Weekly Kpop Review 18-02 – 25-02 – How NOT to Kpop

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Show Notes

JYP, Stray Kids, Itzy, Nmixx – Like Magic
This tracks cool! Powerful, emotive performance goes hard. Love the beat switches, filtered/effected in the verses, then a dnb for the chorus. The chorus synths have an industrial electro flair before dropping to the verse sound which is pretty if not a little standard, reminiscent of Ive’s either way. The vocal absolutely shines on this one, it’s well produced, I’m confused as to why this is effectively a throwaway release I absolutely love this track.

Yugyeom – 1 Minute
Gray production uninspired – i’ve heard this sound a million times. Yugyeom’s performance has great energy, the doubling is a bit aggressive but very dynamic singing and rapping parts. Its cookie cutter rnb here, if you like Gray’s productions you’ll like this.

Le Sserafim – Easy
This song is boring. Standard trap rnb beat to a hook to a part with pitched down vocals. Performance comes off too subdued, maybe too heavy on the psychedelic travis scott delays and autotune. Its short at 2:45 which is nice and the mix is balanced and warm, but nothing stands out from this bland, standard 2024 kpop track.

IU – Holssi
Oh this beat Knocks! IU is singing a little lower in this one compared to tracks like Lilac. This track is sick! Production is top class, the upfront vocal works well with a very spacious mix full of big verbs and delays. The digital sounding harmonies work and give the track a strange ethereal flavour, like i’m listening to fairies singing from flowers. It ends a touch abruptly, but awesome track

IU – Shopper
Little bit uninspired this one, think Carly Rae Jepsen sound. I love the beat switch in the chorus though, really strange syncopated moments. Production once again is stunning, this one less interesting than holssi a much safer bet in its arrangement, it really soars at the end a real stadium feel, reminiscent of Florence and the Machine. Solid track.

Moon Byul (Mamamoo) – Think About
Wasn’t sure what to expect from Moon Byul’s full length. This track is cool, her singing is great, not overly affected and emotive, maybe a bit too much repetition in the lyrics, felt like every second word in the chorus was repeated XD. Tempo of the track is great and energetic. The mix is loud and a bit too compressed for my taste. It’s a catchy, solid kpop song i recommend

Moon Byul – Touchin&Movin
I love the Pre-chorus in to the chorus, the beat follows the vocal in a cool way. The arrangement is fun, disco synths and bass with some horns in the mix. Track has a great energy, partly from the tempo but also Moon Byul’s performance, energetic and powerful, real pop star stuff. Tough decision but I think I prefer think about

BiBi – Sugar Rush
WHOOO what a banger. The beat is sick in this track and comes in at a really weird time, grabbed me straight away. Bibi’s performance is sexy and cheeky, despite being performed in a whispery voice sits well in the mix. Moments of harmonies are a nice touch, gave the track some dynamics. Great rnb pop track.

Jung Seung Won – Leaf
Orchestral ballad that absolutely hits from Jung Seung Won. The soaring chorus is brilliant.

Leellamarz – Two Pills
Something about the minimalist arrangement and production on this one works for me. I’m still not huge on the autotune but i totally get that its leellamarz sound. I like the scratchy, boxy drum sound, the swimming filtered vocals. This track has mystery, pulling me in til the end. Recommended.

YeoDongSaeng – A Fluttering Love
Great voices. The strings were great but come off a touch thin, the whole mix is quite bright. The drums don’t have much impact but I appreciated the acoustic sound to them, same with the guitar had a lovely itch to it. Its a solid, catchy track if you’re into that older Apink sound.

A.C.E – My Girl
Lush rnb dance track from ACE. Love the beat, mixed really tastefully, the snare has a warmth to it never biting or sharp. The disco inspired guitar is standard, not bad but typical. Personally would’ve liked a touch more plucky attack in the bass, its tone is nice and full but it would’ve grooved a little more with some more high-mid energy. Synths are lush and sweet. Vocal is sweet to but overproduced for my taste, every vocal sounds like a backing harmony, its like this song has no lead vocal. This track is mid, nothing incredible.

