#also this mv was so painful to edit. not bc it's bad but bc CAN I GET AT LEAST ONE SHOT OF AMANE NOT BEING IN PAIN

[008-edits]

amane momose the purge march mv layouts!

(credit is not needed, but appreciated)

[goldennika]

Initial Thoughts on TOMORROW X TOGETHER's The Name Chapter: Freefall

Ok so i just listened to TNC: Freefall in full and damn, okay. Really solid album, sonically. And i say sonically bc i haven't read up on the lyrics just yet (i don't think the eng trans are out yet ☹️)

Am loving how they're showcasing more of their vocals (txt lower register enthusiasts, we are being fed at last 😭) and the whole band/session feels of the music really emphasizes that.

can we take a minute to talk about beomkai's vocals?? bc i really think this might be their era 🥹 and seeing as all of the boys have at least 2 credits to their name in this album, it really feels like this is their sound, and their personal music preferences came through too

i'm on the fence about DILT's inclusion in the album though. we all know it was not a planned track at all but it was a really good opportunity for them to collaborate and have a fun summer track out before headlining lolla 2023.

that said, it just doesn't seem to fit in (at least sonically) in this album. i don't know if moving it higher up in the tracklist would have been better since i haven't read the lyrics yet but sonically, it might have worked more since the more powerful/complex sounding tracks are in the first half, imo

but overall, this album is full of surprises, and very good ones at that!! I'm sure i'll love it even more when i listen to it again but yeah, from the first listen alone, i would recommend this album!!!

Track first impressions under the cut! very raw reactions ahead haha

Track 1: Growing Pain

oh damn gritty TXT ???

LOWER REGISTER LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOO

legitimately gave me goosebumps

EXCUSE ME THE OOH's IN THE CHORUS???? DELICIOUS

H U E N I N G K A I

that's it. that's the thought.

the guitar is so good ugh

ROCK BAND TXT LET'S GOOOOOOO

this will absolutely kill when performed live 😵‍💫

Track 2: Chasing That Feeling

HERE FOR THE SYNTHS(??)

giving TCHFTG and Blinding Lights by The Weeknd (i love The Weeknd btw)

Yeonjun's voice is so soothing??????

wait is the nod to the TCHFTG instrumentals intentional??????

maybe this is just me but their choreo (based on the MV) looks like it goes so hard but this song feels relatively chill/easy listening (esp compared to their last few title tracks bc sugar rush ride was a doozy to take in) so it seems a bit... off? idk idk

looking forward to a stage/practice vid to come out to appreciate their performance more!

Track 3: Back for More (TXT Ver)

already reacted to this before and ugh so good

HUENINGKAI POPPED OFF IN HIS VERSE UGH

Yeonjun's is also so good

love their adlibs so much 🥹

super interesting to place this track right after Chasing That Feeling 🤔

dance break instrumental and adlibs have my whole heart actually

like i can see them dancing in my head even if i'm just listening

Track 4: Dreamer

oh shit i love the bass already??????

FIRST LINE IN AND I'M IN LOVE ALREADY???

kinda scared to check the lyrics ngl

oh this song is delicious

i can already see all the tiktok edits happening (not necessarily a bad thing for them imo)

ooh shit "let me break it down for you" jdfh;kdjsfb;nsfkja

I LVOE THIS TRACK?????????

WAIT IS TAHT ALL SOOBIN IN THE CHORUS??????????

or is taehyun there too?

the "let me break it down for you" is going to haunt me in my dreams thanks

Track 5: Deep Down

strong start. nice

WTF IS THIS DIRECTION THEY'RE TAKING I LOVE IT????? 😳

yooo the minimal instrumentals in the start was so good

oh it got clubby in the chorus

OH HELL BEOMGYU IN THE CHORUS SHOULD HAVE COME WITH A WARNING (deep down i need you more)

this feels so different from the usual TXT but it works??

okayyyy the trumpet sounding stuff in the outro was a nice touch

Track 6: Happily Ever After

pretty sure i'll cry if i read up the lyrics of this one haha 🥲

oh this track is so smooothhhh in the pre-chorus

oohhh the la la la's are growing on me

it's like happy fools but more refined?????

LOVE the blending/harmonization 😩

GIVE ME ALL THE LAYERED VOCALS @ BIG HIT

SOOBIN I LOVE YOU (outro ver) 🥹😭

Track 7: Skipping Stones

the cymbals? hi-hats? at the start oh god *chef's kiss*

feels like a band session up in here!!!

