davidardiansyah

[davidardiansyah]

Artist Carefully Chronicles Each of Her Stays at a Variety of Japanese Hotels

Hotel-lover and artist Kei Endo documents the different styles of accommodations she stays at in Japan through her ongoing series of watercolor layout illustrations.

From hand-drawing the blueprints of her hotel room (including measurements) to painting the view from the room window, no detail is spared in these meticulous entries. Endo spends an equal amount of time capturing the big picture of these places—like the architecture, size, and placement of objects—as she does highlighting the small, thoughtful details that are associated with hotel stays, like toiletry kits and coffee mugs. As a result, her illustrations are immersive portals to these many different places.

[davidardiansyah]

2019: A Year in Kpop

Dickens once wrote in his novel, A Tale of Two Cities, “It was the best of the times, it was the worst of the times”. This phrase aptly sums up the year of 2019 for Kpop - a moniker for Korean Pop.  Some called 2019 the best year for Kpop in this decade while others called it the worst year of Kpop. 

In my last review, I wrote how 2018 was a big year for Kpop as it wrecked havoc much of the western world like a storm. And as expected, in year 2019, Kpop is just getting even bigger and gaining more momentum outside its safe haven of South Korea and the larger Asian continent in general. Known for its dedicated and strong fanbases, Kpop industry has become a commodity. The soft power of Kpop — and the corollary fashion and beauty industry — catapults the South Korean economy, racking in billions of dollars back into the country, especially with the success of the global acts like BTS and BlackPink. Suddenly, everyone wants a bit of Kpop. The western media were scurrying to appeal and sign on with Kpop acts such as BTS, BlackPink, Monster X, Ateez, TXT and SuperM to name a few. 2019 saw Kpop acts appear in many American TV shows and music festivals, as well as performing concerts in many cities. In all, it is safe to say that Kpop has taken ground in America.

To begin, 2019 is a year of BTS. A year ago I also said 2018 was the year of BTS. I told my friend that BTS has such an amazing year in 2018. To that, my friend replied: BTS hasn’t even reached their peak yet. I was a little skeptical back then. How much bigger would they get? Oh boy I was wrong. 2019 is a huge year for BTS — and even huge might be an understatement. For those who are still unaware, they are the biggest boyband in the world right now. A short for Bangtan Sonyeondan or literally Bulletproof Boyscouts, BTS broke many records and took home countless of awards this year with the release of Map of the Soul: Persona. The album takes inspiration from Jung’s thesis in psychology of the same name: Map of the Soul. Following Persona, fans are expecting that Shadow and Ego could be the next releases. For the first time since the Beatles, they had three number one album in Billboard 200 within a year. This year, the septet completed their world stadium tour and sold millions of seats, with historic performance in Wembley London and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. However, for me, it is the performance for the MMA stage that left strong impression, especially so the solo performances.

Moreover, their single Boy-with-Luv, a collaboration with Halsey, is named the song of the year in Korean year end music awards, broke the Youtube records, and last but not least loved by many. Boy-with-Luv (Korean name:  A Poem for Small Things) is a catchy pop-song with bubbly and cheerful tones complementing the visuals.The B-side tracks also shine with Mikrokosmos being the feel-good song and Make it Right, composed by Ed Sheeran, as your mainstream chill-pop song. Home is my personal favourite with its jazz and R&B textures, followed by Jamais Vu for its interesting musicality. The album ends with Dionysus, a hard-hitting hip-hop of old school Bangtan. 

If the Kpop boy group is dominated by BTS, one could said BlackPink is the counterpart for the girl group. BlackPink released its most anticipated comeback yet with Kill This Love which top many charts. Kill This Love was briefly named the most viewed MV in YouTube, only to be sidelined by BTS’ Boy-with-Luv just a week after. Kill This Love is a marching-band style hip hop song that is a typical of BlackPink hard-banging repertoire. This comeback pulled through YG amidst the scandals embroiling their senior group Big Bang and YG’s executives. Some might even call BlackPink as a saviour for YG. However, fans lamented for the lack of supports for BlackPink, arguably the sole powerhouse of YG right now, with Kill This Love remains but another mini album. To date, BlackPink, a three-year old group has not released a full album yet. In this album, Don’t Know What To Do is my personal favourite, followed by Kick It and Ddu Du Ddu Du remix. Admittedly, Ddu Du Ddu Du was the most successful BlackPink release ever, with the MV crossing the 1B stream in YouTube this year. BlackPink too went for a successful world tour and was featured in Coachella this year.

