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colorisbyshe · 3 months

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June's Monthly Music (PART DEUX!!)(I KNOW ITS TOO LONG IM SORRY)

Click here for part one (highlights being Kaytranada and Charli's albums)(listen to Cactus Water by Channel Tres who was on Kaytranada's album)

RECENT MUSIC:

Goat Girl's motorway is for the girlies into... the indie girlies. Music to reflect on your life to.

JESSIE WARE!!!!!!! & ROMY's LIFT YOU UP! Feel good dance track. Just vibrant and joyful. What a lovely way to end Pride month.

Normani FINALLY released her album. Not mindblowing (and some of the teaser versions of songs are better) but it's enjoyable to listen to all the way through. Highlights are "All Yours" which feels luxurious, "Take my Time" which is sweet and pleasant, "Insomnia" which has a sprinkling of Daft Punk in some of the vocoding, and a more energetic "Little Secrets" which closes the album out. This is a solid debut which promises greater things down the line. Good sensibilities, just needs a bit more oomph.

Spinning off of that, check out "Endless Night" by Maeta.

Tove Lo & SG Lewis are back at it again with a mini EP! Let Me Go OH OH sounds the way Kylie's Love at First Sight MV looks, if that makes sense. Busy Girl is for Cunts on the Runway. Heat is for dancing at the club. Desire is a club mix track that is generic and yet perfectly calculated--like a chocolate chip cookie made up premium ingredients.

Megan Thee Stallion has an album out and narrowing this down to a handful of tracks is hard, even with singles excluded! Rattle is scathing and yet too cool for the haters. Down Stairs DJ combined with Where Them Girls At has convinced me she needs to collab with Cupcakke*. Worthy is summery and poppy. Spin with Victoria Monet will have you doing body rolls without even realizing, Otaku Hot Girl is a fun sample... I forgive her for insulting Sasuke avis I know where she's coming from lol.

Nayeon's album is kinda hit or miss to me but I love ABCD's bigger than life energy and the dance break in the MV. HalliGalli is just like refreshing fruit punch on a hot day

Despite not feeling the title track, Red Velvet did pull through with some music you can just float around to, Last Drop and Night Drive would be nice to wade into the ocean and stare up at the stars to. Bubble has an almost 80s Jpop veneer to it. And Love Arcade gives the album some energy it very much needed, lol. Not my fave RV project but not the bummer I expected!

She, this blog's namesake, has a new mini album! Spectral Touch and With You are expansions of She's Chiptune sound but maybe with some appeal you might find in Kavinsky's music--not the same sound at all but that sort of "driving at night through neon lights" type vibe.

The Used has a new album out, it's more of the same, but I loved the video game trailer bombasticness of Depression Personified and the return to an older whininess (said with fondness) in Before I Leave. Emos, check it out.

Catharsis by 9mm Parabellum Bullet is more rock music. Japanese and surprisingly melodic, this track is haunting. Maybe Buck-Tick enjoyers should check it out.

If you liked the Tove Lo ep, check out Baddy on the Floor by Jamie xx. Honey Dijon absolutely elevates this track into transcendence.

Amaarae said "Fountain Baby Part 2!!!" this! is a swooning afrobeats track, wanted is a song that crawls to you and up your body and grabs your hips, and sweeeet is such a natural evolution of Fountain Baby. This whole project is worth a listen!

TuNGSTeN is by Hiroyuki Sawano (TECHNICALLY a different project than my other shout out) and it's just evocative and makes me clutch at my chest but also wanna run.

Power of Two by Victoria Monet. Idk why she's doing a Star Wars song but... fuck, she hit it out of the fucking park. It's like of Kendrick/Sza's All the Stars had a dark, more cosmic child.

Lynch. has some more Japanese metalcore for anyone interested. Standouts are the frantic Un Deux Trois and A Fierce Blaze while the track Remains might appeal more to the crowd who wants more of the melodic bits that Catharis had. Buck-Tick fans I'm saying try out Remains. Not as good but you'll see the vibe

Getting no Sleep by Tinashe is a surprising follow up to Nasty but suuch a good follow up to her album BB/Angel and its more cerebral elements.

"Know You Did" by bongjeingan is a korean indie rock song not afraid to get WEIRD with it. This is a song that is everything all at once. Goes surprisingly hard at the end.

