Good news, I’m slowly getting back in the mood to write again ๐๐๐๐. Bad news, I haven’t started on any of my pending articles besides this one ๐ . So we’re still a bit out from a semi regular schedule. But I do need to get it together because I will still be posting my yearly faves and all that. But I’m really realizing that I don’t have the energy to keep up with what everyone is releasing.
I think I’ve said this before on here, but moving forward, ATK will be much more curated and focused more on older, established acts with a few newbies sprinkled in here and there. I’m also contemplating doing a weekly “what I’ve been listening to” type of series on here.
I’ve been deep in the &TEAM hole for the last like three months (surprise to no one if you’ve been following me on Twitter). And I’ve been finding more music from TikTok as I’ve also been spending more time on there. So having a place to compile all that would be cool, I think.
I’ve also decided to play around a bit with the thumbnails for October, November, and December for these articles. A more Dark Academia vibe. I have one picked out for January too, but I haven’t customized it yet. I’ve also deleted my ATK LinkedIn & Facebook pages. Idk if any of y’all noticed, lol. But they really weren’t worth the upkeep and spam emails (looking at you, FB). So I’ve been doing small things behind the scenes. So yeah, let’s get into the music for October 2025.
&TEAM – Back to Life
I’ve mentioned &TEAM on the blog previously, but I’ve been a casual fan of the group. They have quickly become one of my favorite groups, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they are in my top three most listened to artists in my Spotify Wrapped this year (sorry, Enha, that was supposed to be you this year ๐ ).
Honestly, when I heard “Extraordinary Day,” then heard the rest of “Go in Blind” and the album of the same name, I should have paid more attention to the signs. I think I was more in denial about bringing in ANOTHER group into my faves list, but there was an opening. So it worked out, lol.
I don’t love Back to Life as much as Go in Blind. But for an official Korean debut/release, I like it a lot. It’s very much a grower for me. There’s been so much music like that for me this year. I can finally say with my whole chest I love “Love Language” by TXT now, lol. I knew it would click eventually.
I’m still undecided on my fave song on Back to Life. I’m torn between “Who am I” and the title track. “MISMATCH” totally rounds out my top three faves from the album easily. I didn’t understand the weird ‘hate’ (I didn’t see anyone say they didn’t like it, just people talking about them seeing the hate) for “Rush”. Then a few days before the “Lunatic” music video dropped, it was the same thing.
So I guess that just means I’m on the good side of Lunรฉville. We all got taste over there. I feel like if anything, my ranking is like tie for Back to Life and Who am I. The vocals on both tracks are flawless. Love what’s going on there. Especially on “Back to Life”, the “only you” part? Girrrrrllll I could neverrrr.
Then for third, “MISMATCH”, then fourth, “Lunatic” then fifth, “Rush”. But when any of the members are doing a Weverse listening party, I don’t feel like I want them to skip any of them or like I gotta turn the volume down until the next song starts, lmao.
I feel like now I need to do a fave &TEAM songs article. For other baby Lunรฉs also to help in my manifestation of an &TEAM world tour with an Atlanta stop, lol.
Oh! I didn’t even discuss musically why I like Go in Blind more than Back to Life. So similarly to countless groups, you can categorize the songs into a dark/bright sound between the songs. For example, I’d consider “No Doubt” and “Sweet Venom” ENHYPEN’s brighter songs and “Given-Taken” and “Bad Desire” darker songs and concepts. The brighter songs have more of a Pop and Dance vibe, whereas the darker songs tend to have more R&B and Rock (not always) elements to them. Not a clear one to one, but a general idea of what you’ll get.
Side note, idk why I forgot about K and EJ’s connection with Enha’s lore with their appearance in “Drunk-Dazed” and &TEAM being their (Enha) werewolf rivals. PEAK on PEAK. Need them to clash in universe soon. Like a dual album would be siiiick.
Anyway, back to the teamies, Go in Blind has a similar vibe to it. “Go in Blind” is very much a darker concept song of &TEAM vs. “Extraordinary Day” and my GOAT “Wolf Type”. I like that balance on Go in Blind a lot. I think because Back to Life was the first step in the group’s presence in Korea, the sound had to change slightly to fit the Korean/global market.
Global in this case being Kpop appealing to Western audiences. When they’ve done Korean versions of their Japanese releases, like “Deerhunter” (arguably one of the best boy group songs of 2024, released this decade, and of all time), they still align heavily with their wolf concept and have that power and aura with it.
For Korea, we got a good mix of wolf and pop. But some sauce was missing. I think it’s the lack of haunting and addictive instrumentals. The instrumentals for BTL are good. But they played it a little safe. But it still makes sense with the rest of their catalog. So I can’t be mad at it.
There are some older &TEAM songs I don’t really care about, like “Feel The Pulse” (but it does look fun live in a festival setting. I hate they took the video performance down, rip.). I just can’t wait for more music from them. And I’m incredibly happy we got a couple of music show wins for them ๐๐๐๐.
Last thing, I have to include this TikTok (I can’t embed it boooo) with Maki doing the intro to “Lunatic” but being interrupted. It’s been living rent free in my head for the last like two weeks, and I finally saw someone on Twitter talking about it lmaooo.
Hearts2Hearts – FOCUS
A rare instance where I love every song but the title track, lol. I don’t like the talking parts of “Focus”. And I wasn’t crazy about “Pretty Please”. The Red Velvet, velvet side of the group is really jumping out on this album. I hear a bit of S.E.S too.
