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forestsofpineQ1 | Q2
I was arguing with myself about what to include in this post to the point that I decided to just do five each for boy groups and girl groups. Thanks as always to the mods at![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
paradisediner for making it so easy to check out new music (and remember when it came out for these compilation posts)!
⚠️ for flashing, rapid cuts, and other physical triggers in many of these videos
Taemin - Horizon
I enjoyed "Sexy in the Air", and it's deeply amusing seeing the subtitles at all the music shows (and the MV itself!) trying to gaslight us about what Taemin is actually saying, but I love me some synths, so "Horizon" was the standout track for me on Taemin's new album, and it's been on repeat since it came out. I liked the other B-sides as well, especially "The Unknown Sea" and "Deja Vu".
Key - Tongue-Tied
I'm cheating a little bit by including this one, since the song technically came out at the end of June, but the MV wasn't released until July 2nd. Key just continues to suit my music taste quite well with nearly every release. Honorable mention to Onew's new EP as well, I enjoyed beat drum and Maestro in particular.
&TEAM - Aoarashi
I quite liked "Firework" by these guys last year, but don't follow them regularly. This turned up via my Youtube algorithm one day, though, and I ended up really liking the chorus and listening to it a lot.
FTISLAND - Serious
I've never done a deep dive into FTISLAND's music, but most of the songs of theirs that I do listen to are more than 10 years old. In fact, one of them is more than 15 years old! In an industry with as much turnover as K-pop, it's kind of cool to have a couple new songs from them on repeat in 2024, with the double bonus of being able to listen to them without the ick of knowing that Jonghoon was involved. I liked both "Burn It" and "Serious" roughly equal amounts but for slightly different reasons. I think "Burn It" is arguably the better song, but Hongki's vocals in "Serious" wowed me even more, so I've ended up playing it more.
ONEWE - OFF ROAD
These guys have the vocals for some knockout ballads that even I, easily bored by ballads, enjoy, but I appreciate it when they're pacey and fun like this. I liked "Solar Halo Ring" and "A piece of you" a lot as well, and as long as we're talking K-bands, I'll also throw out an honorable mention for Day6's "Melt Down."
So there's the boy group side of things. Now for the ladies...
Girl groups in Q3 didn't have anything to rival "Cosmic" in Q2, which, as predicted in my Q2 post, has already moved up to become my 2nd most-listened-to 2024 release so far this year, beaten only by SF9's "BIBORA", which had a six month head start. (Barring an especially addictive Q4 fave, I think "Cosmic" and "BIBORA" will be duking it out with "Horizon" for my #1 most-listened-to 2024 release.) However, there were a few I really liked and have had on repeat a lot.
RESCENE - Love Attack
One of the prettiest choruses of the year so far.
IVE - Crush
IVE rarely misses, and I liked this one a lot, too.
UNIS - Curious
This is one of those frustrating but apparently inescapable K-pop situations where I heard the song, liked it, and went to look up the group, only to discover that the maknae is 13 years old. Sigh. I really did like the song, though.
Babymonster - Forever
I wasn't impressed by the earlier releases from this group, but I liked this one a lot. It's probably too much to hope from YG that they'll keep this up instead of whatever "Sheesh" was, but fingers crossed.
Yuqi - Radio (Dum-Dum)
This only came out a few days ago, but I love Yuqi's husky voice and think it's well-suited to this type of song, so I think it will have the same staying power as the other four. If it doesn't, the most likely option to take the #5 spot is Loossemble's "TTYL".
For opinions on a bunch more 2024 K-pop releases, please see my 2024 K-pop list on RateYourMusic!
Other stuff I've been listening to
Ten older K-pop songs I've had on repeat this quarter:
On the pop-but-not-K-pop side, I've been listening to Hot to Go, by Chappell Roan and Von dutch, by charli xcx, like everyone else on the planet, plus Faouzia's most recent single. I also found this collab by KEiiNO and Electric Fields on one of TheBiasList's world pop roundups, which ended with me adding a ton of KEiiNO to my Europop playlist.
In non-pop, I never know what genre to call stuff like this - neo-medieval? Anyway, these three got a lot of play this quarter: Invocatio, by Irfan, Конь, by Percival Schuttenbach, and Qntal's Qntal III - Tristan and Isolde album.
