![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shyshyshilohi want to try out those monthly wrap-up posts but i don’t read enough books, watch enough movies, etc. to have anything consistently interesting to say about those, and i don’t keep nearly enough track of the media i do engage with a lot of to be able to do it in any manageable way — as in, i listen to a frankly unnecessary amount of music and i would probably die if i tried to review it all every month. so i’m just going to limit myself to whatever kpop came out this (or i guess as of now, last) month… mostly.
so i really like izna. like really really. so much so that sign will without a doubt be my most played song of the year, and that i started writing a mai/jiyoon fic at some point but then jiyoon left the group and i was like, well. what’s even the point anymore. (if i had a nickel for every time i was following a seven-member gg and then a member named jiyoon left…)
because — i kept up with iland 2 (haven’t technically watched every episode, but followed the rest through recap podcasts), and i think izna have such a distinct performance style both in that show and as a debuted group. as what is kind of sort of a black label production, izna had the very real potential to fall into the boring girlcrushy Not-Your-Mama’s Blackpink realm of archetypes. but instead we got emotion! heartache! longing! the postchorus of iwaly is one of the best kpop melodies ever written change my mind!!! and both sign and beep convey the sort of big nighttime feeling of being in love with someone who doesn’t know you feel that way about them yet, and so naturally i thought that would be izna’s Thing from then on.
mamma mia is… a wrench in the works, to put it lightly. a lot of people don’t like this song. but for better or worse, i am not one of them.
make no mistake, the song is STUPID. so silly and so antithetical to what izna has built up for themselves / their musical identity. but there are some gems in there (the prechorus, koko’s rap… and even if there aren’t i still have so much fun with them just going they say mamma mia… all about me-uh) and damn if they don’t perform the song like their lives depend on it. izna choreo is also so consistently good that i can overlook the lowkey fugly styling this era.
and anyway even if the title track is a dumb move the b-sides!! are great!! supercrush is delightful and in the rain is very easy to listen to, and RACECAR is what the title track really could have been. not only do i get another song for my motorsports kpop playlist, it’s actually so dynamic and propulsive and deliciously synthy and totally IZNA!!! and THAT choreo is great as well.
the only track i don’t listen to literally at all is the sign remix. because i would much (much! to the tune of 500+ listens since release!) (not proud of this fact but it is true!) rather just listen to the original.
woww guys did you know that nmixx is actually good <- someone who has never had an original thought ever
okay yeah. i was one of the many, many people for whom nmixx did not click until blue valentine. and now suddenly i’m all about them! and i’m late to the party but this album is so good that i totally do not care.
i actually like blue valentine (the whole album) so much that i’m having a hard time putting it into words. for a good two weeks it was very nearly the only thing i listened to — my commute to work takes just about two playthroughs of the album, so i would listen to it twice through on the way there and another two times on the way back. and i would listen to it all through the day too. and blue valentine (the track) is maybe the ultimate getting-off-work song… it was and is still so perfect to pull out of the parking lot and see everything unfurl over the city skyline right as the chorus hits.
rapid fire reviews of every track because otherwise i won’t be able to rein myself in:
blue valentine: incredible, incredible, incredible. on first listen, as has previously been the case with nmixx change-ups, i wasn’t totally sold on the slow-downs in the prechoruses, and then the next day it was like i’d been hit in the head and i totally got it from then on. but the choruses / bridge / ad-libs / ENDING (THE ENDING!!!) were home runs to me from day one.
spinnin’ on it: super unique track that i think does a great job of expressing the frustration of a push-pull relationship through music. gets better on every listen! i know people were not loving the mixing but i have a really bad ear for these kinds of things so i was never bothered by it. also unfortunately the phrase “spinning on it” makes me think of this tweet but that’s okay.
phoenix: i also didn’t get this at first but then i did. the percussion is soooo good. an absolute blast to drive to.
reality hurts: i really enjoy the production choices being made here, they turned the kind of track that i usually wouldn’t like listening to into something that i actually do! the delivery of all the spoken lines is so fun as well.
rico: well i love dancehall music so this was a lock for me from the start. the entry of the electric piano playing that tango melody about 2/3rds through the song is such a delightful surprise, love it.
game face: i think the placement of this track on the album is very smart because it breaks up the intensity in a very smooth way (something a lot of kpop albums struggle with — they either don’t try to break it up at all or they just throw in a ballad and bring everything to a grinding halt) but the song itself confuses me. like i don’t listen to it outside of the context of the full album and i’m never Excited to listen to it, but the second it comes on i’m like. okay this is great! or maybe i just have a terrible memory.
