It’s Sunday, which means it’s time to end the week with an open discussion post!
To keep things civil, there are a few rules:
- Be kind and respectful to one another. Any harassing language will be deleted.
- This is not a place to state what you don’t like about me and/or my blog. Move elsewhere, trolls.
- Video/gif/image embedding is totally fine. Just try to limit yourself to a couple per comment. Otherwise my moderation filter goes crazy.
Each week, I’ll open with a question to get the conversation going. Feel free to chat about anything, but if you’re not sure what to write you can use this question as a starting point.
This week’s question:
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
MY DROPS:
Snuper – The Star of Stars > Tulip
I’m not including “Dear” because it wasn’t promoted. Losing Sweetune was the end of the group, honestly.
MY RISES:
Nine Muses – No Playboy > Figaro
This is the opposite of Snuper! In this case, gaining Sweetune was all the difference.
Boyfriend – Boyfriend > Don’t Touch My Girl
The Sweetune effect again. I sense a pattern here…
Girl’s Day – Tilt My Head > Nothing Lasts Forever
Yeah, there was a semi-single In between, but otherwise this goes from gimmicky autotune to immortal classic real quick.
PLUS, A WEIRD RISE/DROP/RISE SITUATION:
ACE – Under Cover > Savage > Favorite Boys
This was just a weird run. Savage sticks out like a sore thumb!
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just today discovered girl’s day nothing last forever. i love it, especially the last part when it gets carried away and sweeps you with it.
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It’s a total masterpiece. Glad you found it!
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I 100000% agree with all of those
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Everglow’s switch-up from Dun Dun > La Di Da was everything honestly. Not saying Dun Dun was bad, but pretty much no one expected them becoming the group to release one of the best songs of the ‘retro trend’ that year.
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BTS with Spring Day > DNA, where their songs first started to trend generic. I think that was the start of them evolving a very different identity as a group.
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Listen, I’ll be the first to admit I’m not exactly a massive ARMY, but their output in mid 2016-early 2017 was extremely commendable. Tons of great stuff. While DNA has actually grown on me with time, I’d definitely pin it as both the moment BTS switched directions and the moment their brand truly exploded — it felt like they’d set a new YouTube record every five minutes that week. It was a fun time to be into K-Pop, at least! The excitement when the MV blew up was palpable even for non-fans.
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It’s gotta be Blackpink for me. I get that it worked (and continues to work) for a lot of people, but As If It’s Your Last to Ddu-Du Ddu-Du still stings. They’ve never really managed to climb up from that low in my mind, even though the occasional song of theirs lands.
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Apink’s run of I’m So Sick, %% (Eung Eung), and Dumhdurum is a master class on production by Black Eyed Pilseung (BEP) and fit the group like glove.
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I just wrote about them too! And I think their single from this year, Dilemma, belongs on that level too.
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aespa: Black mamba -> Forever* -> Next Level
EVERGLOW: Adios -> Dum Dum* -> La Di Da* -> First
NCT: Child -> Glitch Mode* -> Beatbox -> Rain Day* -> Forever Only* -> 2 baddies
VIVIZ – Bop Bop -> Loveade*
ITZY: Loco -> Sneakers* -> Boy’s Like You
*This is a bad song for me
My risers and fallers
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Honestly:
The Boyz post Reveal
Stray Kids post Side Effects/Double Knot
Ateez post Inception
Stayc post Asap
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Honestly, going from Butter to Permission to Dance for BTS was a bit jarring. Butter almost made me believe they were going to make the run of English-language singles work, and then it…didn’t.
Conversely, going from Hot Sauce to Hello Future with NCT Dream was whiplash-inducing in a good way!
