Short but sweet comes the December Late Report. Can't wait to still be pissed off about how Blogger fucks with my formatting. It's been months now and it still won't play nice with when I try to insert images or Youtube videos. I also may or may not have consumed a copious amount of alcohol while writing this. But as the young kids these days say, poggers or whatever.
This DLC Fucks
I don't care what the people say: CLC + Dreamcatcher = DLC. There's no better nickname for that combination. Anyway watch this choreography. It's not like I could comment on it in any way, shape, or form but like... They do be slayin' though. It's a damn shame CLC is fucking finished thanks to Cube's incompetence because who knows that the future holds for Seungyeon. She deserves better. The whole of CLC likely deserves better, but man. Seungyeon hopefully won't flame out because she's a goddamn star.
What, you wanted some sort of introduction to the 2020 Kpop Awards? C'mon now have you been reading anything I've posted this year? I stopped paying real attention to the scene back in late February and have been barely coasting by since then. So we have seven total awards of...exciting caliber. Who will take home the most lackluster titles to date, let's find out.
Best Girl Group: TWICE
The carousel of this award continues to spin round and round. Twice are back to winning this award after doing so in 2016. Coronavirus did not slow them down because they continued with another huge slate of releases both in Korea and Japan. While I wouldn't say that every single title was spectacular - especially because I don't give a shit about Japanese releases - their track record simply outperforms the competition. "More & More" was alright (though hella repetitive) but it was "I Can't Stop Me" that bolsters their position. Ultimately their production and falloff from their rivals leads them into a second Best Girl Group award.
Best Boy Group: BTS
Imagine thinking anybody besides BTS would be here. Imagine also thinking I'd really evaluate the landscape of boy groups this year. Fun fact: the first time I heard this song was in some random Samsung commercial and I didn't even realize that it was a BTS song. And no, it wasn't because of the English. Like this is the BTS award by now, with this being their sixth win in the category. I'd have loved to give another group a chance but the trio of "Black Swan," "Life Goes On," and "Dynamite" shut down many arguments. The numbers don't lie, and BTS are writing the books themselves.
Since I didn't follow Kpop much at all throughout the year, I originally only had 12 tracks on the ballot which wasn't enough to justify a separate post for honorable mentions. Thus, two songs ended up getting cut from the final version which is unfortunate but hey that's the theme of 2020. Also I am once again bitching about the formatting because it won't every align everything properly or the way I want. I will continue to be tilted about this shit as long as Blogger keeps it up. Or I eventually stop writing here...
#10. K/DA - More
Damn if K/DA doesn't release powerful music consistently. Last month I talked about the 1million cover, but this month it's time to talk about the song. And yeah, I'm never getting to that album review... Anyway, Soyeon continues to put in work. Her verse is incredible at setting the tone and pace for the rest of the track. Lexie Liu's Mandarin bridge was also delightful. K/DA have shown their talent at mixing multiple languages seamlessly. What can I say, I'm a sucker for multilingual music, and "More" uses all three extremely well.
#9. Suhyun - Alien
Kinda wild to think that Akdong has been active since 2012, yet we only got a true Suhyun solo release this year. "Alien" is distinct from the usual AKMU sound yet Suhyun utilizes her talent to still give it a typical feel. Her voice glides through the song and is a nice compliment to the more harder-hitting instrumental. Also I didn't know this but their channel literally posts the lyrics in the video description. Suhyun edges out Chungha for representation here. Retro groove drives "Alien" forward, something it shares with the next song coming up.
#8. Seulrene - Naughty
It's a good thing these lists are for music only, otherwise there'd be an Irene-sized can of worms to discuss. Anyway, "Naughty" has that right combination of groovy powerful instrumental, electric choreography, and soothing vocals. Tutting has always been rare in the dances of Kpop so seeing it as the center of "Naughty" is really cool. Of course that's because of the execution by Seulgi and Irene. The chorus is pretty bland, but overall the pieces fit together very well. This track surpasses their other release "Monster" because of its polish.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas despite the absolute insanity that 2020 has been. Enjoy time with family and friends, but not too many of those I hope. Have an IU video because she's one of the best for the holiday spirit.
Fuck it. Let's rank all the members of Super Junior. Here we go!
#15. Kibum Was there anyone else suitable for last place? Kibum has the shortest tenure out of all the members and even when compared to the Super Junior-M exclusive members had the least amount of contributions. He was definitely one of the more popular members in their very early years, but having disappeared since 2009 it's hard to put him anywhere but dead last.
#14. Shindong Kibum and Shindong are unfortunately the easiest two members that come to mind when discussing Super Junior afterthoughts. Yeah the meme was that he was the fat one, but outside of some dance moments Shindong didn't have much. He sings here and there, raps here and there, but has been utterly mediocre in all of his exploits. Hell, he's probably the weakest of the whole squad in everything but dance.
#13. Zhou Mi Splicing in some of the Super Junior-M members will feel odd but does give me a rounded 15 members to rank. Zhou Mi was an unknown (more than Henry) when he debuted but it's safe to say that he contributed. His voice was flexible and utilized in all sorts of their music, and even had his own solo debut in 2014. Having actual Chinese members for a subunit aimed specifically for Chinese audiences was an obvious move, and Zhou Mi was a great pickup.
#12. Ryeowook Oh man, back in the earliest discovery days I used to dislike this dude. More specifically, I thought his voice was mad annoying. But of course as time went on, I realized that Ryeowook just has a gift. His range is his range, and he excels at hitting those glorious high notes. Super Junior was kinda limited in the higher ranges outside of him and maybe Sungmin, so having that coverage was important.
#11. Eunhyuk If I was doing this ranking back in like 2015, I may have given Eunhyuk the #15 spot. That's because he basically did nothing but dance and have shitty rap moments. And back then I did not give a shit about choreography points. He's one of the legends in the industry when it comes to dancing and as my interest in Kpop matured I realized that visual performance is equally as important as the audio performance, and Eunhyuk do be a danciung machine.
2NE1 in 2020? Yessir. For the nostalgic selection of a song I haven't reviewed I decided to journey back a decade ago to one of the earliest hits in my Kpop journey. How has 2NE1's legacy held up after a whopping ten years? Let's take a time machine and find out.
Well, even though this was only their second year in the business, 2NE1 had zero shame in announcing who they were and what they're all about. This was the type of brash, in-your-face type of music that this group would become renowned for, and for good reason. They are pretty good at being loud, crazy, and aggressive. The heavy autotune cements the "I don't give a fuck" attitude that CL even echoes later in her second verse.
Man, the RNG really do be blessing me with revisits while also making me nostalgic and sad as hell. 4minute's "Hate" is up for the December rerun and that title accurately describes how I'm feeling about 2020. Should we be glad it's almost over, or terrified of what is to come? Anyway let's see how wrong (or right) I was about "Hate."
This title track was spearheaded by the news that the girls would be working with Skrillex. Considering the success of "Crazy." perhaps they wanted to keep pursuing the heavy dance rhythm. 4minute have been stuck in obscurity for a long time prior to "Crazy," so maybe "Hate" can be another good start to putting this group on the rise.
