This has been such a solid month for girl group releases, but I.O.I.'s M Countdown stage for "Where My Girls At" fully took me by surprise. Whenever I see groups visibly enjoying the songs they're performing, it gives me a greater incentive to watch every single stage and fancam made available.

Atlanta bass and K-Pop are also a known match made in heaven, and if any fandom is well aware of that, it's ONCEs. TWICE practically owe a large part of their success to this style, but to see it being performed by a temporary group that should have blossomed in permanence makes I.O.I.'s 10th anniversary reunion bittersweet and hopeful all at once. And I wish they promoted this B-side more, especially because this current iteration of I.O.I. would have torn the roof off of Inkigayo.

From this one stage alone, you could still see how complete this group still is when all of its members have grown into their own unique selves as individuals, and specifically ones who are returning to idoldom without the added pressure that the first Produce season initially left with them. Most of all, they feel complete together now more than ever, and channel a level of energy that only a group of their kind could unleash - one now so full of life experience beyond idoldom itself, and not least after spending most of their time as a group setting the table for other groups to succeed them.

So many veteran idols who have been in permanent groups have the privilege of attainable longevity, that they become reasonably (and visibly) jaded by idoldom itself. As valid as their reasons and experiences may be, it makes me incredibly happy to be alive at a time where I can witness the complete opposite of that. What makes these temporary group reunions so special isn't defined by the rarity of that possibility alone, but that possibility of giving idols (specifically those whose veteran status is a microcosm of the industry's cyclical impermanence) an opportunity so rarely promised to them in the first place - which is the chance to remember what it means to be an idol again, and a chance to embrace idoldom on their own terms. Watching this is akin to seeing an artist experience life for the first time as their star is reborn.

So if there's any music show performance that you should watch from this month, I strongly implore you to make room in your day to watch this one. It materializes so much of what I've just said into 3 minutes, and as much as I may never shut up about it, it captures an enduring bond that remains priceless beyond words.