Kpopalypse roundup – new k-pop releases 14/4/2025

It’s time for Kpopalypse roundup! Let’s take a look at some new releases!

Eye candy indeed. Wait… you’re looking at his HEAD? I think you’re doing it wrong.

XG – In The Rain

Not sure what’s worse here – XG proving once again that R&B is not their strength, or star visual Cocona’s awesomely dapper dress sense getting 0.00002 seconds of screentime.

Kep1er – Yum

Several people tipped me off during the week that Kep-one-er actually have a good song for a change, so I checked it out and… they’re right, this rocks. “Yum” establishes a cracking tempo early and keeps up the pace all the way through the song, something several other k-pop producers could learn a lot from right now.

OH MY GIRL – Oh My

Not up to their early standards but it’s still the most listenable thing from Oh My Girl in quite a while.

Kwon Eunbi – Hello Stranger

Bringing back trop-slop and the “mama say mama sa mama coo excuse me while I throw up” vocal meter are definitely very bad decisions that no amount of Eunbi posing with a flute can fix.

Kik5o x Alexa – Vital Check

It’s not the song that I feel Alexa needs to really break through… or then maybe it is? I don’t know, but it’s just good to see her again, so I’ll settle for it. I have to admire her T-ara tier levels of determination.

QWER – Play, We, Dew

Whenever my girlfriend gets a KFC box meal she will always choose Mountain Dew as the drink option. I think she’s trying to tell me to stan feminist girl-rockers QWER, or maybe she isn’t, but that’s how I’ll choose to interpret it.

Daesung – Universe

A big lighter-waving rock number to give Daesung something else to sing during those BigBang “reunion” concerts where all three members are only on stage together for one minute total.

ifeye – Nerdy

This song was so nothingy that I went and did other shit for an hour which held up the writing of this entire roundup massively. Then I came back to it and still couldn’t think of anything to write, so instead I’ll remind you that the latest Kpopalypse survey is still live, CLICK HERE to participate! Don’t do it and regret later that you missed your opportunity to throw down on important issues in k-pop today!

NCT WISH – Poppop

You know why there’s so many “floating random stuff” backdrops in music videos in 2025? It’s because it’s about the most piss-easy effect to get an AI to generate video of quickly, because you don’t need to worry about physics or realistic movement or anything like that. Thanks for nothing, IU.

NEXZ – Simmer

Yeah this is terrible, we all know it. Next.

AMPERS&ONE – Kick Start

Nothing here of much interest but I thought the “teeth cam” was cool, how long before Korean music shows start implanting cameras into idols’ front teeth. Let’s not give them ideas.

82MAJOR – Takeover

I appreciate 82Major’s attempt to NewJeansify their bedroom fashion. How old are these boys? Better watch out for female CEOs with an axe to grind. As for the song it’s poop, but it’s surprisingly better than a lot of this type of poop turns out to be (don’t get too excited, I only mean like 15% better).

WHIB – Bang Out

If they went with the heavy guitar section for more of the song this might’ve been okay, but they didn’t, so it’s not.

Hi-Fi Un!corn – Beat It Beat It

So they’re calling this one their “major 1st single”. I’m not sure what the disctinction is between that and any other single, but I think maybe “minor 1st single” might be more appropriate given the sound of it.

AIMERS – Starry Night

Not a cover of Fifty Fifty’s “Starry Night“, unfortunately. Have you heard that song? It’s not too bad actually. You could listen to it, if you wanted.

NCHIVE – Never Give Up

I think they might’ve actually meant to make this look like shit to give it a retro computer game feel or something, but even if that was the aim, I doesn’t mean I like looking at poop.

SKINZ – Young & Loud

This sounds nothing like the Romper Stomper soundtrack and somehow I feel cheated.

Keonhee – I Just Want Love

I just want better songs than this.

from20 – Eye Candy

From20 going hard for those Objectification Survey points. Just like I respect JAV stars, I also respect k-pop men getting their shirts off. It’s a hard grind so let’s appreciate the sacrifice.

Kim Jae Joong – Where Love Stays

Jaejoong is officially in nugu territory now, he’s got those fluro tube setpieces that all the nugu videos have. He might switch agencies to Future Idol soon.

ACE – Minha RazÃO

Weak acoustic reggae-lite from this VAV member, he does expose abs though so that’s something.