I was arguing with myself about what to include in this post to the point that I decided to just do five each for boy groups and girl groups. Thanks as always to the mods at
paradisediner for making it so easy to check out new music (and remember when it came out for these compilation posts)!⚠️ for flashing, rapid cuts, and other physical triggers in many of these videos
Taemin - Horizon
I enjoyed "Sexy in the Air", and it's deeply amusing seeing the subtitles at all the music shows (and the MV itself!) trying to gaslight us about what Taemin is actually saying, but I love me some synths, so "Horizon" was the standout track for me on Taemin's new album, and it's been on repeat since it came out. I liked the other B-sides as well, especially "The Unknown Sea" and "Deja Vu".
Key - Tongue-Tied
I'm cheating a little bit by including this one, since the song technically came out at the end of June, but the MV wasn't released until July 2nd. Key just continues to suit my music taste quite well with nearly every release. Honorable mention to Onew's new EP as well, I enjoyed beat drum and Maestro in particular.
&TEAM - Aoarashi
I quite liked "Firework" by these guys last year, but don't follow them regularly. This turned up via my Youtube algorithm one day, though, and I ended up really liking the chorus and listening to it a lot.
FTISLAND - Serious
I've never done a deep dive into FTISLAND's music, but most of the songs of theirs that I do listen to are more than 10 years old. In fact, one of them is more than 15 years old! In an industry with as much turnover as K-pop, it's kind of cool to have a couple new songs from them on repeat in 2024, with the double bonus of being able to listen to them without the ick of knowing that Jonghoon was involved. I liked both "Burn It" and "Serious" roughly equal amounts but for slightly different reasons. I think "Burn It" is arguably the better song, but Hongki's vocals in "Serious" wowed me even more, so I've ended up playing it more.
ONEWE - OFF ROAD
These guys have the vocals for some knockout ballads that even I, easily bored by ballads, enjoy, but I appreciate it when they're pacey and fun like this. I liked "Solar Halo Ring" and "A piece of you" a lot as well, and as long as we're talking K-bands, I'll also throw out an honorable mention for Day6's "Melt Down."
So there's the boy group side of things. Now for the ladies...
Girl groups in Q3 didn't have anything to rival "Cosmic" in Q2, which, as predicted in my Q2 post, has already moved up to become my 2nd most-listened-to 2024 release so far this year, beaten only by SF9's "BIBORA", which had a six month head start. (Barring an especially addictive Q4 fave, I think "Cosmic" and "BIBORA" will be duking it out with "Horizon" for my #1 most-listened-to 2024 release.) However, there were a few I really liked and have had on repeat a lot.
RESCENE - Love Attack
One of the prettiest choruses of the year so far.
IVE - Crush
IVE rarely misses, and I liked this one a lot, too.
UNIS - Curious
This is one of those frustrating but apparently inescapable K-pop situations where I heard the song, liked it, and went to look up the group, only to discover that the maknae is 13 years old. Sigh. I really did like the song, though.
Babymonster - Forever
I wasn't impressed by the earlier releases from this group, but I liked this one a lot. It's probably too much to hope from YG that they'll keep this up instead of whatever "Sheesh" was, but fingers crossed.
Yuqi - Radio (Dum-Dum)
This only came out a few days ago, but I love Yuqi's husky voice and think it's well-suited to this type of song, so I think it will have the same staying power as the other four. If it doesn't, the most likely option to take the #5 spot is Loossemble's "TTYL".
For opinions on a bunch more 2024 K-pop releases, please see my 2024 K-pop list on RateYourMusic!
Other stuff I've been listening to
Ten older K-pop songs I've had on repeat this quarter:
- Cyberpunk, by ATEEZ
- Callin', by A.C.E
- Diamond, by Tri.be (a 2024 release that I missed back in February)
- Shoot Me, by Day 6
- Heaven, by Taemin (this performance is from his Ephemeral Gaze tour; it's Taemin at his most dramatic and if you're into that as I am, it might be worth the cost of the concert ticket by itself)
- Lie, by BTS
- let it be summer, by Young K
- Naughty, by Irene & Seulgi
- nothing on me, by Kai
- Pretty Psycho, by Purple Kiss
On the pop-but-not-K-pop side, I've been listening to Hot to Go, by Chappell Roan and Von dutch, by charli xcx, like everyone else on the planet, plus Faouzia's most recent single. I also found this collab by KEiiNO and Electric Fields on one of TheBiasList's world pop roundups, which ended with me adding a ton of KEiiNO to my Europop playlist.
In non-pop, I never know what genre to call stuff like this - neo-medieval? Anyway, these three got a lot of play this quarter: Invocatio, by Irfan, Конь, by Percival Schuttenbach, and Qntal's Qntal III - Tristan and Isolde album.
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Date: 2024-10-30 03:48 pm (UTC)