[MV] Dreamcatcher - Deja Vu

Have I mentioned I love Dreamcatcher before? XD

[MV] K-TIGERS ZERO - NOW

They also released SIDE KICK, which is a really intense, mostly instrumental, electronica track. I'll put that under the cut.

[MV] LABOUM - Firework

[MV] SATURDAY - BByong

[DEBUT] TEEN TEEN - It's on you

[MV] 3YE - OOMM (Out Of My Mind)

[MV] Flor.us - Daydream

[MV] O.WHEN - The Night, Gloomy Wind

[MV] Punch - Sometimes

[MV] bobae - ORMG

[MV] SEVENTEEN - Fear

[MV] Rain, Soyou - Beginning

Official channel link

[MV] ANS - BOOM BOOM

The intro instrumental had me hopeful and then the actual song was completely different. Oop.

[MV] Sonnet Son - I'm Not A Warrior

Hell yes. Good ol' Sonnet Son here with a face-melting ballad.
All in English.

[MV] IZ*ONE - Vampire (Jpn.)

It's a shame the production on this track is so weak. I like the choreo.

[MV] GWSN - Total Eclipse (Black Out)

[DEBUT] JDLE - Cinderella

[MV] Sunwoo JungA - to Zero

My favorite from the album.
Makes me cry.

[MV] Sunwoo JungA - Life

[MV] BOL4 - Workaholic

Official channel link

[MV] BOL4 - 25

Official channel link

[MV] FTISLAND - Quit

[PROMO] Chung Ha, Mommy Son - FAST

Theme song for the 2019 JTBC Seoul Marathon.

[LIVE MV] DEAN - Howlin' 404

[MV] Dreamcatcher - Breaking Out (Jpn.)

[MV] WeGirls - Ride

[MV] GIRLKIND X JR - All you want

[MV] Ku One Chan - We need

Official channel link

[MV] Wavycake (feat. hatts, Crucial Star) - Space

[MONTHLY] Favorites for AUGUST 2019

I've had a miserable month, so I don't have much energy to elaborate. At least Sunwoo JungA had a rad album to distract me a little! She's the top this month with Classic.
I don't know anything about LIMHARA, but I loved the layered vocals and good vibes of Mr. Green. I'll leave it at that!





In the full post: Yoon Mi Rae, My Name is Red-Haired Anne, Pink Fantasy, YooONE/Leo Kang, Dynamic Duo/SOLE, FANXY CHILD, The Rose, SHAUN, woo hye mi, EVERGLOW, ZEERBOMB, Sam Kim, Jimin Park, and Benji.

[MV] CLC - Devil

Official channel link

[MV] Wheein - Good Bye

[MV] VANNER - Get Crazy

[MV] AlphaBAT - FLY

[MV] Jang Woo Hyuk (H.O.T) (feat. Babylon) - STAY

[MV] Yultron X Jay Park (feat. Sik-K, pH-1) - Say Goodbye

[MV] Choa, WAY (Crayon Pop) - My Universe

Cute to see the sisters working together again.

[MV] IONE - IDEA

[MV] Lim Chang Jung - Never Ending

[MV] Kassy - Story of night fall

[MV] Monika - Station

[MV] HWAJA - Your Night

[MV] Jonny'spark - Ska Day

[MV] IZ*ONE - Airplane

[MV] Crush - NAPPA

[MV] ONEWE - Regulus

[MV] W PROJECT 4 - 1' 1"

[MV] RAVI (feat. HAON, Xydo) - STILL NIRVANA

[MV] Benji (B.I.G) - Telephone

[DEBUT] Fanxy Red - T.O.P

Chinese group that was previously known as FFC-Acrush.
They're a girl group that is conceptually presented as a boy group, which is interesting.

[MV] M.O.N.T - Bae

[MV] Sunwoo JungA - Fall Fall Fall & Invisible Treasure

Still can't stop listening to her new album.

