Kpopalypse Nugu Alert Episode 87 – Sunnykey, Dalsia, iWish, Loosen Door

Yes it’s back! It’s time for another episode of the most long-running k-pop nugu series on the Internet, that’s right it’s Kpopalypse Nugu Alert!

We’re getting towards halfway through 2025 and the k-pop songs so far this year have been… okay, I guess? We could sure use a quality lift though. So for this episode of Kpopalypse Nugu Alert I’ve selected some songs, all of which I think are pretty decent, and all of which have some form of rock instrumentation in them as well, which I’m sure is just a coincidence… anyway these artists could probably all use a bit of support from you, and this Nugu Alert probably won’t help their cause because as we know nobody really reads this series, but I’m determined to make it anyway just to prove a point, be an asshole, and maybe increase someone else’s streaming revenues by a few cents. You’re welcome.

Usual Kpopalypse Nugu Alert rules apply:

• Less than 20,000 views across official channels
• Can probably do all the “cultural appropriation” they want on livestreams because nobody is likely to be watching
• Relevant to Kpopalypse

Let’s take a look!

SUNNYKEY – Starlight

Barely scraping in for Kpopalypse Nugu Alert eligibility is Sunnykey, sort of a QWER-lite kind of group. Unfortunately they don’t have QWER’s commitment to distorted guitars or feminism, but they make up the shortfall with a decent enough song plus some truly cheesy acting at the start of the video. Watching these girls smile semi-enthusiastically and plod away mid-tempo during their their all-afternoon-and-night video shoot is probably not going to scratch the itch for people wanting some actual rock music but at least you get a reasonable guitar solo tone and some pretty funny dance moves. I particularly enjoyed “pissing against a fire hydrant” at 0:54 and “subtly doing my kegels” at 1:34. It’s all very nice and inoffensive like rock music shouldn’t really be, but the song is there and that’s what matters at the end of the day.

YouTube views at the time of writing: 19334

Notable attribute: 1:18 mrds

Nugu Alert Rating: average

Dalsia – Welcome to today

If you haven’t got your fill of rock music, silly dancing on rooftops or rock music yet, then Dalsia should satisfy with a slightly heavier and faster sound that meets required rock music standards, even if the actual band is nowhere in sight. I’m not sure why she does her most exuberant dance moves while facing away from the camera, maybe it’s because she’s such a good dancer that she wants to prevent you from overanalysing her technique, like how in early Van Halen days before they had a record deal Eddie Van Halen would allegedly do his trademark two-handed tapping runs with his back turned to the audience to stop the secret from getting out… but probably not. Still, she has a great song and I like her microhphone technique of not actually bringing a microphone to the outdoor shoot but just miming that she’s holding one so Kpopalypse can’t accuse her of doing it wrong. Smart.

YouTube views at the time of writing: 10947

Notable attribute: I have no idea what’s in that bag on her chair in the studio, but hopefully she didn’t forget it was there and sit too hard on it and break it

Nugu Alert Rating: high

iWish – Connection

Okay so this one’s weird, most of the comments are in Japanese and talk enthusiastically about some sort of Korean expo thing at some pavillion, which is heavily mentioned during the video. They even have their own snare drum head advertising it, so presumably a bit of money went into this “k-pop” adventure, which looks like it was for one show only. The “making of” video sheds no extra light on why this event exists but shows that there was even a separate bunch of outfits and indoor stage setups that curiously didn’t make the final cut… plus there’s a third video which is exactly the same with subtitles. Musically they’ve shot for something that’s a bit like SNSD’s “Into The New World“, a bit like NewJeans’ “Supernatural“, but probably the most like some kind of Christian rock camp thing. The visuals fit the latter, with the loose semi-improvised dancing and courageously putting the backing instrumentalists in the actual music video, I guess conning people out of tourist money and conning people out of god money are similar activities and need similar audiovisual treatments. The song isn’t bad though and I wish more groups like this would do the live band sound thing.

YouTube views at the time of writing: 7333

Notable attribute: everyone fenced off with glass presumably so you don’t attack them for wearing Trump ties

Nugu Alert Rating: very high

Loosen Door – What Is Love

As is often the case for some weird reason, the best song on Kpopalypse Nugu Alert is the one with the least views. Most of Korea’s “indie rock” bollocks is just asspaper that lifts the stylistic elements of britpop and shoegaze but leaves the songwriting behind, but here we have a great song that’s really catchy and fast and doesn’t sound like a bored person picking their toenails for once. The vocals are kind of lost in the mix a bit but it suits the style and even makes for a refreshing change from the over-present vocals in just about everything else from Korea. Nice trippy video too which looks polished despite the low budget just due to good cinematic ideas being present, and I’m not sure what’s going on with the story exactly but I don’t think I care either so it’s all good.

YouTube views at the time of writing: 2309

Notable attribute: nice “missing” poster at 0:42, maybe people would be able to recognise him and alert the authorities if he got his hair out of his eyes

Nugu Alert Rating: extreme

That’s all for this episode of Kpopalypse Nugu Alert – the series will return!