Just A Little Fangirl Love

 Everyone! It is time for the best season of the year! We're back with another batch of songs for the month of Spookening! Whoo! As always, because I am a connoisseur of the creepy, I spend basically all year scouring for the spooky and the dark songs. Basically, if I'm not in a specific mood playlist or my regular listening playlist, I've had my ears buried in spooky playlists. And I found some whoppers, but I can only fit so many into this unless I want to make it four hours long. You'd have to get my personal Halloween playlist if you want one that long though.  It's the most wonderful time of the year! Without any further ado, here are your 2026 Halloween recs: Mirotic by TVXQ! You may be wondering why I'm putting this song in a Halloween playlist when it's famously known for being quite sexy, and sexiness alone does not qualify it for this playlist. However, I'd like to point out the elements of the music video which would qualify it for this playl...

Release date: 2026 August 20 Album tracklist: Tonight , Echoes of Us Album runtime: 8  minutes  Ah, I'm so late with this. I'm glad that he's dropping new music because his voice is gorgeous and it's important to the ecosystem of K-Pop that he continues to release music. But I'm also starting to get a little concerned about the girl group he's got at his company. The boys have been getting a lot of attention lately, which as fresh debuts, is their due, but the girls are due for a comeback and I've heard neither hide nor hair of one. Unless they're getting a full album. In which case, carry on. Take a few more months. Stunning runtime on both the single and the title track though. I love that. This is such a retro rock song from the 80s that the instrumental sounds like something my mom would have listened to as a teenager. We've got the good elements of a rock song: drums, a sick guitar solo, delicious synthy goodness, and a little bit of a keyboard ...

Release date: 2026 July 20 Album tracklist:  Time's Tickin' , An Ordinary Story Album runtime: 7 minutes  I've actually already seen the music video because I let YouTube just play music videos for about an hour and this was one of them. Also, I was mildly surprised to see him so active on Weverse this last weekend, but when I saw he'd dropped a new song, it suddenly all made sense. Those two usually aren't very active unless they've got something going on. During SM Town last year, Changmin was commenting on posts for about five minutes right before TVXQ! was performing. Literally stopped as the group ahead of them finished. This song is oddly clangy, and it sounds like there's a cowbell involved, which I'm always surprised by, though to be fair, I think it's been several months at minimum since the last time I heard a cowbell, or something that sounds like one in a song I was reviewing. Everything else going on in the song is oddly dramatic in a wa...

Release date: 2026 May 27 Album tracklist: OASIS Album runtime: 4 minutes  He also released an OST recently, but while I'm not positive about if that's an OST or not (if I can get caught up, I'll do it) but I know I didn't do this one. So, I'm going to rectify that. Obviously. Since you're reading this. I really should dig into his discography a bit more to see how often rock shows up. This one has a pretty sick guitar solo there, near the end, and for most of the rest of the song, it almost has a little bit of a science fiction vibe to it. It's a little bit techno in spots, but in general, it's got an earnestness to it where it goesn't quite demand attention so much as stand in the center of the room and allow others to notice it. His voice however does not. The earnestness is strong in his voice, as his vibrato is and his vibrato is loud an din charge. There's also a softness here that I really appreciate. He's really got such a nice voice....

Release date: 2026 June 02 Album tracklist: Intro : Drawn, GRAVITY , Homage, Forest of Memories, What About Your Goodbye, Beat's Knockin, eXtreme Love, Slowly, Like Like Like, Outro : Reached Album runtime: 30 minutes  So this song popped onto my YouTube algorithm, and I went "Huh. I don't recognize that name or the Korean name he seems to have. I'd better look him up." Former member of TVXQ!. He's one of the former members of TVXQ!. Obviously you know that now because I tag the titles of the post with the artist's group, or former group, as applicable. And even though the intro and outro songs are under a minute-and-a-half, the average runtime for the whole album is over thirty minutes. He's got a five minute song on here. Also, fun fact, this post is my 1,111th post that I've done. Not of just reviews. But in total across all my series. I'm eternally amused when a soloist, even after it's been years since they were in a group, still manag...