Somethin Bout You by The Knocks and Holiday87 ft Betsy feels like a dream of the 80s had by someone who passed out at the club after too much fruity drinks.

"Security" by Raleigh Ritchie (AKA LOUIS FROM IWT!V!) is a a more lowkey track than some on this but the lyrics are relatable and I remain charmed by his blunt writing style--he gets to the heart of the matter and carves at it.

OLDER MUSIC I'VE BEEN INTO:

"Shout" SawanoHiroyuki[nZk]. Type of song that worked great for a Trigger adventure anime (but not dunmeshi lol).

Selecta by Chase & Status ft Stefflon Don. Dancehall drum & bass great for playing a first person shooter. Click heads and bop.

9m88 was recced to me and while I haven't explored much, "Love Rain" is crooning and jazzy and a song that exists outside of time.

A throwback older than some of my followers Sonique's Sky is just good eurodance.

*this month was too stacked and i haven't listened her new album but i WILL!!

#monthly music #if you see a notable kpop absence #it either was disappointing to me #or im mad at them lol #IF YOU KNOW YOU KNOW #i'll reblog this a ta normal time tmo #but i refuse to listen to anymore new music this month lmao #ONE DAY OF FREEDOM FROM NEW MUSIC #im gonna loop some songs i already like #including many from this post

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clonerightsagenda · 3 months

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Scavengers Reign ep 11

Did Azi program that equipment pod to land near her, or did she just get lucky?

So Levi's consciousness and connection to the planet comes from those glowing lilies that we see growing on corpses. Interesting. Hivemind biological afterlife? Were the tiny critters reconstructing Levi part of the hivemind because they're decomposers? Who is Levi anyway? Are they a robot who gained sentience, or are they the planet speaking through a robot's voice?

I was wondering if the baby would discover Fiona's body. I suppose the people who died in the crash when the ship's hull broke have been kind of freeze dried, which is perhaps why they haven't been scavenged as much as the bodies in the cryotanks were.

Fiona: torments Kamen with the glowing anime glasses of doom

Why the hell did Kris tie Azi up and leave her instead of killing her? Didn't think Barry would let her? A genuine attempt to give her a chance to get free while buying time? Sadism? Leaving someone tied up on a planet like this mostly just guarantees a slow horrible death vs a bullet to the head, if you've decided you want them out of your hair.

In my last liveblog I almost made a comment that I hope Kepler stans don't find out about Kris, but a) although they serve similar broad narrative roles (head of a 'rescue' team that ends up being bad news) they're pretty different otherwise and b) I suspect most Kepler stans would not be like that about him if he were a woman. I am an equal opportunity hater in this situation.

Convenient how as more human conflict arises the planet's wildlife has spent less time trying to kill them. Demoted to secondary source of episodic conflict.

Levi's got quite a little shrine going. Their personality has changed as well.

"Your time is short." Hey Levi what does this mean. Is Ursula still going to turn into a mushroom colony

"Pick it and throw it in the shuttle. We'll give it to Terrence's family." Ah yes the best way to honor a man killed by unresearched alien flora is to pick another piece of unresearched alien flora. Maybe it will go better this time.

The cargo is chips?? I would think without proper hull shielding they would've taken a lot of damage from cosmic radiation. Maybe the crates are shielded as a backup, I guess.

"I'm letting you be proud." Kris what the fuck is your damage

Azi and Ursula girl squad, let's go!!

#kat watches scavengers reign

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saltygilmores · 8 months

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THOUGHTS WHILE WATCHING GILMORE GIRLS: S3/EP6: TAKE THE DEVILED EGGS (PT 3) (STILL SO MUCH HAPPENING HERE)

Can I have a donut too? *yoink* Thank you. So much going on with this outfit. Wardrobe Dept : Layers, people! I WANT TO SEE MORE LAYERS! AND I WANT THAT VEST TO BE PUFFY! And make sure his shirt has a skull on it too cause the chicks dig that. Milo:

Jess informs Luke he has to run "errands" before school and the thought of this small infant kitten making a run to the post office to buy stamps and dropping by the laundromat before homeroom is just a delightful image. Of course we know where he's actually going. To toil in the Walmart Mines. But first, coffee and a donut and some petty theft.

This is such a great line. Perfect sassy delivery. Perfect comedic timing. Totally under rated quip that rarely ends up in anyone's little edits and I don't know why. So under rated that I forgot about it. Luke and Jess are the best.

