It’s pumpkin season

I Love fall, but some of y’all be wanting to celebrate it when it’s still like 90 degrees out, and I’m just not about that life. Yeah, I can get an iced pumpkin spice latte, but I almost always order it iced. Even in 40 degree weather, I’m not a wimp, lol.

I’m more lenient about it in early September. But I’m still not putting up decorations until like middle of September personally.

Plus, it’s just now starting to cool off in Georgia. But it’s still trying to climb up into the upper 80s. My weather app says we still have about a week before it’s finally in the 70s and dropping.

Anyway, NOW I’m ready to get into fall. And fall is always a busy time in Kpop. So many tours and albums dropping before award season gets started.

And September was another great month for new music. Not too many new artists on here, I’m talking about. Mostly groups and soloist I talk about regularly on here. So let’s get started with some honorable mentions first.

Jihyo “Killin Me Good” and “Talkin’ About It” English versions. I like both of these songs still. They sound pretty much the same to me. You can tell this were written in English first, then converted to Korean lyrics for certain parts. So yeah, nothing really new to say on them.

Rolling Quartz “Fearless” is sooo good. Highly recommend if you like more of a rock sound, like Dreamcatcher. But this is an actual rock band. Playing their own instruments isn’t just a one-off concept for them.

Okay, now to my fave songs this month!

9001 (NINETY O ONE) – What you wanna do (Feat. DAMYE)

Slaps. The instrumentals are my favorite part. Love the use of guitar throughout the song. Need more like this from them.

Rocket Punch – Give Me Your Heart

“Give Me Your Heart” was my favorite of the three songs on this single album. The album itself is ight. Nothing noteworthy, but not something I see myself desiring to go back to.

TRENDZ – MY WAY

“Ven Conmigo” is good. Love a Latin moment. “My Way” is fine. “O.Y.E” is my fave of the bunch. I would love more like “O.Y.E”.

NCT U (Taeil and Haechan) – N.Y.C.T (New York City)

Of course we like it, Love it, actually. The subunit we’ve needed for the longest time has finally arrived and excels as expected. Very chill song.

V (BTS) – Layover

“Slow Dancing” is the best song off this album, and I understand why they held it back and made it the title track. Soooo good.

This is the jazzy song and album we’ve been asking for. I haven’t changed my opinion on “Rainy Days” or “Love Me Again”. They’re fine. A little choppy flow wise. I loveee “Blue”. Easily my favorite b-side.

Not too bad of an album. I’d like a part 2 expanding on what we got here.

And obviously, V looks amazing throughout all these videos and photoshoots. This honey blonde look on him??!! It suits him well. But has he really had a bad hair color?

TOMORROW X TOGETHER & Anitta – Back for More

Looooooove this song. Finally, a TXT collab I’ll keep on repeat. It’s been stuck in my head since my first listen. And it’ll probably be stuck in my head randomly until the end of time.

I love the interactions with Anitta they keep posting on TXT’s official social media accounts. And I’m loving TXT being back in their dancy pop sound.

I’m very much back in my TXT living rent-free in my head era. The MOA energy is strong in this one (me). And we’re getting more long hair Gyu in this next comeback? God is good.

Loossemble – Loossemble

I wasn’t a huge fan of “Sensitive” at first. Like as a song. But I’ve completely changed my mind on it. I’ve been listening to it a lot since the concert.

I saw Loossemble on their U.S. debut ceremony in Atlanta. And this was such a fun show. It was cool hearing the girls talk about the creative process while recording and preparing this album.

I love the music video for it so much. I actually hadn’t watched it before my concert, so the first time I watched it was when they played it while the girls got changed and performed the song live.

But the first time it first came on, I was afraid the whole album would sound like it and I’d hate it.

But then “Real World” started and things continued to go up from there. “Colouring” is that girl. I’m going to have that song on repeat for the rest of the year easily.

I’m glad they know it’s a fan favorite. “Newtopia” sounds very much like a LOONA song. Probably my second favorite b-side. “Day by Day” sounds like a Red Velvet song, and I’m here for it. Oh, and “Strawberry soda”! This one has also grown on me more since the concert. They performed all the songs off Loossemble.

This is an album of the year contender right here. Right now, I’d say it’s in the top 5 for me.

DAWN – Narcissus

Both “Star” and “Heart” are phenomenal. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy a ballad from Dawn. He did that. “Heart” feels like a song by The Weeknd, but I love that. This album sounds like he was goin through it, but made a beautiful album about of it. I like it a lot.

I’ve been waiting for solo Dawn music for so long, and it feels like it was well worth the wait.

D.O. (EXO) – Lost

Wasn’t expecting to like anything off a D.O solo because it sounds so different from EXO’s music. But “Lost” is amazing.

