Just A Little Fangirl Love

Release date: 2026 August 18 Album tracklist: Frequency Album runtime: 3  minutes  Hello, everyone! You all know how I feel about the debuting groups! There's so much hope and potential going on with them that I just want to throw them at people and say "WOULD YOU LIKE ANOTHER GROUP?" with all the aggression that the caps-lock implies. In this instance, before I've heard this song, I'm fully on board with supporting them because the maknae turns twenty this year. So we are good to go. The actual debut date is unknown for them, but hopefully we can get them a little bit of traction before they debut. You can help me out with that right? This instrumental has a very ZEROBASEONE vibe to it while also being oddly lo-fi elevator music. It's a bit of an interesting combination, but it's actually pretty mild through most of the instrumental, although we do have a late-song kick up of its heels where it pretends to be more energetic, but it's also got a drop r...

Release date: 2026 August 03 Album tracklist: ZZAN, Party Rock Rock (prod. Hitchhiker) , Sincerely (prod. Lee Hyun Do of DEUX) , Micheo Micheo , Love Sick (narr. Lee Moon Sae) , For JEONG and LOVE, LIKE IT Album runtime: 20 minutes  I genuinely don't even know how to title this. Congrats, Dino! And also, congrats to one of possibly the most successful inside jokes to come out of any group! It's a bit odd, but at the same time, knowing Seventeen, Dino debuting as his old man character before he debuts as Dino properly (listen to Wait , y'all) is very on brand for them. The "S" in SVT stands for "strange." Ah, drama. Ah, saxophone. This instrumental is a hot cup of chowder on a cold day. I'm struggling so hard to not actually listen to his voice here for this section. I hope you all appreciate the effort. But that saxophone, y'all. I'm a little surprised at the audio balancing, because there are a couple of spots where the instrumental almost o...

Release date: 2026 April 29 Album tracklist:  Key Beats, Catch My Breath Album runtime: 4 minutes So, I forgot to take a look at the ages before I got on the plane, so I have no idea if this is should be on Underage Protocol or not. I’m going to put it there as a temporary hold in case they should be. Of course, should I get off the plane before I get this paragraph finished, then I’ll check during the fifteen minute layover I’ve got. (Spoilers: I did not.) If I don’t, then I’ll do the Underage Protocol just in case and look later. It’s not quite fully with the street-clanging, but it’s circling around that sound in what feels like a hip-hop genre. It’s got a weirdly midi sound to it sometimes, which definitely does make it intriguing, but it’s a bit too disjointed and noisy for me to say I love it on the basis of the instrumental alone. I’m treating this as a debut single even if it could be a pre-debut song. There’s a lot of rapping in this song, which I feel like is becoming mo...

Release date: 2026 March 11 Album track list:  Tug of War , ROCKROCK,  The One, LUNA, Tug of War - Instrumental, ROCKROCK  - Instrumental, The One  - Instrumental, LUNA Album runtime: 26 mi nutes  So, as a debuting group, I need to figure out who they are. First of all, this is a band and all of the members are over 180 cm. One of them is a former member of the band 2Z. Three of the members are twenty-four or older, the other two do not have birth years attached to them, but given the age of the others, I'm tentatively inclined to not put them on Underage Protocol. I'm fully willing to later once we get ages, but for now, I won't. And it's an auspicious start to their careers that their pre-debut song is over three minutes. The electric guitar is fully front and center in this instrumental. I'm excited to see how this supports the vocals because while there's quite a lot of steady movement going on with the melody, it doesn't have enough movement to be the ...

