Speaking of which I think Apink's new song is pretty damn good.
Yeah, I like it too. Apink released pretty much exclusively bubblegum pop up until I'm So Sick in 2018. That's my favorite of theirs.
Yeah, I'm so sick was the first song of theirs I liked as well.
So does anyone buy physical CDs for their favorite Kpop artists?
I'm someone who, in the 90s, was compelled to track down every Tori Amos CD single I could find and bought trading cards for my favorite TV shows. So the deluxe packaging of Kpop CDs, combined with the fact they usually contain at least one random photocard- makes the temptation too great.
Here's my modest collection so far, with both the Black and Pink versions of BlackPink's CD, 6 Red Velvet CDs, 2 Momoland CDs, 1 Sunmi CD and the rest are Loona singles and albums.
More pics in spoiler tags so as not to bore the uninterested.
Blackpink's album comes with two random photocards and I was lucky to get one of each member from just one Pink version and one Black version of the album. Their lightstick also came with a set of 5 cards with photos of them with the lightstick in hand.
From 6 Red Velvet albums, I got 2 Irene cards, and one of each of the others
Here's all Loona CDs I own: 12 single CDs, 3 sub-unit albums, their ++ (Plus Plus) album, and 2 variant covers of two of the singles. And of course each CD came with a photocard.
And finally, photo cards for Yeonwoo, Daisy and HyeBin of Momoland, and Sunmi (in blue next to her bookmark).
Don't mind me as I continue to fanboy about Loona. Loona really knows how to work up the fans. They released a teaser today for their upcoming release. But first here's the video for the 3rd member, HaSeul, solo song "Let Me In" released in December 2016. They flew her to Iceland to film it and the video and the song are both equally beautiful.
Now this is the teaser released today, featuring the 11th member, Go Won.
The fandom is now abuzz with theories and speculation about the connections and implications.
If you're intrigued, here's an earlier film with the final subunit, yyxy, that's another work of art.
...and it just scared my cat as I was just rewatching it.
Mmm, I have trouble following groups with too many members.
Like, with NCT, with so many variations, I seriously know only two members. RV is great that way because they're only 5 members. BTS is probably my upper limit and even then I can only pick out a few of the members vocally and visually.
I'm really liking Blackpink the more I listen to them, and Twice makes for a good lighter offsetting tone for the harder hitting music.
So does anyone buy physical CDs for their favorite Kpop artists?
Nope. All of my K-pop consumption is through YouTube and Spotify. I dropped physical media for my music as soon as I could.
Mmm, I have trouble following groups with too many members.
Like, with NCT, with so many variations, I seriously know only two members. RV is great that way because they're only 5 members. BTS is probably my upper limit and even then I can only pick out a few of the members vocally and visually.
Yeah, it's tough following groups with so many members. The more there are, the fewer opportunities there are to recognize their individuality, particularly with the obsession with equal line distribution.
9 seems to be my upper limit so far with Girls Generation, 9 Muses (when they had 9 members), Momoland, and Twice fitting that mold. I've watched/listened to a bunch of NCT stuff, but I'm only familiar with maybe 3 of the members because there's too much to keep track of.
So does anyone buy physical CDs for their favorite Kpop artists?
I don't have favorite Kpop artists yet, but if I ever develop any and want to buy their music, I'll definitely look for CDs. I like them because they're unencrypted and easy to rip into any format I want. Buying FLACs is also perfectly acceptable, but the physical permanence of a CD is nice.
The extra foofoorah stuff isn't of much interest, but I imagine I'd peruse it at least once. If there were cheaper editions with just the CD and a sleeve, though, I'd buy those instead. I don't care overmuch, anymore, what they look like, just how they sound. That wasn't true when I was younger, but in middle age, meh. They're all impossibly gorgeous, that's all I need to know. 
Mmm, I have trouble following groups with too many members.
Like, with NCT, with so many variations, I seriously know only two members. RV is great that way because they're only 5 members. BTS is probably my upper limit and even then I can only pick out a few of the members vocally and visually.
I'm really liking Blackpink the more I listen to them, and Twice makes for a good lighter offsetting tone for the harder hitting music.
So far I only know the members of BlackPink, Red Velvet, EXID, Loona, and most of Momoland (there's a couple names I always forget in this group).
I tend to watch a lot of interviews and other show appearences with these groups and thus get to know the personalities better, and I think get a greater appreciation of their music. BlackPink has BlackPink House, which follows them around to various places, vacationing, goofing off, a lot of eating, etc.
Loona has LoonaTV which currently has 466 videos(!!)- But most of them are less than a minute long and show behind the scenes of the filming of the videos and introduce the members one at a time like their singles did so it's a great way to get to know all the members and is the main reason I can currently name all twelve without hesitation.
