Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Rather than torturing myself by catching up on stuff I missed towards the end of 2023, especially the dreary holiday fare, I’m just gonna turn the page to 2024 and hope for better days.
Not in this Rundown, tho.
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Lee Chanhyuk (AKMU) – “1 Trillion”
A light and sentimental beginning to the New Year, complete with aspirational lyrics that are fitting for wishing people luck with their resolutions. A bit of a cynical release in some sense, but still pleasant.
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DXMON – “Burn Up”
Well, they got my attention from the throwback TVXQ-style hair, but the actual music is anything but that. I feel like I’ve heard this kind of track about 500 times in the last year.
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ITZY – “Mr. Vampire”
On the upside, the chorus wasn’t just “mister vampire” repeated 30 times in a row. On the downside, that instrumental loop in the chorus was instantly disqualifying for me. The rest of it was mostly boring, which is not usually the case for them, whether you like their output or not.
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TWS – “Oh Mymy”
Promising stuff from Pledis Entertainment‘s upcoming boy group, at least up until the chorus when the “oh mymy” repetition takes over and drones on and on in a way that doesn’t even match the rest of the track. It doesn’t work for me, but if it does for you, then everything that surrounds it certainly gives off the desired fun and playful vibe they’re going for.
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2AM – “If You Change Your Mind”
Hyped as a reunion with Bang Si Hyuk, I’m just putting this here for ballad lovers. As expected, it’s nicely performed. Also as expected, there’s not much else to it.
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Billlie – “January 0th”
Thought I was done with holiday-themed stuff, but Billlie snuck a true one of those into the new year.
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Kim Jonghyeon – “MOTTO”
Formerly known as NU’EST‘s JR, he debuted solo in 2022 and is back after over a year away, but brings an odd song that’s upbeat yet completely monotonous and borderline grating.