Caper – Like A Drug
I really like Caper’s voice, it has a unique flavour to it and really interesting vibrato. Its cool to hear a fresh voice in korean rnb. The backing track is a bit standard, beat is mixed well and there’s some cool violin and flute samples throughout the track but otherwise pretty standard stuff. Caper’s on my radar though this voice is too special to ignore.

Dbo – A lot of stars
Fun energetic track from Dbo. Well mixed sub bass and kick. The autotune adlibs could be a bit much at times, but otherwise suited the feel. This track is short, just over a minute 35, but a fun ride while it lasts.

Alexa – Sick
Its a cool track from Alexa. The guitar and bass tone is great, I love the distortion on the vocal especially in the chorus, fits the vibe of the track, the chords in the chorus hook are really pretty. I wanted the last chorus to crescendo a little more, maybe a more obnoxious guitar lick or a solo even. Really enjoyed this one it got stuck in my head.

Twice – One Spark
I love the beat on this one, perfectly produced, i love the dnb influence. The vocal is clinical and what one would expect from Twice, excellent. I like how the synths reminded me of other Twice songs like in feel special or I can’t stop me, gave the song a familiar feel. The repetition of the hook is tasteful, not annoying at all like other Kpop I’ve heard recently. I think what stops this track from being all time is the arrangement needed a little extra in the chorus to make it hit and soar, the vocal does but the other elements are lacking.

Bryn – Still
Bryn leaning in to hyperpop on this one. I love the distorted elements landing on the beat, fierce, digital and dancey. Didn’t mind her autotune, but it was a bit much in the bridge, which is a mess. Everything gets filtered and bryn’s voice takes a strange turn. I respect the experimentation but wasn’t pleasant to my ears. This a catchy tune from Bryn and really shows how diverse her sound can be.

W00R1, Bryn – Catch Me
Also coming out this week from Bryn. a dance rnb track, I like the more edm production it hits deeper than songs in this vein like le seraffim’s easy or twice’s rush. Bryn’s performance is excellent as ever, flow is awesome, the la las at the back end are effected and panned in a really fun way. Great track thats dangerously close to Kpop coming out these days, but stands out on its own.

Weekly Kpop Review 11-02 – 18-02 – How NOT to Kpop

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SHOW NOTES

Lee Byeong Chan – Everlasting Night

Great production on this fairly generic ballad. Delays and verbs on the guitar are spacious and grand. The soundstage is really big on this one, elements mixed up close and far away made the track sound epic. Lee Byeong Chan’s vocal is excellent. Check it out if you love korean ballads

Gyeongseo Yeji – day by day
Very standard, uninteresting track. The vocal is delivered airy which can cause problems in the high mid, sibilant freq range. I still found it a bit harsh in that area. The synth solo is cool, otherwise very standard cafe music.

ONLEE ft. Soo-Yeony – Spi-cy
Smooth rnb tune from ONLEE. Great vocal performance, dynamic and sexy. The kick is mixed in a really interesting way. It has a lot of higher end click, often found in rock and metal mixes. it even sounds soft clipped, often done in EDM mixes. I kind of love it, although it distracts from the rest of the song. Soo-yeony is fine, doesn’t really add the dynamics i hoped for, more of the same performance makes the track plod a little.

MODI ft. Huh! – Drip
Title track off Modi’s debut Modivation is great. Modi’s production is awesome, loud, deep and wide. Synths could’ve been a touch deeper in the chorus, I like the higher pitch moments in the verses. Autotune is not so grating and suits the track, flow is great and fun. Really solid debut from Modi, I also recommend minus ft. loopy.

Jiyoungsai – Up To You
Really liked the flavour of this track. The beat is mixed a bit low. This track is very crowded, a lot of elements competing rather than complementing. This helps the pace of the track though. Vocal performance is very good, the wet squelchy synths are awesome, the choppy strings are cool and mixed well. Track is short too, really solid effort from jiyoungsai for fans of hoody.