He can steal a little bit. As a treat.

There goes my teenage nephew. Off to his Gigolo Job. Sexually servicing the horny lonely women (men?) of The Hollow. I'd really love to know who Luke thought Jess had as his clientele in Stars Hollow. Miss Patty?

*shudder* Luke goes to Gypsy's auto shop to confirm that Jess' car purchase was legit. She can't confirm the source of his cash flow. Not satisfied with the answer, Luke goes home to nose around some more and commit some serious violation of Jess' privacy by rifling through his underwear drawer, where he finds a mysterious box. I'm not clear what he's looking for. Money? Is he looking for the $10 Jess took out of the register? Kiss it goodbye Luke, it's gone. Probably already spent on a copy of Maxim and some Jergens. (Rebecca Romjin Stamos was on the cover of Maxim in November 2002, by the way. What other Gilmore Girls Watcher Person is going to look this stuff up except Ol' Salty?). Depending on whose dresser drawer this is, either Jess or Luke wear gray and white striped panties. My money is on Jess, striped boxer briefs are too sassy for Luke.

Seen: Striped panties, Box O' Weed. A few moments earlier Luke had spoken to a waiter/undercover cop in the diner (a waiter I have never seen before nor ever again who looked incredibly out of place) asking him to narc on Jess' whereabouts. Luke then proceeds upstairs to rifle through Jess' shit without his consent, as one tends to do on Gilmore Girls. During this rifling, Luke takes a phone call from an unknown person. I don't yet understand the context of this odd phone call. It goes like this: Hey Randy. What's up. Someone's gotta take care of it. It's not gonna take care of itself. I understand. I get it. What else? Huh? Who the hell is Randy? The other time someone said "I have to take care of something" the Stars Hollow PD had to dredge a dead body from the lake. Shady shit.

At one point in his little privacy violation mission Luke opens up an oddly shaped reddish box that almost looks like a heart shaped Valentine's Day chocolate box (the lighting is very dim here). Maybe the kind of box you'd stash your weed in after you finished the candy. (it was empty. Jess must have smoked all the weed already). Next, in anticipation of Creepy Sherry's baby shower, Lane and Rory have a walk-and-talk about the disgustingness of sex and childbirth. Rory calls the "Getting there" part of child birth a "big cosmic joke." So...is the "Getting there" sex? Poor Dean and Jess. The bluest balls in all the land. Rory stringing Dean along for two years without putting out may be the only sympathy I reserve for him. That's rough. Lane: My mom has never told me where babies come from. When my cousin got pregnant she said an angel brushed its wings against her. Rory: I could fill you in on the details. Lane: No thank you. I already learned it on the streets. That was funny. Lane is great.

Welllp. I take that back. Jess and Lane could have been really great friends. Good thing she comes around eventually. In like...the last episode before Jess and Rory break up and he disappears forever she calls them a cute agoraphobic couple. A little too late there my friend. One day you might need a place to crash in NYC with your band and you'll wish you had his number. Let this be a lesson to you fine people. Never get into an unavoidable minor car accident while in Stars Hollow. Never drive in Stars Hollow. Never visit Stars Hollow. Pretend the entire state of Connecticut doesn't exist. You'll be happier, healthier and wiser.

Here we go again. Rory's friends and family trying to fight battles for Rory that she really, really doesn't want fought.

Incoming! My little puffy vested kitten. I'm going down a "what did teenage boys wear in the early 2000s" rabbit hole now. I'll bring you back a souvenir. I graduated high school in 2002. I just have no memory of the fashion at the time. Boys did not give me the time of day. It was for the best, honestly.

Hey, look who it is! Mr. Rygalski/Brody/Cohen, you likely don't have complete control over your own wardrobe for television, but this outfit is a crime. Speak up, man. Don't get me started on Timberlake, either. My search results are skewing Puffy vests over dress shirts instead of puffy vests over tshirts. I want to leave the early 2000's now.

Put that finger down, woman.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have Upside Down Watch. After the lively recent Tumblr debate about UDW being some kind of tribute to military service members wearing their watches upside down, I asked my friend in the army if this was a thing she was aware of and she stated she had never seen any one wear their watch upside down. Admittedly a very small sample size. But it deepens the mystery.

Please watch this scene and listen to how he lisps "Andy Griffith" in this sentence, it's really adorable, and cawr always delights as well.

Cawr cawr cawr!