HUENINGKAI LET'S FUCKING GOOOOO

oh damn beomgyu???

taehyun with the high notes mhmmm

band txt is the future i can see it all so clearly now

LOVE the way they start off each line durign the verses. scratches my brain sooooo good when they give the little oomph then blend it down ugh (sorry idk musical terms)

kinda obsessed with this music already wtf

the female vocals too!!

HUENINGKAI EXTENDED NOTE LET'S FUCKING GOOOO

HE MADE IT SOUND SO EASY?????????????

mhmmm soobin's falsetto

wow

just wow

FUCK ME WITH THOSE OHs AT THE END OF THE SONG GODDAMN

Track 8: Blue Spring

i know we were joking around about band txt but what if it's not a joke anymore bc we've had track after track of band/session sounds and i am not okay anymore

i'm never gonna be normal about this song sorry not sorry

POP OFF HUENINGKAI GODDAMN

what if i cry.....

hmmm the rest of the instrumentals kicking in. so good.

and then they strip it down??? to let the vocals shine????

so so good

COME THROUGH WITH THE DRUMS

soobin's verse with yeonjun's adlibs is what dreams are made of actually

god yeonjun and hueningkai are gonna make me cry

NO FUCKIGN WAY THEY ADDED MORE OF TAEHYUN'S ADLIBS????

STOP THE FUCKING CAR THEY'RE HARMONIZING INT EH CHORUS TOO??????????????

TYUNNING ADLIBS IN THE OUTRO????????????????

MY JAW IS DROPPED AND I CANNOT BREATHEEEEEEEEE

Track 9: Do It Like That

ok yeah ngl the mood shifted dramatically after all the band txt sounds lol

DILT is a cute song but i don't think it makes sense in this album

or at least not in this placement???

i may reconsider if this was a TXT ver lol

or maybe they were thinking about our mental health when they decided to keep it in the album

i would probs be a sobbing mess if tnc: freefall rly just ended with the studio ver of blue spring 🥹

Track 10: Chasing That Feeling (English Ver)

including this here bc why not it's on the tracklist anyway haha

tbh i wasn't feeling this track much from the teasers

but hearing the song in full changed my mind

the build up is good

why does yeonjun's voice sound so good in this genre like how is it soooo good

time's a thief that won't stop stealing -- well damn did i feel that

taehyun our belting star 🥺

[hesperidia]

my experience learning how to gif:

Yesterday i wanted to do a funney post at 1am and i felt it needed a gif, so i Tried to follow this tutorial which is very well explained (linking if someone else would like to try it out??), but instantly encountered issues like:

not having the correct programs to work with (the video downloader and program to take screencaps. i couldn't manage to download versions for windows (maybe i'm just tech illiterate but it really slowed the process)

my version of PS (portable) is very broken and you can't do anything on it without getting error messages and/or freezing my laptop to death

my laptop is a brick. yes this explains a lot

So, i started with downloading the videos using a firefox addon that only let me get 720p (this explains a lot) (i chose enstars mvs for practicing bc they are readily available in youtube)

Then, i used a website to get the screencaps in .png (i've to test if .jpeg looks better? idk enough about different file types). this website also lets you crop videos and that's what i did in my 2nd try, instead of cropping the frames with ps (which freezes my laptop :) ).

The function in ps that lets you import each file as a layer is broken in my program, so i had to manually import them into my art program of choice (sai), arrange and name them one by one. Save that as .psd and opening it again in ps (this is the most time consuming tedious step EVER).

Once i did all that, making the actual gif wasn't that bad. ps timeline is fairly easy to use. HOWEVER i can't convert all the frames into smart objects (i think you have to do that?) to proceed with the editing/sharpening/coloring part as explained in the tutorial. (i had almost an aneurysm last night bc of this bc i kept getting errors and white frames in between) so the three gifs i did were just unedited.

Things i learned:

More frames -> smoother gifs (fork found in kitchen) i tried to gif something with few frames it ended up super crunchy and impossible to time right

Timing is a pain i just set everything to 0,1 and hope for the best

Sharpening does not work well with 3d models (from the es mvs, i tried editing a single frame to see how it'd look and didn't like it, but i should mess around with it more)

Need better programs and a laptop that won't die on me but i'm not going to become a gifmaker, like i said i just needed a gif for a silly post which i could've easily done online but i didn't want to sleep last night ^-^

I don't quite understand how to size gifs yet and the tumblr requirements for them but that's for another day.