[MV] DAYBREAK - ROMANTIC

[MV] REX.D (feat. NanahJin) - grumble

[MV] V-Hawk (feat. San E) - TOKKI

[DEBUT] SIGNAL - Down for you

[MV] Truman (feat. J.cob, YoungWon, Wildberry) - Kick

[MV] Brown Eyed Soul (feat. SOLE) - Right

[MV] Basick (feat. Sleepy) - Honestly

[MV] DUSKY80 - Song of Dawn

[MV] LUDI (feat. Yang Jin Soo with Kwon Yejin) - Jajinnanbongg

Jamming.
Traditional instruments and vocals mixed with contemporary music is so fun.

[MV] SUNMI - LALALAY

Probably my least favorite of all Sunmi's recent stuff, but it's still super fun.
The costumes are so great. Lol! Love that big shadow-box butterfly thing.

[DEBUT] X1 - FLASH

I'm completely out of the loop on the latest Produce show 'PRODUCE x 101', but X1 is the final product from the season.

[MV] Jimin Park - Stay Beautiful

[MV] Sunwoo JungA - CLASSIC

She did it again. Another fuckin' awesome album.
Official Youtube album upload

Track 4 'To Zero' is heavenly.

[DEBUT] N.CUS - SUPER LUV

[MV] M.O.N.T - Rock Paper Scissors

Official channel link

[MV] Flowsik (feat. Gary) - 1Week

[MV] PENIEL (feat. Beenzino) - Flip

[MV] Siion (feat. Hoody) - Late Night

[MV] Kim Kook Heon, Song Yu Vin - Blurry

I think these are the last two guys left after MYTEEN disbanded.

[MV] Kim Jaehwan, Stella Jang - Vacance in September

[MV] Ants (feat. AVOKID) - MISE EN SCÈNE

[MV] GIFT - We Were Different

[MV] Grizzly, Chung Ha - RUN

[MV] UP10TION - Your Gravity

Official channel link

[MV] G-reyish - KKILI KKILI

[MV] IZ - Final Kiss

[MV] OH HAYOUNG - Don't Make Me Laugh

[MV] Sam Kim - WHERE'S MY MONEY

[MV] Sophiya - Little Things

[MV] Wyne - My Muse

[MV] JANG DAE HYEON - FEEL GOOD

Solo debut after RAINZ disbanded.

[MV] AOORA (feat. $milli) - BLACK SUGAR

[MV] Celeb Five - I wish I could unsee that

Never gonna stop stanning Celeb Five.

[MV] ZEEBOMB - 5GLOVE

Yeeeeeeeeee Ha!
Why is American Country Western in Korean always my jam and Country alone never is? Lol.

[MV] Roots Redeem - Yeongnam Vibe

Pure instrumental, but awesome.
Rad video too.

[MV] Red Velvet - Umpah Umpah

Very classic girl group sound on this one.

[MV] TARGET - BABY COME BACK HOME

[MV] Henry - I LUV U

Official channel link

[MV] MIDNIGHT (feat. Sleepy) - Algorithm

[MV] Soyoung - Breath

[MV] THE BOYZ - D.D.D

[MV] EVERGLOW - Adios

Solid follow-up. I like how bass-y there stuff is.
Obviously heavily inspired by Kill This Love.

[MV] JUN (feat. JongUp) - REM

[MV] HoooW (Hoyoung, Taewoo) - Game Over

[MV] LIMHARA - Mr. Green

I guess I'm just posting up all the gorgeous indie voices today. Heh.

[MV] Llwyd - Erase

Lovely ballad.

[MV] TSUN - 12am

Almost two weeks later, there's now a version of this with NiiHWA on it.

[MV] Woo Hye Mi - s.s.t (sweet short time)

Tight. I like her voice a lot.

[MV] VIINI - GENIE

[MV] GUN - Lord

[MV] GSA - We got the power

Changed their name from GirlsAlert to GSA.

