On Loop with Lauren

"tOgether fOrever" - Kep1er                       Live performance      I think this is one of Kep1er's best b-sides to date, so it's a bit of a shame that it's a Japanese release. To me, this song feels like a quintessential k-pop girl group song with a little of Kep1er's flair. The acoustic guitar in the verses is a nice touch that I really appreciate. The chorus is   pretty and uplifting, but with a tinge of melancholic nostalgia that adds some emotional weight. Then, a nice dance break takes the place of the bridge and adds energy to the song. The instrumental for the dance break is pretty cool and fits Kep1er's sound well.  Kep1er is still set to disband this upcoming July, but I'm sure this lovely song will remain in Kep1ians' hearts "forever and ever and ever." "tOgether fOrever" English translation "Like It Like It" - Secret Number                   Music video (English subs available)                   Live pe

      Korean artists often promote in Japan, release Japanese versions of their songs, and/or release original Japanese songs. Between Japan being the second largest music market behind the USA and being so close by, it makes sense for k-pop artists to participate in the Japanese music scene.       I have to admit that the majority of the Japanese releases from k-pop artists didn't really appeal to me in 2022, which is the main reason this post category didn't exist on my blog last year. However, 2023 had a number of good songs, so I wanted to highlight some of my favorites! This category will only have 2 parts, by the way.      Often times, the Japanese releases get overlooked or completely missed by the average fan, as it can be difficult to even find out about these albums if you don't closely follow the social media accounts of every artist. Also, these songs are usually performed and promoted only in Japan and nowhere else. K-pop artists sometimes release Korean versio

           Hi, I've finally returned! I honestly did think about writing some additional blog posts after finishing my top 20 posts last year, but I kept losing motivation to write. I did listen to every korean pop release I found out about in 2023, so I figured I would do my top 20 lists again. Before getting to those though, I'm going to share a few additional favorites posts.     I wanted to start off with my nugu faves, since there were some great releases that just missed making it into my lists. Not to mention, I love spotlighting underrated artists. As a refresher, n ugu means "who" in korean and is a western term used to refer to korean artists that are unknown to most listeners.  ---------------------------------------- "For You (Go! Go!)" - MAKA'MAKA             Music video           This girl group debuted in 2020, but they only have 4 single albums so far. I do recall their debut single being pleasant, but otherwise this group didn't real

  FINALLY, we've arrived at the final part of my top 20 lists for 2022! Rules 1 song per artist per list No set rankings (order is generally good to best) ---------------------------------------- "Long Live The King" - KINGDOM             Music video (English subs available)             Showcase performance (the stable live vocals 👍)             Full cam view of music show performance      Kingdom has been wowing me since their debut in early 2021, and they kept the momentum throughout 2022 even after a member left suddenly and a new one was added. No other group has a royal theatrical concept quite like Kingdom's, and their performances are always incredible! "Long Live The King" is Louis' era, and the concept mixes historical European/French elements with current trends.     The track starts off with a 30 second long intro, which is incredibly rare in k-pop title tracks these days. Honestly, I love how unapologetically long the intro is, and I think i