Man, Skrillex is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Granted I listen to exactly zero dubstep so that isn't surprising in any way. Regardless, collabs like this were pretty rare so it was at least some form of cool news. Now I wouldn't have called 4minute "obscure," but they definitely weren't in the highest tier of girl groups prior to the release of "Crazy," and despite some bangers in "I My Me Mine" and "Volume Up," they were never consistent enough to reach the next echelon.
Man, it seems like this year has gone by both really quickly and slowly at the same time. There's been...a lot going on. But we're not hear to talk about the whims of the world in 2020, we're here to chat about various stuff that happened in November. Unlike the average Thanksgiving plate, this edition won't be so stuffed.
More Of 1million
Ah, 1million. I remember attending KCON and attending their dance workshop and also being in their video during 2017. Good times. Anyway this crew has been pumping out content for a long while now and the quality continues to improve. This time with Soyeon and Miyeon joining them in studio. It's really unfortunate how awkward Miyeon is in her stage presence, as she pales poorly in comparison to Soyeon and all the other dancers. Yoojung is still impeccable, and her movements are easily the highlights of the video (even if her pants aren't...). Listening to this again reminds me that I wanted to review the whole album, but maybe I'll get to that in December.
November really do be ending soon huh. And I've done jack shit for wiring this month. The good news is that even if I never published another post the remainder of the year, 2020 would still be on the top half of all years regarding number of posts. So maybe we'll set a soft goal of 80 posts before December comes to a close. In theory that should be doable, as we still have two Late Reports, Best Of 2020, Kpop Awards, and then three song reviews next month would put us right at 80. Anyway, here are some of my favorite songs to sing. Treat this as a slightly modified shitpost.
#7. Baekhyun - UN Village
There's a soft spot in my list of favorite songs to sing from the EXO squad because they have consistent quality tracks and simply put, I enjoy singing their tracks. Mostly the slower ballads and the like, as "What Is Love" barely missed the cut. "UN Village" is fucking smooth and I wish I memorized the lyrics to this song. Baekhyun really shines in this element and yeah that's all there is to it.
#6. INFINITE - The Eye
Rarely does an energetic dance number like "The Eye" become a primary karaoke target, but this is a special case. Back in my college dance crew days we covered this song and I was on this team, and I have memories of singing along at practices to help get the timing down. Most people know it's difficult to sing and dance at the same time, and being a part of this song really hammered that thought into my brain. Shoutouts to another song that we covered: Madtown's "Emptiness" that also was similar in terms of the singing plus dancing combination.
Guess I've been in a TS mood. Well that's not really true considering how little Kpop I've actually listened to over the last few months but whatever. TS Entertainment have run into the ground every group they've been in possession of. After just talking about the disappearance of Sonamoo, there's also B.A.P to talk about. Yongguk and Zelo left TS three months after this release, and then everyone else in the group followed suit. As far as I'm aware there has been no noise from then since. Maybe a few of them have released some individual material, but as we close in on three year mark for their hiatus, any reunion or comeback seems more and more unlikely. As such we'll take a look at "Hands Up," which was their final release as a group under TS.
This will be an interesting revisit since the original review was a shortened version. I'm guessing I'll pick apart lines more minutely than other normal revisited pieces, which will potentially let me expand on stuff some more. To be fair the random number generator decided this was the song to go for so you can't call me lazy on this one.
Sadly, this piece won't be published on a Friday night.
Fuck Blogger. This shit is impossible. No I'm not over it. Yes I will whine and bitch and complain about it every time I need to link something. Which is every single post since the site update. Looking back at September, it was quite ambitious of me to say I'd write up three reviews per month when I don't even follow the Kpop world anymore. But hey I set a precedent and I will be damned if I don't follow it for at least the remainder of 2020. So here's some GFriend for ya.
GFriend have embraced the changing of the tides over the last year. Songs like "Crossroads" and "Apple" signified that these girls have been evolving and their newest release "Mago" falls into a similar pattern. There's a heavy disco influence which works well thanks to the driving instrumental which doesn't really let up at any point in the song (aside from the bridge). People are swooning over the chorus but I actually consider it the weakest point of the song. Yes, it's catchy but Yuju still sounds like she's reaching despite the filters. Also, "mago" apparently means magician or goddess or some other term but that still doesn't really make sense fitting into the lyrics where it does. The verses are way more interesting and SinB's "it is midnight" bridge is striking, too. But before y'all attack me on the chorus, it's good haha. I just don't think it's as good as everything else.
What's up with the very light eyebrows look that Eunha has going. First Hwasa and now her, I have to say that I'm not a fan. GFriend as a whole seem to be fans of elevating themselves into that mature image, and that comes with mixed results. Yuju, Sowon, and SinB are stunning while I think the baby faces of Yerin and Umji can't quite match up. Of course it doesn't help that they were heavily marketed in their early days as the new era Apink. But regardless the aesthetics are very strong in "Mago."
As a potato it's hard to be captivated by choreography unless it's completely insane, which isn't the case here. Much like the writing about music videos, I can only see this dwindling over time and overall be a miniscule factor in whether I think the song is good or not. Both are more complimentary pieces at the end of the day. I'm not listening to the choreography, nor am I invested in watching videos. I did find it hilarious when Sowon did the kick at the final chorus, that shit almost hit me through the screen.
Given my lackluster interest and exposure to Kpop this year, any songs up for review immediately have more weight to them when considering the Best Of 2020 piece set for next month. As it stands, "Mago" has been a very complete release with consistent audio, gorgeous visuals, and a comfortable next step for a group that has come very far since their debut days. If you looked at "Glass Bead" and then this track, you'd think they weren't the same group. They've essentially gone through the Apink maturation arc in a much faster sequence. Props to them.
It's fucking infuriating how this new Blogger won't let me make my normal alignments without fucking up the spacing between sections. I don't understand why it's this bad, I really don't. Anyway, happy Halloween I guess? Ain't nobody should be out and about given the pandemic but hey people are stupid (just like Blogger). No candy from me, just some videos and songs to go over as October draws to a close.
Starting us off is Mamamoo's "Dingga," which is...something. It's not their greatest work vocals-wise, and it's also not their most fun release. It's essentially "Hip" but with a more bright splash of paint over it, topped off with an overall less impressive choreography to boot. The most disturbing thing about this track is Hwasa's apparent lack of eyebrows. Not a good look. With Red Velvet's controversy and Mamamoo stumbling a bit here, is it once again time for Twice to take the crown?
It has become so difficult to attach videos in this new Blogger, I fucking hate it. I don't understand why this shit has to be so damn difficult. Everything keeps shifting around whenever I try to add a video, or the alignment gets all fucked up ughhh. Anyway, just in time for the spooky holiday is a revisit of an old Block B classic. "Jackpot" has plenty of Halloween imagery from the masks to the carnival, and general creepiness of their actions in the music video. What did I think of it then, versus now?
If there was ever a song without Taeil as the main leading vocal, I’d be surprised to see (or hear) it. Taeil’s vocal prowess is present in the chorus, which I believe is the highlight of the song, with the high energy, general sassy and fun vibe.
