Dear, letter readers–
Welcome back to Letters From Liz!
First and foremost, I hope everyone is enjoying their summer; whether you are on summer break from school, on a vacation away from your job, or just enjoying the nice, hot weather! I seriously cannot believe we are already in July. Is it just me, or is 2024 just flying by? I feel like we all say that about every year, but this year in particular just feels extra quick.
Anyway, with that being said, it’s also that time of year that I get to talk about some of my favorite albums I’ve been obsessed with during the first half of the year! I did the same thing last year, by the way. 🙂
Let’s get right into it, shall we?
5.) MIDAS TOUCH – KISS OF LIFE
If there’s a rookie group that deserves their flowers, it’s Kiss of Life. Kiss of Life is a 4-member K-pop girl group under S2 Entertainment; the members are Julie, Natty, Belle, and Haneul. When they first debuted, they were considered ‘nugu’, which in Korean means “who.” In the K-pop community, it is a term used to describe a K-pop group from a smaller company with a below average album sale rate. Groups who get more recognition, bigger fanbase, and have album sales that pass that ‘nugu’ status, they typically are no longer ‘nugu’; they graduate from nugudom. Kiss of Life is officially no longer a ‘nugu’ group, and this comeback is to show for it. Kiss of Life have brought a feel and sound back into K-Pop that most left behind in 2014; they are very “2nd-gen coded” as the community describes them. Their latest comeback (and only single album, which is a disgrace knowing this was possibly the best K-pop comeback of the year thus far.
The group title track, “Midas Touch” felt very nostalgic in a way that I feel like hasn’t been explored much in recent K-pop comebacks. Sure, we have the “90s and early 2000s” vibe happening a lot in the genre, but this song felt like a song you would’ve heard from a time in K-pop where the music was mature and sexy; these girls have ran with that concept and made it their own in the year they’ve been a group. Anyway, this group is definitely one to keep on your radar has one of the best 5th gen K-pop girl groups; not only are they super talented, but they also do not miss with their title tracks! I’m excited to see the direction that these girls are going in in the duration of their career.
4.) AMNESIA – WOODZ
Back in December 2023, I actually got to see WOODZ live in concert on the same exact day he announced his enlistment to the military the following month. It was possibly my most rewarding concert I’ve been to yet, but while on tour, he performed an unreleased song that was going to come out before he enlisted in January. In his later discographies, he’s been straying away from that typical K-Pop soloist sound and into more of the K-Rock genre. I’m a sucker for some punk rock music, especially if it’s actually done right. So, I was vibing hard when hearing this song live for the first time and was excited for it’s official release. A week passes by and bam; the song drops. The song has been on my everyday listens playlist since then.
It’s no surprise that WOODZ is one off my favorite K-Artists ever since he was a apart of the short-lived project group, X1. Once that ended, WOODZ continued his music journey as a soloist and I’ve been a fan ever since. I’ve said this multiple times in the past: this man has a no-skip discography. This single album is no different! This single album features the title track, “Amnesia”, as well as one B-side track; “BEHIND”. I’m so sad that we won’t get new music from him until his dischargement in July 2025, I was so glad to get this gem before his send-off.
3.) BABYMONS7ER – BABYMONSTER
As much as the K-pop community wants to bring negativity to this group just because of the agency they come from and are the “younger sisters” of international powerhouse group, Blackpink, these girls are talented as fuck. Babymonster (sometimes referred to as Baemon), is a 7-member girl group that debuted late last year under YG Entertainment, aka the same company that Blackpink was under from 2016 to 2023. The 7 members are Ruka, Pharita, Asa, Ahyeon, Rami, Rora, and Chiquita. Although the group released their debut single, “BATTER UP” in Novemebr 2023, Ahyeon was not featured in the original recording due to health reasons, so technically their official debut as a 7-member group with their 1st Mini Album, BABYMONS7ER. The album features three new songs and OT7 versions of “BATTER UP”, “Stuck in the Middle”, and “DREAM”. The title track, “SHEESH”, follows in the same musical footsteps of groups before them; for the most part it was a pretty decent song that fits the formula of your typical YG group. Their second b-side, “LIKE THAT” is the true star of the album. The song is the only English song on the album, but it suits the girls’ voices so well and truly gives them the opportunity to show off their abilities.