Now that we have cleared the big acts of 2019, let us sails through the rest of the Kpop acts. Older and senior groups like EXO and Super Junior made comebacks this year as well with Obsession and Super Clap respectively. With the members starting military services, remaining active EXO members such as Baekhyun and Chen releasing solo songs and Chanyeol and Sehun as duo. In addition to individual EXO members having busy schedule, it is no wonder and expected that we will only getting only one comeback each year. The following year we may expect more solo activities or subunits as well, especially with more members serving the military. Meanwhile, Super Junior is finally coming back as a full group, with Ryeowook and Kyuhyun ending their military service. 

It is worth mentioning that Seventeen, another rising star in Kpop is having a big year in 2019 with three releases, Home, Hit and Fear. Of those, Home catapults Seventeen to greater height earlier in the year. In my opinion, Home appeals to larger audience, while Hit is a banger and Fear just okay. Seventeen, known for their amazing vocals and dance synchronisation, is going for world tour in 2020. We can expect big thing from Seventeen. Meanwhile, MonstaX has a bumpy year in 2019. Embroiled with controversies, MonstaX saw Wonho leaving the group in the second half of the year, shocking fans both in Korea and internationally. This was a major setback given 2018 had been a big year for MonstaX. They were featured in many American shows as well as making cameo in Bare Bears series. We can only hope Wonho and the rest of MonstaX members are are coping well through this unfortunate incident. Alligator and Follow were two major releases from MonstaX this year. Both are arguably typical MonstaX sounds. Other acts like Got7, Nuest, Winner, NCT also make comebacks, but are lacking the hypes compared to Seventeen and MonstaX. Perhaps, NCT 127 who are riding into their popularity in America is worth a special mention. However, Superhuman isn’t as powerful as Regular or Simon Says. NCT dream meanwhile, cameback with Boom Boom, which surprised me with catchy chorus.

In the girl group scenes, Twice has a good year as well. I mean when will Twice not have a good year right? This nation-loved girl group has two major releases with Fancy and Feel Special. Fancy is another Twice-ish song, loved by many and doing well in charts, but pales against Boy-with-Luv and internationally against Kill This Love. In fact, all these songs were released back to back. 2019 is indeed a year fandom war. Besides BlackPink and Twice, Red Velvet made three comebacks with Zimzalabim, Umpah Umpah and Psycho. The first two were the ‘Red’ sound while Psycho ‘Velvet’. To be honest, Psycho trumps them all. Befitting the name, the soft yet piercing high pitch sound is the unique signature of this song. It’s new and fresh. Similar concept to Peek-a-Boo and Bad Boy, Psycho is a must-listen. Unfortunately, Wendy, one of the members suffered injury during the year end music festival and I wish for a swift recovery for her.

Mamamoo was another big girl group that dominated 2019. Riding on the rising popularity in 2018 with their four seasons’ albums, Mamamoo had a comeback with Gogobebe and Hip. Both songs earned high spots in Korean major charts. One of the members, Hwasa also had a successful solo career with Twit, a catchy song laced with flute textures. Other acts such as GFriend, AOA and APink also made comebacks among others. APink, being a senior group among the rest, is worth mentioning for their comeback %%. If you haven’t listen to it, please do. %% was definitely a good song to start 2019.

In the rookie scene, Tomorrow by Together, the new Bighit boy group and the junior group to BTS had an amazing year with two major releases, Crown (Korean: One Day Horns Grew Out of my Head) being the debut song and Run Away (Korean: I Will Wait for You At Platform 9 3/4), their first comeback. Crown is the fun and bubbly pop song with Run Away delivering emo-rock style. We give a round of applaud to TXT (the short form — Bighit with its naming sense) for fresh sounds, setting them apart from the senior group BTS. ITZY, the new JYP girl group also had successful debut year. If TXT is called global Global Super Rookie, ITZY is the Monster Rookie for stellar performance in Korean charts and abroad especially wth Dalla Dalla — though not my kind of sound. One special mention is Oneus with Lit, a banger with Korean inspired sound — think of BTS’ Idol. 