TEN – Nightwalker
Love the bass lick at the intro. Pre-chorus is awesome, super spacious, beautiful synth, vocal performance theatrical and epic. Acoustic guitar is jarring, this track is kind of like DPR Ian’s tracks on dont go insane, blending all these different styles of rock, rnb, edm, together, not quite as well as DPR Ian. The piccolo i think it is sounds like Silent Hill ahahaha Production is top notch as expected from SM, it’s a very good track, wanted a little more vocal soaring notes from TEN.

Bibi – Bam Yang Gang
Not really my style but a really well done track. Bibi voice complements the jazz arrangement perfectly. The waltz beat is addictive. The synth solo a bit weird but gives the track dynamics which i appreciated. I love how acoustic most of the elements sounded but the synth is out of place in this arrangement. Not bad, recommend if you like this kind of Iu Red Shoes/Baek a yeon kinda sound.

Ourealgoat – Save Me
Wasn’t feeling this one. The leellamarz/wonstein kinda sound played out, nothing new with this one.

Chuu – Chocolate
Doing a Dua Lipa song. Similar melody to after like by Ive. Production is good, i liked the kinda 8bit twinkly synths and beat in the prechorus and verse and the vocal performance is excellent. Worth checking out this one.

AnnSnake – Foolish
Awesome track. Swirling swimming synths, weird vocal doubling effects give this track an unsettling feel. Beat is very cool, nice click to it. The performance is cool if not overly affected at times, can’t get out of its own way. Track runs long, plods a touch especially when the vocals fall away, the B part isn’t much different from the A so the track lacks dynamics and could’ve used a beat switch or tempo change even to keep things exciting. I do love the vibe of this track though.

Sweetch ft. Haedo – your eyes
Production is excellent, clear, deep and spacious. Love the wide panned harmonies and synths. The acoustic drums sound a little thin, but that gets out of the bass and guitars way. Its not too groundbreaking arrangement wise, that jeebanoff kinda sound, but one of the better efforts.

Jason Lee ft. Suran – bad
This tracks a bop. Love the distortion on the bass. We’ve heard the choppy filtered vocals on a million pop songs but it’s not overused. I love the sax, sexy, mixed well, really fun. Suran is sultry and wonderful. The bass is stunning on this track. Track is a touch one note, but beautiful.

Yusuii – blanket
Decent production on this one. Those squelchy synths are nice. The vocal is great, I loved the dynamics of the track, the synths falling away sometimes a little abruptly but it’s a wonderful lush tone and melody. The beat is nothing special but carries the track. Yusuii are on my radar now.

If.iwere ft. whistle.
Really interesting piano sound on this one, distant plucky delays sounds like footsteps in an empty room. The vocal performance is emotive and great. Found myself mesmerised by this one, it has a lo-fi leaning in the production that makes it calming and had me coming back.

The Wind – H! Teen
It’s catchy and has a Jpop sound to it, but the beat is too crispy was tearing my ears off. Vocal performance is ok, the synths are lush. It’s a pretty good effort from the wind.

Skyminhyuk – Neodo Haebang

This tracks awesome. Instrumental reminded of lofi legend Nujabes, especially with the flute and sax with the very warm piano. The flow is awesome, powerful, dynamic, catchy. Highly recommend

Nina – Love Like This
Tracks pretty cool, hyperpop ballad. Found the autotune didn’t fit the tune, especially with a very acoustic sounding piano throughout. The trap beat weirdly worked though, deep and full. The synths in the distance of the chorus are skeletal and cool. The song doesn’t overstay its welcome its very well crafted.

N.ssign – Happy &

Na na’s are urgh. Love the beat, very thick bass backing it sitting very nice in the mix. The horns were mixed cool too, very grand with big reverb. Vocal performance is very good and mixed really well. It’s not bad, not really my kind of thing, but it had a bit of attitude to the cutesy sound which was nice. 

