Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2025 October 31 Album tracklist: Fun,  If You Wanna , DND, Scissors, At The Time, Beautiful, On Top of the World,  Good Liar , Maniac,  Better Than Me Album runtime: 27 minutes  Yes, I'm very much aware that I have already done the title track and one of the pre-releases for this album, but I never did this one. And the music video popped up on my recommendations today while I was doing other things, which reminded me that this was sitting in my drafts. It unfortunately is what it is, but I need to clean out the drafts and this is a good time for that. So, without further ado, let's get on with it. I feel like this comment I'm about to make is going to be considered blasphemous, but honestly, it was my very first thought and it was one I continued to have over the course of the song (which is painfully short, but whatever). And I mean this in the absolute best way possible. I think this is secretly a Britney Spears song. Other than the very obvious danc...

Release date: 2025 November 20 Album tracklist: House Party, Super Model , INVESTED IN YOU, Giddy Boy, 4 Life, House Party - Instrumental, Super Model  - Instrumental, INVESTED IN YOU  - Instrumental, Giddy Boy  - Instrumental, 4 Life  - Instrumental Album runtime: 28 minutes  I could have sworn I'd done a review on them, but apparently I didn't. They debuted last April, so before I started writing these, and they've already lost a member, which...I feel bad for her, but if the group makes it to year five, it's better for the group that they lost her early. Oh, they lost the leader. That's...not good. Also, the group is on Underage Protocol until July 2026, because the maknae was fifteen at debut. At least it's less than a year I have to wait until she's no longer a minor because I refuse to support children debuting that young. But, since I have a bit of a breather, I'm going to get this one done since I didn't do it earlier because I'm still on...

Release date: 2025 October 24 Album tracklist: SPAGHETTI (feat. J-Hope) , Pearlies (My oyster is the world), SPAGHETTI (Member ver.), SPAGHETTI (English ver.) (feat. J-Hope), SPAGHETTI (feat. J-Hope),  Pearlies (My oyster is the world),  SPAGHETTI (Member ver.),  SPAGHETTI (English ver.) (feat. J-Hope) Album runtime: 22 minutes  Thank you, Fearnots, for forcing me to get this one done. And congrats on the win! (If any Armys contributed to this, given J-Hope's involvement, congrats to y'all too!). Also, that is a list of songs. Technically I think we should count this as a single because there are only actually two different songs on there. And before we are concerned at the fact that I seem to have listed songs twice, the first half are the explicit versions, and the second half are the music-show-performable versions. Why does this song remind me of Wife by i-dle? That's not a bad thing because I unironically love that song and have it in probably at least five pla...

 What is up! I completely spaced out needing to do this, and time both has no meaning and is soup. Little nerdy D&D reference there for you. Warm you up for the fun times. So, first up, as always, we have the lovely debuts. I covered none of them, and I feel bad about that. So I'll probably snag one or two and do a later review for them. Still, even without that, I'm still going to hand them over to you lovely readers so that you can take a listen and decide if you like any of them. BE:MIN , the subunit of the boy group XEED, now called XD. LUVITA , virtual girl group made up of V-Tuber. Global girl group NWH:I . Girl group ARVVY (who debuted with everyone over twenty, by the way). Girl group E11iVYN (which is only a four-member group, and you pronounce that as "eleven"). &TEAM had their Korean debut (with three accompanying music show wins, and now they have their very own younger brother group, aoen who is going to get a review from me in a couple of days...

Release date: 2025 October 28 Album tracklist:  Back to Life , Lunatic , MISMATCH, Rush, Heartbreak Time Machine, Who am I Album runtime: 18 minutes   I had to listen to a couple of palate cleanser songs between this one and the last song I reviewed because I had a concern that if I reviewed anything immediately after that, I would have just been utterly disappointed in the way my dog is when I don’t go to bed at a reasonable time. So, here we are with &TEAM’s Korean debut, as well as the song to give them their first music show win. Baksu! And the maknae is nineteen right now so we are good to go.  Ooh, that’s a good guitar. It’s actually kind of a flirtatious instrument right now, sometimes being a little bolder, and sometimes settled back behind the drums, pretending not to be noticed. At least until the end, at which point it’s the frontman for the instrumental. This doesn’t quite go as hard or as deep as I think I would have liked, because the instrumental is lac...

