Katherine Does K-POP

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Ping Pong” by HyunA and DAWN

HyunA & DAWN, aka K-pop’s resident power couple, have finally blessed us with a whole mini-album of songs as a duo. We all know they have a TON of chemistry, so it’s kind of thrilling to see that all come together both in music and onstage. (Well, I guess we’ve seen it before when they were in Triple H… but this time Hui’s not third-wheeling ^^”’) I’ve been waiting for them to do an officially promoted collaboration since they both joined P Nation, and I was definitely not disappointed.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Zombie” by PURPLE KISS

Sadly, I get increasingly picky about rookie groups as time goes by – it’s truly not about quality or personal preference, but rather a natural result of the ever increasing age gap. I want everyone in this industry to succeed and do well, but I just can’t really connect to people who are more than a decade younger than I am. Most new idols are actually closer in age to the sixth grade elementary school students I teach, which sometimes makes me feel rather awkward. So I usually only pick up a couple of newly debuted groups each year, and PURPLE KISS is definitely one of my choices for 2021. They totally wowed me with their debut “Ponzoña,” and I was super excited to see what their very first comeback would be like.

Katherine’s K-Pop Recap: September 13-19, 2021

A summary of the news, current and upcoming comebacks, charts and music show wins, and more!

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Stereotype” by STAYC

STAYC hasn’t even been around for a year yet, and I can already tell they’re going to be a force to reckon with. They’re one of the rookies I seem to hear about the most, and they’re clearly gaining momentum with each and every release. They’ve also picked up THREE music show wins so far this week, which is an amazing accomplishment for such a young group. Though I haven’t been super drawn to their music so far, it’s obvious to me that they’re a group I should keep my eye on.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Talk and Talk” by fromis_9

(NOTE: This post is slightly shorter than normal due to lack of time and personal circumstances.) We’re already halfway through September, but I’ve FINALLY caught up enough to start reacting to this month’s releases. First up is “Talk & Talk,” fromis_9’s first comeback after their surprise move to Pledis Entertainment. To be honest, I was a little nervous about this transition since Pledis doesn’t really have the best track record with girl groups. (After School was already pretty inactive by the time I became a K-pop fan, but I’m still quite bitter about what happened to Pristin.) But thankfully, things seem to be running pretty smoothly so far.

Favorites of 2021: August

I was so determined to publish this post towards the beginning of the month (instead of two weeks later like I’ve been doing lately), so I actually had like 90% of it prepared by September 1st. But of course, I still ended up having to wait because I needed to catch up on my reaction posts…sigh. (-_-) Though I guess it makes sense since August was a VERY busy month for K-pop, with plenty of releases popping up every week. Even though I was on vacation, it still took me a lot of time to sort through everything. I feel like I spent most of the time jumping from song to song, but I definitely had a few solid favorites by month’s end.

Katherine’s K-Pop Recap: September 6-12, 2021

A summary of the news, current and upcoming comebacks, charts and music show wins, and more!

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Outsider” by BTOB

I have to be honest here: I don’t listen to BTOB all that frequently. I think they’re amazingly talented (particularly in singing), and they definitely have some stellar songs. However, most of their music is generally not the kind I’m naturally drawn to. Despite that, I’ve always been fond of them and I make sure to check in on every comeback. My overall interest in them was definitely renewed by watching Kingdom, so I feel like I’ve just been through a small rediscovery phase. All of the recent comebacks from Kingdom participants have definitely gone up a level in terms of creativity and quality – even though those groups were all great to begin with – so I was very excited to see how that post-show magic would work on BTOB.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “B.T.W” by Jay B feat. Jay Park

(NOTE: This reaction post is a little shorter than normal due to lack of time and personal circumstances.) Jay B is the latest member of GOT7 to drop some new tracks, releasing his first mini album as a soloist under his new label H1GHR Music. Though I love GOT7 as a group and I’ve watched a LOT of their content, I actually don’t know much about the members as individual singers and artists. So I think it’s exciting to watch them release music that suits their own personal styles and tastes, and I was particularly curious about Jay B.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Splash” by MIRAE

(NOTE: This reaction post is a little shorter than normal due to lack of time and personal circumstances.) Truthfully, I haven’t been too invested in this year’s rookie groups so far. It’s not a question of talent or ability, since I always want everyone to succeed. It’s 100% about the major age gap at play, and how I can only relate so much to people who are 10+ years younger. In these cases, it becomes mostly about the music and the concept for me. And out of the 2021 rookies we’ve seen, MIRAE was the only boy group that made an impression on me. I’m still not anything beyond a casual listener, but I found their debut pretty memorable and interesting. So, I was curious to see what they’d bring to the table for their first comeback.