The budding acts like Ateez and (G)Idle both have two comebacks this year. The former with Wave, a tropical house sound and Wonderland, a marching band-inspired sound, while the latter, continuing the Latin vibes with Senorita and Lion. Everglow also had successful comeback with releases such as Bon Bon Chocolat and Adios. Both are good catchy summer songs, with Adios being another marching band-inspired sound. It seems that 2020 will see the trend shift to this style of music. Meanwhile, Pentagon made a comeback with Humph!. This was the first comeback after EDawn left the group earlier. Humph! continues to deliver the signature sound of Pentagon, with its minimal layers of instruments.

The solo scene is dominated by Chung Ha, with successful releases such as Gotta Go at the start of the year and Snapping the second half. Chung Ha overshadowed Sunmi, who made a comeback with Lalalay. Lalalay is unique for its retro high-pitch eastern inspired instrumental sound. Big acts like IU and Taeyeon also made huge comebacks this year. IU’s Love Poem and Blueming performed well in charts as usual. Taeyeon had two releases, one at the start of the year with Four Seasons and one at the end of the year with Spark. Both songs did well. In the R&B scene, Heize released We Don’t Talk Together, composed by BTS’ Suga. The song is laden thick with emotions coupled with melancholic instrumental and visual. It seems that females dominated the solo scene, even in the OSTs scenes, with songs from Hotel del Luna blocking the charts. Of which, Heize’s Can You See My Heart?, Taeyeon’s A Poem About You and Paul Kim’s Goodbye are my personal favourites. Correction, Paul Kim is perhaps the only male act worth mentioning here who had a successful year with Me after You, Goodbye and Every Day Every Moment (a 2018’s release!).

In the duo scene, Bolbbagan4 and AKMU had an amazing 2019. Being digital Monster, Bolbbagan4’s releases are loved by Koreans. This year, the duo cameback with Workaholic. Meanwhile, AKMU is finally making a comeback after Lee Chan Hyuk’s release from military service with How Can I Love the Heartbreak, You Are the One I Love. Both songs earned them Perfect-All-Kill (PAK) in Korean charts (after the new system). The other PAK worth mentioning are IU’s Love Poem and Blueming as well as BTS’ Boy-with-Luv — the only PAK with the old system, arguably harder to achieve. Congratulation to all winners.

The band scene saw the rise of Jannabi, the indie band with retro sound. For Lovers Who Hesitate is an ode to the nineties, with its warm and tender retro sound. It’s also worth mentioning that the vocalist of Jannabi has charming and swoon-worthy vocals. Although the band faced some bumpy road that ended up with one member leaving the team, Jannabi is an act to watch for. N-Flying also had a successful start of 2019 with Rooftop. Originally the song didn’t do well in the chart but slowly rising and top the rank eventually, making them a rising newcomer in this industry. That leaves us with mature group like Day6 who has had stable releases over the years. This year Day6 releases Sweet Chaos, an alternative-rock bop.

While 2019 was a good year for many acts, 2019 also saw the rear side of Kpop. I won’t go through them in detail but it’s good to reflect on these series of events and hopefully do better in the next decade. To begin, 2019 is marred by the Burning Sun prostitution and drugs scandal that led to Seungri quitting Big Bang and Yang Hyun Suk leaving YG. Following this, the Jung Joon Young’s scandal on the sharing of explicit content in KakaoTalk, a Korean messaging platform, caused many acts to retire from the entertainment industry and brought others into the spotlight. The floodgate didn’t just stop there, B.I., the leader of iKon was also reported to have purchased drugs some years ago. B.I. left iKon, who had a successful 2018. The end of the year, we also learnt that the Produce 101 series were rigged with briberies and vote manipulations. The producers reportedly picked the final line-ups prior to nation-producers’ final voting counts. That is why also X1 and IZ-one had tough year in 2019, despite both of them having good releases prior to the exposé. I wonder how their future will look like? Lastly, Park Kyung exposed some artists for suspicion of sajaegi, or chart manipulation, that sparked a nationwide discussion. In fact, the issue of sajaegi had been raised up multiple times in the recent years but seemed to have blown-up more this year, with many artists stand in solidarity against sajaegi and fairer system. 

