Color me surprised to see new music from Secret’s Song Ji-eun. There was a time when she and her group were ruling K-pop charts, but her work has suffered from a long hiatus. Other than a few errant tracks here and there, it’s been almost four years since the last Ji-eun mini album. New single … Continue reading
Entering their final year before indefinite hiatus, Japan’s biggest male idol group set global outreach as one of their goals. This has resulted in English-language re-recordings of their biggest hits, a much greater internet presence, and even a music video or two being available on youtube. Of course, a little thing called “global pandemic” threw … Continue reading
Somebody’s been listening to too much BLACKPINK. Honestly, I have a very low tolerance level for this specific kind of “badass” girl group track. “I’m so bad… look at me! Bla bla bla… twiddle diddle dum. I’m crazy and I ain’t sorry! Don’t you wish you could be like me? Dum dum diddle dum.” It’s … Continue reading
EXO-SC’s 2019 debut spurred plenty of ire from this site. To me, it represented SM Entertainment’s full embrace of mainstream hip-hop. The agency who reliably delivered summer classics like Red Flavor, View and Love Me Right would now equate the season with lethargic trap-rap. It remains to be seen if that prediction will completely bear … Continue reading
True to form, Stray Kids are promoting their first full album with a series of music videos. Last month’s Blueprint was a smart chose for summertime spotlight, though it doesn’t look like they’re actually going to perform it on music shows. Instead, that honor goes to Easy. Quite frankly, I’m not sure why. Personally, I … Continue reading
So… we all agree that VERIVERY should have just released Beautiful-x and called it a day, right? That song harnessed their signature funk appeal without feeling like a step back into more juvenile material. It stood out among all of the darker, more aggressive styles on Road to Kingdom, and felt perfectly suited to the … Continue reading
Surprising no one, BTS have conquered Japan alongside every other global music market. This has been achieved through a combination of Japanese re-recordings and original material. Oddly, their trio of original J-pop songs (For You, Lights and now Stay Gold) share a sound that’s downright toothless compared to their Korean work. Much of their global … Continue reading
We’ve reached the point in BLACKPINK’s career where we’re literally applauding them for releasing anything. It’s certainly not fans’ fault. They’ve been starved for new content for years now, making just the idea of a BLACKPINK song more exciting than an actual BLACKPINK song. This scarce promotion might serve to build hype and the allure … Continue reading
As Twice’s 2019 material matured, that sense of sophistication bled over to their Japanese discography as well. Both Breakthrough and Fake & True represented quantum leaps in quality when stacked against past J-pop releases. I had hope that this streak would continue, but new single Fanfare pulls them back a little. This is despite the … Continue reading
Boy group D1CE have been saddled with a horrible fate for any newly debuted rookie: the long hiatus. We haven’t heard from them since last July, sacrificing almost a year of unfilled potential. It’s hard enough to build momentum when you’re from a smaller agency, but lack of activity makes for an even trickier situation. … Continue reading
I really don’t know what’s going on in Big Hit Entertainment’s head this year. As the agency rapidly expands, their 2020 musical choices have left me cold. BTS’s ON arrived at a challenging time, just as the pandemic was starting to take hold of the world. But even so, it feels like the most polarizing … Continue reading
Solo releases can be a great way to uncover artists’ hidden charms – talents or styles they weren’t necessarily able to portray as part of their group. When it comes to Mamamoo, the quartet is packed with three power vocalists, leaving little room for Moonbyul to do anything beyond rapping. So, it’s not too surprising … Continue reading
I’ve reviewed every D-CRUNCH title track on this site, and I know that I enjoyed most of them. But, I can’t recall a single one. Sometimes that’s the way it is with K-pop – especially if you listen to every idol release you can. There’s such an over-supply of music flooding the market, and the … Continue reading
Despite releasing several singles, I’ve only featured girl group Busters on The Bias List once in 2019. I always get their name mixed up with Korean rock group Bursters, which falsely makes me think they’ve been more prolific than they have. Despite debuting back in 2017, the girls have only four (low budget) music videos … Continue reading
Formerly a duo, BOL4 has become a solo project for Ahn Jiyoung after member Woo Jiyoon left last month. Given this departure, I’m surprised that Jiyoung is already back with new music. Just last week we heard her on a sleepy duet with EXO’s Baekhyun, and now we have a new mini album under the … Continue reading
More than almost anything else in the world, music makes me happy. There’s a certain indescribable rush that my favorite songs give me, and it can’t really be quantified. I don’t need a song to tell me to be happy. If it’s good enough, that thrill will come automatically. With that said, I certainly don’t … Continue reading
Boy group Noir has largely escaped my attention. I’ve written about most of their title tracks, but promptly forgotten about each one. When it comes to standing out in this generation of K-pop, you’ve got to have a distinct identity. Beyond overused labels like “dark” and “angsty,” I’d be hard-pressed to tell you much about … Continue reading
Though ONEWE’s most recent single never made it onto any of my year-end lists, I ended up liking Regulus far more than my initial review let on. I enjoyed it despite its unnecessary, trap-inspired moments because when the song actually embraced ONEWE’s strength as a band, it totally soared. But overall, I don’t understand RBW … Continue reading
So… the EXO solos haven’t exactly panned out the way I would have hoped. So far, it’s been an unending stream of ballads and mid-tempos, each blending into the other without any real artistic differentiation. It’s not that the music has been bad, but it feels like SM Entertainment have developed a real narrow pathway … Continue reading
Debuting a K-pop group is fraught with difficulty even under the best circumstances, but it seems especially ambitious to launch a rookie during a time when promotional opportunities are limited. The industry is rightfully taking a lot of health precautions right now, which means that MY.st’s promos will largely be digital. Still, agencies can’t wait … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 