Block B would of course go on to have a variety of songs that mix things up regarding the chorus, but 2014 me didn't have the benefit of future sight. But what I was correct about was the absolutely powerful chorus that drives the entirety of "Jackpot." It's fun and energetic, and makes it almost disappointing when followed up on by the lackluster "lalala" chants.
Oh Irene, you fool. There's been quite the commotion surrounding her over the last couple of days. I'll spare you the details because I'm lazy and also not fully informed but man. Irene's been putting in work in the wrong departments. To sum things up in one sentence? Irene harasses people verbally and people are bring it to light. There hasn't been released evidence or anything like that sure, but the fact that Irene had to post an apology and meet with the accuser personally says everything. You truly wonder what was said on that recording...
As is tradition, a lottery was ran to select the throwback review candidate and CLC takes home that honor for the month of October. They debuted with "Pepe" a little over five and a half years ago, which is kinda crazy to think about. For one they've been relatively underrated for most of their career, but part of that is in no small part thanks to Cube's management of this group. But for now let's take it back to a simpler time and see what CLC brought to the table.
As the temperature starts to lower, my despair once again rises. Seriously though this new Blogger is awful and I don't know when I'll get used to it. This is Weki Meki's third appearance in song reviews. Outside of Doyeon, they have yet to wow me in any specific trait or category - and even then, Doyeon stands out due to her looks and not anything related to their music. Now I'm not saying they're bad, just pedestrian and not outstanding. Perhaps "Cool" can live up to its name and buck the trend.
Doing a revisited piece for a disbanded group is like sadness and nostalgia rolled up into a burrito. Even though EXID technically are not defunct, in terms of mainstream media they pretty much are. Anyway, if not for the linked video I'd have forgotten this song existed. In 2020, I don't think it holds up well. Let's see how right my prediction is.
For starters, "Hot Pink" has deviated itself far from the "Up & Down" formula that gave EXID their chance at glory. The only instance of similarity was at 1:12 right before Solji's part. You could probably insert the latter half of the "Up & Down" chorus from there and that'd be a seamless transition but outside of that the comparisons are lacking. This is good, since we want EXID to find success on their own without the need to piggyback of their "ultimate" song.
Yeah as far as "Up & Down" goes, EXID and their various producers milked that shit for everything possible when it came to future comebacks. In some cases it worked out quite nicely ("Ah Yeah") and in others, not as much ("Hot Pink"). It's different from a group like Dreamcatcher because at least DC has much more variation in song structure and style while staying within their signature sound.
There's still time to finish out the rest of the standard protocol for October. So on my birthday, I will merely post a video of Younha and nothing else. She remains my #1 Korean music darling and has been so for the last 12 years. Almost half of my entire life has been gifted with her voice (I'm 27 now). One of my dreams is to attend a concert of hers. Of course with the apocalypse that is 2020, who knows when the next opportunity for that would be. Hope everyone has a good long weekend. I know my unemployed ass sure will.
Which version of Blogger would make me want to vomit? This one. This new one, that has been ungracefully forced upon my poor soul. I hate everything about it. As of writing I can't switch back, even though I managed to revert previous attempts. It's so...ugly. Everything looks very awkward and I'm simply not standing for it. Enjoy this video of Black Pink (Jisoo MVP) while I rage.
Careless, careless. Shoot anonymous, anonymous. Heartless, mindless, no one who care about me. Today we will be ranking all of the superpowers EXO showcase in their track "Mama." Why? Because I wanted to. Shitposters be shitposting.
#12. Baekhyun - Light
Now obviously having superpowers of any kind would be pretty sweet, but it's clear that one member got the real short end of the stick. Baekhyun's ability to control light is useful at best and hella lame at worst. Congrats, he can see in the dark whenever he wants. It simply pales in comparison to all the other effects.
#11. Xiumin - Frost
There's a handful of members with the classic elemental powers, and Xiumin brings up the rear with frost. Even though I despise the cold, I am justified in the placing near the bottom. Out of all the elemental abilities, Xiumin's is the most limited since he requires the proper environmental setting to be most effective. Even if it could work in a hostile atmosphere, frost would be less powerful overall.
Another Late Report, yay! Hope you weren't used to the August edition and the extra credit there, because this month has slimmed down considerably and is more in line with other previous installments. Wonder what is in September's grab bag of goodies.
Presidential BTS
Really seems like BTS are doing some groundbreaking worth every month or so. Granted I haven't really listened to any of their recent music, but still. To get a letter from the president is pretty rad - doesn't matter if you follow, love, or hate them. They really are on another level by this point, and not even the worldwide pandemic has been able to slow them down in any capacity. Scary shit.
Choa - Girls Like You
Amidst all the depressing news revolving AOA (and the rest of the world), it's nice to have some good show up. Choa has been out of the spotlight for a while now and I'm glad she is back. Her voice is delightfully refreshing and this Maroon 5 cover does a great job of that. This should be a slow but steady return to at least singing in the public sphere for her. Welcome back, Choa.
Two years after the previous installment, Visual Power Rankings have been revived. Not only that but they will help set the new precedent for future ranking posts. They will all be structured in line with the Bias and Group Power Rankings. As in, there won't be a representative from every group - because it's too much work and I'm far too lazy for that shit nowadays. Which means these lists are more like a current top 10 (without any honorable mentions) than anything else but I'm keeping it under the Power Ranking series regardless. There may be an installment where I simply rank the visual threats overall (not limiting myself to those classified as the group visual) but this will not be that instance. You know the drill. Visual rankings are gonna be more subjective than ever, but these are for fun anyway.
A newcomer starts us off as Itzy's Yuna makes her debut. I'll admit she didn't really grow on me until "Wannabe" but yeah, definitely deserves a place here. After Yuna we have a couple of stalwarts in Tzuyu and Solar. Both have been extremely powerful for their respective groups and will continue to be so. Twice have plenty of lethal weapons so I give Tzuyu more credit since she faces stiffer competition. I wasn't sure if Junghwa was eligible for this edition since EXID have all but dropped off the map in terms of mainstream attention, though ultimately her looks cannot be denied. At the same time if they don't become active domestically there's little reason to keep her around. Sowon barely edges Junghwa out because she might be the most consistent visual on the entire list. I cannot remember any time she got butchered by stylists. That combined with her height are convincing arguments to put her above the current crowd.
Apparently JJCC are still active. I remember reviewing their debut track "At First" and then they quickly dropped off my radar. But seems like they had some roster changes in 2015 and have kept kicking it from then. "Where You At" is one such release under the new regime - and during their most active year. Don't count on me mentioning members by name because of the aforementioned lack of attention.
Oh man, remember Rainbow? Those were good times when all these girls groups I followed actually existed. This will only be the third time I've reviewed one of their songs, as my blog started after their glory days of "A" and "Mach," with this track coming directly after. I kinda forgot this song existed but stumbled upon it almost by chance when digging around for some old-school hits. Let's see where "To Me" stands in Rainbow's library.