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blackpink: their entire 2016-2017 material > now
the day teddy stopped pulling out old unused 2ne1 demos to give to blackpink was the day their music died….unless u count lovesick girls
onlyoneof: everything else thrill ride whisper
this ranking is not so much abt the song itself and more abt the comeback as a whole. now u know damn well that for my ults im gonna write a LONG essay abt this….the chase mini album. complete utter perfection absolutely no skips whatsoever and perfect concept. and imo….the boyziest the boyz has ever boyzed. then we get to thrill ride….now i actually really like thrill ride its not my personal fav tt of theirs but i love it for what it is. its something fresh! something fun! something for the summertime! and while most of the bsides on that mini r kinda mid theres like. 1 or 2 of them that r firmly in my top 10 tbz bsides (merry bad ending im looking at u) and again the concept was incredible. hausofteam NEVER EVER slips. and then maverick……yeah the song was uh. definitely a song but both of the bsides on that mini r in my top 5 tbz bsides like ur telling me they chose maverick for the tt over fucking RUSSIAN ROULETTE???? insane. also they could have turned that whole mv into a full length movie and id watch all of it easily my fav tbz concept next to the stealer. and then. whisper. HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO boy. if i said everything i wanted to say abt how horrendously executed that cb was this paragraph would be at least 50000000x longer than it is now. but im just gonna summarize it right here: (a) the ist merger should have never happened (b) who the fuck makes a group work on their entire mini in the span of 3 WEEKS WHILE ON A WORLD TOUR WITH SICK MEMBERS….like it rlly shows if u listen to the mini (c) ist quite literally got a guy with no creative direction experience whatsoever to do their concept and it ended up basically being this: https://preview.redd.it/6qdezshzkd141.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=81c7902242dd177a581f4c917334b545cf9e7bf1 (d) they couldnt even do a debut showcase bc they hadnt even fully memorized the choreo. like the planning was THAT bad (e) no eric. need i say more
so yeah in conclusion tbz im getting ur asses out of ist
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ok why did it fuck up my comment like this somehow it removed this chunk:
ooo: everything else thrill ride whisper
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aaaaa so apparently it fucked it up AGAIN
but yeah im taking out the ooo part now and its just
tbz: the stealer > thrill ride whisper
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aaaaa why cant i delete the above comment apparently it removed my tbz era ranking bc of something with the signs
but yeah from best to worst:
the stealer
maverick
thrill ride
whisper
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aaaaaa why did it screw my comment up AGAIN its supposed to be
tbz: the stealer maverick <- whisper
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Haha this whole thread is about as messy as IST’s promotion of The Boyz this year 🤪
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OUCH. But true.
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Kant Daniel: Paranoia to Joy ride (not saying Joy Ride is particularly awful but it’s just meh for me)
The Boyz: The Stealer to Thrill Ride
BTS: On to Dynamite
NCT 127 is a whole rollercoaster in itself
Stray Kids: Back Door to Wolfgang (that song utterly petrified me)
Mirae: Killa to Splash (major whiplash)
TO1: No More X to Drummin (in a good way!)
Itzy: Loco to Sneakers (genuinely sad)
There’s probably a lot more 😃
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Kang* Daniel
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I thin Kang Daniel is actually having a good year this year. I was meh on most of his earlier releases, but with the non-album duos I think he is finally finding his groove. “Hush hush” and “Move like this” are good songs, well done. Whether anyone is listening anymore is another question, but the quality is there now.
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Tbh I was mainly considering comebacks specifically. Move like this is actually one of my favorite kpop songs this year.
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oh its obvious
weeekly: after school -> holiday party* -> ven para*
*bad song
the concept change was the absolute worst decision any company can make and having The Hub produce the TT made it even worse
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Thank you. Now I don’t have to post my same thoughts.
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for me gidle’s musical output dropped after hwaa. i tried to like tomboy and nxde but repeat listens made it worse, not better. i still like all their pre-tomboy title tracks with the exception of dumdi dumdi.
