Best New Music: June 2026

A ranking and review of the best new K-pop, J-pop, and C-pop!

View the Substack version of this piece here!

#20: Girls2, Seven Blooms
This J-pop group has chosen a solid selection of singles for this compilation, which also comes with some new 2026 songs. “BLOOM! BLOOM! BLOOM!” has appeal for aespa fans, especially for the fierce EDM beat drop after a quiet yet commanding introduction. “Eagle Eyes” brings to mind “Curious” by UNIS, with a fast bubblegum-pop-expectant bounce but punk-slanted guitars. (Fans of Rolling Quartz will also be pleased!) Older standouts include the brass-brushed groove of “SAKURA TODOKE” and the durably danceable “LET ME DANCE.” (The latter proves to have been slightly ahead of the trend, considering the clubby sound dominating K-pop girl group releases in 2026.) As for the “BLOOM! BLOOM! BLOOM!” music video, the Girls2 members ooze coolness! They cruise around in personalized, printed cars, emit flames with their hand gestures, and rock vintage-meets-gothic ensembles. They seize the spotlight whether it’s an intensely choreographed, synchronized dance scene; one in which they literally call the shots, manipulating the camera themselves; or one where they break all the rules while rampaging through an elegant mansion! This group’s fierceness and inner fire have never been more unflappable.

#19: babyMINT, “I’m not perfect” 
Sampling The Cardigans has become a girl group trend in recent years, but “I’m not perfect” is an especially novel use of their music. babyMINT members YUN, XUXU, and Pixie do not just sing and dance to “Lovefool” in the chorus; they connect it to their own lyrical and music video stories, and they add a mid-song plot twist that becomes the lyrics’ and video’s connective tissue. 

While singing about how people are all perfectly imperfect, the group members move through life clumsily but always pick themselves back up and resume dancing and smiling. They sing their encouragement to embrace flaws while providing periodic backup harmonies for each other and singing cheerfully over a whistle-laced rhythm. The hopefulness swells from the opening lines, which sound like they are a friend’s phone call, to the final moments, when the best of their harmonies facilitates a gentle landing after the song’s most high-gear segment. That high-gear segment involves a doubled-speed chorus, encapsulating youths’ impatience and uncontrollable energy! The two-in-one track also speaks to how younger generations live, with one foot in the digital world and one in the physical. It can be a precarious balance, hence the music video scenes where “glitches” are suddenly higher-stakes “real-world” mishaps. While advising each other not to chase perfection, this group also implicitly advises not chasing predictability. They have to simply take life’s speed bumps as they come, like the way they dodge distractions to sing on during instrumental pivots, stuttered syllables, and moments when the distance between their voices and the microphone suddenly widens. The sense of immediacy and forced high-speed activity comes laced with yearning for hearing that everything will turn out okay. This truthful message comes wrapped in both trendy and nostalgic packaging, a very Gen-Z sound and style given the contextual collapse of internet-raised people. Overall, this talented trio offers catchy coverage of modern dilemmas.

#18: Klozer, Klozer
This producer skillfully uses this album as a springboard for showing off the best that the stacked lineup has to offer. After a calm piano “Intro,” he lets Babylon and Newaile build slow and steady momentum during “More Than I Expected,” lets LEEBADA (in “Lowkey”) and U Sung Eun (in “Walking On Snow”) keep the attention on their powerhouse vocals, lets Byeol Eun show off her high-register voice (in “Watermelon”), lets Won Joon Kim show off his lower-register one (on “Falling”), and taps Danny Koo to give a swoon-worthy delivery of his typical pleasantly plainspoken remarks (on “Waiting For You”). “YUSE” is also worth shouting out; synth waves carry Jin Hyo Jung’s airy voice in ways that add interest to an otherwise uninspired instrumental. The talent is tremendous on Klozer and elevates each performance tenfold. In short, Klozer knows how to pick them!

#17: FIFTY FIFTY, Imperfect-I’mperfect
Among the many ways this girl group could have depicted inner peace, they have chosen one of the most whimsical options! They cheerfully sing about floating through life like bubbles and traveling wherever the wind takes them, and smooth, synth-pop satisfaction stays the name of the game on the B-sides. The songs are more often than not vocal-driven, a nice balance to the busyness of the music videos. “STARSTRUCK” is an action-packed, mysterious montage, while “Like a Bubble” gets the most points on the aesthetics front. If there is a way to depict bubbles, odds are, it is used in “Like a Bubble”! Bubbles are everything from balloons to balls to thought bubbles to animal alter egos. All the while, 2D components are layered on top of the fast-paced clips, giving the video the same fizzy, fleeting presence as the song itself. The songs and visuals alike ace the assignment: represent carefreeness in a wide range of forms. None of this is to say that this FIFTY FIFTY era is just full of hot air. B-sides apply the “letting go” and “carrying on” themes to more substantive and specific topics, like self-esteem issues and toxic relationships.

