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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Back in early 2016 I made a post highlighting the best picks of the first five years of the decade. And of course there was the timeline post, too. But now with the 2010's behind us, it's time to see which of the top songs of each year would come out on top in a battle of the best. To make things simple, each year brings one candidate to the table. I contemplated giving some of the runner-ups a chance (because there have been some damn good #2 picks over the years) but that wouldn't be fair to all the songs who claimed the gold medal. This was arguably the hardest song ranking piece I've ever had to write. Let's see how the stars of the 2010's match up against each other.
#10. Ailee - Heaven (2012)
Make no mistake, the fact that "Heaven" is a debut track making a top 10 such as this is impressive. Plus, it's the only debut track to have accomplished such a feat. Some debuts have been good, but never this good. "Heaven" is a sublime power ballad that showcases Ailee's technique, power, and range all in one song. Ailee's powerful vocals have always been the center of attention for obvious reasons and her career started off on quite the introduction.
#9. 2NE1 - Ugly (2011)
The only knock I really have on "Ugly" in the context of the rest of these songs is that it's decidedly safe in most respects. Don't get me wrong it's still an emphatic dance number. I also love the lyrics and message that this song delivers, but some of the traditional YG mannerisms show up - in particular the chant-esque bridge - which by themselves are not bad, but fail to stand out compared to others here.
#8. IU - Blueming (2019)
The trouble with writing a list like this so soon after 2019 ended is there hasn't been enough time for the newest song to simmer in the ol' library you know? Because while "Blueming" is brilliant, it loses out against other tracks simply because it came out the latest. Still, IU's switch of styles provides a relaxing and soothing listen. No doubt after a couple years we will look back upon its legacy like some of the other songs here but for now it'll nestle itself at 8th place.
The coveted 2019 Kpop Awards are here, and actually in December no less. Just in time I say! The previous two years' awards were posted in January which should have been illegal. But hey we're almost at a new year, so new-ish me. These are always fun to write looking back on the year as a whole, and the narratives from other years makes for a fun clash. Here are the nine magnificent awards and their glorious, resplendent recipients. This may or may not be split into two parts.
Best Girl Group: Red Velvet
This was a competitive year between the usual top three dogs: Twice, Red Velvet, and Mamamoo. Each of them have taken home this title once in the last three years, and now Red Velvet are the first to grab their second award of this name. Mamamoo have been the most active, and Twice likely have the best numbers, but Red Velvet were not far behind in many of these aspects throughout the year. We don't speak of their first showing in 2019 but "Umpah Umpah" was a good summer jam while "Psycho" made plenty of good impressions with such a late release. Ultimately I believe that Red Velvet is most deserving by remaining the most consistent girl group showing marked improvements with each subsequent song.
Best Boy Group: BTS
Death, taxes, and BTS winning the Best Boy Group award. They've fully monopolized this category since the series debut in 2015 and until their military service fractures their production it doesn't seem like they'll stop. Their achievements, statistics, and legacy are overwhelming at this point considering all of the impact they've had (both the good and bad). Compound this with the fact that other groups of this generation simply cannot match BTS' output at an individual or group level and it's easy to see why they've had a iron grip on this award. Also worth noting is that they were unparalleled in the meme department as well. From "Seoul Town Road" to "Chicken Noodle Soup," BTS were firing on all meme cylinders.
This is blog post #500(!) and I finally have another edition of Girl Group Power Rankings. I'd love to say this was all part of my grand scheme for delaying this for so damn long but we all know that's bullshit haha. It's been a while so this will serve as a refresher course for the Power Ranking posts. Group Power Rankings are all about what a team has done lately, what talents they bring to the table, and how consistent they are / could be. They're all subjective lists anyway but I like showing the criteria I use, if only to keep my own rankings consistent over time.
Even though it's been a while, I still reference the previous list which was nearly one year ago (yikes), but also treat 2019 almost like a brand new year. Older groups that previously were on the list due to legacy but have since disbanded or "gone on hiatus" will not be making an appearance, so you won't see names like Girls' Generation, EXID, or Girls' Day on here. Though it should be mentioned that Brown Eyed Girls is having a comeback soon but their veteran status is so lofty it wouldn't feel right putting them here with these youngsters. In a similar vein, shoutouts to AOA for their participation in Queendom. They've handled well as a group of five.
Previous installments have included a "new releases" tab where I showcase some of their work between ranking posts and that trend will continue. No auxiliary releases though: only main Korean comebacks and other noteworthy efforts - there will be no OST work or Japanese promotions. Is that enough rambling? Alright, onto the list!
Honorable Mention: Black Pink * New Releases: Kill This Love
In a company battle reminiscent of the late 2000's, YG's Black Pink barely edges out JYP's Itzy for the last honorable mention. They're contrasts to each other in many ways: BP has better rappers, Itzy has better singers, and both groups are known for their choreography. Itzy is a newcomer with a pair of meh tracks to their name so far, while Black Pink has been around with enough inactivity to kill a cow. Speaking of killing, "Kill This Love" was touted as the worst Black Pink release during my review back in April. While that statement still stands true I have thought better of it upon scarce listens since, plus it eases expectations for their next comeback in the year 2021.
