Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Alrighty, talk about being overwhelmed a bit by the volume of releases recently. As a result, some stuff might be overlooked, but there’s been a lot of solid stuff released, honestly.
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PLAVE – “Pump Up The Volume!”
PLAVE have delivered a standout title track and a bunch of other solid to good stuff so far, with this falling in the latter. It’s energetic and feels like a fansong, but one of the good ones and not the boring sappy ones.
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YOUNG POSSE – “ATE THAT”
It’s blatantly appropriative enough — including cribbing sounds and lyrics from hip-hop classics — to cross around the other side and become camp. The Grand Theft Auto music video adds a lot to that vibe, and while I’m not sure how much I’d actually come back to this, it was an entertaining watch.
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Moonbyul (MAMAMOO) – “Is This Love?”
Tend to agree that this is a reskin of TWS’s “Plot Twist”, and while I’m still not a huge fan of that release, it’s obviously pretty good and the same applies here.
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Gyeongree (Nine Muses) – “Cherry”
I wish her the best in her re-debut as a soloist, but those hoping for another “Blue Moon” are gonna be disappointed.
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Jaehyun (NCT) – “Smoke”
Was vibing with this in a solid-R&B-release-for-a-playlist type of way that he could try to build his solo career on, but that try at a “seductive” spoken/whispered chorus just ruins it. Maybe women are into it? I dunno.
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RESCENE – “LOVE ATTACK”
The verses just exist, but this was notable to me because the initial build in the chorus reminded me a little of Bananarama’s version of “Venus”, which entertained me, though I do wish “LOVE ATTACK” also had that kind of bite to it. Don’t blame anybody from really getting into this.
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Chungha – “Algorithm”
My bias is probably the issue on this one. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing unlikeable about Chungha herself, but I’ve just had a hard time getting into some of her songs due to her vocals and how it feels like she’s straining more often than not. The track itself is good in a fun dance-pop sort of way, so if you don’t have the same hang-ups then I can see it hitting for you.
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Chanyeol (EXO) – “Black Out”
Vibey but dull, the type of song that really relies on superior production choices and/or vocals to carry it to greater heights and neither are able to do the job here. It’s safe enough that fans can enjoy it or whatever, tho.
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Loossemble – “TTYL”
Eventually I might be able to gaslight myself into accepting the excessive auto-tune (in the chorus, no less) as saying it fits the EDM theme, especially since the beat has a nice bounce to it. A melody that was more dynamic would’ve helped, but if you don’t have the same effects hang-ups as me (which make it feel overly busy at the moment), this could be good.
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BOYNEXTDOOR – “Dangerous”
Since they’re under Zico they have to prove they are cool and badass or whatever, I guess. Hopefully back to the bright boy group stuff soon.
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RIIZE – “Combo”
Kind of an angsty retread, and the melodic core that has carried their sound for me abandons them here. Doesn’t go far enough in either the rock edge or vocal melody direction. A combo, if you will, that doesn’t come together.
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Onew – “Beat Drum”
Not sure why the chorus tries to do the falsetto thing, but it becomes annoying more than anything along with that onomatopoeia attempt.
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ZEROBASEONE, OH MY GIRL, Taemin, DAY6, and Younha stuff later.
I swear to god I’m working on it but this blitz didn’t help, lol.