Cha Eun Woo – Stay

Guitar intro gives Ash Island vibes, the glassy desolate mood reminded me of metal band Dream Theatre’s pull me under. Drums are a touch squashed, wanted them to breath a little more. The harmonies are beautiful, ethereal with filters. I appreciate cha eun woo performing a style that suits his natural timbre. This song is great and stands out in current kpop

Aimers – Somebody
Not bad. Has this plucky bass and disco style guitar that reminded me of DNCE’s cake by the ocean. The vocals are a bit artificial, over affected, they sit well in the mix and soar nicely in the chorus though. The mix is appropriately bright and very balanced, i wanted the drums to pop out a touch more. It’s ok but forgettable.

DK (Ikon) – Groovin
Pretty standard rnb cut, channeling Jaay Park especially in the somewhat high talk sing verses. It’s catchy, the vocal melody especially is sensual and lovely.

Whee In – Wheee
Its a Jpop song by Whee In! Really energetic, great song. I wanted more of a dynamic pre-chorus – a quiet moment then launch in to soaring chorus, the chorus didn’t quite hit how it should because this whole track is a million miles a minute. Guitar tone is great, drums have a hip hop production to them which was a bit much but matched the tracks energy. Whee In’s performance was great. Fun track.

Lim Hyunsik (BTOB) – La Mar

A pretty good rock ballad for fans of FT Island’s slower tracks or car, the garden, drama ost artists such as Gaho.

Weekly Kpop Review 05-02 – 11-02 – How NOT to Kpop

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Show Notes

P1Harmony – Killin It
The sax on this track is NASTY. Great energy in the vocal performance, reminiscent of Monsta X or NCT. The horn is less obnoxious than other Kpop tunes out there, but it’s still up there. The beat is fine, I like the dynamics on this track at certain times but it still kinda plods, a little grating. Its mid this one.

EPEX – Graduation Day
This is a well made mid-tempo spring tune. The group vocal moments are tasteful and fun, mixed well. The guitar is pleasant and accompanies the keys well. I respect the brighter sound on this one, takes what could be a smooth deep rnb song in to a spring mood, it works! The vocal performance is pretty good, maybe a couple moments of heavy tuning but otherwise this is a pretty good effort from Epex keen to hear more.

Oceanfromtheblue – 25 – a colors show
Mm this tune is sick. Wet swirling detuned synths around a fun, acoustic sounding beat thats tastefully compressed and nice and scratchy in the high-mids. The vocal is well done, dynamic, i especially loved the “I did It” moments, I don’t know about the 20 20 25 hook though, it didn’t grab me. Recommend this one though definitely give it a shot.

Jo Gwangil – Plosive
Very fast flows from the Show Me The Money 10 winner. I love the UK dnb beat. It’s mixed well, the slower effected vocal singing parts were meh but at least gave some dynamics. It stands out this one check it out.

Don Mills – OK
Don mills is underrated. Great dynamic flows, catchy hook. The only deterrent is the dated autotune sound, I am very tired of aggressive autotune. Song does not overstay its welcome clocking in at under 2 minutes, I wanted a little more. Good track

Lim Kim – Ult
This tracks awesome. Hyperpop leaning like 100 gecs or Charlie XCX, the instrumental is abstract with percussion pops against a trap beat. The chorus has weird double kick effect going on that was grating. Lim Kim’s performance is very cool, tastefully digital sounding. The bridge/outro is great! Distorted bass and naughty lyrics. This is my favourite Lim kim track by far.

0wave, FIIXD – ball so
0Wave is back! Come 2 me was in my top 50 kpop last year, this new one ball so, pretty good. Production is wavy, an affected flute swirling round the mix. The performance was as good as I’ve heard 0wave, but not better. I hold them to high standards, so found this one a touch underwhelming, the chorus hook wasn’t that catchy, the fast flow in it affecting the dynamics.

