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shyshyshilohi don’t know what i was expecting because basically nobody releases anything in december except for christmas music.
my fromis… #myfromis. i know this is a remake of an existing song so i can’t really be like “wow the songwriting is so good!!” in that it was like. originally for fromis, but the rework is pulled off in a very lovely way. the added strings make it sweet and sentimental and still they’re not afraid to lean into that early 2000s cheesiness, especially in the music video. i actually sat there like fully smiling and giggling. terminal floverism strikes again.
completely trivial piece of non-criticism but it irritates me that the phrase “it’s that time of the year” is in the lyrics of 3 out of the 4 songs, and especially when the one where it’s the main chorus hook isn’t the one where it is literally the title. i keep listening and being like oh this must be the one called it’s that time of year? and then it’s not.
i checked this out like an hour after watching lando norris take f1 world champion so i went in irritated and not really expecting anything lol. but oh, thank god, it’s so good. i was so scared that lunedi (still not used to calling her that… goofy ass stage name and after i spent all this time getting used to the first goofy stage name too 😭) was going to go the like. girl crush poorly-tuned synths + terrible bass drop route but it opened with electric guitar and i was like yes… YES!!!! she really has such an incredible voice and even before weeekly disbanded for good i was mourning the fact that her skill was so underutilized and that it might never be recognized for what it is. i have no illusions about how easy it’ll be for her to make it as a solo artist (if that is even truly her goal, tbf) but i’m just glad she’s putting out music and putting out music that i really really like! and SINGING!!!
the song itself is honestly the best i could have asked for (except ☝️ for some of that vocal processing but let’s not talk about that). it’s triumphant and makes really cool production choices and is driven and energetic while still letting lunedi’s voice shine. it reminds me of what i really love about the rock-forward songs in younha’s discography and i mean. younha is the goat(!!!) so i’m serious about how high this praise is. it’s honestly shocking that she was able to pull this off with whatever budget she has, which i’m assuming is not high lmao. god idk. maybe i’m overhyping this song and still riding on the euphoria of getting something more than “just listenable” but truly it is so so rare for someone redebuting in these circumstances (unpopular group that disbanded after a long slow downward trajectory, didn’t redebut immediately after, wasn’t even necessarily one of the more visible members of the group) to put out something good. i’ve been burned so many times and it’s just. such a relief. love really is real and it exists in this world 🥹
i very much thought bewave was dead and gone (no music releases + absolute radio silence on twt, youtube, etc.), which was a shame because i LOVED hard to get to you, but here comes this… um, surprise. and this is mostly just another shame because i want to be able to be enthusiastic about any bewave signs of life, but this song is so generic and almost verging on annoying. and i’m saying this as someone who has a pretty high tolerance for christmas music. like, i’ll fully listen to christmas music of my own will! for the love of the game! and i’ll listen to all i want for christmas is you any day of the year (that is also because i genuinely believe that it’s a compositionally and structurally perfect song but. i digress)! so really this doesn’t have any redeeming qualities to me.
(addendum because it only occurred to me that i could google what tf is up with bewave about halfway through writing this: i completely missed their weird little announcement and like, on one hand that explains a lot about their activity patterns but simultaneously doesn’t explain anything at all. what is going on over there)
i know hybe’s gonna hybe but these releases that they keep doing where they put out 47204 remixes of the title track and it’s always just. version 1, version 2, version 1 sped up, version 2 sped up, version 1 instrumental, etc ad nauseam… it has to stop. they won’t because it’s how they get that sweet sweet tiktok audio money but, for fuck’s sake guys. come on.
these holiday remixes are just okay. hybe themselves have done much better holiday remixes before (perfect night anyone…) but also not cute anymore isn’t a song with a ton to work with in the first place.