Just uptempo enough to be interesting (to me) but slow enough to sound similar to his previous releases. He even made an acoustic version on “Lost” that slows things down a bit and give you more space to soak in his soulful vocals.

TEMPEST – Into The Tempest

Oh, I love a dance pratice video! I like “Dive” a lot. Seeing the choreo with it sells me on the song even more. It’s my favorite song off this single album.

The first few seconds of me hearing “Vroom Vroom”, I immediately hated it.

I gave it a good minute and a half and was like, “yeaaah this isn’t for me.” “Bluetooth” was forgettable for me.

EL7Z UP – 7+UP

Okay, “Die for You” is a tune. I didn’t realize there is an English version of it as well. Same with “Cloud 9”. These are my two favorite songs from 7+UP such a clever title. I’m gonna keep an eye on them. I like what I’m hearing from them so far.

I’m never gonna say no to a female supergroup.

Kep1er – Magic Hour

They did it again! “Galileo” is such a fun, upbeat track. I wasn’t sure what to expect with a name like that. But I’m here for it. Kep1er truly get better with every comeback. “The Door” slows things down a bit.

We were at 100, and now we’ve gone down to like 90-85%. I really like the harmonies on “The Door”. “Love on Lock” has more electronic/synth vibes to it. It’s hard to pick a favorite song out of the full group ones on this album, but it might be “Love on Lock”.

I haven’t chosen a fave between “Tape” and “Tropical Light” either. I just know I’m gonna be listening to this album a lot. Another addition to my fave albums of 2023.

ONEUS – La Dolce Vita

“Intro: Beggin’ you” is sooo good. It’s perfect as an intro because it doesn’t over stay it’s welcome. It’s the right amount of hype to get you excited for the rest of the album.

Except, I didn’t care for the rest of La Dolce Vita much. It’s fine. I think I like the instrumentals more than the melodies of the vocals and rap most of the album.

There were parts in “Baila Conmigo”, “Simulation”, and “Epilogue” that I liked, but not enough for me to come back to these songs.

GEMINI – Love Sick

“Body On Me” feat PENOMECO is a bop. I was hoping we’d get a Dawn feature, since GEMINI was just on Narcissus. Love it when both artist’s songs slap.

“Attention” is great. Dawn and BLASÉ are great on that track. I can’t embed the video because its age restricted, so beware, lol. Good thing I had “Body On Me” ready.

Love Sick has a pretty consistent midtempo sound throughout, along with acoustic guitar strings in the background. If you like previous GEMINI releases, this is one you’ll enjoy as well.

Hoody (후디) – Sailing

I love these travel music videos like Yooa’s “Lay Low” and Jaehyun’s “Horizon“. Both songs I’ve linked my thoughts on if you missed it.

Hoody looking stunning. I missed her so much. It’s always a good time when she drops music.

Another solid release from Miss Hoody. Zero skips. I wasn’t expecting this like 80s retro song like “So Good To Me” but I love it. The horse noise in that song is so funny. Another artist where if you’ve loved their previous releases, you’ll love this one too. More of the same in a good way.

I don’t have a favorite song yet, but I’ll be listening to this album a lot as the year ends.

Billlie – BYOB

“BYOB” another bop!! Billlie don’t miss. And they’re a girl’s girl. The “stop, you’re not invited” is my favorite part. I like that there is an English version of this song too. Both versions slap.

I can’t wait for the new album to drop in October!

I was waiting to see how I’d feel about Jungkook’s “3D” but unfortunately I didn’t like it. It feels like Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You” but less interesting instrumentally and vocally. I love Jungkook’s voice. That’s not the problem.

Actually, probably the only good thing going on here. I don’t find the lyrics catchy. Jack Harlow is giving… something? I knew when he was announced, Jungkook was gonna hard carry this track. Like might as well made it a solo song, or had a different feature.

But a good feature makes you want to check out that artist’s other tracks. Solo or feature, and this made me even less interested in Jack Harlow’s music. It worked for me with TXT and Anitta. And I already knew about Latto. So idk, this didn’t make me less excited about Jungkook’s upcoming album, just a bit more cautious in excitement.

Good thing I still get “Seven” stuck in my head. I will continue listening to that, lol.

And yeah, that’s that for September! I do want to mention that in October, I want to try out first impressions reviews on here. So please look forward to that. They’ll be short. Probably around 500 words.

Sometimes I post quick thoughts on Twitter. But I don’t always think about it. But I do feel like I should be posting more on here throughout the month regarding new music.

I know other Kpop bloggers do it. So I probably should too, lmao. The month faves isn’t going anywhere. Those are literally my favorite articles to write every month.

Anyway, I hope y’all had a good September. Let me know what y’all were upto this month, along with music you’ve been listening to on repeat. Next up is the finale of the Twice series. Idk what’s after that, lol.

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Take care!

Ash