Thus far, TIOT’s career has been somewhat inscrutible. Rather than develop and expand upon a signature sound, they’ve waffled greatly between extremes. One moment they’re shouty bad boys, the next they’re sentimental balladeers. New single Five Hours In Pieces (다섯시간의 조각들) leans toward the latter with added rock heft. Somewhere along the way, this driving … Continue reading
With their new album, Close Your Eyes have taken the unlikely move of fusing jazz with K-pop. It’s not that this has never been done before, but it’s certainly outside of current trends. So far, this approach resulted in the very strong Open Your Eyes, which really leaned into the concept. Title track Drop That! … Continue reading
Earlier this year, XngHan&Xoul released a big dance banger as part of a successful mini album that traversed the breadth of this exciting genre. For me, this set him up as an artist to watch and someone who might bring back some of the high-octane sounds I used to love in K-pop. Now, it’s time … Continue reading
Before their early-November comeback, xikers have divided into two sub-units to deliver pre-releases of vastly different genres. I really enjoyed the breakneck pace and energy of Just For Fun a few weeks ago. Now, it’s time for the remaining members to take us to the rock club with Runners High. xikers’ music has often played … Continue reading
WOOAH have spent their year blitzing the market with digital singles, hoping something will stick. Thus far, we’ve gotten spring and summer tracks and judging by its title you might assume Voodoo Doll is targeted to the Halloween season. Instead, the girls have delivered a bright house track promoted with a seemingly random AI music … Continue reading
I’m not sure current K-pop acts even know how much they owe to 2NE1’s influence. For girl groups especially, 2NE1 practically invented many of the tropes so popular today. They also did a more compelling job deploying them, but that’s beside the point. This is all to say, it’s always nice hearing from one of … Continue reading
JYP’s NiziU have straddled the line between Japanese and Korean promotions, finding the most success in the former market. In this way, they’re almost the opposite of fellow Nizi Project winners NEXZ. Title track Sour Grapes is their latest Korean work, spearheading a new mini album. This song repaints NiziU with a chic aura, easily … Continue reading
When covering ALLDAY PROJECT’s godawful pre-releases last week, I compared them to scratch cards. Both songs turned out to be “not a winner, try again” scratches, but now we’ve finally arrived at their album’s proper title track. Crash doesn’t need to do much to clear its train wreck predecessors and it passes that extremely low … Continue reading
Repackage Albums are a lost art in K-pop and are more likely to be called “deluxes” if they happen at all. BOYNEXTDOOR are bringing the form back with an expanded edition of their June album Home. I really liked that album’s three promoted tracks but didn’t care much for the b-sides. New title track Animal … Continue reading
File UNIS under: groups who never really got a chance. They debuted in March of 2024 after the group was formed on survival series Universe Ticket. Like most groups of their nature, they had a finite promotional period from the beginning, which would lead you to believe their agency would promote the hell out of … Continue reading
Over the past few months, BTS have released music videos exclusive to Spotify premium. I haven’t covered these on the blog because I don’t have a premium account and many others don’t either, so the music videos remained paywalled. Today, they’ve uploaded the mv for Merry Go Round to YouTube, so this probably deserves a … Continue reading
After an extended hiatus, LIGHTSUM have been re-branded as a J-pop act, complete with many of the musical and stylistic shifts you might expect. I suppose we should be happy their agency hasn’t simply given up on them, but I definitely wonder how the girls feel about this. It’s not the first time a struggling … Continue reading
Before making their first Korean comeback, rookie group NAZE are debuting in Japan. Spreading promotions across multiple countries has become pretty common in K-pop, but feels like an agency hedging their bets. NAZE’s Korean debut didn’t exactly set the charts (or this blog) on fire and I can’t imagine that Japan will be much more … Continue reading
It’s become an expectation that HYBE groups will film music videos for at least two tracks on each album and ENHYPEN are already back with a clip for their song Checkmate. This follows the release of Bloody Paradise released last month and offers a more thrilling sound. 2026 is the year where K-pop’s tempo officially … Continue reading
With so many K-pop acts trying their luck at a global career, it can be hard to determine what “counts” as K-pop anymore. I don’t know that I’ll be writing much about former NCT member Mark Lee’s burgeoning solo career in the future, but this track feels like an important milestone that deserves some kind … Continue reading
It’s been awhile since we’ve heard new original material from IU, but she’s promised a double a-side of sorts, promoting each of her new September tracks with a music video. First up is Dear My Crazy Soulmate, whose title sounds more like a Korean drama than a comeback. And come to think of it, the … Continue reading
MCND are one of those mid-tier groups I sometimes forget about until they make another comeback. They’ve been at it for six years now, which seems incredible. Across that career, most songs have been rated in the “7s” here on the blog, putting them firmly within “middle of the pack” territory. I’d love a big … Continue reading
Brand sponsorships are plentiful in K-pop, and every once and a while they result in an original song and music video. Such is the case with Hearts2Hearts’s team-up with Kia. The “moon” in Moonride refers to a new dark trim offered by the company and makes me expect an equally beguiling song. Alas, this Moonride … Continue reading
After the MV teaser for NEXZ’s Upgrade was released yesterday, social media went crazy with Cortis fans accusing the group of plagiarism since many of its L.A.-based shots seemed to match the MV for last year’s Go. It’s rich of any K-pop group’s fans to cite plagiarism, especially in defense of a group whose entire … Continue reading
Now that &TEAM have made their debut in Korea, the group straddles two countries — each with their own preferences. Sadly, the melodic rock of their earlier years seems to have fallen by the wayside during this expansion as their agency is moving them into a more downbeat, moody sound. For whatever reason, “moody” seems … Continue reading