Trying to do it with an online version of "photoshop" to see if i can avoid the errors

?????????

that's all idk why i wrote all this. shu jumpscare:

[youngshiney]

how i would run sm: Exo edition

starting a new series of posts in which i detail what i would have done for each sm group if i was in charge. im starting at Exo bc a.) theyre my ult sm group besides my beloved RV, b.) i think about them the most, and c.) they are where kwangya should have started properly instead of lsm/sm leeching off of their concept to apply to everyone else. anyway, under the cut bc this will likely be long

Early days (pre-debut to 2013): i have a few major changes, but nothing too out there.

first point of change: line-up and positions. Exo-K is fine as is, there isnt much to change about them besides Sehun and Kai needing more lines and better coaches early days to properly develop them like the rest of vocal line. Exo-M gets a major overhaul. first of all, Henry Lau should be leader instead of kw and even tho Luhan/Jongdae are both main vocal, they should cut their parts up more so Yixing and Minseok (and Henry) can shine as well. M has great vocalists, they should be used and while Minseok is perfect at everything, his vocals are underrated by p much everyone. Zitao should be the only rapper besides Minseok sometimes. putting kw was a bad move bc Zitao is their best rapper (equal to and sometimes better than Chanyeol) and he shouldnt have been put as lead rapper. the reason i chose Henry as leader btw is because he's friendly, a musical genius, handsome, and older while not being too much older than the rest of the group. he also wasn't doing much in suju since elfs wouldnt let him join the group and suju-m was a shitshow. he was wasted in that group and it shouldnt have existed.

second point of change: Mama should have gotten a webtoon/comic series to go along with their debut. Exo literally started the lore/storyline concept (afaik but please correct me if another group had an overarching storyline like they did), so why not actually flesh out the world/characters from the Mama intro and What Is Love? like a comic would have suited their story perfectly and would have drawn in a lot of interest, leading to a better reception of their debut.

third point of change: minor outfit issues. the drop crotch pants were ugly, Kai's Wolf hair, the entire Wolf era actually (besides pink Yixing and rainbow Sehun), uh the noose on Junmyeon for Mama. like so many style problems

fourth point of change: Miracles in December. K ver should have been Baekhyun, Kyungsoo, and Junmyeon. M ver should have been Jongdae, Luhan, and Yixing. that's all.

Beginning Popularity and the Painful days (2013-2015): more changes! but mostly for promotions and schedules.

first point: Exo-M should have lived/worked in China, at least for six months out of the year. China was, and is, their biggest market and fanbase and they should have done more than like 3 Happy Camp episodes. They should have had more concerts and fanmeets and tv appearances in China, which also would have helped with the profit distribution and other issues. Tencent Video, iQiYi, and Youku all started around the time they debuted, and it would have been so easy to pitch a variety/reality show like Exo's Showtime to them, hell even a scripted show like Exo Next Door could have worked. Busking events and mini fanmeeting tours across China to replace music show appearances (ex. Boystory did a series of busking events which is along the lines of what I'm thinking of). i think doing that and maybe a shorter tour for Exoplanet 1 + 2 would have been better and allowed for more rest between cbs and schedules.

second point: 2014/2015 should have been the start of sm station songs, not necessarily the actual thing but the idea of members getting to make solo songs and mvs and release them. i think it would have helped with some of the creative frustration some members felt during that time (specifically Zitao). also they should have let members open solo youtube channels and soundclouds for the same reason.

third point: this era is important for visibility and impact so there should have been better quality schedules and more time for members to rest and heal. whats the point of having all those schedules if people are missing them constantly due to injuries or mental health issues?? better to have more memorable promotions than a lot of appearances. (i will never get over the fact that theres only ONE Call Me Baby stage with Zitao AND Yixing AND the fact that i will never hear the Chinese version live even tho Tao's parts are superior to the entire Korean version)

2016-2019: Lucky One, Monster, Lotto were great eras to continue the webtoon previously mentioned since so much lore was included in those mvs. other than that i have no issues really and the CBX debut was a great idea. no notes besides the fact that i would have had them do mvs more like Mama in that its all members but only their sub group sings instead of like Wolf or Growl where its ot12 in video and song.

