Just A Little Fangirl Love

  Sigh. It was good while it lasted. This is such classic The Show behavior that I'm unsurprised, just disappointed. We have three first wins for songs, and with the exception of one, all of the wins are Big 4. Actually, Big 2, because only two of them are represented here. A rookie group also got themselves a second win, which is a little funny because every single member has several years worth of experience from other groups prior to debut. For the After School Club performance, since they got a win this week, I decided to go with ILLIT from ep. 621. I love watching the rookies the most because they're usually a little bit skittish and uncertain, but I like seeing how quickly they warm up and get comfortable. I'm looking for a full episode from 2018 for a duo, but I can afford to take some time to hunt it down. I'm going to sulk a little over The Show, so you don't get a performance. Sorry. However, I did give you MEOVV for the extra stage because I absolutely a...

Release date: 2026 June 01 Album tracklist: Hit 'Em, DDI RO RI , In my hands, Favorite Song, Revenge Album runtime: 15 minutes It's amazing. I was stuck on the writing, changed the medium (studies have shown that handwriting is really good for your brain in general and specifically your memory), and boom. Writer's Block has been defeated for the moment. Anyway, as I was writing the reviews for both I.O.I and NMIXX, this music video was part of my "Watch Next" recommendations on YouTube. Since it was so eager, I'll do it next. We are still on Underage Protocol because the manager, Ella, was fifteen at debut, but she does turn eighteen at the end of this year, so they're close to coming off the list so I can go dig into their choreography like I did with NewJeans. I am three seconds into this song and I had to pause it. It's going to take a lot to put this song not on the playlist. Three seconds. That is a fantastic use of a sample. Is that right? Look ,...

 So, as with the other award show posts, my comments will be found down below, after the performances and the winners. I know. It's me, and I like to ramble, but for these, I'm giving you the stuff you're more likely to be interested in first, and then if you want my rambles, they're at the bottom.  Anyway, enjoy the performances and congrats to the winners! I'm only listing the music related winners, with two exceptions. performances AHOF ( Rendezvous ) ALLDAY PROJECT ( FAMOUS + ONE MORE TIME ) ASH ISLAND (Don't go + OST) ATEEZ (Man on Fire + Dance Break + In Your Fantasy ) Cortis ( GO! + What You Want ) Cravity (Intro + Lemonade Fever ) IVE ( XOXZ + ATTTUDE + 삐빅 (♥beats) + REBEL HEART ) JJ Lin (Bedroom + 修煉愛情+背對背擁抱 (with WOODZ)) KickFlip (Intro (특이점) + My First Love Song ) KiiiKiii (Intro + I DO ME ) Kiss of Life (Maestro of My Heart + Lucky ) Leejunyoung (BOUNCE + BACK) LE SSERAFIM (Born Fire + Ash + HOT ) MEOVV ( BURNING UP + HANDS UP ) Monsta X (Tress...

Given my relative verboseness and frequent rambling, it would be understandable if you're expecting me to ramble about now as well. But I'm not going to! Yet. That'll come at the end. Instead, just enjoy the performances and the winners.  My little comments will show up at the end.  In the meantime, enjoy! performances Alpha Dive One (Intro + FORMULA) BABYMONSTER ( WE GO UP + DRIP ) BOYNEXTDOOR ( Hollywood Action ) Bumsup/Park Bo-gum (Ink Becoming Flesh) Enhypen ( No Doubt + Bad Desire (With or Without You) ) Hearts2Hearts ( FOCUS ) i-dle ( Good Thing ) IVE ( XOXZ + REBEL HEART ) MEOWW ( TURN IT UP ) NCT Wish ( COLOR ) Super Junior ( Express Mode + Mr. Simple + BONAMANA + Sorry, Sorry) Treasure (2025 Free + PARADISE + I WANT YOUR LOVE) TWS ( OVERDRIVE ) Yeonjun (Coma + Talk To You) match-ups Hearts2Hearts X NCT Wish TWS X MEOVV winners Fan's Choice of the Year (Daesang): Enhypen Song of the Year (Daesang): Rosé X Bruno Mars - APT. Fan's Choice Male Top 10 (B...

 Given my disposition, I'm sure you're already expecting me to ramble a bit here at the beginning to introduce everything and then get out of the way so you can get to what you and I both know is what you're interested in. I'm not going to. Instead, my thoughts will go down at the bottom, which you can read at your leisure after watching all the performances and then seeing the winners. See you then! performances ALLDAY PROJECT ATEEZ (HALA HALA (Hearts Awakened, Live Alive + Wonderland + The Real + BOUNCY (K-HOT CHILLI PEPPERS) + Phantom + In Your Fantasy ) BOYNEXTDOOR ( IF I SAY, I LOVE YOU + I FEEL GOOD + Hollywood Action ) THE BOYZ ( Stylish + You and I) CRAVITY (SWISH + Lemonade Fever ) FIFTY FIFTY (Pookie + Eeny Meeny Miny Moe ) INI (DOMINANCE (Korean Ver.)) KiiiKiii ( I DO ME (KGMA Ver.) Lee Chanwon (I Told You + Maybe Today ) MEOVV (BODY + BURNING UP + HANDS UP ) Park Seo Jin (Clown) Woodz ( Drowning + I'll Never Love Again ) Xdinary Heroes (ICU) xikers...

