Kpop music thread. Stan talent, Stan-all.

(G)I-DLE - I'm the Trend

Lyric Spoiler

Spoiler:

...'Oh my god'

I'm gonna 'Blow Your Mind'
And make your everyday 'LATATA'
I'm a queen like a 'LION'
You better move like woh 'Uh-Oh'

I'm gonna 'Blow Your Mind'
And make your everyday 'LATATA'
Now you're in my 'MAZE'
You better move like 'Senorita'

Interesting interview today on NPR's Here & Now DJ Sessions with Soju, sharing some of her favorite Kpop songs.

Interesting article. I wasn't familiar with Soju before this. I guess Psy's Gangnam Style has left the collective psyche if the article's author is citing the ticket reservations at Trump's Tulsa Rally as when "K-pop first entered many Americans’ consciousness".

Also new today;
GFriend - Apple

Dreamcatcher - R.o.S.E BLUE

Not a full comeback, but a song promote a video game. Something called Girl Cafe Gun.

Damn, this is beautiful and sad.

A second video from Hwasa's Maria album.

Tscott wrote:

And one new release that I didn't even know was a thing. Apparently there's a new sister group to TWICE and ITZY: NiziU.

This is their pre-release song which features a cameo from JYP himself, and some callouts to a few TWICE and ITZY songs.

This song is getting MAJOR replay from me lately... At first, I thought it was pretty bare bones, but now I can't not have it stuck in my head at work on any given day. Went and watched some of the clips from the show which the group was formed, and though the drama and tears is a bit much, it really makes you root for all of them!

Tscott wrote:

Also, I know I tend to focus mostly on girl groups here. What are some good songs by boy groups from the first half of 2020 that I should know about?

There hasn't been a ton that's stuck out to me in the first half of this year, particularly with super upbeat tracks. Most of the ones I've been listening to are more chill or RnB vibes:

Jimin (BTS) - Filter
Monsta X - You Can't Hold My Heart
ONEUS - A Song Written Easily
OVAN - I Need You
Jay Park - All The Way Up

My 3 favorites from the last few months:

Jackson Wang - 100 Ways

Agust D - Daechwita

Bang Ye Dam's Wayo, though my favorite rendition features AKMU's Suhyun:

Thanks. That's some good stuff. I'm especially liking the Jackson Wang and the Monsta X tracks.

Anybody else been missing EXID? Here's their latest Japanese release:

Speaking of Boy Groups I've been enjoying Seventeen's Left & Right. It's a lot of fun.

I'm also liking Stray Kids - Easy

I sort of like their song, God's Menu, too, but sometimes it depends on my mood whether I find it awesome or obnoxious.

And I've grown to love Zico - Any Song. It seemed to be referenced everywhere I looked in Kpop for a while.

IRENE & SEULGI - Naughty

Tscott wrote:

IRENE & SEULGI - Naughty

That's some of the coolest choreo I've seen in a video. That scene with Seulgi dancing with Irene's hands in the foreground? Awesome. I'm loving everything about this subunit so far. I hope Episode 2 isn't far off.

In variety news, someone decided to give Jessi her own interview show. It's chaotic and hilarious:

Dyni wrote:

That's some of the coolest choreo I've seen in a video. That scene with Seulgi dancing with Irene's hands in the foreground? Awesome. I'm loving everything about this subunit so far. I hope Episode 2 isn't far off.

The form of dance with the hands is called "tutting" and GWSN used it a bit in their debut MV Puzzle Moon- but not to this extent.

There's a dancer that I saw doing it in a viral video once and then subscribed to her youtube channel, so that's how I'm familiar with it.
She's also familiar with some kpop.

In variety news, someone decided to give Jessi her own interview show. It's chaotic and hilarious:

I saw that episode with Solar a week or so ago and it was so funny. I been meaning to check out more videos of Jessi interviewing, but haven't yet.

I have been enjoying Yeri (from Red Velvet) doing her show though. So far she's had Nayeon (from TWICE), Yuri (from Girls Generation), Yubin (from the Wonder Girls, now soloist and CEO of her own company) and most recently her bandmates, Irene and Seulgi. Every one I've watched so far has been a lot of fun.

This is all that's out so far of the Irene and Seulgi episode, but more will be released later this week.

Dyni wrote:

I hope Episode 2 isn't far off.

Episode 2 - Irene

Dance video

Episode 3 - Seulgi Undercover

Solo song from the Monster EP (but shortened from the album version).

Also saw this article about Red Velvet linked on reddit: https://n.news.naver.com/entertain/n...

Through Google translate it says Wendy is working hard on rehabilitation exercises and practicing singing. They mention something called "Play" that will be a followup to Irene and Seulgi's Monster. I don't know if that's an other sub-unit or what. And after that they plan to return as all 5 members. Again this is through Google translate so I may be misreading- and it doesn't mention a timeline.

Finally, Yuri's next video with Irene and Seulgi is out.

Joy makes an appearance at the end and it's bittersweet to see the 4 together after so long- but without Wendy. They mention it as well, and say the next time they must have Wendy there too.

Tscott wrote:
Dyni wrote:

That's some of the coolest choreo I've seen in a video. That scene with Seulgi dancing with Irene's hands in the foreground? Awesome. I'm loving everything about this subunit so far. I hope Episode 2 isn't far off.

