Kpopalypse roundup – new k-pop releases 14/7/2025
It’s time for Kpopalypse roundup! Let’s take a look at some new releases!
BLACKPINK – Jump
Blackpink’s best song in a while aims for generic club banger territory and will probably work pretty well in that context, even if it’s not much of a listen outside of the instrumental. If nothing else it’s good to see them going at over 80 BPM again and if this creates a return to the type of fast bass-heavy sounds k-pop briefly explored in 1999 then I’m interested.
TWICE – This Is For
I’m not sure who this is for, the music lovers certainly not. I’m all for female-empowerment messaging in pop songs but it’s been done far better and far less cringe than this so many hundreds of times. Idle’s Soyeon is facepalming right now.
VIVIZ – La La Love
I’m not sure that Viviz will ever beat “Untie” but their new song is a non-embarassing addition to their catalog which is close enough to the mark to meet required standards, and if nothing else they always look great. Speaking of which, the Kpopalypse 2025 Objectification Survey is now open, so CLICK HERE to participate and have your say on who are the most attractive men and women of k-pop!
ILLIT – Jellyous
It doesn’t quite have the hook to stand out from the pack but at least it has the pace and the beat isn’t the weak fairy-floss we’ve come to expect. HYBE might be still trying to push Illit as their global NewJeans replacement in terms of marketing and image (it’s so not gonna happen, folks) but at least the people behind Illit’s music have been moving on in good directions, even if their parent company’s CEO can’t.
LE SSERAFIM – Kawaii
Le Sserafim on the other hand, I don’t think anyone knows what they’re doing with this group anymore. Such a shame to see their great debut concept get gradually pissed up against a wall because marketing idiots decided it was untrendy with the kids. This ad for plushies or whatever it is doesn’t really help matters.
NMIXX – XOXO
Oh dear. They’re sitting down, or standing limply… time to move on quickly before any audio plays.
Jo Yuri – Farewell for now!
Jo Yuri looks and sounds about as flat and miserable here as she did in Squid Game 2 when listening to her crypto-bro boyfriend talk about getting their relationship back together. Yes I’ll review part 3 soon… er or later.
Jo Yuri – Growls and Purrs
Definitely too much purring, not enough growling.
NCT DREAM – Chiller
They actually dare to sing “throw out the boring stuff” in this song. Gosh, be careful what you wish for there, or you might not have any songs left soon.
NCT DREAM – BTTF
A pretty damn cool backing track completely wasted by being paired with toplines that just don’t fit at all.
SUPER JUNIOR – Express Mode
Super Junior’s best song in recent memory, the simplicity and tonal consistency recalls their better songs from a decade and a half ago. Now we just have to figure out how to get Shindong more screen time. Perhaps voting for him in the Kpopalypse 2025 Objectification Survey will help, CLICK HERE to participate and have your say on who are the most attractive men and women of k-pop!
ATEEZ – In Your Fantasy
Ateez also have their best song probably ever, which isn’t saying a lot given how drab they generally are, but hey it’s something. It reminds me of a specific 2nd gen k-pop song from ages ago but I can’t remember which one.
FIFTY FIFTY – Heartbreak
Fifty Fifty’s songs that don’t get proper videos aren’t all that great but this one is probably at least useful for assessing BB cream and foundation levels or something.
Xdinary Heroes – Fire (My Sweet Misery)
There’s nothing sweet about the misery I endure when listening to each week’s songs for roundup.
NOWZ – Everglow
More boring boy idol rock bollocks. I guess it’s better than the alternative which is everyone trying to be SHINee-lite or whatever.
CLOSE YOUR EYES – Snowy Summer
Actual song starts at 1:08, but you’ll wish it didn’t.
1MILLION – Can We Luv
Some dance studio releases some song and as you might expect, it’s only really good for dancing to.
Big Ocean – Bucket Hat
Are these the deaf guys, I can’t remember. Anyway they do a fair bit better than a lot of the non-deaf guys this week. Maybe we should campaign to get more deaf people into k-pop.
CrazAngel – I’m Just Me
I swore this was going to be a nugu alert contender, what’s this doing with so many views I wonder. Good luck to them but they’ll need better songs than this to sustain themselves past the k-pop debut media attention cycle.
Nebula – Shining Star
Meanwhile this new group with Qri from freaking T-ara in it has nugu-alert tier viewcount, go figure. It even has an early Gfriend sound too and isn’t bad at all.
Sunwoojunga – Want It!
Sunwoojunga’s new song is about as interesting as cleaning your fridge. Just to prove it, there’s a little bit of fridge-cleaning footage in the music video just so you can compare.
Lee Chanhyuk – Out of my Mind
Actually it’s pretty good and all but where is Suhyun couldn’t you have gotten her on this track too, bro. Or at least in the video wearing the peacock feathers instead of you.
