: 2013 September 09 Album tracklist: Do I Wanna Know? , R U Mine?, One For The Road, Arabella , I Want It All, No. 1 Party Anthem, Mad Sounds, Fireside, Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?, Snap Out Of It , Knee Socks, I Wanna Be Yours Album runtime: 42 minutes  Guess what, everyone! I get to expand my review offerings! This is not going to be a permanent addition to the lineup of what I write because I don't have enough time to write all of the K-Pop releases, let alone all of the other songs being released literally every day all over the world. However, I've also been very clear about the fact that if you submit a song for a review, I will cover it, no matter how old or who the artist is. It might take me a few days, but it will get done. This is the first time someone has taken me up on that part. Arctic Monkeys is an English (and by that, I mean from England and not speaking English, just for clarification) rock band that I've heard of and I kn...

Release date: 2026 May 06 Album tracklist: SNS (SWEET N SOUR), TA TA , R.U.T Album runtime: 10 minutes  Do my eyes deceive me? Is this actually a three minute title track? Company! Well done! They're still on Underage Protocol for currently having a fourteen-year-old maknae, but at least they're getting songs of a reasonable length.  That is a combination of sounds in the instrumental. It's a bold choice, and not necessarily one that I'm fully into, but since I can't spend some time listening to it to see which side of the fence this would land on, I'm a little bit stuck by my own restrictions. I'm well aware that I've done this to myself, but please refer back to the part about the maknae currently being fourteen almost a year after debut. We've got a couple of moments where after they're fully matured and adults, you can tell that their vocals will be rich. There's some vibrato on display, which I'm delighted to be hearing, and the voca...

 So with the month halfway over, I'm enjoying the rhythm and tempo of the sequential songs, because I think that this is a good order. How have y'all been finding this month's theme? Enjoying the songs so far? Finding any new ones you haven't heard before? Figured out what the theme is yet? I know you can't see my face right now, but I've got a delightful villainous eyebrow waggle going on. PIXY debuted in 2021 under Happy Tribe Entertainment as a six-member group. I'm pretty sure that this is one of the many, many, many  amazingly talented groups that suffered from being at a small company and never quite managing to get a lot of traction. This song is not one of the ones I have saved in various playlists, but I have it on good authority that it fits the theme for the month, and I hope by the end of this, it gets onto some playlists for y'all as well. I'm going to call this group disbanded only because the company went bankrupt and we haven't he...