K-pop: Me vs. My Friends (ft. Keira) Part 2

March 17, 2019March 17, 2019 bookishdella2 Comments

This is a K-pop series of posts that me and my friend Keira decided to do for fun! The general idea for this is around on YouTube but we customised the questions to what we wanted and thought would be the most interesting. We are both big K-pop fans but our tastes tend to different as well which makes answering these questions more fun.

I’ve been in to K-pop on and off since early BoA, Wonder Girls (00’s) but became what I consider a hardcore fan in early 2017. Keira has been a K-pop fan since 2016 and she posts a lot about K-pop on her blog which you should definitely go and check out and read Part 1 to this post which is also on her blog.

Keira’s Blog

Part 1

(click images to view videos)

FAVE ERA/CONCEPT
A: BTS’ Wings era: “Aesthetic. Everything about this concept was beautiful and haunting.”
K: DREAMCATCHER’s Nightmare era: “Incredibly unique concept, slightly creepy yet incredibly beautiful, and I love their rock concept in general.”

Ranking LOONA Solo Songs

March 10, 2019 bookishdella1 Comment

Before their official debut as a 12 member K-pop group, LOONA revealed one new member per month along with a solo song and I decided to rank them because, why not. This list is based solely on the songs, not how much I like the members or music videos.

If you have yet to check out LOONA you can click on each image that will lead to the official music video on YouTube, which one do you like the most?

K-pop Album Review: TXT – STAR

March 6, 2019March 6, 2019 bookishdella1 Comment

Released: 4th March 2019

BigHit finally debuted their second group, TXT, after only having BTS for years. As expected there was a lot of hype and expectation surrounding this new group with a lot of BTS fans already supporting them before debut. Their debut mini album, The Dream Chapter: STAR, is made up of 5 tracks, all of which have quite unique sounds to really show the groups potential and versatility. Track 1 is Blue Orangeade, which is a track that is the most similar to their title track Crown in that they are both very upbeat and poppy, what you would expect from your typical K-pop song with catchy beats and chorus.

K-pop Album Review: LOONA – XX

February 25, 2019 bookishdellaLeave a comment

loonaxx Released: 19th February 2019

x x is a repackage of their debut album + + which was released last August. The repack features 5 new full length tracks + intro followed by all of the songs from + +. The title track ‘Butterfly’ is a very different and more mature sound than their previous title track ‘Hi High’ and to me sounds more like what I expect from Loona.

‘Butterfly’ has chill dance vibe with a mostly instrumental chorus and the choreo for the song is amazing. The music video for it is more diverse not only focusing on the Loona members performance of the choreo but also features women from around the world making it a unique addition to K-pop and I found it quite refreshing. Although I will say the song itself didn’t grab me on the first listen, the more I have listened to it the more I love it and the line distribution seems to be a bit more spread out than in ‘Hi High’.

loona1

‘Satellite’ continues with the chill vibe but is more pop based and traditional with some interesting genre mixes thrown in, something quite common with Loona songs. ‘Curiosity’ feels more laid back still and I really love how the chorus feels. We get slightly more upbeat with ‘Colors’ and hear some more powerful vocals and it also features an interesting instrumental breakdown.

loona2

The last new song of the album ‘Where You At’ is by far my favourite. Keeping with the chill vibe, the chorus feels very powerful and just clicks with my feels and it’s a song I could easily listen to on repeat. I can see this song being on my top K-pop songs of 2019 for sure. It is simply a beautiful song.

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Overall the repackage album as a whole is pretty amazing (and yes I have ordered both limited edition physical copies), as individual albums I still prefer their debut release. Here are some links if you’d like to check out Loona’s new songs! Which new track is your favourite?

BUTTERFLY MV – LISTEN TO XX ON SPOTIFY

screenshots taken from official music video

K-pop Album Review: Taemin – Want

February 17, 2019 bookishdella1 Comment

taeminwant Taemin released his second mini album ‘Want’ on February 11th along with a music video for the title track of the same name. I have been a fan of his solo work since his full album release in late 2017 ‘Move’ and that title track was one of my top songs of 2017. I didn’t think there was any way Taemin could top Move, but my god he has somehow managed it.

