April 21st 2025 -> July 27th 2025
In “honor” of the blog being a year old, I’ve decided to do these little roundups every so often, starting in September of last year. Here are my Top 2 songs of every artist I covered from April 21st to July 27th of 2025, along with my thoughts on who was most overrated, which review made me shed a couple tears, and what idol stood out from the rest. Featured artists in the thumbnail, L-R, Top: STAYC and Onew; Bottom: GHOST9 and Fin.K.L.
Featured Artists: Chuu, Fin.K.L., Baekhyun, VIXX, Doyoung, RM, Purple Kiss, ARTMS, GHOST9, STAYC, WayV, Rocket Punch, TWS, Jackson Wang, Onew
Range: Our oldest group this time around, Fin.K.L., debuted in 1998, and our newest, TWS, debuted just last year, 2024, so that’s a good quarter-century in between them.
Favorite Group: WayV. I know! I’m as surprised as you are, but their sense of style, dramatic instrumentation, and huge range of concepts really won me over. I’m happy I can call myself a fan.
Favorite Soloist: RM. Though I’m on record as not being a big BTS fan, I really enjoyed the greater part of his discography. He has such talent for lyricism and self-reflection, and that makes his music very unique.
Least Favorite Artist: GHOST9. There wasn’t really a group in this round that I heavily disliked, but I went with GHOST9 because I didn’t feel like they had an identifiable core sound.
Biggest Surprise: ARTMS. Despite being a fan of LOONA, I wasn’t prepared to be so amazed at their biblical-meets-extraterrestrial concept, and I definitely wasn’t prepared for how incredible their music videos are.
Underrated Group: Purple Kiss! They have such a consistently strong discography,(a lot of it written by the members), and they explore a side of pop mixed with horror and campiness that really sets them apart.
Overrated Artist: Jackson Wang. Cue the rotten tomatoes. Look, I’m not denying that the man is very talented, but he’s one of the most popular Chinese singers out there, and throughout my review I kept going “really? This is it?”.
Top 5 Songs:
Stand-Out Idol: Chuu (of LOONA). As mentioned, I’m a fan of LOONA, so I was already biased, but besides being hilarious and so openly supportive of queer rights, she’s got such a strong solo discography.
Review That Made Me Cry: Onew. I’ve been a ShaWol for many years now (as you can tell from the blog name), and to see him not only come back from a much-needed break happier and healthier than ever but to make the kind of music he’s always wanted to makes me so proud.
Thanks for tuning in to our roundup! Tschüss and see you next time!
Let me know your thoughts!