Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Some of this is a bit late, but I got busy, so sue me.
There’s like a couple nice tracks and a bunch of cynical garbage.
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BLACKPINK – “Ready For Love”
Seems like PUBG paid for the music video to look like it’s from Kwangya and there wasn’t budget left over for the song.
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ATEEZ – “Guerrilla”
Wish this went all out during the chorus with what seemed primed for some kind of hard rock/metal injection, and with LEEZ and Ollounder behind it I’m sure that was on the table. Still, the last minute or so is redeeming, with the bridge sounding something like what the duo would produce for Dreamcatcher, and if everything before that had the same energy it would be really special.
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Stray Kids – “Time Out”
Stray Kids sorta do Day6? Sure, why not? The perfunctory trap breakdown in the middle of a pop-rock song was hilarious, but otherwise is a pleasant upbeat effort that’s fortunately/unfortunately sorta similar to a lot of other releases in the same mode.
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Yena – “SMARTPHONE”
A poor man’s “Smiley“, which was already more good than great for me (largely due to BIBI‘s verse, to be honest), but this was definitely less catchy. For the kind of song that basically depends on that aspect, it’s a killer.
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Benny Blanco, BTS, Snoop Dogg – “Bad Decisions”
This is almost so blatantly cynical — from the generic pop ditty to the music video concept to the names involved — that I have to respect it.
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TRI.BE – “KISS”
I’m going to hear this in my nightmares for days now.