Release date: 2025 October 20 Album tracklist: 오늘은 왠지 , 낙엽처럼 떨어진 너와 나, 말했잖아, 첫사랑, 엄마의 봄날, 시월의 시, 나의 오랜 여행,나를 떠나지 마요, 락앤롤 별, 오늘은 왠지 (Inst.), 낙엽처럼 떨어진 너와 나 (Inst.) Album runtime: 27 minutes   Congrats on the win! I wasn’t expecting this only because I know nothing about you, sir. And also, happy birthday to you, considering your birthday was a couple of days before this. So, for those of you who, like me, didn’t know who this fellow was, he’s a trot singer, which is something that instantly piques my interest because I’ve decided I really like trot music. He’s three weeks older than Woozi. He debuted as a soloist in 2021. He’s got a fandom color, which I love. And I need everyone to look up his light stick because that’s one of the coolest ones I’ve seen yet. That’s awesome. And this song got him his fifth music show win. For the record, there’s enough time for a whole extra song to be included and still have an average of more than three minutes. A harmonica and strings. I don’t thi...

Release date: 2025 October 31 Album tracklist: Fun, If You Wanna , DND, Scissors, At The Time, Beautiful, On Top of the World, Good Liar , Maniac, Better Than Me Album runtime: 27 minutes   He’s giving us a proper album, y’all. Love that. The average length of the song is around 2:45, maybe a little less than that, but I’m slightly alarmed by that (especially because this title track is less than two-and-a-half minutes, which I am not about). But because almost all of the songs are quite a bit shorter than I’d like, that also means that there are going to songs that are of a good length. However, because I did the pre-release, I knew I had to get this one done. There are a couple of others that their title tracks have finally dropped that I need to do, but I’ll get this one done. Because it needs to be done.  \Okay, so that’s a heavy beat. That’s one of those beats that I’d be feeling in my bones during a concert and being grateful for my earplugs and a little concerned for my...

Release date: 2025 October 31 Album tracklist: Appetite, Replay My Anthem , Love Game, Best Friends, Kick Down, Eyes On You Album runtime: 20 minutes   Frankly, I’m a little surprised by the fact that the mini album is called TASTY and the title track is not “Appetite”, which is the name of one of the other songs on the album. It would have been pretty thematically appropriate. I’ve actually been seeing the challenges a lot, not that I’ve actually been watching them because I didn’t want the challenge to influence my thoughts, but I really hope that, if I’m seeing their challenges, they’ll go viral for this song even if I haven’t heard it yet. The group needs it. Also, the average is longer than three minutes, and the title track itself is three minutes long. Barely, but it counts.  This is one of those sleek and shiny instrumentals that would do well in a nightclub in some dystopian science fiction. It isn’t particularly big or bold, but it’s not soft. There’s a pretty f...

Release date: 2025 October 29 Album tracklist: HOME , DOMINO, One In A Million, Gravity, Everglow Album runtime: 16 minutes  You know what I miss most about K-Pop groups? Official fandom colors. Seventeen with their rose quartz and serenity. SHINee with their Pearl Aqua. NU'EST with bright pink and deep teal. (I'm expecting TWS to get fandom colors as well, judging by Pledis's past boy groups and they are ostensibly still independently functioning...). I also love it when we get as specific as a Pantone color, which WEi has three of: 297C, 281C, and 7679C. I got on to check ages just to make sure. I figured, because of the 2020 debut, but that just decreases the odds, you know?  Oh, this is a pretty song. I've heard a few similar songs recently that are a bit more energetic vocally, because with the combination of the acoustic guitar and the percussion that could be on the calmer side of instrumentals, it's actually pretty versatile. We got the calm song this time t...

Release date: 2025 October 31 Album tracklist: ICONIC , See You Play (S'il vous plaît), SUPERPOWER (peak) , blurry, Right In Album runtime: 15 minutes  It never stops entertaining me how they have no capitals in their name and all the capitals in the album titles. And often in the songs as well. So. Let's see if I like the title track as well as I love Witch . There is something amusing about this album though. I like an average of at least three minutes per song. Which, technically the album reaches. However, if not all the songs hit that, then I want at least the title track to be there. ICONIC , which came out earlier as their first full English track, is at almost three-and-a-half. Which made me very happy, and now that the whole album is out? The two singles we've got so far ( ICONIC and the title track) are both about there. Everything else is under three minutes. So, the album is satisfying by using technicalities and if I've learned nothing from watching their ...