[MV] Lee Minhyuk - Good Night

[DEBUT] ANS - Wonderland

[MV] SHAUN - 36.5 (+2 more)

He prepared this EP ahead of his military enlistment.
Two more MVs were released at the same time.
I'll add 'To Be Loved' and 'Moon' in the full post.

[MV] Weki Meki - Tiki-Taka (99%)

[MV] The Rose - RED

[MV] Pentagon - Happiness (Jpn.)

[MV] Sik-K, HAON, pH-1, Woodie GoChild, Jay Park - GIDDY UP

[MV] JINU (feat. MINO) - Call Anytime

[MV] Raiden (feat. Irene) - The Only

[MV] M.O.N.T - Daehan Minguk Mansae

Title translates to 'Long live Korea!'. Focused on the 74th anniversary of Korea's Liberation from Japan. I think this was shot on Dokdo, which is pretty wild.

[MV] Bizzy - Time Machine

A little Yoon Mi Rae in there too.

[MV] Rocoberry - Everything about you

[CF] Loopy & nafla - sense

Collab with a vape cigarette brand thing... never know what to call those things.

[MV] Simon Dominic - DAx4

[MV] Jukjae - Tattoo

[MV] FreeXKid, Frammy, Nchovy - Wow~

[MV] Robbin, 5Joo, ump - Let's Go To See The Flowers

[MV] Lee Dojin - Life Is A Shot

[PLAYLIST] KPOPPY's first half of 2019

Better late than never. 2019 makes me tired just thinking about it.
Much of my experience for the first half of this year was through the lens of mod responsibilities on /r/kpop dealing with one massive scandal after another. So tired.

What trends do we have going this year? Well, autotune is back. I had noticed it becoming prominent again more in the indie hip hop realm last year. It just grew and grew from there until now most mainstream Idol stuff has strong elements of it. My hate for noticeable autotune can't be overstated. I'm left desperately hoping this doesn't continue for long. Latin rhythms are still present (my playlist is still going), but it seems I was right to question if they would last. There has been a throwback fusion to the tropical house of the last couple years mixed in with the Latin pop sound this summer, but we're getting less straightforward Latin pop already. I'll generally say that Hip Hop is just fully a standard part of almost everything. That's not an especially new thing, but it has reached this point of being absolutely pervasive. I'm fine with that, just ditch the autotune, please!!!

I'm pretty well convinced BlackPink was the catalyst for most girl groups to be doing some form of Girl Crush as a concept. Almost all debuts have been in that vein this year. Boy groups still seem to be doing their general range of synth-y Hip Hop in streetwear. Strappy bondage stuff is still in play a little. Mullets are still in. Autotune and mullets, man. Send help.

Oddly enough, the trend that kept hitting me in the face was the presence of a certain color. This chartreuse, fluorescent, acidic yellow-green has been everywhere for some reason. I even checked to see what the Pantone color of the year was, but that's a coral pink. This neon highlighter green is the vivid opposite of that.

Every shot in this little collage is taken from a different MV, except for KEY who has two from his, including that last totally green square. And these were just the ones I thought of grabbing. There were tons more. I can't recall ever seeing such an obvious color trend like this before.

BTS is still driving K-Pop's global energy. From my perspective, the dialogue through news and social media outside the scene assumed this was just a flash-in-the-pan trend that would die quickly. Lately, I've picked up on some surprise and confusion that it seems to be growing in presence instead of fading as they thought it would. BTS's global success was built on a worldwide grassroots movement of hyper-engagement... I'm not sure what it will take for them to understand that's why they'll continue to burn hot and bright as long as they're active. And BTS content is always active, even when they take breaks. I can't imagine military service is going to change that much, especially if they go in staggered groups. Anyway, BTS still killin' it.

Music! Let's go! I think my personal taste might show more in this playlist than ever before. If you've followed Kpoppy at all, you'll know I like R&B, Rock, pretty melodies, epic ballads, and strong vocals in a lower range.