THE WAR now here is where everything needs to change. besides Kai's hair (again bc sm never learns). so first of all, scrap Kokobop or make it a bside idc. its fun and all but the missed opportunity to make the Eve the title track makes me mad. and its not about the choreo bc i dont care about that, listen to the lyrics for both versions. its all about fighting a battle and the dawning of a new era and all that shit and it would have been so much better as the title for an album called THE WAR, not to mention the potential for the Exo storyline and perhaps even an X-Exo tease?? like the PLOT would have been immaculate (in my head anyway). Power is fine and gets no notes, wouldnt change anything especially the comic and album inclusions. oh also they should have worked around Yixing's schedule for The War

Tempo/Love Shot are also fine but i would have included more of the Exo storyline in the mvs and YIXING FOR LOVE SHOT. other than that, no notes. Yixing solo music, Jongdae solo music, Baekhyun solo music, SC are also all perfect.

Wildest years of their careers (2019-2021): SuperM was fine for Jopping but i would have changed the line up majorly (but thats for another day). also Obsession was perfect but i would have included the leaked footage. Junmyeon solo debut was also good (the solos are fine and i wouldnt really do anything with them changes wise). oh also how funny is it that Zitao did like two X-Exo concepts before Exo themselves (AB Style and AI). SuperM SuperOne was a mistake and shouldnt exist imo, like the songs are fine and i like some of them but there was no need to continue. Kai solo debut was also perfect and the nod to the Exo powers/lore was amazing

Don't Fight the Feeling was super cute and needed in Exo Planet and even though Yixing was a hologram, i was still happy to see/hear him. I would have done more promo for it but oh well, the Exo Arcade was good. Kyungsoo's solo debut should have had stages and performances even if it was just him alone in a room in the sm building. like there was no reason not to promote the album at all

2022: Exo Ladder was a really good idea and Junmyeon's Grey Suit was perfect. they were both the feel good content that Exols needed while there wasn't much going on. i would have had members maybe do a bit more solo/unit activities like maybe Sehun solo debut but it was pretty busy with Yixing's music and acting and Kyungsoo's show.

Minseok's solo album was decent, but personally i didn't vibe that much with the title or b-sides and I wish he had a better debut. but i wrote about that already when it came out.

small smtown mention: why the fuck didn't Yixing get to go bc he should have performed Love Shot with them bc he was there and he already knows the dance and he's a great vocal. like what the fuck sm

Future plans: SEHUN AND CHANYEOL SOLO DEBUTS, KAI3, KYUNGSOO2, MINSEOK2, JONGDAE ROCK ALBUM, EXO CB WITH YIXING, a totally self indulgent version of Phantom of the Opera with Jongdae as the Phantom and Le Sserafim Yunjin as Christine, SKY unit, Minseok/Sehun unit, my other self indulgent unit for Kai/Yuta/Joy.

overall thoughts: most of my changes are for early days and honestly i wouldnt change a lot in the later years besides capitalizing on the lore more and letting members have more freedom (creatively and personally). the divide between K/M should have been a little bit greater with only a few cbs in their career being ot12 since K and M were received and treated differently in multiple countries. i think maybe only the songs with lots of lore attached should be ot12 (thats with Henry btw). i think thats everything? if not, oh well its long enough anyway

[cancellablex]

I love love love I’m outta time mv! Bc I’m a masochist 😭😭 Seriously it’s so sad, and Liam was so sad there, almost literally dead behind the eyes, and he isn’t an actor so I’m sure it was genuine.

Also bc I’m an aesthete and he looked so handsome.

Contrary to some oasis fans I love the Lennon interview excerpt, bc while the song is heartbreaking, this bit reminds me that even if everything is bad you’ll always have your favorite music, books and so on, no one can take it away from you.

god seriously, it’s a work of beauty, all the interviews from before the split were so bitter, and he looked at noel with such angry hunger in all the performances?! and like, noel minimizing the problems in the press until it exploded and... god, I don’t know

I love the excerpt too, it’s like, almost a prayer? I know Liam says it’s a random one but I don’t think it is, the theme of just running away to somewhere where it can possibly be ok shows up so much in the songs, Death of You and Me and If I Had a Gun are direct responses to it in a “go where?” way and I don’t know it’s just too much

Here’s a lil extra delicious pain for ya https://twitter.com/liamgallagher/status/952322892754235392

It is canon that Liam cried while singing it at least once

EDIT: more pain just in case

First live performance of it (before release of the album), Noel ignoring Liam during, Liam vying for his attention

And also, this acoustic version was introduced by Liam as "I'm Outta Time, Noel" but it's been scrubbed from the net for some reason

[the-jade-goblin]

Hi! I've seen that you really like k-pop, I've been trying to get into k-pop but I don't know where to start. What was your first k-pop song? Or your favourite groups?

