Kpopalypse roundup – new k-pop releases 31/3/2025

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

The first openly queer idol working within the mainstream big-label k-pop sphere is Lara Raj from Katseye. What can I say – Kpopalypse called it once again.

Le Sserafim – Come Over

In this post-court-oopsie age where NewJeans are now the trendy group to shit on, the minds behind Le Sserafim feel safe enough to pull a bold move with a light, breezy 60s girl pop inspired song that they’d better hope nobody ever asks the girls to do an acapella version of. They’re probably safe, TAG PR agency have done exactly what they’ve been paid to do, effectively steering the social media sheep to NewJeans and away from hating HYBE groups. Somewhere, Johnny Depp is saying to a HYBE exec “I told you these guys would get the job done”.

IZNA – Sign

Definitely the best song from Izna so far. They could have backed off the Autotune on the voices just a bit – the girls are annoyingly-pitch-accurate in a song where just a bit of wavering would have lended just the right naturalistic feel to counterbalance the synths – but I guess I can’t expect people churning out product under pressure to think of shit like that.

STAYC – Pipe Down

Stayc’s toplines lately sound a bit phoned-in, but the backing track is absolute killer and more than enough to compensate here. That keyboard programmer deserves a raise.

Chuu feat. KIXO – Because I’m stupid?

Chuu’s Chuu energy is sadly constrained to sitting politely and grinning a bit, it’s not enough to get this dreary ballad out of the doldrums.

Beomgyu – Panic

Pretty standard rock stuff that’s not very exciting, so this review feels like a good opportunity to remind you that the latest Kpopalypse survey is now live, CLICK HERE to participate! Over 250 caonimas have already done the survey, if you’re sick of whining on social networking about me, why not man/woman/other/prefer not to disclose up and whine straight to the source? Who knows, you might actually talk some sense into me (doubt it though, because I am basically a fuckwit, but there’s no harm in trying).

LUCY – Wakey Wakey

Flannel pyjama fetishists line up here, we have quite a selection for you today.

Seoho – Hatchling

Even the “rock” kpoppers are getting in on the act. I suppose back when I was learning guitar as a teen I probably rocked this look too in my bedroom grinding “Smoke On The Water” etc.

NiziU – Love Line

There’s actually a pretty decent song hidden somewhere in here, but the rhythmic feel is so unreasonably juddery and the vocal processing is so tooth-grindingly abrasive that you could be forgiven for missing it completely.

TEMPEST – Unfreeze

Not the best song in the world but after having to endure Niziu this week, it’s at least easy on the ears.

JUST B – Chest

A really cool dance track, that suffers a little from a genre-wide problem with dance music in general – too much time spent on the buildup. Still great anyway, the payoff is worth it.

TNX – For Real?

The guitars are appreciated but it’s not enough to compensate for the general cheesiness here.

CRAVITY – Jelly Bean

I love how the concept of the song and the video are so completely bizarrely separate, like the lyricist and creative director had some sort of grudge match going on. “Oh we have a song to promote for this group about calling someone your jelly bean? They want something bright and colourful for the video? Well fuck that, let’s do a video about cave exploring instead and cover everything in dirt!”

Bang Chan & Hyunjin – Escape

Even this dreary Stray Kids duo nonsense thing where they’re trying to be deliberately dark and moody still has more colour in it than the “Jelly Bean” video this week.

Lee Know & Seungmin – Cinema

This one too. They shovelled so much dirt everywhere to make things look “cinematic” (because brown is the only colour people film action movies in these days) yet “Jelly Bean” looks more drab than this, somehow.

Changbin & I.N – Burnin’ Tires

It’s been a very strange experience seeing k-pop rediscover fast breakbeats after so many years of “in your area” dull slowness. Mind you I don’t think the song really comes together here but at least Stray Kids boys don’t squash caterpillars. There’s something wrong with people who kill insects when they don’t have to, if you want to check the true character of a person ignore all the comments they leave on k-pop scandal articles that say “gosh what a bad person” to try and make themselves look righteous or whatever and instead look at the way they treat insects.

Jackson Wang – GBAD

Some smooth rap nonsense that someone should really put some tarrifs on.

Seulgi – Weakness

Seeing someone mime acoustic jazz chords on an 80s Charvel guitar is disturbing but it’s also the perfect symbolism for k-pop media’s dishonesty in general. I can’t help but feel like this is some kind of subversive comment because it’s too uncanny to be accidental.

JO1 – Be Classic

It’s almost as silly as someone miming synthesised strings on a grand piano, but not quite.