Getting the MV discussion out of the way immediately: it's bland. Stereotypically bland. My interest in the world of music videos was highest during this era and I still think I'd have been bored. The girls look great and always have been: Rainbow were consistently a top tier visual threat from head to toe, from leader to maknae. Jaekyung's beauty is eternal and she'll always be my favorite.
CLC are back after a year of dormancy. Given the trip 2020 has been, it feels like even longer. Regardless, they desperately needed this comeback. Their 2019 trilogy was pretty solid and they have lost a lot of momentum with the long break. "Helicopter" could very well be their last chance since Cube appears to be paying more attention to the rest of their roster. As an aside, every time I hear the word "helicopter" I'm reminded of this fantastic clip of f(x)'s Luna and Amber. Y'all remember when they were in a group and released music and shit?
Gonna try something new and talk about the choreography first! While this is not the most difficult or intriguing CLC dance, it is definitely one of their most unique. They utilize many formations and change things up constantly between the number of members and backup dancers on stage at any given time. It's quite refreshing and is the main selling point of this performance. CLC swinging their arms around like a helicopter and giving the pilot salute are both hilarious and powerful. So again while this ain't their best dance, it's very memorable.
Not gonna lie I get excited when working on a review revisit. That's because the suspense of using random.org to pick the song gets the adrenaline pumping through my husk of a body. Anyway FIESTAR won the sweepstakes for September's revisited with their track "Mirror," which was their second to last comeback before disbandment. Surprisingly, this was their second worst peak placing on the Gaon Digital Chart, while the album tied for their career best on the weekly album chart. Anyway let's see what kind of glasses we see through "Mirror" now that four years have passed.
I'm not sure if this is just me, but the instrumental slaps you across the face with similar key notes to "You're Pitiful." While not as delicate, they are used more aggressively but eventually after enough listens I can't really hear the comparisons anymore. Anyway "Mirror" is very much the daughter of "You're Pitiful." From the sombre overtones, soft singing, and the visual styles of the MV, definitely pays homage to FIESTAR's best song to date.
Too true! While the tempo of the instrumental is much slower, no one can deny that "Mirror" is the clear successor of "You're Pitiful," and I think the distinction is important. A successor takes the motifs and expands on it, whereas a clone is just the same concepts with very minimal changes. Also I misspelled "somber" ha!
Even though I'm not in school anymore, September ushers in the new semester and we're gonna do some cleaning around the blog house. It's still a crazy world out there but we're gonna try and set some standards and protocols to help drive the site forward. Hell I nearly went for making a new season before realizing that Season 10 started this January. Anyway, first things first I'm gonna be revamping the Recurring Series Directory (may or may not have already been done by the time this goes live). I love that post as the central hub for someone of my favorite excerpts over the years and it needs a refresher. I'll figure something out. Second, the latest Girl Group Power Ranking has to be revised since I somehow let Dreamcatcher slip out of the writing there. But that's enough of fixes, what about moving forward?
August wraps up with a pretty hefty edition of The Late Report. Let's check out what the last month had it store for us. Spoiler alert: there's actually some interesting stuff to go over so that's exciting. From serious to memes, good music to bad, variety is the spice of life.
JYP & Sunmi - When We Disco
And you know I'll start with memes! Twice? Itzy? Nah JYP is the comeback of the month because he's still got the moves even when he's almost 50 years old. Sunmi is of course spectacular in both voice and visual, and it's funny how she got to collab with him after leaving the label. The other funny aspect is the idea that these two put on a very simple choreography display for us after Red Velvet's tutting broke everyone's arms. How thoughtful of the legend.
Lee Hyori Assembles The (Female) Avengers
Holy shit you thought SuperM was a hype ass group? This quartet has it all. Lee Hyori, Uhm Junghwa, Jessi, and Hwasa. That is maximum bad bitch energy right there. That is combined decades of experience, talent, and wisdom all working together. And I expect something magical from this squad. My favorite comment was the in the r/kpop thread where someone said "Lesbians. It is our time." But yeah man I'm really interested in seeing what these four can bring to the table together.
Taemin - 2 Kids
Never have I pretended to know anything about choreography and that isn't changing anytime soon. Especially in my post-dance crew years. Anyway Taemin continues to produce art. That's all I really have to say. Watch the man work.
Here's the project of the month. All members that have ever been under any JYP Entertainment girl group exists on this graphic. Wonder Girls, miss A, 15&, Twice, and Itzy span over a decade of history under the JYP flag so this should be fun. How am I determining placements? It's gonna be a combination of their group, music, contributions, legacy, with a little bias sprinkled on top. Naturally I've strayed away from doing art pieces with blog posts but this was too much fun to ignore. Maybe I'll get addicted to making these scuffed graphics again, who knows.
D Tier: Lia, Chaeryeong, Yerin, Jimin, Hyuna
Reminder that these are ordered left to right within tiers. Thus, Hyuna starts us off in dead last. Of course, her extremely short stint with the Wonder Girls is the major reason. And then there's 15&, the unfortunate queens of inefficiency and mismanagement (or simply lack of care). They were extremely unproductive during their time together, with just five singles across their seven years before disbandment. Rounding out the bottom tier we have an Itzy duo. Both members have a chance to grow alongside their group, but for now their bland status relegates them here.
I completely butchered the last Girl Group Power Rankings by leaving out Dreamcatcher. Whoops...Gonna have to go back and do some revising. Given that I have really enjoyed their music, I'm quite ashamed of their complete exclusion from the list. There's no way it should have happened but I screwed up during the process. Also I had this draft nearly done for a Thursday release but then I lost Internet for the entire fucking day. Classic! Dreamcatcher are without Handong for this comeback, so let's see how "Boca" holds up with the six active members.
Suppose it's time for another boy group review. It's been almost half a year since the last real one - not including revisits or throwbacks in that count. SuperM have been pretty active as far as promoting like the special group that they are, so that's cool that this isn't just a one time thing. Whether the song will live up to their hype though is another story.
Of the entire list of girl groups I'd never thought would make a comeback in this day and age, Brave Girls was probably at the very top of the list. They have for the lack of a better word suffered throughout their tenure and 2020 marks their return after three years of silence and losing members. "We Ride" sounds like some classy retro pop is on the horizon which will be interesting since this group has pursued plenty of different genres before. Unfortunately for me there will be no Hyeran who is probably still just enjoying her life away from the idol sphere, but this increases the chance of "We Ride" having a shitty rap by like 80%. I might make it a rule that if I ever post about a teaser I must also cover the actual song once released. That makes these less fluff and more substance, and would essentially be a quick juxtaposition going from teaser to full song. Think of it like an extremely quick revisited since instead of years between looking at the song it'd be days. That will probably start in September though (or later...) since I'm that kind of lazy bum. Anyway you have my interest, Brave Girls. Don't squander it like all the other times.
The RNG spun the wheel and this is the winner for the next revisit. I considered going over Soyu's "Gotta Go" but the random number generator decided otherwise. Here's yet another girl group titan of years past with one of their most popular songs at the time. Sistar's "Give It To Me" was fast and exciting, but has it held up over the last seven years?
