Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Wow, the attack of all these notable releases was unexpected, and some of them were quite solid.
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(G)I-DLE – “TOMBOY”
As I caught up on what I missed while I was paying attention to baseball shit, I was surprised to read the reaction from most international netizens on this.
I actually thought it was quite good, basically for the reasons above. The rapid-fire delivery leading into the chorus by Yuqi and Miyeon were particular highlights, and they provided the necessary confident delivery.
The reason I thought it fell short of great was actually less stuff like the lyrics and more just that Soyeon‘s flow in English is much worse and she dominates the verse time, and while the chorus works as a declarative hook at first, it does become less effective as time wears on and on repeated listens. Still, I actually like the direction of this and might come around on it.
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Kang Seung Yoon (WINNER) – “BORN TO LOVE YOU”
Actually quite solid for what it is, which is not my cup of tea, but he can definitely carry solo stuff.
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IMPULSE (Feat. YUNI.I) – “Go Up”
Wish the impulse was to make good music.
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Lee Hi – “We’ll Shine Brighter Than Any Other Stars”
As I was going through my listens I hit play on this and was doing something else. I thought, “Wow, this is basic as hell but still sounds great, who’s singing?” Lee Hi could make dogshit somewhat interesting to me.
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Moonbin & Sanha (Astro) – “WHO”
Honestly hate the instrumental, man. The duo haven’t really connected with me.
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Kihyun (Monsta X) – “VOYAGER”
An instrumental section during the chorus isn’t good enough to substitute for an actual chorus, but I enjoyed the rest of the song.
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Solar (MAMAMOO) – “HONEY”
A lot of the time I feel like I enjoy the concept of the MAMAMOO solos more than the actual songs themselves.
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WEi – “Too Bad”
A jubilant, if not generic, upbeat track that was a quality, hooky chorus away from being great. Granted, that’s usually the hardest part, but still appreciated.
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Junsu – “HANA”
With the recent trend of male soloists (especially his former TVXQ members) releasing dramatic, musical singles, I’m floored that he went back in time to 2017 or so with this instead of showing everybody how it’s done.
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NU’EST – “AGAIN”
I understand why disbandment songs are like this, and I only hope the fans enjoy it, but I would find it hilarious if it was some fuckboi, hip-thrusting send-off song for once.
