Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2025 December 26 Album tracklist:  I Can't Go to Shinchon , I Can't Go to Shinchon (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 minutes  We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming of 2026 releases to do a review for a song released in December of 2025. Why am I suddenly doing this song four months later? Because I was just looking at the second gen groups because there have to be groups between TVXQ! and Super Junior. Enter: V.O.S with a 2004 debut. And then I was going to go look at their discography, and saw that they'd released a song in 2025. And for the record, with Spotify's recent slop of AI songs released under the older gen artists who aren't as active, I didn't look on Spotify. I was looking on Melon because I wanted the title track of the song for their second album and I saw the new release there. I think they actually put out two things last year, another Best Of album and a digital single. This one is the digital single. I know nothing about them, ...

 Okay, everyone! Last one of the year! Whoo! Let's finish this off strong. Since it's likely that everyone will be reading this after we've hit the new year, no matter where we are, I'm just going to say Happy New Year! May your days be merry and bright! Make sure that you drink enough water and get enough sunlight! Unless, of course, you live somewhere that doesn't have a lot of sunlight right now, in which case, make sure you get your recommended dose of vitamin D to help compensate for that since your natural synthesis is more or less offline right now. Okay, December debuts! I actually covered four soloists who debuted this month. We had Yim Siwan from ZE:A, Chuei Li Yu , Choi Sungyun from Golden Child, and Lee Sungyeol from INFINITE. I have no idea who else debuted as soloists, but I'm delighted to share these guys. Groups that debuted are MEP-C (a multinational girl group) and BEWAVE - Jiun & Yunseul (BEWAVE subunit that tells me I need to add ano...

Release date: 2025 December 30 Album tracklist: Bad Idea, UFO (ATTENT!ION) , Delulu Solulu, Hard to Love, SAY MY NAME Album runtime: 14 minutes  This set of song titles brings me so much joy. First of all, the title track? I think that's actually a password, and I love that. I also am wholly in love with the song title "Delulu Solulu". Plus, this feels like an important note, we've had a new member added to the group since the last time I wrote something for this group, and  she is not a minor. I still can't listen to them because the maknae is fifteen, but, you know. One day she won't be and hopefully the company won't debut someone that young again. But in the meantime, their reviews are on Underage Review, and I have a playlist just for songs I can't listen to yet but that I like. That opening has no business going as hard as it does. They're ending the year with rock, and it's glorious. I'm actually kind of sad that I can't listen t...

Release date: 2025 December 22 Album tracklist:  The Moment My Heart , The Moment My Heart (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 minutes  Well, I completely missed this one, and this one is going to be incredibly short because it was the song that played after Hyolyn's, and I liked it well enough to check when it came out, which was about a week ago. And I need everyone else to hear it because it's incredible. But honestly, for this one, I'd rather you all just listen to it yourselves without my input, because it's incredible enough to stand on its own feet without my needing to convince anyone that it is good. We've got the strings, the guitar, and the piano making up the backbone of the song in a very soft way, and the drums are almost an afterthought, but they're all an after thought for the vocals. I have no idea who she is, but she's got the voice of an angel and this is a beautiful, beautiful ballad to close out the year with. Anything I have to say about it will j...

Release date: 2025 December 23 Album tracklist:  Standing On The Edge Album runtime: 4 minutes  I like it when she drops music, even if I don't get to it right away. First of all, her voice is a work of beauty. Second of all, I'll always support the older idols continuing with music as it exceedingly helps with the musical ecosystem, you know? The experience they have is just as vital as the fresh energy and hunger of the younger ones. This is a good song to end the year with. There's a soft weight to the instrumental that knows when to stay out of the way of the vocals, but also never lets the song move to far away from a very grounded sound. There's a peacefulness and a sort of accepted release to the song that can only function because of the spots where the instrumental is basically just the piano. Her dance heavy tracks are very nice, but this one is where her voice just shines uncomplicated by messy extras. This is something where she can just sing her heart out, ...

