2021 Mid-Year Freakout Tag: K-Pop Edition

I can’t believe it’s almost halfway through the year. 2021 has been a decent year so far – not as cruel as 2020, but not any kinder either. It’s been a lot of continuing to self-care through rereading old favorites from years ago, reading webtoons and graphic novels, and listening to maybe too much music for my own good.

I’m not typically one for the Mid-Year Freak Out Book Tag, mainly due to the fact I just don’t feel like doing it. But I also didn’t see a K-Pop version out there, so I figured if I’m not really in the mood to do a book tag or post a review, then maybe I create a K-Pop version? Win-win, situation, am I right?

(I also get to shove songs at everyone, but I’m probably aiming this post at Clo from Cuppa Clo with my latest agenda. Poor Clo didn’t expect this when we first became friends.)

Most of these questions were adapted from the Mid-Year Freakout Book Tag, originally created by ReadLikeWildfire and Earl Grey Books but I’ve also added and removed a few questions.

If you’re a fellow K-Pop fan and want to do them as well, feel free! Also, please link me or let me know if and when you do them because I would love to see them. (Assuming WordPress wants to ping me, that is…) But let’s get ready to freak out about K-Pop releases of 2021!

Groups/Artists You’ve Been Listening To This Year

I can go on and on with a long list of artists that I’ve been listening to this year, but here’s a few I’ve had on repeat or took a dive into a Nostalgia Way:

• EXO
• Taemin
• U-Kiss
• ATEEZ
• Infinite
• GOT7
• Chungha
• Dreamcatcher
• Everglow
• Ailee

I tried balancing out boy and girl groups, but unfortunately, most girl groups aren’t my style. (Or I just haven’t taken the effort to find them. Oops.)

Best Song of the Year So Far

I think I made some poor decisions when making questions because I have a lot of songs that could fall under Best Song of the Year for me.

• Let Me Know – PIXY
• Excalibur – Kingdom
• Hwaa – (G)I-DLE
• Cry For Me – Twice
• X – Chungha
• Moonshot – N.Flying
• Poison – Pink Fantasy

Best Comeback in 2021

Don’t Call Me – SHINee

SHINee’s back, friends! Well, kind of. Taemin is now completing his military service, but before then, the four released their 7th (!) Album with Don’t Call Me as their title track. They’re not favorite group, and I’m picky with a lot of their songs, but they’re also one of the first groups that got me into K-Pop.

Paranoia – Kang Daniel

Admittedly, I didn’t get into Kang Daniel’s discography until Paranoia released and the music video and performances kept getting into my YouTube recommendations. Good play, YouTube.

Other Mentions: Poison by Pink Fantasy, Fireworks (I’m the One) by ATEEZ, Let Me Know by PIXY, Don’t Fight the Feeling by EXO, Advice by Taemin, Where Are We Now by Mamamoo, Hwaa by (G)I-DLE, Not the End by Highlight*

*Highlight originally debuted as Beast before they rebranded.

Best Debut in 2021

I’m really hating my past (okay, somewhat recent) self for these questions. Oftentimes I don’t keep up with debuts until they start gaining traction, but 2021 is the first year YouTube decided, “Okay, you need to stop listening to all these groups who have been out for a while; here are some new ones.”

Friends, this is difficult to choose just one, so I’m settling with one boy group and one girl group. And well, maybe a few honorable mentions?

Excalibur – Kingdom

I’ve been eyeballing them pre-debut since the first teasers for Excalibur came out (thanks again, YouTube), and I have no regrets. Excalibur is catchy, the entire History of Kingdom: Part I. Arthur album is one I don’t mind having on repeat (I actually did for a few weeks), and their concept of seven different kings is absolutely cool. I’m a little worried since rookie groups (especially from a small company) that start out super strong with a very specific concept (medieval) tend to backfire a few years down the line, but we’ll see.

Honorable Mention: Breathe Again by Blitzers

Wings – PIXY

Another group from a smaller company! Wings isn’t my favorite as much as their recent release, Let Me Know, but I love the group’s lore and I want to see what the future will be in store. They also remind me of another group (Dreamcatcher) I enjoy listening to regularly with their dark vibes. Here’s to hoping they’re successful as well.

Honorable Mentions: Ponzona by Purple Kiss, Gratata by Hot Issue

Newest Song/Album Released You Haven’t Listened To But Want to

I’ve been surprisingly good with keeping up with song and album releases for the most part, at least from artists I regularly listen to (with the occasional new one), but here’s a few I want to get to soon!

