Rundown: Kohjiya, Sik-K, IVE, BLACKPINK, EVERGLOW

Lunar New Year really delayed notable releases for quite a while, but we’re back … for better or worse.

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Kohjiya (Feat. MIKADO, G-k.i.d, Tete) – “Ma Boyz”

Honestly, I really enjoyed this production, mostly because the repeating horns could be a sample of Nobuo Uematsu‘s “Let The Battles Begin“ from Final Fantasy 7 or something that sounds similar. The rest, not so much, but still.

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Sik-K (Feat. DEAN) – “STAY On FIRE”

If you haven’t enjoyed K-pop output over the last year or so, I’d like to reassure you that they’re still doing 100% better than Korean hip-hop.

1) Pineapple pussy 2) What is the point of bringing DEAN out of hiding just to fuck with his voice?

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IVE – “BLACKHOLE”

A solid single, but it’s really remarkable how groups have truly become allergic to sung choruses. I realize IVE is a favored group around these parts, so I’m sure people here loved it, but I listened to this and “BANG BANG” a bunch of times and they still feel flat compared to IVE’s own best work.

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BLACKPINK – “GO”

This thrown together comeback is kinda funny in the sense that you can almost feel the division of BLACKPINK within the track. More than ever, they’re each just sorta doing iterations of their solo work without any care about making a cohesive pop song, and it’s all tenuously held together with a grimy drop that’s cool at first but gets repetitive since nothing else happens.

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EVERGLOW – “CODE”

I get why people were excited to see them leave Yuehua, but things have not started well at CHXXTA Company. Stuff like “SLAY” already felt outdated and cliche at the time, but they sorta go for the same vibe here, except with worse effects over their voices.

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Actually though, there’s been some solid stuff from February that you’ll see elsewhere, though it has been like a whole month so the fact that I even have to clarify that might be telling.