Before we end, allow us too a moment of silence. 2019 saw the passing of fx’s Sulli and Kara’s Hara, victims of malicious commenters and haters. It seems we didn’t learn from the passing of Jonghyun two years ago. While we are deeply mourning for the loss, I hope they are now in better place, happy and resting in peace.

In short, 2019 is indeed the best year of Kpop — and the worst at the same time. However, as previously said by Jang Geu Rae of Misaeng: when a project fails, it means we never planned properly, but we shouldn’t throw away the lessons from this failed project, we should learn from the setbacks and plan for better future. Echoing RM’s speech in Golden Disk Awards, we hope that Kpop artists will continue to work hard, produce good musics and be rewarded fairly. Let us hope for better Kpop scene in the new decade.

Happy New Year.

[davidardiansyah]

[davidardiansyah]

2020 Resolutions

Resolutions are bulshits. I don’t personally believe in them as often most don't stick to it. For most resolutions are meant to counter bad habits, but as they say, “bad habits stick”. For may years, I told myself, I should not set any resolutions as from past experience those resolutions remain inside the following years’ resolutions’ lists. To exaggerate, New Year Resolution’ Lists should start with a sentence: “ACT ON THE DAMN RESOLUTIONS”. So, with all these, why am I writing this post? Well, you see I AM SETTING NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS THIS YEAR! Yes, you hear me right. I just completely turn 180 from what I said earlier. BAM!

As a defence, I think resolutions let you set a goal. It helps you track your own growth to a certain long life goal, that needs not be completed or resolved within the said year. Last year (before 2019), a friend of mine asked me what resolutions I was setting for the coming year (2019). As usual, I told him I don't do resolutions. I am not the resolutions guy. But just to answer him, I just said: I am going to exercise more and gain weight, without giving much of a thought. (I mean I should exercise more and gain weight anyway)

So a few months down the road, I just have hit the gym almost everyday because I had the luxury of time. Truth be told, thesis year was a breeze. There were tough time but overall, now that I look back, I have tonnes of freedom to do whatever I like because I have so few classes and of course since I didn't give as much fuck to my thesis as I should. (Ahem, digress....) Anyway, back to the topic. I acted on my resolutions and it kind of become a habits to exercise, which include pull-ups, shoulder press, some weight training etc. While this might be biased, but I see some progress in the my body. I see some muscles now on my scrawny figure but they ain’t at the level to be boasted yet - just my little achievement. Hence, I told myself, let set some similar goals for 2020. So here I am trying to document this moment so I can look back on how far I have progress in this long goals/resolutions.

First, I think I continue to eat and live healthily. I think some resolutions should be broad. Then, one may break them down into a detailed plan. Some people work better with tiny goals along the way but for others they mostly don’t stick to this kind of resolutions. And you guess it I am the latter. So what constitutes a healthy lifestyle? I think to eat healthier food, more vegetables, more balanced food, have less bubble teas, reduce sugar intake, to continue exercising and sleep well as well as wake up early. I think this is my life long journey. Something I continue to aspire. I think people at my age are health-conscious. One caveat I set for myself is that a bit of guilty pleasure along the way is fine. Life is meant to be enjoy fully as well. 

Second to this lifelong resolution is to read and write more. As far as I can recall, I have only read two books in the year 2019. That is bad. Atrocious. Pugnacious. The David I knew could devour books like breathing air. The David I knew won award for the most borrowed books. The David I knew is a very good friend with the librarian whom recommended him a lot of books to read. I am still a great believer than fiction helps humanity to be more human, but in 2019 I didn't even follow my own preach. So in these coming years, I want to read more, fictions (mostly) and some non-fiction (maybe). 

On the same note, I also wish that I would write more. In my own reflection, writing helps not one to relax and relieve one’s negativity but also sharpen his mind. Writing reflection is good for mental health. In recent years, I came to realise that I wrote less and less. Prior to university I wrote so many blog posts here. During the college years, the number dwindled exponentially. And after graduation, my writing skills suck. I am ashamed to be called a USP graduate with such a horrendous writing. I need to get back in track. So wish me luck. This post is supposed to be up before the new year, but here I am not acting on the damn resolutions. So I hope 2020 and many years to come, I want to write more and express myself. 