#16: AYANE, H.E.A.R 
AYANE sounds just as passionate and thoughtful in the moments when she is backed by strings (“Hanare Banare”) as she does when backed up the most by a guitar (“Ready”), a piano (“Without You”), or a guitar and piano combination (“Episode,” “Answer”). With commendable consistency and care, she presents a portrait of someone in pain yet persevering. AYANE misses and details the good times she used to have with her lover in “Hanare Banare,” describes feeling paralyzed by insecurities and insomnia post-breakup in “Episode,” and then tries to find solace and comes up empty in “Answer” and “Ready.” On the other hand, she does not come up empty so much as realize the hunt for hope is ongoing. She sings one of the EP’s biggest gut punches in “Without You”: “Your passenger seat was my special place.” Her safe space is gone, her loved one has “taken off” and “flown away,” and the fact that the EP ends with a refrain of “Hanare Banare” stresses how destabilizing those changes are. Knowing how to move on is extra hard when realizing that some love remains inextricably embedded inside the pain. She comments in that opening and closing track, “[H]iding one's true feelings can also be an act of kindness / That was the moment I truly learned the meaning of love.”

H.E.A.R is an intimate EP with an indie sensibility that doesn’t oversell its goal of offering confessions and comfort in those confessions’ resonance.

#15: SOTA HANAMURA, ASCEEENSION
This J-pop album channels the word “bursts” with every celebratory chorus, of which there are ample! Songs go big during the verses, too; ASCEEENSION might have an extra “E” for how energetic SOTA HANAMURA stays! The in-your-face jams are not overbearing, though, with a very fun and extreme bending and breaking of synthesizers’ and basslines’ expectations. While it is a heated competition, the most infectious energy comes from the instrumentals of “Drive Your LIFE!,” “Breaking free,” and “Lose.” The horns and hoots make “Back & Forth” another especially enjoyable romp, and the clubby beat timed perfectly to chase away the distant-sounding and heavily-filtered intro in “Ienai” serves a similar function. A reminder of SOTA HANAMURA’s serious vocal chops is never too far behind the many bursts of electronic-pop enthusiasm. The best examples are in “Lie to me,” with a “ready to party” voice and a compatible piano layer on top of the playful beat. This is followed by another rad mix of vocal flexes and fun synths, in “DRIFTING.” On the other hand, those who aren’t in a high-energy mood still have a reason to check out ASCEEENSION and learn why SOTA HANAMURA is hype-worthy, thanks to the lower-key “To you.”

#14: BAND-MAID, ENERGETIC
As usual, this J-rock band skips the buildup and jumps right to the climax! They fire on all cylinders right away, and their lyrics remain true to form as aggressive pep talks. They order listeners throughout “ENERGETIC”: “Take your value and your victory;” “Raise your voice… Dance it out / Don’t hold back anymore;” “Ditch the calm and taste the thrill tonight;” “Let that shining impulse lead you;” “Repaint your compromises with ambition.” They call life “just a game,” like the one they play in the music video. Their bottom line is essentially, “Fate is in your hands, so what are you waiting for?!”

While they preach similar morals of the story in “Days” and “CAGE,” those songs strike out on their own stylistically. “Days” is the best vocal performance of the three, toying with a ballad sentiment but clinging to BAND-MAID’s compulsion to keep things too fast-paced for the “ballad” term to apply! They sing about how no matter how much changes, “the dream remains beautiful,” and they tell people to “[m]ove forward even when uncertain,” because “We will see sorrow, but we will not lose hope.” 

“CAGE” is further proof that this group cannot hold themselves back much, with bold guitars and percussion that match the strong vocal “oomph” factor. They sing about not being “deceived again” by “sweet lies”: “No more chains, I will break them all;” “No more silence, no more shame / Forever still remains;” “Rise again from the dark / Take it back, my own way.” The perfect finishing touch in both “Days” and “CAGE” is a well-timed guitar takeover, a move that epitomizes the group’s conviction and stamina.

#13: A-Lin, “Alone”
This ballad’s lyrics come across in a very different light upon realizing that the subject of this love song is artificial intelligence. Across nearly five minutes, as a guitar, piano, and strings take turns rotating and overlapping, A-Lin sings in ways that feel restrained and reflective, like she is coming to terms with a hard truth gradually and nervously. The realizations that take time to sink in: she is ashamed of how she has gone about seeking a relationship (“I have to hide you”), she has reservations about committing to this “love interest” (“To you, there are so many things I want to say but dare not speak / But to you, resisting is perhaps my last stubbornness”), and a chatbot has not filled the voids in her life that she thought it would (“Unconsciously cooling down… I forgot how to be colorful”). The lack of fulfillment provided by the sterile source of “love” is clearest towards the end of the music video, when its main character looks frightened and miserable while the physical world around her is in turmoil. Her digital lover’s words cannot protect her or ease her worries now. She looks lost and completely withdrawn into herself, a woeful state that only subsides once A-Lin’s character knocks on the door. The true and lasting antidote to her loneliness is the presence of another human being. She learns this the hard way, but without being judged. It matters that A-Lin’s music video character is not pushy or impatient about coaxing her old friend into reconnecting. The space she gives to her old friend offers enough time for soul-searching as to why a chatbot was turned to in the first place. It is also meaningful that A-Lin’s character appears in some scenes pre-reunion as more of a shadow than a solid image; she has an obvious presence yet feels worlds away. Furthermore, the translucence shows how easily A-Lin can picture herself going down a similar path, becoming a shadow of her former self. She gingerly asks, “Can we… bravely warm things up?” again, since her old friend’s search for warmth from an AI companion has proven ineffective.