Yeji – 258

The choice of rhythm patches is really unfortunate here, something more muscular and hard-hitting was needed but instead we have these wimpy tinny splats. Such a shame as the song is excellent apart from this. Bring on the drum covers!

SAY MY NAME – 1,2,3,4

Pinkpantheress should be getting royalties from about 50% of all k-pop that gets released these days. Not because “plagiarism” (ugh, please) but just as an apology for these cheap knockoffs.

EASTSHINE – Lucky Tonight

Brown is really in this week. Why is everything brown this week. Isn’t it enough that everything sounds like shit, does it also have to match the colour too?

MPRISM – Knock Down

Yay, a bit of colour, this video reminds me of the early 2010s when k-pop was just discovering high definition videos with 16.7 million possible colours and video directors decided that they’d actually use more than two of them at once. Pity about the song being shit but I’ll settle for not looking at the usual shaky-cam and trendy filiters for once.

IHOTEU – Eskhatos

Far too good a song to be stuck with a studio video, but that’s how it is with nugu budgets. I would have preferred the vocals just a tiny bit back in the mix because they swallow up the great instrumental playing, but whatever it still rocks.

RE:WIND – Forever

I like the self-conscious retro vibes, and it’s not a terrible song, but we also need to get back to early k-pop objectification standards. Black shirts under the white shirts that are getting wet is like wearing a condom on your tongue when you taste food.

Yein – My One and Only

Lovelyz members mostly still in ballad hell, maybe the next Kpopalypse computer game will be about rescuing them.

Hui – Promise You

Well this was boring, so instead let’s have our weekly non-Korean LGBT feature here instead, yay! This week it’s Liberace, the great pianist, and definitely someone I looked up to in my youth as a piano student. Perhaps he might seem an odd choice for this feature given that he repeatedly denied his sexuality in public throughout his entire life, even going so far as to denounce homosexuality in general and date women to keep up his cover, mind you anyone with two braincells to rub together knew what the real deal was. I can’t be too hard on him, keep in mind that he reached fame in the mid 20th century where he realistically had no other option than to distance himself totally from his sexuality if he wanted to remain a performer at all. And perform he could – watch him here effortlessly turning the disastrous “Chopsticks” into something actually worth listening to (Niziu could never), not to mention exhibiting more stage presence while remaining seated than your k-pop bias can muster over an hour long concert.

Kevin Woo – Deja Vu

Kevin Woo is someone who seems to get interviewed by every publication… but not Kpopalypse, at least not yet. Maybe he should consider it. One of my first questions to him will be how did he find out how to use a Shure Super 55 microphone correctly, and can he please tell the others.

10CM – To Reach You

Okay, things are getting weird, first the 10CM guy collabs with Young Posse, now he’s ripping out guitar solos on a James Hetfield LTD, is he trying to prove a point to Kpopalypse or something.

015B feat. Lee Seohyun – I’d Also Love to See You Dying

What a song title, sadly the song itself doesn’t really live up to it.

Gongwon – Fireworks

As usual the rock stuff with no views is better than most of the idol pop this week.

Gim Gabin – Ctrl+N

Hey this song’s pretty good too and the video even mrds

EJel – Anti-Spring

Someone really wanted to make sure I included this song so here it is but it’s nothing much really. A good song to end roundup on.

RANDOM BONUS VIDEOS OF THE WEEK

Seungri Simulator 2 – teaser 2385.3 of ΔMi−1 = −αΣn=1NDi[n] [Σj∈C[i]Fji[n − 1] + Boram[n−1]]

Have you played Seungri Simulator 2 yet? Here’s your checklist of Seungri experiences:

* meet lots of fans
* hang out in the club and be adored
* question the nature of your reality
* consider your life choices
* go to the toilet
* have “moral correction” applied

It’s a computer game that’s got it all. CLICK HERE to play!

Sandy gives rap lessons

Sandy of “Teen Swag” and High School Rapper fame teaches young Korean girls how to rap. I couldn’t think of anyone better to do it, personally. This is the kind of thing we musicians need to do to make ends meet.

Ladies Code – Bad Girl

Ladies Code’s debut was essentially a brassed-up, more “organic” rejig of miss A’s “Good Bye Baby” and while it’s inferior to that song, it still wasn’t a bad start at all. It was also a song that made few waves when it came out, almost nobody cared about this group back in the day. I’m certain that I was the first person to even play it on the radio in my country, that’s how nugu they were. Of course everyone then pretended that they loved Ladies Code and this song all along once their tragic vehicle accident happened even though only a week before they were being totally ignored and laughed at. If they had gotten a bit more support back when they needed it.

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!