#weki meki amazing ep as well

[staycgrls]

hi taylor!! what are your favorite kpop releases of 2022? 🥰💖

hi rin!!!!!! sorry this took so long 😭😭 i got busy and then i really had to sit here and think 🤔 i know a lot of ppl said this year was boring for kpop but not for me 😌

im doing top 10 albums for me like could not stop listening to for weeks and have the most replay-ability for me !! the ranking doesn’t matter i just like a numbered list lol this got long tho my bad 🤦🏾‍♀️ (also not me realizing while doing this weki meki never put out music this year jssjshsbsbsbbs )

1. 28 Reasons - Seulgi, Favorite track - Dead Man Runnin’ I don’t even need to explain, she slayed, she served, she conquered, and she left :)

2. Young Luv Dot.com - Stayc, Favorite Track - Same Same ofc my girlies are here v good and well produced ep and the video was beautiful !! this and poppy were honestly my favs and i still listen on the reg

3. newjeans - Newjeans, Favorite track - Attention Truly only stanning on a music level because they are absolutely babies to me but I really liked the album, simple and clean tracks that are just catchy but I genuinely hope they stay safe and are able to continue schooling in some capacity.

4. The Reve Festival 2022 Feel My Rhythm, Favorite Track - Bambeleo MASTERPIECE would not call it their magnum opus in any regard but I enjoyed it so thoroughly and the mv made me wish i was back in college so i could show this to my art history prof so thats amazing on its own

5. Heartburn - Sunmi, I loved both tracks and I loved the concept! I like the subtle country vibes and its easy listening; and it gave us Bass player!Sunmi so im pleased :)

6. Horn - Apink, Favorite Track - Red Carpet or Single Rider Honestly a dark horse this year, it was very good and while I usually enjoy brighter songs, I liked Dilemma was v catchy!!!

7. [Apocalypse - Save Us] - Dreamcatcher, Favorite Track - Starlight Though this title track wasn’t their strongest, I loved the showcasing of everyones solos, particularly Gahyeon and Jiu which stayed in my most replayed all year long!!

8. Undo - Heize, Favorite Track - Thief, Ft Minnie So I enjoyed the title and the collabs the most which is par for the course for Heize with me, but I enjoyed the slightly retro, 2000s feel she did with this one!!

9. the collective soul and unconscious: chapter 1 - billlie, favorite track - overlap (1/1) stunning showstopping amazing wonderful truly i liked billlie before but this album put them on the radar for me (and a lot of others) fav hype up title that energy wise was on par with Hi High for me

10. Antifragile - Le Sserafim, favorite track - Impurities I love to dance i love a track that makes me dance, same with the above but it put them on the map for me like huh yunjin is that girl 😤

honorable mentions are ofc forever 1 - girls generation, flash - rocket punch, love dive - ive, and smiley - choi yena !!!! sorry wow that got v long so if u didnt read i understand dndjsbsbbs but tysm for asking me rin!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR

[kinksharne]

My Top 100 Songs from 2021

I had fun ranking songs from last year so I decided to do it again! Here are some of my favorite songs released this year. Feel free to message me your favorites, or tell me if you agreed or disagreed with my picks! I love discovering new music and talking about music!!