The album features 6 full length tracks + an outro. The whole vibe of the album is Taemins usual dirty sexy and sensual signature sound that I’m a huge fan of. Want is straight up a song about how he seduces us, I mean, the guy is self-aware of how much he slays his fans at least and he works it. This album does have a bit more of a dark gothic feel with some of its tracks, particularly ‘Shadow’. ‘Truth’ and ‘Monologue’ are slower and more heartfelt songs and ‘Never forever’ is a bit lighter and we are left with a nice haunting outro. I can’t help but feel that Monologue may be a song about his fellow SHINee member Jonghyun who sadly passed.

Want is easily one of my top songs of 2019 and we are still only in February! Have you listened to Taemin’s new album? What is your favourite song? I have ordered the physical album from Yesasia to add to my collection. If you haven’t heard it and are curious, I’ve included some links for you to check out.

WANT MV – LISTEN TO THE FULL ALBUM

My Top K-Pop Songs Of 2018

December 12, 2018February 8, 2019 bookishdella1 Comment

I’ve listened to A LOT of K-pop this year but obviously not every release. This is just my personal favourites list from this year, not necessarily in this exact order but close enough.

NCT 127: Touch – Ok I don’t even stan NCT but this song makes me SO HAPPY and I’ve played it throughout the year whenever I’ve needed cheering up. Also Yuta in the MV is just adorable. Top spot for giving me all of the good feels.
LOONA: Favorite – A group that I do stan and finally debuted as a 12 member group this year, although not the title track, Favorite just feels so Loona to me and I love the MV. Fierce ladies and a great track. STAN LOONA.
Kim Donghan: Sunset – Former member of the group JBJ, Donghan released this as his first solo title track and just wow. He looks and sounds AMAZING and I couldn’t stop playing this song when it came out.
The Rose: Baby – Pure perfection, need I say more. Woosungs voice is magic. This group is still too under rated. I hope 2019 is a strong year for them.
Nu’est W: Help Me – My ultimate group, Nu’est W’s last release before Minhyun returns from Wanna One to them next year. They have done so well since Produce101 and I am SO PROUD. I can’t wait for Minhyuns return.
Nu’est W: Dejavu – Same as above.
Noir: Airplane Mode – An extremely talented yet UNDER RATED GROUP! Noir debuted early this year and both mini albums they have released have been SO GOOD. I truly hope they get more recognition next year.
D-CRUNCH: Stealer – Same as above. These guys debuted this year and I’ve had this song on repeat for a long time.
BTS: Trivia: Seesaw – Finally a BTS song. Suga’s solo song from the Love Yourself Answer album just blew me away.
Jonghyun: Just For A Day – Ah, Jonghyun. This is from my favourite full length album released this year, Poet Artist. Every song is so good, but this one is my favourite. A true artist.
LOONA: Egoist – Olivia Hye was the 12th and last member of LOONA to be revealed and this was the song she debuted with, and it’s one of my favourite LOONA solo songs.
BTS: Singularity – Taehyung’s solo song from Love Yourself: Tear, he is my BTS bias and well, that voice.
BTS: IDOL – I don’t think much needs to be said about this one, it’s BTS.
BoA: Woman – The queen of Kpop finally had a release this year that I LOVED. Long live the queen.
Leo: Cover Girl – Leo from Vixx released his first solo album this year and this is my favourite track from it.
(G)I-DLE: Latata – Probably the most popular female group debut of the year.
Wanna One: Boomerang – Wing Wing Wing Wing.
fromis_9: Love Bomb – The only release so far from fromis that I’ve loved, it’s damn catchy.
Monsta X: Shoot Out – Another group I havn’t really liked any release from until they blew me away with this comeback.
Twice: Yes or Yes – I feel like I have to put this on here because it’s been stuck in my head since it came out.

Japanese Releases

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Tag: Music