Release date: 2025 October 14 Album tracklist: BURNING UP Album runtime: 3 minutes   Not quite a three minute song, and it does round up, but that’s a little lower than I’m comfortable with usually. Oof. Hi, there. Bet you weren’t expecting this many reviews to be posted today. This is apparently what happens when you trap me in a car in the dark for four-and-a-half hours with nothing else to do and the ability to read in the car and feel completely fine. But I’ll just keep going. I was working on NMIXX’s and Spotify told me that I should listen to this one because it was also a new review. Well, I can’t listen to them because they’re too young. But. I still find it really funny that BABYMONSTER and MEOVV regularly have similar comeback schedules and they’re not from the same company, but I do call The BlackLabel “YGE Lite”. They’re affiliated in a way that makes me consider BABYMONSTER and MEOVV to be sister groups, which is why it’s just funny how often the two groups have releas...

  Another week, another batch of music show wins! This week we got a full set of wins and only one repeat, so that's lots of stages I get to share with you all! Excitement! And four of these wins are first wins for the song, so that's even cooler! Whoo!  For the ASC re-run, I didn't mean to pick another debut. I picked one at random, went "Oh, Seungmin is a host. Oh! This was for NATURE's debut!" Fun times had by all. Three of the members had been in South Korea less than a year, which was cool to learn, and their 2x speed choreography was adorable. A little bit of chaos, a little bit of leggy coltish energy (yes, I know the difference between colt and filly but it's easier and less awkward to say coltish rather than fillyish, which spell check is telling me is not a word), but overall, precious. Also, them singing their debut song in a couple of different languages was cool. Show Champion: P1Harmony "DUH!" MCountdown: MEOVV "Hands Up" ...

  One of those wins is not like the others. I saw the article the other day talking about its surprise climb up the charts since last October, but what's so impressive about this is the song is over a year old and Woodz is in the military (also, this was his second win ever, which makes me so genuinely happy for him). He gets out in July, which is now something else for me to look forward to while I wait for Minhyun to get out. We're down to about seven months for him, about ten for JR, and about thirteen for Jeonghan and Ren (I think). Little micro-goals to focus on instead of the inevitable creep of time resulting in more idols enlisting. The discharges is a much less stressful thing to focus on. I also apologize for the lack of reviews the last few days, so I'll move these necessary reviews up to the top of the list for me to do, and add Woodz in. Not that this is a hardship because I love Drowning , but whatever. (This is a hint that if someone else also loves this song...

Release date: 2025 May 12 Album tracklist: HANDS UP, DROP TOP , MEOW , BODY, TOXIC , LIT RIGHT NOW Album runtime: 17 minutes  Congrats on the win! We're on Underage Protocol until Ms. Ella turns 18 in December of 2026! I don't have a lot to say here other than this is part of the April batch I wasn't getting to yet, but it's fine! I'm curious about this song! I like that it's three minutes long! Sorry about the shouting! There's a distinctly Indian vibe going on here with some of the instruments, which I don't know how SoPoEc approved it is, but I like the sound. The song has a good, quick pace that's quite solid and avoids the current trend of languidity. Reminds me a bit of Bang  by After School with the kind of beat it has. Its method of softening is to remove some of the instrumentals rather than slowing down or changing what you're actually hearing. It's remarkably stable that way. I'm a little annoyed that this has to be under Under...

Release date: 2024 November 18 Album tracklist: TOXIC,  BODY Album runtime: 5 minutes  I'm glad at least the title track is the length it is. So, when I originally reviewed their debut , I wasn't as paranoid about ages because I didn't realize Max and Taemin situations were as common as they are, which is nauseating. MEOVV, thankfully, does not have a Max or Taemin situation. But she was still only fifteen at debut, and is still only fifteen because she doesn't turn sixteen until next month. But I really liked their debut song. The first twenty or so seconds of the song have incredibly subtle instrumentals with a very low pitch to contrast the feminine voice singing, and then an occasional tink  is added. This continues for roughly another twenty seconds before everything smooths out and the instrumentals transition to simply a piano. All of this adds up to the first minute or so of the song being completely dominated by the voices which are allowed to shine in a way we...

Release date: 2024 September 06 Album tracklist: MEOW Album runtime: 3 minutes I'm always tentatively excited to see new groups debut. In this case, I'm not sure about the relationship between their company, TheBlackLabel, and YG. I know they're closely linked, but I'm not positive about what specifically is going on there. Oh, well. Hopefully MEOVV and BABYMONSTER get along. It would probably make life uncomfortable if they don't. I like that they vibe like a boy group. They're still feminine, but they're not girly, which is a change of pace, welcome for me though there isn't anything wrong with the girlier groups. They actually remind me a lot of 2NE1, without the particular timely trappings that come with a 2009 debut. But it's like if 2NE1 had debuted this year instead of 2009, stylistically. To be more clear, the eyeliner is not nearly as thick with MEOVV, they include the shouting thing of fifth generation K-Pop, but otherwise there are some st...