“Alone” effectively embodies the loneliness one struggles with prior to choosing to seek solace in a virtual companion, as well as the weight lifted off of one’s shoulders after “opening the door” again to a fellow human. That door-opening moment takes bravery and humility, reflected in the more fragile-sounding, quieter moments in the song; in the lengthiness of the track, as the hesitation lingers; and in the heavy silence that feels longer than it really is after the strings have a resurgence. Sonically and visually, “Alone” gently makes its convincing case.

#12: Vicky Chen, “Birdy Fly”
Every detail throughout this aching ode to a former lover who must keep the “former” label forevermore enhances the emotionality in all the right ways. As Vicky Chen sings about parting ways for good — and for the good of each other — her voice carries consistency at times but spins and jumps at others, reflecting the conflicting feelings inherent to letting a former lover go. The piano-prominent post-chorus and the return of some strings at the song’s end both emulate the difficulty of making a goodbye the goodbye. Rock-leaning guitars and more vocal twists in the bridge express a similar apprehension. It raises the “Will they or won’t they really end things?” suspense, and the final cymbal crash provides the answer, when Vicky Chen’s courage to turn the page wins over the desire to stay trapped in a familiar but dysfunctional status quo. “We weren’t right for each other, yet we stubbornly tried to push forward,” she admits. She harbors no ill will towards her loved one and treats this breakup as a blessing for them both: “Letting go allows us both to breathe again.”

The music video shares the song’s “equal blame to go around” sentiment, as well as, to paraphrase, the statement that “Just because we both messed up and were bad for each other does not mean there was no real love there, too.” The complexity of genuine connections having coexisted with culpability for cruelty towards one another is an interplay reflected in the interpretive dance, which goes from restrained to angrier and more combative. As it unfolds between someone dressed in white and someone dressed in black, the lighting keeps changing, a visual parallel to the song’s blend of consistency with a streak of under-the-radar changes that gradually grow more obvious. Both the song and the video give different vantage points equal merit, as slow-but-sure changes widen the cracks in that “equal” facade until they can be ignored no longer. 

While the song and video both show the swift switch some relationships show from exuding pure love to something much more tense, they also show how in hindsight, that switch was actually occurring all along. It only looks like it comes out of the blue, a hard truth that makes the video’s end-credits image a weighty sight, despite being white feathers quietly landing on the floor. It is a simplistic and almost anti-climactic final scene, a soft landing in the heavy aftermath of the song’s rock-tilted crescendo. 

#11: Karencici, Loser.
Loser. is a great introduction for new fans of this exceptional artist. Every shift  — between Mandarin and English lyrics, between singing and rapping, between pop and rock inclinations, and between telling it like she sees it and telling it as she wants it to be — feels natural and spontaneous. There is a flippancy to her sonic switches that makes her natural ear for when those switches should occur all the more seemingly intuitive and impressive. She knows how to hold listeners’ attention while keeping her messages unambiguous. She compels with unexpected genre mash-ups (like the song that can best be categorized as “hyper rap,” “100 Degrees”), by mixing digital and analog inclinations, and by constantly moving the spotlight somewhere new: the guitars in “If I Had,” on which she sings, “Say that you love me, say that you miss me;” percussion in “Losers,” on which she sings, “I feel like I’m moving backwards;” the piano in “Ignore,” on which she sings, “You’re so hard to ignore;” and so on. She proves that making herself clear right off the bat and maintaining listeners’ interest are simultaneously achievable goals. Loser. is defined by both breeziness and brazenness, showing Karencici in the multifaceted light in which she deserves — and obviously wants — to be seen.

#10: Tomatomat, TOMATOMAT DOSIRAK
For those who love an extra-quirky ensemble, this girl group is a winner! Their album stays true to the theme of tossed-together sounds, each song filled with different flavors and toppings! The bits and pieces are some of the best parts, from sonic textures in an interesting friction with dainty harmony layers, to sporadic piano notes and digital distortions adding to the vivid scene-setting, to the snaps of fingers and onomatopoeia that add fun frivolity onto an already-fun and PC-game-approved foundation!

