Just A Little Fangirl Love

  You know what's kind of cool? This week's music show wins cover three of the four categories I classify K-Pop under. The only one missing is a co-ed group. Boy group? Check. Girl group? Check? Soloist? Double check.  Nice. The ecosystem is flourishing. With After School Club still on hiatus, I'm still giving a rerun. This one comes from a boy group that debuted back in 2011. Episode 20, guys, gals, and nonbinary pals! And you know what's really cool? They're having their first comeback since 2018 this month! I'm really excited about this even though I previously had no previous knowledge of the group! Now, granted this is their first Japanese mini album and not a new Korean mini album, but you know what? I'm just happy to see them releasing new music. But, back in 2013, they were young and cute, and I think I really like this song. As always, the links to my reviews for these songs are found in the graph below. Show Champion: Kang Daniel "Episode...

Release date: 2025 June 13 Album tracklist: Killin' It Girl (feat. GloRilla) , Killin' It Girl (Solo Version) Album runtime: 4 minutes  Another day, another J-Hope single. I for one am hoping that he'll put all of these singles into a possible upcoming album so that they can all be in one place. It'll make things a lot easier to find, and I think the fans would very much appreciate having them consolidated. Or maybe that's just me with my love of things being orderly. Either way, I've heard good things about this song, and I'm sorry that it's lateish. I do however kind of really dislike that runtime, though. I'm quite annoyed. That is proper hip-hop. It's got a hood strong beat with higher city-energy beats over the top of the driving beat.  While it doesn't ever really give the song a chance to rest, the relentless drive of energy does a remarkable job of keeping the song going even when no one is rapping. The shifts to the instrumentals are...

  Well, well, well. Another week, another batch of wins. This week is another nearly clean-sweep, this time for the young group, RIIZE. Also, fun win for Jin, which makes it his second win (the first on M Countdown in 2022). All in all, I'm pleased. If the performances show up, then I'll make sure to add them. The After School Club re-run I present to you is fromis_9 from 2018. I hope you enjoy that one. I'm a little impatient for them to have their next comeback under their new company, but I'm waiting.  Show Champion: RIIZE "Fly Up" MCountdown: Jin (BTS) "Don't Say You Love Me" Music Bank: RIIZE "Fly Up" Show! Music Core: RIIZE "Fly Up" Inkigayo: RIIZE "Fly Up" ASC Performance: 20180613 fromis_9 "LOVE BOMB" : The Show: N/A

Release date: 2025 May 16 Album tracklist: Don't Say You Love Me; Nothing Without Your Love; Loser (feat. Yena); Rope It; With the Clouds; Background; To Me, Today Album runtime: 20 minutes  My mother has actually been pestering me a little about this song, which is funny because I've been working for months on her with BTS and she finally found a member she likes. Thinks his voice is gorgeous. Don't worry. I'll continue working on her. She may be a little stubborn, but I am just as stubborn and more patient. The album runtime is a lot better than I've been seeing out of HYBE, so I appreciate that even if it's under the three minute mark I want to be seeing. However, the title track song itself comes in at just three minutes, so it has successfully met my bare minimum! Had to turn up my volume a little bit for this, which is fine. It does mean that this is an inherently quiet song. There isn't a whole lot of variation to the song, but considering how much of...

Release date: 2025 May 02 Album tracklist: Stop The Rain (Tablo X RM) Album runtime: 3 minutes  Tablo has been all over the place lately, working with a ton of different, younger artists. And I initially wasn't interested in taking a look at this song because of my general disinterest in rap which I know EPIK HIGH and RM are pretty well known for, until I saw the interview Tablo did where he explained why the song was getting released now instead of waiting for another month or so.  The genre: soft. This song isn't warm and soft though, it's got icy pinpricks sprinkled throughout because even though this is such a soft song, it's not supposed to be a comfortable one. The song provides an excellent counterpoint to the lyrics, soft, prickly, firm, all at the same point, but the furthest thing from aggressive it could possibly be. I'm trying not to focus on the lyrics, but even then, there's a vulnerability to the way the instrumentals just keep repeating, interrup...

