Katherine Does K-POP

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.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “You Can’t Sit With Us” by Sunmi

While I don’t listen to K-pop soloists as much as groups, Sunmi is an artist I always keep my eye on. I prefer some of her releases over others, but I’m always impressed by how creative and inventive she can get. And in that respect, her new single “You Can’t Sit With Us” certainly doesn’t disappoint. I was all in from the moment I saw the song title, which is a nod to Mean Girls – aka one of the movies that defined my teenage years. (It came out right before I started high school.) Sunmi has gone full on retro with this comeback, with tons of references to pop culture from the 80’s through the early 2000’s. And as a fellow millennial, I’m totally here for all the throwbacks.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Holiday Party” by Weeekly

Weeekly is still a young group, but they’ve established their signature sound in just over a year – which I always think is quite impressive, because it takes many rookies a while to find their footing. All of their title tracks so far have been bright and bubbly, with easily memorable melodies and interesting arrangements. I wouldn’t necessarily call their style “cute,” but it’s definitely pretty fun and fresh. The last time I wrote about Weeekly, I mentioned that I have trouble getting into them – I think their music is nice, but I don’t really connect with it much. (It’s not their fault; it’s because I’m almost twice their age.) But I certainly recognize their potential, so I was curious to see what they would do with their latest comeback.

Katherine’s K-pop Recap: August 9-15, 2021

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

Knee Jerk Reaction: “After Midnight” by ASTRO

ASTRO generally does pretty well for themselves, but I’ve always hoped that they would become more “mainstream” successful and get some more attention. (Like I mentioned in my last post about them, my Korean elementary school students – aka the ones who know about all what’s trendy in pop culture – only recognize Cha Eunwoo.) Well, it seems like my wishes might be coming true – their latest title track picked up FOUR music show trophies this week! I’m honestly so thrilled for them, and I can definitely understand why “After Midnight” has proven so popular.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Ra Pam Pam” by Golden Child

Golden Child is definitely a group that I’d like to see get some more recognition. Their discography is so solid, and they consistently do good work. They’ve also been getting more creative as time goes by, which I find pretty impressive. When they released “Burn It” in January, I was so taken by their music video and its emotional story that I actually cried. (I cry at lots of things, but usually not K-pop… so that’s saying something.) Even eight months and dozens of other releases later, I still vividly remember it. Now, Golden Child back with another quality music video – and a pretty great song, too.

Knee Jerk Reaction: “Dumb Dumb” by Jeon Somi

As some of my regular readers might know, I don’t spend a *ton* of time listening to solo artists. I cover a decent amount of them on my blog, but this is a rather new development that’s part of an effort to expand my horizons. So as a result, I’m not super familiar with Somi’s solo music. I followed her a lot during the Produce 101 and I.O.I days, which were a good five years ago (SO WILD how it’s been that long). But by the time she debuted as a soloist in 2019, I’d become less adventurous in my K-pop tastes and was mostly sticking to my favorite groups. I’ve heard her other two singles, but not recently enough to really remember what either sounds like. So this time around with “Dumb Dumb,” I made sure to pay very close attention.

Favorites of 2021: July

(We’re basically halfway into August, but whatever LOL) July was kind of a slow month for K-pop – I was actually surprised at how few comebacks there were, but I guess no one wanted to overlap with the Olympics. Since there wasn’t a lot happening, I ended up changing my music listening habits. I spent a lot of time on older K-pop (instead of just this year’s new singles) and going back through some of my favorite groups’ discographies. If I did listen to newer music, it was mostly stuff that popped up at the end of June like NCT Dream’s “Hello Future” and 2PM’s “Make It.” That being said, I did like most of July’s new music and I want to show it some love!