I am amused that two songs with the same title came out within days of each other:
IVE - I AM
BIBI - I AM...
Well, I like the new title track for IVE's new album more than their pre-release. That being said, I don't know that it tops their previous singles. Still solid and playlist-worthy, though. Also, I really wanna see the behind-the-scenes video for this MV, the skydiving bit in particular.
LEE CHAE YEON - KNOCK
Former IZ*ONE member and ITZY Chaeryeon's sister. I liked her debut, Hush Rush, but this... This is was I was hoping for from her.
That new Lee Chaeyeon song is pretty good! I'm also in the camp of thinking it's a bit better than Hush Rush, but it's not the breakout hit she deserves, although I hope it does well for her. You know that feeling you get when you first hear an absolute banger? Like, when I first heard STAYC's debut, I was gobsmacked at how good it was. Maybe it's a high bar, but that's the kind of song that Chaeyeon should get.
Now for a complete subject change: I'm still on that springtime kick for Throwback Thursday! We're going back to 2014 with the debut song from HIGH4, a male group (shocking, I know, but just wait) that featured IU (there we go). This song was very big that year, and achieved an all-kill on the Korean music charts at the time, but unfortunately none of their follow-up releases ever came close to the same success and they disbanded after about 4 years. However, the song is still great and is a staple during springtime. You probably have already heard it a bunch, but if not, check it out!
HIGH4 featuring IU - Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms
Been quiet in here lately, but there's been some new releases to talk about, starting with a new track from Yeeun that dropped last week. Following up her first digital single from March, this is a lot more of what I was expecting from CLC's rapper. It's very minimal musically, but I think it works.
Yeeun - Cherry Coke
Then today we have a new single from Alice (sans two members that are on hiatus) that I think is really catchy. This one is definitely going into the playlist.
ALICE - Show Down
Sad news today as boy group Astro's Moonbin was found dead in his home. He was 25.
Multiple groups are postponing/canceling events/releases in wake of this news. Billlie has announced all their promotions are cancelled for the next week. Moon Sua from Billlie is his sister and while they weren't close in the past they had recently reunited because they were both in active K-pop groups. My heart goes out to her and her family.
Sad news today as boy group Astro's Moonbin was found dead in his home. He was 25.
I just heard...I'd hoped that we were past stuff like this; that the previous deaths of Gu Hara and Sulli and Jonghyun were enough of a lesson for everyone in the industry to take their mental health more seriously and be more aware of signs that someone is in need of help. It seems not.
R.I.P. Moonbin, I was only familiar with his work in passing, but he always seemed genuine, funny, and talented.
Skipping #tbt this week. Pouring one out for Moonbin and sending good vibes towards his family and the other Astro members. See you soon.
It's been quiet lately, but here's Seventeen to hopefully brighten your day.
Seventeen - (Super)
happy Throwback Thursday everyone! We've been a bit light on releases this past week or so (thanks to Tscott for the update on the new Seventeen drop), so I thought we could use a real jolt to get the juices flowing again. I noticed going through my notes that we haven't talked too much about the group f(x) in the thread, and so I'm gonna correct that situation now with one of my favorite songs of theirs.
The group debuted under SM in 2009, and their first EP in 2010 was a pretty big hit, but IMO it wasn't until 2011 that they really hit their stride. I plan to come back to that 2011 song later in the year (hint: it's a summer song), but then in 2012 they released their second EP, the title track of which is a classic example of a 'high energy' type of song that makes you wanna get up and dance. Please enjoy!
f(x) - Electric Shock
When I got into kpop in 2018, I watched a bunch of 'list' videos- most viewed kpop songs, iconic songs everyone should know, etc. and found f(x) that way- although I only really know Electric Shock and 4 Walls.
I also think of 4Minute in the same way, I found the song Hate in the same sort of way- watched a video full of song clips and the hook just stood out the most out of everything else.
So I guess I'll submit 4Minute - Hate for Throwback Thursday...
4Minute - Hate
When I got into kpop in 2018, I watched a bunch of 'list' videos- most viewed kpop songs, iconic songs everyone should know, etc. and found f(x) that way - although I only really know Electric Shock and 4 Walls.
I'd say that f(x) has (what I would consider) at least three other 'must listen' MVs. Their album 'Pink Tape' in particular was quite highly regarded based on comments I was seeing at the time so (at the risk of spoiling a future #tbt) if I was to recommend one thing I'd say listen to that album or at least the single off of it, 'Rum Pum Pum Pum'.
I also think of 4Minute in the same way, I found the song Hate in the same sort of way - watched a video full of song clips and the hook just stood out the most out of everything else.
Yeah, 'Hate' goes hard once that beat drops so I can see it standing out in a crowd! I would say 'Crazy' is their most iconic song, although they have a couple earlier songs produced by Brave Brothers that I actually like a bit more. Looking back, I was really into Brave Brothers-produced songs there for a while between 4Minute, AOA, and Brave Girls.
New Le Sserafim dropped:
Le Sserafim - Unforgiven
Really liking it! The guitar twang is fun and lends it a unique vibe. Also saw a stage for another song off of the album, No Return, and it was really good too. This album is a great jumping on point as it has new versions of a bunch of their old singles on it as well as the new stuff.
Le Sserafim - No Return (stage performance)
aespa - Welcome to MY World
a very lovely pre-release song for their upcoming album.
there's a 2nd pre-release from aespa, I guess? Soon they're just gonna pre-release everything but the single...
I think the track videos are part (half or 2/3rds) of the song, and yeah I think they're releasing more in the lead up to release day.
I think the track videos are part (half or 2/3rds) of the song, and yeah I think they're releasing more in the lead up to release day.