 Hello, hello! Congrats to the winners this week! I'm fully in agreeance with who won. Excellent songs. A first time win, and then a couple of repeat winners, which is always nice to see them rack up those wins. Very nice.  Speaking of Very Nice, I'm delighted to share with you all this After School Club episode I found that has The Eric Nam, Jamie, and Kevin from U-KISS as the MCs. And while normally, because I like timing to work out well, I'd wait to have this closer to the group's tenth anniversary, I don't know how long ASC will be on hiatus, and I'd hate to miss the chance to share with you Baby Seventeen! That's right, gals, pals, and nonbinary pals! ASC for you all this time around is 2015 Seventeen, a month after debut! While I was watching it so that I had things to say about it, I had to keep pausing it because the cuteness aggression was making it hard to breathe sometimes. That or my posture was terrible. Either way, I want to squish them. Withi...

  Three of the Big 4 are represented this week in the music show wins, but they're not the only ones, which is also cool. I like diversity in an ecosystem because that indicates healthiness for the ecosystem. We've got a couple of first song wins, which is delightful for all of us, and mostly them because those wins are important. And I was waiting for one of those songs to get a win. Also, I couldn't be happier about Close Your Eyes for getting a second (very well deserved in my opinion, that album is amazing and incredible) just about two weeks after debut. Whoo! I did a random scroll to grab an After School Club for this week as they're still on hiatus (which is fine and I'm happy to wait for them; I'm doing a lot of waiting), and after I finished watching it, I found my next one because it was the next recommended for me to watch. It's a group who is regularly a top listen of mine every month and they were on ASC exactly one time. This week, however, fea...

Release date: 2025 March 21 Album track list: Mona Lisa Album runtime: 2 mi nutes  I still need someone to let me know how to properly capitalize and punctuate his name. I apologize for the lateness of this review. I am working through my draft list. And because I wasn't aware of the release until after the fact, it got put in the drafts list. But, let's see how this goes. Also, that run time barely makes this a song, and I'm once again deeply frustrated with HYBE.  This is a pretty mellow hip-hop track going on here. It's chill and rolling through the song with the steadiness of a perfectly smooth marble on a ramp at a slight incline that occasionally levels out to prevent the marble from picking up too much speed. But it's too short to really get any traction going and so it's just perpetually steady without flare or bombast. He's clearly got a good voice, but I'm not seeing that this song is showing it off all that well. I listened to this song about ...

Release date: 2025 March 07 Album track list:  Sweet Dreams Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  I always get a slight moment of anxiety when I start anything related to one of the really big groups, because I see good and ugly interactions between fans of all groups, and it's one of the only moments where I have a touch of imposter syndrome and uncertainty, but I also speak the truth as I hear it in these songs without hate, and I hope that sincerity carries through because even when I don't listen to groups, I still wish them the best and that they will be successful in their endeavors. And in J-Hope's case, I woke up early and gave up sleep last week despite his being a rapper and my general "I don't typically prefer to listen to rap" deal and watched his concert livestreamed because I was curious and I always want to see if I can find more music I like. And I found a couple that I want to take a closer look at. This song was on the setlist, so I, like many others, h...

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...

Release date: 2024 December 06 Album tracklist:  White Christmas (with V of BTS) , White Christmas (with V of BTS)(Instrumental) Album runtime: 6 minutes  Technically, I think this is actually Bing's song that features V, and I've never run into this situation before. But, sure! Bing Crosby can be a K-Pop idol. He was kind of that equivalent back in the day.  I have a complicated relationship with this song. The entire time I lived in Las Vegas, I couldn't listen to White Christmas  in any version because I couldn't have a white Christmas, and after growing up where we got snowed in nearly every Christmas, it was just a bad reminder. Instant tears every time. I now live in a place where I could actually have one again, so it's back up to one of my favorite Christmas songs, and the Bing Crosby version is superior (especially the movie version) (although Franky Boy (Frank Sinatra), Dean Martin, and Elvis all have honorable mentions for me). But also, V has the perfect...