Lane proceeds to pontificate on the shoddy quality of his Cawr. Okay, Miss Judgy No Cawr or License. After you obtain a car, license and registration through dubious means like Jess did , then you can have an opinion on what he’s driving.

Maybe if you tried to befriend him, he'd be wiling to let you bum a ride with him to band practice. That is a quandry you're currently trying to solve, is it not? Use your noodle. There's a white tshirt peeking out. So he's wearing...*counts* four layers. Vest, beige shirt, black shirt, white shirt. Underactive Thyroid Betty over here.

The best part of everyone being salty to Jess is that he doesn't give one single flying cupcake if someone doesn't like him. Plus he has a braw in his back seat. Probably several braws. Goodnight.

#gilmore girls #gilmore girls season 3 #TDDE #take the deviled eggs #rory gilmore #lane kim #jess mariano #literati #milo ventimiglia #luke danes #cawr #backseat bra #shane's braw

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hellofromthehallowoods · 1 year

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Reeling from the newest ep. I'm curious - between the stories of riot and diggory and the rest of the earth-dwellers and those of nikignik and marolmar and the cosmic beings, which ideas came first?

Incredible writing, as always. I am constantly blown away by the sheer ferocity and depth of emotion your art makes me feel.

A story about a happy swamp frankenstein named Diggory Graves who lives in a frightening forest, and a story about a nightmare god who meets a girl with bad nightmares, came into existence at about the same time. The rest has slowly grown into place from there.

#hfth asks

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ribbonknot · 3 months

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ranking & rating tracks off of red velvet's cosmic !!

cosmic (10/10) - one of their best title tracks to date, and i mean that. may even take the cake for my favourite red velvet summer release, and that speaks volumes to just how much i love cosmic. there's a certain sadness to it that is reminiscent of umpah umpah. for 10 years of red velvet, this feels like just the song to celebrate their history. a great addition to the many phenomenal songs released this year.

bubble (10/10) - this one's for the mojito fans.. this one's for the cool world fans.. this one's for me specifically. perfectly encapsulates that soda pop, orange lollipop feeling so well i don't know how else to explain it. there's a nostalgic feel to it that speaks to me in a way that only certain songs could.

night drive (10/10) - never in red velvet's 10 year career have they ever closed off an album badly, and they certainly have not started now. night drive sounds like a glittery female friendship anthem (can't speak on the lyrics since the eng. translation isn't up yet lol). sounds exactly like how a summer night feels. you feel a little sticky, and the air's a little too dry, but the sky has never been clearer. the stars are shining so bright.

last drop (9/10) - this is why red velvet's known for their discography.. they just don't know how to make a bad song. i mentioned this on a previous post, but this could easily be a title track in of it of itself. it sort of reminds me of the perfect velvet but also mixed with aespa's lucid dream. kinda upset to know that this will never get the space-themed music video that it deserves but sigh, a reveluv can only dream. that bridge & last crazy are CRAZY though, like im foaming at the mouth with just how beautiful it sounds. god bless synths 🙏

sunflower (8/10) - CLASSIC red velvet. it sounds like something right off of rvf - day 1 (maybe it's because moonshine produced it). one thing i will say is red velvet knows has mastered that art of harmonizing their vocals.

love arcade (7/10) - weakest song on the ep for me. not that it's bad by any means, i just don't think i'm going to come back to the cosmic ep for this song specifically, you know what i mean? reminds me a LOT of cherry bullet's q&a, down to the sound effects. the chorus is really catchy, though 🫶🏻

final thoughts: i missed red velvet so much, and i was starting to get scared of what sm was going to do with them. this all but proves that (at least for now) they still have trust in the girls and their vision. i heard they had a lot of say over the creative direction of this release, and it does feel very personal. there's a sort of melancholy around it that feels a little different from the one that's in their other releases. i'm so lucky to be a reveluv and see them constantly flourish. 10 years in the game, and they're still here. very much thriving. overall rating is 9/10 for the ep. happy rv summer to all those who celebrate with me 🫶🏻

#00 #rv #red velvet #kpop

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jq37 · 2 years

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So, the Princess' Crusade is more of a cosmic suicide pact. That's disappointing. I was waiting for the other shoe to drop for a while though. Drosselmyer's prophecy from ep 2 never got out of my head: ''Many will offer answers. I would trust your heart and the heart of your companions alone". There's no Big Good that will lighten the load and make things easy, our heroes are gonna have to figure this out themselves.

