In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading
To K-pop fans, J-pop’s extended promotional schedule might seem crazy. The audio of CRAVITY’s new single Jelly Bean was released all the way back in mid-February, but the physical single and music video weren’t available until today. This gives J-pop acts a nice window to promote up until their release date rather than save all … Continue reading
Even though today marks KiiiKiii’s official debut, it feels like they “debuted” weeks ago with their pre-release I Do Me heavily promoted on music shows. I still find that track incredibly generic, but its earworm melody has snuck up on me through sheer repetition and the group sell it well on stage. Now, it’s time … Continue reading
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. In 2025, I thought I’d try something new and add a weekly feature to supplement my monthly round-up. Each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And … 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. February 2025 Overall Thoughts K-pop continued to limp along this month, though the second half of … Continue reading
A week ago, Starship Entertainment’s new girl group KiiiKiii pre-released their first track I Do Me, prompting a lukewarm response from me and many others who wished the group wouldn’t play things so safe. Be careful what you wish for, I guess, because they’re back with another pre-release — ironically titled Debut Song. I’m not … Continue reading
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. In 2025, I thought I’d try something new and add a weekly feature to supplement my monthly round-up. Each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And … Continue reading
Rather than contain my “Risers and Fallers” feature to a single post in June, I’m going to share a bite-sized version at the end of each month. This will let me account for more songs and make a nice lead-in to the monthly round-up post. I anticipate most of these ratings adjustments will be negligible: … Continue reading
With the debut of SM Entertainment’s new girl group just around the corner, Starship Entertainment has lodged a stealth attack by pre-releasing music from their upcoming girl group KiiiKiii first. Given the agency’s huge success with IVE, all eyes are on KiiiKiii’s emergence in the industry. And if I Do Me is any indication, the … Continue reading
In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. In 2025, I thought I’d try something new and add a weekly feature to supplement my monthly round-up. Each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And … Continue reading
IVE have built a sizable portion of their singles run around iconic samples, from Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive to Blackstreet’s No Diggity to Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence. These interpolations have almost become a concept of sorts, and new single Attitude follows suit by borrowing the iconic hook from Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner. … 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 2025 Overall Thoughts It’s a new year! But it… kind of doesn’t feel like it … Continue reading
Because of MBC’s unprecedented decision to air their Gayo Daejejeon over two nights this year, my recap and ranking will also be divided into two parts. Make sure to check out part one for my general thoughts on the festival as well as a personal ranking of the best performances of night one. Now, it’s … Continue reading
Yes, you read that title right. We are going back to 2024 for two nights with MBC’s (delayed) Gayo Daejejeon. This end-of-year festival was filmed on New Year’s Eve, but its broadcast was postponed after the tragic Jeju Air Crash. At the time, I assumed the festival would air a week — maybe two — … Continue reading
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. In 2025, I thought I’d try something new and add a weekly feature to supplement my monthly round-up. Each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And … Continue reading
From their late-2021 debut to 2023’s I Am, IVE unveiled one of the most bulletproof singles runs we’ve seen in the past few years in K-pop. Song quality became more hit-or-miss as we moved into 2024 and the group expanded their sound. I firmly believe they’re at their best when delivering mini pop epics. Pre-release … 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. December 2024 Overall Thoughts Oh gosh, what a month for South Korea. December started with martial … Continue reading
Just like last year, I wanted to share my top twenty most-viewed posts for 2024. I find this list an interesting gauge of who is popular (at least among netizens who read reviews). The most obvious takeaway from this list is the utter dominance of girl groups. Seriously, there’s only one boy group in the … Continue reading
(Note: If you’re unable to view this post on a phone, please try on another device. I believe the number of video embeds is causing trouble on certain browsers.) Yep, I’m back to writing about K-pop’s year-end festivals. They were some of the earliest events I covered on this blog but over the past few … Continue reading
