January 2026 Reviews


새해 복 많이 받으세요!!! 

A new year, a new set of releases and debuts! I'm already aware of four possible debuts this month, which feels so weird, because what do you mean, some of my earliest since-debut groups are turning two this year?

Some big releases have already been named for the month, and I'm really looking forward to them, but I also want to remind everyone to be kind, to each other and to yourselves. 


20260103 Re:Hearts "Persona"

20260105 Joohoney (Monsta X) "Push" {Pre-Release}

20260105 Joohoney (Monsta X) "STING"

20260105 Apink "Love Me More"

20260105 yesweare (idntt) "Pretty Boy Swag" {Debut}

20260105 H1-KEY "Not Like a Movie"

20260107 CNBLUE "Still, a Flower" {Pre-Release}

20250107 CNBLUE "Killer Joy"

20260107 Bada (S.E.S) "Our Loud Goodbye"

20260107 Chuu (LOONA) "XO, My Cyberlove"

20260108 Latency "It Was Love" {Debut}

20260108 WAKER "LiKE THAT"

20260109 ZEROBASEONE "Running to Future" {Pre-Release}

20260112 DxS (Seventeen) "Blue"{Debut}

20260112 Alpha Drive One "FREAK ALARM" {Debut}

20260113 LNGSHOT "Saucin'" {Pre-Debut}

20260113 LNGSHOT "Moonwalkin'" {Debut}

20260114 ONEWE "Ferris wheel"

20250115 ChRocktikal "PEACE" {Debut}

20260116 Enhypen "Knife"

20260119 EXO "I'm Home" {Pre-Release}

20260119 EXO "Crown"

20260119 Catch the Young "Amplify"

20260120 Oneus "Grenade"

20260121 M.O.N.T "History"

20260121 1VERSE "WABIF (Wide Awake before I Fall)"

20260121 AxMxP "PASS"

20210121 dodree "Just Like a Dream" {Debut}

20260122 TNX "CALL ME BACK"

20260127 Billlie "cloud palace"

20260127 KiiiKiii "404 (New Era)"

20260127 AB6IX "A Minute, A Second"

20260128 8TURN "BRUISE"

20260128 Lee Hyori (Fin.K.L) "My Heart, Like Ice, Hardened"

20260129 WHIB "ROCK THE NATION"

20260129 ALL(H)OURS "My Spring, My Light, My Breath"





January Wrap-Up: Pivot! Pivot! Pivot!

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

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

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

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

Battle of the B-Sides:: BTS: Jamais Vu

Image
 The turnaround on this one is really fast because it was submitted Wednesday night in The Form and in order to fulfill the request, I had to pivot from the post I had started working on (first gen girl group, the song is the bomb...pun slightly intended) and start on this one. But that was good timing and gave me plenty of time. Four days was enough. The submitter asked me to do this one because of the ticket sales for the tour that started to celebrate those who got tickets and to comfort those who didn't. Which is a lot to ask of a song, a lot of pressure for me, and I hope that I can do this justice. But it's really heartwarming that the Army submitted it for everyone. That's really sweet. Spoilers, it's a very pretty song. It's also a little amusing, because it directly translates to "never seen" from French (the amusing part because some of you have not seen them before), but also to compound on the sweetness, jamais vu is a concept that something fa...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: Taemin (SHINee): Advice

Image
 So this was a request I got that made me smile and I'm doing this one here because I think it'll pair well with the last Greatest Hits post I did. The person who submitted it said they were at Taemin's concert in Vegas and saw this performed for the first time. They found my blog a few days ago and when they found out that I take submissions for this, they wanted to know if I'd do this one. The answer is, of course! I'll send you a message with it as soon as I've got this posted! Taemin, maknae of the second gen boy group SHINee, debuted under SM Entertainment in 2008 with his group and 2014 as a soloist. He's generally regarded as one of the best dancers in K-Pop and also has the nickname "Idol of Idols" because of the number of younger idols who cite him as their inspiration and the reason they decided to go into K-Pop. Advice  (the song) is the title track for Taemin's third mini album, Advice (the album), which was released roughly two wee...
Read more

Music Show Wins:: Week of 01/21 - 01/27

Image
  Hello, everyone! This week comes with a first group win as well as a first win for a song! It was also almost a clean sweep from this brand new rookie group! Whoo! Big congrats! For our extra stages, I said in TNX's review that I might grab one of their After School Club episodes, and so I did. This is ep. 619 from 2023. I admire any idol that works at speaking a language that isn't their native one, and Hyunsoo did so well with his English. They're also a funny group of guys, and I appreciate that (not least of which they accidentally clowned Aron on his age, and that was funny too). For The Show, I grabbed a stage for Lapillus, who at this point were only a few months old, which makes it all the more impressive. And someone over on Reddit commented on how impressive AxMxP's Inkigayo stage was, and since I hadn't decided on which show I'd grab the extra stage from and they're very much a rookie group, I figured that was a good enough recommendation. As al...
Read more

Song Review:: Billlie: cloud palace ~ false awakening- cloud palace

Image
Release date: 2026 January 27 Album track list:  cloud palace , cloud palace - Before moonset mix, cloud palace - Before moonrise mix Album runtime: 11 mi nutes  There are a couple of things I like about this group and that also amuse me. First, there are three (3) L's in their group name. Second, they often have a massive lack of capital letters in a lot of their song and album titles. Plus, even though I haven't heard a lot of their songs, the ones I have heard, I like. I'm just hesitant to get too into them because girl groups I really like...don't last too long. Still, I can peripherally listen to them when their songs pop up into my general playlists and I can't know too much about them. But I would like more of their songs to listen to. And look at that runtime! This is an instrumental that feels a bit jazzy mixed with trap. It could have been incredibly easy to put this song into something of more of an easy-listening genre, and they didn't. It starts off...
Read more

Greatest Hits:: VIXX: VOODOO DOLL

Image
 This comes from my submission form, and it's the first one I'm doing from there! Whoo! I was going to put this off a little because I just did a 2012 debut for a Battle of the B-Sides post, but oh, well! I have a feeling that this one isn't like that song either, so I'm less worried about doing too much of the same. Variety, yes, but I can do what I want and the few songs I've already heard of theirs ( Chained Up is in many of my playlists) I've liked already. How much of that is because I know they're in the 2012 debut club, which automatically enters them into my category of groups I look upon favorably, I don't know. But I do know that even without that, what I've heard is very good. I've also heard some interesting and hilarious things about the group, and am curious to know if they're true or not. But! This submission came with the note that the submitter was pretty sure this song was VIXX's first win and that was why it was being ...
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