Kiss Of Life have been teasing a comeback for some time now, no doubt hoping to recapture the buzz of their early work before a large chunk of the K-pop fandom turned on them. With new single Who Is She, they’re smart to return to some of the 2000s sounds that first brought them to … Continue reading
Monthly Archives: April 2026
Song Review: KickFlip – Eye-Poppin’
One thing about JYP groups is that they’re always going to be very prolific. KickFlip debuted just over a year ago and are already on their fourth mini album. That frequency and consistency has quickly built a catalog of music that feels unique to them. I’m loving their youthful pop/rock sound and am happy that … Continue reading
Song Review: Lil Ghost – Saturday Night
It’s been ages since I’ve written about a song from a Chinese artist with no connection to K-pop, but we’re in the doldrums right now on this blog and I think everyone deserves to read a review that’s actually enthusiastic. So, today I want to introduce the new single from Lil Ghost — rapper and … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from March 29 – April 4
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
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (April 5, 2026)
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
Battle of the Title Tracks: BoA’s “Copy & Paste” vs. Chakra’s “ Oh! My Boy” vs. Hello Venus’s “Sticky Sticky”
As a spin-off to my Battle of the B-sides feature, I’m pleased to announce the arrive of “Battle of the Title Tracks!” In this feature, I’ll be pitting three K-pop title tracks/singles against each other and choosing a winner. These songs will mostly be from pre-2016 since I’ll try to focus on music I haven’t … Continue reading
Song Review: Monsta X – Heal
Though they haven’t achieved the same global notoriety as some of their peers, Monsta X have been steadily plugging away at the American market, releasing their fair share of English-language material. Today, they’re out with a new album of this material. Of course, appealing to a market outside of your own often includes conforming to … Continue reading
Song Review: T.O.P (Bigbang) – Desperado
T.O.P made his solo debut all the way back in 2010 as part of a dual project with fellow Bigbang member G-Dragon. Since then, he’s hardly released any solo music and eventually wound up leaving the group altogether to focus on acting. Given this, it’s a bit surprising that — sixteen years later — he’s … Continue reading
Song Review: Somin (KARD) – Backseat
The ladies from KARD have each made their solo debut this year. Gun to my head, I couldn’t tell you anything about Jiwoo’s solo track despite writing about it back in February. This is partially due to the fact that she never promoted it on music shows, but the song clearly didn’t do much to … Continue reading
Song Review: BTS – 2.0
As expected, BTS have begun to release follow-up videos from their highly-anticipated ARIRANG album. Many listeners found lead single Swim an oddly muted choice for promotion, and I agree that there are songs on ARIRANG with more commercial appeal. However, for their first follow-up video they’ve chosen one of my least favorite tracks from the … Continue reading
Song Review: Kino – Taxi
Since leaving Cube Entertainment, Pentagon’s Kino has embarked on a solo career filled with quirky electropop and interesting ideas. I enjoyed his last EP quite a bit and new title track Taxi builds upon that sonic foundation while adding a generous sprinkle of 80s synth and occasional bursts of rock intensity. So many acts are … Continue reading