Listeners know they are in for a strange, surreal story from the outset with “Tomma Nova,” a combination of the words “Tomato” and “Boss nova”! The anticipatory, chant-filled pop song has dashes of strings, claps, and more, as they sing about being reborn as tomatoes in another life, “having grown soft”! Another strong example of Tomatomat’s allergy to blandness is “Lemon & Sherbet,” in which they sing about sharing a warm beverage and “add[ing] some whipped cream on top” of a sweet moment, while the instrumental incorporates noises like squelchy suction cups and a tinniness akin to clinking kitchen utensils! Their lyrics also stay flavorful, describing adventures in “a strange land” (“Mushroom House”), time spent casting spells (“Orange Runway”), and even a meta sense of self-awareness (singing about “a clue within the song” in “Collect Call Garage” and “a familiar melody” in “Collect Call Garage Part. II”).

#9: MEOVV, BITE NOW
Fittingly, MEOVV’s vocals prowl through feisty numbers like “Revenge” and “Hit ‘Em.” They sound just as in-charge in the Bach-sampling trap oddity that is “DDI RO RI” as they do in the relatively easier-listening EDM “In my hands.” The other song on the EP is not as hard of a bite: “Favorite song” is a low-key acoustic break that makes the vocal prowess on the song it precedes seem louder and stronger by comparison (“Revenge,” which proves that MEOVV have grown well into R&B inclinations). 

The “DDI RO RI” video has the same head-turning personality as the song does. The aesthetics are a strange stew of Shakespearean and modern, with avant-garde side characters, pixelated moments, an old-timey scroll with a digital screen, dance scenes in a castle, and literal messages on the screen that do not clarify anything (like “Is this real?” and “BREAK. REBUILD. EVOLVE.”)! As if all of that was not difficult enough to make sense of, viewers are further disoriented by the camera swerving all over the place, some scenes blurring, and other views altered by mirrors and shadows. 

The BITE NOW trailer also favors showing over telling. With conversions into feline forms, a gladiatorial persona starring in an acrobatic dance, and an elevator that goes into and out of starkly all-white surroundings, viewers think both “What’s going on?” and “I don’t know, but I know MEOVV — the ones unmistakably in charge — are going to tell me”!

MEOVV’s specific kind of artistic spunk offers the “something different” for which pop music and music video enthusiasts are looking.

#8: CiON, Katsubo
This band once again pairs the sounds of a live brass band with the aesthetics of a J-pop idol group. It works especially well this time, with the eclectic instrumental mix and distinct vocal flair perfectly matching the vibe of the title track, which doubles as the ending theme song for That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime! The B-sides might be less melodramatic lyrically, but instrumentally, the mentality remains “The gang’s all here”! It might sound superfluous if it wasn’t so central to CiON’s image; they can get away with some bolder and brasher sonic choices than those who have less-anticipated dexterity.

“Katsubo” leaves listeners in a lot of thought: “The world's ideals can never truly become one… [W]e simply repeat the cycle of protecting and seizing to emerge victorious, don't we?;” “[D]estiny laughs as it surges forth;” “Even if we laugh, nothing is truly resolved, is it?”... They go on to question how much of society’s foundations consist of moral versus immoral things, and to what extent karma is actually believable: “If everyone, each possessing a precious, equal life, pours their heart into it… I wanted to believe that such devotion would be rewarded…” 

After a mix of powerful proclamations and points worth pondering in “Katsubo,” it’s time for a more lighthearted bash! “HARUWATASHI” makes for a relatively mid-tempo good time and has a stellar high note. It is followed by the best song, “Bet on me.” The saxophone-laden song with cymbal crashes, unison exclamations, and a scurrying piano makes and keeps an air of excitement and escalation that gets the smiling listeners to gamely leap into the following (tap dance-approved!) track!

#7: ATEEZ, GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5
This ATEEZ era checks off a long list of boxes. After leaning further than ever into Latin and hip-hop influences on “BAD” and “MAMACITA,” they satisfy with a smooth R&B intermission courtesy of “TOXIN” and then go for broke with bold genre-mixing and a new extent to their lyrical maturity in the rest of the EP. As for the visual components of this era, the “BAD” music video is entertaining for all, while the “Epilogue” video and the album trailer are fodder for hardcore fans’ theories about ATEEZ’s fictional lore. This era is world-building plus an extended break for over-the-top goofiness! That goofiness is thanks to the “BAD” music video, which starts with SEONGHWA triggering a mix of choreographed moves and general chaos at a wedding and ends with him doing the same at a court hearing! The bride, played by Chase Infiniti, wears eight wedding rings, one for each ATEEZ member, but she is deemed “not guilty” for being “so bad” and putting so many men under her spell! Despite the wedding rings, though, Chase remains very independent. She moves through the building with a dance crew of her own, who follow her dress code instead of ATEEZ’s, and who go against ATEEZ’s crew in a tempo-focused dance-off. They look like they are trying to somehow both beat and match each other’s flows, as if locked in a more movement-involved take on a staring contest!

While Chase is fiercely independent, there are several hints about her now being pulled under ATEEZ’s spell. Her eyes glow red at one point, like WOOYOUNG’s in the video’s “Epilogue” as he stares at the sign on a building that says “CHASE THE SPIRIT.” This suggests that Chase’s hold over ATEEZ might be reciprocal and have a supernatural component, leaving the audience curious as to what follow-up videos could involve. 

GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5 is ATEEZ at their most saucy, sensual, and literally spellbound — not to mention skillful, given the group’s co-writing credits across all the tracks! 

#6: YongYong, yynitseD 
This electro-pop-punk project matches the “zig when expected to zag” mentality of someone making her own destiny, hence the album title being “destiny” backwards (with an extra “Y” for “YongYong”)! This album is an apt application of YongYong’s belief in manifestations over foregone conclusions. It has the subtle chord changes, harmony progressions, and other gradual tweaks befitting deliberately drawn-out wish-casting. Her musical manifestations are made solely at her own pace and on her own terms, and her casting aside of others’ opinions about what she “should” do are clear through the times her voice purposefully drowns beneath instruments. This repeated effect gives some songs the feeling of eavesdropping in a crowded room, or of mumbling to oneself absentmindedly yet with subconscious intuition guiding the way. YongYong does not care if people hear exactly what she is saying; she trusts that she has the power to set her ideal fate in motion and will therefore naturally attract the attention of who she is meant to — the fellow  “soul[s] that [don’t] quite fit in,” as she puts it in “BLUE HAAATZ.” She wants to be heard and trusts that who sticks around to actually listen — through bouts of insomnia (“Still..”), wistfulness (“pistachio ice cream”), confusion (“BLUE HAAATZ”), anxiety (“broken night”), and so on — will be who they are meant to be. 

Both personally and musically, YongYong’s ambitions seem like moving targets, and this makes her sustained self-assuredness all the more remarkable. Faith in herself getting where she needs to be in life when she needs to be there allows her to explore sonic routes less traveled; she frees up her mind enough to let musical instincts take the wheel. Listeners will appreciate staying on the relatable roller coaster ride until the end.

#5: tripleS, <LOVE&POP> pt.1
While the comparisons only go so far, <LOVE&POP> pt.1 makes a more convincing case than ever that LOONA fans ought to check out tripleS. Both groups embrace a mix of modest mood-setting and bright and glitchy digi-pop goodness, and both have music videos that span a handful of cities and scenarios and send layered messages of sisterhood and solidarity. tripleS’s latest example is “Baby Flower,” which takes viewers’ hands and sweeps them into a communal whirlwind of good vibes. The uplifting song soundtracks a briskly-paced montage of bonding moments. The exhilaration of pure platonic love rises even more towards the end, when the montage gets even faster and draws even starker contrasts. It shows the tripleS members staying giggling and grinning when together both indoors and outdoors, at night and during the day, and regardless of viewers’ vantage point (which keeps changing but is most notable when it is from above; the camera looks down at choreography that resembles a currently-unfolding flower). tripleS’s previous focus tracks have the same “We’ll get through tough times together” sentiment of “Baby Flower,” but this time, they sound closer to the bright side they promised each other was on the horizon. 

If the “Girls Never Die” era was about taking massive, risky leaps of faith, the <LOVE&POP> era is a celebration of having done so. Not only is “Baby Flower” literally brighter, but the video shows the members more fully enjoying each other’s company, one of the rewards of keeping each other close. “Baby Flower” signifies a sparkling new chapter of tripleS’s story, one where the diamonds in their lives become visible after months and months of pressure. 

#4: SHINee, Atmos
Atmos both shows and tells that SHINee remain at the top of their game. Lyrics about being “filled up” by a restorative force can easily be seen as references to one another. “Fill me up little by little,” and “Minutes that empty and fill again,” they sing in “HOURS;” in “Anti Believer,” they note “The senses slowly rushing back to fill me up;” “I'm… still full / Of things waiting to be filled again / Following the wind… I soar and light up the sky,” they sing in “Thousand Miles Away.” The wind and “lighting up the sky” references are notable, since the album’s title refers to “atmosphere,” and each member represents a different but related type of weather. Heat, fog, clouds, and rain work in tandem and can then turn into a force to be reckoned with, much like SHINee! They can naturally generate this force, a sustainable one that the end of “Thousand Miles Away” alludes to: “Even now / I'm still filled with stories.” After all this time, SHINee are still filling each other’s memories and emotional bank accounts. Because they continue to support and help each other on a personal level, the ways they do so on a practical level hit home more. Many bandmates show natural chemistry when they come together, but SHINee’s can go to the next level. What makes their songs soar remains their sincerity — and humorous self-awareness doesn’t hurt, either! “This chemistry has always stayed the same, no joke… It's just that easy,” they remark in “HOURS”! Plus, an album teaser video in the form of a weather report forecasts conditions resulting from “low pressure,” a punny nod to how easy it is for them to pick up where they leave off! 

SHINee remain doing what they do best, crafting soundscapes that hum with hopefulness and heavenly harmonies, pairing sentimentality with the stuff of synth-pop enthusiasts’ dreams, and making even the most minute vocal details seem effortless yet thought-out. The essence of SHINee’s work is and always has been that they were born to be artists, and Atmos illuminates how besides teamwork, the instant impact of each track is key to the group’s longevity. The impression listeners get from each song makes itself apparent right away, and each song’s detours do not stray too far from that initial impact. 

