Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2026 March 20 Album tracklist: Body to Body, Hooligan , Aliens, FYA, 2.0 , No. 29, SWIM , Merry Go Round, NORMAL , Like Animals, they don't know 'bout us, One More Night, Please, Into the Sun, Come Over Album runtime: 41 minutes  I don't know if they also dropped a music video for Come Over, but here we are, behind, as per usual. I actually love the instrumental for this song, and it's not just because this is an almost four-minute long song, which is wildly rare these days and also an outlier in the album as a whole given that about thirty seconds were removed from each song. It's got a very specific aesthetic that reminds me of Bioshock. Everything about the instrumental sounds vaguely like it was recorded either underwater or through water, using technology from the thirties (which I know isn't the time period for Bioshock, but bear with me). It's wonderful. There's a bit of a melody to accompany the beat that has this haunting weakness ...

 Sorry for the wait, whoever suggested this! I had the May theme all set up, so I arranged June so that this would fit in well, because I listened to this song after you suggested it and went "Okay. I need to step outside my comfort zone a bit." Which is why, if y'all noticed, I added two new rappers to the Expanded Offerings line-up to help set Woodz up a bit in his capacity of metal for this song, and specifically rappers that were being a bit more aggressive than I've done on here previously. It's all for my good. Not that I don't listen to metal on occasion; I've got several work playlists that are basically just metal and heavy rock so that I can have screaming expressed in my soul without me actually doing it out of frustration. Never have I related to an anime more than Aggretsuko . I highly recommend it. Woodz has had a pretty illustrious career already, originally debuting as the main rapper of YueHua's boy group, UNIQ, in 2014, then debuting ...

Release date: 2026 March 30 Album track list: Toxic Love,  Highs and Lows , Already Grown Up, Up All Night, Step by Step, Hold My Love,  Piano Album runtime: 20 mi nutes  We got a music video! I was not expecting the music video! Yay! I would have been disappointed if the song had featured less piano, given its title. Even when it's no longer the sole instrument, it has such a prominent role in the structure of the instrumental, including opening and closing the song on its own, that it meets expectations well. I also love how we get the feedback sound of plugging something into an amp. I thought it was a door the first time I heard it, but no, that's definitely an amp.  Ah, a free-range vibrato, allowed to wander through the song and do as it will. Thank you, bands. We've got a couple of different textures going on because of the range of the notes he's dealing with, which is nice, but what surprised and then delighted me was the harmonizing at the end. It's all we...

Release date: 2026 Mar 11 Album tracklist: Catch Catch , Spring Fever (Feat. Din Din, Jung Hyung Don), Sticker (Feat. MRCH), April's Cat, Question Marks (Feat. Paul Kim) Album runtime: 17 minutes  She dropped something new, so I'm going to do this before I look at that one. This song has been glaring at me, because she's been collecting the second gen idols, including one of the members of After School, for this dance challenge. And I love that. I've also heard that this song is one of the most second gen coded songs to come out of a younger K-Pop artist in years, which is impressive because there are a few of the rookie girl groups that I'd argue embody the second gen vibe very well.  This is the level of EDM that I started out listening to K-Pop with. This is a relentless song with what sounds like the beeps you'd get from dialing on a wireless home phone. But it's the kind of relentless that doesn't rely on loudness or aggressiveness to be completely ...

Release date: 2026 April 07 Album tracklist: Physics  ~ falling into you   ~ , Chance   ~ switch on   ~, Chance    ~ switch on   ~ (KR ver.), Silence ~ body and soul ~ , Patience   ~ seal my love   ~, Paradice   ~ I need you   ~, Outro   ~ of the world   ~ Album runtime: 20 minutes  Do I have songs that came out this week that I need to cover? Yes. Has this one been bothering me because that is a mind boggling album name and song titles for the entire thing? Also yes. They apparently had a couple of minor debuts ahead of their official one, which doesn't make sense, but whatever. It's fine. And they do not need to be on Underage Protocol because the maknae turns nineteen this year.  There's a bit of a space vibe to this instrumental, like we're going clubbing on the Citadel from Mass Effect, but specifically in Flux and not Chora's Den, if that makes sense. And I know there's going to be a small p...

