Spotlight:
(Check the carousel for my personal favorite reviews; check below for my most recent posts. Enjoy!!)
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K-pop: A 4th Gen Guide
“I create a new path no one has attempted before All those condescending people will click their tongues. But the applause I receive after breaking that prejudice is thrilling.” – (G)-DLE, “Lion” GEN #4 A darker era in the timeline, defined by trap, EDM, and so-called “girl crush”. Both a time of idols starting to…
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K-pop: A 3rd Gen Guide
“Pass the end of winter’s cold, until the spring day comes again. Until the flowers bloom again. Please stay, please stay there a little longer.” -BTS, “Spring Day” GEN #3 A breakthrough to the West, with a separation into “cutesy”, or more poppy and childish, and “mature”, or more electronic-based and dark, groups. Most people’s…
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K-pop: A 2nd Gen Guide
“Don’t wait for a special miracle. There’s a rough road in front of us, with unknowable future and obstacles. I won’t change. I can’t give up.” -Girls Generation, “Into The New World” GEN #2 More organized, more smooth, more colorful; inspiration from disco and synth, and still with a bit of a fun edge. Really…
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K-pop: A 1st Gen Guide
“How far do you think you can fly on those fractured wings?Turn everything upside down, we wish for a new world to come” -Seo Taiji, “Regret Of The Times” GEN #1 The beginning of it all, taking from American hip-hop, rock, R & B, and J-pop, with some definite social messaging and very little filter…
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T-ara Deep Dive #2/2: The Music Behind The Scandal
Here are my credentials (again): So, like most fans of kpop who discovered it post-3rd gen, I first heard of T-ara through their bullying scandal, which has Hwayoung at the center of it. It’s complicated and I’m not going to go into it here, because this is a music review after all, and I think…
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T-ara Deep Dive #1/2: The Music Behind The Scandal
T-ara was formed by the now-defunct MBK Entertainment in 2009, with six members: Eunjung, Hyomin, Jiyeon, Qri, Soyeon, and Boram. Between 2010 and 2015, three other members were part of the group: Areum, Dani, and Hwayoung (the last of which we’ll get to in a minute). As of today, the group isn’t active but has…
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