Release date: 2026 February 12 Album track list:  Forever Mine,  Too late , Film, If you leave me, Still with you Album runtime: 18 mi nutes  Well, last year we had the very stunning solo debut for Junhee, and now we're coming up on the solo debut for Donghun, now going by Lee Jiham. His voice is incredible. While I am as well watching Build Up, I was rooting for him so hard because he's got an amazing voice. I of course couldn't recall his name because I'm terrible with them, but every time I saw him or his name pop up, I was like "Oh! A.C.E boy!" I think my dream team for that would have been him, Jay, Grim Reaper Boy (Je Up), and Bitsaeon. Alas. Still, I'm happy to be able to celebrate his solo debut with him next week. May it be successful. We're starting off with a piano to set the mood and soften the ear before his vocals step in. It's also a classic example of building line upon line and precept upon precept, because while that piano is a co...

Release date: 2026 January 13 Album tracklist: Backseat,  Saucin' ,  Moonwalkin' ,  FaceTime, Never Let Go Album runtime: 15 minutes  Well, well, well. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this group given that I'd never seen the name before (not that it really matters because there are at minimum hundreds of groups I'm still not familiar with even by name) until I saw a post about Jay Park debuting his first group. At which point my eyebrows raised, and I decided I needed to make sure I got this reviewed since they'll be one of the first debuts of 2026. That's right, I'm already worrying about the debuts in 2026. Unfortunately, even if I wanted to be really excited about the group, I can't, because even with only four members, the maknae won't be sixteen until a few months after they're supposed to debut. He's a May birthday. Not going to lie, I'm a little bit disappointed in Mr. Jay Park for this. So, Underage Protocol it is. What a ...

Release date: 2026 January 12 Album tracklist:  FORMULA,  FREAK ALARM , Raw Flame, Chains, Never Been 2 Heaven, Cinnamon Shake Album runtime: 18 minutes  Finally, I get to properly review it after seeing it performed at the MAMAs. I've tried to erase knowledge of the song so that I can review it fairly for such a moment as this. I'm actually somewhat pleased with this lineup. Are there a couple of others that I wish had made it into the debuting team? Yes. But you know what? Having three of the four I was rooting for make it to the finale, and then one of those three make it in still feels pretty good considering the number of trainees there were. Am I sad about the ones that didn't make it in? Yes. But at the same time, I'm especially glad that Kangmin could get so much love and attention, and hopefully now that he's back with Verivery (and they just released a new single this week, and I'm in love), we can get a NU'EST situation. Congrats to everyone for ...

Release date: 2025 November 03 Album tracklist: VELVET TRIGGER Album runtime: 2 minutes   I’ve added the pre-release single to my list that I need to get to because this is a debuting group, though this is still pre-debut. It’s been a second since I’ve had one (because I didn’t get to another one that is also in pre-debut right now and I have a week before they do that) and especially with The Show and ASC being canceled, the rookie groups need so much more attention from those of us who do this sort of thing. This is a survival show girl group, four member from the show Time Turner (which, if I remember correctly, was the one on TikTok). They already have an official color, which is deep pink (it’s only a little bit darker than NU’EST’s bright pink and not one that I would necessarily call deep pink, but at least they have a color so I’m not going to grumble too much). One of the members is one of the Huening siblings, so the expectations are unfortunately quite high for her pe...

Release date: 2025 September 12 Album tracklist:  Umbrella (10:00) , Tattoo (12:30) (with Lee Jiham, BK, Kang Yuchan & WoW),  Too Bad (15:00) , Sugar (18:00), You should come (21:00),  Supernova (00:00) , Night (02:00), 호랑이 장기 가는 날 (10:00) Album runtime: 25 minutes  MY MAN, JUNHEE. Y'all, I have been counting down the days  until this was released. I found out about it because of his absolutely phenomenal cover of Your Idol  from Kpop Demon Hunters  (I'll drop the video at the bottom of this review because it is so amazingly done and the amount I refuse to shut up about that cover should alarm me, but you know how much I don't care? Not at all, actually.) This will be his solo debut, but I think this is a pre-release. And, like, he and the other members leave Beat Interactive. He founds a company to house A.C.E. He starts prepping this. He takes like a week to drop the cover and attracts so much attention that people who have never heard of the gro...

