And for the 1000th KPop song about ice cream we have the return of Somi.
There isn’t much to this song. I can see how the horn sample rides the line between catchy and annoying that could be very divisive. Not a lot can be said in defense of the lyrics. I saw some comments that it feels like a Target advertisement, and that’s not wrong. The KPop fans are absolutely shitting all over this.
But you know what? I think this is actually what KPop needs more of. It has a lot of what’s been missing from KPop for a few years now. I don’t see this as fundamentally much different than Hyuna’s Bubble Pop. Bring back the fun. Bring back the simple hook on repeat. Bring back the retro pop art aesthetic. Throw in a tiny bit of high school musical theater. And finish it with some chorus choero ready for social media.
Oh My Girl has come back after quite awhile. It’s only their second release since Jiho left in 2022. Honestly, I think the group is better.
I’m not going to say Jiho sucks or anything. Clearly she could sing and dance, otherwise she wouldn’t have been there in the first place. She was just overshadowed by the other members both in terms of on-stage contribution and in terms of personality. She was the most normal person and the least noticeable. She also clearly had troubles as she had a hiatus in the past due to health issues. She left the group of her own accord, choosing not to renew her contract. It sounds like that is what was best for her, and it also seems best for the group. Now they are a very reasonable six members with very concentrated powers. Every member is contributing significantly, which is rare to see in larger groups.
I’ve talked about OMG before. I just want to reiterate that this is a group that was relatively unpopular for years. They were just barely hanging on. They had the talents, but that isn’t always enough to save a group, just look at SPICA for an example of a super talented group that absolutely flopped.
What saved OMG is that they are the KPop idol’s KPop idol. Even if they didn’t have a huge number of fans, a lot of their fellow KPop idols were huge fans. Game recognizes game, as they say. Eventually the other more popular idols openly sharing this resulted in more attention on them. IU sharing her love of their song Dolphin helped tremendously.
Anyway, here’s their new song. It’s not my favorite, but it’s good. I give it a lot of credit for being somewhat original and not following the trends. The parts of the dance we can see in the music video look terrific. Excited to see it in full later.
And they have also blessed us with an appearance on Killing Voice. Sadly, it’s a short one. They cover a lot of songs, but stay with each one only briefly.
HWASA (of MAMAMOO) is back with another solo release. Her second mini-album with 7 new tracks. That’s a lot for a mini-album!
The title track, NA, is co-written by PSY, and that chorus has his fingerprints all over it. He does not want anyone to forget she’s signed to his company. I can’t deny, it still works for me. Playlist-worthy.
Before BTS came along the number one KPop boy group was BigBang. But since 2018 BigBang basically hasn’t existed.
There were only five members to begin with.T.O.P. was always a weird dude. It really seemed like he didn’t want to be there, and that turned out to be true. Seungri always seemed sketchy, and that turned out to be true as well. Dude went to prison for his part in the Burning Sun scandal.
After several years of nothing but silence, military service, and scandal, BigBang released a farewell song in 2022. It was a digital single with no promotion. It was even obvious that the members all shot the music video separately and it was pasted together.
Today marks a momentous occasion. G-Dragon, the leader and most famous member of BigBang has returned. So not counting that one minor release this dude was on top of the world and hasn’t done anything for six years. It’s not like he disappeared entirely. There was some news about him here and there because he’s a celebrity and paparazzi are keeping an eye on his activities, but he wasn’t producing any music.
Anyway, here is the song.
Gonna be honest here. I like the music video. I also like what he’s trying to say. Even though bragging about yourself being so great is a very cliche thing to do in hip-hop, he’s also giving the finger to all the people trying to criticize him for this or that.
What I don’t like at all is this song. The chorus is annoying. This isn’t merely a case of it not being playlist-worthy. This is a case where if I hear the song I want it turned off. When I hear it I can only think of one thing.