Sistar really came back with an improved synchronized sound. Dasom and Soyou really stepped it up with the light high notes. Dasom’s English is a little strange sounding, as I heard “that’s what I mean” instead of “that’s all I need” but whatever. Hyorin is still flawless, belting at the end of choruses and the power notes at the song’s climax are amazing.
"Give It To Me" was released in the early era of Sistar stepping up their game. After "Alone" and "Loving U" achieved breakout success this was their follow-up and yeah, the synchronization and unified sound is everything. Hyorin (as with any singer) sounds the best when in their comfort range and she rocks her moments in the spotlight. Again this was during the sectioned years of reviews so the revisit will also feel clunky, oh well.
Summer isn't over quite yet. FNC are gonna try and divert our attention from their AOA disaster with a Cherry Bullet release. To somewhat of a surprise, I've never written about this group on the blog yet. They've had a sort of video game motif going on for at least a couple of their releases which was neat but the music itself has been uninspiring at best.
I fear I have gotten to the point where nothing a girl group does is really gonna inspire or impress me anymore. At least from a general perspective. Especially when it comes to summer songs because if there's one genre of Kpop that has been rehashed over and over again to a pulp, it's this one. The Hawaii theme is evident from the title alone, and carries over into the song (with the little aloha riff) and music video (look at how fake those rooms look). The instrumentals comprise of the typical refreshing sound during verses and stronger sound during choruses. Seems like none of their trainees could follow up on Jimin's talent as far as rapping is concerned because what you hear here is quite bad. The bridge houses some nice vocal moments I guess, but it's really nothing to praise considering a summer track like this isn't exactly showcasing their talents. There isn't much else to say which is kind of a shame. It's a boring summer song from a boring (for now) group. It's that simple to write about. Cherry Bullet have a lot of work to do before they can confidently find themselves out of AOA's giant shadow, for better...or for worse.
Well shit, The Late Report is late once again. Unfortunately for my OCD's sake I refuse to cheat and place this post at the end of July. Over the next couple of days I'll have an update type of post trying to streamline the plans for the remainder of 2020. This year has been all sorts of fucked up, and my blog has been no exception. Anyway here are some treats from July that I'm sharing in August.
Chungha - Play (feat. Changmo)
I feel like I've said Chungha's name a thousand times over the last couple of months. She's been working hard and the results speak for themselves. "Play" was quite the loud comeback and I gotta say that I didn't really dig the song at first. However after a few more listens, the artistry and choreography got me hooked and even though I haven't been listening to too much Kpop in recent months this song got repeated a few times. Props to Chungha for continuing to develop herself as a singer, dancer, and artist. Through her work and talent she has joined the pantheon of great female solo acts.
So it's been a long time since the previous installment of Girl Group Power Rankings. As such, this probably won't be as polished as I'd like. Plus, my waning interest in the girl group landscape (especially for newer groups) makes it difficult to rank groups, even with subjective opinions. Regardless I will do my best because that's what this blog is all about. The next ranking will be out before 2020 ends at least so there's some continuity available.
Honorable Mention: Black Pink * New Releases: How You Like That
God it pains me to keep putting Black Pink here. Not only because they keep putting out shitty music, but because none of the young blood has piqued my interest enough to justify putting them here in BP's place. That and my status as a Jennie and Jisoo fan are keeping enemy groups at bay. "How You Like That" was completely disappointing at best and absolutely atrocious at worst. Their first ever studio album (literally called "The Album") has been delayed to October in traditional YG fashion so we'll see what comes of that later.
And here I thought Blogger was gonna have both interfaces available since I did not enjoy the new update one bit. According to the latest notice, the old variant of Blogger's design will be removed by the end of August. I guess technically they gave us another month or so for keeping the old format, but man I just have to ask why? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Definitely wasn't broken by any stretch of the imagination. Well, in the meantime, enjoy this delightful performance by Seulgi. I'm gonna try and get two more pieces out before the end of the month (not including Late Report).
The way I've done these revisits is simple: I go and watch the original MV followed by a live performance (usually the one linked in post). Then I bring up the original review and write my reactions or adjustments accordingly. With Girl's Day's anniversary recently passing by, let's take a look back at "Female President," which was conveniently reviewed a little over seven years ago. Back then I still did categories, so maybe for the next revisit I'll pick one that is more recent.
I love the high notes and energy that the chorus (I guess that is mainly a mixture of rapping and singing) provides. Unfortunately that’s really all there is to the vocals. Minah and Sojin doing excellent work, while Yura and Hyeri with support roles.
Right off the bat my old self surprises me because I did not enjoy the chorus at all. The vocals are strained leading in and the lines themselves are boring and repetitive. This was 2013 Girl's Day, so the rift in vocal talent between Sojin, Minah and Hyeri, Yura was huge. I still remember their cover of "Someone Like You" on some show where Yura and Hyeri just got to sit there awkwardly while Minah and Sojin sang their hearts out. Anyway, I didn't say much on the vocals besides that. Oh and I claimed Yura's second verse opening was comparable to Sojin, which is fucking hilarious in retrospect.
Red Velvet's Seulgi and Irene helped satiate the fans with "Monster" previously, and now have unleashed a new treat for us with "Naughty." And to think there are two more videos on the way? We truly don't deserve. I would hesitate to call this the best timeline, given what's going with Wendy (and...the rest of the world), but these two are doing everything in their power to keep the masses happy.
For the first time in ages, I've topped over 80 hours on Steam in the last two weeks. This is thanks to Gunfire Reborn, a game in which I'll eventually hold a speedrun record for. But anyway! GFriend have joined the summer soiree, bringing something nutritious to the table with "Apple." As someone that hasn't paid much attention to the Kpop landscape in a while, it should be refreshing to hear some classic GFriend music.
Today we shall take an objective look at the top ten Korean American singers of all time. Of all time! These male and female artists proudly represent the United States of America on this hallowed special day. We'll briefly discuss their talents and accomplishments maybe, though that seems pointless. If it wasn't obvious, this shouldn't be taken seriously at all. Five female candidates and five male candidates because I'm not sexist. Here we go, happy 4th or something.
Tiffany
These aren't in any order, but when it comes to Korean Americans in the industry, Tiffany is the first member that comes to mind. She also was randomly generated into the first slot, so the number manipulation knows what I want. Of course she was part of Girls' Generation and had many a solo and group endeavor since those debut years. You know there really isn't much to write for these entrants, it's all fluff and humor anyway.
Jae
One of the newer generation of idols, Jae represents them with his position here. There are others, like a couple Seventeen and NCT members, but Jae takes the spot with additional flair of being in a band. DAY6 has plenty of official releases that have flawless English versions and he's certainly a reason for it. Jae also does an online podcast primarily in English, which is cool.
Ailee
There are gonna be a handful of soloists here and Ailee's appearance should not be surprising to anyone. Sassy and supreme in vocals, Ailee has done great work across the decade. Hell, years ago she was the likely candidate to take a campaign to the US and succeed.