Panda Gomm, Kid Milli – Sofa Glue
I wasn’t stoked on the intro of this track, felt boring and standard rnb, like jeebanoff, car, the garden type stuff. But the performance is excellent. The emotion is palpable, Kid Milli is awesome and suits the track like a glove.. The track is shoegazey, post rock leaning, mournful bliss. The voices are mixed beautifully, the guitar tone is warm and washed in reverbs and delays. It builds and crescendoes nicely, although I wish the vocal did as well, it stays one note. Check this one out.

Woo Jin Young – Closer
The Winner of Mix Nine, Woo jin Young dropped an EP Don’t worry be happy, the title track is closer. It’s an ok disco infused pop song. Definitely a good vocalist, the production is pretty good if not a bit overcompressed, especially the drums and bass. Its not a very memorable, ok track

Hwanji – Father
This song is heartbreaking, beautiful performance. Listen in your sadboy hours.

Super Junior LSS – Joke
Song sounds like Jpop, think Kat-tun, Kanjani8 kind of sound. It’s better than C’mon but was lacking dynamics compared to suit up. The performance is great and fun, more of the same really but that’s cool super junior lss are doing a sound I respect it.

Crucial Star – 2009 ft. unofficialboy
The accent on a different part of the beat made this one stand out. Standard jazzy hip hop arrangement, standard lofi leaning mix and production, but it hits different. Singing parts were great, not autotuned aggressively, pleasant warm distortion and delivery. Unofficialboy brings some dynamics to the track which was welcome. This is great, recommend it for jazzy lofi hip hop heads.

Weekly Kpop Review 21-01 – 28-01

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AB6IX – Grab Me

The track is wonderful. Spacious mix

The synths and the guitar work really well together, although the guitar gets a little drowned out in the mix, the bass taking over the low mids and the synths taking over the high mids.

That being said I love the wall of sound chorus you get, with soaring synths peeking out among the vocals, stunning
The track is wonderful. Spacious mix

The synths and the guitar work really well together, although the guitar gets a little drowned out in the mix, the bass taking over the low mids and the synths taking over the high mids.

That being said I love the wall of sound chorus you get, with soaring synths peeking out among the vocals, stunning

The vocals are mixed perfectly, great distortion, harmonies are stunning and have a rock/pop punk leaning that I loved. The performance is emotive and sits in a timbre that suits the track like a glove, helping create a beautiful ear wash of positive, slightly melancholy vibes.

Lets talk about the beat switch. Its not great, the beat becomes overwhelmingly squashed, the vocal sounds grating and the horns are what we’ve heard a million times before. But it’s short, and I’ve definitely heard worse horn sections.

I barely noticed the drums this track, not in a bad way, they serviced the song and thats it.

There’s nothing new here. You could tell me that Seventeen released this song 6 years ago and I’d believe you. I think that’s why this track tugs on my heartstrings, it has a nostalgic flair that reminds one of the Kpop of yesterday.

AB6IX are back on my radar. They have stiff competition from a lot of boy groups right now, but this song stands out as an emotive summer bop.

EVNNE – Ugly

Vocal performance is awesome, energetic and on point. Tastefully effected with autotune, harmonies and reverbs and delays in the mix too.

Its really dynamic too, which occasionally gave me whiplash but it kept my attention.

The synth driven edm arrangement is cool but not groundbreaking, we’ve heard this sound before, the beat is nice and loud and some percussion elements are cool, I would’ve liked a lil something extra in the high mid especially when the rap vocal is quite low

I wanted more from this one, i like this edm driven kpop and the mix is tasteful, but it isn’t song of the year. Keen to see what jellyfish does with ibeun, their vocals are amazing.

IM ft heize – slowly

Singing quite high its refreshing to hear from im

Harmonies in prechorus and chorus are great, well mixed. The acoustic guitar is well mixed even if ive heard it a million times in korean rnb.