The rest of the resolutions are main to be little milestones and goals I should set up for the year. They include: to learn new language, to learn instrument, to go back to dancing, to upload my travel logs, to clean my hard drives etc. These are just backlogs I have from many years prior. They will continue to the in the logs to be cleared. I just need to find the time. Yes, I said it. I have no time. Time is so elusive. There are so many things to do. I am tired just by the amount of piling logs. So wish me luck here as well, to clear the back logs. 

These conclude the resolutions. In short, let’s lead a good, healthy and happy life, to minimise regrets, to learn as much, to grow as an proud individual who brings good vibe. I hope everyone starts the new year with a good and positive mindset. Happy New Year.

[davidardiansyah]

You earned it, Cat.

[davidardiansyah]

http://kasper-florio.ch/

[davidardiansyah]

www.facebook.com/Kolektiv.studio www.instagram.com/kolektiv.studio

[davidardiansyah]

[davidardiansyah]

[davidardiansyah]

[davidardiansyah]

The Cathedral

[davidardiansyah]

- Hiking among wild daisies -

by Pedro Gabriel

[davidardiansyah]

[davidardiansyah]

[davidardiansyah]

[davidardiansyah]

2018: A Year in Kpop

I think it is safe to say that 2018 is a another big year for Kpop - a (infamous?) moniker for Korean Pop. The so-called Hallyu wave stormed the American and much of the western hemisphere like tsunami. While what started out to be reaction videos and fervent fans promoting their Kpop stans in radio and twitter (another Kpop ruled media), now the western media is paying a lot more attention, albeit to minority of the acts such BTS, short for Bangtansonyeondan (lit: bulletproof boyscouts). Paving the way, BTS opens the door for more recently acts like Monsta X, NCT, BlackPink, and others who score presence in the States as well.

While all well wishes and congratulations go to Kpop artists and acts who made 2018 another good year, the aim of this post is to highlight some of the best Kpop pieces that left marks in the year 2018, in my personal opinion (although these largely land similar sentiment across general public). So, no offence to others.

In general, 2018 is sprinkled with scores of unexpected rise of Kpop acts who did not show such tendency in previous years. Their new and fresh music takes South Korea and much of the world in surprise. Some popular acts continue to remain popular but fail to produce (in my opinion) good musics as would have been expected given they previous years' records. Perhaps, with the exception of BTS. This year is also peppered with good news with the return of some veteran acts from serving the mandatory 2 years military service while simultaneously others going hiatus with the similar reasons.

To begin, 2018 is a big year for iKon. They took South Korea by storm this year with their almost strip-bared piano backing and minimalist Love Scenario. The song in fact was so famous that it was banned in schools because the kids are addicted to this easily 'chewable' tune. Written by the leader B.I. (Hanbin), Love Scenario entails the story of the break up. This masterpiece was then followed by Killing Me and Goodbye Road, both of which were too accepted well among the public. The former being the sadness of breakup told in the equivalence of killing oneself and finally the latter tells the end of the series of breakup and going on separate ways.

Pentagon, a still relatively young act scores well with similar vibe song, an equally catchy and minimalist song called Shine. This song is very well accepted overseas with scores of covers made by overseas fans. Their following song, Naughty boy employs the same instrumental means like Shine. It seems that this year, the stripped-to-the-bare minimum instrumental and rhythmic song is a trend. Sadly, for them, one of the member left the group due to dating controversy that also resulted in their famous senior being kicked out as well.

2018 is not a complete if one does not mention BTS. They are huge this year. The scores of accolades from Billboard to AMA, UN to Grammy, it seems BTS is continuing their advancement from previous year and probably will too in the next year. This year their album Love Yourself: Tear, the second instalment to the Love Yourself Series landed at top spot in Billboard 200. The main title track, Fake Love, an emotional rock/hip-hop becomes their summer anthem. The repackaged album, Love Yourself: Answer scored the best album sold in the century in the South Korea, with the main title song Idol, a literal self-love anthem. Their Korean rendition of this song, performed in MMA2018 is definitely one of the best BTS performances to date. To me, while these titles are good and catchy, the B-sides pull some heartstrings. The Truth Untold has a soft spot in my heart, with the vocalist belting desperate and heartbreaking story in a sad but poetic way. I'm Fine, a response to their previous song, Save Me is another good track to listen.

