Welcome back to another monthly faves! February usually feels like a short month to me, but MAN this month it was dragging on like January was. How was y’alls February? Mine was pretty good. I think the biggest highlights for me was getting tint on my car and finally getting my title for my car. I feel so accomplished 😭. So next month, the goal is to get my main credit card paid off. Trying to be more finically responsible in 2025. Before the impending doom. Anyway, enough dillydallying, let’s get into the music!
&TEAM – Extraordinary day
The love of &TEAM continues. I’m still listening to “Deer Hunter” constantly. And now “Extraordinary day” has been added to the rotation. 2025 is looking so good for music. I love it for us.
IVE – Flu
IVE keeps randomly releasing b-sides I become so emotionally attached to. I love “Flu”. I love these chiller, downtempo vibes from them. There were parts of “ATTITUDE” I liked, but again, I don’t love the whole song, or enough of the song to save it.
RESCENE – Glow Up
RESCENE has quickly become one of my favorite new girl groups. I talked more about Glow Up in further detail here. They have an English version of “Glow Up” out too now. I ordered my album copies I talked about in the “Glow Up” article a few days ago. They should be here in like a week or two 🥰.
Chungha – Alivio
Oooo we’ve got some visualizers since my review. This is my favorite Chungha song she’s released in a long time. I can’t stop listening to “Creepin”. I think it’ll be in my top five favorite songs of 2025. I’m so happy she’s back to making music 😭. In my notes I put, “Creepin is that girl.” Agreed past Ash, lol.
Jisoo – AMORTAGE
“Slaps,” my notes from earlier in the month before I wrote my Quick Thoughts article on “earthquake” and AMORTAGE. I really enjoyed AMORTAGE than I expected to. I can’t stop thinking about the wavy hair Jisoo look, it’s sooo cute on her. Suits her perfectly. If you’re looking for more fun house music, I highly recommend both Chungha and Jisoo’s recent albums.
Hearts2Hearts – The Chase
Oh maannnn, I’m obsessed with Hearts2Hearts already. I adored both “The Chase” and “Butterflies” off their single album, The Chase. There’s something Red Velvet-esque with “Butterflies”, very Velvet feeling. I’m incredibly interested in what their comeback/future releases will sound like.
KiiiKiii- DEBUT SONG
Slaaaaaps. I love they made a song congratulating themselves for debuting, lol. It feels like they’ll have some fun concepts moving foward. I didn’t care for their actual debut song, “I DO ME“, but I see the potential. I want to hear more music from them as well.
Lisa – Chill
*sighs* I knew Lisa’s solo wouldn’t really be for me. I’ll have a review (I want to say Quick Thoughts, but I doubt it’ll be less than 800 words, lol) up next week talking about it in fuller detail. But I hated it. I see potential and I appreciate the mixing of genres and sounds, but I feel like a lot of why I didn’t like rosie, is also why I don’t like Alter Ego. It’s the lack of consistent identity for me. But I’ll keep it at that for now.
ONF – ONF:MY IDENTITY
It’s been awhile since ONF has released a song that I liked, today there are two. I didn’t know their subunits had names, ON Team and OFF Team is so cute. ON Team is fanstastic on “Nothing but a stranger”.
I see JUNNY is credited on it, no wonder why I like it. Same with “Collab“, MonoTree has two credits on that one. I didn’t care for the rest of the album, but I’m glad I found a few gems here after not really feelin’ their most recent releases over the last couple of years.
SUMMER CAKE – Last Call
She killed it with “Last Call”. I think I need to go back and listen to her songs since Potion, I loved that single album. The yeehaw agenda styling going on in this cover art is 10/10. When I saw the teasers on Twitter I instantly got excited to see what this album would be about. It’s slower paced R&B so it’s a win for me. “Last Call” is my favorite off the album. Highly recommend checking this out.
ARrC – nu kidz: out the box
I didn’t know who this was when I added them to my list. I’ve talked about this before but I print out a sheet of artists each month for these articles. Then as the month goes on I write notes on it, and leave enough space for the random releases or stuff I missed. I think their name is what caught my attention and that’s why I added them to my list.
I’m glad I did. There are five songs on this album and I saved three of them. “nu kidz” being my favorite of the three. “alien in Seoul” and “connected” are the other two. I couldn’t help but think about DKB and their Hip Hop and R&B sound in their earlier in their career. So if you like that sound, you’ll like this ARrC album, nu kidz: out the box.
Alriiiight February is over. Overall I was still listening to a lot of January and 2024 releases. I’m curious what y’alls playlists are looking like lately. Let me know you thoughts in the comments below. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Instagram, Threads, & BlueSky.
Take care!
Ash💫