[Bonus] The Late Report: August 2020

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.

[Bonus] Best Of 2019...So Far

It'll be tradition to post a Best Of the year at the midway point because I loved the idea that some songs would start strong early and then falter off, or new challengers would rise up during the second half. In the 2018 edition four of the nominees would go on to make the final list at the end of the year so let's see if 2019 can do better. Compared to last year, I haven't paid as much attention music-wise because I've been busier (though blog production is the best going into July over the last three years) but I'm pretty comfortable with my list. This time we'll go in alphabetical order by artist, to prevent bias when I reference this at the end of the year for Best Of 2019.

Chungha - Gotta Go

Oh look it's Chungha again, back so soon? "Gotta Go" is the pinnacle of her solo career thus far, showcasing her wide range of vocals, enchanting choreography, and gorgeous visuals. She struts her stuff from start to finish and the fact that it kept improving off her previous releases makes things even better. Extremely consistent, excellent composition, and stellar aesthetics make for a well-rounded track out of this well-rounded artist.

GFriend - Sunrise

This entry is a painful reminder I need to finish the next iteration of Girl Group Power Rankings seeing as GFriend is coming back very soon. Nonetheless their "Sunrise" was a perfect way to start the Kpop year. The main selling point of this song is the chorus, which is once again spearheaded by their two-headed vocal monster in Yuju and Eunha. Said chorus is exhilarating and climbs in both the notes and energy, something which you'll see from another girl group later in this post. Between the strong team performance and beautiful structure of the song, "Sunrise" is yet another addition to GFriend's repertoire.

[Bonus] 2017 Kpop Awards

Welcome to the 2017 Kpop Awards post...in 2018. Unfortunately I've been sick for more days this new year than healthy, and thus the delayed release. This is a consolidated form of the awards, which will have eight prestigious awards and their magnificent recipients. Some of these might be obvious, and some others might surprise you. Let's see who the champions are this year.

Best Girl Group: Red Velvet

Two girl groups clearly dominated the competition in 2017. So why Red Velvet over Twice? For starters, even though Twice had better numbers on the charts, Red Velvet wasn't unrealistically far behind. More importantly, while both groups had a rigorous promotion schedule, Red Velvet simply had better music on the whole. I consider their worst release this year ("Rookie") stronger than Twice's best release ("Heart Shaker"). Then you have "Red Flavor" and "Peek-A-Boo," which were both stellar dance tracks that succeeded their previous flagship title of "Ice Cream Cake." They also brought back a little of their velvet side with Station releases, but hopefully their next comeback will be something along the lines of "One Of These Nights."

Best Boy Group: BTS

Surprise surprise, BTS is the boy group to beat. They had yet another efficient showing: four more solid tracks to add to their library. "DNA," "Spring Day," and "Not Today" were all different flavors of the BTS recipe: the refreshing pseudo-R&B track, the slower sentimental piece, and the tough dance juggernaut. Then you had the "Mic Drop" remix with hilarious English yet it was a damn good remix. Well done Steve Aoki. Perhaps most important out of BTS' 2017 is their early adventures in the American market. Appearances on shows like Jimmy Fallon and Ellen are no joke. I'm not saying they'll crush it in the U.S. should they embark on such a journey, but it's definitely a good starting point.