[Link to the full playlist on Youtube]

My 30 favorites in chronological order:

• SHAUN - Bad Habits
• CHUNG HA - Gotta Go
• VERIVERY - Ring Ring Ring
• CODE KUNST (feat. LEE HI) - XI
• Woody - Fire Up
• NeonPunch - TicToc
• JAEMAN - With You
• Jiselle (feat. Chancellor) - Missed Call
• ONF - We Must Love
• TAEMIN - WANT
• Sik-K - ADDICT
• Jus2 - FOCUS ON ME
• SUNMI - Noir
• TXT - CROWN
• The T-Bird - ROCK STAR
• Adios Audio - Make One's Way
• EDEN - Suffering for Love
• EVERGLOW - Bon Bon Chocolat
• RM (BTS) - Persona
• IZ*ONE - VIOLETA
• FLAG - GoodToSeeYou
• So!YoON! - HOLIDAY
• TWICE - FANCY
• PARK BOM (feat. Wheein) - 4:44
• Eric Nam - Runaway
• Cherry B - Lovin' U
• BVNDIT - Dramatic
• OnlyOneOf - savanna
• SWJA - SAM SAM
• SAAY - ZGZG

Featured MVs, B-sides, and more thoughts after the jump.

[MV] Soyou, Francis - Bangkok

[MV] V (BTS) - Winter Bear

Just a little side project he worked on during tour. English.

[MV] FANXY CHILD - Y

[MV] VINXEN (feat. Seori) - Skin

[MV] Jay Park, Simon D, GRAY, CODE KUNST, Woo Won Jae - Signhere

[LIVE MV] SUMIN - STARDUST

[MV] JUNNY (feat. Punchnello) - Trust

[MV] SEVENTEEN - HIT

The sound of this is too overwhelming for me.
Choreo looks killer, as usual.

[MV] OH MY GIRL - BUNGEE (Fall in Love)

Official channel link

[MV] JBJ95 - SPARK

[DEBUT] Rocket Punch - BIM BAM BUM

Official channel link

Woollim's new girl group.

[MV] TRCNG - MISSING

Official channel link

[MV] IN2IT - Run Away

[DEBUT] FANATICS - SUNDAY

Official channel link
Full-group debut.

[MV] Jay Park, KIRIN (feat. Ugly Duck) - Tonight

The female vocals in the background are Hoody.

[MV] PinkFantasy - FANTASY

Coming for Dreamcatcher's gig a little here. Heh.
I'm always happy to hear more rock influence come through in K-Pop.

[MV] YooONE x Leo Kang - Going Out

[MV] Dynamic Duo (feat. Crush, SOLE) - Blue

[MV] G.O. - I LIKE THE PARTY

[MV] GIANTPINK (feat. Leellamarz) - Forever Young

[OST] Yoon Mi Rae - My Dream

From the 'Rookie Historian GooHaeRyung' OST.

[MV] 10cm - Do You Think Of Me?

[MV] E.RUDA - Catch Ya

[MV] VENUS - Turn Signal

Haven't posted any Trot in ages.

[MV] My Name is Red-Haired Anne - I'M JUST ME

[MV] J.cob (feat. Snacky Chan) - 24/7

[MV] Shiner X Broken Lips - Summer Time

[MONTHLY] Favorites for JULY 2019

Ended up buried in work last month so I had to delay completing the 1st half of the year favorites list, but that is finally complete as well! Posting July now and then the 1st half playlist will go up on Thursday or Friday after the week's major releases.

Okay, July! Distinct male vocalists topped my picks for the month with Gaho's big percussive ballad and Woosung's funky innuendo-packed groove. I'll note that ITZY's ICY has been stuck in my head since release, but I still can't decide if I actually like it. LOL!





In the full post: GFRIEND, D.O, lofibaby, Ailee, Heize/Giriboy, SoRi, ARRAN, Paul Kim/Taeyeon, DAY6, Echae Kang, Woogotsa, NCT 127, CIX, GWSN, nafla/Loopy/Lee Young Ji/PLUMA, and ITZY.

