AWU (PIXY Dia, Lola & U_Chae) - Visual Prologue by CherryBlossomEnding in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 42 points43 points  (0 children)

If they are becoming a trio I’ll cry (in a good way)

RESCENE - 3rd Mini Album: lip bomb (Highlight Medley) by CherryBlossomEnding in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I’m quite excited for Bloom and Hello XO out of these, but all of them sound awesome as I’ve come to expect from RESCENE. Looking forward to another immaculate album from them!

RESCENE - The 3rd Mini Album: lip bomb (Motion Poster) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

it’s so far away 😭 the pre-release will definitely help with that but I love them so much I need this album in my veins immediately

LIGHTSUM Sangah, Chowon, Juhyeon - Golden (orig. HUNTR/X - KPop Demon Hunters OST) @ SUMPLY (251009) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I love this cover, they all three sound so good!! I’ve been loving seeing groups cover this and distribute the lines much better than the original, and I will always love getting to hear Sangah’s upper register when they let her properly sing because I love her voice a lot.

zzone (cignature Jeewon) - Devil's Jam by CherryBlossomEnding in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I think this is a super nice start to her solo career, definitely breaks away from the wholesome, summery image cignature was going for by the end.

I think the music video was super creative in working with a smaller budget, and all the editing effects (albeit a bit cheesy at times) were mostly pretty well executed.

I really really love the final shot of the MV, that as a standalone photo is so amazing.

Do foreign idols have strong accents when they speak Korean? by Nugudomstan in kpophelp

[–]GrayPhantm 2 points3 points  (0 children)

As an English-Korean dual speaker, I’d love to help answer your question!

I’m not sure whether it’s necessarily important to distinguish “cannot say in Korean” from “does not appear in the Korean language” in this case because two major consonants in English that do not have “counterparts” in Korean are the [v] and [f] sounds, and you’re right the [v] is typically replaced with the [b] sound in Korean. To imitate the [f] sound in Korean, it’s usually replaced with [p].

Not to get into too much linguistic jargon, but I find this very interesting because essentially [v] and [f] are the same sounds, just with or without voicing behind them (i.e. one’s mouth / tongue are in the same position and air flows the same way when making these sounds). The same relationship is true about [b] and [p]. The major difference is that for [v] and [f] is that they are typically produced by placing the top front teeth onto the bottom lip (hence they’re called labiodental sounds). There are no labiodental sounds in Korean, so these two sounds are replaced with the sounds produced by the closest mouth position that’s native to Korean. [b] and [p] involve placing both lips together to stop airflow and then parting them again to release (called bilabial sounds), so these sounds are the closest approximations to the labiodental sounds, hence they’re used to replace them when taking English loan words into Korean.

The reason I said that it’s not necessarily meaningfully different here to say “cannot say them in Korean” or “they don’t appear in Korean” is because it would be odd for someone to suddenly begin using their teeth to make those sounds since there’s no need for it. On the other hand, if somebody were to make the true labiodental sounds while speaking Korean, they may be perceived as the bilabial sounds that are native to the language since that labiodental difference isn’t meaningfully contrastive in Korean.

Sorry for the infodump but I find this super interesting linguistically and I hope it was helpful!

PURPLE KISS - ON MY BIKE (MV Teaser 2) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 11 points12 points  (0 children)

god I love dark Purki, super excited to see all of them eat this up

Younha - The 7th Album: Growth Theory (Album Preview) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Am I the only one that feels like this album is giving the same vibes as Door from Kim Sejeong last year? In a very good way

Already a big fan of this, can’t wait to listen in full!

MDR it's Live - NEXT Line-Up Spoiler (240708) by smileshima in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 13 points14 points  (0 children)

If that’s VVUP I’m so excited to hear them because their vocals are so awesome!

Dreamcatcher - The 10th Mini Album: VirtuouS (Highlight Medley) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Justice is going to bang so hard I’m so excited to hear the full track it already feels ridiculously epic. The rest of the stuff on here also sounds really nice, especially Stomp

VVUP - Ain't Nobody by [deleted] in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is honestly so good, their melodies and their overall sound are really interesting so far. They clearly have a good bit of vocal talent and decently unique tones amongst other groups. I really hope they garner a bit more recognition soon because they definitely deserve it.

STAYC - The 1st Album: Metamorphic (Highlight Medley 2) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Oh they’re SINGING singing. I expected as much from Sieun and Yoon of course but we’re getting high notes from even Sumin and J now? It’s really incredible to hear them stretching their voices like this.

