Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
K-pop has had a surprisingly busy week and there’s actually been a lot of solid releases during that time, even those that have been put in here.
Let’s see.
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Matt Champion & Jennie (BLACKPINK) – “Slow Motion”
The drum and bass flourishes were a nice surprise, too bad about the rest of it.
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xikers – “We Don’t Stop”
Was willing to look past the cosplay aspect of this due to the exciting rap-rock energy, but it needed to carry that throughout the track instead of shifting way down, and the vocal effects sections were the nail in the coffin for me.
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TEMPEST – “LIGHTHOUSE”
During the chorus, it reminded me of a poor man’s version of SNUPER‘s “The Star Of Stars“, which is a good place to be. I just wish it had a similar ambition and execution, as this felt flatter than it wanted to be, but still an enjoyable pop track.
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Highlight – “BODY”
If every chorus was more like the last chorus, I probably would’ve been won completely over because it solves the issues I had with the dry repetition, as the vocal section was always the … highlight. This takes a while to really get going, but a nice groovy pop track in the end.
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Wendy (Red Velvet) – “Wish You Hell”
Musically and conceptually, the beginning of this had me thinking pop-punk man-hating breakup anthem (or aggressively disavowing your past self, whichever), but it didn’t seem to want that smoke and kinda just becomes a cute, playful pop track for the most part. Nothing wrong with that, and this is harmless fun, but I think Wendy has more in her.
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VVUP – “Doo Doom Chit”
Even Crayon Pop‘s end of career song with the same title clears this, I’m afraid. Like … why are so many choruses nowadays so dedicated to being boring?
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XODIAC – “HEYDAY”
Sort of an atmospheric soundtrack kind of effort, with mixing that makes everything feel echoed for some reason.
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TMC – “PEW PEW PEW!”
Always read on Stan Twitter how they want older idols, need male idols to be sluttier, and constantly praise everything as camp, so here are former Apeace members debuting as a duo and doing all that.
Point dance of the year competition is ovah. pic.twitter.com/IMblUfvMGa
— Asian Junkie (@asianjunkiecom) March 14, 2024
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YooA (Oh My Girl) – “ROOFTOP”
While I’ve never understood the appeal of understated talking hooks that go straight into an empty instrumental, I’m especially confused by a dancer like YooA choosing that route since it doesn’t seem to allow her to showcase her strengths to their fullest either.
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Probably have separate posts on LUN8 and BAE173 coming later.
