It’s been awhile since I’ve connected with a new aespa single, but as they move their attention to the Japanese market with Kiss N Tell, there’s an opportunity to switch things up and offer a different sound. This isn’t a complete reinvention, but takes the banging electro influence of songs like Lemonade and merges it … Continue reading
There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” … Continue reading
One Pact have been swimming upstream since debut, fighting against an increasingly monolithic agency system that doesn’t afford many chances for acts from small-to-mid companies. Any residual Boys Planet buzz has long since faded and they’re left to fend for themselves. To their credit, they’re a largely self-produced group, making it easier to take matters … Continue reading
Fresh off a funny little foray into country music last year, J.Y. Park has returned to his bread and butter. New single Wet acts as a theme to this year’s Waterbomb Festival and also pulls him back to the dancefloor, recalling vinyl pants of days gone by. Of course, this is an artist now well … Continue reading
There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” … Continue reading
It’s the battle of the 8s this week, with 8TURN coming back yesterday and LUN8 waiting in the wings today. I don’t think these two groups have anything in common beyond the number in their name, yet I link them together because both feel completely malleable in sound. If you asked me what a LUN8 … Continue reading
Last week, Seventeen’s Dino delivered his first work as alter-ego Picheolin. A few days ago, the tracklist for his album was revealed and I became most interested in its title track produced by the elusive K-pop genius Hitchhiker. Hopefully that song is more than a simple schtick, because today’s pre-release Micheo Micheo (미쳐 미쳐) feels … Continue reading
Hyolyn has become synonymous with summer, first as a member of Sistar and then as a solo act. She’s leveraged that position once again for a new mid-summer album but isn’t playing into obvious summer tropes. New single ChecK could be played year round as long as you’re in the mood for some more Y2K … Continue reading
OURBIRTHDAY will eventually be a seven member group under JYP subsidiary INNIT Entertainment, but they’re rolling out their members in waves. The first three (Hyejin, Achiraya and Baby — yes, you read that last one right) have made their debut today with pre-release single Hungry (Side A). If this were truly my birthday, I’d be … Continue reading
I featured Superstar on my J-pop round-up a few days ago, but I know only a sliver of readers regularly check that out and the song has since become a staple on my playlist so I thought I’d give it a longer write-up. PG are a co-ed, very young group from Avex that first hit … Continue reading
There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” … Continue reading
It’s a big week for the number 8. Today, 8TURN are making their comeback. Tomorrow, LUN8 are following suit. Based on the names alone, it would be easy to get these two groups mixed up, but so far 8TURN have released more songs that I’ve enjoyed. However, they’ve yet to find (and stick with) a … Continue reading
After a few years of releasing very solid material, Wonho turned his attention to global markets and his music began to suffer. With his new album Core, he seems to have returned to the sounds most central to him. For title track Don’t Wake Me Up!, that means a re-embrace of big dance beats. Of … Continue reading
Recently, fromis_9 have made their bid for K-pop’s beloved “summer queens” title, releasing their past few albums during this season. That title used to come along with a killer Duble Sidekick, Brave Brothers or Black Eyed Pilseung track, but in the era of song camps we just don’t get those idiosyncratic sounds any more. However, … Continue reading
There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” … Continue reading
U-Know is one of a handful of idols now working in his third decade as a performer. That’s rarefied air and a huge achievement for any pop star. He didn’t make his “official” solo debut until 2019, but has steadily been releasing material since then. Time’s Tickin’ is his new single album and continues to … Continue reading
There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” … Continue reading
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. But each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And even more than that, I’ll attempt to rank them from my least-to-most-liked. I invite you to share … Continue reading
In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading
BTS have been drip-feeding music videos from their comeback album Arirang, releasing the most recent ones as Spotify premium exclusives. This limits their audience to paying Spotify listeners (which I am not), but they’ve also uploaded the new mv for Normal on YouTube, thus earning them a write-up here. I can’t say I’m excited for … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 