It’s time for Kpopalypse roundup! Let’s take a look at some new releases!
EXO – Crown
Generically “epic” in that SM Entertainment way where they give it some teensy tiny beat and put 90% of the effort into computer-harmonising the vocals. This will feel familiar and nice to people used to glazing SM’s boy-group output and unspectacular to everyone else.
Chuu – Canary
Not a bad song but the backings are either too wispy for the verses or too dramatic and leaden for the big chorus, it’s not the right choice. Very little Chuu energy in this Chuu song.
ILLIT – Sunday Morning
Reasonable enough pop-rock stuff, but apart from that bonkers keyboard solo it all sounds a bit half-hearted and backgroundish. A bit more punch would have helped.
MISAMO – Confetti
A spectacularly awful song that doesn’t seem to know what sound it’s aiming for, it’s as cut-up and messya s its namesake. In some places it sounds like it’s going for “Modern Times” era IU, at others it’s more of a modern k-pop song, but most of the time it falls limply somewhere in between. It would have been alright if the melodies were okay but it’s a massive fail there too.
The Deep – Wrong Number
After clearing the favourites list last year The Deep is back and this is a solid entry, she’ll probably never get the credit she deserves, but she should.
ChRocktikal – Peace
It’s good that Siyeon has the right idea with the rock thing, if anyone was going to continue on the Dreamcatcher rock legacy it was going to be her. Unfortunately the song itself is a bit bland, she’s having the same problem that Rolling Quartz tends to struggle with – great rock sound, mediocre rock songwriting.
Kiiikiii – Delulu
Just a simple disco song, it’s straightforward and it works. At least one person is writing decent stuff for this group.
ENHYPEN – Knife
So many jokes I could make about that song title but half of them could get me arrested depending on what country I travel to so I’ll just tell you that this song is so shit that I don’t think it’s even worth risking a visa cancellation to shit on.
NCT WISH – Hello Mellow
A really confused sound here, this is too jumbled to be mellow.
CATCH THE YOUNG – Amplify
Definitely the best song from this group. High energy and really cool and different harmony choices set it apart from the usual boy idol fake-rock stuff.
LNGSHOT – Moonwalkin’
I don’t know what this but anyone who accuses Kpopalypse of yapping, just know that I’ve been outmatched. What the fuck are these people even on about. Hip-hop died so garbage like this could walk the earth.
ONEWE – Ferris wheel
The greenery on set is a clever way to tuck the cables away and make it look neat without making things look too fake, but the tripping hazard has to be tremendous.
n.SSign feat. PEAK & PITCH – Funky like me
This is someone older than me imagining what “funk” sounds like just by reading a Wikipedia page.
Hi-Fi Un!corn – Super Duper
Nice and fast but the children’s TV show vibes in the melody and harmony choice kill all the potential.
DxS – Blue
Lots of people crying and being miserable here in this crappy Seventeen subunit ballad. Don’t press play or you’ll become one of them.
LIGHTSUM – Beautiful Pain
Just look at the thumbnail. I don’t even need to listen to it to know that this is crap. Neither do you.
Inseong – Mute is Off
Poo song but the video does mrds
Bora – Muffler
This girl was from Cherry Bullet and she’s gone to where all D-list girl group members go if they want a solo career after their group shits the bed – straight to ballad hell.
Zico x Crush – Yin and Yang
Look at these idiots. It’s enough to make you want to call the authorities on your golden phone.
Xiihu – Did I
Her last song was great, this one not quite so much but it’s still interesting and she definitely got the visuals right.
Kim Dahyun – Black Swan
No not the camera-spotting Dahyun, but some trot Dahyun. Serious nugu alert vibes in this video but it’s already over 100k views and rising so it’s already disqualified. Song’s not too bad actually because it doesn’t lean into the trot cliches 100% but modernises the sound and melody a little.
Sohyang – Moving On
The kind of awful music that only someone like Sohyang can do. Yes it takes skill and talent, but so does straining out a perfectly round shit, doesn’t mean I want to eat it.
Cloudkreme – Rang
On the other hand this isn’t bad at all. Creativity > talent.
CLAVE – Sign
Average-ass song slightly helped by decent guitar work. There needs to be a moratorium on “road-worn” electric guitars though.
Leevisa and Ejae – Reconstruction 2026
Ejae is clearly someone borne from the blood of the nugu. Straight after smashing the world’s charts with Kpop Demon Hunters she’s back to doing songs with her friends for ten bucks and some pizza. She strikes me as someone cool who is serious about music and not about bullshit fame or whatever.
Fugazi – Waiting Room
Random music pick of the week, Fugazi were definitely one of the best bands I’ve ever seen live, and this video captures why they were so great pretty well. Rarely have I seen an entire room all the way to the back vibing like Fugazi managed to do it. I saw them on two occasions and they were great both times… and cheap! (As a group born from a community-minded punk ethos, they put their money where their mouth was and made a point of selling albums, merch and concert tickets as cheaply as possible.) The vid even goes some way towards showing just how utterly amazing their drummer was, aside from being super-tight I fondly remember his insistence of having a bell on stage and incorporating it into songs in really clever ways.
RANDOM BONUS VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
Davie504 – Kpop Demon Hunters but it’s on BASS
The fact he has to use harmonics to get to the high notes on the bass shows just how insane the pitch range of the song really is. Maybe I’ll do some bass covers this year. Or not. We’ll see.
eunvaise – the WORST kpop songs of 2025
No opinion on this list but I’m just impressed that someone else besides me has enough guts to even make a worst list. After all we know what k-pop fans are like.
CHI CHI – Love Is Energy
Chi Chi are a long-forgotten second-generation group (if you even believe in such things) and “Love Is Energy” seems pretty simple, pleasant and straightforward enough… that is, until the song hits the mandatory-for-the-era dubstep breakdown and everything turns to colossal amounts of shit. It’s always best to do one simple thing well, rather than “one simple thing well plus fuck it let’s shoehorn in the latest trend, what could possibly go wrong”.
That’s all for this week! Kpopalypse roundup returns next week!
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