Release date: 2024 November 29 Album tracklist:  Winter Ahead Album runtime: 4 minutes I don't listen to a lot of BTS. Not because I don't like what I've heard, but I don't want my algorithm to be nothing but them. However, V's voice? Wow. He has such a gorgeous timbre. And I'm so excited to hear what he has going on with this, and later the Bing Crosby collaboration.  And look at that masterpiece of a song length. There's nothing like a saxophone and a piano to set the mood for holiday music. This is such a quiet, gentle slow dance kind of song, with audience participation snapping. That's also not to mention the way that even though this song is what it is, it still has a gradual build in energy, and the addition of a violin about halfway through the song. I wish I could have the instrumentals for the song. I really do. It's just so pretty.  As expected. This is my first encounter with Park Hyo Shin, so I didn't now what to expect from him, but...

 My first BBS request! I just saw some of the memes being made about their performance and the amount of space between Wendy and Jin, and I just have to say that they're hilarious and the amount of trolling I'm seeing from the fans gives me life. The timing is actually really helpful for me to get into fan mindset. This request comes from a user on Reddit, who simply said there was too much, they were obsessed, and then linked me to an appreciation post they'd done. This is what I like to see, and it gave me a very good place to start: Jin and Wendy's voices. As a side note, Jin really does have the perfect trot voice. This isn't even in that genre or anywhere approaching it, but that honestly doesn't change this fact about him. If he's willing to give us more trot or trot-adjacent, I'd be a happy camper and eat it up. Heart on the Window comes from Jin's debut album and is the fifth track between a soft rock ballad and a full fat ballad. With the t...

Release date: 2024 November 15 Album tracklist:  Running Wild ,  I'll Be There , Another Level, Until I Reach You, Heart on the Window , In Longing Album runtime: 17 minutes  This wasn't my first post for the day solely because I wanted to make sure that whatever I said for the last post of yesterday's didn't influence my feelings on this song too much, so I gave my self a buffer. Also, I didn't find out until I woke up that BigHit also had released the music video at least while I was still awake, so that's something I'll keep track of in the future. Happy solo debut, Jin! Congrats! I hope everything goes well. That is an uncomfy run time, and there's only one song out of the six that's over 3 minutes, which is even more alarming when also looking at labelmates' Tomorrow x Together's runtime for their most recent album. Why, BigHit? It's another rock song from him, which I'm genuinely loving, but it also reminds me a lot of video gam...

Release date: 2024 November 15 Album tracklist:  Running Wild , I'll Be There , Another Level, Until I Reach You, Heart on the Window , In Longing Album runtime: 17 minutes  Despite not being an ARMY, I've been curious about this project of his since he was discharged from the military. Ironically, as I write this, my playlist just started playing Seven , so Spotify knows what's up. It'll have to chill a moment because Jungkook is not the BTS vocalist I want to focus on right now; instead, it's the oldest of the goofballs.  Ah, rock! Okay. I'd love to say I'm surprised given the (very) limited amount that I know of his other music, but he reminds me a lot of Changsub from BTOB, whose favorite music genre is in fact rock. (As a side note, I know that Jin is a year younger, but can there please be content with him, Key, and Changsub doing literally anything? Somehow? Someway? That combination of personalities would result in absolute, sheer, utter chaos and I ...

Release date: 2024 October 11 Album tracklist:  Super Tuna Album runtime: 2 minutes  When I got into the culture of South Korea last year, I never would have thought I'd be sitting here a fan of what is, as far as I can tell, the Korean version of bluegrass or possibly "golden oldies" style. I absolutely love trot music. We can thank God of Light Music  by Seventeen for serving as my introduction, but that also intersects with my love of strangeness and parodies. I have since discovered more that instantly go into regular listening playlists. Super Tuna  and God of Light Music  go hand in hand, which means I'm basically required to love it. I don't like the very short run time that rounds up to two minutes at all. But given that this song was the product of Jin wanting to go fishing with Bumzu and this was the excuse given (please correct me if I'm wrong), I wouldn't have expected a song written on a boat during a fishing trip to actually be a proper lengt...