Hi Nonny! I’d love to help you out in your k-pop journey, there is a lot of content out there so it can be intimidating to get started. 

I’ll combine your questions to give you some solid recommendations - my first songs that I heard from some of my favourite groups, AND I’ll throw in my current fave songs from those groups so you can check them out! 

My very first k-pop song that I heard was Sad Tango by Bi Rain; I was in primary school (middle school) and teaching myself Japanese, so I went on this anime site to find some Japanese bands that I could listen to, and the Japanese version of Sad Tango was listed there. 

I really liked it and became obsessed with Bi Rain, but as I was young, my friends peer pressured me into stop listening to him and “Weird” stuff and instead I went back to listening to the Jonas Brothers and Nickleback bc I didn’t want my friends to stop liking me. 

It wasn’t until I was in yr10 of highschool did I re-immerse myself into k-pop. I was in the library and a girl I’d just met in math class the day before was listening to something on her laptop - she was watching an MV and I got curious and came over to ask her what it was. 

She told me it was called Lucifer, but a k-pop group called SHINee. My instant reaction was “oh that’s so weird?” but I took the earphone she offered me and watched it with her. I loved it. She then showed me other MVs from SHINee, and I was hooked. With a friend who was also into it I felt more confident in my passion for k-pop, and she became my k-pop supplier haha

She and I still best friends to this day, though we now have many more k-pop friends (and friends we’ve converted to k-pop *evil laughter*) and we’ve gone to so many concerts together to meet some of our favourite groups.

Now that my personal history is over with, I’ll get to the recommendations! 

I’ll go through my favourite groups, and the first songs I heard from them + my current favourite songs of theirs! I’ll go in alphabetical order to make things easier to navigate, and I’ll provide links to all songs listed

Under the cut because this is a LONG POST

1. B1A4 

My first B1A4 song was Beautiful Target, their debut song. My current favourite is not a title track but I love it, and it’s called Wonderful Tonight (unplugged remix) from their first album It B1A4. My favourite title track is 걸어 본다 (Tried to Walk) from Into the Wind.

B1A4 was my very first kpop concert, I went to see them in Sydney in 2014 - their first Australia concert - with my friend, literally the DAY after we graduated from highschool - while others went to the afterparty after our formal (prom), we went to the airport

2. B.A.P

The first BAP song I heard was, once again, their debut song Warrior, back when we called them Blonde Asian People bc at the time they all had blonde hair haha 

My all-time fave BAP song is One Shot, but there are SO many others that could hold that title too - like 1004 Angel, Wake Me Up, Save Me, Honeymoon, Hands Up, Skydive, Young Wild & Free - there’s so many. I really recommend BAP for beginner kpoppers

I saw BAP in concert in Sydney in 2016 for their Live on Earth tour - their 2nd Australia concert

3. Boyfriend

I was with Boyfriend since debut (no surprise there I’ve followed many since debut lmao) so my first song of theirs was their debut song Boyfriend. My ultimate favourite Boyfriend song is Janus

I saw Boyfriend in Sydney, along with JJCC, in 2016 - their first Australia concert

4. BTS

BTS is one of my all-time favourite groups, I’m so emotional about these boys I love them to death. My first song of theirs was their debut song No More Dream. I have a thousand favourite BTS songs, there’s so many that I adore, but if I really had to pick I’d say currently my favourite title track is Save Me, and my favourite non-title track is Best of Me, but there SO MANY others I could have picked, like Serendipity, Dope, Fire, Danger, Boy in Luv, Hip Hop Phile, Let me Know, DNA, Dimple, MIC Drop, We On, If I Ruled the World, War of Hormone, Blood Sweat and Tears - ALL OF THE SOLOS Begin, Lie, Stigma, First Love, Reflection, Awake, MAMA - Lost, Spring Day, 21st Century Girl, Wings, Cypher 4, Not Today, I Need U, Converse High, Young Forever, Run, Butterfly, Ma City, Baepsae, Autumn Leaves, TO NAME A FEW  

I saw BTS in Sydney a few years ago, their first Australian concert

5. B2ST 

Beast is no longer called that, it’s called Highlight now since they lost a member and re-branded themselves, and tbh I haven’t listened to any of their stuff under Highlight (my bias was Hyunseung, the member who left) but I still love B2ST even if I don’t listen to them much anymore

My first B2ST song was, unsurprisingly, their debut song Bad Girl (when you watch the MV you have to remember this was 8 years ago, and kpop was…very different back then. Like Asian Eurovision. It was…bad)

My favourite song from B2ST is a non-title track called I Knew It, but my favourite title track is probably Fiction, it’s old but it’s good

6. CNBLUE

Again my first song of CNBlue was their debut I’m A Loner. CNBlue isn’t a dance group like most kpop groups, they’re an actual band so they play their own instruments. 

