(NOTE: This reaction post is a little shorter than normal due to lack of time and personal circumstances.) When I watched Produce 48 three years ago (!!!), Kwon Eunbi caught my eye almost immediately. She easily became one of my favorites, both as a contestant on the show and as a member of IZ*ONE. She’s so talented at singing and dancing, and I also admire her natural skill as a leader and strong work ethic. Truthfully, I was a little surprised she debuted as a soloist – mostly because I thought Woollim would put both her and Chaewon in a new girl group group. (Though with the rumors of Chaewon going to HYBE/Source Music, I guess this turn of events makes a little more sense.) But even if I wasn’t necessarily expecting her to go solo, I still think she totally has everything needed to make it.
Continue reading “Knee Jerk Reaction: “Door” by Kwon Eunbi”Katherine’s K-Pop Recap: August 30 – September 5, 2021
A summary of the news, current and upcoming comebacks, charts and music show wins, and more!
Continue reading “Katherine’s K-Pop Recap: August 30 – September 5, 2021”Knee Jerk Reaction: “Trigger” by VERIVERY
(NOTE: This reaction post is a little shorter than normal due to lack of time and personal circumstances.) VERIVERY is one of those K-pop groups that I always end up forgetting about when I REALLY shouldn’t. I genuinely like their stuff, and I think it’s great they’ve really been stepping up their game lately – but they just get lost in the chaos when I’m indulging in peak multifan behavior. Their previous comeback “Get Away” is a great example of this. I really enjoyed it at the beginning, but I didn’t spend much time on it because of Super Junior all the March releases. And then I just recently listened to it again while prepping for this post, and I was like, “Why did I completely forget this awesome song existed?” I’m still kicking myself for being so absent-minded, but the incident did make me more interested in VERIVERY’s latest single.
Knee Jerk Reaction: “Gas Pedal” by CRAVITY
(NOTE: This reaction post is a little shorter than normal due to lack of time and personal circumstances.) Ah, CRAVITY. They’ve only been around for like a year and a half, but somehow my journey with them has been all over the place. They’re on a very small list of rookie groups I’m interested in and actively follow, and that’s all because of their debut song “Break All the Rules.” I actually loved it so much so that I put it in my Top 10 songs last year, and it’s possibly one of my favorite debut songs ever. Their follow-up with “Flame” was pretty good too; not necessarily my style, but promising all the same. However, “My Turn” was… not it for me. (Keep in mind that I’m over 30, so songs with an excessive amount of “skrrt” are not it for me in general.) So, I really had no idea what to expect with “Gas Pedal.”
Continue reading “Knee Jerk Reaction: “Gas Pedal” by CRAVITY”Knee Jerk Reaction: “Wave” by CIX
I’m going a bit out of order here – I posted about Stray Kids earlier this week, but there were a couple of groups like CIX that I should have covered first chronologically. This is because I originally planned to do a summary post and react to a bunch of August comebacks all at once. My second COVID-19 vaccine dose took me DOWN this week and made me fall even further behind, so I thought doing a round-up would save time… but even with a raging headache and difficulty concentrating, I still ended up writing more than I had initially planned. (And I really try to avoid long posts if possible since I know mine can get super lengthy.) So I decided to just revert back to my original reactions, even if they’re shorter and less detailed than usual. But to be clear, it’s not because I don’t have much to say about the groups or artists! It’s because I spent half my writing time staring blankly into space, and now I need to pick up the pace (^^””)
Continue reading “Knee Jerk Reaction: “Wave” by CIX”Knee Jerk Reaction: “Thunderous” by Stray Kids
Stray Kids is a group that I’ve been slowly but surely getting more into as the years go by. I like them a lot, and I always check in on their comebacks… but I’m just not quite at the stage where I’m super invested in them. They’re undeniably talented with an impressive discography, so I definitely know and understand the hype. But personally, I’ve only really clicked with two of their singles up until this point. (“Double Knot” and “God’s Menu,” if you’re curious.) That being said, I connect with those two because they’re exactly my style of music – and they’re both songs I still frequently listen to. Stray Kids’ new release “Thunderous” is cut from the same cloth, so it’s looking like this one might be a game changer for me.
Continue reading “Knee Jerk Reaction: “Thunderous” by Stray Kids”Knee Jerk Reaction: “LO$ER=LO♡ER” by TXT
My knowledge of TXT hasn’t really changed much since their last comeback in June – I’m still at the stage of just knowing their hit songs and their names. (And I apparently still can’t fully recognize them, because I recently realized I’ve been mixing up Taehyun and Beomgyu this ENTIRE time and I’m super embarrassed about it.) I think they’re very talented, and I’ve said that from their debut; it’s just that most of the singles they’ve released so far aren’t really my vibe. But I have to say, I’m kind of living for this emo phase their music is currently going through. This is first time I’ve really felt connected to one of their songs, and I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
Continue reading “Knee Jerk Reaction: “LO$ER=LO♡ER” by TXT”Katherine’s K-Pop Recap: August 23-29, 2021
A summary of the news, current and upcoming comebacks, charts and music show wins, and more!
Continue reading “Katherine’s K-Pop Recap: August 23-29, 2021”K-Pop Starter Kit: August’s Topic is Now September’s Topic
Hi all! As you can probably guess, I’ve chosen to delay my monthly posts for August’s K-pop Starter Kit and roll them over to September. Though I spent pretty much all of my summer vacation writing and prepping posts for my blog – this series included – there just wasn’t enough time to get to everything I wanted to do. (I have SO MANY drafts right now, but most of them aren’t ready to publish.) I’ve been going back and forth about postponing for a few days now because I really didn’t want to do it, but it just seems like the better option at this point. So, I just wanted to give you a quick update and tell you where I’m at.
Continue reading “K-Pop Starter Kit: August’s Topic is Now September’s Topic”Katherine’s K-pop Recap: August 16-22, 2021
A summary of the news, current and upcoming comebacks, charts and music show wins, and more!
Continue reading “Katherine’s K-pop Recap: August 16-22, 2021”
Katherine Does K-POP 