There’s never a dull day in the K–pop universe, and that’s been especially true this past month, which saw a string of Ws for NewJeans against all odds, Bruno Mars’ first Korean music show win, and an appallingly bleak situation regarding RIIZE’s Seunghan. Even past all that, there’s been an unprecedented flow of drops from third, fourth, and fifth–gen titans alike—and like last time, I’ll be going over and reviewing some of the most notable ones.
ILLIT – I’LL LIKE YOU
ILLIT first broke out as HYBE and BELIFT LAB’s newest girl group with March’s effervescent SUPER REAL ME, whose squeaky pluggnb pads and dreamy choruses quickly flooded Korean airwaves as a shining new paragon of fifth–wave K–pop. But the group’s newest EP, I’LL LIKE YOU, doesn’t quite live up to its predecessor, leaving behind a few cute bangers that straddle the line between fleetingly savory and plainly unexciting.
The best tracks play to the team’s proven strengths: hyperactive production, repetitive hooks, and shimmering trinkets all over. “IYKYK (If You Know You Know)”’s giddy chorus immediately clings to memory atop jittery vocals and tumble–dry synthwork, and “Tick–Tack”’s metronomic vocals bounce over a bed of shining sequencer pixels. The mellower “Pimple” works too, as a sugary mid–tempo respite snugly wrapped in breezy vocal layers.
At worst, though, this record is shockingly flat: “Cherish (My Love)” feels hastily thrown together, sporting a sweet melody but little more to hold onto. Overall, I’LL LIKE YOU is a serviceable comeback, but I’m praying the group pivots further toward it adventurous side next time around.
SEVENTEEN – SPILL THE FEELS
The long–revered SEVENTEEN is back with its 12th EP SPILL THE FEELS, and it’s unfortunately another mostly generic collection of tracks lightyears away from its peak. Sure, nothing is explicitly bad (ignoring the hit of psychic damage I took hearing DJ Khaled’s tag in big 2024), but its sound here is absolutely reflective of a group nearing its tenth year in the business: “Eyes on You” and “LOVE, MONEY, FAME” are exactly the type of disposable pop songs you’d hear at a failing stationery store, and while “1 TO 13” and “Rain” fare better as synthy regression pop bangers, they still feel awfully dated. Then there’s the wildly incongruous “Water,” whose take on rage is a Frankenstein’s monster both five years too late to the party and still blatantly imitative of 2023’s FE!N—nobody’s hoping they play this at the club.
Strangely enough, though, there’s grace in this EP’s central ballad, “Candy,” whose jazzy piano and silky vocals are everything I’m hoping this winter will feel like: a cozy hearth in a snowstorm of disappointment.
tripleS / Visionary Vision – Performante
The 24–idol group tripleS has been on an elite run of projects since its unveiling by MODHAUS, and the new album Performante by its 12–idol subunit “Visionary Vision” is no exception. Weirdly enough, the only thing holding it back is the group’s throwback hip–hop concept—all the most memorable parts of this record are the ones leaning hardest into tripleS’s signature sleek pop roots.
Take “Choom,” whose flighty pace and exhilarating chorus make it the sweetest Korean dream–pop foray since “LOONATIC;” “연애소설 (Love Soseol),” whose glistening riffs and blistering liquid DnB reach the heights of some of tripleS’ best work; or “12 Rings,” whose saucy production recalls Shawn Wasabi’s bubbly brand of future bass. On occasion, the hip–hop influence blooms fruitfully—“Vision”’s superb breakbeat percussion makes it one of the slickest on the tracklist.
But none of this should come as a surprise—collaborations with the consistently quality production teams MONOTREE and full8loom are all over this thing. Performante firmly keeps tripleS one of the most refreshing forces to watch out for in K–pop today.
ITZY – GOLD
After almost ten months on leave for health reasons, Lia is finally back in ITZY for its latest EP, GOLD! Less fortunately, though, the project is a clunkily assembled mixed bag, and this is coming from a historically adamant defender of the group. While its title tracks normally have a charming flair to their off–beat, explosive melodies, “GOLD” feels jarringly cheap in comparison, with overblown chants and riffs that sound straight out of a 2005 football ad.
