[Bonus] The Late Report: Februrary 2020

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.

[Review] LOONA - So What

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.

[Misc] Dancer Irene

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.

[Review] Dreamcatcher - Scream

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.

[Review] Sistar19 - Gone Not Around Any Longer (Revisited)

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.

[Review] GFriend - Crossroads

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.

[Review] T-ARA Triplets Special

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.