For the most part, I actually really like the group as a whole, and I think their company knows what they’re doing by having their trainees train for years until they are actually ready to debut. Prior to K-pop becoming the phenomenon it is now, I feel like this was actually the norm for pre-debut trainees. Nowadays, K-pop feels too fast paced and mass produced for their idols to have the proper training pre-debut, but that’s another discussion for another time. Anyway, I am excited to see where these girls go and how big they become as they release more music and have more comebacks int the future.
2.) eternal sunshine – Ariana Grande
When news dropped that Ariana Grande was back in the studio after not releasing solo music since 2020, the internet went into a frenzy. This album (while highly anticipated) also happened during the time other news came out about Ariana getting a divorce and getting into a relationship with one of her Wicked co-stars. Needless to say, fans were anxiously awaiting the release of any new Ariana music to tell her side of the story of what’s been said about her, and her 7th studio album, eternal sunshine does just that. Her first single, “yes, and?” was her way of responding to the dating rumors and accusations that were circulating around the media at the time, giving us a dance pop beat to literally pop pussy to. Her second and leading single of the album, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)” took a completely different direction in terms of sound and story behind the lyrics.
There’s no doubt that this album was Ariana’s most vulnerable album after Thank U, Next in 2019. This album in particular talks about the things that weren’t in the public eye; mainly about the marriage she was in for the last couple of years. While the overall album has a great message of “the greatest love you will have in life is the one you have with yourself”, the album was not my favorite of hers. At the time of its release, I really enjoyed listening to to the B-sides, “bye” and “eternal sunshine”, the title tracks were really the stars of the album. Although Ariana claims that her relationship with music has changed in the years, I’m glad that she was able to put out an album that wasn’t just a sad recollection of memories from her past relationship, but also allowed to have moments that were fun and energetic with uplifting messages about self-love.
1.) How Sweet – NewJeans
These girls do no make bad music, and it completely shows. NewJeans’ second mini album, Get Up, was my favorite album of 2023; spoiler alert. There music always has a way to get stuck in your head the moment you first listen to it; this time is no different. Within the past year, these girls have been in between a major discussion regarding their label CEO and the CEO of HYBE, which ADOR is a sub-label under (that was a mouthful to explain). Despite the messy accusations made from each party, the company still gave the green light for the girls to have their first Korean comeback since Get Up. This time, they released their second single album with two new songs, “Bubble Gum” and “How Sweet”, which is also the name of the overall album itself. I… can’t explain how nostalgic “Bubble Gum” feels when I’m listening to it. Like sure, nowadays everything is considered nostalgic if it’s something that was trendy or popular during a certain decade in the past, but this song isn’t just nostalgic-feeling, it’s timeless. The upbeat synths and drums with their light, refreshing vocals makes the song feel like you’re back in your childhood during the time when everything around you was saturated in color. Yes, that was a bit dramatic, but it’s the experience I definitely had when I first heard it. Needless to say, it dethrones “New Jeans” as my favorite NewJeans song overall.
“How Sweet” took a me a couple of listens to get into and when it finally did, I couldn’t stop singing it… like in this moment. The beat of the song sounds like it comes straight out of a club in Miami in the late 90’s or if you lived in the NYC area growing up, this song sounds like it came straight out of the KTU radio station! This might be a reach, but their vocals remind me a lot of The Spice Girls; light and airy, youthful and refreshing, and the chorus of this song always reminds me of that fact. While their comebacks have had mixed reviews (your typical “same recycled Americanized K-pop music” comment, I see you guys), the girls have received 4 music show wins; the first being just 8 days after the single album was released.
As of the time I am writing this (yes, in the middle of June), NewJeans is gearing up for their Japanese debut with two leading singles, “Supernatural” and “Right Now”. Newsflash: ‘Supernatural just might dethrone TWICE’S “Breakthrough” as my favorite Japanese release ever.)
Anyway, that’s all I have for now! There are some albums on the way that I’m anticipating (I.e. Camila Cabello’s C, XOXO and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet) dropping later this year, but like always – I am excited to see what album takes home the true win as my top album of 2024 in December.
Until then, letter readers! 😀
Letters From Liz. 