After quickly securing a place at the top of the K-pop girl group pack, STAYC are following in the footsteps of their seniors by embarking on a Japanese career. J-pop output from K-pop acts has been decidedly mixed over the past few years, far from the consistent discographies crafted by artists like SNSD, After School, … Continue reading
Is it just me, or has there been an inordinate amount of girl group debuts this year? They just keep on coming, making it harder to distinguish individual styles and concepts. In the grand scheme of things, Artbeat already have a leg up with their cool group name. Adding “art” to their moniker has to … Continue reading
After cutting loose and having fun with 2020’s underrated Got That Boom and 2021’s party-starting Fire Saturday, Secret Number retreated to played-out girl group tropes with this year’s disappointing Doomchita. They can only improve with new single Tap, and upbeat teasers seemed to hint at an energy that takes better advantage of the group’s strengths. … Continue reading
Debuting last year, Just B’s music has already moved through several iterations. They’re currently in a phase where their singles incorporate “=” symbols into their titles. I’m sure there’s some complex lore supporting this decision, but I’m more concerned with the music behind those titles. Their tracks often incorporate rock sounds, exemplified by this excellent … Continue reading
Funny enough, “woo!ah!” is the sound I made when I first heard Rollercoaster‘s teaser. My opinion on woo!ah!’s music has varied dramatically over the years, hitting an all-time low point with June’s cloying Danger. Now, the group has taken a confident step in the retro synth direction. Regardless of the results, you’ll always find me … Continue reading
Victon are back as a five-member group. Leader Seungwoo is finishing up his military service, while Heochan left the group earlier this year after a DUI. The guys have had a rough go of it, and the style of their music has tended to change with the times. Virus sees them embracing both elegant synth … Continue reading
Unless I’m missing something, DRIPPIN’s The One is the final big postponed K-pop release to arrive. Of course, it also happens to be the comeback I was most looking forward to. With The One, DRIPPIN have concluded their Villain series (until the inevitable repackage, that is!). Both Villain and Zero were highlights of the year, … Continue reading
Girl group Fifty Fifty are set to officially debut at the end of the month, but they’ve pre-released Lovin’ Me today. I was struck by its teaser, which seemed to promise a more refined, mature sound than many of K-pop’s current girl groups are offering. The full song more-or-less delivers on this promise and points … Continue reading
I’ll make a potentially unpopular confession: I’m just not a fan of Chen’s solo material. Given his status as a balladeer, the headwaters were always going to be against him. I don’t have much space in my music library for soft ballads. But, I love his voice and there are quite a few EXO ballads … Continue reading
VERIVERY are emblematic of a common boy group trajectory. They debuted with a fun New Jack Swing-inspired sound. This set them apart from their peers, even if it didn’t lead to extraordinary sales. Then, they got swept up in Road to Kingdom and re-emerged as one of many boy groups peddling darker, angsty sounds. These … Continue reading
One of this K-pop generation’s biggest mysteries is how Oh My Girl went from being a leading girl group to an act that barely gets promoted anymore. WM Entertainment has really dropped the ball with this one, and that fumble has extended to their musical choices. This spring’s Real Love was a breezy little bop, … Continue reading
The strong series of b-sides that framed LE SSERAFIM’s debut Fearless helped make that song a big grower. In contrast, nothing outside of title track Antifragile really struck me from their newest album. I would’ve loved to see a music video for songs like Blue Flame or The Great Mermaid, but HYBE decided to save … Continue reading
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, … Continue reading
This feature has gradually shifted from a December to a November tradition, leaving more space for next month’s sprawling end-of-year countdowns. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be looking at many of K-pop’s biggest agencies and offering my thoughts about how their 2022 went. Following SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment‘s evaluations, it’s time to dive … Continue reading
King & Prince fans are still reeling from last week’s sudden announcement that members Sho Hirano, Yuta Kishi and Yuta Jinguji will be leaving the group (and agency) next year. I’ve seen my fair share of group disbandments and roster changes over the years, but this is one of the most genuinely shocking developments I … Continue reading
Fresh off her win on American Song Competition (a phrase I never thought I’d write on this blog…), AleXa is back with the release of her first mini album. While she debuted with a cool sci-fi concept, her music has gradually explored new avenues. None of the songs have really clicked me, and her ASC … Continue reading
Sometimes it feels as if the K-pop industry is toying with their fans – seeing just how awkward a song they can force upon us. This year, no agency has been guiltier than JYP. From NMIXX’s mixx-pop excursions to ITZY’s footwear fantasies to Stray Kids’ ping ping pings, it’s as if everyone at the agency … Continue reading
Rookie boy group Trendz are the latest to return with material originally scheduled for October. Thus far, the guys haven’t done much to land on my radar, though June’s Who improved with time. I appreciate when they lean heavily into rock guitar, and new single Vagabond leverages this strength. But, the song is not without … Continue reading
Is it too early to hear the influence of NewJeans and LE SSERAFIM in other girl groups? Now that “girl crush” seems to have faded a bit, it feels like their subdued – almost aloof – sounds are the next stage in girl group trends. ICHILLIN’s Draw (My Time) is an interesting hybrid of the … Continue reading
CRAXY released music video after music video in September, most of which I didn’t cover in detail. I’m not sure where their agency is getting the funding for all this promotion, but I wish they’d pool the money together and give us another song as fun as 2020’s Aria. Instead, they’ve churned out Poison Rose, … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 