Rundown: TEN, Kihyun, Jo Yuri, Pink Fantasy, CLASS:y, TFN, more

So many releases, so little quality … for the most part.

I disagreed with you guys about K-pop last year, which I thought was actually a quite good year, but 2022 is shaping up to be rougher.

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Kihyun (Monsta X) – “Youth”

Let’s start off friendly, as this is a solid-average to above-average effort that’s missing hook-y qualities to have that pop allure, but the pace and his vocal are nice enough.

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Queenz Eye – “Yummy Yummy”

Remarkable how many of the trendy girl group elements that I dislike were rolled into this debut.

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Jo Yuri – “Loveable”

Throwaway B-side for a middling rom-com OST.

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Pink Fantasy – “Get Out”

Love their creepy/dark concept (and the obvious Dreamcatcher parallels), and this is a timely song for the Halloween mood even if I’m not sure I’d seek it out for listening otherwise.

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CLASS:y – “ZEALOUS”

Nobody is jealous of having releases like this.

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ATBO – “ATTITUDE”

The vocals in the initial verses show promise but it gets progressively worse as the song goes along.

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EPEX – “Hymn To Love”

Gonna be honest, I’m starting to zone out when listening to boy group releases in this mode.

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CLASS:y – “Tick Tick Boom”

The thing about the ‘disaffected and cool’ vibey choruses is that those songs only work well when one has something hook-y anchoring it like IVE‘s “Love Dive” (and even that had vocals to close the chorus out), but most of them absolutely have nothing of that sort in their choruses. Shame cause the playfully seductive vibe was promising otherwise.

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TFN – “AMAZON”

The name was never the problem, this shit is.

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TEN (NCT) – “Birthday”

Probably the best of this lot, delivering a level of sensuality and providing the requisite amount of TEN falsetto.