2023 Reviews

 As things get more filled up, this page will get more filled up. But right now, this large page for one little link is because of organization and consistency.

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January 2025 Wrap Up: Auld Lang Syne

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 Whooee, it's been a long 164 days, hasn't it? What do you mean it's only the end of January?  Nope. I'm staying focused. Eyes on the prize. In this case, the prize is the end of December when Minhyun is discharged. So, one month down. Eleven to go. We're also one month closer to several other discharges that will help distract me from the wait, and one month closer to some post-military comebacks that I am absolutely most excited for. And there's one coming out next month that I believe was the first one I was aware of to enlist. But this is January! A little bit of a slow start to the year, but I'm appreciating the pace as I get back into things and recover from my cold.  We had only two group debuts that I could find, that of KickFlip out of JYPE and Stray Kids' younger brothers, considering I think they're in the same division. I'm also hoping this is a good sign and the number of debuting groups will drop this year. Fingers crossed. And als...
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Song Review:: Sunmi (Wonder Girls): Warning- Heroine

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Release date: 2018 September 04 Album tracklist: ADDICT, Siren , Curve, Black Pearl, Gashina , Heroine , Secret Tape Album runtime: 20 minutes  This, dear reader, was submitted into The Form as a regular review, and I saw it when I went looking for my next GH or BBS post. Thank you very much!! I think I'll add a paragraph at the end of the review to dedicate to the fangirling as this was a submission and whoever the submitter was (thank you!!) was lovingly verbose about it, so I'll return the favor.  Wonder Girls is a second gen girl group active for ten years until they disbanded in 2017. Like several of their generational predecessors, the group had several lineup changes, including when Sunmi left the group to pursue her acting career, though she did rejoin it later and stay through the end of the group's lifespan. Heroine is the second of the singles that ultimately became pre-releases for this album, Warning, released in 2018. Also, my dude Teddy had a hand in the lyr...
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Song Review:: Jin (BTS): When the Stars Gossip- Close to You {OST}

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Release date: 2025 January 26 Album tracklist:  Close to You , Close to You (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 minutes  I like OSTs. I do. An OST got me into K-Pop and is also the reason, by chain of events, why I am writing these words that you are currently reading. I also really like Jin's voice. Combining the two? Yes, please. I am all about that. Also, I am intending to watch this kdrama because it looks funny, but haven't yet.  The other thing I just generally enjoy about OSTs is that the single often includes the instrumental, which makes my life easier so I don't have to listen underneath the vocals and risk getting distracted. Beautiful tinkling of the piano to start it out, which does immediately make me think of both a lullaby and the stars. A space science fiction lullaby, if you will. Actually, this entire thing does an incredible job of mimicking the typical space lonely instrumentation. Between the held notes while other instruments wander around and the specific mix...
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Song Review:: Jennie (BLACKPINK): RUBY- ZEN

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 I really need to get my algorithm back to working like it was so I can get the new releases dropped in my lap so that when I'm not technically a fan (read as: part of the fandom; I really like a lot of groups but there are only a handful of which I'd call myself a proper fan rather than a browser), I'm still aware of the releases. I'm excited for Jennie. I believe she was the one who did Mantra , which I wasn't particularly enthused with when I wrote up the review, but one song is not enough to make me swear off an entire discography unless it is blazingly offensive (which Mantra was not). And I'm glad I'm not that way because this song has some serious potential. Holy wow. The circling of the pressed, legato notes and the sharp staccato notes provides a really intriguing rhythm to keep the listener off guarding. There are a lot of interesting bass layers as well, with more than one with the potential in another song to be the sole grounding instrument, bu...
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Song Review:: KickFlip: Flip It, Kick It- Mama Said {Debut}

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  Release date: 2025 January 20 Album tracklist:  Mama Said , Umm Great , WARRIORS, Knock Knock, Like A Monster, See You On Tomorrow Album runtime: 17 minutes  Stray Kids officially have a little brother group in the same division! I think! I'd have laughed if they'd ended up debuting in October (because ATEEZ's younger brother group debuted in March, the month Stray Kids did, and I would have found that absolutely delightful), but January is good too. As I said in the pre-debut single, the maknae turns eighteen in a couple of months, so I'm grateful their debut took so long. Unfortunately, there's only one song on this debut album that is longer than three minutes. I haven't had an alarm be a regular beeping in years, and yet my trained response to hearing that sound at the beginning of this song fills me with the "I've slept in!" panic. The rest of the instrumentals are solid without being particularly revolutionary, and remind me quite a lot of ...
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Song Review:: GOT7: WINTER HEPTAGON- PYTHON