(also last month when not cute anymore first came out i was totally like. yeah it’s very low-energy but i guess hybe is hoping the goodwill for and the massive popularity of illit themselves is going to carry the song so it doesn’t really matter what they put out. and then now that the challenge is popping the fuck off i’m like ah. it was never about the music that was the strategy all along. fuck this company bro)
truly it felt like nothing else happened music-wise in the last weekish of december so here i am doing a full writeup on a say my name ep, which is a group i previously did not pay attention to or care very deeply about apart from getting shalala stuck in my head at inopportune moments.
bad idea: sooo listenable and full of momentum. what a way to open the ep. i’m almost getting a little bit of weki meki… #whoremembers
ufo (attent!on): is disney channel pop rock back in vogue? i mean, i’m not complaining because between this and last month’s baby dont cry release i’m having a good time! i liked this and its enthusiastic quirkiness though it doesn’t grab me as much as some of the other songs on this ep.
delulu solulu: if a song is atlanta bass, i’m going to like it. it’s that easy (shoutout of shoutouts to 2024 song of the summer pose! by lightsum!!!). but also can we pleeeease stop using the word delulu. i’ve had enough.
hard to love: i’m also a city pop sucker, so this was lovely but not that memorable lol. however the title hard to love only ever makes me think of the one ok rock song (OVERSHARING ALERT) that i used to cry alone to at 7 AM in music practice rooms during my freshman year of college.
say my name: first of all i could have sworn that say my name already had a song called say my name. but turns out it was just the name of their debut ep and there was no actual self-titled song until. now?? i guess??? anyway i promise this is not just me thinking that every new jack swing song sounds the same but it is very rina sawayama love me 4 me but with the xs guitar riff for some reason. i really like it though, the guitars add a crisp punchiness to the otherwise laid-back beat that makes it very fun to listen to.
white memories - fromis_9
single | released dec. 2
my fromis… #myfromis. i know this is a remake of an existing song so i can’t really be like “wow the songwriting is so good!!” in that it was like. originally for fromis, but the rework is pulled off in a very lovely way. the added strings make it sweet and sentimental and still they’re not afraid to lean into that early 2000s cheesiness, especially in the music video. i actually sat there like fully smiling and giggling. terminal floverism strikes again.
christmas promises: again - chungha
single | released dec. 5
title tracks: christmas again + it’s that time of year
completely trivial piece of non-criticism but it irritates me that the phrase “it’s that time of the year” is in the lyrics of 3 out of the 4 songs, and especially when the one where it’s the main chorus hook isn’t the one where it is literally the title. i keep listening and being like oh this must be the one called it’s that time of year? and then it’s not.
face myself - lunedi
single | released dec. 7
i checked this out like an hour after watching lando norris take f1 world champion so i went in irritated and not really expecting anything lol. but oh, thank god, it’s so good. i was so scared that lunedi (still not used to calling her that… goofy ass stage name and after i spent all this time getting used to the first goofy stage name too 😭) was going to go the like. girl crush poorly-tuned synths + terrible bass drop route but it opened with electric guitar and i was like yes… YES!!!! she really has such an incredible voice and even before weeekly disbanded for good i was mourning the fact that her skill was so underutilized and that it might never be recognized for what it is. i have no illusions about how easy it’ll be for her to make it as a solo artist (if that is even truly her goal, tbf) but i’m just glad she’s putting out music and putting out music that i really really like! and SINGING!!!