Release date: 2025 September 08 Album tracklist:  GO! ,  What You Want ,  FaSHioN , JoyRide, Lullaby, What You Want (feat. Teezo Touchdown) Album runtime: 17 minutes  Sometimes I write this opening introduction blurb after I've written the meat of the review. Usually I do this first, as in this case because I'm hoping to get some of my initial, lingering frustrations out so that I can try to be more objective for when I'm listening to the actual song. Address the emotions so that they can be better set aside. So, unfortunately, right now it doesn't matter if I like this group or not. I cannot listen to them recreationally until their maknae is eighteen. There is a single member over the age of eighteen (James, 20, formerly of Trainee A, so I'm happy to see him finally debuting), and the other four have already had their birthdays, so we're left with two seventeen-year-olds and two sixteen-year-olds. This is why I have my other rule of majority adults, because ju...

Release Date: 2025 April 02 Album tracklist: Comedy , Comedy - Instrumental Album runtime: 7 minutes  If you think I'm not giving this kid back to his group, I haven't been blatant enough in my opinions. He leaves the group to keep from harming its reputation and he was found innocent of the claims against him. Am I angry about this, especially when they just released an album of five-member versions? Yes. And I'm going to sulkily be thinking about this whole situation for five more minutes before I try to shake it off and listen to this song with a clear head. This is apparently a pre-debut release, but I have no idea when his solo debut is scheduled for. Also, yay for those of us who are me, the instrumental track is also included so I get to simply enjoy that without having to dig underneath the vocals, and there's a segment, not sure what it specifically is, that reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy X , but if that part of the soundtrack was more synthy. You know? It...

Release Date: 2025 April 07 Album tracklist: Toronto's Window,  1999 , Flight to NYC, Righteous,  Fraktsiya , Raincouver, Loser, Watching TV,  +82 Pressin' ,  200 , Journey Mercies, Mom's Interlude, Too Much Album runtime: 36 minutes  I've actually been looking forward to getting this one written, and I wanted to make sure it got done before the whole album is released. Which is soon. Also, I know that rap is not my preferred genre of vocals, which is ironic given who most of my biases are, but he's also a member of NCT and despite their many, many, many  flaws, SM is very good at training their idols. But also, this is Mark. There's a reason why there's the joke about him being in all the subunits: he's just that good. Now, obviously, I'm hearing some other NCT songs in the instrumentals. I don't actually know what any of those songs are called, or I'd tell you which ones specifically I'm reminded of. But I think there are at least three...

Release date: 2025 March 24 Album track list: Intro : RAW AND RAD, Sounds like Money,  JeLLo(Sleepers) ,  HICCUP , You Me + -,  Flip the Coin , F.L.Y (Fu**ing Lovely, Lonely Youth), Wonder, We Are Young, Outro : ZERO-SUM GAME Album runtime: 26 mi nutes  This is the second of their pre-debut singles and I'm not going to lie, but when I saw the teaser for this song, and the title reveal, I was a little concerned that they don't know what a hiccup is. Or the creative team doesn't. But it's fine. It didn't dissuade me from being curious, especially after how catchy JeLLo was. This song is almost three minutes long, so I appreciate that. They have a former member of TOO/TO1 in the group, by the way, as well as a former Boys Planet trainee. Maknae turns eighteen in July. So I was initially disappointed because the over the last little bit of music from a few artists, when I've heard something cool or interesting in the intro, it's been relegated to only the intro...