Man I have been WAITING for their plan to come out this entire time. I admit, I wasn't thinking about Dross's prophecy exactly because it was a while ago--good on you for remembering it from all the way back--but knowing stories and knowing how Brennan tells stories specifically, I was sure there was no way the conflict was as simple as princesses good, fairies bad. Information on what exactly they wanted has been so vague and our heroes haven't been asking for specifics when they had the chance. I had a feeling Brennan was setting up some youthful zealotry leading to Bad Decisions and now, here we are.

This whole situation is really wild for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the princess squad are saying they're against the concept of these narratives and the power they hold over their lives, but what about the power they themselves will be wielding over everyone else by doing this? They're talking like they're doing a hard thing that's best for everyone though they won't be understood by the common folk and to that I say bicth(es) what? Who are you to decide that life isn't worth living in this form? No one gets to decide but you because you're the main characters? What kind of Divine Right Of Kings BS is that? As someone else pointed out in another post of mine, I think Alphonse the Mule would be pretty put out if he heard the plan was "Let's End It All" while all he wants is to munch some grass.

And like, they don't even have it bad! How mad would you be if you were like, a witch or a giant or a monster whose fate in every Once Upon a Time is to lose and be hated and be killed and you learn that the people who were trying to take down the ship with all of you in it are the people whose job it is to suffer a bit sure but then be beloved, rich, beautiful, and happy forever with the men of their dreams? Like I GET why the Stepmother is like burn it all. Why is CInderella on that same train?

Speaking of why is this person on this train, what's up with Elody? Cinderella is like 18-20, right? I've been a dumb 18 year old girl. I understand that 18 year old girls can be very dramatic and fatalistic and rash. Elody is like 35, right? Does she know the plan? If so, is she COOL with it? (Sidenote: Is there another Elody running around in this version of the world or is she maybe dead?) There are like 3 options here.

(1) She knows and she's fine with it. Which wouldn't really mesh with what we know about her so far but maybe with Ger dead she was like OK screw it. Team Let's End It.

(2) She doesn't know because the princesses knew she wouldn't go along with it if she knew the real plan. Def a possibility but I don't want to pretend like she's uncoruptable. Anyone can subscribe to a bad take at a low time in their life.

(3) She DOES know but she's stringing them along for her own purposes. Listen, if MY useless husband that I loved died trying to do something brave for once in his life, mayhaps I would consider joining up with some overly-zealous suicidal princesses to find the power they wanted to use to end the world to bring back said useless but beloved husband.

I guess we'll see how it ends up shaking out. And likely soon. I have a feeling this might be an Escape The Castle situation happening soon enough.

Oh, one more thing. It kinda blows my mind that the princesses have learned of a book not touched by the Authors--Tim's Book--and are not like oh my gosh that changes everything! They're still fully committed to this nuke all stories plans it seems. Guys please. Have just...a moment of thought about this. A sliver of perspective. A crumb of self-awareness.

#farmer 10 #never after #neverafter #dimension 20 #d20 #never after spoilers #neverafter spoilers #dimension 20 spoilers #d20 spoilers #asks #to be clear I still like the princesses a lot as characters #i have been waiting for this turn for a while #I just think ideologically they're dumb as hell #we are 3 years out from a ROUGH pandemic and things still feel rough #if I found out that like 5 rich girls wanted to nuke the planet bc they were having an existential crisis I would be FURIOUS

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ledzephlin · 2 years

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I still really love Cinderella/Rosamund, but that last ep got me thinking about Snow White/Cinderella. Imagine you claw your way back from death and out of a glass coffin and find another girl just like you who's just as disillusioned by her happily ever after and also horrified by the cosmic forces that decree you must always suffer. Imagine you join together and make the choice that the two of you will stand alone (at first) against the flow of destiny. Imagine constantly taking huge chances and crossing veils and not ever being sure you'll both always make it to the other side. Always looking for more like you, and always knowing that if there's no one else, you'll at least have each other

#also not to bring the locked tomb into this. but theyre necromancer/cavalier vibes #man. love these princesses #d20 #neverafter #idk if they have a ship name #glass snow #thats what i'll call it for now

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married-2-the-music · 10 months

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K-pop Discography Deep Dives: WJSN

