Just A Little Fangirl Love

  I'm only a little under a month behind now. It's fine. We're getting ourselves caught up. As always, the links below in the spreadsheet go to my reviews. Show Champion: NouerA ".exe" MCountdown: Jennie "Less than a Lover" Music Bank: NouerA ".exe" Show! Music Core: RESCENE "Pretty Girl" Inkigayo: N/A ASC Performance: N/A The Show: Kiss of Life "Sweat" The Extra Stage: ARTMS "Blue Blood"

  I am behind again! I was so close! As always, the links down in the spreadsheet go to my reviews! Show Champion: fromis_9 "Vitamin ME" MCountdown: Jennie "Less than a Lover" Music Bank: fromis_9 "Vitamin ME" Show! Music Core: fromis_9 "Vitamin ME" Inkigayo: N/A ASC Performance: N/A The Show: N/A The Extra Stage: LUN8 "Sneakers" The Extra Extra Stage: HEART OF WOMAN "TEA"

Release date: 2026 August 28 Album tracklist: FALLEN ANGEL , HEAVEN, Less than a Lover Album runtime: 9  minutes  Congrats on the wins! I forgot I needed to do this one! I think this is a pre-release, which is why I'm labelling it like I am.  One of my big complaints about a lot of songs lately is that the instrumental isn't particularly distinct, because so many of them, including this one, are largely two or three beats layered together through most of the song with very little variation. This one at least has the benefit of water plunks and plops, and I cannot express how briefly excited I was about twenty seconds from the end, but it just wasn't enough to overcompensate for the repetition. Now, I'll be the first to admit that R&B doesn't really do it for me normally because a lot of the modern R&B does an excellent job of having the kind of sound that lulls me a bit too much into drowsiness. This song is no different. Between the slow beat and the amount...

 Well, well. Here we are with another awards show, which means a whole new set of performances. As with the others, I'm going to stay out of the way of the wins and performances. When you make it down to the end, that's when I'll yap. See you then! Enjoy the performances! performances 10CM (_CDEFG + To Reach You) aespa (Drift + Rich Man + Dirty Work ) ALLDAY PROJECT ( ONE MORE TIME + LOOK AT ME + FAMOUS ) Alpha Drive One (HOLA SOLAR + FORMULA ) BOYNEXTDOOR ( Hollywood Action + IF I SAY, I LOVE YOU ) EXO (Wolf + Monster + The Eve + Love Shot + Growl + Back it up) G-Dragon (DRAMA + POWER + HOME SWEET HOME + TOO BAD + Crooked) Hanroro (0+0 + Landing in Love) Hearts2Hearts ( The Chase + Focus ) IDID ( CHAN-RAN + PUSH BACK) ILLIT ( Do The Dance + Not Cute Anymore ) IVE ( XOXZ + ATTITUDE + REBEL HEART ) Jennie (Seoul City + ZEN + like JENNIE ) KiiiKiii (To Me From Me + I DO ME + DANCING ALONE ) NCT Wish ( poppop + Videohood + COLOR ) RIIZE ( Fame + Bag Bad Back + ...

  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...

  Triple Crown came in this week, which is so exciting. Don't get me wrong. But you know what's more exciting? Two rookie groups got their first ever wins! Y'all, I cannot even pretend not to be ecstatic over this. This is so exciting! Congrats to KiiiKiii and Close Your Eyes! Whoo!!!!  For the ASC performance this week since they're still on hiatus, I just scrolled randomly through the playlist and the one I stopped on was the one I offer to you all, and I'm very pleased to say that here is Purple Kiss's attendance for Sweet Juice  back in 2023. MC's were Aron from NU'EST as well as Allen and Taeyoung of Cravity. And I have to say, I absolutely love Taeyoung's hair this episode. He looks so good. And it's also really cute that the members did the fanchant while the one fan was doing the dance cover. But you know what's really funny? The voice changing segment. You guys will enjoy it. Show Champion: Jennie (BLACKPINK) "Like Jennie" ...

  Another Triple Crown can go on the books! I want to confirm who won on The Show  before I add that on here. We've got a first win for a song here, as well as some familiar faces. As I said last week, After School Club would be going on hiatus at the end of its twelve-year first season, which means I have a lot of groups and a lot of performances to be able to look back on and share with you all. So I decided to go back to episode 410 and Weki Meki. The MCs were Jimin (Jamie Park of 15&), Heejun (of American Idol and K-Pop Star fame), and Yuri (of JxR and of almost NCT).It happened to be Yuri's first time as MC on ASC, and we also got a proto-MC Challenge with one of the members of Weki Meki teaching Yuri the point dance for Dazzle Dazzle. I also shared with you their sped up dance they did for that episode of ASC. I've got a special fondness for dances at 2x speed. Show Champion: NMIXX "Know About Me" MCountdown: Jennie (BLACKPINK) "Like Jennie" Mu...