For EXID, I got introduced to by ReacttotheK mentioned previously when they reacted to their b-side Boy:
I learned that LE, the rapper, writes a lot of the lyrics and music for them, so I became interested in her, then they were all hilarious in interviews I saw with them, so I got to know them all. Their current song, I Love You is great too, and features the return of member Solji who was ill for a couple years with hyperthyroidism.
Don't mind me as I continue to fanboy about Loona.
The amount of stuff that group has put out in such a short time is insane. I've watched the solo videos for a little over half the members so far. I should get around to the rest sometime soon. Kim Lip's "Eclipse" is my favorite.
For EXID, I got introduced to by ReacttotheK mentioned previously when they reacted to their b-side Boy:
I learned that LE, the rapper, writes a lot of the lyrics and music for them, so I became interested in her, then they were all hilarious in interviews I saw with them, so I got to know them all. Their current song, I Love You is great too, and features the return of member Solji who was ill for a couple years with hyperthyroidism.
EXID's rise to popularity is a crazy story. They debuted back in 2012 to very little fanfare. They released a few singles over the next couple years leading up to the release of "Up & Down" in 2014. That also failed to perform, not even managing to break into the top 100 of the Gaon Chart (basically the Billboard chart for Korea). The group was on the verge of disbanding until this fancam appeared a couple months later and went viral. It reached far outside of their tiny fanbase and rocketed them to popularity in Korea. "Up & Down" began slowly climbing the charts domestically and eventually reached the top of the Gaon Chart. They were invited back to numerous music shows to perform "Up & Down" despite their promotions having ended months prior. EXID is one of the most popular girl groups today, and it's all thanks to that one Hani fancam.
This is one of my favorite EXID songs that most new fans don't know about. Video is kinda weird 
EXID is one of the strongest vocal groups around. Both Hani and Hyerin have great voices, but Solji is a cut above. She was originally hired on as EXID's vocal coach before joining the group in 2012. EXID blew up in 2014 because of the fancam, and then Solji made a name for herself in 2015 by winning the first King of the Masked Singer competition. She had to go on hiatus after being diagnosed with hyperthyroidism in 2016, then "re-debuted" by winning King of the Masked Singer again. She is one of the best singers in all of K-pop.
Ah yes, THAT FANCAM! It's notorious in kpop circles! Their music videos can be uh intense as well! EXID has a lot of variation in their music. They're a group worth listening to in more detail, I haven't had a chance to yet.
I think the biggest issue with kpop physical media is that there tend to be several variations of the same album, encouraging those with a soft spot for multiple members to purchase more than one copy just to get the exclusive cards/photos. I guess they need to make their money somehow, right?
EXID's rise to popularity is a crazy story. They debuted back in 2012 to very little fanfare. They released a few singles over the next couple years leading up to the release of "Up & Down" in 2014. That also failed to perform, not even managing to break into the top 100 of the Gaon Chart (basically the Billboard chart for Korea). The group was on the verge of disbanding until this fancam appeared a couple months later and went viral.
Yeah, I watched a video on EXID's history and saw the fancam. They also had footage of a fan meet up from early in their career where only like a dozen fans showed up. Amazing that the one fancam turned their career around.
I think the biggest issue with kpop physical media is that there tend to be several variations of the same album, encouraging those with a soft spot for multiple members to purchase more than one copy just to get the exclusive cards/photos. I guess they need to make their money somehow, right?
Yeah, I need to be very careful not to get too caught up in that (no more than I have already). For example, with Red Velvet right now, I'm content that I've got one card of each member, spread out over several different albums. I'm in no rush to collect every card from every release.
Also, one thing to note when groups have different versions of the same album they'll often have different sets of photocards for each version. So in version A you can get 1 of 8 cards, and version B you can get 1 of 8 different cards.
Wow, talk about hyper-monetization. But you might be able to get back some of the purchase price by selling off the cards, so I guess it's not all bad.
Well, unless you like the cards and are a completionist, which could get very, very financially painful.
BTW, thanks for all these links. I haven't listened to them all yet, but I've been having fun dropping by and hitting play on something new when I've got some downtime. I'm not a big fan of the videos themselves, but the music is highly listenable.
edit: "Come Back Home" is really earwormy. That one's definitely stuck with me.
Here's a nice, but seemingly overlooked recent release:
Great find! I’m quite enjoying it
I'm OK.
I'm looking forward to a couple or three songs coming out soon.
In the meantime I've been finding a few fun songs that I think are worth sharing here:
I don't know anything about any of these artists except that these songs are rocking my world.
I don't know anything about any of these artists except that these songs are rocking my world.
That last one is Hyoyeon from Girls Generation. I also like the song, but I wish the video was more focused on the dancing. She's an amazing dancer, and the choreography for this song is awesome.
