Just A Little Fangirl Love

 Continuing with my July theme of "B-Sides From Artists I Haven't Covered Yet", I've only actually decided on the first three songs. I've got a doc that has a list of songs I kind of want to cover but am horribly indecisive about because I've switched July's setlist about four times now before I gave up. The doc is going to be a roulette wheel when it's time. So, if you've got a song for me, I've got a lot of room in the back two-thirds of the month for it and am happy to slot it right in there. The other solidified song is from an artist who is actually a pretty controversial figure, but also undeniably impactful on K-Pop as a whole.  Pentagon debuted in 2016 under Cube Entertainment as a ten-member boy group. They're currently down to at most nine members, but until we get a comeback from them to clarify, I'm not sure exactly how many we have left. But they're not disbanded! And a lot of their songs were written by the members (ma...

Release date: 2026 April 27 Album tracklist:  Dear Tomorrow Album runtime: 3 minutes I was about to type that it seems like the former CUBE soloists were just trying to take me out with the soft feels and then the song kicked up its heels and got a bit spunky with the instrumental. We've still got all the instruments I like: piano, violin, and guitar. Plus, we've got the staple triumvirate of the piano, guitar, and drums. I love this, actually. I genuinely do. It's fun, it's bright, it's got that brief soften to let you catch your breath before it drags you laughing back into the chaos of the song. I love his voice so much. I don't know what's in CUBE's water but whatever they do to their artists produces some incredible voices. I'm also half in love with his vibrato because he's got a vibrato like a first or second gen idol, falsetto or chest voice or anywhere in between, which this song has all of. If you want a pretty good introduction to his ...

Release date: 2026 April 01 Album track list: TAXI , BIG HOODIE (feat. Mikey Angelo), HENNESSY (feat. Lee Yunjung), ALL LOVE! Album runtime: 12 mi nutes  Hey, I just added one of his songs to my daily K-Pop playlist a couple of weeks ago! That's pretty good timing! Let's see what he has for us this time! What in the 80s techno is this? I'm kind of stuck on that, but I think this will have a lot of danceability, so I'm hoping that this has some strong choreography to it. I imagine it will because I think Kino is the main dancer, but until I see it, it's not confirmed. You know? The guitar does a lot to help me not want to crawl out of my skin listening to this song (which is fine, that's a me problem because there's technically nothing wrong with it), and it's got some interesting sirens or whistles in a couple of spots. There are also some squeaks that had me tipping my head to the side a little. Because I'm pretty sure that this is going to have som...

 First one of the year, everyone! I was so stressed about certain things that I kind of completely missed that we'd tipped into February. Good news, January feels like it took only 34 years to get through instead of the 37 years January 2025 took. Progress. Make sure that you're getting your sunshine and supplements for vitamin D. Seasonal depression is no joke. I have a new planner (this one from the BTOB season's greetings) that I'm using to keep track of specifically when artists are having releases and what groups are debuting each month, as well as some blog specific stuff, (like stuff for the 2026 music show wins recap post, how many posts I cover for each month, etc). I figure that they'd appreciate it being used instead of me just going "Look how pretty!!!!!" and never using it.  January debuts! The full groups that I covered are LATENCY , Alpha Drive One , LNGSHOT , dodree , and ChRocktikal . The subunits I covered yesweare (idntt) and DxS (Seven...

  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...

 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 February 10 Album track list:  ROMANCE Album runtime: 3 mi nutes  The PENTAGON maknae has dropped his first solo music of the year! Whoo! I'm curious about when he's going to release a mini album, because so far I think he's only released singles, but that's still okay. My volume was up much too high for this song. Rock. Okay. Heavy electric guitar and drums here. There are moments where the instrumentals back off, which allows the lyrics to seem a lot softer, which shows that this is actually a really good show of technical skill, so kudos to the writers. But, otherwise, a solid entry into the genre. His voice suits this genre astonishingly well. Put this man in a rock band pronto. That's it. That's all I've got. I'm kind of half in love with his voice now, so this is something that I have to process. Normally, because he doesn't have a very strong variation going on in this song, though there are bursts of power, I'd be whini...

Release date: 2025 February 17 Album track list: My Memory , My Memory (Inst.) Album runtime: 8 mi nutes  My man, Hui. Apparently there's a twentieth Hallyu anniversary that he released a song for. I don't know what this whole thing is. His is the only release I've seen for it. I don't know. But regardless of what this is, Hui is one of those that I'll automatically and immediately add to my list, if I don't automatically do the review. Obviously, I didn't get it done right away, since this came out just under a week ago, but we're moving in the correct direction. Progress. And also, I'm really excited to listen to this song. Haven't yet, because I've been waiting to do this review. And good heavens, a four minute song. Hui. You spoil me. This is why you're my PENTAGON bias. That and your voice has an instant calming effect on my brain. Violin taking center stage with a piano right behind it and other orchestral instruments behind that. O...