  Well, all sorts of groups got wins this week, along with a Triple Crown! Congrats to all the groups for their first win for the songs! There isn't a single song that won on more than one show this week, which I like for the sake of diversity, and that means lots of different stages to share with you all. Also, three of the wins were with YG affiliated soloists/groups. After School Club had TNX (the group formerly known as The New Six) on, which was cool for them to talk about their new song before it comes out. Also, the amount of times they said something like "We didn't ask the company for permission, but it's fine" was hysterical, and one of the five of them is an absolute character. He's a delight. Also, the MCs on ASC announced this was the final episode of season 1 of ASC, which has lasted for twelve years, so they'll be going on hiatus for a little bit before the next season. So rather than just not include an ASC performance at all, because I can...

Release date: 2025 March 07 Album track list: Intro : JANE with FKJ, like JENNIE, start a war, Handlebars (feat. Dua Lipa), with the IE (way up), ExtraL (feat. Doechii) ,  Mantra ,  Love Hangover (feat. Dominic Fike ) ,  ZEN , Damn Right, F.T.S, Filter, Seoul City, Starlight, twin Album runtime: 42 mi nutes  Well, I'm pleased that this album is finally coming out. She's been releasing singles for months, and now we get the culmination of those releases. Congrats to her in this endeavor! I hope the fans enjoy it and that it continues to be a source of joy for them. Okay. Full disclosure. I'm not a huge fan of this song, which is fine. It's a genre/stylistic thing. I don't have to like all the songs ever released. But I'm not going into this with an abundance of enthusiastic giddiness. Now, that being said, I also don't think it's a bad song. So there's that. The instrumentals are minimalistic, punchily driven with the beat building the energy through ...

Release date: 2025 March 07 Album track list: Intro : JANE with FKJ, like JENNIE, start a war, Handlebars (feat. Dua Lipa), with the IE (way up), ExtraL (feat. Doechii), Mantra , Love Hangover (feat. Dominic Fike ), ZEN , Damn Right, F.T.S, Filter, Seoul City, Starlight, twin Album runtime: 40 mi nutes  I wasn't going to just because of how swamped I am, but Jennie got a win on a music show, and so I must review this to follow my pattern. So this is the second pre-release from this album, which comes out in about a week from time of posting this. My apologies that I didn't do this one already. Timing was bad.  It takes a full thirty seconds for the instrumentals to do something more than a drum set with a heavy emphasis on the cymbals. At least the song is three minutes long, so those thirty seconds only take up about a sixth of the total time. But generally, the instrumentals feel a little bit too much like they're stuck in the same band of sound or type of instruments bei...

  ...There will be a link to the review for Jennie and Dominic's song review when I post it tomorrow. I wasn't paying attention to the music shows this week. My apologies. As always, the links in the chart below go directly to my reviews. Moving on, I was so excited for Show Champion to resume their episodes, and this week, I was mightily disappointed. I think this is the last Triple Crown that IVE can get for Rebel Heart , at least with the shows that are currently airing, and that's genuinely impressive. On ASC, we had the rookie group (and kids considering five of the seven are seventeen or younger) ARrc, who reminded me a little bit of labrador puppies. I don't know if I've said this before, but I'm actually really grateful for After School Club and Simply K-Pop for giving an extra space specifically for the rookies and the groups with smaller fandoms a space to show off when they have comebacks. They need these opportunities.  Show Champion: N/A MCountdown...

Release date: 2025 March 07 Album track list: Intro : JANE with FKJ, like JENNIE, start a war, Handlebars (feat. Dua Lipa), with the IE (way up), ExtraL (feat. Doechii),  Mantra ,  Love Hangover (feat. Dominic Fike ),  ZEN , Damn Right, F.T.S, Filter, Seoul City, Starlight, twin Album runtime: 40 mi nutes  I really need to get my algorithm back to working like it was so I can get the new releases dropped in my lap so that when I'm not technically a fan (read as: part of the fandom; I really like a lot of groups but there are only a handful of which I'd call myself a proper fan rather than a browser), I'm still aware of the releases. I'm excited for Jennie. I believe she was the one who did Mantra , which I wasn't particularly enthused with when I wrote up the review, but one song is not enough to make me swear off an entire discography unless it is blazingly offensive (which Mantra was not). And I'm glad I'm not that way because this song has some serious p...

Release date: 2025 March 07 Album track list: Intro : JANE with FKJ, like JENNIE, start a war, Handlebars (feat. Dua Lipa), with the IE (way up), ExtraL (feat. Doechii),  Mantra ,  Love Hangover (feat. Dominic Fike ),  ZEN , Damn Right, F.T.S, Filter, Seoul City, Starlight, twin Album runtime: 40 mi nutes  So that's both Lisa and Jennie who have released singles this month within two weeks of each other. Pretty cool. And apparently Ros é also got herself an OST, so that's also pretty cool  But this is barely a song in length. It's just over two minutes.  This is a classic BLACKPINK sound. I'm not super familiar with BLACKPINK, though I do have songs that I recognize as BLACKPINK songs if I hear them that I like. But that was my first thought while listening to this song. The trumpet is an interesting instrument that I'm hearing, being a pretty uncommon addition to the the instrumentals of most K-Pop songs. I think I may also hear the wooden blocks, or a cow...