If you don't know anything about Hyo, I take it you aren't familiar with Girls Generation, aka SNSD? You should check them out if not. I still think SNSD has more great videos and title tracks than any other K-pop group. Into the New World, Gee, Oh!, Hoot, Mr. Taxi, Genie, Mr. Mr., I Got A Boy, Run Devil Run, Lion Heart, Catch Me If You Can... those are just off the top of my head. The list goes on.
Most recently, they made a subunit called Oh!GG.
The only new comeback to catch my ear in the last few weeks is Gfriend's Sunrise. I like most of Gfriend's title tracks, but this is one of my favorites alongside Rough and Time for the Moon Night. They have such a distinct sound compared to every other group.
That is a fun dance version of the song. I've got very limited knowledge of Girls Generation- I'm sort of familiar with Gee, I've Got A Boy and Lion Heart, plus the Oh!GG song.
And I've also enjoyed another Girls Generation member, Tiffany Young, who is doing her own solo thing and trying to make her mark in American music.
This was released 4 days ago:
and this song was when I first discovered her:
...and now that I know the Girls Generation connection I realize that Hyoyeon makes a cameo appearance in the video... I guess I'm not too good at connecting the dots.
Tiffany Young - Born Again
Love it!
Minseo returns with 2cm, a lovely laid-back song. The release of this song also marks the release of her first physical CD which I'm currently trying to figure out the best way to buy.
CLC - No. I really liked Black Dress from last year, so I was curious to see what they'd follow up with. I'm liking it.
Tscott wrote:Tiffany Young - Born Again
Love it!
That one is really good. Love the wall-of-sound effect.
There's apparently a store on the West Coast that the rumour is if you put extra comments about your bias they will slip in extra phot cards / content free of charge. A fellow Kpop fan told me she ordered some BTS merch and they did exactly that. I'll see if I can find out more. Might not apply for idols going solo.
There's apparently a store on the West Coast that the rumour is if you put extra comments about your bias they will slip in extra phot cards / content free of charge. A fellow Kpop fan told me she ordered some BTS merch and they did exactly that. I'll see if I can find out more. Might not apply for idols going solo.
Okay got the info! It's Choice Music LA! They ship anywhere in Murica.
Thanks for the info on Choice Music LA! I checked out their site and they look pretty good- although they currently don't have Minseo's album, but I'm going to keep them in mind for possible future purchases. I did find an unboxing video of her album, and discovered there's no photocard, which is a little disappointing, but there's photo book that looks nice, so I'll likely get it eventually from somewhere.
In other news, Blackpink's in your area! Well sorta, they will be on Stephen Colbert Monday Feb. 11th and Good Morning America the next morning. I'm looking forward to seeing it all on Youtube because I don't have cable. Blackpink's American revolution begins!
And Loona continue to tease with info on the next album- with the four teasers last month, and now they've been releasing new promo pictures of individual members on twitter and Instagram.
Today they released the tracklist. As suspected 'XX' will be a repackage of the album '++', there will be 6 new songs and the previously released songs will appear at the end of the album in reverse order of how they appeared on '++' which finally explains this teaser they posted last October:
Are you ready?
Itzy, the new 5-member girl group under JYP Entertainment (label for Twice, Stray Kids, Wonder Girls, etc.) just debuted.
The song starts off very 2NE1 and then... goes places. I dunno, it's very disjointed. It kinda ends up sounding like a slightly edgier Twice song in the end. It seems like the K-pop community at large isn't too hot on it, but I kinda like it. Then again, aside from Likey, my favorite Twice songs have been the more divisive ones too, like TT and Signal.
Regardless, the girls are charismatic and talented dancers, so I'm excited to see what they bring with their first comeback.
When I was first getting into Kpop last summer, I automatically assumed that G(I-dle) were seasoned veterans firmly exstablished in the Kpop world when I heard this song:
It wasn't until much later that I realized this was their debut song.
Maybe I'm holding newer groups to a too high standard based on this, but Itzy isn't wowing me too much with their 1st song. Not that I dislike it, and I think the video is pretty fun, but I'm not rushing to add them to my collection just yet.
Same with another group debut that came out a couple weeks ago, Cherry Bullet. Again, the song's OK, but it's missing a certain 'wow' factor for me. But like Itzy, Cherry Bullet's video is fun, and the song is pleasant enough after repeated listens.
However, there is one 2019 group debut that is sticking with me. Song's catchy and gets stuck in my head and I really like the laid-back intensity feel it has:
Momoland is apparently planning a new album for March
Link is to reddit post, but that links through to a Korean article. I sincerely hope it's legit.
BlackPink just announced their first US tour!
I'm a giant Asian-pop fan (China has some great stuff, too) but I'd kind of fallen off lately. Thanks for bringing it back up to the top of my mind. I have some awesome catching up to do it looks like.
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