A Disclaimer: I was planning, when I first started Tumblr, to be a lurker, but then I began an office job and needed something to listen to to keep myself occupied. And then, I started going through entire K-pop groups’ repertoires, album by album, and jotting down my thoughts. And then, I stumbled into K-pop tumblr and decided, you know what, there’s at least four people on this hell site who would read in depth rants about these discographies and at least five who wouldn’t read it and then get mad because it’s kind of our job as K-pop fans. My lukewarm takes should be taken with an entire silo of salt and the knowledge that this is completely for fun and occupying my very bored, very neurodivergent brain. All this to say, for the love of god, I’m a sleep-deprived student and I don’t have time for internet hate, so don’t kill me. With that being said, enjoy!

Here are my credentials: unusually, for a girl group, I have very few. I’ve listened to WJSN before, and I know a decent amount of title tracks and a couple b-sides. I would say I know them best from my half-watch of Queendom 2 (I’m a fan of Loona and Gfriend, so I was more focused on them), which WJSN did win. I was impressed with them there, and I decided that I wanted to learn more about them.

WJSN was formed in late 2015 as a Korean-Chinese collaborative between Starship Entertainment and Yuehua Entertainment. The members are divided into four units, one for each letter. First is Wonder, with Cheng Xiao, Bona, and Dayoung. Second is Joy, with Xuanyi, Eunseo, and Yeoreum. Third is Sweet, with Seola, Exy, and Soobin. And fourth is Natural, with Meiqi, Luda, and Dawon. After these units were formed, a 13th member, Yeonjung, was added as well. After being on hiatus since 2018, the three Chinese members, Xuanyi, Cheng Xiao, and Meiqi officially left the group in early 2023. Sorry, that was a lot of names, so deep breaths and let’s do this.

They officially debuted in 2016 with MoMoMo, which is one of the most bubblegum-y bubblegum songs I’ve seen in a while. It’s basically a k-pop stereotype at this point: lots of aegyo, completely coordinated school girl clothes, short skirts, childish love, and very poppy beats. I associate WJSN with more ethereal pop, so this was a (somewhat unwelcome) surprise for me. As often happens to me in k-pop, while I did appreciate its comic book style animation and humor, the excessive aegyo made me uncomfortable (see my review of TXT’s Cat and Dog or LOONA’s Hi High). This isn’t the song’s fault; it’s exactly what it’s supposed to be, but it does mean I won’t be listening to it again.

I’m unsure if Catch Me is also a single or just an opportunity for a dance practice, but it embraces the other side of k-pop stereotypes: a sort-of anti-drop, girl-crush, uncomfortably-sexualized…thing? that tries a bit too hard to be cool. WJSN’s talent elevates it, but even they can only do so much with a song that doesn’t have any character.

The 1st EP, Would You Like?, starts with an intro, Space Cowgirl, that I actually liked more than MoMoMo, and I wish more of its self-assured, smooth synths carried into the song. I liked parts of some of the songs, like the twinkling piano and extended bridge in Tick Tock, but most of them sounded very similar to other songs I’ve heard, and so didn’t stick out to me all that much. I could name at least five exactly like Take My Breath.

Secret begins the sound that I know from WJSN, still drawing on the poppiness, cutesiness, and high vocals of MoMoMo, but pairing it with more toned-on synths, more pointed voices, and more poised dancing, a combination that would become their staple in the next few years. It’s quite interesting to see it here feeling a little less polished. I totally get why they gained the nickname “Cosmic Girls” now, with all the space inspiration here, and while the song itself is nothing groundbreaking, I really liked that lead-in to the last chorus.

The Secret, the EP, has a couple songs I liked. BeBe leans a bit too far into aegyo for me personally, but I enjoy its boundless energy and catchiness. Also, that harmonizing in the last chorus? Sign me up. I also enjoyed the frizzy electronic background of Robot, which reminded me a bit of an f(x) song, although it felt more restrained than one of theirs.

I Wish has a slightly more funk-inspired opening than Secret, and while it still has the roots of aegyo, I’d say it follows the pattern of their songs slowly getting more mature. Still got the schoolgirl outfits, though. The chorus and its “tell me why” is pretty catchy, I will say, and I appreciated a lot of the MV’s visuals in the social media posts, floating lanterns, and emojis.