While no song is skip-worthy, “Possibility” stands out for the vocal performances being 120% of what they need to be! And “Anti Believer” makes the best, most detailed use of its soundscape to keep its topic of internal tensions evident.

The “Atmos” music video reinforces the indispensability of each member’s role. They travel in different ways — on foot, by car, by bike — and at different times of the day, but they all undergo a 2D transformation, they eventually reunite under a fireworks display, and they leave symbolic accessories on the ground for each other to find. These include glasses, ear buds, and a key chain that notes SHINee’s debut date of May 25: “0525.”

In a world where so much feels ephemeral, SHINee show gratitude for the longevity of their chemistry. They can’t make much last forever, but one thing they can extend is their time making magic happen together. 

#3: Sakurazaka46, Lonesome rabbit / What’s “KAZOKU”? (Special Edition) 
This J-pop girl group is back with another batch of amusing antisocial anthems! This time, there is a recurring animal theme. “Lonesome rabbit” shows their typical risk-averse, nervous nature, as they sing about the simultaneous desires to be loved and to be left alone. They decide they can have the best of both worlds if they are treated like someone’s beloved pet, like a rabbit in a cage: “The curtain… protects me from the world… No predators, it's peaceful here / Friends… do I need them?”! They list the things they are seeking an escape from: a ceaseless influx of information (“Fake news overload / I had enough of it / Shut it down”), expectations of adhering to arbitrary social norms (“No need to read the room” if they are just pets!), peers who act superior (“I want to turn my back on peer pressure”), and unfamiliar and overwhelming emotions (“love to me is / Too much;” “Human relationships are annoying / I’d rather… watch the drama from a little window”). They raise the perceived stakes in the song “Ookamitachiyo” (a reference to wolves), singing about needing an escape from predators in their midst and explaining why they freeze up: “Fear breeds obedience and hides inconvenient truths… Don't show weakness, or you'll be targeted immediately.” They question if “wolves” are “howling” things out of “instinct or cowardice.” Are the “wolves” of the world spreading rumors out of a compulsion, as a means of deflection, or both? Regardless of the motive, the “howling” is a cry for something, and this dissatisfaction with the status quo speaks to them. They see themselves in wolves as much as rabbits, and while doing so, they realize how much animals’ base instincts match humans’! 

One of the smartest parallels used to connect the lives of animals to people is in “Coin Laundry.” They sing about a quiet night at the laundromat, and despite having lamented enduring smalltalk when going to the laundromat during the day (“Everyone is being nosy!”), the nighttime silence does not bring serenity. Similarly, silence is not golden in “Lonesome rabbit”: “Having no one around… Why do tears well up in my eyes?” Nor does it represent a reprieve in “Ookamitachiyo,” when they sing about being silent to avoid being spotted and devoured by beasts. 

Temperature is also a theme across both animal-focused songs and ones more overtly about humans’ need for warmth in relationships. They describe themselves as rabbits who “sense someone with their body temperature” in “Lonesome rabbit,” they observe in “Ookamitachiyo” that “Reality is always cold / That's why humans perceive body temperature as warm,” and they end by singing in “Megumare Sugite” about other people giving them “a warm push forward, like the sunshine.” They acknowledge on the last song that some of life’s questions will never be answered (“There’s no reason… But whenever you’re lost… it’s okay to just be yourself”), a nod to the disdain for rumors and half-truths mentioned in “Lonesome rabbit,” and a response to these lyrics in “Ookamitachiyo”: “What good would it do to verify it? / Therefore, it will be accepted as true without question…” “Megumare Sugite” is also a meaningful note to end on because of mentioning tears again: “I know it’s a luxury problem… Even so, tears well up during sleepless nights.” Those lines bring home how much Sakurazaka46 wrestle with a sense of inadequacy despite having “made it.” They realize that even after dreams come true, life’s negative feelings and situations go on, an inevitability that is well-put: “To live is to keep walking in the darkness.”

Lonesome rabbit / What’s “KAZOKU”? (Special Edition) is ultimately about how people both change and stay the same, craving warm relationships and a sense of safety while learning that attaining both requires more prolonged efforts than expected. Touching and laced with trepidation, this talented group continues to use symbols as mediators between the concerns of young people and broader social commentary, turning this wild world into something clearer and more comprehendible. 

#2: V8, V8
While V8’s sound stays relatively cohesive, with listeners getting a clear understanding of what to expect from the rest of the album after the first few tracks, the storytelling stretches this album’s contours into some surprisingly nimble shapes. Replete with personalized references, early-aughts inspirations, and a range of hyper-pop sub-category combinations, the latest SEVENTEEN subunit offers less of an introduction than an extended version of their previous one. They tell their true stories with a widened view of how they can do so.