Red Velvet is having another 2019 comeback before I've published the next iteration of Girl Group Power Rankings. They are getting on my case. But with Shine coming up this weekend (can't wait to immediately exit pools), I won't have the time or energy for a full post. So instead, we'll take a look at their latest project "Umpah Umpah." Besides reminding me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the title instills fear in me because...let's just say I don't speak of "Zimzalabim." Much like the song itself, I imagine this review to bounce all over the place.
May might as well be Power Rankings month but that doesn't mean April didn't have some goodies. With reviews becoming shorter and sparser, here's a look at some highlights from last month.
Baby Soul - A Piece Of The Moon
Lovelyz have underrated vocalists. Baby Soul was one of three members with music before joining the group, and this was her first release since being part of Lovelyz. "A Piece Of The Moon" carries her beautiful voice and sounds like it was taken straight out of a romantic drama's OST list. My inner singer will always be a sucker for pure vocals and Baby Soul delivers here.
Red Velvet was one of the remaining groups from SM Entertainment that I haven't seen live, since my first Kpop concert back in 2011 was SM Town. This concert leaves only EXO and NCT on that list, though who knows when I'd have the opportunity for those squads. Anyway, I don't really know how I'm gonna format this post, so it'll mostly be a messy stream of consciousness just going by memory. Plus my past three concerts were of multiple groups so this was gonna be different by default. It's not meant to be lengthy and detailed (but I'm sure I'll ramble), only reactions and the general ilk.
In the grand scheme of girl groups, I consider Red Velvet a top-tier team. They rocketed up my Girl Group Power Rankings throughout 2017 and since 2018 started have been a perennial contender for being the best. Irene and Seulgi headlined my biases, while the rest of the gang made up in the variety aspects. Their addicting dance numbers were sure to get love - though I was dreading a couple of them. I was really hoping we'd get a live "One Of These Nights" because slower Red Velvet songs are my favorite but admittedly I wasn't counting on it.
They say after you see a group live, your opinions change. With Red Velvet, I can confidently say that statement is true. With being there in person, listening to them chat with us, and seeing their mannerisms has shaken up the list. The first edition of Red Velvet's bias ranking was a shared effort with Black Pink so it felt funny rearranging them so despite the position changes it still feels like a fresh ranking sort of.
#5. Yeri (--)
Sorry Yeri but you're unable to escape the last spot. Music-wise she didn't stand out (though she did have some surprising high note moments). And when it came to the choreography my eyes were definitely drawn to the other members but that isn't really her fault? Yeri did continue to do well in the non-music aspects of Red Velvet, and her English was especially strong despite sounding a little stiff at times.
Happy Valentine's Day...? Introductions are overrated and especially so after a long shift at work. Here are some of my favorite love and lovely songs. There is no order, only selected via stream of consciousness. Whatever that's supposed to mean. I'll be heading to New York tomorrow in preparation for Red Velvet's concert in Newark so expect some RV content of sorts in the days after.
Red Velvet - Kingdom Come
As I've stated many times before on this blog, Red Velvet's softer ballad-loving side is my favorite. "Kingdom Come" is a beautiful take with mesmerizing harmonies that roll from start to finish. One of the reasons this style is made for Red Velvet is simply because of their voices. Have you heard Joy and Wendy? They are untouchable in this realm. Even Yeri and Irene (though limited in exposure) don't sound too far behind the rest of the gang. The lyrics were perfect when they mentioned "I won't wake from this dream."
Hey I had to work on Christmas Eve haha! Who needs an introduction? These are my picks for the top songs in 2018. Let's fucking get it.
#10. Pristin V - Get It
Apparently people slept on "Get It" but it's the best ever released by Pristin (even though this is a subunit). It's kinda sad, but this is what optimal Pristin looks like. The song matches the instrumental in the hard-hitting nature, while everyone serves up that femme fatale look. From Eunwoo's vocals to Rena's rapping, each member puts in a solid performance for a well-rounded track. Without any aegyo bullshit or unnecessary moments, it's easy to see why "Get It" earned a spot on this list. Hopefully the rest of Pristin can get on this level for the future.
#9. Stray Kids - I Am You
Stray Kids are the new kids on the block, and they've amassed quite the early portfolio. "I Am You" is a refreshing take on the typical energetic dance track mixed with some powerful rapping. Like SM, JYP finally has some solid rappers with this generation of groups. As far as first impressions go, they remind me of GOT7 if GOT7 had actual rappers. Changbin, Han, and Felix make the highlight reel (though the latter is mostly on voice alone) and the singers aren't bad either. I imagine they will pan out nicely thanks to their rapping and composition abilities.