Release date: 2026 March 20 Album tracklist: Body to Body,  Hooligan , Aliens, FYA,  2.0 , No. 29,  SWIM , Merry Go Round, NORMAL , Like Animals, they don't know 'bout us, One More Night, Please, Into the Sun, Come Over Album runtime: 41 minutes  Okay. Next music video from this album. This one I definitely know I've added to some of my playlists. It's not my favorite of the bunch, but I did like it well enough. I'm really annoyed that the vinyl only song is vinyl only because vinyl is difficult to listen to on the go and I love that song. But, it is what it is. I love that introduction. It's all old-timey, then spooky and glitchy. Then it turns to what sounds like knives being dragged across each other. Then we get the old-timey and the spooky and the glitchy behind the knives. Even though it's a little grating, I absolutely love this instrumental because it's both elegant and clangy, and I'm fascinated by it.  I'm less enthused by the amount of...

 So I'm awake at 1 am for literally zero reason. And while I could continue to write the reviews to be posted tomorrow, instead I'm going to get this started because as we know, these can take a minute. You know? You know. I'm going to add some plant pictures at the bottom after the section where I talk about what I was listening to. I covered three group debuts this month: TUNEXX , SUCTION , V01D ! I also covered two solo debuts: Yuna from ITZY and Kangmin from Verivery. Those links all go to my reviews. There were two virtual idol groups that debuted that I did not cover: Skinz and Owis . Songs I was looking forward to: BTOB: They turned fourteen this year, and the gift we got was a digital single from the six of them. They're always a good time, vocally. EVERGLOW: You know, I've been listening to them more. I'm curious. And, they recently left their old company, so I'm hoping they continue on well and get recognition Woodz: He's got an amazing voic...

Release date: 2026 March 24 Album tracklist: Mama I'm Alright,  Bittersweet , Shapeshifter ,  Moves Like Ciara, Tears On My Pillow Album runtime: 15 minutes  What? I'm actually doing the title track after doing the pre-release in a semi-reasonable timeframe? Am I ill? Because there's no way that I'm actually almost put together like this. I literally haven't been this almost prepped since I first started writing these. A-year-and-a-half ago. Anyway, like I said in the pre-release review, I'm not putting them on Underage Protocol even though three-fourths were underage at debut. I remember hearing something about their debut song being inappropriate for the number of minors, but I didn't listen to it, nor did I review it, so that might be a good thing, This has a pleasant instrumental. There are no big surprises, no moment of sudden change. Everything changes exactly when and how it should. Reliable, steady. It's got variations to it, don't get me wro...

Release date: 2026 March 20 Album tracklist: Body to Body,  Hooligan , Aliens, FYA,  2.0 , No. 29,  SWIM , Merry Go Round, NORMAL, Like Animals, they don't know 'bout us, One More Night, Please, Into the Sun Album runtime: 41 minutes  Since it had a music video release, I figured I'd do it now while I was thinking about it. I don't think this is one of the ones that I've saved to a few of my playlists, but I could be wrong. I'll know in a moment. But even if it isn't, I've found songs from the album that I really like and as, per usual, these are mostly the b-sides. My favorite BTS song overall is Coffee , and that pretty much has set the tone for how I interact with this group. This was not one of them. That's fine. This song has a very clean beat to it that isn't quite a skittering beat, but it's at a similar pitch for most of the song. There are spots where the instrumental cuts out to let the vocals go a cappella, and we've also got s...

Release date: 2026 March 25 Album track list:  별, 빛 (STAY) Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  How late am I with this? I've heard bits and pieces already, but I'm excited to be stabbed in the chest with the feels from the song as a whole. This is really short because for some reason I have all the attention for writing reviews right now. Why? No idea, but I'm taking advantage. I also don't know why I'm still awake at 12:30 in the morning, but here we are.  This is actually a fairly sedate instrumental, but feistier than some of their other soft fan songs (I'm looking at you, Youtiful , the song I've only just started listening to again after it was involved in both of my car accidents). There's so much piano to this song. It's really the dominant instrument, which is surprising because it's been a minute since we've gotten a song that is so heavily piano-based. I say that, but also there's kind of a sick, almost guitar solo that lets the song kic...

