Just A Little Fangirl Love

 [Insert the upside down smiley face here] In all seriousness, I know I'm very late, but I think I got through most of the reviews I wanted to do and it's time to do this. Otherwise I'll just keep putting it off and end up having to write it in December so that I can write my year-end wrap-up. Like last year. We're trying to avoid the stress I put myself through in December again. And spoiler for the songs I was listening to this month, it was a lot of NU'EST, so I'm only going to include the one I listened to the most rather than the four that would be included. For once, my top NU'EST listen was not FACE.  Debut time! Debuts I covered: NAZE , YUHZ , HEART OF WOMAN , AND2BLE , and H//PE PRINCESS . Debuts I didn't cover: FLARE U . Soloists whose debut I did not cover: J.Seph (KARD) (note: this is actually a draft so this will likely be finished at some point so this will be edited when I do) and Gabee (JAESSBEE) .  Songs I was looking forward to: I.O.I-...

Release date: 2026 May 13 Album tracklist: Us Album runtime: 3 minutes  Digital single, incoming! Odds are decent that this one will eventually be included with whatever their next mini album is (or maybe an upcoming full album? They're due for one) Since their rebrand from Nowadays, I've been enjoying their music a lot more. But this one, this one I'm going to like. I have a very strong feeling that I'm going to like it. One, it's member written with three of them being the sole lyricists and one of those three also working on the composition. Two, it's for the fans, and if there's anything I'm a huge sucker for, it's songs that sound like they could have come out of a musical based on a French book. But also, it's fan songs. I love fan songs so much. And this is a full three-and-a-half minutes.  When this song softens, it really softens. The electric guitar gets a lot of time and attention to propel the song, which it needs to provide that stro...

Release date: 2026 February 06 Album track list: Hooked Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  Okay, so this song is an English collaboration with Nigel Tay that was released for Valentine's Day. The last little bit, we've been getting songs from them that I really like and while I'm hopeful that we'll get more songs from them that I like, I'll understand if we get back to songs I like less again.  Well, we don't need to worry about that, everyone. That was an immediate yes. This is a very bright song, the brightest that I think we've heard from them so far, definitely the brightest title track we've gotten from them so far. The energy of the song is playfully high without being frenetic with an added grounded-ness because of how strong that bass guitar is. I recognize that it's not the most interesting thing to be playing for the bass guitarist, but without it, the entire balance of the song would be off.  It's nice to see them show that they can do the rap...

 I was so busy this month. Y'all. I didn't do a ton of the reviews, which is coming back to bite me in the butt now that I'm trying to get my year end post worked on. It's fine. Past Fangirl hates Future Fangirl, and it's completely fine.  July debuts! I only did a single review for a debut group this month, and it was for AHOF , who has been doing quite well for a rookie group. I may get 1verse reviewed because I still feel guilty about not reviewing them. Debuts I didn't cover: CrazAngel (girl group), Tomatomat (girl group), 1verse (boy group), 4X4 (girl group) and SEVENTOEIGHT  (boy group).   Big Ocean JJ (subunit of Big Ocean) also debuted. And Kang Yuchan , the lovely maknae of A.C.E, debuted as a soloist! Songs I was looking forward to: BLACKPINK: Look, this was their first release as a group since I started listening to K-Pop. Even if I don't listen to the group a lot (though I do have a few songs I really like, which is unfortunately a high perc...

  As of right now, June has the fewest number of reviews that I managed this year. Not that it was a particularly slow month, I was just very inconsistent.  So debuts for the month of June in the year 2025! The ones I covered were  BE BOYS  and  ALLDAY PROJECT . Funny story, according to YouTube Music, because of how I write these, apparently I was one of the top listeners of "FAMOUS". Which is a little unfortunate. The groups I did not cover were USPEER ,  Re:Hearts (a co-ed band), KIIRAS , aoen , Double One ,  XONIK (which is already on hiatus and may be disbanded), DIVA-X , OX:N (Omega X subunit), Baby DONT Cry , and X-UNIT (XODIAC subunit). Nina, a new soloist, also debuted !  Songs I was looking forward to (even if I didn't actually cover them): ITZY: I'm really starting to like their sound. They've had some stunning songs izna: They haven't dropped a ton of songs yet, but I've been deeply enjoying all of what they've given us so far. QWE...