Release date: 2025 December 24 Album tracklist: Credit,  Credit - inst. Album runtime: 7 minutes  So every month for the last six months, they've dropped a single. Sometimes it's only one of them. Sometimes it's all three. This one is one of the all-three ones. I haven't been super great about reviewing all of them, but I do listen to all of them because this is another one of my rookie boy groups that I love, even if the members themselves aren't necessarily rookies in the industry.  That opening definitely had me thinking the song was going to go in a different way. It's got kind of the same Powerpuff Girls vibe that Ima by Seventeen also has, which is fantastic because that's my second favorite Seventeen song. I love it when songs remind me of other songs I love. And thankfully, we get this in the form of an instrumental as well, so I got to bask in this before we added their gorgeous voices. It also reminds me a bit of Daesung's Universe , so that...

Release date: 2025 December 23 Album tracklist: Replay Album runtime: 3 minutes  It's been a hot minute since I've done a review from them because apparently I didn't notice that they did a July release, otherwise I would have made sure to do it. I like these guys. I like these guys a lot. And I like that runtime. Oh, that's a fantastic instrumental. It's also, surprisingly, definitely a winter song so that's going to be labeled appropriately. Huh. It starts off pretty mellow, and I was into it basically from the start. Then the energy kicked up a little bit, the bells started in and the entire song just brightened. The flow of the song is lovely.  Even the rapping in this song is lovely and lyrical. This is a great example of why I like them. The rapping and the singing styles flow so nicely into each other that the song sounds so cohesive, and that's ignoring the vocals layered over the rapping and the ad-libs and whoo-ing. You shouldn't ignore those b...

Release date: 2025 December 23 Album tracklist: nanana Album runtime: 3 minutes  I've gotten lazy the last couple of days and missed quite a few reviews. This one, I didn't even know about, but I'm always curious about his songs because he's got such a good voice with a gorgeous tone. I'm not cool with the song length, but I did round it up to three minutes because I'm feeling generous. The bass guitar is actually kind of cute, and that's a weird reaction to be having to it, but it is what it is. This is a very low, masculine song with only the occasional higher chirp or flutter from one of a few instruments, not that the song has a lot of room to have a lot.to have the variety I normally want. But the weight is so satisfying. Did I mention that I love his voice? Rapping or singing, it really makes no difference to me and every song I hear of his just affirms that because it just kind of settles into my bones. And when he gets soft? That's very nice. Thi...

Release date: 2026 January 05 Album tracklist: Gwang, Fear,  STING (feat. Muhammed Ali) ,  Push (feat. Rei (IVE)) , Bite, Touch the sky (feat. Tiger JK), NO BRAIN NO PAIN Album runtime: 18 minutes  So far so good with this song. It is shorter than three minutes, but barely, which does bode well for the album as a whole if the pre-release is already this long. Fingers crossed. It's a weird kind of stress doing a pre-release for an album that will be released in the new year, but I'm excited it's for him. From what I understand, he's one of those artists that is really good in just about every position you can have them in, and he's a resident hype man for the group.  I hit play on this song and almost immediately froze. It was of course accompanied by a disbelieving smile. We've got the bed springs sound effect, which is a bold choice and honestly tells me what I need to know about a song in a language I'm not even close to being fluent in. Other notable elem...

Release date: 2026 January 13 Album tracklist: Backseat,  Saucin' ,  Moonwalkin' ,  FaceTime, Never Let Go Album runtime: 15 minutes  Well, well, well. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this group given that I'd never seen the name before (not that it really matters because there are at minimum hundreds of groups I'm still not familiar with even by name) until I saw a post about Jay Park debuting his first group. At which point my eyebrows raised, and I decided I needed to make sure I got this reviewed since they'll be one of the first debuts of 2026. That's right, I'm already worrying about the debuts in 2026. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to be really excited about the group, I can't, because even with only four members, the maknae won't be sixteen until a few months after they're supposed to debut. He's a May birthday. Not going to lie, I'm a little bit disappointed in Mr. Jay Park for this. So, Underage Protocol it is. What a ...