All awhile we have discussed the boy groups, girl groups did equally well this year. At the start of the year Red Velvet's Bad Boy, Momoland's Bboom Bboom and Twice's What is Love were doing well. Similar to Love Scenario, Bboom Bboom's rise to popularity was unexpected. This rather young group scored a big hit this year among the established act like Twice and Red Velvet. In fact, you could say, I am rather disappointed with Twice this year. Perhaps, to better put it, I expected a lot more from Twice. After receiving much love for CheerUp, TT, Likey, and Heartshaker in the previous years, What is Love and Yes or Yes did not quite rise to the challenge. While Dance the Night Away exudes a rather different vibe (and I applaud for this undertaking), I think it doesn't suit Twice so well. Maybe because, we (or I) associate them with more cutesy and Twice-ish anthem like CheerUp or TT.

Blackpink did extremely well this year. After being starved for a year with only one song, As if it's Your Last, Blackpink came back with a mini album, Square Up, and a summer title track Ddu-Du-Ddu-Du. Of course, the hungry fans celebrated this and the song indeed did very well both local and internationally. Perhaps, a big contender for song of the year after Love Scenario. One of the members, Jennie went solo with Solo (ahem!) and the song is bop and suits the ear of many due to the generally mainstream track. Other act like Mamamoo soared this year with notable tracks such as Paint Me, Starry Night, Egoistic and Wind Flower. Starry Night and Egoistic are very much loved, with the latter infuses a Latin-inspired sound. Meanwhile, GFriend returned to their stronghold sound with Time for the Moon Light. EXID on the other hand welcomes their leader and main vocalist, Solji with new track I Love You, yet another EXID bop like Up&Down.

While in general YG acts tend to do well, I am rather disappointed with Winner. They did so well last year with Really Really but Everyday is just not comparable. They can't seem to repeat their success even with the recently released fan song, Millions. Despite this, their rapper Mino comeback's is an equally bop song as Jennie's. Mino's Fiancé has some interesting sounds, perhaps a remake of an old traditional tune. Speaking of traditional tunes, this solo work has a similar vibe to BTS' rappers' track called Ddaeng, which borrows from traditional Chinese sounds.

The rest of the acts performed more or less as expected. In the boy groups, Got7 came back with a funky house pop tracks like Look and Lullaby. Seventeen has a good year in 2018, releasing Thanks and Oh My! Seventeen also did well in their OST with A-Teen, a song loved as much by South Korean as the web drama of the same name. VIXX came back with a Scentist, a song that is a good follow up from Shang-ri La (one of my favourites in 2017). Monsta X is delivering good songs after 2017's Dramarama with Jealousy and Shoot Me, although in my honest opinion, Dramarama is still superior. However, their good tracks land them a spot in America this year. Got7 also has it big in the States. It seems like following BTS path, many Kpop acts are quite welcomed within the western hemisphere this year. EXO came back later in the year with Tempo and Love Shot. But it is safe to say, much of 2018 is quite empty of EXO's presence (except for EXO-CBX). Among the two title tracks, Love Shot just sounds better, while Tempo fails to deliver the expectation from their long comeback since Universe.

2018 sees many groups either going hiatus or their members going solo. Big acts like BigBang, Highlight and SHINee are some of the examples. BigBang released Goodbye Road, a fan song, before the members served their nation, with the exception of Seungri, who goes solo for the time being. Another group going hiatus with impending military conscription is Highlight. The successful re-debut of 10-year-old group last year gave their fans their last song, Loved, before their members going to serve the military. Their members have released solo songs from late 2017 to 2018. Doojoon, and soon Yoseob, are serving the nation currently. SHINee's leader Onew also followed suits, with him releasing his solo Blue beforehand. Other member such as Key also released his solo. It seems like a trend that, before going for military, members go solo and perform in front of their fans for the last time. The same is true for BtoB and Infinite as well. BtoB continues to belt their perfect vocals with Only One for Me and Beautiful Pain. Sadly, one of their members, leader Seo Eunkwang left the group to serve the military, soon to be followed by two other members: Minhyuk and Changsub, who also have released their solo tracks. Infinite also saw their leader leaving for military and came back with Tell Me prior. The group so far remains in hiatus, with Woohyun going solo and Hoya leaving the group.