Each component of this project reflects both who this duo currently is and who they have always been. The sounds pull from everywhere from the ‘90s to 2026. The album cover brings to mind the computer-screen style of SEVENTEEN’s debut music video yet represents chapters still unwritten via the incomplete, pixelated puzzle in the shape of an upwards arrow. And there are layers to their lyrical and visual Easter eggs. “Friend” incorporates countless SEVENTEEN song titles into the lyrics, and “coloring” incorporates at least four. Fans can make a game out of counting how many mentions they spot, and the “singasong” video is similar! (Some of the details that call back to SEVENTEEN videos: a baseball bat, a car in the band’s signature colors with the number 12 on it, and boxing gloves.) There are bonus points for fans who spot the references that do not come from direct word choices or physical presences, like a nod to the “Melon Room” the band used to rehearse in (“Friend” talks about the “melon walls [that] are making sense tonight”), and the “Music is life” message in “BEAT” and “8DM” that mirrors that of “God of Music.”

The track order on V8’s eponymous album is another strong suit. They start with the most SEVENTEEN-esque song, “Friend,” and they conclude with “rat race,” an out-there, hyper-pop take on imposter syndrome that both echoes concerns they have harbored for years and shows through example how they will continue trying new challenges and betting on themselves anyway. “Friend” starts the album with an audio sample of THE 8 in his elementary school days, proudly declaring his desire to be a celebrity. “rat race” ends the album with a reality check; fame proves to not be all it’s cracked up to be, and they cannot stay at this level while eschewing its burden of responsibility. Time in the “practice league” is over, and “This ain’t a movie scene” anymore. (That line doubles as a clever nod to the “filming a video within the video” premise of many past SEVENTEEN music videos!)

This album does not have a simple, linear “from a childish outlook to a grown-up one” premise, though. The song “girlsnboys” intentionally says “Boys and girls are so tired,” not “Men and women are so tired;” childhood is not as nerve-free as they are remembering it. It comes with its own sources of strain and discontent. V8 realize that if that proud little boy within THE 8 can live on into adulthood, why can’t the reverse happen, and the more capable, “grown-up” versions of themselves revisit their inner children? By realizing that both joys and sorrows come with every age, they avoid romanticizing and favoring one over the others, allowing them to enjoy the present moment. “Right now, I feel like going for it,” they decide in “girlsnboys.” It will never be the perfect time, so they might as well treat each moment like the best one they’ll ever have. As they put it in “coloring,” a song all about fame potentially dissipating as quickly as a firework, “the red carpet could end up like the sunset.”

Seizing the day is not always easy, and V8’s perpetual sense that something’s missing from their lives translates into a fluctuating mix of determination and disillusionment. Their sense of languishing at the top of their game is an ironic state that defines the album’s corresponding videos, which show how they simply want life to be easier and more enjoyable. The theme of both the “rat race” and “singasong” videos can be summarized as “killing time.” In the former, they skateboard and bike to nowhere in particular, draw and paint random surfaces, and toss around a basketball. In the latter, they stay indecisive about everything, from how to dress (from disheveled denim to suits), to how to share their points of view (from playing with size proportionality to abruptly changing to a split screen), to where to go (a living room setup appears in a junkyard and demolition derby site, like they cannot even decide if they want to go out or stay home!).

#1: BOYNEXTDOOR, HOME
This BOYNEXTDOOR era is a full-circle moment that also makes sure the audience knows they will gladly spin the wheel again and again! Their music and emotions reliably remain roller coasters, and in the corresponding videos, they seem to barely make it out alive during whirlwinds of activity. It is precisely because of how chaotic their internal and external worlds seem that they need to find a place to call home base, a stable foundation to rest and recharge. They must do this even if it requires building that home themselves, which in a way, this album does. Each song represents another room in the house, a room bursting with memories they relish next to the ones they’d rather forget. A house party is happening in some “rooms,” like the swing-jazz “Upside Down.” Other “rooms” are for more pensive periods, like the ballad “Forever You” and the melancholic “DIVE.” Other “rooms” counteract the mellow moments with pop-punk wake-up calls and boastful hip-hop banter. Examples of the latter keep BOYNEXTDOOR’s belligerent streak alive and well! They are spirited yet misguided and restless in “ADIOS!”: “She said, ‘Don’t call me tonight’ / Already in the alley by your place;” “Tough to stay in place / That’s the deep pain of being young.”

