Rundown: Mr.Children, STARGLOW, YOUNG POSSE, I-DLE, WHIB

There’s a bit of a gap in coverage here, and thus this ends up being a short one, but that’s because there was a run of pretty fine but somewhat uninteresting releases for a bit.

Anyway, we back.

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Mr.Children – “Again”

Sorta repeating the Mrs. GREEN APPLE discourse from last week, except the legacy version. In that way, I suppose the popularity shouldn’t be a surprise.

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STARGLOW – “Star Wish”

I really tried to love this, and in a way I still do because that rubbery post-chorus synth is nasty. Unfortunately, on repeats I found that the thin vocals during the chorus prevented it from being a monster, and the deeper-voiced rapping likely works great on other songs but it takes me out of the vibe for this one. If you don’t have those same hang-ups, this is otherwise really great.

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YOUNG POSSE – “VISA”

As you probably expected, I found this notably bad. I’ve seen justifications saying it’s alright within the context of the rage genre, but I disagree, as the attempts to K-popify it made it rather uniquely unlistenable for me. This is besides the fact that somebody made the decision to namecheck Kanye West in 2026.

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I-DLE (Feat. Skaiwater) – “Mono”

In terms of the overriding message of the song, Nick was cooking with his review on this particularly ill-timed kumbaya slop. It doesn’t rise far enough above generally listenable to overlook that factor, and it really doesn’t even feel like an I-DLE song, which adds another layer of cynicism for me.

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WHIB – “Rock The Nation”

The funny thing is that, unlike with most K-pop listeners, the abrasiveness of this isn’t what makes it unappealing to me. Rather, I just believe if they’re going to go in this direction they need to go harder/faster. Like why tilt in this direction and make it plodding to get through? Can’t even use it for like an angry/venting playlist.

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Discuss.

And yes, J-pop will be on the menu more this year.