• Your Choice – Seventeen
• Planet Nine: Alter Ego – Onewe
• Fairy Forest: Bravery – PIXY
• SIREN: DAWN – A.C.E.
• Alice in Wonderland – Pink Fantasy

Newest Bias

I’m very bad with names and faces unless I have personally spoken to someone multiple times, and as someone who would more than likely never meet an idol, I typically don’t have biases in groups.

Person: So who’s your favorite member?
Me: Uh, the one with white-blonde hair and looks like a cinnamon roll?*
Person:

*Turns out that one is Ivan from Kingdom

Most Anticipated Comeback or Debut for the Second Half of the Year

KINGDOM HAS A COMEBACK ON JULY 1 and that is exactly why I have this post written and published before their first comeback. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

AleXa is also making a comeback (July 1!) this year along with Red Velvet, so I’m looking forward to those as well! (And BTS? I can’t keep track, send help.)

*Comebacks in K-Pop aren’t like books where we know months and years ahead of time, unfortunately, so most of what I found are right around the corner.

Biggest Disappointment

Most of the songs listed here are personal preferences; your mileage may vary.

• Vanilla – Lightsum*
• Butter – BTS
• Chi Mat Ba Ram – Brave Girls*

*To be fair, I was never one for cute and summer concepts.

Biggest Surprise

Long story short, there’s been a few surprises this year.

After School – Weeekly

After School was a huge surprise for me considering I’ve never got into Weeekly’s songs in the first place. But hey, there’s always a first.

On the Ground – Rosè

When this first came out, I wasn’t a huge fan of the song due to personal preference and mood. But after having this shoved at me as much times as Butter, I’ve warmed up to the song.

(I can’t say the same for Butter, though.)

Up All Night – Ghost9

As much as I enjoyed Seoul, I was iffy with their debut and even more iffy with Up All Night. (Again, personal preference, and this one felt like a summer song.) But it turns out I slid this song right into my playlist within a few seconds.

Other Surprises: You Make Me by Day6, Villain by Cheetah ft. Jamie, Why Why Why by iKON

Song(s) that Made You Sad

• Hush – Kim Sung Kyu
• Where Are We Now – Mamamoo

Song(s) that Made You Happy

• After School – Weeekly
• Encore – GOT7

Favorite New to You Group/Artist

I’d put Kingdom and PIXY here, but since they’re relatively new groups, I don’t want to call them favorites just yet. But here are a few new favorites:

• Yezi
• BDC
• Kang Daniel
• Kim Sung Kyu
• Aespa (I know they have a smaller discography than Kingdom and PIXY combined or even not combined, but I’ve historically liked SM groups, so I’m a lot less hesitant and putting them in this list.)
• WEi

Favorite Music Video

My agenda continues here, friends.

I actually have a habit of not paying attention* to most music videos since I typically do other tasks while listening, but here are a few favorites from the ones I did pay attention to.

• Let Me Know – PIXY
• Excalibur – Kingdom
• Antidote – Kang Daniel
• Seoul – Ghost9
• X – Chungha

*I’m sorry. Please don’t harm me. I am but a mere peasant who wants to doodle in her bullet journal.

Favorite Performance

My agenda kind of ends here, but it’ll continue in future posts. Kingdom (the survival show, not the group) also happened, so I wanted to include a few of my favorite performances from the show in additional to other performances outside of it.

Performances

• I Can’t Stop Me – TO1 (Cover)
• Antidote – Kang Daniel
• Dynamite – BTS
• Gambler – Monsta X
• Burn the Floor – Super Junior
• Hwaa – (G)I-DLE

Kingdom: Legendary War

I tried my best to include at least one performance from each group.

• The Real by ATEEZ – They really decided, “I’m going to throw a party!” right on the stage.
• Answer: Ode to Joy by ATEEZ – Classic and pop is a difficult balance to strike, but I loved this mashup.
• Monster (Stormborn) by The Boyz – Did someone say an EXO song was being covered?
• Miroh by Stray Kids
• God’s Ddu-du ddu-du by Stray Kids – You may or may not have seen this one floating about the interwebs because of Deadpool.
• Back Door by BTOB
• Classy Savage by iKON (ft. Lisa from Blackpink)
• Believer by SF9
• Move by SF9

Groups/Artists or Songs/Albums You Want to Check Out Before the End of the Year

A lot of these artists I’ve heard one or two songs and maybe have a favorite here and there, but I never took the time to really go through their discography.

• SF9
• Seventeen
• Loona
• Mamamoo
• Itzy
• Twice
• iKON
• N.Flying
• Lucy
• Lovelyz
• Red Velvet

2021 has been an exciting year for K-Pop so far, so while I did enjoy creating the questions, I definitely had difficulty answering said questions.

Let’s talk, bookwyrms! Do you listen to K-Pop? If not, are you interested? And if so, who are some of your favorite groups, albums, artists and songs?