Release date: 2025 October 21 Album tracklist: The Call of the Wild, Close To You , Champagne Poppin' , Body Talk, Best For Me Album runtime: 13 minutes  I still need to do Champagne Poppin' because it's both his debut song and on this album. That's right, he debuted as a soloist back in July and I never covered it. Still, despite how infuriatingly short the songs on this mini album are, I'm happy to see him and to cover this. And I also see that another of the songs got a music video, so I'll add that to the extensive list. I'm deeply annoyed by the album runtime though.  Close To You has a lot of potential for an acoustic version, which is delightful. Some of the synthy bits remind me a little bit of Stranger Things, the instrumental soundtrack music not the pop soundtrack music. It's not a very strong reminder, but some of the flavor notes are the same, even if the dishes are completely different. We've got a bit of a skittering beat, which is n...

Release date: 2025 October 27 Album tracklist: In The Dark , nocturnal, CHILL, Silly Kid, How deep is your love? Album runtime: 16 minutes  Yes, TEMPEST. Y'all, I really kind of like this group, and I know I haven't had a ton of comebacks with them yet, but I still look forward to their releases when I get one. Lighthouse is still one of my favorites that they've done and I was so excited that they performed it on Road to Kingdom: Ace of Ace . That beginning bit of the song before the vocals step in remind me a little bit of "FML" by Seventeen, which did initially have me expecting something a lot heavier, but the song splits its time between a grounded but not weighted sound and something a lot airier. The verses get the grounding bass and the chorus gets the lightness, which I thought was an interesting choice. I also like the way that the synth is very distinct in places, even though it isn't necessarily the main star. In other places, the synth sounds a l...

Release date: 2025 October 27 Album tracklist: Legacy, Beat-Boxer , I'm Him , Co-Star, Next To Me Album runtime: 14 minutes  Okay, time for the title track. I'm looking at the title runtime and just being a little disappointed in it, although there is a song that's over three minutes so after I write this, I'm going to be taking a look at that one in hope that one specifically is really good. Not that I'm not also hoping to really like Beat-Boxer, but it's the length, you know? This is a surprisingly sparce instrumental for a lot of the song. It's got moments where it gets a bit more energetic and full, but for the most part, it's at most a quiet beat behind the vocals, which is a lot of rapping. There are also some interesting science fiction warbles and what sounds faintly like alarm sirens. It's an interesting combination, I'm not going to lie, but at the same time, as much as this would probably make a great workout song (ignoring the title f...

Release date: 2025 October 26 Album tracklist: Rise & Shine , Still thinking about you, A Song For Me (Remastered), Rise & Shine (Inst.) Album runtime: 13 minutes  In my quest for Halloween songs, I came across the group's music video for Burn It . No spoilers, but that's a full movie, and y'all need to see it. Anyway. Joochan is a busy beaver. Multiple musicals, several OSTs, radio DJ. He is very active, and it's really rather impressive. This isn't his debut (he's actually on year 7 of being a soloist), but I do really like Golden Child and want to make sure to highlight them. I may not know any of their names (except for Joochan now), but when I run across their music, I expect to like it. And I usually do. So, the run time looks good, but the title track is under three minutes. It's a hilarious contrast to the other two songs on the single, which are both nearly four minutes long.  This instrumental had me physically bopping and bobbing to it alm...

Release date: 2025 October 16 Album tracklist:  TIME CAPSULE Album runtime: 4 minutes  Davichi are practically at legendary status at this point. Second gen icons the same age as SHINee and 2PM. Seventeen full years together with no significant breaks and three companies. That's really impressive. There aren't that many groups that can say the same. And a four minute song to boot. That's nice. That's really nice. TIME CAPSULE has a lot of fun guitar to it, and its playfulness is one of the first things that you hear in the song. I don't think there's a point where the song doesn't have the guitar, even if it's only being strummed on the stressed beat, but there are little spikes of cheer to it. I'm pretty sure that this is going to end up being one of those songs where it's deceptively cheerful until you look at the lyrics (or have them translated in this case since I think they're entirely in Korean, which is nice), and then it becomes a bit...

