Alongside their two group title tracks (Baby Baby and Sentimental), Winner has also released a solo from youngest member Nam Taehyun. Taehyun previously gave us the sweet, brittle Confession from the group’s debut album. But I’m Young does it one better, taking on darker, more nuanced territory. When writing about a song, I try not to … Continue reading
Winner has come back with no less than three title tracks, and the promise of more to come throughout the year. Of the three, Baby Baby probably makes the most impact, while Sentimental is happy being a looser, more fun addition to their discography. The track plays with Winner’s image and essentially turns them into an … Continue reading
When it became clear that both Winner and iKON were going to be active under YG at the same time, many were concerned how each group would differentiate themselves from the other. Now that we’ve had multiple comebacks from both, I think it’s safe to say that Winner has carved out its own specific niche … Continue reading
When it comes to girl groups, 2NE1 are like no other in the kpop world. They sit at the very top of my bias list, and much of that is due to their fierce image and the fantastic songs that they’re given. While I wait (somewhat) patiently for a comeback after their excellent 2014 album Crush, … Continue reading
So far, 2016 seems to be the year of the collaborations. This feels like a somewhat odd one, between CNBlue’s frontman Jung Yong-Hwa and Sunwoo Jung Ah, who is primarily known as an in-house songwriter (and occasional singer) with YG Entertainment. I’m not exactly sure what brought these two together, though Yong-Hwa seems to be … Continue reading
Let’s get the personal out of the way first. G-Dragon’s Crooked was released a day before I took off for a two-week trip to the U.K. The song, and its accompanying album, became the soundtrack to that trip, as I meandered though London streets, tube stops and alleyways. Crooked is a song for the city, … Continue reading
Fans have been (justifiably) clamoring for a return from Winner after their successful debut in the summer of 2014. Now, it looks as though they’ll be releasing multiple singles and (partial) albums, following the promotional path YG set out for Bigbang and iKON last year. I’m not a huge fan of this release schedule, … Continue reading
The second of iKON’s singles to be released on Christmas Eve (and presumably their last for awhile), What’s Wrong follows another classic YG template of anthemic rap-rock. This has brought us one of my favorite kpop songs of all time in G-Dragon’s Crooked, and was most recently heard in Bigbang’s Sober from earlier in the … Continue reading
This is iKON’s sixth single in the space of four months. They’ve really been cranking them out under YG’s new promotional strategy of just blitzing the world with singles before eventually releasing an album. On the plus side, it’s allowed the group to show a lot of different sides to themselves. On the other hand, … Continue reading