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I’d agree with you, except: My Bag. Somehow this has become my favorite (G)I-DLE track of all of them. It’s a bit jarring, their change from wide-screen Enya-style girl-crush-adjacent epics, to indie/hip-hop/rock band, but if the songs work… I still don’t know what they are, what kind of band they are, what they’ll do next… Soyeon seems to favor the latter styles, and she seems to be guiding them(?) (not a bad thing, imo).
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They haven’t released anything I’ve given a damn about since Hann, tbh.
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Alright. Time for me to be hard on some groups I love, I guess.
EXID: just fell off HARD starting with Me & You.
Now that I think about it, what was the last Shinsadong Tiger song I’ve truly loved? He hasn’t been visible, and the few things I’ve heard of his lately are terrible. Elly’s involvement in these hurts me.
At this point I’ll just point out the strange rise-fall-rise situations of groups.
GFriend: Sunrise -> Fever -> Crossroads
Fever is the only legitimate dud in their Korean discography, imho. Even other songs I know you don’t love as much (I am a Summer Rain apologist if nothing else) have some merit to them. Fever is just… no.
A.C.E: Under Cover -> Savage -> Favorite Boys
Already pointed out by Nick.
ONF: Why -> Sukhumvit Swimming -> Beautiful Beautiful
I wish I liked Stupid Swimming but I can’t. It’s literally the only ONF title I cannot get into. The two songs sandwiching it are amazing, though.
CLC: Pepe -> Like -> … -> Hobgoblin
Honestly I can’t with this group lmfao. I love them, and in the later half of their career they finally found some consistency. But dear god some of their early title tracks are dreadful. How do you go from Pepe to… everything between that and Hobgoblin?
(I think Hobgoblin is great and everything after that is gravy, even Me is a bit of a misstep but nothing as dramatic as some of their more questionable early-career singles.)
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Taemin: Criminal -> Idea -> Advice
Most of his releases prior to 2020 were consistent in music quality. “Criminal” was a classic! It’s a shame that he then released dull tracks. Those tracks are a big drop in music quality, especially when they are compared to “Criminal” and his work pre-2020.
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As the resident contrarian, for me it is Advice >> Criminal>> Idea
I love the crazy high notes and the crazy stuttering pull ups on the notes.
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Weeekly’s change wase sad… from After School to Ven Para is just… sad. And I agree with all the comments on TBZ 😭 Kingdom Come was the last good thing from them for me… Maverick was tolerable but everything else is so horrible to me – Whisper and She’s the Boss especially make me give up all hope on them.
Now for good : CRAVITY!! Like wow!! From My Turn (which I don’t actually hate but the growth after that!) and Gas Pedal (Nope. I don’t like it lol) to Adrenaline and Party Rock!! If somebody told me an year or two back Cravity would be a group that brings me immense joy I would have laughed… and now the joke’s on me. Their latest output fits them like a glove and I hope they stick to it.
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Hey all, it’s been a minute, huh? I spent the morning tagging title tracks from the last couple of months, and yikes. My new unrated playlist has 810 songs in it and 114 of those are title tracks.
The only titles that have stuck in my mind from the last couple of months are Antifragile, Kwon Eunbi’s Underwater, and PINK FANTASY’s Get Out. I had forgotten about VolKno, which I unsurprisingly like a lot, and Last Man Standing, which I didn’t like as much as I hoped after reading the review here, but still like.
It was fun seeing all the comments on Nxde – I couldn’t find it in my library but had the rest of the EP. It took a minute to remember that I disliked it SO MUCH I deleted it almost immediately.
Anyhow, guess I’ll start listening and rating if I want to put together a year-end list. I have no idea if I’ll make it though all those b-sides, but I already know the winner because it’s Cyberpunk because OF COURSE IT IS and I’m seeing it live in three days and looking forward to screaming my damn head off. Fingers crossed for more wardrobe malfunctions.
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May I suggest doing a course sorting by playcount, because the finger on the skip button does not lie.
