Kpopalypse roundup – new k-pop releases 21/9/2026

It’s time for Kpopalypse roundup! Let’s take a look at some new releases! If you darken the lights and squint at this picture of Karina with some shoes just right, it looks like she’s holding two slave ships and rubbing them together in a racially-mocking frenzy. Rosé – New Trick Rose spends most of her time lying on the ground in this video, because that’s where the bar is for k-pop these days. As it happens the song’s alright, sort of a corny but catchy Riot-Grrl-lite that wisely adds just enough melody between the shouting to make it more memorable than annoying. I don’t think this is an APT-beater but it’s good enough to keep her relevant, at least to me, plus the styling is dead-on. IU – Unknown Planet IU’s best song in years seem to be inspired by the “gave over/high score screen” ballad themes in 80s computer games, with its synth textures and bass drum gating recalling the days when you couldn’t write a song on a computer with too many different sound layers because the machines back then only had a few audio channels. REI AMI – 2LOUD I’m not wild about this fairly average funk thing but it’s just good to see one of the KDH girls doing anything at all, they’ve been a lot qu...