I was debating whether to talk about K-pop on this blog, but what’s a personal blog for, if not to talk about stuff you enjoy? So here’s some of what I’ve been listening to this month!
Warning: multiple Youtube and Spotify embeds below
SHINee’s 17th Anniversary
My beloved SHINee released two songs for their 17th anniversary on May 25th, one of which was written by Jonghyun, who died in 2017, and contains vocals by him, a gift I never expected to receive again.
They also held three days of concerts in Seoul (SHINee World VII E.S.S.A.Y.) to celebrate their anniversary, and I’ve been listening to the setlist on Spotify constantly since. It’s full of both iconic classics like Sherlock, Dream Girl, and View and some of my favorite B-sides like Code, Jojo, and Identity. They even debuted new choreo for Shift, a B-side from 2016’s 1 of 1:
Seventeen’s 10th Anniversary
Seventeen, another of my favorite boy groups, released an album for their 10th anniversary on May 26th. It features three new group songs and solos by all 13 of the members, including Jeonghan and Wonwoo, who are currently doing their mandatory military service. Since the album only came out two days ago, I’m still deciding on my favorite tracks, but meanwhile, here’s the fun MV for the title track, “Thunder”:
Seulrene Comeback
Another comeback I was excited about was Red Velvet’s Irene & Seulgi subunit. Red Velvet is one of my favorite girl groups and Irene and Seulgi’s 2020 releases “Monster” and “Naughty” are long-time faves. (The latter in particular has some of the coolest choreo in K-pop, and there’s a lot of competition for that title!) I enjoyed the whole EP, with the standouts for me so far being the title track “Tilt” and the B-side “Girl Next Door”.
More May Releases I Enjoyed
The Wind is a lesser-known boy group with a sweet, melodic sound more common in girl groups. I’ve really enjoyed many of their past songs like Hello, My First Love and Only One, and liked the single they released this month a lot, too:
RIIZE did a big energetic song-and-dance number that I’ve seen compared to something from High School Musical:
And Lim Sejun of Victon gave us a nice summer-y love song:
What were your favorite K-pop releases in May?
