Category: Uncategorized
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Our Favorite K-pop Singles of 2024: 1-10
And finally, I wrote about XG’s “IYKYK” and tripleS’ “Girls Never Die.” The Girls Never Die blurb, in particular, might be some of the best music writing I’ve done in years. XG – IYKYK Personality quiz: which act of lyrical terrorism from XG’s “IYKYK” will get stuck in your head, resulting in you Stockholm Syndrome-ing…
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Our Favorite K-pop Singles of 2024: 11-20
I wrote about Katseye’s “Touch” and Rose and Bruno Mars’ “APT.” for this list – check out what I wrote, along with the amazing blurbs from everybody else who participated! Katseye – Touch There’s a reason repetition works so effectively in love songs–there’s something about a crush that can warp your brain, keep it playing…
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Our Favorite K-pop Singles of 2024: Intros and Honorable Mentions
Hi, everybody! It’s always a pleasure to join my friend Kayla over at Pop Excellence and contribute to her annual list of top 20 K-pop singles: I wrote about Lisa and Rosalia’s “New Woman” here! Lisa (ft. Rosalia) – New Woman Whether warbling about dolla bills or teaching us all Japanese, Lisa has cemented herself…
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Doris: a love story
In the beginning, there was Doris, and it was lit. Sure, I’d had stuffed animals before: ever since I’d told my 10th grade homeroom that I liked them, every Secret Santa exchange, Teacher Appreciation Week, and birthday yielded countless new plushie friends. Sure, some of them endeared themselves enough to earn names and prime real…
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the simple joy of a single bag
I’m sitting at Gate 29 at Oakland Airport, pondering one of life’s biggest mysteries: Why is packing so hard? Why do I, faced with eleven T-shirts, three pairs of jeans, and six variations on the same flannel, waste time waffling between countless permutations before inevitably defaulting to my tried-and-true favorites? Why do I always brush…
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water daily
On a Tuesday in July, Frankie brought change in a cardboard box. He boarded the 7:10am Daly City train and settled in for his daily commute: in his lap, six red Solo cups full of soil and saplings; in his backpack, a Zip-Loc bag hosting a summer’s worth of Buena Mulata peppers. At 8:04am, he…
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Pop Excellence: Best K-pop songs of 2023
My good friend Kayla has been kind enough to invite me into an annual tradition: over at her blog, Pop Excellence, she recruits K-pop critics and fans to collectively hash out (and write about) the best songs of the year. I was lucky enough to contribute a whopping six (!!) blurbs to this year’s list,…
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February Fashion Challenge, Day 22: Back to beige-ics
It’s another quick post for today – I don’t know what it is about this week, but I’ve been dealing with different health problems every day! First it was the stomach pain on Tuesday, and now it’s a sore throat and nausea on Wednesday. Last I tested, I was negative for COVID, but jeez, I…
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Our Favorite K-pop Singles of 2022: 1-10
And here’s our top 10 K-pop singles of 2022! I got to write about IVE, CSR, NewJeans, and Le Sserafim in this batch – what a good year for girl groups! IVE – Love Dive I have done literally every single part of this song in the shower at some point in 2022, including the…
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Our Favorite K-pop Singles of 2022: 11-20
It was super fun to be part of this project – we chose some great K-pop singles from 2022, and everyone brought their A-game as writers / fans! Kep1er – WA DA DA Kep1er’s debut, in classic survival show fashion, is reverse-engineered to fit the nine girls whose only common trait is making it through…