Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2026 May 22 Album tracklist: PERMISSION Album runtime: 3 minutes   So funny story, when I was typing this up, I accidentally called this song “Possession”. I heard once that Taemin’s songs are religious trauma as a song, and I have to say that the instrumental at the beginning of the song reminds me a lot of that. There’s ghostly wailing in the instrumental, and I love it. There's also kind of a funky, musical vibe to the instrumental, wherein the character is just slinking around the stage, bonus points if it's a villain or a morally grey character. There's a high level of drama inherent here, and while there isn't really a lot of variation technically, the song is very sticky because of the prevalence of the bass guitar. Kai and Taemin really do circle the same sounds for their songs, don't they? Hashtag, Best Friends Things. This is still very much a Taemin song, don't get me wrong, and while it's settled in that sing-song style during the c...

 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...

 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...

 By the time you read this, there will be less than a month left in 2025, which is crazy because it feels like January was simultaneously two months ago and also eighteen years ago.  First up, we have the debuts. Technically one of these that I covered was in fact posted in December, but I am counting it because it was a November debut, though not for a group. The group I covered was AM8IC , a boy group made up entirely of Chinese members that is based in South Korea and debuting in South Korea in K-Pop. I wanted to be very specific about this. The only other group I can think of that's this interesting in terms of demographics, starting location, and target audience is 1verse, which also doesn't have a South Korean in the group. Anyway, they debuted this month. And for the solo debut that I covered, that would be Jungwoo of NCT , right before his impending military enlistment. This means that all three members of the NCT subunit DoJaeJung will be in the military within the we...

  Release date: 2024 August 19 Album tracklist: G.O.A.T,  Sexy in the Air ,  Horizon , The Unknown Sea, Crush, Deja Vu, Say Less Album runtime: 21 minutes Double title track incoming! Dystopia is the theme of the album! Sexy in the Air  is good. It took me a bit to fully warm up to it, and I'm still not sure I'd put it in a regular listening playlist, but I think Horizon  is the superior song. Clocking in at just under three minutes, we have a futuristic, techno vibing song. If Sexy in the Air  is a sleazy dystopia, this is a chromed out dystopia straight from the 1980s. This song is a Blade Runner song. It's a Tron  song. But like...it's also simultaneously a Stranger Things  song. I'm not kidding, if Horizon  showed up in the soundtrack to that show, I'd be so unsurprised by it that I would forget it came out last month instead of forty years ago. Such is the potential brainwashing power of this song. I dig it hardcore. Give me a dance bat...

Release date: 2024 August 19 Album tracklist: G.O.A.T, Sexy in the Air , Horizon , The Unknown Sea, Crush, Deja Vu, Say Less Album runtime: 21 minutes      As the inaugural review for this new blog, I had to go with Taemin. I know this is a few weeks late, but better late than never and it's at least still in August. Hello, and welcome!      As his first album under the new company, I'm sure most fans approached it with mild or moderate hesitation.       Luckily, I don't necessarily think we need have worried too much.       The song opens with some grindy electric guitar, an element I have to admit I'm a fan of in general. It reminds me of a science fiction dystopia film at night in the rain during a chase, which is a specific image for me that isn't at odds with the music video.      The verses lose that guitar, turning into more of a generic trap sound that unfortunately loses my attention, but turns...