Release date: 2026 March 31 Album track list:  Black Star , Black Star (Instrumental) Album runtime: 10 mi nutes  I wasn't planning on doing any OSTs the next little bit, but then I saw that Nana, my girl Nana, dropped this one and  it's over five minutes long. Say less. I have absolutely no idea what this is for. Not a clue. Doesn't matter. The thing I love about OSTs is that we almost always get the instrumental attached. Well, that's just gorgeous. It has an obvious storyline, even without any lyrics. Starting off with just a piano, adding instruments slowly to let the song gently unfold and move with absolutely no rush, this song feels almost ludicrously indulgent with the amount of time it takes to just breathe. We've got piano and guitar and strings, and I'm absolutely in love with this. Just beautiful. Absolutely stunning. I'm so excited for the vocals here. Are you as ready as I am? This is such a high song, but even when she's breathy, you can h...

Release date: 2026 March 31 Album track list: I am Kep1, KILLA (Face the other me) , MIC CHECK, Lowkey, Addicted 2 Ya Album runtime: 14 mi nutes  This may be their first release with the new line-up, if I remember correctly. If it isn't, ignore me. Time is a soup. I feel bad for the fans having to adjust to the new line-up, but at least they didn't disband as most other survival show groups like this have. Silver lining, I guess. Wow, that's too sad to be starting this review on that note. The title track is close enough to the three minute mark that even though the average is below three, I'm okay with it. That's an interesting start to the song. Very interesting. The dichotomy of the very low notes and the much higher pitched whistling is nice. It's got almost an industrial texture to the instrumental, but not quite fully committing to it, but we've got some very fun sound effects too. Whistling, gun shots, bells, screams. But that tempo change had my head...

Release date: 2026 March 30 Album track list: Biggest Fan , Best Believe, Don't Wanna Get Up, Face To Face, Million Miles Away, Love Can Make A Way, SPIT IT OUT, Black Halo, MTV (My Timeless Video), Wasteland Album runtime: 30 mi nutes  Irene's first album! Whoo! I'm curious and excited about this, because she's got a good voice, and seventy percent of the songs are over three minutes, so I'm pleased. If this doesn't have some really good choreography to it, I'm going to be sad. There's a very good beat to it, and the drums hold that line really well. There's just not really a lot of variation in the rhythm with that beat, even when we have different sections of what is going on above it come in. You can practically set a metronome to it, which isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's just something that never has a spot where my attention gets caught because something big has changed.  I did check to make sure that this wasn't her solo debut,...

Release date: 2026 March 30 Album track list: Toxic Love, Highs and Lows , Already Grown Up, Up All Night, Step by Step, Hold My Love, Piano Album runtime: 20 mi nutes  This isn't my primary streaming service, but sometimes I get a little confused about title tracks when they're in English in some plays and in Korean in other places, as is the case with this song, and Melon actually labels which song is the title track. So in the event that I do get confused, I will check Melon for confirmation that the song I think is the title track is actually the title track. It's basically the only thing I use Melon for, but I do wish more streaming services would do that. Even before I started this, I liked knowing which song I was "supposed" to listen to (and ignoring it anyway because I come from CDs and didn't understand why one song was special when the album had seven others that I loved to pieces when I was little). But can I just say how much I love that Wonpil ti...

Release date: 2026 March 26 Album track list:  Merry go round (feat. meenoi) , Merry go round (Instrumental) Album runtime: 6 mi nutes  Happy anniversary, Ilhoon! This is a fascinating instrumental. It's one part old timey, one part dreamy, and one part strongly reinforced percussive beat. I also had to listen to this a couple of times because I needed to verify if the kids screaming was out my window before they went to school or if it was in the track. Not that I mind because I too want to scream sometimes before I go to work and school is their work. The answer is, part of the instrumental. That's really cool. It's kind of the perfect, subtle addition. I am reminded a tiny bit of the Danganronpa soundtrack though, so the instrumental is stressing me out, but that's just because of the association I have and nothing actually wrong with the track. You know what? I think he might actually be singing more than he is rapping, which brings me so much joy. And once again, t...