 Two months down! My apricot tree has started to form the blossom buds which is concerning, but maybe I'll take a picture for the March wrap-up so you can see how pretty it is.  Okay, let's take a look at these debuts, shall we? The groups that I covered were NAVILLERA ,  Daily:Direction . I covered two subunit debuts for QQQ (OnlyOneOf) and NCT JNJM (NCT) . For soloists, I covered Jiwoo (KARD ,  Lee Daeyeol (Golden Child) and Lee Jiham (A.C.E) 's debuts. If I can find a better list of debuts, then I'll include the ones I missed. Songs I was looking forward to:  ATEEZ: I'm deeply curious about where the lore is going to go with this, and also the b-sides because they've got some b-sides that I want tattooed onto my brain Monsta X: I love that they're getting more active again, although I am a little sad that they now have to wait for their maknae to get discharged NOWZ: We've had a streak of songs that I've really liked. I'm okay now if they sw...

Release date: 2026 February 12 Album track list:  Identity Album runtime: 5 mi nutes  SHE LIVES! I have spent the last four days (five days? Week? Time means nothing anymore) adding in some scaffolding and such to the more than 60 Greatest Hits or Battle of the B-Sides posts I've published, including extra work (some of it major remodeling) to about twenty of those to expand them. You can now start at any of those posts and follow links in chronological publishing order, rather than rely solely on the main hub pages for each set.  I'm writing this paragraph before I even know what song I'm going to do, because I have no idea what's come out recently. I didn't even do the weekly music show wins post. I think ATEEZ got some wins? I don't know. I'm so tired. TVXQ! is apparently the group that gets to be my first after that monster undertaking. There are a few others and I should probably do one for a smaller group that needs the exposure more, but, frankly, the...

Release date: 2025 November 05 Album tracklist: Set In Stone, Body Language , Stretch , Spotlight2, Waterfalls, Leader, Premium, Fever, Let You Go, Take-off (26) Album runtime: 31 minutes   I missed a pre-release? Oh, I’m so sad. Genuinely. I super did not pay attention to that and I feel bad, so I’m adding it to the ever expanding list. TVXQ! has a habit of releasing stuff around my birthday. Last year, it was their Japanese album. This year, U-Know and his solo album. It’s fun. It’s a good time for those of us who are me. I am a little surprised that he’s going to have his twenty-second anniversary next month and this is only his first full album, but it is what it is.  This is such a cyberpunk kind of song. I can practically see the strobing and the neon and the chrome and the cybernetics. It has a really strong beat. Like, really strong (though there’s not a whole lot of actual melody going on in the instrumental; it’s mostly rhythm and beat). Actually, it’s strong enough ...

Release date: 2025 November 05 Album tracklist:  Set In Stone, Body Language,  Stretch , Spotlight2, Waterfalls, Leader, Premium, Fever, Let You Go, Take-off (26) Album runtime: 31 minutes   I’m really excited for the full release of the album or mini album or whatever it is because of when it’s releasing. Very excited. I’m also excited about this because I think this will be the first time that I hear one of his solo songs. I’ve heard a couple of Max Changmin’s and obviously I love the group songs, but I don’t think I’ve heard one by just him. This’ll be fun. Also, just so everyone knows, he is incredibly smart.  I was not kidding when I said this was going to be fun. A harmonica? Really? A harmonica? I definitely did not have a harmonica in K-Pop music on my 2025 Bingo sheet. The cool bit, from my end, is that the harmonica is not forced to be only an interesting gimmick to hook the listener in from the novelty of it at the beginning. My only complaint about t...

Release date: 2025 May 19 Album tracklist: In Chaos, ROCK STAR , Miracle, Last VoW, Goal In,  Album runtime: 17  minutes  There's another song of his that I need to do, but for now, I'll be satisfied with this one. I've decided that I really like his voice, having gone back through his discography a little, and given what he said on his show with Changsub, this album in particular will likely be right up my wheelhouse: namely, rock. Also evidenced by the name, but it is what it is. Okay. So. On to the second gen legend. What's funny about this is I know it's going to be classified as rock. Jaejoong, again, said as much during their discussion of their mutual love of rock music. I wouldn't necessarily disagree with that. I would like to add that this is tapping into some country instincts that are very well-developed in me, so much so that I'm having to actively remember that this song is going to be labeled rock. If there isn't an acoustic guitar in the ...

