Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2025 January 30 Album tracklist:  Hollo , Hollo - Instrumental, Hollo - Drama Version, Hollo - (Drama Version) [Instrumental] Album runtime: 16 minutes  Do I have other songs I should probably be reviewing because they're actual title tracks and not OSTs? Yes. Do I have this and another set up to review instead? Also, yes. But, in my defense, I love Bang Yedam's voice now that I've discovered it, and also this is an OST for my boy Minhyun's newest drama, which I'm obviously going to support because it's Minhyun. Also, I have some options about what to review because this comes with multiple versions, but I think I'm just going to go with the vanilla version. Even though part of me is arguing quite loudly for the drama version instead. I would have been happy with just the piano, but the introduction of the other instruments takes what started off as an incredibly melancholic sound and turns it into something a lot more hopeful. Because the laye...

 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...

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...

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: 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...

Release date: 2025 January 23 Album tracklist: Bad Moves, THUNDER , Lovers or Enemies, My name is shadow, My Everlasting Sun Album runtime: 16 minutes  Ah, so this group is actually less than a year younger than ATEEZ. And I have been staring at this group's name trying to figure out why I know something about this group, but a brief perusal of the members' profiles (and their names) smacked me about why I know what I know, namely, their main vocalist Seunghun. Fun fact, we both like the band Lucy, but that's not why I know him. He's the one in the Grim Reaper Team on Build Up , the one who rapped during the vocal break of Pray , the blond one .  I included the performance with the reactions because the performance deserves the reactions, and as a reminder in case you are only familiar with the Stray Kids cover from Kingdom, that rap is normally covered by two rappers, and it's not an easy rap with two. Changbin, an incredible rapper, covers it on his own. Seunghun ...

Release date: 2025 January 22 Album tracklist: 넌 언제나 (2025) , 넌 언제나 (2025) (Instrumental) Album runtime: 8 minutes  I genuinely feel like a proud older sister or a proud older cousin every time this band does literally anything. Ridiculous? Probably. The oldest one is a yearling with my cousin who I'm pretty close with, so I'm sure that's part of it. But they've put out two mini albums, a single, and now a digital single in the last almost fifteen months since they debuted. So proud of them. Also, a four minute song? Did I mention I love them? Their fandom name, by the way, is Catcher, which is a little cute considering what the name of the band is. And because the song is fully in Korean, I made sure to keep the Korean title there.  And good news for me, this has the instrumental with it. You, Always  does have just about everything I like. It's got big bursts of sheer drama and a screaming electric guitar. It's got soft spots to sentimentalize that guitar, but...

Release date: 2025 January 21 Album tracklist: Blind Eyes Red , HER , Drive U Crazy, Cherry Sky, Valentine's Dream, It's Okay, Obsession Album runtime: 22 minutes  Ah, so this is why Blind Eyes Red didn't get its own release. Still a little confused on that front as I don't understand the reasoning, but I'm willing to overlook it because it wasn't just released into the wind. I apparently need to fix my algorithms to get things back to where they were a few months ago so I'm more aware of when things are pre-releases or not. My apologies, CUBE. In other news, I'm pretty excited for this, so I'll be updating that post with the album info at the top here when I'm finished and then we can be on our way (also, apparently the video got very misplaced there somehow, so that's fixed now too). And I'm not a fan of the title track runtime, but the average of the album is okay. It's at least a three minute average. And already looking at some ...

  Most of the music shows are back on, which means the live stage performances, which I love best, are back in almost full force. We get more variety again! So, this week had another triple crown, which is exciting because once again, he got it without promoting the song other than the one performance. We got two first wins for songs, which is absolutely delightful for the groups. I'm so happy for them. On After School Club, Allen and Taeyoung rejoined as MCs with Aron for WEi, a five member boy group that debuted in 2020. There are some very cute dimples going on, some excellent English skills, more going for Taeyoung's MC job here, and some throwing the other members under the bus. That's always fun to see.  As always, the links in the chart go to my reviews. Show Champion: N/A MCountdown: BOYNEXTDOOR "If I Say, I Love You" (note: this performance is from the 250109 episode) Music Bank: BSS (Seventeen) "CBZ (Prime Time)"  Show! Music Core: G-Dragon (BI...