Release date: 2026 April 17 Album tracklist: Helium Balloon,  Voyager , No Cool Kids Zone, Hurt So Good, Rise High Rise, KTM,  X room Album runtime: 22 minutes  I'm doing this one now so I don't have to scramble to do it later when the actual album comes out. I'm very excited about this because Xdinary Heroes is a) a band and we know how I love those, and b) I tend to like what they've got going on. The song starts off feeling a little haunted castle, and then there's a shift before it fully commits that had me raising an eyebrow. This is largely a fairly mellow sound that just feels kind of sad, but there is a point where we get a very pointed shift that's almost aggressive, but it also softens as much the other way so we're getting an excellent range to this song. I'm getting kind of a CNBLUE vibe off this instrumental, which is a huge compliment from me.  Ah, lovely, lovely vibrato. Thank you for being a band and thus being allowed to show off the vib...

Release date: 2026 March 25 Album track list: Hertz , DREAMER, MOMENTUM Album runtime: 7 mi nutes  Oof, that run time is not it. I'm sorry, Moonbyul. I love you. But what on earth is that? And if I were writing more casually in a different setting there would have been about five more question marks.  So I fairly recently did a GH post on Girl Gang  by H.U.B , and this is a similar genre. I'm kind of in love with this instrumental though, because we've got revving engines, which amuses me because of the title of the single album. It's also pretty appropriate because while I'm writing this, I'm watching an old livestream from my favorite video game YouTube channel while they played Dead Island 2 , and I have to say that this is singularly appropriate to the zombie slayage that is happening. Good, strong beat. Heavy electric guitar. I know exactly what playlists this song is going into. It also sounds like there's a peacock cry in the instrumental, which is ba...

Release date: 2026 March 02 Album track list:  When I think about you , Over It , Dreaming, Portrait, Answer, When I think about you (Inst.) Album runtime: 15 mi nutes  Am I finally getting around to the actual title track after having the pre-release finished for weeks? Yes. Yes, I am. But, better late than never. Also, this is four-and-a-half minutes of song and I love him for that. We have an acoustic guitar heavy in the front row of this instrumental, which we do get separately and I'm very happy about that as well. But I was in the middle of basking in the watery chimes when the violin kicked in, and my attention swiveled to wake up from the lull that the rest of this gorgeous instrumental put me into. This instrumental is magnificent and soothing and has a very clear build up to the climax of the song.  His voice is incredible. Hey, if anyone wants to submit one of his songs for a GH or BBS post, I am not going to be mad because do you hear this? Thank you, second g...

Release date: 2026 March 26 Album tracklist: Intro : small, fragile, and still here; Free Falling ; in the mirror Album runtime: 8 minutes  The Verivery maknae has debuted as a soloist! Some of you may remember him from Boys Planet 2 (and I've got a soft spot for him a mile wide because Baekho talked to him and gave him some very specific advice), and while I'm sad that he didn't make it into the final group, I don't mind it as much because he's back with his group and they have released music since Boys Planet 2. They need to release more, but for now, it's okay. And this is his solo debut! I'm disappointed by the runtime for this song though. Especially for a debut, it's far too short. Ooh, that sounds like a maraca we've got going on here. That's fun. The skittering beat that pops in, especially during the chorus, feels like it's too much for the style of the vocals and it creates an uncomfortable disconnect, especially when the song is ca...

Release date: 2026 March 25 Album tracklist: Love Comes Slowly , Fade Into Memories, You Think Too Much, Last of Us, Hurt & Hollow, By Your Side, Broken Way Album runtime: 21 minutes  I was very happy to be able to pull Dawon's photocard off my Enlistment Wall a couple of months ago, so I'm hoping that he was involved in this comeback. There are a couple of track names on this album that I'm definitely interested in, and so I'll be listening to the whole thing after I'm done with this. "So" is apparently my word for today. This song would be very easy to turn into an acoustic version. I mean, we are talking laughably easy. I haven't heard a song where I could hear the non-existent acoustic version this strongly. Anyway, there's actually a pretty big chunk of this song that has effects to make it sound like it's a 40s lacquer disc, particularly with the piano. I'm in love with the sound of this instrumental, by the way. It's wonderfu...