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Release date: 2025 January 20 Album tracklist: PYTHON , SMOOTH, Our Youth, REMEMBER, Darling, TIDAL WAVE, OUT THE DOOR, her, Yours Truly Album runtime: 27 minutes  This is their first full group comeback post-military, right? And also their first major comeback after leaving JYPE? In both cases, I'm fully supportive of this. Also, congrats to GOT7 for their eleventh anniversary a few days ago! Whoo! There's a good average runtime, which I'm here for, but the length of the title track is something I am not. So I didn't have creepy doll vibes from a boy group on my 2025 K-Pop Bingo sheet, but here we are! I appreciate that a boy group is going to pull out that particular sound. It's one of my favorites, and I really want to hear it more often. Nice skittering beat that compliments and strengthens the creepy doll without making that part overpowering. It's a delicate balance that I do think was achieved. This hits my brain in a very good way.  They pack a lot into ...
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Song Review:: Crush: Queen of Tears OST- Love You With All My Heart

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Release date: 2024 March 24 Album tracklist: Love You With All My Heart , Love You With All My Heart - Inst. Album runtime: 8 minutes  There's a slight lull in the releases right now, so I'm going to pop back to March of 2024 briefly to add in a review to help fluff that page out a little. Other than the OST for Goblin , I'm not sure that I've actually heard a Crush song sung by Crush, even though I've heard quite a few covers, so obviously the songs are beloved. I figure going with an OST is a good place to start in my listening to Crush songs sung by the original artist mission as I already love one. So, I genuinely and deeply love the fact that we get the instrumentals for this. There's something about them that have an underwater vibe to them, a tone or a quality. There's no sense of fierce drama. But there is a bittersweet ache to them of loss. I haven't seen Queen of Tears yet so I know neither when this song is used nor actually what it's abou...
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Song Reviews:: Jeonghan (Seventeen) (feat. Omoinotake): Better Half

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Release date: 2025 January 27 Album tracklist:  Better Half Album runtime: 4 minutes  Is this considered a solo debut? It's difficult because sometimes a single is considered the debut and sometimes there are a number of pre-debut singles released. And to put another wrench in the works, the Japanese version of this song will be on Omoinotake's upcoming album, Pisces, so I don't think I'm going to classify this as his solo debut for the previous reasons. With that out of the way, I'm so excited for him. Yes, he's been in the military since September 26th, and this was certainly a surprise to have announced, so even though he's not technically available, I'm pleased.  Also, in case there's anyone also like me who has no earthly clue about who they are other than a Japanese group, let me regurgitate some information on Omoinotake like a mother bird. They're a 2012 Japanese rock band that have done quite a few opening themes for anime with their hig...
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Battle of the B-Sides: LABOUM: 빛이 되어쥐 (Be the Light)

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 Unless I do The Roulette Wheel, I obviously can pick which of the suggestions I've gotten that I'll write posts for. I also have a spreadsheet where I have my posts organized by generation and boy group, girl group, and co-ed. The co-ed groups definitely need more attention, but I'm taking these last few Specialty posts to focus on the girl groups because they're not my natural inclination, and while the Roulette Wheel is weighted equally, I don't like that it's uneven. So, I ignored my normal addition of the B/G/Co-Ed Wheel spin and just did it for a girl group, and I ended up with LABOUM. I'm not sure I've heard of them, so this will be exciting.  LABOUM is a third gen girl group that are younger sisters to U-KISS and Brown Eyed Girls, which is wildly hilarious considering the last GH post I did was in fact for BEG's song Abracadabra . So, that was unintended. 빛이 되어쥐 , or Be the Light  as I will be calling it through this because while it would be...
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Song Review:: Big Ocean- brighT

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Release date: 2025 February 10 Album tracklist: brighT Album runtime: 2 minutes  Guess who released a new single! Guess who I am very excited about releasing a new single! If you answered "Big Ocean" to both of those questions, you'd absolutely be getting those answers correct. Here's your celebratory lollipop. I'm not a fan of the runtime, as we can also guess. This is like a midi lullaby. The first thing I was reminded of with that opening is an 8-bit video a la Pokémon or Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest , the early ones with the incomprehensible coding. It maintains threads of those vibes through the rest of the song, while also reminding me of a very specific alarm sound that is genuinely raising my heartrate in the panic of hearing it. I'd almost call it threateningly soothing, discordant in its instrumentals without being grating, but it doesn't quite lean into that sound enough. With this specific group, there are certain vocal things I normally look...
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