March 2024 Reviews


 Apparently this is a thing now. And because I posted one, that means I need to post more to fill up a few more slots for this month. It's fine. Just me making more work for myself for you lovely folks.😅

20240305 DAESUNG (BIGBANG) "Falling Slowly"

20240306 Song (iKON) "It's call" {Debut}

20240311 Wendy (Red Velvet) "Wish You Hell"

20240313 Minhyun (NU'EST) "Lullaby"

20240316 NND "First" {Debut}

20240318 DAY6 "HAPPY"

20240320 The New Six "Fuego"

20240324 Crush "Love You With All My Heart" {OST}

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

January 2025 Wrap Up: Auld Lang Syne

Image
 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...
Read more

Song Review:: Sunmi (Wonder Girls): Warning- Heroine

Image
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...
Read more

Song Review:: Jin (BTS): When the Stars Gossip- Close to You {OST}

Image
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...
Read more

Song Review:: Jennie (BLACKPINK): RUBY- ZEN

Image
 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...
Read more

Song Review:: KickFlip: Flip It, Kick It- Mama Said {Debut}

Image
  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 ...
Read more

Song Review:: GOT7: WINTER HEPTAGON- PYTHON

Image
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 ...
Read more

Song Review:: Crush: Queen of Tears OST- Love You With All My Heart

Image
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...
Read more

Song Reviews:: Jeonghan (Seventeen) (feat. Omoinotake): Better Half

Image
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...
Read more

Song Reviews:: Eunhyuk (Super Junior): EXPLORER- UP N DOWN

Image
Release date: 2025 January 27 Album tracklist: A-yo, UP N DOWN , TRAP, You & I (feat. Kyuhyun), Step by Step, Second Chances, EMPTY - Special Track Album runtime: 21 minutes  The average runtime of this album would have been a lot higher if that first song wasn't only a minute long. Removing that one brings the average up to almost three and a half minutes, which is delightful. I also remember him saying something about this at SM Town a couple weeks ago, though I could be misremembering things. It was very late, and I was very tired. But what I am definitely for sure about is that this is his first proper album, not his solo debut, and it's been a very long time in coming. I thought this was going to be a bit more hiphop judging by that opening and the record scratching, but it's incredibly synthy, though, and funky, which I think makes it new jack swing. I have a post-it note next to my computer where I have a list of the genres that I've been encountering a lot t...
Read more

Battle of the B-Sides: LABOUM: 빛이 되어쥐 (Be the Light)

Image
 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...
Read more