One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Sweety (from Sunny Summer – 2018) Whenever I see this title my mind immediately goes to the early-2000’s S#arp hit. That’s a song GFriend could absolutely devour, but this Sweety comes from the latter end of their career where they were trying … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Sunshine (from LOL – 2016) Sunshine serves a purpose on LOL, but it’s not the kind of song I’m likely to go back to on its own. It’s one of the album’s lower-energy moments, offering a subdued singalong over swinging percussion and … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Stairs In The North (from Song Of The Sirens – 2020) GFriend take the energy down for this lighters-in-the-air singalong. This is a nice guitar-laced ballad, following many OST tropes despite not being an actual OST. It’s a bit forgettable in their … Continue reading
Before their full-group comeback next month, GOT7’s Yugyeom has returned with a new digital single. Many of December’s releases are holiday-themed and don’t warrant much of a review, but Sweet Like takes a different approach. Its soft percussion melds house music with Afrobeats for a very trendy entry in his growing discography. Being a K-pop … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Smile (from Fever Season – 2019) This is one of those songs you put on during a summer road trip. It’s mildly diverting and stuffed with good vibes, but doesn’t steal attention away from driving. The chorus is a bit cutesy but … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Secret Diary (Yerin & SinB) (from Walpurgis Night – 2020) This is the last of Walpurgis Night’s unit tracks I’ll be writing about and my thoughts pretty much fall in line with the previous two. These unit tracks feel like a missed … Continue reading
Prior to their official debut in March of 2018, Stray Kids released an EP titled Mixtape, largely compiling the songs featured on their pre-debut reality series. Nearly seven years later, they’re back with their first actual mixtape — though the definition of “mixtape” is pretty darn loose when it comes to K-pop. The project’s “single,” … Continue reading
Since leaving SM Entertainment for Griffin Entertainment, SHINee’s Onew has been pretty prolific, releasing a mini album, OST and — as of today — digital single Yay (만세). He seems ready to spread his musical wings, crafting a diverse set of songs that reflect his various strengths. Yay traverses several moods within its three minute … Continue reading
I didn’t watch Road to Kingdom: Ace of Ace, but I’m enjoying my own post-show ranking as each artist releases new material. So far, I must give the crown to 8TURN with CRAVITY just behind. Next up is YOUNITE, who placed fourth on the series’ finale. Earlier this year YOUNITE impressed with the fun hip-hop … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Rain In The Spring Time (from The Awakening – 2017) Every once and awhile, it’s nice to hear a delicate ballad like this. GFriend perform them better than most, and Rain’s combination of twinkling keys and atmospheric synth stabs give the song … Continue reading
This time of year usually means sleighbell driven cheer or comfy ballads. A series of winter tracks have already been released and girl group Fifty Fifty have chosen the latter approach for their delicate When You Say My Name. You all know I’m not the biggest fan of ballads, but some of my favorite seasonal … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Paradise (from Fever Season – 2019) To be honest, this is a song I rarely remember exists. The whole Fever Season mini album isn’t one of GFriend’s works I return to often, and this is one of its most forgettable tracks. I … Continue reading
I haven’t listened to Rosé’s debut album yet, but judging from the promotion so far I feel that the raucous Bruno Mars duet APT. will be a sonic outlier. It’s always annoying when an album’s biggest hit sounds nothing like any other song surrounding it. This is less of a concern in the age of … Continue reading
I combed through the Bias List archives and was surprised to find that it’s been over three years since I’ve written about new music from Seventeen’s The8. He’s released a couple of songs since then, but new single Orbit (轨道) bolsters his first EP. With Seventeen enjoying a mega-successful year, this release feels like icing … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! One (from Flower Bud – 2015) One sounds like an easy, breezy summer afternoon. This style of song tends to waft in one ear and out the other – very pleasant while it’s playing but not the kind of thing I’d seek … Continue reading
I feel like I may have inadvertently cursed NINE.i by placing them atop last year’s “Top 50 Songs” countdown. Since then, they’ve had agency issues and — apart from some great solo releases from member Vahn — have been musically inactive. That changes today with the release of new Japanese single Mirage (蜃気楼). Sadly, the … Continue reading
I’m shocked a K-Pop group hasn’t already repurposed the word “sleigh” into the homophone “slay” for a holiday track. With so many groups peddling bratty attitude, this seems like an obvious (though cringey) decision. This lyrical twist is present (see what I did there?) on the chorus of this new Chungha single, but thankfully she’s … Continue reading
We’ve entered December, which all but ensures a steady stream of ballads from both K-pop and J-pop. This softer energy tends to be quite seasonal, as listeners seek coziness over musical bombast. Japan has an especially insatiable appetite for ballads, making NiziU’s AlwayS the perfect release for this time of year. AlwayS starts life as … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Oh Difficult (with Sonar Pocket) (from Oh Difficult – 2019) Now this one’s a bit different because it’s a duet and it doesn’t appear on any GFriend album. In 2019, they collaborated with male Japanese vocal/performance unit Sonar Pocket for this special … Continue reading
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with GFriend’s A-Z reviews here! Night Drive (Eunha & Yuju) (from Walpurgis Night – 2020) This might be sacrilegious to some, but I don’t really care for the unit tracks on GFriend’s Walpurgis Night album. I understand they’re a chance to explore new musical territory, but now … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 