Release date: 2025 December 22 Album tracklist: Bitter Sweet Album runtime: 3 minutes  This one was not on my schedule of releases, but it's here and I'm very curious about it. But they have now released two songs this year, so that's better than it has been and a little bit of a relief, not enough of one for me to consider them safe but they're releasing music again. You know, this song has a little bit of a traditional vibe to it, especially during the dance break, but that lingers through most of the song. It's all down to instrument choice. I'm not hearing the normal trip of drums/piano/guitar, but what I am hearing are instruments that I swear I've heard in historical dramas, which is my only frame of reference for many of them because unfortunately, my English literature background doesn't give me a lot of historical range, and annoyingly, Asian history for most of my history classes was largely glossed over (except for a few very specific time per...

Release date: 2025 December 20 Album tracklist: FOOTSTEPS , FOOTSTEPS (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 minutes  I was wondering when we were going to be getting something else from them. I was hoping we'd get something for their second anniversary, but we didn't. Still, I'm curious about this one because it's just as possible for this to be a seasonal song as not. Also, it's over four minutes long, and I love that for them. And us. This is another case of my irritating loyalty because on November 2nd, 2023, I found out the company that JR had gone to after Pledis (Evermore) and found out that they had debuted, literally the day before, a new band, one of whom had helped write DOOM DOOM , JR's solo from NU'EST's second album, Romanticize. I was going to support them no matter what because of that, but thankfully, so far I've just enjoyed everything they've put out.  This is such a classic and wonderful example of a tension and energy build that even just ...

Release date: 2025 December 19 Album tracklist:  Wish to Wish Album runtime: 3 minutes  Well, this is my first review for the ever lovely Yoona, and it's a Christmas song, so I'm just pleased all around. I've got high hopes for it, but generally I'm also just excited to be getting new music from her, even if it's only a single. Best time for one, in my opinion, though. There are some interesting instruments here. It's been a minute since I've gotten to hear the wooden blocks, and they're in the song as a garnish, which really enhances the song because that little rhythm is neither frequent nor attention stealing. In general though, this is very 70s sounding. I can practically see the TV screen because it reminds me of Charlie's Angels. It's a very chill sort of song, but also like being wrapped in a warm fluffy blanket with a hot cup of cocoa, curled up watching a Christmas episode. I don't know if the show ever had one, but that's kind o...

Release date: 2025 December 17 Album tracklist:  Moonlight Train,  Walking In A Dream, Starlight Bridge, Sea Of Luna Album runtime: 15 minutes  Okay. So. I had to do some digging to figure out who she is. Yi Chaebin, formerly known as Dahee, debuted in 2015 in the group, Awe5ome Baby. They disbanded the following year. She was almost in fromis_9, and debuted as a soloist in 2021. (As a side note, because I hate groups going forgotten and I have already done this for a group, I may add their debut and, I think, only song to my list of Greatest Hits.) K-Pop history is littered with groups like this. For every mid-tier group, there's a hundred or more who don't make it even to year three. Shame. But I also very much want to support this album on principle because there isn't a single song under three minutes and three-quarters of them are over three-and-a-half minutes. Yay! You know what is so fascinating about the piano specifically in this song? So, we have the normal perc...

Release date: 2025 December 17 Album tracklist:  Solar System Album runtime: 4 minutes  It turns out that I have quite a few songs from her album saved to playlists, but this is the first one of her songs that I'll be reviewing.  The piano is the dominant instrument here, with an occasional acoustic guitar and some strings. It creates a very soft sound relying on a melody to create a slow, gentle beat rather than using shorthand with percussion instruments. And yes, I know technically the piano is both stringed and percussion, which is why that is where we look to for a beat for this song.  This sounds like the kind of song that my grandmother would have sung to me when I was little. I can practically feel her stroking my hair. There's nothing flashy about this song, just grounded, soft, and sweet, the perfect lullaby. So, unfortunately I cannot watch this music video. I try to avoid things with old people that are sad, or even bittersweet. I made it thirty seconds i...