 By the time you read this, there will be less than a month left in 2025, which is crazy because it feels like January was simultaneously two months ago and also eighteen years ago.  First up, we have the debuts. Technically one of these that I covered was in fact posted in December, but I am counting it because it was a November debut, though not for a group. The group I covered was AM8IC , a boy group made up entirely of Chinese members that is based in South Korea and debuting in South Korea in K-Pop. I wanted to be very specific about this. The only other group I can think of that's this interesting in terms of demographics, starting location, and target audience is 1verse, which also doesn't have a South Korean in the group. Anyway, they debuted this month. And for the solo debut that I covered, that would be Jungwoo of NCT , right before his impending military enlistment. This means that all three members of the NCT subunit DoJaeJung will be in the military within the we...

Release date: 2025 July 9 Album tracklist:  Fly to the youth (feat. Yuqi) ,  EVERGLOW , Problem Child, Louder, DAY_AND Album runtime: 11 minutes  Hi! I'm super late! But I really wanted to do this and December is a great time for this because most groups don't drop too many things in the month of December because of all of the award shows and promotion conflicts and stuff like that, you know? Also, for the record, my instincts were on point for how much I'd love this title track.  The choice to have such an intense intro lead into something that's a lot softer, technically, is an interesting one because it genuinely sounds like they're a band tuning their instruments. But the whole song is "garage rock band". It's actually really fun to hear and quite refreshing for what we've been hearing across the board from K-Pop groups lately. I'm expecting this choreography to go hard though, if the instrumental is like this. It's a lot of guitar and ...

 Well, awards season has gone into full swing. So, these posts are going to start being really thin, if last year is any indication. But not yet. This week is pretty full. First win for some songs, which is delightful. You'll notice an extra stage down there and I want to address it first. So, there I was, trying to decide which group and song to do for my The Show stage I now share with you all. And I ran across this song. And I thought to myself, "I absolutely have to share this with everyone. I need everyone to know this song exists." But I didn't think that I wanted it to be the only stage I shared because, let's be real, it's a little odd while simultaneously this is kind of the ultimate I.N song. So here you have a song about bread by a duo who also have a song about vegetables and a song about curry.  And speaking of Stray Kids, in honor of the last JYP group to win a Daesang at the MAMAs, I  found out that they were on ASC back in 2014 for episode 103...

Release date: 2025 November 26 Album tracklist: GET BUCK, HomeRUN , Run with me Album runtime: 8 minutes  Not a single song on this even hits the three minute mark. Although I also just realized that I never did the title track for IGNITION. Whoops. It's also kind of funny how stubborn I am. I just decided that I was going to love them (because I wanted to support them being adults at debut) and then it was a case of waiting for them to drop a title track I liked. I got that with both Fly to the youth  (which to be fair is a pre-release single and is not a title track) and also EVERGLOW , which I have heard even though I haven't reviewed it yet. So I'm curious about where this one is going to go: a return to form or a continuation of the previous mini album.  This single actually has a good range. Those are three very different songs. That is pleasing. You know, for the type of instrumental this is, there's a surprising amount of singing involved. Honestly, I've got...

 I waited until I had access to my laptop again before getting to work on this. I figured if I was going to do this little blog thing, I'd do it right, and while these won't be properly traditional reviews, I'd still like to share my thoughts, such as they are. I'm going to preface this with saying that if y'all have been following this for a while, y'all know that I have opinions on certain things, but I also recognize that this is an incredibly difficult job that they do, and they deserve our respect because they have to put up with a lot and have to do a lot in order to have this profession. It's part of why I have frustrations with debuting minors, especially fifteen or younger, and with short songs and with bland songs. But in most instances, the idols are hella talented. It's just that they're not shown off well. Now, if you're still reading and you're new here, welcome! If you're not new here, welcome back!  Let's get into it! ...

Release date: 2025 July 9 Album tracklist:  Fly to the youth (feat. Yuqi),  EVERGLOW , Problem Child, Louder, DAY_AND Album runtime: 11 minutes  After watching the music video for Snowy Summer , the one for EVERGLOW was next up on my list. So, I figured I'd do that one next. Well, the pre-release with Yuqi because it came out first. I have high, high hopes that I may finally get the thing I've been wanting since they debuted, which is a less rappy title track. I kind of got one with the BEAST remake that I'm in love with, but I've been waiting for a non-remake title track that I love. I've got a good feeling about this album, and I've been holding off on listening to any of the songs until I could do these reviews. Fingers crossed. Although, even if I don't get one with IGNITION, I'll still be holding out for one. It'll happen. Also, I don't know if I mentioned this with either of my earlier reviews, but the reason why I'm being so stubborn ...