Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Hello! Welcome to my first ever B-Side Spotlight, which will cover all those idol tracks that maybe didn’t get the shine they deserved. This is by no means a definitive list featuring every single idol release of the past month, but these are the ones that I particularly enjoyed and felt like giving more attention to. Happy streaming!
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CRAVITY – “Blackout”
CRAVITY are … so good. Their mini is so solid, especially for a debut. I’m super impressed, honestly, and might be forced to open up my cold little heart to a new group. I really enjoyed the promoted track “Break All The Rules,” but “Blackout” is, for me, a close second.
H&D – “Empty Handed”
Admittedly, I didn’t enjoy H&D’s debut mini aside from this song. I like the sort of upbeat-but-also-melancholy vibe of this song a lot, though, and now I’m really looking forward to H&D’s upcoming efforts.
GOT7 – “Trust My Love”
This is one of those occasions where I love the b-side much more than the promoted track, and kind of wish this was the one GOT7 had gone with even though it makes much less sense as a performance piece.
NCT DREAM – “Love Again”
This whole mini is an absolute … dream. I love it all, and I love this the most.
GWSN – “Tweaks”
My basic, 90s-baby ass loves the house-y beat of this so much, to the point where I might finally have become a GWSN fan.
Oh My Girl – “Neon”
I had a really hard time just picking one b-side from this mini, and honourable mentions go to both “Dolphin” and “Flower Tea.” However, “Neon” just pipped them to the winning spot by reminding me so much of everything I used to love about second-gen idols.
WINNER – “My Bad”
I think more stripped-back tracks like this really show off WINNER at their best. For example, my favourite WINNER song has been (and probably always will be) “Fool,” because I just love when the vocals really get to shine.
A Pink – “Be Myself”
This was another mini where I had a hard time just picking one track, but “Be Myself” was absolutely true love at first listen. I really regret not following A Pink more closely over the last couple of years, especially because I loved their first few minis so much back in the day.
HA:TFELT – “Solitude”
Nothing I can say about this song brings justice to what should be said about Queen HA:TFELT. This song speaks for itself.
TVXQ’s Changmin – “High Heels”
I desperately wish this was the song they’d gone with for Changmin’s solo promotions. I tried to like “Chocolate” but despite everything, it just did not work for me. However, the rest of the mini is perfection and really shows off Changmin’s talents as one of the original K-pop kings.
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And that’s it! Feel free to leave anything you think I missed in the comments, and I’ll see you next month for another round of idol b-sides. Stay safe!