[MV] NCT DREAM - BOOM

[MV] Red Velvet - Milkshake

[MV] VERIVERY - Tag Tag Tag

That took such a creepy turn. Lol.

[DEBUT] D1CE - Wake up

Official channel link

[MV] Bang Yongguk - Orange Drive

[MV] Giriboy - party is over

[MV] TIffany Young - Magnetic Moon

Apparently the vocal processing is signature to the producer.

[MV] Busters - Pinky Promise

[DEBUT] RUANN - BEEP BEEP

[MV] OurR - haaAakkKKK!!!

[MV] FEB - Think About

[MV] GARY - Purple Bikini

[MV] W24 - Stay A Moment

[MV] PENIEL - FLY23

All English (and rather cringeworthy).

[OST] Yoon Mi Rae - Rose

A tribute to the plight of comfort women and Kim Bok Dong who is the feature of a movie coming out this week I believe.

[MV] ITZY - ICY

I can't figure out if I like this more or less that Dalla Dalla.They're both completely in the same kind of soundscape. The full choreo is really great.

[MV] TAEMIN - Famous (Jpn.)

[MV] JUN - Switch

[MV] Paul Kim - Coffee With Me

[MV] EDEN (feat. Heize) - Heaven

[MV] DAVII - Nothing without you

[MV] Young Kay (feat. WH3N, TANGTHEAWESOME) - TIME LAPSE

[MV] Yoon Jong Shin - A.I

[MV] Jung In - Deep Love

Official channel link

[MV] THE SOLUTIONS - In My City

[MV] Park Boram - Do as i like

[MV] SE O - View

[MV] KANG DANIEL - What are you up to

Finally, after winning Broduce, Wanna One, and legal disputes with his former company, Daniel arrives as a soloist!

[MV] WOOSUNG (The Rose) - FACE

Absolutely love this.
Really enjoy his voice in The Rose's stuff, so hearing him on his own is great.

[MV] Nafla, Loopy, Lee Young Ji, PLUMA - I'm the ONE

Interesting combination with Lee Young Ji since her voice has a deeper/richer sound than the guys.

[MV] PERC%NT - 9

[MV] MAMAMOO - Gleam

[DEBUT] CIX - Movie Star

C9 Ent.'s new boy group. Includes Bae Jin Young from Wanna One and Byounggon from MIXNINE.

[MV] GWSN - RED-SUN(021)

Official channel link

[MV] NCT 127 - Highway to Heaven (Eng. Ver.)

[MV] EXO-SC (feat. Gaeko) - Just us 2

New EXO subunit with just Sehun and Chanyeol.
Supposedly there will be two more MVs.

[MV] HYO - Badster

[MV] VAV (feat. De La Guetto & Play-N-Skillz) - Give me more

[MV] 1TEAM - ICE IN THE CUP

Official channel link

[MV] DONGKIZ - Block Buster

A literal Ghostbusters concept! How funny!

[MV] Ellin (Crayon Pop) & Minjae (TAHITI) - Summer Scent

[MV] Jungmo (feat. Henry) - Peach

Henry on violin!

[MV] Pentagon - Humph!

[STATION] TAEYONG - Long Flight

[MV] Gaho - FLY

Woo! Gaho serving up just the kind of epic percussive ballad with a beat I've been craving.

[MV] FlaShe - TALK

[MV] RAVI, Cold Bay, Xydo - FASHIONABLE

[MV] HEYNE - Tasty Tasty Tasty

[MV] HYUK (VIXX) - way to you

[MV] NORAZO - SHOWER

Norazo being Norazo. Looooool.

[MV] SUMIN - OO DA DA

Really fun when SUMIN does super weird stuff.

[MV] Echae Kang - Smoky Mocha Coffee

[MV] Hyomin X JustaTee - Cabinet

I believe JustaTee is a Vietnamese artist.