Doh Kyungsoo (D.O.) – Sing Along!
We’re into the “boring male group solo” part of roundup and yes it is boring.
Lee Changsub – Vroom Vroom
We did not need this Autotuned nonsense in our lives.
Kang Yuchan – Champagne Poppin’
Oh wait this solo from some ACE member isn’t bad at all actually. Even if he still doesn’t show his legs enough. Remember when ACE where dominating the legs category in the Objectification Surveys, those were the days. Now there’s so few exposed male legs in k-pop nobody has any idea who to even vote for anymore. It is sad times that we live in. Less global conflict, more legs, that’s what we want in society today. Do the survey, help make it happen.
Youngjae – Escape to Me
This is poop so let’s have our weekly non-Korean LGBT feature here instead, yay! This week it’s the unapologetically queer New York group God Is My Co-pilot, who have some pretty out there music which is basically punk rock but actually a whole bunch of other weird things too, they come off to me a bit like an American version of Melt Banana. Good stuff.
Jang Hyun Seung – Mess
Back to k-pop and it really is a bit of a “mess” lately isn’t it.
Dino, Duckwrth, The Word Alive – Til My Fingers Bleed
You can tell these songs are generic poop when you don’t even know what esport it’s for because it doesn’t matter because all this shit is the same power fantasy wank. “Til my fingers bleed” indeed.
Hanse x Laveen – Wake Me Up
I don’t really like this kind of cheesy nu-metal even when western bands who are supposedly “good” at it do it, so I sure don’t like the watered-down Korean version.
Sokodomo feat. Crush – Blink
I’m pretty sure Sokodomo and Crush have never done anything good together. Or separately, come to think of it.
Pengsoo – Kong-guksu
This is pretty much where we’re at with most k-pop in 2025. Why don’t we stop looking at songs now, yes that’s a good idea.
Rockit Girl – X Girl
At least we have Rockit Girl to consistently save roundup each week these days. Need I remind you yet again about the Kpopalypse 2025 Objectification Survey? Probably not, but tough shit! Do the survey, caonima!
RANDOM BONUS VIDEOS OF THE WEEK
Chungha – Waterbomb recap 2025
Who would have thought that it’d be the Chungha fans who would be the most delusional of all in reacting to my post about faked vocals, but that’s where we are in 2025 I guess, oh boy. Hey, if you want to pretend that she’s “really singing” when her microphone is closer to her ass than her mouth for half the performance, then you do you, I guess that’s what fans call “a balanced performer” these days. Anyway I think Chungha just threw out this video to try and help you remember that there were other women performing this year besides Eunbi, so good luck with keeping that stuck in your brain.
Kpopping – What happened to Christian Horse Girl Kpop?
Kpopping told me in my interview with them that they were going to be getting into making some video content, and while this video has some valid educational content (stanning Gfriend’s “Rough“, can’t go wrong there), they probably should have sent me the first draft for proofing before they put it out, just to make the script sound less ChatGPT-coded and also just for fact-checking. Stuff like 6:57 about the bridge harmony of Oh My Girl’s “Closer“: “it doesn’t just build, it ascends” – actually the harmony literally descends, oops. I guess the filters fooled them, the perils of people not knowledgeable about the technicalities of music writing about music (also see: every other k-pop site ever). Also, sad to see AtHeart and The Wind both not make it in, and I know The Wind aren’t girls but neither are TWS. As for the overall central observation about this style vanishing – no, not really. Everything in k-pop moves in cycles, and this style will come back soon and arguably hasn’t even completely vanished anyway. I’m about halfway through writing my new “actual Christian horse-girl meets evil k-pop competition show” themed book Girls909 by the way, all the Christianity and horses and bullshit music and sex crime and ultraviolence is taking a lot of research time, so I’ll continue to write at a slow pace, hopefully the result is worth it or at least upsets a whole lot of people. If you want to help send me some horse facts and I’ll put them in the book right in the middle of the most horrible scenes just for fun.
Sistar19 – Gone Not Around Any Longer
Bravesound slow their usual style down to half speed for this “duo” subunit which is actually about 90% Hyolyn because Bora basically can’t do much besides rap and so she gets about four lines of mumble here. It hasn’t aged too badly these days because the straightforwardness of the song helps it out a lot, but in an era when Bravesound were producing banger after banger, this slow jam just wasn’t what the doctor ordered, and would have amounted to nothing at all were it not for Sistar’s “sexy” reputation getting it over the line. Yes these were the days when being sexy and adult in k-pop was legal, before companies worked out there was more money in making kids sing about their cookies. To think back then some people actually complained about all the sexiness… be careful what you wish for, folks.
That’s all for this week! Kpopalypse roundup returns next week! In the meantime, don’t forget that the Kpopalypse 2025 Objectification Survey is now open, so CLICK HERE to participate and have your say in who are the most attractive men and women of k-pop!
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