podium: MOMENTUM!!! this track has it. the marching band drums and the battlecry nature of the production are spot-on, i never get tired of listening to this.”put in that sweat that sodium” is an awesome rhyme with “podium” and when lily soars into that final chorus with “the sun burns me but okay…” that’s music, baby. another entry for the motorsports kpop playlist.
crush on you: very sweet and breezy but not extremely similar to other kpop songs with this same theme. i like it!
adore u: during the first listen i was like okay… uh huh… well it’s alright and then lily opened her mouth and tore my heart out of my chest. it sounds like lying in the shade with someone on a too-late summer day and sneaking horrible overlong glances when you think they’re not looking. if i think about the lyrics for too long i literally start to feel sick.
shape of love: and then while i was still on the floor writhing after adore u, this song came in and stomped me flat. it makes me feel like everything is screwed and will still be okay. it makes me feel like — this is what it is to be imperfect and to love someone who is imperfect but the choice to try together is what matters in the end. can anyone hear me. god this is the perfect finale.
o.o pt. 1 (baila): i actually do like the original o.o but this made me appreciate it even more. it’s very satisfyingly rhythmic and the new stuff they do with the 2nd verse is great. however it also made me immediately and acutely aware of how present jinni is in the original… like the song started and (sorry kyujin) i was like who the fuck is that
o.o pt. 2 (superhero): are the nananas supposed to be a reference to the old-school batman theme song? that would make sense vis-a-vis the title but god is that goofy. perfectly fine to listen to but i don’t return to this on its own.
anyway. nmixx fic to come…
i probably wouldn’t have checked this out if not for the several people in my life who like tws and therefore wanted me to give it a listen, and, sorry to said people, but i didn’t come away with the most charitable of opinions. i think overdrive is their least memorable title track — obviously it’s not fair to compare with the runaway success of plot twist, but i think that if i’m s can you be my n and last festival are actually better constructed songs than plot twist, and which round out their debut trilogy in a very cohesive way. countdown oscillates between really strong and really weak moments, but the chorus still blows overdrive out of the water. and that’s my opinion on this ep overall: certainly not bad, but really mostly forgettable.
i detested head shoulders knees toes at first listen but now i’ve come around to the energy and what the song is doing (key gasoline’s younger brother??), i just don’t think it should be a tws song (like literally, pledis already has a very distinct vision for tws but every so often they’ll still ask but should they be fuckboys? should we try?). hot blue shoes reminds me of something i can’t place but either way it’s not for me. caffeine rush is pleasant and sweet but not interesting. here for you sounds like being young and happy and full of potential and it’s nice, but i still don’t really feel the need to listen to it a ton. the only song i return to is overthinking. it just has great production and killer melodies and gets me moving… it’s the lucky to be loved of this album imo.
boynextdoor is legitimately my token boy group, but i’ve still never liked the entirety of anything they’ve released. i’ve enjoyed pretty much all their title tracks but their b-sides are often misses for me, and even when b-sides are stronger it’s always just one or two of them. basically they have the hybe problem of not really knowing how to put together an album that isn’t just a collection of songs, ykwim?
to me, the action is their weakest release yet. the title is obnoxious but not even obnoxious enough to be fun (see: feel good) and it’s another one of their block b boynextdoor songs instead of a boynextdoor boynextdoor song (maybe this makes no sense but i really do mean exactly that). also it just peters out weirdly instead of actually sticking the landing which… whatever.
and then when it comes to b-sides, live in paris is irritating to me for no real reason, jam has a very singular vision which i respect but it’s not a song that i actually have any desire to listen to, and every single boy group has a song that sounds like as time goes by so. lmao. bathroom is what i would choose as a favorite, if only because it semi-successfully recreates what made but sometimes so great, but i can never recommend it to anyone because. that title. can you imagine. hey there’s this song you might like it’s called BATHROOM. jesus.
umm i don’t remember anything special about this song except that it was something i listened to. gyubin makes great music but i think she shines much more in the anthemic declarations of love lane (a la satellite and like you 100) rather than the pg-13 emulation of sabrina carpenter one. it’s not bad! just not very interesting to me personally.
