I am starting to feel overwhelmed with all of this Comeback news in the K-Pop universe for May alone, not in a bad way, though. So many of my Favs are coming back, and it is kind of softening the blow of all of the enlistment announcements (keywords: kind of). It is also helping with all of the uncertainty around when concerts will be returning. I’m not going to lie, life is wearing me down, so any kind of online concert will help me at this point… But, I don’t want to depress ya’ll, so keep reading to find out what’s been going on in the wonderful world of K-Pop!
HIGHLIGHT is Back with New EP The Blowing!
I have honestly been waiting for this, so I am ecstatic that it’s here! All current members of HIGHLIGHT have completed their military enlistment duties and are back with some music. This new EP, The Blowing, is their first release in 3 years. The lead single “Not the End” is such a beautiful song, a sound, THEIR sound, that I definitely missed hearing.
It’s so hard to pick a favorite song. Not only because all of them are special, but I am just so excited to have them back! Many 2nd generation K-Pop, like HIGHLIGHT, are making their return and it’s exciting. I came into this world two years ago so I feel like I missed out on a lot, but these comebacks are making up for it a little bit.
Follow Them!
Twitter & Instagram @highlight_auent
Youtube: www.youtube.com/c/OFFICIALHIGHLIGHT
Monsta X Japanese Comeback & Other Announcements!
After a pretty successful comeback for my boys for Fatal Love, they are currently promoting their Japanese comeback and album, Flavors of Love. In the initial promo for the lead single, we got “Wanted”, the Japanese versions of “Follow”, “Fantasia”, and “Love Killa”, as well as a new track “Neo-Universe”. Now the rest of the songs have become available, including “Re:VerseDay”, “Secret”, and “Detox”. And earlier this week they announced that they will be coming back with a new Korean-language mini album in June!
Of course a lot of fans can smell the enlistment news coming, but I am trying to be optimistic here. Starship also announced that our beloved leader, Shownu will be sitting out for promotional activities for a while because of new problems with an old eye injury that he had surgery on last year. Some good news, though, Joohoney has officially joined the rest of the group on Instagram. I’m excited to see what’s next for my beloved boys, no matter what happens in the coming months.
Follow Them!
Twitter @OfficialMonstaX
Instagram @official_monsta_x
Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCqHnXpWR6PGgkIGrPp_aLxg
VAV OST and New Music Coming Soon!
When it comes to my babies in VAV, we are all still missing Baron who is currently fulfilling his military enlistment duties. Ace will be leaving soon to do the same. But, until then, St. Van, Lou, Ace, and Ziu have been working on their first OST, a song called “이 밤 (Tonight)” for a K-Drama Somewhat Family. Their beautiful voices fit the theme of the song perfectly, and it feels so refreshing to hear their voices again.
It’s been seven months since their comeback for Made For Two, so you know we were excited when the boys announced a special digital single release coming soon! It will feature 3 songs, “Always”, “Goodbye”, and “Dry Flower”. I already know I will be an emotional mess when I hear these songs. Ever since we saw them last year, I’ve been missing them, especially since we don’t know when we’ll be able to see them together again.
Follow Them!
Twitter & Instagram @VAV_official
Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCAogbKfNxlAKxzBXFHB8i5g
BTS World Domination Continues!
Where do I even start with these guys?… When it comes to endorsement type deals, they have collaborated with McDonalds and are new ambassadors for Louis Vutton. They have also announced a new English-language single called “Butter” to be released a little later this month (May). There’s been some enlistment rumors floating around too but we are not going to talk about that, at least not until we get more concrete facts on the situation.
Follow Them!
Official: http://bts.ibighit.com
Twitter @bts_bighit
Instagram @bts.bighitofficial
Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/BANGTANTV
eAeon Drops New Album Fragile with a Special Feature!
eAeon is not a K-Pop artist but his recent single “Don’t” is going crazy right now because of a certain person that is featured on it… BTS’ RM. I hate that it’s probably the main reason it’s charting so well, but maybe that will help this album get the recognition it deserves. I, on the other hand, listened to the entire album, a few times, and I love it. The overall sound is something I’ve been gravitating towards lately; slower tempo, calm, and chill vibes.
Follow Him!
Instagram @eaeon
SuperM’s Baekhyun and Taeyong Release New Song!
Lastly we have SuperM’s Taeyong and Baekhyun, who have recently come together to release a new song called “Monroe”. The song is available on Soundcloud and I like it. Baekhyun is always an automatic yes for me, on any song that he is on. But I really do love Taeyong’s verses on this one too.
Follow Them!
Taeyong @taeoxo_nct
Baekhyun @baekhyunee_exo
Soundcloud: www.soundcloud.com/taeoxo
*Coming Soon!
NCT Dream – Comeback
Taemin – Solo Comeback (before enlistment)
EverGlow – Comeback
TXT – Comeback
*And a lot more that don’t officially have dates yet!
Some Random-ish Thoughts…
I was going to do a longer post about this but I really don’t want to make this too long. Being a late K-Pop fan, especially when it comes to certain groups (like Monsta X, BTS, EXO, Got7, etc…), mixed with losing almost two years because of COVID, is really making me sad. So many of the groups that I have really gotten attached to have members that are at that military enlistment age, or coming up on it fast. Not to mention, one of them, Got7, basically “disbanded” before I could really see them as the “GOT7” that most of their long-time fans know them as.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like some of the younger groups, but that’s not the point LOL. It has really made me see how different it is to be a fan of artists here in the US. But I have been more excited to see K-Pop/ Intl. artists than I have been to see US based artists. The fan service and appreciation is drastically different so I feel more connected to my K-Pop groups than some of my favorite US artists.