Release date: 2025 December 05 Album tracklist:  My EPITHYMiA Album runtime: 3 minutes  I'm just doing the Japanese releases right now apparently. They've got an album coming out soon, and I don't know if this is a pre-release for it or not. If it ends up being one, then I'll be sure to mark it appropriately when the time comes. For now, I'm treating it as a single. Again, this group is ludicrously active on YouTube. They literally do 2-3 lives a day. Why does this sound like an anime intro song? It's put together a little bit interestingly, with that guitar opening and then it takes almost half the song for it to come back, almost like it's being used sparingly. Given the style of the drums, I'm surprised by that. There is a guitar solo, which is a pretty good indication that that's going to be a dance break when I get a look at the choreography, and it comes at a really good spot in the song energy-wise.  One of them sings in his nose, giving him a...

Release date: 2025 December 16 Album tracklist:  Bring it Back Album runtime: 4 minutes  I know what you're thinking. "Why is she suddenly doing a J-Pop debut?" And, that's a fair reaction, but they are under SM (albeit SM Japan), and there are enough K-Pop listeners who also listen to J-Pop that y'all might be interested to know about them. Plus, they're all in their twenties at least, at debut, and coming from SM that's a bit of an achievement, so I want to celebrate that. Also, apparently one of them has been studying ballet since she was four. I may not do any more of their songs; it depends on if I like this one how much I'm going to be paying attention to them, but at least this way, someone else who may not have known they existed until much later could find them and love them from the start. And this is over four minutes long so, again, on principle, I want to support this. Honestly, I'm just really down for this song. We've got a melod...

Release date: 2026 January 19 Album tracklist:  Crown , Back It Up, Crazy, Suffocate, Moonlight Shadows, Back Pocket, Touch & Go, Flatline,  I'm Home Album runtime: 28 minutes  I missed out on being around for EXO's 7th album by about a month, although even though I wasn't listening to K-Pop quite yet, I was definitely on my way because I was on episode 4 of Alchemy of Souls on the 7th, and I remember this because I told my friend about it and how funny it was when we went to the Bryan Adams/Joan Jett concert together. Did I also use the songs up for MAMA's Song of the Year to get to know K-Pop in general that year? Yes, and that means that I did listen to Cream Soda  a bit, but there were a lot of songs on that list and I was focused on Wind and Wish because that was BTOB's song that had come out that year and was up for it. I have the playlist of those songs saved still. So, long story short, this is my first comeback with EXO, who is one of my beloved 2012 gr...

Release date: 2025 December 12 Album tracklist:  Asteroid , 한 걸음 더 가까이, DIVE Album runtime: 9 minutes  Another of the YouTube recommendations my algorithm gives to me. Huh. I wonder if I could write a parody of Twelve Days of Christmas on my YouTube algorithm. Anyway, sorry. You already know that he's a member of INFINITE because of how I title these reviews, but this was news to me when I looked him up. I also found out his younger brother is also in a K-Pop group, Golden Child, which is delightful to learn. So, because he's a second gen idol, I have expectations for his capability. This song is the shortest of the three, but the average is good because the middle song is almost four minutes. But! This is his solo debut, fifteen years after his debut with INFINITE, so I'm very curious about what he's going to give us. My favorite instrumental triumvirate is here for this song: guitar, drums, piano. Is it a basic combination? Yes, but there's nothing wrong with a cl...

Release date: 2025 December 15 Album tracklist:  Still Here Album runtime: 4 minutes  I had to apportion out the reviews because I didn't quite get WayV's out when I wanted to. But that just means that I get to drop Forestella's first today. And, best of all, Woorim is out of the military and we get our bass back. Woorim is part of the incredibly talented 95z and I do have to wonder what was in the water in South Korea in '94 and the very beginning of '95 because wow. Also, if this is your first Forestella song, you're in for a treat. When I mean he's a bass, I mean he's a classically trained bass who could probably make your bones rattle when he sings. (If you haven't heard their performance of Bad Romance from Immortal Singers , well, they turned it into a gothic vampire drama and also is the reason why I know who they are, so enjoy that before we get into this. Also, this, by the way, is what I'm looking for in terms of harmonies and there...