While we have to say goodbye to some good vocals, SM artists welcome the comeback of TVXQ! from military. But for many, TVXQ! glory days are maybe over since the scandal that left the group broken into the duo TVXQ! and JYJ. Cassiopeia awaits for the OT5 comeback and the return of their glory past. The duo songs did not do as well this year but before we throw the towel, let's wait for their 15th anniversary album. Super Junior also welcomes their members who finished their military service. This year, Super Junior goes Latin with Lo Siento and Otra Vez. They are tapping on their huge fanbase the Latin America. The Latin inspired musics are staying for awhile in Kpop scene. Girls' Generation came back in a unit with summer track, Lil Touch while BoA came back with Woman. Woman anthem continues strong past 2018.

2018 sees several solo female acts rising to the top. Chungha, Heize and Sunmi are big this year. Rollercoaster is doing well for Chungha, propelling her further after the disbandment of I.O.I. Perhaps, she is one of the few members that is doing very well. Heize continues to remains popular in urban/R&B scene with Jenga. Sunmi exudes sexiness with Heroine and Siren, a continuation of woman anthem since her Gashina. IU, on the other hand, returned with Bbi Bbi, an unexpected sound from her successful 2017 tracks Pallete and Through the Night. Personally, it is not my favourite IU songs. It is not that I don't like the song, they take time to get used to, but still I applaud IU for taking up the challenge for this female anthem. Women are indeed doing good and breaking free this year. Lastly, to add on, Red Velvet's Wendy sang for The Beauty Inside OST, Goodbye, which lands onto my personal favourite tracklist.

Male solo artists did not quite match up to their counterpart. Roy Kim released a soft ballad Only Then and Eric Nam a EDM and reggaeton Honestly. Dean is big earlier in the year with instagram, one of my personal favourites. J-Hope and RM of BTS both released their mixtapes. Airplane and tokyo are my personal favourites among others. Meanwhile, VIXX's Ken's remake of Late Regret does the charm in pulling my heartstrings. Shaun's Way Back Home is very much loved in South Korean and my personal favourite indie track, despite the sasaeji accusations.

In the band scene, CNBlue is currently on hiatus with Jonghwa in military and other members soon to follow. FT Island released summer song, Summer Night's Dream and also expects for impending military service. That leaves us with Day6 who came back with Shoot Me, but largely did no do as well. Meanwhile, The Rose retuned with emotional-rock Baby and She's in the Rain. The former personally is better than the latter.

Produce 101 acts like Wanna One is seeing their impending disbandment end of this year. The super-rookie has enjoyed deluge of love from the fans local and international. They released many songs this year alone with unit tracks as well. Boomerang, Light and Spring Breeze are some of the titles. The last one, Spring Breeze, showcases the sad ballad musics to culminate their journey with fans. Meanwhile, the new Produce 101 child, Iz*One is debuting their 12 members group with La Vie en Rose, another Latin-inspired song. Produce 101 acts are favourites among many, with Wanna soon to be missed.

Rookie group to watch this year is (G)I-dle, they have impressive year with Latata and Han. The former won them their first music show award, indeed a powerhouse rookie (a reminiscent of Blackpink in 2016). Han,on the other hand, is my personal favourite. Stray Kids is competing with The Boyz for the male rookie this year, with the former, in my opinion has a better public reception. Hellevator and District 9 are some of their debut songs this year.  

Lastly, on the not-so-rookie group. KARD came back with You in Me and Ride on the Wind, with one of the boys became a vocalist. The former generally better than the latter, continuation of the KARD vibe. Ride on the Wind, however, fails to fly as high as their debut songs. KARD was my favourite rookie last year but this year they just didn't deliver. Meanwhile, NCT has a big year in 2018. Following BTS footsteps, they are a growing presence in the States. NCT U released Boss and NCT 127 Regular and Simon Says. While the last track drew some controversy, NCT 127's continuing popularity is on a steady rise (only shadowed by EXO). Regular, on the other hand, another Latin-trap track is just good to your ears. The English version surprisingly sounds much better.

And that concludes the year in Kpop.

[davidardiansyah]