poison is a concentrated effort and impressive bounce back, but the remakes of previous title tracks damper the album by bringing attention to the fact that none of the new members are singers.

i am the least objective reviewer on this site i do not give a fuck this is the best album i've ever heard in my life!

the strength of this album is that once you remove "gangsta boy" it's a solid piece of work with incredible style and some of the best usage of sulli's voice in the entirety of f(x)'s career. also i find "hot summer" to be uselessly catchy and i'll never be able to get it out of my head. love is also f(x)'s best b-side and i'm disabling comments so that no one can comment some stupid 4 walls song.

i am once again going to be biased because this is a single with only two songs on it but "the boots" is on another level and no one will ever be able to replicate the feeling it gave me.

i really can't rate this below 90. every single song on this album is great. the title track is a great example of how girl crush can actually be good if not just lackluster rap after rap, the b-sides range in a good way while still being coherent, and "pastel sweater" actually made me kind of excited for christmas this year. "dear" is also quite frankly one of the only decent ballads this year.

mayhaps the best mini put out between wonsoka. no, i am not joking.

i'm going to be incredibly biased because i'm not a critic and it doesn't matter, but "cafe mocha please" gets this album a 100/100.

what impresses me about wayv is they manage to get right what many of their fellow nct units do not--they don't overdose on bad rap. not saying that wayv doesn't have bad rap, because they definitely do, but they've gone the traditional girl group route of letting it sit as accessory rather than dominate, and that's something i can appreciate, especially in a chinese album where soulful vocals take over and i'm reminded of how lush and well-put-together wayv's vocals are, from xiaojun's ... read more

taeyeon's strong suit is that she wants to try new things and improve herself artistically. unfortunately, when you're an incredible singer like she is, there's a limitation to what you can do and accomplish with just your vocal tone alone. if her voice doesn't interest you already on her own, this album won't do you any favors. it's a shame, because it is really well-put-together. i can tell a lot of work was put into this.

i'm starting to become frustrated with gfriend. it's not so much that their music quality has been dropping so much as the creative choices being made are starting to feel less and less like ones i'd associate with a group like gfriend, where style used to never be a concern. "fever" isn't bad because it's generic dance-music; it's bad because it's generic dance-music sung by gfriend, which makes it hurt more somehow. not a single track on the mini can save it either. sowon's ... read more

honestly, it's amazing that this is way better than the korean version considering that this is the subunit that got scorned by their company. "mama" is more solid yet comparable to the original, while "moonlight" and "history" shine far brighter in comparison to their korean counterparts. these six will never release more music ever again, but i'm happy with this 2012 sound.

(i will treat this re-issue as it's own album seeing as it offers the same amount of new songs as the previous album) loona's sound is finally starting to come together. while i felt that debut effort [+ +] erred on the side of predictability, [x x] offers a lush, twinkling reminder of the dreamy pop loona has done in the past with members yves, kim lip, and hyunjin. "butterfly" works solidly as a promotion track so i have no complaints with it, and the rest of the album maintain a ... read more

listened to this for the first time the other day and was absolutely blown away. the title track will take some getting used to (i think it was insta-love for everyone but me), but the album tracks are beyond incredible. "girlfriend" is a delicious 80's bop that makes excellent use of jessica and sunny's gorgeous vocals, and i can't forget the sheer catchiness of "boyfriend" and heart-warming feeling of "my child". all in all, an excellent effort and turning point ... read more

decent sophomore effort that does more to solidify itzy's sound than offer anything substantial. at the very least with b-side "cherry", jyp entertainment lets us in on the darker side of itzy and i'm interested to see exploration of that, if only because i worry about the quality of their title tracks. there is style there (and i applaud that!) but jyp needs to pull all the stops out to get itzy a song that makes me fall in love with their style, and this single isn't quite proving ... read more

absolutely incredible, a progression in sound for twice that doesn't let go of their roots for the sake of appealing those uninterested in their style. twice's characteristic saccharine vocals are scattered throughout the mini, but they add to the maturity of the work, rather than taking away from it. you can tell the girls meant it when they said they wanted to grow as artists--songs like "hot" and "strawberry" reassure me that they are on a good path.

red velvet's most solid mini in a while honestly. the title track is... up-to-debate, but every side track is replayable, with bing bing and milshake being well-produced standouts. hopefully the rest of the festival series can hold up to this mini, i haven't enjoyed a red velvet mini like this since rookie.

as a fan of oh my girl, i'm a bit disapointed with this album. a lot more of the album was filler than i'd like, but the silver lining is that every good song on this album is absolutely fucking fantastic. "crime scene", "checkmate", and "vogue" are all great tracks, and i appreciate that the album gets better as you listen to it.

this is a really good album, especially for being the last native language album from exid before their indefinite hiatus. the title track is the weakest song, which in itself is an indicator of quality. remorseful goodbye song "we are.." and "midnight" are lush standouts, and le delivers great rap verses throughout the record.

the entire album is fantastic but i'm not a fan of time slip though i know that one is pretty popular. might do a more in-depth review later, who knows.

only aoa's second album (and one in a foreign language at that), runway was released at an interesting standstill in aoa's career where they had nothing to lose from releasing music of mediocre quality. thankfully, runway is a gem that not many people will experience due to its lackluster promotion—a shame, considering that (not taking into account japanese versions of previous releases) this album consists of some of aoa's best deep cuts, including the classy love gave me you and ... read more