The other tracks continue to be a drag, from the swagless melodic rock of “Imaginary Friend” to the awkwardly mixed atmospheres of “Supernatural” to the sloppy synth throbs on “VAY.” “Bad Girls R Us” and “FIVE” are more palatable as classic ITZY bangers, but they’re still aggressively run–of–the–mill in arrangement and production. At the end of the day, GOLD feels like a failed struggle for identity, with the added knock of cheapness—as much as I’m rooting for ITZY, I can’t see myself ever coming back to this one.
KISS OF LIFE – Lose Yourself
KISS OF LIFE is having a killer year, and it isn’t stopping with its latest EP Lose Yourself. In keeping with its typical 2000s pop flair, the easy standout “Get Loud” is a high–tempo outing laced in guitar strums and seamless rap switch–ups—a delicious collision of second–generation K–pop flavor with all the trendy gloss of fourth–gen.
The rest of the EP doesn’t always uphold this quality, but it stays mostly solid—“R.E.M.” and “Chemistry” are slick contemporary R&B offerings, “Igloo” takes a cheeky approach to girl crush hip hop, complete with sparse percussion and striking 808s, and “Too Many Alex” is a wild left turn into retro funk, admittedly gimmicky but still fun as hell. The record ends with a bit of a whimper, though: “Back to Me” is an insufferably cloying attempt at rock music, and “No One But Us” is so flimsy a tune I could really only imagine it playing at Great Clips.
Though Lose Yourself does have a few highlights, it’s bogged down by a serious incoherence in genre and style—for such a promising group, I’m a little baffled as to why it hasn’t fully leaned into the sound that’s always worked best for it.
Billlie – appendix: Of All We Have Lost
In its few years in the spotlight, Billlie’s proven to have some of the most insane genre versatility out of any K–pop group, with a catalog boasting off–kilter G–house, fiery Latin dance–pop, bewildering electropop, sappy jingle pop, and genuinely sublime Christmas music. And while its latest excursion, appendix: Of All We Have Lost, isn’t nearly so off–the–wall, it’s still delightful.
Whereas its previous EP was a foray into funk, this one’s backed by laid–back jazzy undertones: “remembrance candy,” co–written by the legendary IU, opens the record with an enchantingly cheery piece of piano–led pop; “trampoline”’s acid jazz–inspired grooves make it one of its most addicting; “Bluerose” is glossy, delectable, and instantly head–bobbing city pop; and “shame,” while comparatively skeletal, strides with a fantastic nu–disco bassline.
It might be easy to write this one off as a miss, but if anything, the uncharacteristic slow–down of this record has me more excited than ever for future Billlie comebacks—it's more than capable of a classic.
aespa – Whiplash
aespa’s a complicated group for me—on one hand, it’s produced some of the most daring title tracks the industry’s ever seen, but on the other, its B–sides have been dissatisfying in almost every comeback. With its fifth EP Whiplash, it shows no signs of slowing that trend— the title track’s no–bullshit attitude and eclectic pulsing make it unmistakably aespa. It’s an instant classic for walking anywhere outside.
But in classic aespa fashion, the rest is wildly hit–or–miss. The misses include the phoned–in hyperpop of “Kill It,” the flaccid trap banger “Pink Hoodie,” and the mind–numbingly redundant pop rock of “Just Another Girl;” the hits include the far more tender “Flights, Not Feelings” and “Flowers.” It’s truly frustrating to see aespa always have its potential squandered by SM Entertainment, but at this point, it’s hard to imagine its records ever showing an ounce of consistency.
ROSÉ & Bruno Mars – “APT”
It’s been a landmark month for the BLACKPINK crew, with LISA’s newest single “Moonlit Floor (Kiss Me),” Jennie’s dance–pop rebranding in “Mantra,” and, of course, ROSÉ and Bruno Mars’ new hit collaboration, “APT.” At this point, it’s hard to even justify calling these singles “K–pop,” as all the members have now split from YG Entertainment for their solo work, and they’re working entirely in English and with Western sounds. But “APT” certainly deserves a shoutout here: Not only is it comfortably the best of the three, but it’s at least somewhat nodding to a Korean background (albeit remarkably off–handedly—who could’ve anticipated Mars’ shouts of “Geonbae, geonbae, girl what’s up?”). It’s unashamedly lab–grown for mass appeal, reliant on every cheesy pop cliche, and so, so sickeningly addicting. It’ll be a long time before you stop hearing “APT.”