the song itself is honestly the best i could have asked for (except ☝️ for some of that vocal processing but let’s not talk about that). it’s triumphant and makes really cool production choices and is driven and energetic while still letting lunedi’s voice shine. it reminds me of what i really love about the rock-forward songs in younha’s discography and i mean. younha is the goat(!!!) so i’m serious about how high this praise is. it’s honestly shocking that she was able to pull this off with whatever budget she has, which i’m assuming is not high lmao. god idk. maybe i’m overhyping this song and still riding on the euphoria of getting something more than “just listenable” but truly it is so so rare for someone redebuting in these circumstances (unpopular group that disbanded after a long slow downward trajectory, didn’t redebut immediately after, wasn’t even necessarily one of the more visible members of the group) to put out something good. i’ve been burned so many times and it’s just. such a relief. love really is real and it exists in this world 🥹
christmas eve - bewave (jiun & yunseul)
single | released dec. 9
i very much thought bewave was dead and gone (no music releases + absolute radio silence on twt, youtube, etc.), which was a shame because i LOVED hard to get to you, but here comes this… um, surprise. and this is mostly just another shame because i want to be able to be enthusiastic about any bewave signs of life, but this song is so generic and almost verging on annoying. and i’m saying this as someone who has a pretty high tolerance for christmas music. like, i’ll fully listen to christmas music of my own will! for the love of the game! and i’ll listen to all i want for christmas is you any day of the year (that is also because i genuinely believe that it’s a compositionally and structurally perfect song but. i digress)! so really this doesn’t have any redeeming qualities to me.
(addendum because it only occurred to me that i could google what tf is up with bewave about halfway through writing this: i completely missed their weird little announcement and like, on one hand that explains a lot about their activity patterns but simultaneously doesn’t explain anything at all. what is going on over there)
not cute anymore (holiday remixes) - illit
single | released dec. 19
i know hybe’s gonna hybe but these releases that they keep doing where they put out 47204 remixes of the title track and it’s always just. version 1, version 2, version 1 sped up, version 2 sped up, version 1 instrumental, etc ad nauseam… it has to stop. they won’t because it’s how they get that sweet sweet tiktok audio money but, for fuck’s sake guys. come on.
these holiday remixes are just okay. hybe themselves have done much better holiday remixes before (perfect night anyone…) but also not cute anymore isn’t a song with a ton to work with in the first place.
(also last month when not cute anymore first came out i was totally like. yeah it’s very low-energy but i guess hybe is hoping the goodwill for and the massive popularity of illit themselves is going to carry the song so it doesn’t really matter what they put out. and then now that the challenge is popping the fuck off i’m like ah. it was never about the music that was the strategy all along. fuck this company bro)
&our vibe - say my name
ep | released dec. 29
title track: ufo (attent!on)
truly it felt like nothing else happened music-wise in the last weekish of december so here i am doing a full writeup on a say my name ep, which is a group i previously did not pay attention to or care very deeply about apart from getting shalala stuck in my head at inopportune moments.
bad idea: sooo listenable and full of momentum. what a way to open the ep. i’m almost getting a little bit of weki meki… #whoremembers
ufo (attent!on): is disney channel pop rock back in vogue? i mean, i’m not complaining because between this and last month’s baby dont cry release i’m having a good time! i liked this and its enthusiastic quirkiness though it doesn’t grab me as much as some of the other songs on this ep.
delulu solulu: if a song is atlanta bass, i’m going to like it. it’s that easy (shoutout of shoutouts to 2024 song of the summer pose! by lightsum!!!). but also can we pleeeease stop using the word delulu. i’ve had enough.
hard to love: i’m also a city pop sucker, so this was lovely but not that memorable lol. however the title hard to love only ever makes me think of the one ok rock song (OVERSHARING ALERT) that i used to cry alone to at 7 AM in music practice rooms during my freshman year of college.
say my name: first of all i could have sworn that say my name already had a song called say my name. but turns out it was just the name of their debut ep and there was no actual self-titled song until. now?? i guess??? anyway i promise this is not just me thinking that every new jack swing song sounds the same but it is very rina sawayama love me 4 me but with the xs guitar riff for some reason. i really like it though, the guitars add a crisp punchiness to the otherwise laid-back beat that makes it very fun to listen to.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-06 06:43 pm (UTC)Also gave &our vibe a listen at your recommendation, love how fun it is! Big fan of Hard to Love and Say My Name!
no subject
Date: 2026-01-06 10:55 pm (UTC)