From. WJSN’s Say Yes caught my attention with its finger-snapping background and slightly Latin-pop-esque warm acoustic guitar. I thought it provided a good contrast to their very electronic synth-heavy music, and made me appreciate their vocals a lot more, especially Yeonjung and Dayoung. The “juseyo, juseyo” is stuck in my head now, and I’m not mad about it. It makes a great addition to my sleep playlist.

Kiss Me’s intro had me intrigued right off the bat, with its fun surf guitar background, and its continuing through the song made this one stand out. I also liked the harsher hand-clapping percussion mixed with the pop, and that the chorus felt like a much more natural progression of the verses and pre-chorus. Still not a fan of the rapping, which comes out of nowhere, but overall this was a great summer track and it got stuck in my head.

Happy is a return to the bubbly, kind-of sporty concept of MoMoMo that was so popular in mid-3rd gen (Red Velvet’s Happiness, TWICE’s Cheer Up, or Fromis_9’s FUN, for example), and I’d be lying if I said I was as happy to see it as the song wants me to be. I definitely liked the humor and the ultra-saturation of the music video, and ended up laughing a good few times. But overall, I’m not a fan of this concept or this type of song, and this song does nothing to change my mind. Also, I feel like the chorus, though it’s pretty good, doesn’t fit in with the rest of the song. I think it’s the sudden tempo change.

Happy Moment is a full album, so there’s a lot to talk about. I liked the bubbly distortion in Miracle, (honestly I wonder why it wasn’t a single, because it really feels like one), the vocalizing in Mr. BadBoy’s choruses, the minimalistic background of Babyface’s verses, the roller skating rush of Geeminy, and especially the lovely musical catharsis of Closer To You (damn, Yeonjung, what a note to end on!). Again, though, what I really liked were parts and besides Closer To You, I didn’t like any song enough to consider it a hidden gem. I know that Happy leans very much into aegyo, but the names of a lot of these songs felt a bit too babyish even for that, and I don’t think that the album needed to be so long, because so many of its tracks felt like filler. I would rather have a five or six track, great-all-the-way-through EP like, say Sunmi’s Warning or SEVENTEEN’s Haeng-Geurae, than a half-as-good album twice that long.

Dreams Come True, I’m happy to say, builds on the good that both Kiss Me and I Wish started, working in more interesting percussion and more ethereal synths. Funnily enough, it goes so far into understated that I didn’t realize the chorus had started until it was almost over, and while it’s got a good base, I think that it needs a stronger, more obvious hook to turn into a classic. I did really like that delicate bridge, though.

Dream Your Dream, the EP, starts strong with Love O’Clock, which doesn’t bother with a drawn out build-up, instead rushing forward right from the first moment. I liked the harmonizing, the strong drumbeat, and the catchiness. I also enjoyed Renaissance’s swirling and soaring vocals (another b-side that could’ve been a single) and Thawing, despite its odder sound effects, charmed me with its earnestness.

Save Me, Save You was the first WJSN song I heard, and is probably the one that best sums up their style. It starts soft, almost not there in the first verse, then tiptoes its way through the pre-chorus, and with a couple drum beats, that magical chorus takes over and suddenly you’re floating. As mentioned, their songs are often a bit too bubbly or understated for me, but I can acknowledge when a song does its style well, and this one absolutely does. I didn’t even mind the rap! I like the setting of the magic school and the incredibly fast shifting in the eyes between the bridge and the last chorus, but I wish it drew itself out more, to make the best use of that excellent vocalizing.

From WJ Please?, the EP, I really had a good time nodding my head to You, You, You, especially during its bridge and last chorus and I added it to my roller skating playlist. I also enjoyed the hints of flamenco and layered strings in the background of I-Yah, a surprisingly lovely sound for the title. It really reminded me of I Knew It by Sonamoo, one of my favorite Latin-pop inspired K-pop tracks. Masquerade also has a great use of strings, this time combined with a gentle piano, and Hurry Up uses a brightly jazzy beat to add some contrast. These four together absolutely make this my favorite EP so far, which is pretty funny, as all these songs are better than the title.

La La Love’s Carnival setting is interesting, and is the decision to have a pre-chorus that leans into sing-talk. The choice mostly works and doesn’t interrupt the good flow that the song has, and I like the high vocalizing that twinkles around the chorus. On the whole, the song is pretty enjoyable and gentle, but, like I usually do, I wish it had more of a hook that would make it stick in my head. Completely different from the last EP, I didn’t have a hidden gem for this one, though I thought 12 O’Clock was nice.