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 ...

  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 ...

Release date: 2025 January 17 Album tracklist:  5AM , 5AM (Instrumental) Album runtime: 6 minutes  I know exactly one (former) member of a group with this name, but given that whatever happened, it didn't seem to happen on good terms, I'm not going to mention the group or add the group to the title if this is indeed him. And it is him. So I will take my cues from the group. He debuted as a soloist back in 2021 at the ripe age of 24 and is currently under SME.  My heart wants to say this is an acoustic guitar, but there are some very much electric guitar characteristics when the pick slides on the strings rather than what the acoustic guitar does. I could be wrong though. In other news, the instrumentals remind me of the soundtrack to Final Fantasy XV,  specifically either in the camp music or in one of the city/town locations, and that's something I really like because I like how laid back and cozy it is. In this case, the guitar seems to gently flirt with the other ...

  Release date: 2025 January 15 Album tracklist: Take Care Album runtime: 4 minutes  So I know that Dynamicduo is a first gen duo, and I recognize the name Gummy from the Alchemy of Souls OST. It's an interesting pairing that I'm actually excited to hear, because I have high expectations for the first gen artists even though I don't typically listen to hip-hop (this has changed in recent days and I blame Seventeen and JR for this), and her voice should be a good contrast with theirs.  It would be really easy to assume that this is a nice, generic (again, I mean this as a compliment because I mean it as "adhering to the genre") hip-hop beat, which I kind of did at the first couple of listens, but there are some softer elements that shift it towards a ballad, but without leaving the genre. With the lighter plinking during the chorus that carries through during her verse, it's a good way to bring an element of longing and poignancy.  One of the Duo reminds me of ...

  Release date: 2025 January 15 Album tracklist: NOT ENOUGH , 143 ILY, FAKE LOVE, Top Shape, WITHOUT U Album runtime: 14 minutes  So I, for some reason, thought they were a girl group. I don't know why I thought this. I'm obviously mistaken. But that's okay! They're very obviously not a girl group, and they're obviously active, so the next time I run across their name or them, I'll remember. WEi is part of the slightly unfortunate batch of COVID debuts though, and I feel bad for them, but given that they've managed to survive this long, which is not something every 2021 group can boast, I hope they have continued and expanding success. The song does a really good job of keeping to a mellow stroll through most of it. The chorus has a little bit more of a burst of energy, which immensely helps snap the song out of the lulling rut it could have fond itself in. It's a very stable rhythm for the energy, which is itself a little lulling. This is of course only...

Release date: 2025 January 14 Album tracklist:  IKUK , We Are Young, DEVILISH LOVE, W, Rupert's drop , Valkyrie (Penta Ver.), Twilight  (Penta Ver.), LIT  (Penta Ver.), A Song Written Easily  (Penta Ver.), TO BE OR NOT TO BE  (Penta Ver.), BBUSEYEO  (Penta Ver.), No diggity  (Penta Ver.), BLACK MIRROR  (Penta Ver.), Life Is Beautiful  (Penta Ver.), LUNA  (Penta Ver.), Bring it on  (Penta Ver.), Same Scent  (Penta Ver.) Album runtime: 58 minutes  With the limited discourse I've seen around this, it seems like this may have been a bit of a surprise for the fans. I'm not positive. Don't quote me on that. But that's okay. Hello, once again, Oneus. It's good to see you again. Also, it looks like they did five member versions of their songs for this album, which is nice so that the fans have the option of listening to either the original song or the one that they'll be performing now.  Those are some smooth instrumentals wi...