(also is she really saying “acting like a leo”? okay ðŸ˜)
i didn’t like this, sorry. still made it onto my motorsports kpop playlist though
not just pretty - izna
ep | released sep. 30
title track: mamma mia
so i really like izna. like really really. so much so that sign will without a doubt be my most played song of the year, and that i started writing a mai/jiyoon fic at some point but then jiyoon left the group and i was like, well. what’s even the point anymore. (if i had a nickel for every time i was following a seven-member gg and then a member named jiyoon left…)
because — i kept up with iland 2 (haven’t technically watched every episode, but followed the rest through recap podcasts), and i think izna have such a distinct performance style both in that show and as a debuted group. as what is kind of sort of a black label production, izna had the very real potential to fall into the boring girlcrushy Not-Your-Mama’s Blackpink realm of archetypes. but instead we got emotion! heartache! longing! the postchorus of iwaly is one of the best kpop melodies ever written change my mind!!! and both sign and beep convey the sort of big nighttime feeling of being in love with someone who doesn’t know you feel that way about them yet, and so naturally i thought that would be izna’s Thing from then on.
mamma mia is… a wrench in the works, to put it lightly. a lot of people don’t like this song. but for better or worse, i am not one of them.
make no mistake, the song is STUPID. so silly and so antithetical to what izna has built up for themselves / their musical identity. but there are some gems in there (the prechorus, koko’s rap… and even if there aren’t i still have so much fun with them just going they say mamma mia… all about me-uh) and damn if they don’t perform the song like their lives depend on it. izna choreo is also so consistently good that i can overlook the lowkey fugly styling this era.
and anyway even if the title track is a dumb move the b-sides!! are great!! supercrush is delightful and in the rain is very easy to listen to, and RACECAR is what the title track really could have been. not only do i get another song for my motorsports kpop playlist, it’s actually so dynamic and propulsive and deliciously synthy and totally IZNA!!! and THAT choreo is great as well.
the only track i don’t listen to literally at all is the sign remix. because i would much (much! to the tune of 500+ listens since release!) (not proud of this fact but it is true!) rather just listen to the original.
blue valentine - nmixx
full album | released oct. 13
title track: blue valentine
woww guys did you know that nmixx is actually good <- someone who has never had an original thought ever
okay yeah. i was one of the many, many people for whom nmixx did not click until blue valentine. and now suddenly i’m all about them! and i’m late to the party but this album is so good that i totally do not care.
i actually like blue valentine (the whole album) so much that i’m having a hard time putting it into words. for a good two weeks it was very nearly the only thing i listened to — my commute to work takes just about two playthroughs of the album, so i would listen to it twice through on the way there and another two times on the way back. and i would listen to it all through the day too. and blue valentine (the track) is maybe the ultimate getting-off-work song… it was and is still so perfect to pull out of the parking lot and see everything unfurl over the city skyline right as the chorus hits.
rapid fire reviews of every track because otherwise i won’t be able to rein myself in:
blue valentine: incredible, incredible, incredible. on first listen, as has previously been the case with nmixx change-ups, i wasn’t totally sold on the slow-downs in the prechoruses, and then the next day it was like i’d been hit in the head and i totally got it from then on. but the choruses / bridge / ad-libs / ENDING (THE ENDING!!!) were home runs to me from day one.
spinnin’ on it: super unique track that i think does a great job of expressing the frustration of a push-pull relationship through music. gets better on every listen! i know people were not loving the mixing but i have a really bad ear for these kinds of things so i was never bothered by it. also unfortunately the phrase “spinning on it” makes me think of this tweet but that’s okay.
phoenix: i also didn’t get this at first but then i did. the percussion is soooo good. an absolute blast to drive to.
reality hurts: i really enjoy the production choices being made here, they turned the kind of track that i usually wouldn’t like listening to into something that i actually do! the delivery of all the spoken lines is so fun as well.
rico: well i love dancehall music so this was a lock for me from the start. the entry of the electric piano playing that tango melody about 2/3rds through the song is such a delightful surprise, love it.
game face: i think the placement of this track on the album is very smart because it breaks up the intensity in a very smooth way (something a lot of kpop albums struggle with — they either don’t try to break it up at all or they just throw in a ballad and bring everything to a grinding halt) but the song itself confuses me. like i don’t listen to it outside of the context of the full album and i’m never Excited to listen to it, but the second it comes on i’m like. okay this is great! or maybe i just have a terrible memory.