My favourite CNBlue song is a toss up between the non-title tracks Lie (tho I prefer the Japanese version) and Sweet Holiday. My favourite title track is In My Head I think, but again that’s a Japanese release

7. EXO

Mama was EXO’s deubt song, and surprisingly this was actually not my first EXO song. I came a little late on the EXO train, I wasn’t following the hype of EXO pre-debut, so my first song was actually their second single History.

My absolute favourite EXO song is Miracles in December from their first Christmas album, and will always be my fave

I went to see EXO at K-Con in Sydney last year

8. FTIsland

FTIsland is another k-pop band, and my first song of theirs was Love Love Love, which isn’t their debut song Love Sick. My favourite FTIsland song is an old one called Hello Hello

9. Girl’s Day

My favourite girl group! I wasn’t into girl groups for a long time so I came into Girl’s Day quite late; my first song of theirs was Something, which is still my favourite Girls Day song, tied with Expect

10. Infinite

My first Infinite song was Paradise, which is from their first album but not their debut song. I’ve had a lot of favourite Infinite songs, like Before the Dawn, Last Romeo, Destiny and Bad, but I think my favourite currently is Back

11. MBLAQ

MBLAQ are an old favourite of mine. My first song wasn’t their debut song, it was a song called Stay (again, kpop was…very different back then) and it’s probably still one of my favourite MBLAQ songs, but my ultimate favourite I think is This Is War (its a great karaoke song)

12. Monsta X

I love Monsta X with all my heart, though I got into them a little later. My first song was Hero from their second extended play, and is still a fave. I have many favourite Monsta X songs, most of them non-title tracks, Ex Girl, Perfect Girl, Incomparable, Amen, Broken Heart and Miss You to name a few, but for title tracks I think my favourite is a tie between Beautiful and Shine Forever - I also adore the acoustic version of Beautiful

I saw Monsta X at K-Con last year

EDIT: MONSTA X JUST HAD A COMEBACK LIKE YESTERDAY AND ITS’ THE BEST THING EVER

My new favourite Monsta X song is Jealousy, Destroyer, and Lost in the Dream - wait no Special, idk they’re all lit as fuck

13. NU’EST 

My first Nu’Est song was their debut song FACE. My favourite Nu’est song is probably Yeoboseyo, but I adore Not Over You and Good Bye Bye equally

14. Pentagon

My first Pentagon song was their debut Gorilla, and while my favourite used to be 감이 오지 it’s now Like This and Runaway

I saw Pentagon at K-Con last year

15. Seventeen

Seventeen is amazing; my first song of theirs was Shining Diamond, which is technically not their debut song Adore U because it’s not the tile-track, but it’s the first track on the album and I pre-ordered it before I listened to any of their material and Adore U was the second track is listened to so like idk point is I’ve been here since debut. Seventeen is made up of three sub-units that’s important, the vocal unit, the hip-hop unit, and the performance unit

I have a lot of fave Seventeen songs, including If I, Rock, 20, Say Yes and Adore U (vocal team ver.), and while Don’t Wanna Cry has been a long-standing fave,  lately I’ve fallen back in love with three songs in particular; 13월의 춤 from the Performance Unit, Trauma from the Hip-Hop Unit, and Change Up from the Seventeen leaders, a new unit made up of the leaders of each sub-unit

I saw Seventeen in Sydney a few years ago

16. SF9

I’ve been a fan of SF9 since their debut of Fanfare. I love this group and have so many favourites, like K.O, Easy Love, Jungle Game and Roar, but my favourite is O Sole Mio

I saw SF9 at K-Con last year

17. SHINee

SHINee was the first kpop group I fell in love with, my first song of theirs was Lucifer. There are so many faves I could list from SHINee. Dazzling Girl, Juliette, Amigo, Hello, In my Room, Romantic, SHINee Girl, JoJo, Up & Down, Electric Heart, A-Yo, Ready or Not, Love Pain TO NAME A FEW

My forever-fave is Replay their debut song and Quasimodo (and yes, I don’t listen to new SHINee stuff, I haven’t listened to any new songs since the Sherlock album, oh except like the title track Everybody and Why So Serious. I’m an old-school SHINee fan I prefer their old music)

If you’re going to get into SHINee you should be aware that their main singer Jonghyun recently committed suicide, so there’s a lot of pain in the community right now. I personally have not been able to listen to a single SHINee song since he died. I burst into tears when I tried to play Replay, and I did listen to Crazy, Jonghyun’s single debut, twice since then but I cried half way through both times and had to skip the song. 