The metaphorical musical doors between rooms in BOYNEXTDOOR’s house repeatedly open into one another, like when the bad mood within preceding songs rises and spills into “DIVE,” in which they blame a crush for making them feel out of their depth. The accountability evasion matches the immaturity and impatience that defines so much of their discography. However, HOME finally puts a ceiling on that immaturity. BOYNEXTDOOR have built themselves the space to grow and learn, and this is most evident in “Forever You” and “Upside Down.” In the former, they sing about how “mom,” “dad,” “grandpa,” and other loved ones need to be cherished, because life is short and they will be gone sooner than one thinks. They also don’t take their company for granted in “Upside Down,” calling on everyone “Regardless of age” to join a jam session! But while BOYNEXTDOOR have gotten wiser about cherishing those around them, they emphasize the unfinished nature of their growing-up process in other ways. It represents a regression of sorts when they say, “Must have had a nightmare, baby / Please stroke my hair” in “Forever You.” The word “baby” is in many of their songs, but it nearly always refers to a crush. This time, it is worded like a mother talking to her child; they are the babies in need of comfort. Additionally, some songs go heavy on Gen-Z slang. “ddok ddok ddok” merges digital and physical worlds, through lyrics like “scrolling up high like blinds” and describing searching for social media commentary on themselves and finding “No synonym[s].” It accidentally exposes the gnawing insecurities beneath their bravado; they cannot help but stay curious what haters are saying about them. They do care but try to pretend otherwise. Their frustration with false narratives spills out in “ddok ddok ddok,” with lyrics that name-drop their past album titles and company name. It is a “Don’t you know who we are?!” outburst, which takes on another very Gen-Z form via the song “VIRAL.” When they sing “it must go viral,” they mean both that they need their romantic gestures to win a love interest over and need to be recognized as a standout amidst a harder-than-ever competition for online attention. They show how pride and insecurities remain coexisting, and the continued self-references in “VIRAL” demonstrate that tense roommate situation!

BOYNEXTDOOR’s songs about both feeling young still and getting older are just one of the many ways HOME represents a complete cycle. Another closing of the loop comes from the intro and outro of the opening number. In the intro, MYUNG JAEHYUN sings about embarking on his idol trainee journey at age 20, and in the outro, WOONHAK sings about being 20 in 2025, a year when BOYNEXTDOOR’s popularity reached new heights. The “Look how far we’ve come” commentary comes with respect for that journey: “06070,” the song’s title, refers to a Gangnam postal code where they resided pre-debut. Another “Then” and “Now” contrast is drawn between “06070” and the last song, “I Wonder.” In the former, they fret over what seems to have been misplaced, as if asking random passersby if they’ve seen their lost pet. The “pets” in this instance are childlike traits: “[H]ave you seen my wonder?... Did I leave it behind?;” “[H]ave you… seen my patience?” In “I Wonder,” the focus is on what is found and brought to them: “I wonder how many more feelings you'll bring me.” (“I Wonder” is also its own full-circle story, going through a timeline of inside jokes with fans in the bonus-track, extended version, and featuring lyrics about “how the first serenade began,” which is a reference to their song “Serenade.”)

The music videos also have full-circle arcs, starting and ending in similar places. However, chaotic curveballs reign supreme between those scenes! In “VIRAL,” BOYNEXTDOOR’s world remains in flux, with disconnected and spinning rooms, a mix of black-and-white and in-color scenes, and the members’ reflections taking different forms (for example, dancing on a mirror-like floor, and appearing as shadow side profiles). 

Wind becomes waves, dust particles start to look more like glitter, a flame becomes smoke… The uncertainty and sense of being yanked every which way remain. The same is true in “ddok ddok ddok.” A crowd of people swarm their house (creating pressure that prompts the house to explode) and then try to reach the band by climbing over a wall. The animals won’t leave them alone, either: a dog bares its fangs, a cat claws the screen, and there is a literal game of cat and mouse mid-video that offers the video’s best commentary on the beast that is fame and the hamster wheel fame can feel like. Life feels like everything all at once, and yet another instance of trying to carry on amidst the chaos is when BOYNEXTDOOR members perform in the foreground of scenes while other members get hit by vehicles in the background. 

Lastly, “ADIOS!” both starts and ends at the scene of a run-down vehicle, but there is a key difference at the end. “ADIOS!” is another “Life comes at you fast” story, but this time, BOYNEXTDOOR take the reins. They turn a disgruntled driver’s abandoned flatbed into everything they can dream up: a playground, an art supply bin (they draw on the fruits!), free promotional real estate (they slap a BOYNEXTDOOR sticker on it!), an excuse for a water fight (spraying each other more than actually using the car wash as intended!), and their film studio (they self-record some scenes). The driver passes by them at the end in his new vehicle, smirking and having no idea that BOYNEXTDOOR have actually had an epic day with what he considered a piece of junk! The last laugh goes to BOYNEXTDOOR. Then again, the joke is also on each other! They semi-jokingly fight over a bag of chips, treat “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with unnecessary seriousness, and prank each other. One member even tricks the others into thinking their car is out of gas and needs to be manually pushed, before he speeds off in it! Even the audience is not immune from BOYNEXTDOOR’s teasing; it seems purposefully ironic that the members appear in front of a sign saying “SAFETY FIRST”!

HOME is about an unending restlessness with life’s pace and perceived inconveniences, the persistence of growing pains, and the need to identify and move extreme highs and lows into a variety of channels: humor, camaraderie, and, most importantly, a sense of stability. They continue to create that stable foundation themselves, and the work-in-progress nature of doing so is ironic yet on-point.

Catch up on past “Best of the Month” picks here!