Katherine Does K-POP

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.”

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 (^^””)

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

Review: “Queendom” by Red Velvet

WordPress tells me this is my 300th post, and I’m delighted that it coincides with my review for my favorite girl group. In case you didn’t know, Red Velvet has been in that number one spot for several years now. (I’ll try real hard to not be a fangirl in this post, but I can’t make any promises.) I even went to their concert in Seoul a couple years ago, which was hands down one of the best nights of my life. 2019 was such a high for these ladies, so it was especially heartbreaking to witness everything that went down at the end of the year and in 2020. But they regrouped and came back stronger than ever, and all of us fans are thrilled to see it.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Thrill Ride” by The Boyz

It’s kind of wild how my feelings about The Boyz have changed in such a short amount of time. They debuted during a period when I was pretty ambivalent about youthful and upbeat music – which was their original concept – so I didn’t really pay attention to them for a while. But when I saw them on Road to Kingdom, I was super impressed by their performances and felt that I learned a lot about them as singers and performers… and now here I am as a full-fledged fan one year later. I even put Hyunjae in my banner image for this blog, so it’s safe to say I like them a lot. My fondness only grew during Kingdom, so I was definitely excited about their post-show comeback. And it’s safe to say that I was NOT disappointed.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Popping” by ONF

I can’t believe this is the THIRD time I’m writing about ONF in six months – they’ve truly been everywhere recently. But all that hard work is clearly paying off, because 2021 is turning out to be one of their best years yet. After earning their first ever music show win and getting some great results on various charts, they’re back with a new mini album all about summer. (Seriously, three out of five songs have the word “summer” in the title.) And just like their previous two singles, their latest title track is all about the good vibes.