podium: MOMENTUM!!! this track has it. the marching band drums and the battlecry nature of the production are spot-on, i never get tired of listening to this.”put in that sweat that sodium” is an awesome rhyme with “podium” and when lily soars into that final chorus with “the sun burns me but okay…” that’s music, baby. another entry for the motorsports kpop playlist.
crush on you: very sweet and breezy but not extremely similar to other kpop songs with this same theme. i like it!
adore u: during the first listen i was like okay… uh huh… well it’s alright and then lily opened her mouth and tore my heart out of my chest. it sounds like lying in the shade with someone on a too-late summer day and sneaking horrible overlong glances when you think they’re not looking. if i think about the lyrics for too long i literally start to feel sick.
shape of love: and then while i was still on the floor writhing after adore u, this song came in and stomped me flat. it makes me feel like everything is screwed and will still be okay. it makes me feel like — this is what it is to be imperfect and to love someone who is imperfect but the choice to try together is what matters in the end. can anyone hear me. god this is the perfect finale.
o.o pt. 1 (baila): i actually do like the original o.o but this made me appreciate it even more. it’s very satisfyingly rhythmic and the new stuff they do with the 2nd verse is great. however it also made me immediately and acutely aware of how present jinni is in the original… like the song started and (sorry kyujin) i was like who the fuck is that
o.o pt. 2 (superhero): are the nananas supposed to be a reference to the old-school batman theme song? that would make sense vis-a-vis the title but god is that goofy. perfectly fine to listen to but i don’t return to this on its own.
anyway. nmixx fic to come…
play hard - tws
ep | released oct. 13
title track: overdrive
i probably wouldn’t have checked this out if not for the several people in my life who like tws and therefore wanted me to give it a listen, and, sorry to said people, but i didn’t come away with the most charitable of opinions. i think overdrive is their least memorable title track — obviously it’s not fair to compare with the runaway success of plot twist, but i think that if i’m s can you be my n and last festival are actually better constructed songs than plot twist, and which round out their debut trilogy in a very cohesive way. countdown oscillates between really strong and really weak moments, but the chorus still blows overdrive out of the water. and that’s my opinion on this ep overall: certainly not bad, but really mostly forgettable.
i detested head shoulders knees toes at first listen but now i’ve come around to the energy and what the song is doing (key gasoline’s younger brother??), i just don’t think it should be a tws song (like literally, pledis already has a very distinct vision for tws but every so often they’ll still ask but should they be fuckboys? should we try?). hot blue shoes reminds me of something i can’t place but either way it’s not for me. caffeine rush is pleasant and sweet but not interesting. here for you sounds like being young and happy and full of potential and it’s nice, but i still don’t really feel the need to listen to it a ton. the only song i return to is overthinking. it just has great production and killer melodies and gets me moving… it’s the lucky to be loved of this album imo.
the action - boynextdoor
ep | released oct. 20
title track: hollywood action
boynextdoor is legitimately my token boy group, but i’ve still never liked the entirety of anything they’ve released. i’ve enjoyed pretty much all their title tracks but their b-sides are often misses for me, and even when b-sides are stronger it’s always just one or two of them. basically they have the hybe problem of not really knowing how to put together an album that isn’t just a collection of songs, ykwim?
to me, the action is their weakest release yet. the title is obnoxious but not even obnoxious enough to be fun (see: feel good) and it’s another one of their block b boynextdoor songs instead of a boynextdoor boynextdoor song (maybe this makes no sense but i really do mean exactly that). also it just peters out weirdly instead of actually sticking the landing which… whatever.
and then when it comes to b-sides, live in paris is irritating to me for no real reason, jam has a very singular vision which i respect but it’s not a song that i actually have any desire to listen to, and every single boy group has a song that sounds like as time goes by so. lmao. bathroom is what i would choose as a favorite, if only because it semi-successfully recreates what made but sometimes so great, but i can never recommend it to anyone because. that title. can you imagine. hey there’s this song you might like it’s called BATHROOM. jesus.
cappuccino - gyubin
single | released oct. 28
umm i don’t remember anything special about this song except that it was something i listened to. gyubin makes great music but i think she shines much more in the anthemic declarations of love lane (a la satellite and like you 100) rather than the pg-13 emulation of sabrina carpenter one. it’s not bad! just not very interesting to me personally.
(also is she really saying “acting like a leo”? okay ðŸ˜)
chequered flag - dami ft. yoohyeon
single | released oct. 31
i didn’t like this, sorry. still made it onto my motorsports kpop playlist though