100. My Doll — Oh My Girl

99. Silk Chiffon — Muna feat. Phoebe Bridgers

98. Snow Globe — Waterparks

97. Chaeri — Magdalena Bay

96. Alldaylong — Dreamcatcher

95. Shadow — Slow Pulp

94. Pung! — Yukika

93. You Lose! — Magdalena Bay

92. Lucid Dream — Aespa

91. Drunk Voicemail — Pom Pom Squad

90. Loving You — Yukika

89. I Eat Boys — Chloe Moriondo

88. Next Level — Aespa

87. Heaven's Cloud — Seventeen

86. As Much As I Can - Girlpuppy

85. Tamed-Dashed - Enhypen

84. Rom Com 2004 - Soccer Mommy

83. Easy - WJSN The Black

82. Luminous — Weki Meki

81. Queendom — Red Velvet

80. Forever (Sailing) — Snail Mail

79. Charger — ELIO feat. Charli XCX

78. Hot Candy — Hot Issue

77. Stereotype — StayC

76. Won't Hurt Myself — Fickle Friends

75. Changer — A.C.E

74. BEcause — Dreamcatcher

73. Good Ones — Charli XCX

72. Moonlight — Pixy

71. Bodybag — Chloe Moriondo

70. The Feels — Twice

69. Scaredy Cat — Woo!ah

68. Heaven — Kississippi

67. Cologne — Beabadoobee

66. D-D-Dance — I*ZONE

65. Nevermind — Babygirl

64. Glory — Snail Mail

63. ASAP — StayC

62. Posing in Bondage — Japanese Breakfast

61. Lilac — IU

60. Overdrive — Conan Gray

59. Wow — Loona

58. Gimme Gimme — NCT 127

57. Gears — Lunar Vacation

56. Sunny — Sunmi

55. We Go — Fromis_9

54. Before We Knew — Day Wave

53. Espresso — Twice

52. I Hate U — SZA

51. Insomnia — Pixy

50. Soshy — Purity Ring

49. Lovemonth — Yukika

48. Future Starts Now — Kim Petras

47. Chaser — Woodz

46. Siesta — Weki Meki

45. Zombie — Purple Kiss

44. Yeah Yeah Yeah — Fickle Friends

43. Give It Hell — Youmi Zouma

42. Save Me — Eliza and the Delusionals

41. One Day — Weki Meki

40. After We Ride — Brave Girls

39. The Devil — Banks

38. Atlantis — Shinee

37. Headlock — Snail Mail

36. Where Do You Go — Day Wave

35. Wake Up — Cybergirlfriend

34. 4 Memory — Dreamcatcher

33. Be Sweet — Japanese Breakfast

32. Gloomy Girl — Softcult

31. Don't Call Me — Shinee

30. Airplane Mode — Fromis_9

29. Beauty in Death — Chase Atlantic

28. Alligator — Lexie Liu

27. He Gets Me So High — Beabadoobee

26. Madonna — Snail Mail

25. Knock on Wood — Red Velvet

24. Yeppi Yeppi — Aespa

23. Bewitched — Pixy

22. The Only Heartbreaker — Mitski

21. Addicted — Pixy

20. Fav Treat — Cayenne

19. Bouncin — Tinashe

18. Perfect Blue — Softcult

17. Spinning — No Rome feat. Charli XCX & The 1975

16. Nine Stories — Hazel English

15. New Shapes — Charli XCX feat. Christine and the Queens & Caroline Polacheck

14. Super Moon — WJSN

13. Ice T — Youha

12. Secrets (Your Fire) — Magdalena Bay

11. Let Me Know — Pixy

10. Unnatural — WJSN

9. Turns Me Bad — Fickle Friends

8. Hula Hoop — Loona

7. Last Day on Earth — Beabadoobee

6. Bad Love — Key

5. New Me — WJSN

4. Valentine — Snail Mail

3. Shadow — Lexie Liu

2. Abittipsy — Youha

1. Ben Franklin — Snail Mail

[grlfriends]

giovanna give us your #controversial kpop takes!! you seem passionate abt ***** being mediocre 👀👀👀

omg anon this is definitely going under a read more

ok so it's not that I think they are mediocre but rather that I know how much being from a big company can determinate your success, onces will go on and on about how much jyp was broke before them and how sixteen had a low viewership rate and how jyp was almost "out" of the big3 (a lie bc if that was truly the case then yg wouldnt be considered big3 rn, big3 is about how much influence and power you have on media yes it's related to how rich the company is but not all that matters when we all know that's not even being considered by anyone lmao) but at the end of the day no matter what they were still under big3?? the amount of money they had to even START a show about the group and then to film the like ooh ahh mv was huge man, onces make it seem like they had 10 dollars and a dream when that was definitely not the case, I know I seem bitter about this but bc I'm a fan of a group who was truly in that situation it just seems so fake and attention seeking?? yall know how much an mv like like ohh ahh and cheer up cost?? yall know how much producers and outfits and hair and makeup and studio and everything else costs?? jyp was always powerful and just bc they were in a bad time and bc they got more rich after twice it doesnt mean they were # broke before them, of course luck is a factor in any situation but let's be honest, do you think if a company was that broke and if twice had done that badly in their debut an mv like cheer up would even exist?? it's expensive y'all