Ah, I hadn't realized that it wasn't the full song. Thanks for the update!
Now for our weekly dose of nostalgia, it's time once again for Throwback Thursday. Last week I commented on a throwback about songs produced by Brave Brothers, so I thought I'd go back and find a good one for this week, and I also checked my notes and noticed we haven't really talked about AOA much in the thread so far, so I'm gonna kill two birds with one stone on this one. This is one of my favorite AOA songs, back when they still had a (mostly) complete roster and no scandals had come around to tarnish the reputation of any members. I've been wondering if I should feature artists with stuff like that in their past, but in this case I've decided that the group should not be punished for the actions of any one person, so I'm not gonna go into it. You can look it up if you like. Today I just wanna enjoy some music and a fun heist-themed video. Hope you like it!
AOA - Like a Cat
So this is interesting. Apparently Brave Girls singed with a new label together and will be re-debuting with a new name, BB Girls. I mean, they seemed to be largely ignored by their company. They had this amazing meteoric rise from near disbandment to winning awards for a song from, what, five years prior? And somehow the company couldn't capitalize on it. It's cool they all stayed together and kept it going. Hopefully, they can bring some of their songs with them because "Rollin'" is a banger.
(tripleS +(KR)ystal Eyes) - Cherry Talk
Another tripleS subunit release. This time with 4 members. While they've been releasing good music, I personally have been having trouble following them with all the line-up changes. Although, I guess it does allow them to release a lot of music regularly and at the same time should cut down on member burnout- so there's that.
So this is interesting. Apparently Brave Girls singed with a new label together and will be re-debuting with a new name, BB Girls. I mean, they seemed to be largely ignored by their company. They had this amazing meteoric rise from near disbandment to winning awards for a song from, what, five years prior? And somehow the company couldn't capitalize on it. It's cool they all stayed together and kept it going. Hopefully, they can bring some of their songs with them because "Rollin'" is a banger.
Great news! I'm assuming they'll be able to sing 'cover' versions of their old songs during concerts and such; lots of other groups sing cover songs during concerts, especially if their own song catalog is not large enough to fill a lot of time when they are first starting out.
(tripleS +(KR)ystal Eyes) - Cherry Talk
Another tripleS subunit release. This time with 4 members. While they've been releasing good music, I personally have been having trouble following them with all the line-up changes. Although, I guess it does allow them to release a lot of music regularly and at the same time should cut down on member burnout- so there's that.
Yeah, I've been following them quite a bit on Youtube, their channel is very active with short (around 5 minutes) daily videos. My understanding is that very few of the releases going forward will be composed of the entire roster of tripleS. It will all be sub-units of some sort. For example, they've already started promoting what the next two songs will be (Evolution and Lovelution) on the channel and in their phone app, where you could vote on which members would be assigned to each song. Not only that, but each song will also have a new member that is revealed at the time the song comes out, bringing the total number of tripleS members up to sixteen! It's an interesting idea that, as you said, should help avoid burnout while at the same time increases the rate of new releases (hopefully the quality of the releases can be maintained as well). I like this new track, though. Getting a bit of New Jeans vibe off of it, which is not surprising given how popular that group has been.
NMIXX just dropped a special video for one of their b-sides from the latest EP. It's pretty fun.
NMIXX - PAXXWORD
NMIXX just dropped a special video for one of their b-sides from the latest EP. It's pretty fun.
NMIXX - PAXXWORD
Way too nerd for me.
Seventeen -F*ck My Life
aespa - Spicy
It's a different vibe from what I'm usually expecting from aespa and I'm liking it.
aespa - Spicy
It's a different vibe from what I'm usually expecting from aespa and I'm liking it.
I'm just glad they decided to go with one song and not try to frankenstein two or more songs together. And no Kwangya/Naevis bits in the song as far as I can tell. Maybe they're moving away from that concept; after they ending from the last video where they defeated Black Mamba and Naevis had to leave Kwangya and be "welcomed to my world" I wonder if they're done with that part of their lore.
All that being said, I think the song is a jam; hopefully this release will do some good numbers for them. But RIP to Karina's hair, I hope it doesn't get too damaged from these promotions!
Tried some BTS since I keep hearing about them from everywhere. The two videos I watched were okay.
Not a real fan of BTW. Except for Dynamite. That's catchy as hell.
new Japanese single from IVE just came out:
IVE - Wave
It's...okay. Not feeling it too much tbh.
(G)I-DLE - Allergy
Liking the video and the social commentary of this pre-release song.
Also, l've been vibing with the new LE SSERAFIM album lately. And they've released a choreography version of their title track UNFORGIVEN, which I really like since the official MV had a couple pauses in the music that was cutting into my enjoyment of the song.
LE SSERAFIM - 'UNFORGIVEN (feat. Nile Rodgers)' (Choreography ver.)
Not a real fan of BTW. Except for Dynamite. That's catchy as hell.
My hot take is that Dynamite isn't only the best BTS song, but it's also the best Bruno Mars song.
first off, there' a new iChillin M/V out:
This one's got a bit of a harder edge than their other releases. That being said, I'm liking it so far; I don't know if it's quite good enough to break through for them but I think it's worth checking out.
Also, while I'm here I thought I'd get the #tbt taken care of early this week. The weather around here has been getting to the point where I finally had to take the cover off the air conditioner and make sure it was working properly (it was. YAY!) so I think it might be time for one of my favorite tracks off of the KARA album 'SOLO Collection' that came out in 2012. As the title states, the whole album is all solo songs from each of the members of KARA. There's a lot to like on this album, but I think this song is a great bridge between spring and summer. Check it out!
Gu Hara (of KARA) - Secret Love
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