may 2023 listening log

saw it was shinee's anniversary yesterday so i decided to listen to another of their releases. im on my journey to listen to their entire discography, so i thought this would be perfect for the occasion. i really didnt know which release to put on since im not listening to them in chronological order (which i think i should be doing.... but oh well). i've mostly choosing them from their album covers and how cool it looks to me SO i picked sherlock, their 4th ep.

from the start this one is kinda crazy. the first 3 songs are just an incredible back to back experience. first off we have sherlock, an incredible mash up of clue and note. and can i just say that this is such a well made mashup. some kpop mashups are so........ like the way they put some together with whatever cohesion and call it a day is just so lazy. but the way they did sherlock is just really good. i did it really helps as well that both clue and note are bangers and well made full songs on their own. these 3 songs are phenomenal on their own but for me the one who really takes the cake is note. i mean. are you listening to this? this is just fucking insane. i love so much that marching band drum in the intro bc it fits so well with how this song feels overall. so like... grand! its so in your face and the chorus is so catchy as well i just wanna scream this song every time i listen to it HELPPP i had actually listened to this song before listening to this ep. its truly one of my favs from them. give it up give it up for SHINEEEEEEEEE

the rest of this ep is pretty alright! i dont really care for ballads in kpop tbh but shinee gets a pass bc they are great singers so they might as well. i think from the rest my favs were alarm clock, stranger, and the reason. shoutout to stranger cus that's such an electropop jam so fuzzy. and alarm clock is really cool as well with the strings and piano while also having that electropop sound. super cool stuff my least fav song in here is probably honesty... i just really dont fuck with ballads but, again, they can sing so its okay.

overall i really enjoyed this ep of theirs!!!!!! the highs were very fucking high. i did find it kinda funny how ep has such energetic electropop songs while also having ballads that make me go honk shooo mi mi mi mi in the track list. i know kpop in general doesnt really gaf about cohesiveness when it comes to their releases but in here its particularly funnier. THANK YOU SHINEE!

highlights: note, alarm clock, stranger

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listened on 25.may.23

you know what? my bad. my bad for having high expectations for this after listening to the highlight medley prior to listening to the EP. yeah that highlight medley was so good. the bait with the clips they picked was CRAZYY. fate sounded so good i was so excited for fate THINKING that it wouldn't be an intro BECAUSE enhypen intro's USUALLY get a small mv at the start of promotions SO I THOUGHT ok. no intro mv which means fate is an actual song YAY BUT NO. HOW FOOLISH OF ME to think that.

my horrible experience with fate might have tainted this entire EP for me bc i was also looking forward to sacrifice, chaconne, and bills the most but at the end of the day nothing in this ep really clicked with me and i find that so crazy bc i thought i was absolutely going to love this from the highlights preview.

alright. lets start with fate, i loved fate the SONG portion of fate is genuinely one of the best things ive heard from this group and its EVERYTHING i want from them. i just cant wrap my head around WHY why do they always choose these songs for their spoken intros??? pisses me off.

sacrifice (eat me up) was pretty alright tbh. i might listen to this one more. its like a fever 2.0 and thats ok! actually not even ok thats great! please make more songs like fever that would be such a good thing at this point.

chaconne and bills really did nothing to me despite how good they sounded in the previews. like they are just OK... ESPECIALLY bills?!?!? that intro with the dreamy guitars sounded so promising. so MEEEEE but i felt like the entire was just a bunch of nothing. idk what it was. but it just didnt get to me.

and actually thats literally how i feel abt this entire EP. i thought i would really like the songs i thought sounded cool from the preview but nothing here made me excited or got to me at the end of the day. it honestly just made me sad at the lost potential that some of these songs have.

i do think that bite me is the worst one for me here... and surprisingly i kinda thought karma was fun??? which is crazy bc when i heard it on the highlights preview i literally rolled my eyes. still dont like it that Much but theres that. the guitar was fun

idk what else to say. i think i need to stop holding onto them bc clearly they are past their peak for me.

i loved border : carnival and dimension : dilemma. A LOT!!!!! i ended up buying those 2 albums shortly after their release 2nd hand cus i just wanted the CDs because, sure, despite having their flaws here and there, i really enjoyed them as a whole and made me so excited for their future releases. i dont really "stan" this group but they were one of my fav kpop groups in terms of music. that quickly changed in 2022 with blessed cursed and again with manifesto : day 1. they flopped real HARD for me. so incredibly hard. as someone who had enjoyed everything they had put out so far.

so when i heard the previews i really thought this meant i could enjoy their music again because it sounded so up my alley but i feel like its missing so much?

and fuck whoever is in that studio making sure all the spoken intros have impeccable instrumentals / song bits, I HATE YOU!!!!!!! DIEEE!!!!!!

highlights: fate (the part where its not spoken), sacrifice (eat me up)

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listened on 22.may.23

been meaning to listen to this EP for a whileeee since i love free somebody so muchhh. i have a kpop house playlist and i am constantly jamming to this song whenever it plays on that. well i did listen to it! and let me tell you there's some solid dancepop and house-y tracks in here!!! i love how groovy it is and despite being from 2016 it has aged very well!!! i find that some kpop releases from those years that use very punchy electronic sounds just sound very dated at times. but the production in this really nailed it.

besides free somebody, i really really liked 예쁜 소녀 (I Wish). i love dreamy electronic songs like that. it's something that would fit loona's odd eye circle so well. i think if anything sounds a bit like its from 2016 its def galaxy with its heavy electropop sound but even that song slaps as well since its got a very fun instrumental.

i listen to my fair share of f(x) songs, so i had heard of luna's singing outside of this EP. but wow she really has a very soothing voice as well. and i know that because i really enjoy the ballads as well. my medicine is super pretty

overall this was a great listen!!! i was honestly just curious to hear the ep that free somebody came out of. and it absolutely did not disappoint. very happy with this!!!

highlights: free somebody, 예쁜 소녀 (I Wish), galaxy

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listened on 19.may.23

i had listened to this on release day and honestly? i think it was nice. relistening to it right now. i still think its very nice :] im not very into tripleS bc i know their whole thing is about.... nfts....... ugh.... (modhaus die) but man. i really do like the production team behind them. some solid bangers from them. deja vu is so dreamyyyyyy oh my

highlights: dimension (KRE ver.), deja vu, touch

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listened on 4.may.23... and again 16.may.23

i did like it!!!!

edit: okay i noticed the first track sounded very similar to 2 other yoasobi tracks (in its structure) and that made me giggle. like i do like them. but ayase.. my dude. he has a very serious problem with relying on formulas WAYYY too much. love their stuff. but almost every song is like a copy of another and thats just ? bruh

highlights: ミスター, セブンティーン

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listened on 11.may.23

dont have much to say abt this one either but another just Okay for me. freakin' bad was very enjoyable and good enough is very nice. love the strings. tbh i would have never seen a song like that coming from them. reminds me a lot of lucy

highlights: freakin' bad, good enough

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listened on 9.may.23

dont got much to say about this one but it wasnt that bad tbh? i think erase me can grow on me

highlights: echo

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listened on 8.may.23