Release date: 2024 December 27 Album tracklist:  Hoper Album runtime: 3 minutes  Second gen idol dropping a single? Yes, please. The only thing that could make this better is it if the single was multi-track, which is a weird thing that I've accepted is common practice, even though single means one and a multi-track single feels like an oxymoron, but I digress. Although he did do a full album this year, so the single is just supplementary. Also, Jaejoong has done quite a few OSTs, which is cool.  Starting off with a lone, slow piano. Eventually strings get added, but the piano has the role that the percussion (usually drums of some sort) usually takes for the song, which makes sense because it's a hammer striking the wires which produces the sound, classifying the piano both as a percussion instrument and a stringed instrument. It's a gorgeous pairing, as the strings don't stay in the song for long, and instead let the piano open and close with enough space to let the m...

As I can't tell that there's a discernable actual title track from this album beyond what I've already covered, I'm just going to pick my favorite track of the bunch to review. It's been bothering me that I haven't done one when I was so diligent with the tracks with the music videos. This album is a massive undertaking, and I genuinely don't know which ones are new songs and which are old. But I know at least this one is a b-side because there is absolutely no corresponding music video. Also, what a flex. Twentieth Japanese anniversary. King of Kings, indeed. Writers were Phat Fabe (NCT, Red Velvet, NMIXX, aespa, LOONA, GWSN, STAYC, AleXa, and TNX), Harry Sommerdahl (Monsta X, NMIXX, Red Velvet, LOONA, NCT GWSN, NEXZ, and Pentagon), Martin Mulholland (Taemin, SHINee, Super Junior, EXO, f(x), Boys Republic, VIXX, and FT Island), and Nermin Harambašić (Girls' Generation, LE SSERAFIM, Red Velvet, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, TWICE, EXO, aespa, SHINee, Super Junior...

  Release date: 2024 November 06 Album tracklist: Disc 1:  Introduction -Eternal Echoes-,  T.R.H.M,  On My Radar, Party Like Madonna,  Sweet Surrender , Parfum, Fresh, I'm sorry I couldn't express it well, Live Your Life , It's True It's Here, Damn Good, Ark, Dearest Disc 2: UTSUROI, The Reflex, PARALLEL PARALLEL, No Sympathy, Lime & Lemon, Sentimental Mood, Forever Love - ZONE Ver. Album runtime: 70 minutes  TVXQ! is feeding their fans well leading up to this album drop. Of course, when you have a two disc album, you have the room to have two pre-releases and not have to worry about the fans being bored because they've already heard everything. First one was mid-energy, but powerful, so I'm curious about what kind of song this one is. Orchestral and a piano. We're apparently going for the emotions this time. There's definitely percussion of some sort, but I'm not entirely sure that it's necessarily all drums. The way the music swells, then d...

  Release date: November 06 Album tracklist: Disc 1:  Introduction -Eternal Echoes-,  T.R.H.M,  On My Radar, Party Like Madonna, Sweet Surrender , Parfum, Fresh, I'm sorry I couldn't express it well, Live Your Life , It's True It's Here, Damn Good, Ark, Dearest Disc 2:  UTSUROI, The Reflex, PARALLEL PARALLEL, No Sympathy, Lime & Lemon, Sentimental Mood, Forever Love - ZONE Ver. Album runtime: 70 minutes I was not expecting TVXQ! to drop a single today! What is this? I don't even know if this is a Japanese release. It doesn't matter. I see TVXQ! is the artist, I must listen. Apparently this is a Japanese release. It's a pre-release for the album to celebrate their twentieth anniversary since their Japanese debut, and the related album is a chonky boy. I'll update Disc 2 when the album actually drops. Why is this song so ominously and weirdly sinister? It can't be because this is the Month of the Spookening, and my mind is on a lot of horror right ...

 The official start of this little music review blog! I'm proud of it. And, again, thank you for everyone who has read even a single post so far, even if you aren't reading this one. I am simply happy and grateful and will endeavor to continue this honesty with love and recognition of the hard work of the artists. And for the one person who seems to be reading every single one, thank you and I love you. You make my morning every day. September of 2024 saw a couple of debuts, a re-debut, and some comebacks I was very much looking forward to, as well as some I would have been looking forward to had I been listening to the group/artist already. The ones I personally was emotionally invested are as follows: Vahn (NINE.i): They were the first group I saw in person, and the reason I watched Boy's Planet, after the fact of course because I didn't get into K-Pop until after ZB1 had already debuted. I love their voices, and I have yet to run into a song I didn't like by them...