Who knew that the middle of November was going to be the most popular time for almost all of my favorite K-pop groups to release new music. That’s right, three EPs were gifted to me in one day. I’m overwhelmed with happiness and new music.
Stray Kids dropped another Japanese album with Giant. It does “recycle” some songs that have shown up in the past, but we did get five new tracks and another Christmas song for those that like that kind of thing. The title track is pretty dang awesome and a real earworm. From what I can tell, it seems like they might finally be accepting how big they actually are. Or at least they are taking their position in pop culture and using it for themselves instead of the people trying to gain from all of their hard work.
“Giant” is for sure the strongest track off the EP, but I appreciate how much rock is showing up here. In fact, that’s definitely the thread tying the whole album together. They achieve it in different ways though. For instance, “Night” kind of gives off the rock sounds I’d associate with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Alternatively, “Falling Up,” adopts a much slower tempo rock sound that I can’t quite reconcile with Stray Kids, but I liked it. The other tracks definitely show off a more pop-punk attitude, but rock is still the foundation. Overall, I found this EP really ejoyable.
Omega X also released their second Japanese EP, To. While not quite as robust as Stray Kids’, the tracks are all pretty solid. In reading Yechan’s descriptions of the songs, he claims that a lot of different genres are present. While I see where he’s coming from, “Toxic” is not exactly what comes to mind when I think of a rock song. All in all, they excel at incorporating R&B and hip hop beats with some of the most pop music you’ve ever heard. I think it would be a harder sell for me if they didn’t seem to genuinely enjoy what they’ve crafted.
And there’s no denying that what they’ve made is catchy. Take their lead single, “Cool My Head.” I only listened to it once and found myself singing it the rest of the week even though I am still just really getting familiar with the group. I think the strongest track of the EP belongs to “Bounce It.” In my opinion, this is the rock track. It’s unique, but it has that rock edge to it while still being high energy. “Think I Wanna Do” has an engaging summery vibe to it that was pleasant to listen to. Do I think this is their strongest EP? Not yet. I did appreciate that they paid homage to the members serving their mandatory military service at the moment in the “Cool My Head” music video. Still really love these guys.
Finally, ATEEZ gives us Golden Hour – Part Two and it is so completely different from the first part that I have no clue if there’s actually supposed to be a through-line between them. Perhaps more parts will bridge these together, but just like Golden Hour – Part One, I wasn’t fully on board with the first listen. There was a ton to like, but as I said, it was so completely different from what I’ve heard from them in the past, and even from just five months ago that it was kind of jarring. Still, the whole vibe with this “comeback” is something I’m totally on board with. The fans are dubbing it “emo,” and I won’t complain with that assessment. It means lots of black and very sexy looks, so I’m here for it.
“Ice on My Teeth,” the first single, is insanely catchy and really dark and edgy. The music video matches that energy beat for beat. In fact, it reminded me of if Ready or Not and The Gentleman made a music video together. It was so cool! With as impressive as that first single was, the opening track “Deep Dive” was incredible from the first note! The cadence of their vocals was really unique and I liked the lo-fi beat and overall tone. Jognho singing one of the choruses was truly magical here. The rest of the tracks will require a few more listens, but they really stuck to an overall theme here, just like the first part of Golden Hour did. I anticipate liking this installment just as much.
Yay K-pop!