Man, these are...not getting hard to write per se, but given the record lows of investment and attention I'm giving the Kpop world, I certainly have never felt more lost while making these posts. Thus it's more refreshing than ever to dig around and find out what's been buzzing in these ecosystem every few weeks. I don't plan on retiring this series just yet so we'll see what happens over the next couple of months. If the Late Report can keep chugging along until its two year anniversary in November, I think that'd be pretty cool.
Sunmi - Pporappippam
Everyone rejoice, for she has done it again. Weird title aside, Sunmi has returned with another electrifying dance number. The instrumental is beautifully powerful without being overbearing, and Sunmi's delightful vocals continue to do work. Redditors were saying how the opening was reminiscent of a Legend of Zelda OST. For some reason when I checked out the teaser I didn't agree, but my ears have fully opened and it's definitely out of a video game soundtrack. The rest of it is - as previously advertised - brilliant and the combination of the synths and Sunmi kills it again. Now that I've looked at the lyrics, don't the Korean words translate to "Purple Light Night" or something along those lines? You figure even a slightly scuffed translation would function better as a title, but who knows how the minds of these producers and songwriters work.
Jay Park was still wearing shirts in 2013 ha! That's how you know this shit is throwback. Throw in Clara making a main appearance in the music video and that's vintage 2013 Kpop. The original review was published about a month later so let's see how it differs from some of my more reactive reviews. Also since it's from that long ago the review was segmented by category but I'll manage.
I’ll be honest with you here. I never liked Jay’s voice. I found it higher in range, less flexible than most, and usually tend to gravitate more towards his rapping than singing. I considered Taeyang from Big Bang a better vocal substitute for pretty much all of his solo work.
To this day I still stand by these sentiments. Not only is Jay better off in the rapping / hip-hop sphere, but Taeyang basically does what he does singing-wise, except better. Come to think of it, if you fused Taeyang's emotional softer voice with Jay's more intense rapping voice...hm.
Normally this late into the month, I'd reserve talking about a song I wrote a teaser bit for in the Late Report installment but this is something else. Black Pink are finally back so clearly they'll have something special lined up, right? Surely they wouldn't make fans wait so long just to drop another recycled turd on us, right? ...right?
We have hit peak lazy season with back-to-back teaser reviews. But hey with Twice's comeback, Black Pink's teaser, and now a Red Velvet subunit all three big names are back in full swing as summer strides into July. Gotta be honest, it's kinda weird how their title track is going by the same name as a labelmate. I know it's been four years but you'd think they'd at least not use the identical title. You'll also notice that I dubbed them "Seulrene" instead of "Red Velvet: Irene and Seulgi" because I think that's a pretty dumb subunit name. What's not dumb is that logo though. It's sleek as fuck and would look very nice on a phone case or something. The gamer in me loves these clean logos because it makes future tier lists and other artsy bullshit look much better. As for what little audio we did receive, I doubt it's part of the actual song - maybe we'll see it during the intro of the music video but not actually be from the audio itself. The wolf and dark aesthetic they have going on hints at a more mature theme which I dig. Summer is always too happy, and I'm for going against the grain. It's gotta be said that between Red Velvet and Black Pink, I'm more excited for the former. But you could probably guess that based on how much I wrote for them than Black Pink.
Anyway that's all for today. Plans for the final week of June include a retrospective, a tier list of some kind, and then of course the usual Late Report. Cheers.
Hoo boy, Black Pink and YG actually doing something in current year? What a timeline. "How You Like That" is the next comeback and audio-wise it sounds promising. Of course we've all been epic trolled before but it's been so long since I've paid attention to much less get invested in a new song that I'm willing to take the risk. Jisoo and Lisa walked away with both the best aesthetics and individual teasers of the bunch, while Rose isn't too far behind. Unfortunately for me they absolutely ruined Jennie, what the actual fuck. Holy shit the stylist team must have been pissed for some reason. Hopefully the rest of her outfits and designs are not this terrible, poor girl.
Well things have certainly been...existing. The other day a couple old SNSD songs showed up on shuffle, and I thought "hey why not look at some of their classics?" And here we are. "Run Devil Run" has aged pretty well all things considered. Originally sung by Ke$ha (does she still exist?), SNSD brought this out of the mire way back in 2010. To add to the excitement, this was released shortly after "Oh!" popped off and there was the mysterious teaser at the end of their video.
Originally I wasn't planning on reviewing this song but surprisingly, I haven't written a full song review for Twice since 2017. And even then it was a Blitz variant, so I'd say this comeback is due for a complete diagnosis.
I don't know what I'm gonna write here. There is...a lot going on in this world during 2020 and not much of it is pleasant. Music has not been as much of a getaway as it used to be and I default to gaming more often than not. Between Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem, it's got my bases covered. Anyway here's what was interesting in May.
DAY6 - Zombie
Man is it hard to avoid the music from this group when both my sisters only put their albums on repeat. Obviously it's still great music but I was never the type that could listen to the same thing over and over again. "Zombie" is the latest out of the band and it's another powerful piece. This coming off the heels of their break due to anxiety and other mental health concerns, is a proper and emotional track. There's also an English version of the song, which functions equally well.
Another episode taking a look back at some of the song reviews I've done across the years. I'm not sure if I'll always stick to five year revisits, but for now it'll have to be the case. "Cupid" was the final main release for KARA and if memory serves it was quite anticlimactic. Let's see if my opinions have changed. Linked is one of their best performances of the song but unfortunately despite their amazing outfits the video quality is lying through its teeth.
Seungyeon and Gyuri handle the bulk of the vocals, especially the excellent work at the end of the song. Gyuri has such a voice that I don't know how to describe, but regardless she shines here in "Cupid," utilizing her high range and pristine voice. Gyuri's voice definitely is "imperial." Gyuri might be the goddess but as far as visuals go in "Cupid" she surrendered that title to Hara.
In the final phase of KARA the duo always did all the work vocals-wise. Gyuri's voice has fluctuated from good to bad for me over her career but it definitely shone in "Cupid." Also funny is how I mentioned "surrendering" the appearance title but I'm pretty sure Hara has always held that crown over Gyuri. Maybe some comebacks would make the competition close but worst case Hara dangled the title only to yoink it back at the last second.
Turns out there was a button to press allowing you to use the old Blogger ha! Definitely wasn't there before... Anyway my blindness doesn't stop me from placing girl group members on another ranking list.
By some miracle, Jennie doesn't get dropped even though she's been as inactive as can be. There are rumors flying that Black Pink will be picking up some steam as we head towards the summer but until I see an actual video posted by YG I'll remain cautious. Hwasa and Mina are by no means new to the list, having made appearances here and there throughout the years. Mamamoo's continued excellence means Hwasa will keep dipping in and out, while Twice's comeback teasers have me cautiously optimistic for another standout track following the heels of "Feel Special." As one of the veterans of this list and Kpop in general, Eunji hangs on for dear life. On the flipside, Olivia Hye keeps her status as the new "it" girl in my eyes despite the pretty disappointing "So What."
Dude what the fuck happened to Blogger. This update is absolutely wack. Nothing looks good, buttons got shifted around, and it just feels wrong. Taeyeon please save me. Anyway, this is yet another bullshit short update. Hopefully I get used to the new site soon otherwise all the drafts I've been working on might never get finished. Blech.