With how much I liked their last summer comeback, I was excited for Boogie Up. The song is pretty upbeat and on the whole, reminds me of a much more bubbly version of Red Flavor by Red Velvet. It’s catchy, but it has a bit too empty of a chorus for me, and doesn’t innovate on a pretty tried-and-true pop formula enough to stand out. I do like the fun instrumental and the bridge, though. Their bridges are almost always pretty great.

From the EP For The Summer, I honestly really liked the song For The Summer with its bright and flouncy energy (though as I often do, I thought the rap was unnecessary), and the horns were a nice touch. Let’s Dance follows in the stead of WJ Please’s great, Latin-pop inspired b-sides, though I don’t think it’s quite as unique as those.

As You Wish has a very bouncy beat from the beginning, and its excellent electronic sound draws from disco. Its pre-chorus build is great as well, and the chorus delivers, making it both one of my favorite titles so far and what I’m sure will become a fixture on my roller-skating playlists. Its last chorus is delightfully bright, but my favorite part is absolutely that outro, which brings together the vocals and the instrumentals perfectly and should’ve been so much longer. From the EP, also titled As You Wish, I liked the vocal showcase and twinkling piano in Lights Up, and the drumline beat of Don’t Touch.

Butterfly is another song I already knew by WJSN, and its bubbly energy works surprisingly well for me. I think this is the first of their title tracks that has a deeper meaning than an average love song, and I’m very happy to see it. There’s never enough songs about freedom and being yourself, in my opinion. The last chorus’ vocalizations, as often in WJSN’s singles, elevates the song greatly, and its fizzy instrumental brings everything together. The visuals of flowing white dresses and puffy clouds are a great addition too.

From Neverland, while I enjoyed the back and forth, rushing energy of Hola and the string-led instrumentation of Where You Are, my hidden gem was absolutely Pantomime. I first heard it while watching Queendom, and though I do definitely prefer the more 20’s jazz-inspired, more theatrical version from their stage there, there’s still a lot to love here. I especially enjoy how clipped and off-beat it is, setting it apart from WJSN other’s b-sides.

Unnatural is a bit of a darker counterpart to Butterfly, also about not quite fitting into normalcy (hence the title). I really liked the rap in this one, and how well it fit into the tempo. Also, the way the pre-chorus pulls back and then rushes forward is great. I like the more minimalistic instrumentals and how they let the vocals flow and speak for themselves. Overall, I think it’s one of their strongest outings. From Unnatural, the EP, I really liked the mix between WJSN’s high voices and the self-assured tone and beat in Last Dance, though I wish the instrumental was more distinctive.

Last Sequence is, at time of writing, WJSN’s most recent comeback, from a year ago. It also falls into the more minimalistic electro-pop synth style of their last few singles, which of course I’m in favor of. I do feel like the chorus needed more of a lead-in than it has, but besides that, I do really like this one. As always, its bridge is great and so is the lead-in to the last chorus (the yeongwohni, yeongwohni, yeongwohni is stuck in my head now). I didn’t have a hidden gem for this comeback, as it’s only a 3-song single.

I’m glad I did this! Like I said, I didn’t know much about WJSN before this review. But, I’ve learned that they were an important part in making what I now consider a very classic 3rd generation K-pop sound, and their music became the blueprint for many groups afterward. I’ve watched some interviews and had some good laughs, and even seen a couple compilations of their best performances on Queendom. I definitely liked their later music more than their earlier, though, and after hearing their work, I’m sad that they don’t come back nearly as often as they used to.

My Top 5 songs are Butterfly, Last Sequence, Kiss Me, I-Yah, and Hurry Up, with Pantomime as an honorable mention . WJSN gets an 8.25 out of 10 from me. I think that on the whole, their songs are pretty good and there were very few I actively disliked. The biggest issue I face is that I listen to and analyze So. Much. K-pop. (probably thousands of songs by now) and because of that, only the groups that do something unique or innovative, have incredible voices, self-produce, or consistently discuss important subjects in their work really stick with me. WJSN is very talented, but while they have a niche, they don’t really add anything new to what’s been done time and time again.

Next time, I have a very special soloist review coming up, that’s going to come out on December 18th (a day late). If you know your k-pop and my blog, you can probably guess what it is. It’ll be a bit different from a usual review, but I felt like it was time. Tschüss!

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