Wink – The Fountain of Happiness

No not the Japanese SAW-singing Wink, but the Korean trot Wink. Unfortunately, they’re kinda bad here.

Maijin – Recall of love

And here’s our male trot entry for the week. It starts promisingly but by the time the singing kicks in it’s reverted to the usual genericisms which weigh down this style so often.

Jaeha – Radio

Hey this isn’t too bad. I feel like I should know who this person is, but I don’t, so there you go.

Pagaehun – Hi+Fiv3

This was boring so instead let’s have our weekly non-Korean LGBT feature here, yay! This week it’s The Runaways, and did you know that the entire group apart from lead guitarist Lita Ford was gay? Apparently it’s true, as while none of the others ever made any statements about sexuality, Lita claims that the news of finding out her bandmates were gobsmackingly queer is why she briefly left the group. Fortunately she came to her senses a few weeks later and rejoined, we have to be understanding as it was the 1970s and lesbians didn’t just rock this hard every day back then. Anyway enjoy this video which features that number one sin of all music video making, even more annoying than incorrect microphone use, and that’s “zooming in on the rhythm guitarist when the lead guitarist is playing a solo”. Don’t do this, video editors. Zooming in on the rhythm guitarist when the lead guitarist is playing a solo is no fun. Zooming in on the rhythm guitarist when the lead guitarist is playing a solo endangers the lives and happiness of millions. It must stop. We appeal in particular to the youth of today. Stop the madness! There are better things in life.

Bulgogidisco – Good Time

A pretty authentic recreation of THe Rapture and all the stuff they were copying, pity I don’t like them either.

Giriboy – Paper ship

Giriboy being soft and weak again. Nobody listens to rap music for songs like this.

Flowsik – Bipolar Freestyle

Sometimes it really helps to just listen to a really average MC, it makes you appreciate the good ones all the more. Anyway that’s enough terrible music for one week.

VERY IMPORTANT MICROPHONE DISCUSSION SECTION

Kang Daniel – Mess

Kang Daniel singing in a small club with all the punters ignoring him seems about right. Perhaps if he held his microphone around the right way…

Stella Jang – You’re Beautiful, Sorrow

People are going to ask, so the mic use here is actually correct. I don’t know the mic model here but it’s a Sennheiser 421-inspired design and for those types of mics, singing into the pointy end is what is done, like a Shure SM58.

Stella Jang – What Makes You?

Looking closer, that mic has a really annoying shape because it means that it needs its own custom rectangular mic stand clip and can’t just slot into a regular clip. I hate working with vocal microphones that need special clips, because the clips always go missing, or they get broken and then you can’t easily substitute with a generic clip, no, you need the owner’s special stupid clip. People strawmanning me as “angry” when I’m anything but (as I hope my recent YouTube video demonstrated) should know that very few things get me angrier than bad microphone clip design decisions.

Kim Sungjoong – DNDN

The microphone use here is again correct. Not the optimal choice for a singer, because those intercom microphones generally have dogshit sound quality, but no reason why it can’t be done though.

RANDOM BONUS VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

Kpop Idol Learns About Cultural Appropriation

Wow, more like “Kpop Idol Agency Learns About Marketing”. The response on this is super quick, it makes me wonder if the agency included the durag in the music video on purpose just so they could then have a “reason” to make this video and beat everyone to the “first person to make an apology that actually satisfies entitled k-pop fans” punch. I especially adore the girl’s sincere insistence that you can appropriate the music freely all you want, but don’t you dare touch the clothing… I guess because music means nothing to k-pop fans, but clothing means everything… and god forbid k-pop artists are forbidden from churning out more lightweight R&B ripoffs.

everglow-up – why female k-pop stans are women’s biggest haters

This is a very long video to just say “jealousy and insecurity, basically”, but no lies detected.

Baek Ji Young ft. Taecyeon – MY Ear’s Candy

Not a terrible song but just a bit unexciting because there’s just not an awful lot to it. There’s a difference between simple and simplistic. Full marks for visual flair though. According to the copy which amusingly refers to Taecyeon as “the beast idol”, “Ok Taek-Yeon is receiving attention from all idol fans, receiving the nickname “beast idol” due to his wild voice and masculine looks.” Can my readers confirm?

That’s all for this week! Kpopalypse roundup returns next week! In the meantime, don’t forget to do the latest Kpopalypse survey, which you can access by clicking HERE! Stay safe, caonimas!