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? July was a busy month in K-pop this year! Honestly, I’m still catching up on everything that was released, but here are some of my favorites so far:
Warning: multiple Youtube embeds below
ATEEZ Comeback
ATEEZ is one of my favorite groups, and they had back-to-back comebacks this summer with “Lemon Drop” in June and “In Your Fantasy” in July. “In Your Fantasy” was a bit of a departure from their usual sound, but really fun! I liked it a lot.
The new B-sides included solos for every member. The enlistment period will be starting up for ATEEZ soon, so I imagine there will be more solo projects as members enter and exit the military, and it’s good that they’re establishing their sounds. My favorite of the bunch was Yeosang’s solo “Legacy”, which has the kind of big and dramatic sound I love from ATEEZ. I saw ATEEZ live on their US tour in July and “Legacy” transitioning into “Guerrilla” was one of the highlights of the concert.
My other favorites of the solo B-sides include Hongjoong’s very fun “NO1” and Seonghwa’s “Skin”, which reminds me of Taemin in its dark sensuality. I also want to give an honorable mention to Yunho’s “Slide to Me”, which was another of the concert highlights for me. They’re all such strong performers that I sometimes forget that Yunho is the official main dancer, but “Slide To Me” certainly reminded me! It was choreographed extremely well to his strengths as a dancer, and was fantastic live.
More Boy Group Comebacks
In May, my beloved SHINee had their 17th anniversary, and in July, Super Junior celebrated their 20th anniversary with a song that was indeed a “100% certified slapper”. As a middle-aged fan myself, I’m happy to see veteran groups sticking around to remind the young’uns that there’s still life after 30. 😉
On the opposite side of the experience scale, 1VERSE is a brand new boy group that includes two members from North Korea, which I believe is a first for the industry. I really enjoyed their pre-debut release, “Multiverse”:
Finally, Lee Chanhyuk of the brother-sister duo AKMU had a quirky earworm of a solo release that I really enjoyed:
Girl Group Comebacks
BLACKPINK was the group that originally got me into K-pop and I still have a soft spot for them even though other groups have surpassed them as my favorites at this point. Their first comeback as a group since 2023 was catchy:
STAYC had a bright, summery comeback that I enjoyed:
Purple Kiss is a lesser known girl group with some great vocalists. They had a pretty comeback this month as well:
What were your favorite new K-pop releases in July?