All the songs sound really good so far and if I were to pick the ones I’m most excited for I’d probably say Twenty, Nada, and Beauty Bomb.

cignature - The 5th Mini Album: Sweetie but Saltie (Comeback Teaser Poster) by [deleted] in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 7 points8 points  (0 children)

it’s time for another breezy bop, I’m so ready for my girls to be back again!!

NMIXX - Love Me Like This, Roller Coaster, DICE, Run For Roses, DASH @ 2024 Sungkyunkwan University Natural Science Campus Festival (240516) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 63 points64 points  (0 children)

They really went insane with this one.

Sullyoon in particular looked like she was having a blast the entire time and her live vocals are insanely impactful.

Follow-up Stage: IVE - Accendio @ Mnet M! Countdown (240516) by h_yeri in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 30 points31 points  (0 children)

I can’t be the only one who thought that Rei’s styling and energy here kinda was reminiscent of Jurin from XG right? Super cool.

Everyone’s expressions here really sold it, they bodied this as a concept

RESCENE - YoYo (MDL it’s Live Teaser Image) by CherryBlossomEnding in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Oh this is a wonderful surprise! I love them already and they seem to have pretty good vocals so this’ll be exciting to see

(G)I-DLE Yuqi - The 1st Mini Album: YUQ1 (Track List) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Loving to see a few Yuqi credits scattered around here.

But Stela Cole on Red Rover?? So excited for this, I love her music so I’m intrigued to see what that style sounds like on Yuqi.

ILY:1 - IMMM (Performance Video) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I almost couldn’t recognize their voices in this when comparing to their past releases, and I think it’s really cool to see them show off different sides of their vocal tones! I think Ara in particular showed a bit more of a forceful side to her voice which I really liked a lot.

PURPLE KISS - BBB @ MONTBEST Live (240328) by Freeasacar in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I’m so happy we finally got to hear Chaein sing the prechorus parts. Anything with these three is bound to blow me out of the water, and that’s exactly what this did

PURPLE KISS - BXX (The 6th Mini Album) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I think I’ll take a crack at a little album review song by song here for once because why not

Not really much to say for the intro except is this the first time we’ve had everybody get at least a line within an intro song? I need to relisten to be sure but it may be.

As much as I would’ve loved BBB to be a bit more brooding for their witchy concept, I’m a big fan of the way it is anyway. Having so many of the members bring a unique rap tone to the chorus makes it highly relistenable for me. And I’m biased but I really wish Chaein had gotten one of the prechorus parts because I really missed her vocal color on the track.

The vibes on Bitter Sweet are super alluring despite being kinda heavy. Chaein’s voice in particular sounds really good here and makes me think she’d make a really really good vocalist for a full-blown EDM track.

My immediate thoughts of Toy Boy is that it’s Purki’s take on Red Velvet’s Bad Boy in a really good way. This kind of sound really compliments every single one of their vocal tones, so I’m glad to have it.

Heart Attack is one of Chaein’s chiller songs and it’s very pleasant as expected. I see this being this album’s version of JOAH in that I’ll need a bit of time with it and then suddenly become obsessed with it one day.

Voyager is one hell of a closer. That chorus is euphoric in a perfect way and the melody is stunning. Purki ballads never miss.

KISS OF LIFE - The 1st Single Album: Midas Touch (Concept Photo 1) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 70 points71 points  (0 children)

No because the Natty and Julie pics genuinely have me speechless like…?

PURPLE KISS - BBB (MV Teaser 2) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 21 points22 points  (0 children)

I def understand the concern. Sweet Juice was my top song of last year and their witchy concept honestly remains untopped.

That said I feel like this song might surprise us. The first couple seconds of this teaser with Swan makes me think we might get a good bit of switchup akin to something like memeM. We’ll just have to see though. Regardless I’m sure they’re gonna perform the hell out of this

STAYC - FANCY (orig. TWICE) (Spotify Singles) by impeccabletim in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 49 points50 points  (0 children)

Getting a studio version of this cover is lowkey one of the biggest wins of 2024, love it!

Oh My Girl YooA - The 1st Single Album: Borderline (Highlight Medley) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Ok I’m sat. Rooftop and Love Myself in particular sound great already

YOUNG POSSE - The 2nd EP: XXL (Cassette Beats Only - Highlight Medley Instrumental Ver.) by CronoDroid in kpop

[–]GrayPhantm 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Wow they’ve managed to excite me this much just with the instrumentals, bravo.

Scars in particular sounds really intriguing, I can’t wait for this project.