The form of dance with the hands is called "tutting" and GWSN used it a bit in their debut MV Puzzle Moon- but not to this extent.

Ah yeah, I think I saw that term being thrown around regarding Chungha's Stay Tonight as well. As cool as it looks, I have to imagine it's far more difficult to learn than standard K-pop choreography. Here's Naughty live:

Irene's doppelganger in Episode 2 comes off a little too uncanny valley if you pause in the wrong place

Lee Hi's first comeback with her new label, AOMG:

AOMG has Jay Park, Gray, Hoody, Loco, and plenty of others similar artists that put stuff out fairly regularly, so hopefully she can start to do the same now that she has escaped the YG dungeon.

Dyni wrote:

Lee Hi's first comeback with her new label, AOMG:

Thanks I missed this one and it's such a beautiful song. I loved her song No One from last year so I'm definitely glad to hear more from her.

April - Now or Never

Chuu (of LOONA) - Spring Flower | INTO THE RING OST

Ateez - Inception

Since Jessi was mentioned above, here's her new song.

Jessi - NUNU NANA

Tscott wrote:

And I've grown to love Zico - Any Song. It seemed to be referenced everywhere I looked in Kpop for a while.

Ah, that's what that song is. I've heard snippets of it everywhere, but I didn't know exactly what it is. Great song.

Tscott wrote:

Since Jessi was mentioned above, here's her new song.

Jessi has really grown on me. Aside from CL, she's the only artist where I'm never sure if I want her to sing or rap more. I love both her deep rapping voice and her raspy singing voice.

This is a great performance video that I missed from a few weeks ago:

It looks like (G)I-dle, Dreamcatcher, and Itzy all have comebacks in August. (G)I-dle on Monday.

And Dreamcatcher and Itzy are currently scheduled to comeback on the same day: the 17th.

There's also a girl group debut, Purple Kiss, that I'm interested in checking out. They're from Mamamoo's company RBW.

Also, Blackpink's second pre-release song should be out sometime this month. This one will include a featured artist on the song. There's been much speculation on who it might be but nothing concrete yet.

And of course many more. Should be an interesting month.

(G)I-DLE - DUMDi DUMDi

"Hands Up" from Cherry Bullet is one of my favorite songs from this year (the Fur Elise sample is just so addicting), after a couple listens I don't think "Aloha Oe" tops it but it's still a fun summer song/video.

Speaking of fun videos, here's Saturday with the song by them that has impressed me the most so far, D.B.D.B.DIB. Apparently budget and health (COVID-19) concerns affected their plans for the video, but it came out pretty nice. There's some definite ideas "borrowed" from TWICE, FROMIS_9 and MOMOLAND in it, but it's fun.

Finally, with a more mature note, here's BiBi's Cigarette and Condom (a.k.a "She Got It" on some platforms, like Itunes). I love her voice and her fringe take on the kpop scene.

J.Y. Park and Sunmi - When We Disco

And in other collab news, it’s been announced that the featured artist on the upcoming BlackPink single will be Selena Gomez. Looking forward to to hearing it.

Hedy - You Were Really Not Good

Hyolyn - 9Lives

I love this side of Hyolyn's style. Reminds me of youknowbetter.

Rothy - Ocean View

Tscott wrote:

Finally, with a more mature note, here's BiBi's Cigarette and Condom (a.k.a "She Got It" on some platforms, like Itunes). I love her voice and her fringe take on the kpop scene.

Kazino is one of my favorites from this year. I love this too. I need to check out more of her stuff.

Antichulius wrote:

I love this side of Hyolyn's style. Reminds me of youknowbetter.

She performed this live on MNet's Good Girl. It's an excellent performance:

Treasure's debut:

Taemin comeback:

First Taemin comeback in a while that I'm not really feeling.

SuperM's comeback:

It's super over the top just like Jopping. Fun video, but I wish I liked it more given how much talent there is in the group.

Dreamcatcher - BOCA

Itzy - Not Shy

My favorite from Dreamcatcher's new album. It sounds completely out of character for them, is fully in English, but I can't get it out of my mind...

Saw the teaser of this and knew it would be good, and it did not disappoint.

SEJEONG - Whale

Antichulius wrote:

My favorite from Dreamcatcher's new album. It sounds completely out of character for them, is fully in English, but I can't get it out of my mind... :)

Oh man, this song makes me nostalgic. DC has done plenty of EDM tracks, but this sounds like a mid-2000s Eurodance track. I love it. Also, I didn't realize it was all in English until it was almost over.

My other favorite from the album is Break the Wall, definitely on the heavier side for them. I love the use of megaphones to emulate vocal distortion:

Another awesome mini album from them. Oh, Boca is really good too I never expected moombahton and rock to mix so well, but Leez and Ollounder are just incredible producers. I just learned that they produce almost all of Ateez's music as well, so I really need to give them more of a thorough look.

Not Shy doesn't hit quite as strongly for me as Wannabe, but I still like it quite a bit. Itzy has yet to release a dud title track for me. I had a chance to check out their mini album yesterday as well. I didn't care for their b-sides on the first two albums, but this has several that I like. My favorite on first listen was probably Surf.

A couple other recent releases worth noting, Jessi - Numb:

Not my favorite Jessi song, but it really shows off her beautiful vocals.

Brave Girls - We Ride

I don't know much about Brave Girls other than the fact that they've been around for a while, but I've been rocking out to We Ride for the last few days.