The World, All At Once

Girl crush concepts are nothing new in K-Pop, with quite a number groups making it their bread and butter. What is fairly uncommon though are girl groups that utilise the horror concept. Most K-Pop listeners can probably tell you about DREAMCATCHER, who can very easily be said to be the pioneers of that concept (although other groups have briefly dabbled in it before), but now we have a new contender in PIXY, ALLART Entertainment's rookie girl group. Managed by Happy Tribe Entertainment, the 6-member group debuted in February this year with title track Wings and wowed audiences with their outstanding live vocals as well as their powerful choreographies, all while spinning an insanely dark fairy tale. After a short period of less than 3 months, the girls are back with their first mini-album "Fairy forest : Bravery" so without further ado, let's dive into their latest title track Let Me Know.  Meaning : PIXY is one of the few groups that craft a storyline with their tit...

Fun fact, most of the Netflix Original K-dramas you see aren't actually distributed by the streaming service. Typically, they'll be working in tandem with a South Korean broadcasting company like KBS or TVN to distribute the drama so that South Koreans who don't have Netflix can still watch the series on either free-to-air or cable TV channels. There aren't too many "actual" Netflix Originals around, with The School Nurse Files or Love Alarm  being some of them, but in general, it's easy to doubt that a streaming service alone can produce a quality drama without the backing of an actual broadcaster. That's why it constantly surprises me that Netflix is really upping their game in terms of producing their own dramas and this is exactly the case with Move to Heaven . Truly one of the most emotional and deepest products to hit the market, this drama is sure to hit a sore spot for many viewers and create tons of sentimental moments for us. Let's dive i...

Woollim Entertainment is famous for ensuring their artists have perfect live vocals, with very few instances of their groups lip-syncing during live stages. This was the case with older groups INFINITE and Lovelyz, who maintain their vocal stability even with physically-demanding choreographies, and is definitely the case for rookie girl group Rocket Punch. Having debuted to a fair amount of hype since half of their members participated in  Produce 48 , Woollim's second girl group has continued to wow fans with their varying concepts and excellent performances. After releasing 3 EPs with "Punch" in their title, all of which gave off more modern dance-pop vibes, Rocket Punch's first comeback in a little over 9 months dives headfirst into the retro sound, something that has seen its resurgence in recent years, with their first single album "Ring Ring" (no "Punch" here) and title track of the same name. Without further ado, let's dive in.  Meaning...

In the past year or so, the world has been changed forever by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of us have spent our days staying at home, socially distancing when in public, engaging in numerous video calls for both work and leisure purposes or wearing masks when out and about. Of course, the virus has all but made holiday travels a thing of the past, whether it's air travel or otherwise, heck my last plane ride was in December 2018 (although this has to partially do with me being conscripted). Why am I talking about such a depressing topic? That's because this theme of how COVID has affected our lives is front and center in fromis_9's latest comeback.  8 months after the release of their third EP, Off The Record Entertainment's sole girl group has returned with their second single album "9 WAY TICKET", continuing the rookie girl group's development into 4th generation K-Pop powerhouses by adopting a far more mature sound as compared to the bubblegum pop from t...

Exactly 6 months after their debut and after dropping a special holiday single, SM Entertainment's newest girl group aespa is back with their first proper comeback. Expanding more on the SM Culture Universe (SMCU), SM's attempt at creating a "shared universe" for their artists (which so far also includes seniors NCT U and SuperM), aespa's latest title track Next Level is really doing just that, bringing things to the next level by experimenting with a new concept. Experimental is right though because this song adopts one of the strangest arrangements I've ever come across, which completely threw me for a loop. Without further ado, let's dive in.  Meaning : To get a better understanding of what aespa (and SM) were going for with Next Level, we must first take a look at the lore behind their debut title track Black Mamba as well as the background behind the SMCU. As said in my Black Mamba review, their debut title was about aespa trying to get in touch with ...

When people pass away without any arrangements made, who will be the ones to hear their final stories and organise their last memories? Enter trauma cleaners, forensic professionals who help to remove, clean and decontaminate items left behind in an area, typically at a trauma scene, hence their name. While typically used as crime scene cleanup crew, trauma cleaners can also be employed to clean up the homes of serial hoarders or the homes of those who've simply passed away, the last example of which is present in Move to Heaven , starring Lee Je-hoon  ( Signal , Where Stars Land ) and Tang Joon-sang  ( A Poem A Day ,  Crash Landing on You ) as male leads CHO SANG-GU and HAN GEU-RU respectively.  A Netflix Original based on the essay "Things Left Behind" by ex-trauma cleaner Kim Sae-byul, this drama revolves around trauma cleaning business "Move to Heaven", initially run by Geu-ru and his father Jeong-woo but after the latter's untimely death, Geu-ru's h...

Charm. Charisma. Cunning. What do these three nouns have in common with one another? If you guessed that they all apply to the character of  Vincenzo , you'd be absolutely right. Executing his precisely planned motions with extreme cunning, the charming and charismatic consigliere has wormed his way into the hearts of not just the other characters in the drama but also those of viewers. However, while the story told in this series is extremely engaging and entertaining, many plot elements are very troubling and leave a weird feeling in your stomach after you're done. Without further ado, let's dive in.  SERIES RETROSPECT AND REVIEW (SPOILER ALERT) Before I start, it's important to preface this by saying that I in no way support or condone the criminal activities that Vincenzo, Cha-young and their gang engage in, regardless of their motivations or the circumstances they're in. From my opening statement I think it's quite clear that Vincenzo isn't a good perso...