Feb. 2019: Music Review

Good day, Humanly Humans! I decided to make a review of the music I listened to this month because that is a thing I like to do, so here you go! (this only includes music that came out this month; I listened to a lot of other music, but since this is a review for this month I didn’t want to include that)

Playlist: These are the top ten songs I found myself listening to this month (not based on any data I found I just really liked these songs, they aren’t in any particular order)

1. Butterfly-Loona
2. Suki to Iwasetai-Iz*one
3. Piri-Dreamcatcher
4. Senorita-(G)i-dle
5. Want It-Itzy
6. Where You At-Loona
7. Colors-Loona
8. And there was no one left-Dreamcatcher
9. Blow Your Mind-(G)i-dle
10. Diamond-Dreamcatcher

Bonus: Dancing in the Moon-The Night of Seokyo ft. Dawon (I really liked this song but don’t know enough about the artist and haven’t gotten around to learning about them to really write a review)

These are more in-depth reviews of the albums these are on!

 

(XX)-Loona

Tracklist:

1. XX
2. Butterfly
3. Sattelite
4. Curiosity
5. Colors
6. Where You At
7. Stylish
8. Perfect Love
9. Heat (열기)
10. FavOriTe
11. Hi High
12. ++

This is Loona’s first release after their debut mini-album (++). The album is technically a repackage (where a group will take a previous album and re-release it with new songs, as Loona subunits and many other groups have done in the past) but the new album adds 6 new tracks, making it essentially a full new mini album. The tracks on their previous mini (Stylish, Perfect Love, Heat (열기), FavOriTe, Hi High, and ++) were released last August, otherwise Perfect Love would be on my playlist too. Out of the whole album, my top five songs (in order) are:

1. Where You At
2. Perfect Love
3. Butterfly
4. Stylish
5. Hi High

The new title track/single for this album is Butterfly. The song is very unique and the music video is very diverse, being shot with different models all over the world. I have seen people say that the chorus is almost reminiscent of a Janet Jackson song like Rhythm Nation, which I understand. It is completely different from the much more cutesy and upbeat Hi High, their previous title track, showing their talent and ability to pull off completely different styles.

 

好きと言わせたい (Suki to Iwasetai)-Iz*one (version A, version B, and Wiz*one version)

Tracklist:

Version A:

1. Suki to Iwasetai (好きと言わせたい)
2. Gwaenchanhayo (ケンチャナヨ)
3. Gokigen Sayonara (ご機嫌サヨナラ)

Version B:

1. Suki to Iwasetai (好きと言わせたい)
2. Gwaenchanhayo (ケンチャナヨ)
3. Neko ni Naritai (猫になりたい)

Wiz*one version:

1. Suki to Iwasetai (好きと言わせたい)
2. Gwaenchanhayo (ケンチャナヨ)
3. Dance wo Omoidasu Made (ダンスを思い出すまで)

All of the albums also include instrumental versions of each track.

There are three versions of this album, the A, B, and Wiz*one (the name for their fans) versions. Each album has a slightly different tracklist, with the first two songs being the same and the last being different. Luckily, Spotify has all three versions, so I’ve listened to all of them. Here’s my top five (across all versions, in order) from Suki to Iwasetai (this has all the songs since there are only 5, but this is the order for them):

1. Suki to Iwasetai (好きと言わせたい)
2. Gwaenchanhayo (ケンチャナヨ)
3. Gokigen Sayonara (ご機嫌サヨナラ)
4. Neko ni Naritai (猫になりたい)
5. Dance wo Omoidasu Made (ダンスを思い出すまで)

Suki to Iwasetai is the title track for this. It’s very Jpop-Iz*one were created from a collaboration between Mnet’s Produce 101 series (a Korean survival show that creates a temporary group as a “launchpad” for trainees) and AKB48, a Japanese “girl group” that is more like a company with over 350 members across all of the groups. Iz*one has 9 Korean members and 3 Japanese members. Suki to Iwasetai is their first Japanese release and second overall release, and it is produced by the producer of many of AKB’s songs, so it is an authentic Jpop song (in comparison with many Korean groups with a Japanese discography like Twice or Red Velvet.)

 

The End of Nightmare-Dreamcatcher 

Tracklist:

1. Intro
2. Piri
3. Diamond
4. And there was no one left
5. Daydream
6. Piri (Instrumental)

The End of Nightmare is Dreamcatcher’s 4th mini album and the end of their Nightmare series (shocker haha.) Dreamcatcher has a horror concept, but they are going to explore more concepts within the genre (I’m personally hoping they do a vampire concept next.) They have had an overarching storyline in their releases, and this is the end of that story, with their next release being the start of a new storyline. These are my top 5 from The End of Nightmare (or more just a ranking of the songs since there are only 5 excluding the instrumental).

1. And there was no one left
2. Piri
3. Diamond
4. Daydream
5. Intro

Piri is the title track. The music video is much lighter than their others in color, but in content, it is just as dark (moving dolls, possessed items, etc.) I’ve been absolutely obsessed with this album, especially And there was no one left. And there was no one left is reminiscent of my previous favorite song on a Dreamcatcher album, July 7th from Alone in the City.

 

I Made-(G)i-dle 

Tracklist:

1. Senorita
2. What’s Your Name
3. Don’t Say No
4. Please
5. Blow Your Mind

I Made is (G)i-dle’s second physical release after their first mini album I Am. They also released a digital single between the two mini albums called Hann (Alone) which is still my favorite (G)i-dle title track. I really like this album, but it came out on the 24th, so I haven’t really listened to it much. It’s more like my first impression ranking, but here:

1. Blow Your Mind
2. Senorita
3. What’s Your Name
4. Please/Give Me Your
5. Say No/Put it Straight

Senorita is the title track for this album. I prefer both of their previous title tracks, Hann (Alone) and Latata, but I really like Senorita. It’s a bit of a grower, so I think that’s why I’m not super obsessed yet. My favorite song on the album is Blow Your Mind, which Minnie wrote (Soyeon wrote her rap in it and basically the rest of the album) and all 6 of them made the music video for. The music video for Blow Your Mind came out a week or so before Senorita, so I’ve had a lot more time to listen to it, and I’ve only listened to the rest of the album once.

 

Dalla Dalla-Itzy

Tracklist:

1. Dalla Dalla
2. Want It

Dalla Dalla is Itzy’s debut release. The song seems to be polarizing (I personally don’t like it very much and I’ve seen many people who agree with me, but many other people also love it.) I’m not going to do a ranking because there are only two songs, but I really like the b-side track Want It. It’s much more my style, and I can’t wait to see what Itzy comes out with next.

 

Overall, this was a really great month-if I added all the other songs I found and loved, my playlist could be 30 songs long. I’m really excited to have new music from Sunmi, as she’s my favorite solo artist, and GWSN, as I loved Puzzle Moon. There’s already a lot of new music announced for next month so I’m super excited!