At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade. June 2020 Overall Thoughts This may not seem like much within the context of 2020’s continual … Continue reading
Most of the time, a k-pop group’s title track is the best song on their album. But, sometimes b-sides deserve recognition too. In the singles-oriented world of K-pop, I want to spotlight some of these buried treasures and give them the props they deserve. Every NCT-related album this year has had its high and low … Continue reading
Despite its many units and incarnations, the NCT universe has remained pretty consistent in sound. This extends to its Chinese vanguard, known as WayV. Their burgeoning discography has been a sampler platter of SM Entertainment influences, tied together by an injection of distorted guitar and tight, layered vocals. New single Turn Back Time (超时空 回) … Continue reading
Lay has a storied past on this site, scoring a few of my more colorful reviews. To be honest, I have a soft spot for his music – even if I dislike most of it. More often than not, his songs feel committed to taking the worst possible turns whenever the opportunity presents itself. I … Continue reading
Unlike K-pop, it’s not unusual for C-pop albums to be promoted by more than one music video. WayV were quite a tease in this regard, dropping their mini album with Moonwalk as the title track last week, only to reveal additional teasers for Love Talk (秘语). They made a smart choice in picking this song, … Continue reading
More than any other year so far, 2019 has seen SM Entertainment’s NCT project expand its tentacles toward foreign markets. Chief among these initiatives is WayV, the Chinese branch of the NCT Universe. C-pop has its own musical preferences, but WayV’s discography has acted as a pretty seamless extension of SM’s Korean work. This proved … Continue reading
To say that Lay’s solo music is not for me would be an understatement. Apart from a solid track here or there, I find that most of his work represents the worst of what modern-era pop has to offer. It’s hookless, joyless and utterly devoid of originality. Fun fact: he’s the owner of the lowest-rated … Continue reading
At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade. May 2019 Overall Thoughts After an underwhelming April, the month of May began to right the … Continue reading
NCT’s Chinese unit WayV made an inauspicious debut earlier this year with their version of an already-released 127 track. As hyped as this project has been, that promotional choice felt quite underwhelming. Thankfully, new single Take Off (无翼而飞) makes up for WayV’s false start with an invigorating blend of hip-hop and distorted guitar. There was … Continue reading
I vividly remember the disappointed groan I let out last March when it was revealed that NCT’s Empathy album would be filled with songs we’d already heard before. That groan returned a week ago when the project’s long-anticipated Chinese unit debuted with a retread of last year’s Regular. I mean, Regular isn’t even one of the … Continue reading
As much as I love anything EXO-related, I’ve always found Lay’s solo music to be oddly hookless. His songs have mood and texture, and I enjoy his vocal tone and undeniable charisma. Yet even now I can’t recall a single melody from his discography. There have been highlights, for sure, and notable WTF moments (mostly … Continue reading
What is it about Chinese releases from k-pop stars being consistently terrible? The Chinese music industry is so restrictive to Western listeners that it’s hard to accurately gauge the country’s pop climate, but all c-pop can’t be this bad, right? As with Jackson’s last solo endeavor (the embarrassing Papillon), I feel like I have to … Continue reading
Two weeks after releasing the supple funk of I Need U, Lay has returned with the worst k-pop-adjacent track this year (and that’s saying something, since his most recent competition is Jackson’s Papillon). Sheep (羊) is what happens when a song is so desperate to become meme-worthy that it loses any other sense of purpose … Continue reading
Though Lay is still technically part of EXO, he didn’t participate in their new album or repackage. Understandably frustrating for fans, his absence is the byproduct of continual Chinese promotions. With that in mind, his upcoming second Chinese solo album will see him dipping feet into both markets. He’s still signed with and supported by … Continue reading
Before I go on to ravage parts of Papillon, let me introduce this review by stating that Jackson is one of my very favorite k-pop personalities. Though I’ve been a listener of k-pop for a long time, I never really got into the variety show side of things until mid-2014. It was then that the … Continue reading
A couple of weeks after pre-releasing the upbeat r&b funk of What You Need, EXO member Lay is back with his debut solo EP. To herald its release, Lose Control slows things down and sexes things up, giving his sound yet another layer. From the very beginning, Lose Control screams late 90’s/early 00’s radio r&b. Almost … Continue reading
At the tail end of last year, it seemed as if LuHan was releasing songs and music videos every other week, including the brilliant (and underrated) Medals. But after months away, he returns with the moody Catch Me When I Fall. And although it doesn’t quite live up to the best of his past material, it’s … Continue reading
Another week, another SM Station release. One of the cool things this music platform has done is allow EXO members to have long-overdue solos. Granted, the songs aren’t really promoted or given the budget a full-fledged solo debut would have, but it’s still nice to hear the guys branch out a bit. Next on the … Continue reading
I raved about LuHan’s Medals at the end of last year, but with each successive release, it seems more and more apparent that the stately melodicism of that track was a red herring in his solo discography. For Excited, LuHan has once again paired himself with American production team Rock Forward. They do an adequate job … Continue reading
LuHan’s been releasing a lot of material over the past couple of months, and the quality has definitely varied. The bulk of his stuff has a sparely produced, American hip-pop feel, which isn’t something I naturally gravitate to. Luckily, the strength of his personality and celebrity helps cover some of the qualms that I have … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 