Wow, it's really been a year since "Snapping." I guess unemployment and quarantine has diluted my sense of time over the last few months. Anyway, Chungha is one of the solo starlets to make a recent comeback - with the likes of IU and Taeyeon coming soon. She's been on the grind over the last couple years and has not slowed down. Given the scope of her fellow Produce classmates, one could argue she's seen the most success out of the entire program.
Ah, shit. I forgot that there are only 30 days in April. Oh well, we own our mistakes here. If you thought I didn't keep up much with Kpop before the pandemic, then boy this edition is gonna be shorter than Sunny. Let's see what I manage to scrounge up this time around.
Apink - Dumhdurum
One of the oldest surviving groups returned with yet another twist on their more mature sound. Gotta say that I am definitely loving their shift and the songs themselves are pretty solid. Unfortunately, they decided to ruin a completely viable song with the cursed rap line. In three seconds they committed three fouls: had a bad rap, had someone unfit to do said rap, and used the lame rising inflection at the end. The bridge is also pretty mediocre as far as Apink songs go. My sisters asked if I think Naeun had some surgery done, to which I responded "that's pretty much every idol though" and I stand by that. Although if anyone from Apink did something lately, I have a feeling it's Hayoung.
Free from the confines of my room, I'm bringing a retro review to the table. Yesterday was my sister's birthday and I asked her to give me a random Kpop idol / group. She named Peniel so here we are. At first I was wildin' how they haven't released anything since the small unceremonious song "Sorry" by a few members which was included in a Late Report one year ago. Then I remembered that most if not all of them are probably doing their mandatory military service by now.
Guess what I have COVID-19 haha, life is so funny sometimes. While my computer has been moved to my room, I spend most days just being sad and in bed. I'm not even that sick, but you know how it be. Anyway Irene and Seulgi will team up for Red Velvet's first subunit appearance since their trainee days. With Wendy still recovering (poor girl), this makes plenty of sense. I'm excited to see what kind of music they'll bring to the table but also horrified at what unit name SM will give them.
More writing on the way but at a slower pace. Leave it to a pandemic to ruin my blogging momentum man. This is but a minor setback, just wait and see.
Hello, it's me. Your friendly neighborhood Korean music blogger, coming at you with a post serving as a hybrid update and excuse. I got sent to the hospital yesterday after collapsing due to fatigue, and spent a couple hours in the ED. As far as all my signs go, I don't have COVID-19 and I'll hear back from the lab tests tomorrow or Tuesday. All this to say that I'm not gonna spending much time at the computer over the next couple of days. Just focus on resting and drinking plenty of water (as I always do). Stay safe, everyone.
Quarantine is weird. There's a lot of things to do, but also not a lot of things to do. Or at least there's much less urgency. Anyway, it's been a while since the last teaser snip and I'm feeling especially lazy after a hard day's work in Animal Crossing. I will only write their group name once so here it is: this is gonna be another showing of dark (G)I-DLE and I'm all for it. The English narration is kinda cringe but I suppose it could always be worse. As long as it doesn't translate to some boring chants in the actual song then I'm okay. Poor Yuqi has to try and act tough again when we all know she's a softie. I'm immediately reminded of the aesthetic that "Hann" brought to the table. Considering "Hann" was their best release until the days of "Lion," I look forward to what a return to the dark side may bring. Hopefully we will be saying "oh my god" but in a positive way come tomorrow.
With the world suffering under the wrath of coronavirus, the social distancing and quarantine shenanigans are out in full force. I've had more time to write but also more time to sleep or play Animal Crossing or do absolutely nothing. Nonetheless, March comes to a close with a very basic Late Report to go over.
LOONA - Sorry Sorry
You cannot escape the power of Loona. They have an extremely impressive collection of high-quality dance covers under their belt. And with Lee Sooman participating in album production, perhaps something like this was inevitable. Loona display chemistry and class with a cover of "Sorry Sorry," and even though there's autotune you can't deny the girls sound good. The choreography is also clean (as expected) and Yves does fantastic work as the center. If LSM sees potential this group, then you know they're doing something right.
Through a fine-tuned random number generator (AKA asking my sister for a sequence of numbers), this next revisit will be of iKON's debut single "My Type." Since then they've amassed a large compilation of tracks, released subunit / collaborations, and lost a member. Let's see how well their first official track holds up after five years. Rather than repeat post the music video, I figure it'd be at least more interesting to link a live performance of some kind instead. So here we go.
Originally the Team B that lost to Winner, this set of trainees had to wait an extra year before their debut with "Welcome Back." While a year is certainly a long time, iKON had to be careful to not be similar to their now-sunbaes, but maybe the YG flag would be enough to give them (more than) a pass regardless.
You know, this statement about not being like Winner made a lot of sense when I wrote it, but with how these groups played out...did it really matter? Both groups have had their ups and downs, their bops and flops, consistency and controversy. In reality, the fact that they spawned from the same survival show probably was a benefit to each side of the scale, in a way.
You probably saw this coming but I'm still gonna review it. Itzy are back with "Wannabe" and despite my general neutrality for their previous two songs, it'd be silly to give up on a group from JYP yet. Plus they are one of the few new generation girl groups that have (at the very least) piqued my interest. Ryujin was the trainee many were touting as the next superstar, and I recently learned of Chaeryeong's tragic history on Sixteen. Almost all of them have English names too for some reason, which is neat? They have had as many comebacks in one year as Black Pink had in two. Talk about yikes for BP fans.
I'm back from Los Angeles. Only a couple weeks to find out if I contracted coronavirus. There's some stuff I want to talk about, but I'm gonna save it for an actual post once I unpack and have a good night rest. Even though it's a back-to-back fluff post (or as some may call them, shitposts) I have a valid excuse this time - week of travel plus not having slept on a bed the entire time will do numbers on you. Until the next post, enjoy the extremely high quality videos of Studio Choom.
Happy Brthday my queen. Turning 31 years young and still killing it everywhere she goes. The new song "Happy" looks like it'll be yet another twist on Taeyeon's superstar vocals. Can't wait!
This is also a PSA that I'm gonna be out for a week, heading to Los Angeles to travel and hopefully catch the coronavirus or something. By the time this post is live I should be in the air. Might be able to upload some cheese or simple reviews during my stay but if nothing new gets posted you now know why. Perhaps I will purchase some authentic merch while in Koreatown. Enjoy your week all the same.
My long-needed music library update has started and I do these in alphabetical order so Bolbbalgan4 enjoyed a significant boost of additions to my iPod. They might not be categorized as like indie or anything, but they certainly were under my radar (outside of songs "Some" and "Workaholic"). The iTunes update is a necessary remedy to that notion. As such we'll take a look at one of their earliest smash hits.
Perhaps through no fault of my own, boy groups and soloists got ignored entirely during the February craze. So in return, I bring you an extremely fresh review of NCT 127's latest endeavor with "Kick It." How fresh you ask? I'm writing this as I listen to the song for the first time. For some reason this video has a Korean, Chinese, and English title. I don't believe there's a Mandarin version of this song (yet?) so I'm not sure why SM went hardcore on the extra languages.