Release date: 2025 February 03 Album tracklist:  REBEL HEART , FLU, You Wanna Cry, Thank U,  ATTITUDE , TKO Album runtime: 19 minutes  Okay. Okay, okay. So fun fact, I can't actually listen to this group yet on my own freetime because the maknae debuted at the grand age of fourteen and hasn't turned eighteen yet, although she does turn eighteen in a couple of weeks, so I can listen to them at that point. But that does mean I have to go back to my "I can't listen" steps for the review. Still, if I like this song, that means I only have a couple more weeks to wait for it to go into regular listening playlists. Gotta love me a song with a strong, driving beat. Of course, at the beginning, it is softer, but that just makes the transition to full, dramatic rock song is fantastic. The rests in very specific locations for the emphasis of the vocals and to assist in the rhythm of the song allow. Primary instruments are the guitar and the drums. The sudden softening is a c...

  It looks like we may be getting more music shows back up and running if this week is any indication, but the most exciting news of all is that this week was a group's first first place on a music show! Congrats to n.SSign! Took about a year and a half, but I'm so happy for them. G-Dragon also got the Triple Crown on Inkigayo this week, which opens the trophy back up to someone else for next week, and that's without promotions. On After School Club, Allen and Taeyoung were absent, so Jayn Lee, former leader of TO1, joined Aron as co-host for n.SSign to come out and play a little. And in a both funny and adorable moment, Aron complimented them on smelling good. So if you're a fan, at least one of them smells really nice. Both of the hosts struggled a little with the MC Challenge, which remains my favorite segment, and the members had some interesting insights for the Question Corner. Show Champion: N/A MCountdown: Stray Kids "Walkin on Water" (note: I think I ...

Release date: 2025 January 09 Album tracklist: Aftertaste , Aftertaste - Instrumental Album runtime: 10 minutes  Wheein just casually slid a single towards us, and I love that for her. She's probably the member of MAMAMOO that I'm least familiar with, but that just means that there hasn't been good timing for me to get to know her. And this also comes with the instrumental, which makes her my favorite right now. But even if I don't know her as well as some of the other members, she's in MAMAMOO and that tells me everything I need to know about her voice. Wheein dropped a song that belongs in a fairytale. I'm not even kidding. I'm reminded somewhat of Pinocchio and Cinderella, without anything substantial to explain why I'm connecting those two to this song, but also, this is both soft and sweet, with just a bit of a bite occasionally from the cymbals and the guitar. But we get strings, which are one of my favorite things to be added to music because they...

Release date: 2025 January 12 Album tracklist:  Into the Day,  Into the Day - Inst. Album runtime: 4 minutes  I love this band. I love how active they are. I worry slightly about how active they are, and I'm now in almost constant worry about about their violinist because it's been a bit since the last we heard him. But, good news they have an instrumental track so I'll know in probably about thirty or so seconds if the violinist is back.  And he is. The violinist is back. I cannot quite describe to you how excited I am for the violinist to be back. Welcome back, Shin Yechan. I don't know what you were doing, but I'm glad you're back. If it was a rest, I hope you rested well. It's like an explosion of joy when the violin comes into play, honestly. That could be me projecting, in which case, there's my bias exposure, but after how soft and sweet the piano is at the start, functionally, the way the violin is introduced feels like it should be intended to d...

Release date: 2025 January 11 Album tracklist: jellyfish Album runtime: 3 minutes  I'm only vaguely familiar with the LE SSERAFIM members, having seen somewhere that they reminded someone else of MAMAMOO and GFRIEND in terms of chaos, and so I have in fact watched some content with them to enjoy the chaos. I also have memorized some random details about some of the members so that I can remember which group this is. In this case, Yunjin is actually one of the ones I memorized some details about. She's a former IZ*ONE member, operatically trained singer, and we share a certain snakey wizard house. That last one is the reason why I remember the other two details. The song sounds a little bit like it's underwater with the instrumentals, which is fascinating and fits really well with the title of the song. I'm reminded a little bit of the underwater level in Mt Gagazet from Final Fantasy X , which is always a good sign when I'm reminded of my favorite video game. I'...