18. Super Junior

MY ULTIMATE BIAS GROUP! 

My first song from SuJu was No Other, but since then I have loved all their other releases. I’ve bought every CD they’ve ever produced and practically devoted most of my life to them, so you could say I’m a bit of an ELF expert XD

My absolute favourite songs will always be Neorago, Evanesce and A-Cha (my must karaoke songs) but there are so many others.

Super Junior also has many sub-units including; Super Junior M (Chinese unit) Super Junior T (trot music unit) Super Junior Happy (cute concept unit) Super Junior K.R.Y (the vocal line unit consisting of Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung) and Super Junior D&E (dynamic duo unit with Donghae and Eunhyuk) 

Most of the members have their own solo careers too; Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung in particular, also SJM members Zhoumi and Henry. Heechul also has his own band with TRAX member Jungmo called M&D, they write their own lyrics and music, perform and film the mvs on their own - which is why they’re so weird xD Heechul’s a weirdo

A incomplete list of my favourite main group SuJu songs; Shake It Up!, Oops!!, 나쁜 여자, 사랑이 이렇게, Reset, What If, Dead at Heart, Happy Together,  Hit Me Up, Don’t Leave Me, Islands, Scene Stealer, Haru, Bittersweet, Daydream, So I, Over, Love U More, Sapphire Blue, Missin U, Our Love, 사랑이 죽는 병, One More Chance, Shirt, Opera (Japanese ver.), U, Don’t Don, Sorry Sorry, Marry U      

If you’re gonna check out the subgroups I recommend; D&E - Still You, Growing Pains, Sweater and Jeans, Don’t Wake Me Up, Breaking Up | SJM - Break Down, Perfection, Super Girl, Go, Strong | M&D - 울산바위, Close Ur Mouth, Springs Days of my Life (which is a cover I believe), Narcissus

and I’ll leave the other subgroups and solos to your own browsing pleasure, I’ve rambled about SuJu for too long already ^^;

19. Stray Kids

MY CURRENT OBSESSION! I LOVE THESE BOYS SO MUCH ;O;

Stray Kids originally appeared an a survival reality show for JYP’s next boy group. There was lots of pain and tears during the elimination rounds, and I won’t spoil it for you if you want to watch it, but I’m so happy the ot9 got to debut together - plus Chan and Felix are Australian! and Felix’s Aussie accent is thicker than mine xD it sounds so bad 

Since Stray Kids have only just debuted, as of like, freaking yesterday, they’ve only got a limited number of songs. But they’re all so good I HIGHLY recommend! Stray Kids released a pre-debut mixtape made up of the songs they wrote on their survival show, and yesterday they made their official debut with their second mixtape. 

So because they’ve only got those two albums so far, I’m going to link the entire albums here, along with their performance videos of Young Wings, Grr,  because honestly I can’t pick a favourite song from the two I love them both so much. Needless to say my first Stray Kids song was both their pre-debut title track Hellevator, and their official debut title track District 9 xD

Their first mixtape can be found in its entirety here, and their second album “I am NOT” here

AGAIN, I CANNOT RECOMMEND THESE BOYS ENOUGH

I HAVE SEEN THEM GO THROUGH SO MUCH PAIN AND ANGUISH TO GET TO THIS POINT AND I’M SO FUCKING PROUD OF THEM OKAY I’M VERY EMOTIONAL ABOUT THESE SWEETHEARTS

Ahem, moving on...

20. Teen Top

Teen Top is another old school fave of mine. My first Teen Top song was Crazy, which wasn’t their debut song Clap, but they both remain very nostalgic faves for me. 

My favourite Teen Top song is probably Love Is, tho it used to be I’m Sorry and Missing

21. UKISS

Ukiss debuted the same year as SHINee, so they were sort of overshadowed in their debut. My first UKISS song wasn’t their debut song, it was Man Man Ha Ni, which is most Kiss Me’s first song. 