Everything besides the guitar in the mix is swimming in reverb and delays, i liked the ethereal, warm vibe this brought to the mix.

The bass is mixed perfectly, i love how acoustic it sounds.

Heize and im play off each other well, heizes slightly low and scratchy voice really suits this rnb Style.

Im not blown away by this one but i also cant stop listening to it. Great track.

IU – love wins all

Ius back with a music video featuring Bts V. Oh, theres a song too.

I was a bit shocked at how muddy the mix is. The low mid elements, piano, bass, some of the strings and I think a guitar? Get buried.

The strings are beautiful and wide giving space to the mix. The drums have some cool delays and huge reverbs which also gives the track space and an epic feeling.

Ius vocal is excellent! Really amazing performance.

This track was let down by the mix, im hoping for better from iu in the future

CIX – Lovers or Enemies

This cix track is cool.

80s, think tears for fears or simple minds.

I think it was intentional, the vocal is mixed a little low in the chorus, its delivered in an airy way beefed up with doubling and harmonies. I liked how the synths followed the melody that was a hook!

The vocal is mixed kinda weird, at times like the first verse and soaring high note in the backend it sounds very natural, then itll be super produced and digital sounding in the chorus, i found the digital sound a bit unnerving.

Theres this awesome synth in the 2nd verse going whoom whoom whoom, sounded really cool has a kind of sultry and soft sound very cool.

Track has dynamics! Loved the tasteful loudness too.

This track is good, the digital vocal in the chorus weirds me out too much for it to be a 10/10 though

Vcha – Girls of the Year

The latest jyp release, a not kpop kpop group vcha

Arpeggiated 80s synths reminiscent of New Order were awesome

Verses go distorted sounds like taeyangs dont wake me up, it was cool but the energy at this point dips a little too much, i almost lost attention.

Chorus melody uninspired and lacks energy, too compressed and mid heavy in the mix

This vocal is way overproduced. It sounds unnatural, flat and no emotion. Theres a good vocal there, but it’s been effected to death.

This track was trash. Inauthentic, disney channel pop

Kim Jae Hwan – Ponytail

Former wanna one member kim jae hwan has released a solo single, ponytail

piano is warm and has nice attack.

The bass is funky and has a great lick before the prechorus, mixed a touch low at times

The guitar is mixed well for the rnb/funk genre

Rap felt it wouldve been better delivered by a feature, i can picture zico or gaeko on this track

Kim jae hwans performance is incredible. Emotive, great control on the highs, great dynamics, its mixed great too

ITZY – Cake – How NOT to Kpop Review

Hello everyone, Sean @sepatorprod reviews the much anticipated comeback of JYP girl group, ITZY!

Help me eat cake 😋

Transcript

Hey everyone it’s Sean here @sepatorprod. I’m going to review ITZY’s latest track Cake. The intro and that main hook, Cake cake cake, awesome. Really, really catchy, stuck in my head.

The horns work so well on this track, it’s not obnoxious like a lot of other songs that use horns. Horns are very common in pop these days but I didn’t mind them on this track.

Really cool trap beat backing it up, it contrasts so well with the vocals which…this is the best I’ve ever heard ITZY. JYP, once again, amazing vocal production. Just beautiful, crisp, forward in the mix, beautiful.

Second verse, it kinda feels a bit off, maybe a different vocal melody would’ve helped or maybe the backing melody sounds a little grating, a little messy. Didn’t really enjoy the second verse and the chorus is a touch, typical of girl groups like Red Velvet.

I do respect the unique production, the unique arrangement. Heavily affected guitar and synths in the mix. I did like it, I thought it did sound fairly fresh but also rather familiar to a certain point, maybe too much.

Look overall, I quite liked this track, it really showed off ITZY and how talented they are. But I don’t think it comes anywhere near Wanna. It’s pretty mid.

Thanks for listening, I’m Sean @sepatorprod, Buy Me A Coffee. Til Next Time.