I love “Apple Pie”, “Flutter”, and “Blue Moon”, but I have to say I agree a bit with the lack of individual identity going on with Hearts2Hearts at the moment. The music slaps, but it doesn’t feel like anything super unique and distinctive. Not that I want them to be super experimental like aespa. But if the plan is that Hearts2Hearts will be the more public-friendly girl group from SM, we need something a bit more. I don’t have any ideas, lol. SM isn’t paying me for that.
But I am happy we finally got the full mini album from the girls. I still think it was weird not to debut them with one, but oh well.
The Deep – Lucky Star
Uhhh she does it again?!?!?!?!!!! It’s gonna be difficult for The Deep to release something I don’t like at this point, I fear. I love the music video for “Lucky Star” being a parody of Kpop music shows like Inkigayo and having hosts introducing her at the beginning of the video.
I have to wait until November’s article to gush about her remix of f5ve’s “Magic Clock”. Just know I love it.
YUTA – Two of Us
My favorite song from PERSONA. It was a good album, but Depth is still my favorite. PERSONA picks up pretty much where we left off from Depth, so if you’re into Hard Rock (maybe Metal) Yuta, you will be very pleased with this one.
Xdinary Heroes – LXVE to DEATH
And onto another rock act I love just about every release of theirs, Xdinary Heroes also do it again with this album. They got heavier on this one, and I’m soooo here for it.
They’ve definitely settled into their sound and continue to improve on it. I haven’t decided on my favorite song yet, but this album will be on my faves of 2025 easily.
LE SSERAFIM – SPAGHETTI (& Pearlies)
I love the concept for “SPAGHETTI” and the chorus so much. I was afraid I might have jumped the gun with HOT, but LE SSERAFIM didn’t let me down.
I like “Pearlies (My oyster is the world)” as well. It feels like the perfect b-side for such an in your face track like “SPAGHETTI”. I’m so happy to have more LE SSERAFIM songs filling up my library.
JUST B – GOING SOUTH
Ooooo not JUST B leaning into the House sound!!!! I’m soo in love. I’ll talk more about this one in the November faves since that’s when the actual album was released, but I love seeing JUST B lads getting more attention. The music has been HITTING. *chefs kiss*.
ATEEZ – From (2018)
I’m not crying, you’re crying!!! I knew the first anniversary following contract renewals would be special, but it feels like this drop kicked everyone in the feels.
The EDM version of “From (2018)” slaps too. I hope they never stop with the EDM remixes.
DKB – Hello, Goodbye (Rollercoaster)
What the helly? English version of “Rollercoaster” in the big 2-5??!?!?!?! I’m shook in the best way. I still love “Rollercoaster” so much. Unfortunately I didn’t care for the rest of EMOTION, but maybe this will inspire them to return to their R&B roots more ๐ค๐พ๐ค๐พ.
VVUP – House Party
Ayyyyyyee another banger from VVUP. Love to see it. No notes, just keep the tunes rollin ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ๐๐พ.
xikers – HOUSE OF TRICKY: WRECKING THE HOUSE
Ate dowwwwwn with “SUPERPOWER”. I guess it finally get xikers, lol. I first heard “SUPERPOWER” on TikTok, of course, but it was used in someone’s editโฆof something. I saved the song, then went to Spotify to save the album to listen to it later. Mannnnn I gotta say I’m incredibly impressed. Now I gotta keep an eye out for them too, huh? Another addition to the fave albums list โ .
82MAJOR – Trophy
Another banger discovered via TikTok, thanks, clock app!!! I think I got an ad for this one. But yeah, totally up my alley. Y’all know I love a good House track. It reminds me a bit of Mingyu’s “Shake It Off”. It’s the bass.
I really enjoyed the rest of the album too. I gotta listen to it a few more times before I pick a favorite song. But I’m keeping an eye on them too now. Okay, last one!
WONHO – SYNDROME
I’m still sooo disappointed that Wonho’s tour got cancelled; I would have been seeing him tomorrow night ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฅ. But it has given me time to listen to both “if you wanna” and “Better Than Me” on repeat. The “if you wanna” TikToks have been hilarious. One of my favorites, here. I think I already talked about how crazy and quickly Wonho’s English has improved.
He sings in English a lot on SYNDROME. I wasn’t as crazy about the album as a whole on my first listen. I’m gonna give it a few more tries before completely writing it off. But there are two b-sides I loved immediately. Those are “DND” and “On Top Of The World”. “DND” is easily my third fave song off the album.
And!!! The dark red burgundy hair on him is sooo good. I love this hair color on him so much. I think it’s my favorite non-natural color on him. It suits him so well.
I almost forgot to include Wonho on this list because SYNDROME was released on Halloween, so it feels like more of a November release promotion wise.
October’s new music really got my spirits back up. I was concerned I wouldn’t have much to talk about for this article, but I was wrong. Over 2k words, omg. There’s still some time left in November, but I’ll try to have the November faves article out the first week of December, the full week. I really need to write this weekend so I can have some articles scheduled to post next week so I’m caught up. So pop back in on Monday; there should be something new up. Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Bluesky, & Instagram. I hope y’all had a good October, and I hope your November is going alright.
Take care!
Ash๐ซ