Release date: 2025 March 24 Album track list: Intro : RAW AND RAD, Sounds like Money,  JeLLo(Sleepers) ,  HICCUP , You Me + -,  Flip the Coin , F.L.Y (Fu**ing Lovely, Lonely Youth), Wonder, We Are Young, Outro : ZERO-SUM GAME Album runtime: 26 mi nutes  The Korean spelling of their name (뉴비트) is kind of like a mix of NU'EST's (뉴이스트) and BTOB's (비투비). So big plus from me. At least four points on principle. They're going to be a March debut, which is when most of my favorite groups debuted (I don't know how I can pick out March debuts like that, but it's a thing). And, AND best of all, Beat Interactive is debuting this group with a full album. We're getting a substantial sample of them and I literally couldn't be more excited for this. I've been waiting for this for months for them to debut. Eldest turns twenty-three this year. Maknae is currently sixteen, turning seventeen in a few months. You may already know of my deep love and admiration for A.C.E,...

Release date: 2025 March 24 Album track list: DEBUT SONG, GROUNDWORK,  I DO ME , THERE THEY GO,  BTG , 한 개뿐인 (ONE OFF) Album runtime: 16 mi nutes  So this is a pre-debut release, which is something that I generally support. It's a good way to drum up interest from the public before the full debut happens, and gives potential fans something they can use to test the group before they commit. It's almost like a full scene trailer for a movie. And in this case, with the group being a March debut which I gravitate towards for an unknown reason, I'm tentatively excited about this group. But, as they're a debut, I have to check on ages. Debuting under Starship, that makes them IVE's younger sisters. The eldest is eighteen, turning nineteen this year, so that's okay. The maknae, however, turned fourteen two months ago, which is deeply infuriating. So I'm going to underage protocol, which means they get one listen for instrumentals, one for vocals, and at most two fo...

Release date: 2025 January 21 Album tracklist:  Blind Eyes Red,  HER , Drive U Crazy, Cherry Sky, Valentine's Dream, It's Okay, Obsession Album runtime: 22 minutes  What do you mean  this isn't on Spotify? Why does CUBE suck so badly? Congrats on the release, Minnie! I hope you get it released in streaming channels soon. There are two big things of note going on with the instrumentals. First is the slow roll through the song. Quite frequently, the instrumentals shift up in pitch, only to move back down, and it creates a sort of wheel-like progression through the song, but this also isn't brisk by any stretch of the definition, creating more of a saunter that flicks its hair with a sultry, red-lipsticked smirk. Second, I'm fascinated by the irregular beat of whatever that higher tapping is, because even when you think you have it covered, the tapping will shift, but it's not consistent enough to be able to really predict what is going on. Is this a full English t...

 Well, friends, as this is a new debut (or near enough), I need to take a look at the ages and verify that what I heard was correct. And it was! The maknae, Donghyeon, turns eighteen in a couple of months, so if I like the sound, I can like the group. Four of the seven were contestants on Loud , which also produced TNX (THE NEW SIX) back in 2021, including the maknae, so I'm honestly grateful that they took so long to debut because Donghyeon would have have been fourteen. Three more years of training? I have tentatively high hopes for the group, as well as the fact that a lot of other people (including my Stay friend whose judgement I trust) are talking about this song. She actually brought the song up just as I was sitting down to write this after I finished reading my book. They'll be officially debuting later this month on the 20th. So, let's see what the buzz is about. I'll add the info when the debut happens, and I link everything.  The runtime. Why. Ooh, we've...

Release date: 2024 November 02 Album tracklist: Bomb Bomb Bomb, Bomb Bomb Bomb - Instrumental Album runtime: 7 minutes  Yes, this was released at the beginning of November, but the music video was just released, so I'm counting this one as a pre-debut single. They're the newest SM boy group, all of them at least 25 or older, and they're a trot group. Even though I'm generally deeply displeased with SM in general for a lot of reasons right now, I also deeply love trot, which was not something that I was expecting when I started listening to K-Pop. I don't know why I didn't when I traditionally love the more traditional music, but I am an established dingus. This is a pre-debut single from their reality show they've got going on that I know literally nothing about, but according to the album, this actually came from episode 5/8, so we might be seeing more music videos coming out of them before February and their actual debut. If we do, then I'll get those...