also about the mediocre thing: I dont think they are mediocre but rather that no twice track has made me fall in love with them, I do like some songs but that's it, I feel like after their cheer up promotions jyp was very smart and played all the right moves and got them even bigger, they are not mediocre but we all know jyp has a fucked up ear that has rejected THE iu and THE yuju which is now considered top3 best vocalists of the 3rd generation (along with eunji from apink and wendy from rv) and I dont think they have been necessarily giving them the songs that fit their voices the best, some of them are able to adapt better (nayeon) and some are not (ie: momo voice was too deep for some of her parts in more and more), at the end of the day it still sounds nice if you're not listening to the live locals, their choreography is okay but is more focused on going viral than anything lmao, it's not bad but you can definitely see the comeback their team opened their email box and found out about all the emails about onces having to defend themselves bc twice had easy choreographies and SOME members were still not doing okay vocally and then decided to turn up their difficultly level to catch up with the current trend among ggs at the time ON THE TOP OF making them a token gg (along bp) to white gays listen and like bc they werent cute like that anymore and were doing hard choreographies so they were # not like the other ggs and this only expanded twice fan numbers in western countries (I also think that the bigger a group is the more their fans get obsessed with them and stop caring about their song quality and only listen to them bc they're a fan not bc they truly enjoy the music anymore you know?? I feel like feel special was okay but if a smaller gg like idk weki meki (I know it's not their sound but bear with me) or even a nugu gg like pink fantasy had released it it wouldnt have achieved 10% of the numbers it did or even made these groups have a bigger fanbase you know??) so do I think if they were from an actual broke nugu company they would have be as famous as they are now releasing the same songs? no and there's nothing wrong with that, kpop isn't a talent show and it's more about how well known you are with the most basic stuff

once again, I know this is too big of an essay for someone who has said they dont think they are mediocre but honestly that's my opinion and at the end of the day it doesn't matter bc they're still million sellers but that's my opinion ✌🏻 also do I think they're the nation's gg? no that's snsd and will always be

other hot and spicy takes:

bgs should go cute again, where's my fresh and energizing concepts?? astro why did you leave us in the dark?? sm why did you ruin nct dream when you could have made them comeback under another name/unit and make dream remain with the cute concept still

if any bigger gg had released queen by 3ye everyone would have lost their minds, it's the girlboss anthem everyone is looking for and no one knows about, everything from choreography to the lyrics is what blinks think bp is doing in terms of power

I miss gfriend intros so much :(( source PLEASE listen to this poor soul and give us intros, i cant stop thinking about how good the sots album intro would have been with that yuju siren call notes

also about gfriend but ma'am. apple supremacy, this is hands down their best release and best album this year (even tho I'm in live with three of cups and grwm for as long and the songs have been out) and also I wish crossroad had a bigger impact in the instrumental, the guitar should have been louder and it should have appeared sooner, the post chorus (that part they sing about the star) should have something more so it wouldn't feel as flat as it kinda did

↳ and I think that the beginning and bridge choreography should have been not that, specially the bridge..... that arm movement and the walking becomes okay after a while and getting used to it but still, it should have been anything else, let sinb choreograph a part of the title track for a change please

normalize people saying gfriend were robbed in 2016, rough WAS the 2016 soty and no one can tell me otherwise, people were so mad a nugu gg had the catchiest song of the year 2 years in a row (me gustas tu and then rough) they literally boycotted my girls 🤒

CONTROVERSIAL but I dont think rv has the best choreography and bsides in kpop..... their fans are just too used to noise and saying everything is # a concept (but the Russian roulette mini album DAMN it was amazing)

↳ also their title tracks..... it's been a wild ride but the ride is in flames and about to explode

I miss seventeen fun songs, now they're all about being edgy and dark and it's okay I guess but I miss their early days so so much, everything since thanks (even tho it was released close to my bday I have to admit I dont think it's that good either....) has not been it and it made me stop being a fan, I loved them so so much once and now all I have is old pretty u performances and funny gifs of them on their gose eps 😔 svt comeback with the pastel colors I miss those days of your youth

↳ also I cant believe pledis still has trainees when they're probably going to debut another bg when svt enters military years and then will be working in their solos and/or units since a gg wil be boycotted by pledis after 2 years maximum

the loona lore is 100% more about orbits going crazy over anything than BBC actually planning out stuff, their mvs are like any other aesthetic mv y'all

↳ also on the loona topic I dont think they're the powerful dancers people make them out to be, they have beautiful choreographies and are in sync that's all

↳ can orbits please STOP the ch*ves madness, yves is so straight it hurts and people are turning this into a l*rry of kpop almost

↳ when is haseul coming back 😭 people are calling Kim lip the leader for the longest time and it makes me mad seeing haseul forgotten like that.... maybe when she comes back loona will stop having those sm adjacent (derogatory) songs

I cant believe korean people have turned as you wish by wjsn the top end of the year song to enter the new year when dreams come true is RIGHT!! THERE!!! as is just much better by simply being good where as you wish, well, it wishes 😶

↳ ot13 wjsn was the best and their only good releases as ot10 was boogie up and save me save you, yuehua and starship if any of you break ot13 I'm going insane and beating everyone involved

cant believe non stop was the sing that made oh my girl famous when closer exists and they were not problematic yet, non stop is an attack on peoples ears and sucks so bad there's nothing remotely good or even okay about it (actually, their last good song was a-ing bc that's when jine was there 😢 other than that bungee was okay and banana allergy monkey was quite catchy too) also yooa has an annoying voice idk how they chose HER to debut solo

[geniebysnsdmp3]

Who’s your favorite KPop band? Who’s the most overrated?