Ukiss have lost a lot of members over the years, and gained new ones in return. Mostly they’re active in Japan rather than Korea so they have a lot more Japanese releases than Korean ones, tho my favourite remains 0330, a Korean release.  

Other of my faves include, Love On You, Mysterious Lady, She’s Mine, Quit Playing, Heartless, Tick Tack, Forbidden Love, DoraDora, Alone, Sweetie, Believe, Standing Still, Every Day, I Don’t Understand and Neverland

While I haven’t seen UKISS live, I did meet one of the members, my bias Kevin, at K-Con last year. He was the host and I got to meet him during my hi-touch event with UP10TION briefly - best day ever

Speaking of UP10TION...

22. UP10TION 

Another group I highly recommend, all the members are such talented sweethearts. My first UP10TION song was their debut song So Dangerous and it’s still a solid fave of mine, as well Runner 

Currently my fave song of theirs is tie between Going Crazy and their latest release Candyland in terms of title tracks, it used to be Catch Me! and Wild Love tho. Non-title tracks, I love Everyday, Be My Luck, Come With Me, and Holic  

I saw UP10TION at K-Con last year - I told Sunyoul he was really cute and he got so shy it was adorable, but I digress

23. VIXX

We’re nearly there just bear with me haha

VIXX is life, VIXX is love. My first song of theirs was their debut song Super Hero, which was..fine, I mean I’m very glad they’re where they are now they’ve progressed so much. 

My fave VIXX title song is probably Error, but I die for Fantasy, Hyde, The Closer, Shangri-La, and Chained Up too. For non-title tracks I adore Love Me Do, Eternity, Rock Ur Body, Six Feet Under and The Romance is Over. 

I saw VIXX last year in Melbourne    

24. Winner

Winner is the forgotten group of YG, who’s only interest lies in Big Bang let’s be real. Personally I prefer Winner, but that opinion seems to be controversial in the kpop fandom (Big Bang is overrated, there I said it). Winner is the product of a reality survival show, who won their debut that way over their competitors iKon who debuted later under the same label.  

Anyway, my first Winner song was their debut song Empty, though my favourite remains Different. For title songs my favourite is a tie between Really Really and Fool. I love their first album the most so I can only rec my faves from that album, Don’t flirt, I’m Him, Love is a lie and Color Ring.

25. Day6

I know this is D but it’s down here bc they’re not on my playlist I was working from and I forgot to add them earlier. 

Day6 is another band group, from JYP the company Stray Kids has just debuted from. They have consistently released a comeback every month for the last year so they work hard to get where they are and we need more fans for these sweethearts. 

My favourite Day6 is also my first song, I Loved You, which isn’t their debut song but I got into them a little late. From them all their songs are stellar, but I recommend Free, How Can I Say, When You Love Someone, What Can I Do, Man in a movie, I Wait, I Smile, Out of my Mind, I Like You and First Time  

ps most of the mvs tell the clearly obvious one-sided love story between Wonpil and Sungjin and no one can tell me different

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

For groups that I love but didn’t make it into the top *counts* 25 apparently 

NCT, including their sub-units NCT U, NCT Dream and NCT 127. My favourite are NCT U and 127 

For NCT U I recommend Without You, The 7th Sense, Baby Don’t Stop and Boss

From NCT 127 I recommend Cherry Bomb, Mad City, Good Thing, Whiplash, Baby Don’t Like It

Wanna One - a product of another reality survival show called Produce 101, out of 101 trainees these boys from various companies were picked. Their contract has been extended but it does end this year, so they will be disbanding and returning to their companies. Still, they have some good music that I recommend, Energetic, Boomerang, Burn It Up, and Beautiful   

VAV - ABC, Flower, Under the Moonlight

GOT7 - also from JYP, I recommend Girls Girls Girls, Just Right, If You Do, Look, and Never Ever  

VICTON - Eyez Eyez, Blank, #Begin Again

ROMEO - Love Sick, Miro, Without U, Hustle

MYTEEN - Amazing, Mr. Misery

Madtown, who have sadly disbanded now - OMGT, New World, Lie

iKon - Rhythm Ta, Dumb & Dumber, My Type

JJCC - BingBingBing, Be Good, Insomnia, Fire, Trauma, Where you at

Cross Gene - Billion Dolla, Shooting Star, La-Di Da-Di, Sky High, Black or White

History, who have also disbanded recently - What Am I To You, Queen, Might Just Die, Psycho