Release date: 2025 October 22 Album tracklist: Like the First time, In Between Love and Farewell (With Lyn), Trickle Down , ENDAND, Spotlight Album runtime: 20 minutes  So this was a surprise. I love his habit of just throwing songs at us with little to no warning, as stressful as it also is, because those surprises mean we're getting a gift of great vocals, strong storytelling, and clear emotions. Though, to be honest, that's a strength of the entire group, even when it's only one or part of them releasing the music. And bless Changsub for giving us an album where the average runtime is just  under four minutes. That feels extravagant in this day and age. The song starts off so gently. The entire thing is gentle, but the beginning folds you into the song like a warm hug. We've got strings to lend a certain epicness, but at the same time, they're never so overpowering that you want to go marching off to war. Instead, it's the sweeping landscapes, the warmth of f...

Release date: 2025 October 20 Album tracklist: Overdrop , Fireflies Album runtime: 6 minutes  We likely won't have too many solo works more until we get the full group comeback (hopefully). I'm so looking forward to that. In the meantime, we have subunits and soloists, which is another benefit of having a fairly large group, including Xiumin here! Although, a single is less time consuming than even a minu album, so he should be able to still have time for group prep. I'm talking a lot about the group, but in the unlikely event that anyone at SME sees this, it's a teeny, tiny reminder that he and the other members of CBX are still part of EXO. The title track is less than three minutes long, which is a bit irksome, if you can imagine. If you're new here, welcome! I like songs that are at least three minutes long, or at least within a few seconds of that mark. One of the interesting parts of this instrumental is that there are a couple of points where the song is majo...

Release date: 2025 October 20 Album tracklist: FOCUS , Apple Pie, Pretty Please , Flutter, Blue Moon Album runtime: 15 minutes  Up front, we're on Underage Protocol. Great. Now that that's out of the way, this is their first mini album released. Everything else has been singles since they debuted back in February (still disappointed in the date because that was an ignored opportunity; although fun fact, everyone, that was the day back in 1848 that King Louis-Phillipe abdicated the throne.) There is one review that I'm missing for them, but the time is coming when I'll have few releases so I can do some of the backlog. I really liked Pretty Please , so I'm tentatively crossing my fingers that I'll like FOCUS . I'm also really curious about Apple Pie , because that's an interesting title, but unless we get a music video for it, I can't listen to it until 2028. If you were already planning on listening to the whole album, or already have, please let me ...

Release date: 2025 October 20 Album tracklist: Live In Paris, Hollywood Action , JAM!, Bathroom, As Time Goes By Album runtime: 13 minutes  Y'all, I'm really excited for the music video for this song. I, and I cannot stress this strongly enough, absolutely adore movies and filmmaking and the process, and the significance of Hollywood as a cultural and technological center (as a related side note, I highly recommend the book Moving Pictures  by Terry Pratchett if you too love movies, and it's delightfully funny). So anytime there's something related to Hollywood or filmmaking in general, I am all about that and would like more. In this case, I'm really really hoping for the music video to be related. Although I just looked at the album run time (which you already know because I put it right up front) and I'm aghast. It would be a lot shorter if that last song wasn't almost 4 minutes long. I was hoping a little bit for an older sound, but this one is fun. It...

Release date: 2025 October 20 Album tracklist: Freak (feat. B.I) , Ooh, View, Move, Stay Mad, Freak (feat. B.I) (Inst.) Album runtime: 17 minutes  Big Matthew! I've got a lot of affection for him and his group because of Dive Studios (as well as the fact that they're one of the few co-ed groups currently active right now), and even though I have a strong suspicion this is not going to be a preferred genre for me, I'm still excited for this. However. There isn't a single song at three minutes and most of them are closer to two-and-a-half minutes. I imagine that if I listen to this on repeat for too long, then the police and/or referee whistle will become a little grating. Well, we might have an answer to that depending on how long it take for me to write this. Although, I will say this for that whistle: it's not entirely regular. When it's happening, it tends to be on repeat, but it's not on the beat. It sounds like it's an eighth note off, between beats ...