Oh honey, where do I even start? Honestly, I feel slightly offended because if I was a real stan this wouldn’t even be a question, but whatever. Okay, so there are four groups (3 active and 1 disbanded) that I will forever stan for: WJSN, LOONA, Laboum, and Nine Muses. I can’t say one of them is my favorite, so I’ll just talk about all of them.

Cosmic Girls or WJSN (stands for 우주소녀, or wuju sonyeo) is a 12-turned-13 member group (they debuted with 12 members, but when former trainee Yu Yeonjung got into project group IOI and became one of the most popular members, she was added to WJSN after their debut). They’re the largest girl group that is currently active I believe, and the first girl group with over 10 members that I remember actually being interested in because they had this really cool astrology theme with each member representing a different astrological sign (they then got hate for some members lying about their sign to suit the concept because people hate it when girls do anything). I have a love/meh relationship with their music; the first EP was cute, but I definitely became a stan when they released “Secret”, which is still one of my Top 10 all-time favorite songs in K-pop *Michael Cohen voice* PERIODTTTT. I will say they lost their way somewhere in the middle because they couldn’t really find their sound, experimenting with songs like “I Wish” and “Happy”, which were cute, but not as unique and iconic as “Secret”. I was worried they’d never find their sound until they started doing this “magic girl” concept with their more recent songs like “Dreams Come True” and “Save Me, Save You” and I was like finally they found a concept that works for them. I’m enjoying the direction they’re going in, but I’m worried about the whole “the Chinese line is busy doing Chinese stuff, so now they’re promoting as a 10-member group” thing…also shout out to “Starry Moment” because that song deserved better.

LOONA, or 이달의 소녀 (idalui sonyeo, or “Girl of the Month”) is a 12-member group that got its name from the fact that their predebut project involved debuting one member per month. I’ve been following them since their first member debuted because I try to give every girl group  chance, and when I read about what they were doing I thought they were surely going to disband halfway through the project…meanwhile three years later, 12 member debuts, 3 subunit debuts, two albums, they’re still around and have proven themselves to be the future of K-Pop. Apparently that shook the industry so much, many different companies conspired to ruin their chances at a first win from messing with album sales and redirecting people looking for LOONA content streaming services to the Dutch singer of the same name, to flat out refusing to give the group time to perform because they’re rookies and “haven’t paid their dues yet” (even though rookie groups from bigger companies like G-IDLE and Itzy were allowed to get their first wins during their full-length debut promotions 🙄). A lot of people are blaming this issue on the fact that the CEO of the company that manages LOONA is a woman, so the entire company isn’t taken as seriously as a result. Oh well, we all know they had the debut of the year and hopefully sooner than later they’ll come back stronger.

Laboum is a 6-turned-5 member group that has actually been around for five years, but I only recently started stanning for them. As I try to give every girl group a chance, I’ve been here for pretty much their entire career. I remember listening to their debut “Pit-a-Pat” and being like “ooh no”, but then their follow up “What About You” was actually so good it made me interested in keeping up with them. Five years later, and I’ve been with them through everything, from the…questionable releases (that random summer song they came out with) to them getting their first win for certified bop “Hwi Hwi”. I was a little sad when Yulhee left the group to become a baby mama to marry some guy from FT Island because she was my favorite member, but then I remembered she was just there to be pretty and couldn’t really perform, so I got over it. Then three of the members were on The Unit and it really showed me how talented the group was (only the leader and the most popular member of Laboum were ever given any type of attention) and I almost cried when ZN got into the project group. One terribly promoted project group later, and Laboum was back to performing as a 5-member group. Apparently they’ve become really popular in Japan, so they’re focusing their energy more on that. Hopefully one day Korea will see how amazing the group is and finally make them popular there too.

Last is Nine Muses, the 9-turned-7-turned-9-turned-8-turned-4-member group that defined me as a K-pop fan. Honestly, the fact that they disbanded still hurts my heart because I stanned so hard for them. Their music is nothing short of spectacular, and they really had a chance of being great, but their “company” (for lack of a better word) continued to shoot them in the foot with hiatuses and treating the members so badly they started leaving the group. It’s really a cautionary tale of what not to do with a group. Still, they had their moment, and even though they’re not around anymore they’re still worth checking out.

