It’s time for another K-Pop Round Up where I share with y’all songs I’ve been obsessed with the last few months. This one will be a little late as most of these songs were released sometime during the summer, but it’s better late than never right?
One of the songs I’ve been listening to non-stop is A Pink’s ‘I’m So Sick.’ I actually didn’t care to listen to it or check it out when it was first released as I’m not a fan of A Pink, but their newest song definitely impressed me. I used to be a pretty big A Pink fan when they were first debuted, but then quickly lost interest when former member Yookyung exited the group. Their songs as six were also repetitive and similar to one another that I wasn’t as interested in the group anymore. However, with this latest comeback ‘I’m So Sick’, the group managed to finally do something different from their last few comebacks which probably explains why I like it so much. It’s the girl group’s first real attempt at a ‘sexy’ concept after their countless amounts of comebacks as the bubbly and adorable girl group. Granted, it might be a few years too late into the group’s career to attempt another concept, but I’m just glad that we got it. ‘I’m So Sick’ is ridiculously catchy from the verses to the hook and the instrumental. Though this song alone didn’t do enough to regain my attention and interest in A Pink, it’s enough for me to listen to over and over again.
Hyolyn’s ‘See Sea’ is another track that I checked out a few months after its original release in July of this year. Many often associated SISTAR with summer comebacks as they always made grand and impressive comebacks during the summer. It seems like since SISTAR’s disbandment, there’s been attempts by many other groups to earn that title and acknowledgement, but no group has been quite able to do it like SISTAR. Hyolyn returns this summer with ‘See Sea’ to remind us all once again why she and SISTAR were known as the queens of summer in K-Pop. ‘See Sea’ is such a breeze to listen to and it truly does emit the vibes and feels of summer. Out of all the tracks that’s been released in the summer, ‘See Sea’ to me best entails and captures the true beauty and feelings of the season. As usual, Hyolyn does it best whether as an individual or SISTAR member, and reminds us once again of why she’s worthy of her position as the queen of summer.
Boy group Seventeen recently returned with another comeback called ‘Oh My’ and while I don’t really listen or follow Seventeen, I listen to their title tracks from time to time to check out their releases. With upbeat tracks like ‘Very Nice’, ‘Boom Boom’, and ‘Mansae’, I can see why some people might not be as satisfied with the more chill and laid-back ‘Oh My.’ However, I certainly liked ‘Oh My’ and enjoyed the cute and slower song that it was compared to their other releases. It’s just a really nice and cute track to listen to and it’s also definitely catchy. Similar to A Pink, the song doesn’t do enough for me to want to follow Seventeen as a group or to look into them, but it does make me want to continue to check out their future releases.
Jimin (of JYP, not BTS) finally released more music after a long hiatus and break. She returned with a new album titled ‘jiminxjamie’ consisting of 5 tracks total with song ‘April Fools’ as her title track. More so than the album itself, I’m just glad that Jimin finally returned with new music. She’s voiced her disappointment with JYP a few times in the past so it’s great to see her finally back with some new music. My favorites from her new album would be ‘PUTP’ featuring Pentagon’s Kino, WOODZ, and Nathan as well as ‘별’ which is produced by LambC (whose songs I love!). Overall, the album was enjoyable and nice to listen to and there’s no telling how many more times I will listen to ‘PUTP.’ That song is ridiculously catchy.
Last but not least, CUBE’s boy group Pentagon returned with another comeback titled ‘Naughty Boy.’ The boy group hit success earlier this year with ‘Shine’ which was undoubtedly one of the more impressive and stellar releases in K-Pop this year. ‘Shine’ finally shot them to the fame that they worked so hard in achieving the last few years. Though they had former releases like ‘Runaway’ that were strong and decent, ‘Shine’ was what really shot Pentagon upwards. ‘Naughty Boy’ is reminiscent of ‘Shine’ and the boy group follows the same routine that it did with ‘Shine.’ It’s expected that they would want to do something similar to ‘Shine’ since that was the track that ultimately got them more recognition and success. There’s no telling yet how successful ‘Naughty Boy’ will be and whether it’ll be as successful as the original ‘Shine’ (especially after all the rumors and gossip that the boy group was surrounded by the last few months), but the track definitely does remind me of ‘Shine.’ Nonetheless, it’s a chill, mellow, fun, and easy song to listen to and the song would have been a standout had Pentagon decided to release it as a b-side than the title track. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it as a title track, but I do enjoy the song regardless.
It’s a shame E’Dawn and Yan An aren’t participating in this latest comeback for various reasons. The remaining eight members did their best to cover up the absence of the two members, but it still felt weird and sad to see them only as eight. Here’s to hoping Pentagon will return as the complete ten members next time with great music like they did with ‘Shine’ and this latest comeback.
MaryMeKpop 