July
WJSN – Sequence
Released about a month after their Queendom 2 victory, WJSN returned as a whole group with the special single Sequence featuring the lead song Last Sequence.
While it probably isn’t a significant deviation from what WJSN were doing before their Queendom 2 push, it was great to see Starship capitalize while the group was hot off their big win on the show.
VIVIZ – Summer Vibe
Speaking of Queendom 2, VIVIZ, who also appeared on the show, released a new EP after the program ended. Summer Vibe is exactly as the album’s title implies, an album full of songs with a summer feeling. This follow-up to Beam of Prism shows further growth of this group as a trio while continuing to separate them from their days as members of GFRIEND.
aespa – Girls
The second EP from SM Entertainment’s girl group juggernaut appealed more to me than their first effort Savage.
After listening to this album, I realized I’m not exactly the target market for aespa’s abstract musical efforts and prefer the kinds of songs they have on Girls instead.
The only bad thing about this album is that the nonsensical rap before the final chorus in Dreams Come True kills the song’s vibe for me. Otherwise, this was great.
Lizzo – About Damn Time
To show how out of touch I am with American pop music, I didn’t know much about Lizzo’s music until this song. But I know a killer dance track when I hear it, and this is some good stuff. Will it encourage me to check out her discography? Maybe.
