'Feedback': BoA, Queen of K-Pop, Returns With a Nostalgic Summer Bop
BoA, Queen of K-Pop™, is back - because she's got to keep carrying the entire K-pop industry on her back. (Kidding, although I do secretly love seeing comments like that.) "Feedback" - her latest Korean single, out on Tuesday (June 4) - might as well have been called "Throwback," because that's…
'Cut It Up': Queen CL Returns to Slice & Dice Some Bitches
Queen CL, The Baddest Female™, is back at last, and she's brought a few friends (and a few sharp objects) along with her. The 28-year-old 2NE1 girl group member-turned-solo star teamed up with Japanese hip-hop collective PKCZ - that's Exile's Makidai, M-flo's Verbal and DJ Daruma - as well as "Take…
'Kill This Love': BLACKPINK's Back to Kick (Br)ass
BLACKPINK's back in our area - and quite frankly, they ought to just look into getting a sublet or something because these frequent visits are getting kind of ridiculous. Kidding! May they buy a house and remain in our area forever and ever. (And may we all remain forever young.) Jennie, Lisa, Rosé…
'What You Waiting For?': Anda Reboots Her Career With a Banger Intended for BLACKPINK
To no one's surprise, K-pop is continuing to deliver quality in 2019. Today's gem comes from two equally intriguing acts: R.Tee, the DJ and composer hailing from YG's sub-label The Black Label responsible for co-producing BLACKPINK's "Playing With Fire" and "DDU-DU DDU-DU" among other hits, and…
'Butterfly' Is Why 'Stan Loona' Is (Rightfully) a Thing
Log on to Twitter. Actually, don't, it's the Bad Place. But if you do, you'll see that the running joke and/or rallying cry - at least across vasts portions of K-Pop Stan Twitter™, and various pockets of Gay Twitter™ - is "Stan Loona." Got a problematic politician? A popular Western pop star? Any…
'Noir': Sunmi Shows the Dark Side of Stunting for the Gram
Sunmi, formerly of the Wonder Girls (still too soon, gone but never forgotten), has rapidly become one of my new favorite K-pop soloists over the past two years, thanks to one-two-three punch of "Gashina," "Heroine" and "Siren" - and it appears she's just going to keep the love (and likes - more on…
'Thank U Soooo Much': Yubin Carries the Wonder Girls Retro Pop Torch (And Wants You to Stop Talking So Much)
Tired: "thank u, next." Wired: "Thank U Soooo Much." The Wonder Girls are still thriving in 2018 - even if they aren't actually together anymore. (Too soon, I know. I'm sorry.) Sunmi's one of the best (and weirdest) soloists in the game at the moment - and Yubin's coming in hot at the tail-end of…
'Punk Right Now': Girls' Generation's Hyo Gets Reckless, Eats Gluten in Club Banger With 3LAU
"You know who I am. Name's on my necklace." HYO, The Artist Formerly Known as Kim Hyo-yeon of Girls' Generation, is hungry for more. Following her debut as DJ HYO with "Sober" earlier in April (which I spoke to her about for Paper), as well as providing a lil' touch in Girls' Generation sub-unit…
'Solo': The Emancipation of BLACKPINK's Jennie
So let it be written, so let it be done: BLACKPINK is the revolution. Unlike the West, where girl groups rise to fame before someone decides they're Alice_Deejay_-_Better_Off_Alone.mp3 before crawling back for a reunion tour years later to recreate the nostalgia for some coin (see you at the Fifth…
From Girl on Top to 'Woman' Upside Down: BoA Reaffirms Her Reign as the Queen of K-Pop
BoA's not a girl, not yet - err, actually, very much now a woman. The 31-year-old industry vet has also been leading the pack since the release of her debut album ID; Peace B in 2000. While her popularity has wavered in recent years, as it inevitably does in the world of pop, the quality of her…
Wonder 'Woman': BoA Is Coming Back, Yet Again, in 2018
Why stage one comeback, or even two, when you can pull off three in the same year? After releasing her first-ever Korean mini-album, One Shot, Two Shot in February, followed by her fantastic return to Japan with the underrated 私このままでいいのかな - plus her special Unchained mini-album for good measure! -…
'Siren': Sunmi Delivers a Fierce Warning
Sunmi remains one of K-Pop's biggest weirdos, and for that, I am grateful. The 26-year-old Wonder Girls superstar has proven herself to be a very unique kind of soloist in just a short amount of time, from her re-debut with the biting "Gashina" to the slightly Cheryl Tweedy Cole Fernandez-Versini…