Release date: 2024 December 24 Album tracklist: Home Alone, Spring in the Winter Album runtime: 6 minutes  A new addition to the catalogue of solo Hui voices has been released, and I could not be happier. I can't think of a better K-Pop Christmas present than this. If nothing else, he has the kind of voice you could just fall in love with, but also I love how active he has been since most of his other members have left CUBE. This year he released his debut album with Hmmm BOP , which is one of my favorite releases of 2024, at the start, and then in the last four months, he's released three singles. As long as he isn't overworking himself, I'm happy for every opportunity to hear him do what he does best and sing. And also write the songs, which is where the rest of his credits are. The man is multi-talented. As is typical with his ballads, I'm struggling to focus past his voice to the instrumentals, which are piano dominant and strings assisted. I absolutely love it ...

Release date: 2024 November 03 Album tracklist: Such a Day - Male Version , Such a Day - Female Version, Such a Day - Male Version Instrumental, Such a Day - Female Version Instrumental Album runtime: 17 minutes  Since I've got a little bit of time this month, I'm going to use it to hit some of the OSTs that I made note of but didn't have a chance to review because there are so many releases almost on a daily basis that it's hard to keep up with the required songs, let alone the OSTs. And I've been incredibly vocal about the fact that I love Hui and his voice so much.  The song starts off with just a piano and some strings eventually get added, but the solemn piano is both backbone and primary instrument for the instrumentals, even after the percussion joins in and the strings become a little more pushy. I really like the electric guitar that shows up just to texture the song. It's incredibly pretty and soothing. There's something sad about the instrumentals...

  Release date: 2024 November 06 Album tracklist:  Everglow , Everglow - Instrumental Album runtime: 6 minutes  Yes! We have another member of Pentagon doing a solo release! Am I still hoping for some full (or mostly full) group activities in the near future? Yup! But in the meantime, I can allow the solo activities to tide me over. I can be patient and wait. He has a one-man agency, which means that he's got a lot of weight on his shoulders, but he has the experience from working with the group's songs to be able to fill in a lot of the necessary roles and know who to work with to fill in his gaps. As expected, he's listed as a lyricist and a composer for this song. But that run time? It's rounded up. I'm a little disappointed by that. Not going to lie. This is the exact kind of music I like to listen to at work. High energy, high aggression with the squealing electric guitar, high emotional satisfaction when I can't yell at people for not being able to follow ...

Release date: 2024 October 06 Album tracklist: Nameless Album runtime: 5 minutes  Hui has dropped a new single!! His voice is absolutely incredible, and I'm three-quarters in love with it. That's all. Carry on. Oh, and he's got an incredible producer ear too. Forgot to mention that part. I love it when piano gets the main stage in songs, almost as much as I love acapella. And I get both in this song. But not only is the piano front and center in the instrumentals, but there are strings . There's audience participation snapping on the beat in a section, quiet and subtle unless you're looking for it. But the absolute swell of music in the most cinematic way he could have gone dominates the second half of the properly lengthened song, only for the instrumentals to stop to let their voices bloom and glow. I'm really struggling to focus on the instrumentals here because their voices bring tears to the eyes, and everything about the instrumentals enhances their voices...

Release date: 2024 September 19 Album tracklist: Goodbye With You, Teddy Bear , Dear Precious One Our Shimmering Days, Over, Bad Criminal Album runtime: 16 minutes  Since most of the members of Pentagon left CUBE, and we're coming up on the one year anniversary of that, there's been a somewhat dramatic uptick in business among the members (something that is echoed in their sunbaenim group, BTOB). On the other hand, we also have impending military enlistments, and it's anyone's guess when the remaining three members who will need to enlist will. In the meantime, we have a bunch of solo debuts and the most recent one of those is Jinho, the eldest and the one I know as the one who enlisted mid-Road to Kingdom and made me cry. Teddy Bear  is the shortest song on the album. It still averages out to over three minutes a song on average, but that's only because two of the songs are almost four. This is such a mellow jazz that normally I wouldn't even call it jazz. Or m...

  Release date: 2024 August 13 Album tracklist:  Easy dance Album runtime: 3 minutes I don't know why multiple of the artists I pay attention to decided to release songs they did at Waterbomb, but here we are. In this case, it's the leader of Pentagon who debuted as a soloist within the last few months, and when I say Hmmm Bop  still kind of has me in a choke hold, well, that's only a mild exaggeration. That one is an instant repeat every time it starts to play on one of the playlists I've got it in. I'm getting the feeling from both songs that Hui is just kind of a goof, and I love that for him. I don't know what other song the instrumentals remind me of. It's definitely on the groovier side of songs, but it's mildly groovy. The equivalent of white person spicy. I'm not saying it's a bad thing because the song isn't supposed to be a richly flavorful, make-Chan-shadowbox-the-air spicy assault on the senses. It's smooth and mellow like ice...