Sorry, I had to get all that out lol As for who I think is overrated, I don’t like to call any groups overrated because so many of them work incredibly hard to get where they are and are probably dealing with an awful company forcing them to perform and promote literally until they collapse. There are groups that put out music that I don’t particularly love (*cough* BlackPink, Weki Meki, 90% of boy groups *cough*), but countless other people do, so…🤷🏾‍♂️

[loathsome-transexual]

Top 20 Kpop Album Tracks & B Sides of 2018:  Numbers 20-16

At the end of the year everyone reflects and tries to figure out what their favorite songs of the year. With Korean music, and especially mainstream Korean music, the amount of music that is released makes it overwhelming to sift through and find ones that really stand out. 

Honestly a list of my favorite title tracks or singles would just be too damn long to write out. So I decided to make a list of my favorite album and b side tracks since it would be a much shorter list overall and also because the quality of album tracks was incredibly high this year.

So without further ado here’s my list!

20. WJSN (Cosmic Girls) - Thawing

While “Dreams Come True” was my introduction to Cosmic Girls, “Thawing” was the song that solidified my status as a fan of the group. 

The small instrumental flourishes that can be heard in the background of each verse and chorus really add such a playfulness to this song. Claps, beeps, dings, and even sneezes add to this very unique cute vibe.

And don’t even get me started on the Bridge where the girls briefly dip into show-tune territory before an amazing high note signals the end of the song. 

Definitely a must listen to any fan of the more cutesy side of girl groups. 

19. Weki Meki - Metronome 

Full disclosure: I’m not really a fan of Weki Meki. While I am a fan of Yoojung and Doyeon, as a result of their time in I.O.I., Weki meki never really appealed to me in terms of sound with their title tracks.

Thankfully their album tracks tend to venture into much more interesting territory. Taking a slight future bass/ house influence and running with it. Vocal glitching and repetition are also present to really sell this techno song and make you want to get up dancing.

If Weki Meki keeps making songs alone this vein I will definitely be interested in what they release next. 

18. NCT127 - 100

Oh NCT. How you confuse everyone so.

Well allow me to confuse matters more. Most casual NCT fans have never heard this song because it isn’t even Korean. This song originated on the Japanese, The Chain EP, along with a few re-releases and a few original tracks.

So while this doesn’t technically count as Korean album track it is by a Korean group so I am going to count it.

Talking about the track it is simply a great showcase of the talent of NCT127 in general. The beat and key changes are nice, if a bit obvious in their pacing and execution, however, the vocals are really why this song needs more attention. Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun show why they are the vocal powerhouses of this group throughout the course of the song.

Definitely a song that I wish more NCT fans knew about.

17. Yuri - Illusion

Let’s be clear about this. Girl’s Generation was, is, and always will be, the Nation’s girl group. 

Before Yuri even had a solo album in the works, we had Taeyeon, Hyoyeon, Tiffany, Seohyun, and Jessica all release music as solo artists. So when it came to Yuri, there was a question of what exactly she was going to bring to the table. Well it’s clear now that charisma by the truckload is what she had in mind.

This song starts off with an almost heartbeat like chord progression and Yuri singing in an almost sing song, whisper tone. This gradually transitions to her voice being doubled and treated with an odd sort of reverb drawing the listener deeper into the song as a lone piano appears to break the Illusion and bring you back to reality. 

That is until the chorus starts and Yuri’s repeating of the phrase ‘ah ah woo ah ah woo ah ah woo ah ah’ happens. The repetition starts and here you are in the Illusion again.

In addition to this vocal painting that makes a picture of what the song is about it just oozes Yuri’s personality in such an amazing way that it’s hard to not get trapped in this dream like vision. 

16. (G)-I-DLE - What’s In Your House? 

The new best rookie girl group? Perhaps. My first exposure to (G)Idle was like most people’s “Latata”. And truthfully I was not a fan. The rapping from SoYeon caught my attention but the chorus just seemed too repetitive and lifeless for its own good. But, I decided to check out the rest of their debut mini album and found a truly solid debut project.

“What’s in your house?” is a kind of pop house song that leans heavily into a smooth vocal delivery style and chill hop vibe that I think works for it well. There is very nice synth work going on here in the background in addition to very understated but great rhythm guitar playing that gives the song a bit of needed flair.

The call and response pre-chorus and chorus portions are also excellent. Treading the line between more excitable girl group songs and the casual vibe that the song has been delivering on for its duration. 

While (G)Idle’s other music hasn’t tread too much into this same style, this song still makes me very interested in where they go next musically.