[MV] Lena Park - With You

[MV] Standing Egg - A Song Only I Wanna Know

[MV] Woogotsa - Ghosting

[MV] Suyoung Kim - Blank

[MV] Min Seyoung - GET OUT

[MV] DAY6 - Time of Our Life

[MV] KNK - SUNSET

[MV] WishGirls - Yours Is Mine

Strobing flashes around 3 minutes in.



Their company is calling this a 'Summer project' so I don't think they are considering it an official debut.

[MV] GA EUN (feat. Hash Swan) - SNOOZE

[MV] Jo Woochan (feat. Dok2) - Reality Check

[MV] JERO - G DAY

[MV] San E - San Chong Born 1985

San E trying to make a comeback after taking a dump on feminism. CC for English subtitles.

[MONTHLY] Favorites for JUNE 2019

Too buried in work to get to this on time, but here's June! My first half of the year playlist for 2019 will also be coming soon. Woo!

My top choice for the month had to be this incredible MV from TXT. Super moody and artsy and I love it. Really special. SAAY's funky ZGZG takes the second spot. Love that crunchy instrumental. Looking forward to more from SAAY.






In the full post: JUNE, IZ, Bizzy, SeoGY.Perrie, EZUZ/Kyungri, DICKPUNKS, Jiselle, CHAI, Basement Claxxic, ZELO, Chung Ha, YooONE, BTS, and SULLI.

[MV] TXT - Our Summer

[MV] Lee Gaeun - Remember You

Gaeun's contract with Pledis expired and this is her farewell song as she leaves the company.

[MV] UHSN - POPSICLE

This group is a temporary project formed on an Mnet show called 'Ticket to K-POP' where a bunch of foreigners went through some Idol training and this was the result. I don't believe they'll be doing anything else.

[MV] 1TEAM - ROLLING ROLLING

Official channel link

[MV] Paul Kim - Try

Just a little touch of Taeyeon there at the end.

[MV] JUNE (feat. Gaho) - Waltz

[MV] Nody Cika - Walk along

[DEBUT] ARRAN - PUZZLE

[MV] VOID - Last Romancer

[MV] BAEKHYUN - UN Village

[CF] Hong Bin (VIXX), Hyung Won (MONSTA X) - COOL LOVE

Possibly, maybe, just a chance, this might be a collaboration for Pepsi. XD

[MV] NATURE - I'm So Pretty

[MV] ATEEZ - AURORA

[MV] HA SUNG WOON - BLUE

[MV] Heize (feat. Giriboy) - We don't talk together

Produced by Suga (BTS).

[MV] Honey Popcorn - De-aeseohsta

[MV] DPR CREAM - Color Drive

[DEBUT] LIMITLESS - Dream Play

Moonbok still rockin' the long locks.

[MV] SoRi X Folded Dragons - I Am Not Alone

Folded Dragons is the producer.
Nice work from SoRi! Great performance!
I believe her new stuff after CocoSori ended is all backed by Kickstarter.

[MV] SLO (feat. Jhnovr, pH-1) - Party

[MV] Yang Da Il - My Love

[MV] Gavy NJ - See You Again

[OST] MAMAMOO - WOW

From the 'Search: WWW' OST.

[OST] Ailee - The Poem of Destiny

From the Arthdal Chronicles OST.
Cool didgeridoo in there.

[MV] Stella Jang - YOLO

[MV] THORNAPPLE - Galaxy

[MV] Lofibaby - SOS

[MV] Rose (feat. Wonderlust) - good thing

This video. Looool.

[MV] Ailee - Room Shaker

[MV] BTS - Lights (Jpn.)

OT7 feels.

[MV] Younha - On A Rainy Day

[MV] Ben - Thank you for Goodbye

Charting extremely well, because... Ben. But weirdly can't find any info about who the artist is singing with her?

[MV] Bella - Blue Ocean

Not sure if this is her debut, but I think it might be.

Jongmin Moon - She's So Lovely

Cute MV.

[MV] So Soo Bin - Full of You

[MV] GFRIEND - Fever

Official channel link