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Apink were an excellent group, but I think when B.E.P. entered the picture – 7 years after they debuted! – they became a truly great one, with an exciting upgrade in sophistication that suits their maturity as a band. It began in 2018 with I’m So Sick, and continues to today: %% (Eung Eung), Dumhdurum, & Dilemma. That’s a great run of singles, imo. (Plus BEP has turned out 6 or 7 brilliant STAYC singles in the same period.)
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Dilemma has never left my top 10 this year.
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To me the biggest glowup maybe ever is Stellar. Probably the worst debut song maybe ever (Rocket Girl), then two slightly better songs followed by a string of some of the best songs of all time and then disbandement
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As a relative newbie, I know it’s controversial, but the
Dem Jointz songs on NCT 127’s 2 Baddies were terrific and I think he’s had a really good run with them. (Yes, I liked Sticker, Kick It, and Punch.)
Whoever is producing TAN these days needs to get back to the feel of the first EP. We never got the second part of Fix youPt1 and the world is poorer for it.
Also, please let Kingdom’s Mujin and Dann and other members contribute to a title track. Every b-side I like of theirs has one or both of them contributing.
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I guess this is difficult on fans of the group, because it felt like everyone “switched up on them”, but Weeekly going into Ven Para was just … absurdity. A concept that doesn’t fit the girls accompanied by one of the worst attempts at a “space girl crush” song I’ve ever heard. I know that Holiday Party wasn’t that liked either, but I prefered it over Ven Para.
Also, as a fan of ONEUS, I feel obligated to complain about their company wanting to push “versatility” on them when the versatile songs in question are No Diggity and Bring It On, that not even the members liked. I enjoy ND, but I can tell why other people don’t.
Going No Diggity to Black Mirror to LUNA to Bring It On to Same Scent was a particularly crazy run. All the bsides were pretty great tho.
Also, just to state that I have a quite unpopular opinion: Maniac and Case 143 have to be some of my favorite Stray Kids songs ever. I think they had a lot of good music on their early days, but I like the newer titles better. Idk, I think the whole “I don’t take myself seriously” vibe they exude makes me enjoy them better.
ALSO! Predicting a turn to better: Verivery will release their first cute title track in years tomorrow, and I have big expectations. I loved the songs on their edgy era, but yet again I don’t think it’s what they should be doing nor what fits them best. Still bummed it’s just a single album, but I’m hoping it’s another ‘O’ > ‘Undercover’ where the single is just a build-up for a full one. 🤞🏻
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I think one group that has had a rocky start is TAN. Their debut was great, the first comeback was okay, the one after that was good but their recent one… 🥶. The song could’ve been sooo much better than it was. Also that album cover could’ve been made by a twelve year old (and that’s offensive to twelve year olds because they could make anything better than whatever that was.)
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Biggest jump, maybe Apink’s Five to I’m So Sick. Fearless to Antifragile by LE SSERAFIM is another recent example. Biggest fall? Rising Sun to Tonight by TVXQ, still kinda underwhelming to go from the greatest K-Pop song of all time to a random ballad.
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Yep, TVXQ kind of swung wildly in their early years. To be fair though, they released *a lot* of singles during that time.
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Purple kiss going from zombie, one of the best songs of last year and an absolutely iconic song, to memeM. Worst song from them by far.
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ykw im doing one again
woo!ah!
woo!ah! (bad) -> bad girl (alright) -> i dont miss u (good) -> purple (awful) -> catch the stars (amazing) -> danger (shit) -> rollercoaster (amazing hopefully)
so you could say woo!ah’s discography has been a, ya know, rollercoaster
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Got into woo!ah! lately and I appear to be one of their only listeners who actually loves Danger lol. Very satisfying vocals, and the weird percussive bassline > lush synth chords transition in the chorus makes me go feral
Also the little “wooah!” cheer before the EPIC post-chorus is so charming. What songs have a post-chorus these days???
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Having just been reminded of them, I’m actually upset again by Just B’s Damage -> Tick Tock fiasco.
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