Hey, music fan! How are you doing? It is time to go through September highlights in K-pop. In this blog, we can also cross the genres. Therefore these highlights can include, for example, K-hip hop or events. So it is a collection of things I liked from the previous month. All these opinions are my personal preferences, and I hope you find inspiration or new songs/artists here to check out 😊

Wow, this autumn has started so busily, and September went fast. In September, there were a lot of releases and new music. How did you enjoy the new songs last month and did you find new favourites? This month the September highlights list is short and sweet because I’m travelling.

If you want to check out what I’m up to daily, you can head to my Instagram account: I am currently in Seoul, South Korea, on holiday, so do check out some travel ideas, concerts, happenings, culture and art! Here I will post some longer texts/ blog posts about the holiday.

So far, I have loved being here: people are super friendly, there are so many things to see and excellent public transport to get anywhere you want. Still trying to find all the things I am interested in, which has been a bit challenging. And just speaking a little bit of Korean has been a challenge at times, but luckily everyone is so friendly 🙂 But I can read, that has helped a lot.

I went to a festival on Sunday 9th October, Someday Pleroma, which was a lot of fun. My favourite artist was the reason for going to the festival: Ha Sung Woon. He released a great mini album,” Strange World”, in August, which was my top highlight of that month. I also saw amazing Woodz and Heize, which I enjoyed a lot. Woodz’s mini album,”Colorful Trauma”, this year was my top highlight in May: such great songs are there. It was raining cats and dogs the whole day, but that didn’t ruin experiencing great performances. But I left after Heize because all my clothes and bags were soaking wet! So, I had to get to the hotel and warm 🙂 

So let’s hop forward to the September highlights! 😊

Mesmerizing debut, mimiirose “Rose” (single, Yes IM Entertainment)

So many new good girl groups are debuting this year! mimiirose is a new five-piece girl group, and they have released their single “Awesome” with three songs. mimiirose’s title track is “Rose“, a pop song that reminds me of Mediterranean pop songs, for example, in Greece and Turkey. Especially the main instrumental hook, in the intro and chorus, and the beat and melodies are very similar to that style. The rest of the song is K-pop “girl crush” style, but it fits here, contrasting with the Mediterranean style.

All the vocals are excellent here, and their debut is a catchy and powerful song! I feel like on holiday on a Greek island when listening to this song: you can always hear songs like this there. I love this song, and it’s easy to listen to this on repeat. It makes you want to dance, and the dance choreography for this looks like a lot of fun. The group dance choreography is fantastic! 😊

The music video is colourful and cute, with rose aesthetics. There isn’t much information about mimiirose, but apparently, this is a group produced by singer-songwriter and actor Lim Chang Jung. He told on a radio show about the investment for the group; he sold land and rights to his songs. 

Melodic moments, ONEUS, “Same Scent” (EP, RBW Inc.)

ONEUS, a six-piece boy group, is back with their 8th mini album called “MALUS”, and the title track is called “Same Scent“. This track is a mid-tempo, EDM horns-powered pop song about longing for the loved one. There is a melodic guitar riff, and the vocals here are great. This song has mighty hooks and melodies, which is refreshing to hear. As there are so many releases these days where you don’t hear beautiful melodies. And this song has them! 

Oneus’s EP” MALUS” has more powerful pop songs like the rock-flavoured” STUPID LOVE”, followed by” Gravitation”. The track starts with acoustic guitar, and the chords remind me of the British Oasis’s music. The vocals are lovely in this song, and the song is a ballad.” Mermaid” is a cheerful, funky pop song with some fun 80’s style synths, bass, guitar and drums. But still keeping this song to this day and time. Next up is” FULL MOON”, a melancholic-sounding mid-tempo track ending the EP.” MALUS” is a great balanced collection of pop songs, changing the mood continuously and keeping the listener entertained. Just as I’m writing this, there is some news about Oneus’s one member. We must wait and see what happens.

Cool and experimental, Balming Tiger, SEXY NUKIM (feat. RM of BTS) (Single, YG Plus)

I hadn’t heard about Balming Tiger before this release, but this release, ”SEXY NUKIM”, got a lot of attention and hype around because of including RM from the BTS rapping in the song. But this song is incredible, and it’s worth the hype! Blaming Tiger is a collective, and they tell about their touring, song-making process etc., in an interview with the DIVE studios.

The song is experimental, with some cool sounds and rapping from various Korean rappers. What I like most about this song is that it has air and space and is constantly progressing into something new. For example, the music transforms into a stylish house music groove at the song’s end. So this isn’t, in my opinion, your typical hip-hop song, as it combines rap with house music and beats. I feel that some sounds remind me of 90s club sounds. So this is absolutely a highlight for September!

Summing Up September

September highlights were a bit shorter, but I’ll add songs I like to the Spotify playlist. So in September, we got experimental popular music and a new debut from a girl group. This year seems to be a year of the new girl groups. So many promising debuts have come. I haven’t in my blog acknowledged this much, but I have been enjoying a lot of, for example, New Jeans and LE SSERAFIM’s songs. They just took some time to grow on me. You can find the songs I have collected from a Spotify playlist and I also have Youtube channel with a playlist of the monthly highlights.

So I’ll be attending some festivals and concerts here in Seoul, so I thought I keep it short and simple here in the September highlights this time! Because I will report on the festivals. Are you guys excited? I am 🙂 I hope you have a fantastic day and be inspired! 🙂