Beyond the glossy exterior of K-pop’s big budget comebacks lies a whole world of indie artists and idols-turned-soloists. I’m thinking about acts like from20, who happens to have a hand in the song I’m writing about today. Dancing In The Dark arrives courtesy of Hello Gloom, the stage name for IMFACT’s Ungjae. After quietly disbanding … Continue reading
K-pop’s title tracks might gain most of listeners’ attention, but many album tracks are worth equal spotlight. I call these “buried treasures.” Beyond this, K-pop’s albums deliver thousands of additional tracks that settle for a more limited audience. It’s these songs that will become a part of my “battle of the b-sides” feature. In this … 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 2021 Overall Thoughts 2021’s momentum stalled a bit this month. But, it wasn’t for a … Continue reading
It’s a rare treat to hear new material from IMFACT, but it seems we’ll have to wait even longer for a full group comeback. In the meantime, main vocal Taeho has made his solo debut. GGOMA (꼬마) is a duet with singer-songwriter Choi Ye Geum, and finds him tackling an unexpected sound. From its unusual … Continue reading
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … 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. April 2020 Overall Thoughts With stay-at-home orders in effect all month, there was certainly time to … Continue reading
Last week, I lamented that it had been three months since I had rated a K-pop boy group title track higher than 8.25. This got me thinking about which act could be the one to break this unenviable streak. It turns out, the long-awaited champion was waiting right around the corner. After a fifteen-month hiatus, … Continue reading
As I impatiently wait for some of my favorite acts to make long-overdue comebacks, it made me wonder how long the longest K-pop hiatuses have been. So, I did some research! The following statistics are rounded by month rather than specific days, unless there was a tie between two acts. I’ve kept my focus to … 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. January 2019 Overall Thoughts Last year, January bucked expectations and became my favorite musical month of … Continue reading
After a series of scattershot singles, IMFACT hit me hard with last year’s NaNaNa. It worked within a now-familiar genre (deep house), but inverted the structure just enough to simultaneously make it interesting and draw on the guys’ impressive vocals. Thankfully, new single Only U follows the same general sound, even if it feels more … Continue reading
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, things kick off with the big one… The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … 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. August 2018 Overall Thoughts Well, if July was disappointing, August was downright anemic. For the first … Continue reading
Another year of KCON LA is behind us, and it was a fantastic experience. Instead of simply recapping the weekend, I thought I’d offer some sage advice from a veteran KCONer. This was my fourth year attending the event, and there’s a lot I’ve discovered since 2015. So strap yourselves in, because this is officially … Continue reading
I was lucky enough to be in the audience when IMFACT’s NaNaNa (나나나) was first premiered at KCON LA, making this the rare (only?) K-Pop comeback I’ve heard live and in person before it was released in its studio version. It’s impossible to fully separate the live experience from the song, but it’s nice to … Continue reading
It’s been over a year since IMFACT’s last group release, the exuberant pop jolt of Tension Up. Since that time, main vocal Jeup made a splash on KBS’s The Unit survival series, nearly placing within the final nine contestants. It’s the perfect time to try to capitalize on that momentum, and new single The Light … Continue reading
Rookie boy group IMFACT have teased a monthly release schedule for 2017, but the month of March was conspicuously skipped. I have to assume this was due to preparation for new single Tension Up (텐션업), which seems to boast a bigger budget and scope than either January or February‘s tracks. For the first time since last … 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. January 2017 Overall Thoughts 2017 started with one of the strongest (and most packed) first weeks that we’ve … Continue reading
Rookie group IMFACT were frustratingly managed in their debut year, suffering a fate that has affected many new acts before them. Rather than establish a distinct sound, they pin-balled between the upbeat novelty of debut Lollipop and the tuneless, swagger-on-steroids of Feel So Good. Neither were particularly great songs, and both seemed built to appeal to vastly … Continue reading
Those of you that have been following this site for the better part of the year will probably be able to accurately predict my thoughts on IMFACT’s Feel So Good. But before I go on to confirm those predictions, it’s worth noting how incredibly different the group’s February debut was in both sound and image. Looking … Continue reading
IMFACT is a new boy group from the infamous Star Empire agency, also home to acts like ZE:A and Nine Muses. I’m a big fan of both of those groups, though I realize that their debut songs were less than amazing. IMFACT continues this pattern, making a bizarre debut with Lollipop. The song attempts to … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 