February has come and gone, now we head into March. This was one helluva month, with comebacks galore and an extra 29th day to boot.
Everglow - Dun Dun
Dun? Done? Dumb? Which is it? I think it's actually a mixture of all three, but you can imagine my confusion on first listen. "Dun Dun" is Everglow's latest project and probably their most well-rounded of their three tracks so far. Thus, it's the one I like the best even though I'm not entirely sold on them yet. Everglow's trademark appears to be exhilarating dance tracks with impactful choruses that are loaded with lots and lots of energy. But for me it's the little things like the sly harmonies of each chorus that edge out "Adios" and "Bon Bon Chocolat." Aisha shows promise as a rapper with her voice and flow, I'm excited to see more of her.
Yezi - My Gravity
Hang on, this is Yezi...singing. What timeline am I in? Don't get me wrong, this is a gorgeous display of her vocal abilities, I simply was not expecting said display. This is the same girl that raps like a crazy dog and had a badass attitude on Unpretty Rapstar. The sheer surprise factor of how "My Gravity" is a ballad made me forget how I tend to really love the idols who are multitalented and Yezi is certainly showing she wants a place on that list.
With three weeks of digestion, it's now time to look at one of the most anticipated comebacks of not only 2020, but for girl groups of the last few years. LOONA have been gaining all of the momentum and hype after releasing "Butterfly," and despite Haseul being sidelined, I'm still ready. The last time I was this excited about a girl group was probably when 9MUSES returned after losing Eunji, Sem, and Sera. If you aren't keeping track, that was a long time ago. Let us continue the February onslaught with more reviews.
I have no idea how to embed a video from somewhere that isn't Youtube. First time for everything. But OKAY IRENE. I see you with those moves. Everyone on reddit freaking out over how she doesn't have hair extensions while I'm sitting here like "I didn't know this was allowed." She's never been in the dancer spotlight since Kang Seulgi exists but damn if she ain't holding her own here. We've seen moments from stuff like "Bad Boy" and "Psycho," as well as a cover of "Greedy" that she did with Seulgi but this is top-notch, all-out moves and I'm for it. Because of the aforementioned embed shenanigans, I'm keeping this out of The Late Report. "So What" review is...coming. Lots of activities this weekend. Enjoy yours.
Impulse reviews are not usually my thing but it provides nice contrast with the weeks in review for "So What" coming out later I didn't even know they were coming back, but Dreamcatcher has joined the crazy February rush with a new title track "Scream." "Deja Vu" is still lukewarm for me, and while "Piri" was good it couldn't hold up to their earlier greats. Maybe with a title like "Scream." we'd see some more intense Dreamcatcher that may bring us Halloween early.
The fact that Sistar19 only ever released two songs is depressing. "Ma Boy" was sensational with audio and choreography, so the sophomore release had a lot of expectations. "Gone Not Around Any Longer" was quite a mouthful of an English title, considering how short and to-the-point the Korean title is. Let's see what my thoughts were on it from seven years ago, and how the song holds up nowadays. This review was during the 2nd season of my blog so each aspect of the song was compartmentalized. If this revisit comes off a little choppy, that's why.
Yeah, I’m giving Hyorin 5 (read: not 10) points in vocals. You know why? Because of that fourth word: Hyorin. She is everything and everything in this song and by everything I mean Bora has no lines sung for three plus minutes. At least she got something in “Ma Boy”. Yes, Hyorin sounds absolutely divine. Yes, her high notes are fancy, pretty, and charming. Yes, the variation work is quite lovely if but a little awkward structure for the ending. But that’s all Hyorin, no Bora.
I still stand by how annoying this was. Yes, me being a huge Bora fanboy (especially during those days) factored in but you can't tell me that this shit was fair. Considering groups in the current age still have line distribution woes, it's unacceptable that a duo had one member with all of the singing lines. If instead of calling this a Sistar19 release Starship had labeled this Hyorin featuring Bora then it'd be less obnoxious.
It's been a while since the last GFriend review (a little over two years to be more precise). They have been steadily churning out the hits in that time, in addition to joining the BigHit family. No doubt that both of these moves have been positive for them. "Fever" was released the same month Source Music was acquired by BigHit, but given that comebacks are planned in advance, I will consider "Crossroads" to be their first true song since the merger.
How about a tripleheader? T-ARA have fallen off the pedestal but they remain active as individuals. They're one of those "unofficially disbanded" groups because the members all say the group isn't dead but until they release music together they might as well be. In the meantime, we have some solo efforts to go over. The triplets of Eunjung, Hyomin, and Jiyeon were very powerful in their heyday and each of them have had some solo success with songs like "Never Ever" and "I'm Good." Let's see how their most recent stuff holds up.
Hyomin - Allure
I don't think it's too crazy to say that Hyomin has seen the least success as an independent act out of the three. Songs like "Nice Body," "Sketch," and "Mango" aren't bad but can't compete with Jiyeon and Eunjung's best. Hyomin's best song in my opinion is the ballad "Gold," which brought her less-exposed vocals to front and center. That song gives me goosebumps to this day, and illustrates how a perfectly sculpted song can meet a singer's needs and show their talents efficiently.
Whoops. Sometimes you just forget things. And I forgot about December's Late Report. Thus we'll have a super mega awesome combined deluxe version for this month (even though it'll mostly be for news from January regardless). These will also come out at the end of the month instead of the start of the following month, so this edition makes its debut on the final day.
Younha - Winter Flower
Alluded to in my review of "Dark Cloud," "Winter Flower" is a sensational track that features the brilliance of Younha's powerful voice with an electrifying instrumental and RM's appearance. Obviously he's a little busy as of late so he wasn't able to join her in this performance. No idea who BX is but he did a solid job stepping in for RM here. His voice is too nasally for my ears on a first listen but he keeps pace with the original, so props. I like this song so much that I'm trying to learn it on the piano. This will be the first time in almost a decade since I've touched a piano ha, should be a fun challenge.
BTS - Black Swan
Speaking of, here's BTS performing on the Late Late Show with James Corden. Considering that I did not look at any of the "Black Swan" releases of any form, I didn't know what to expect. The first thing I noticed was that this is very much modern BTS with the dancing and style of the song. Not surprising since this formula has been relatively untouched since their meteoric rise. The second thing I noticed was that they weren't wearing shoes. That couldn't have been easy. Shoutouts to the show and all because the whole setup was phenomenal: stage, scenery, lighting, etc. It's a great teaser for their upcoming album, that's for sure.
Red Velvet - Psycho (Remix) (feat. Nicki Minaj)
Kpop remixers really out here trying to add Nicki Minaj to every song. When it's this well-done, can you complain? No, you can't. Given that she has collaborated with BTS before, you could show this to someone new and they'd probably think this was legit. Okay given Nicki's lyrics probably not but you get the point haha. Since we've yet to see the rumored English version of "Psycho," a remix like this will have to do for now.
