Asian Addicts Anonymous

In many ways we are all still living in dark times. The pandemic, political unrest, and probably so much more that it’s hard to really name, isn’t it? Preparing special performances for year-end music shows, rookie band WEi took on a song by the hugely popular BTS, “Spring Day.” Member Donghan talked about he helped produce the performance and changed up the choreography to reflect a little more of what is going on during this time with the pandemic. In the end, their version of “Spring Day” is to show that this cold winter will come to an end and better days will be ahead. Let us all hope so.

It’s obvious, isn’t it then? The top song on my first playlist for 2021 is WEi’s cover of “Spring Day.” There’s just something about their performance that really catches my attention and I watched this a few times a day.

Spring Day (봄날) – Cover by WEi (위아이)

Donghan said that when talking to people he really concentrated on people’s faces and mouths. This is why they have added sign language into the choreography. The sign language parts are performed by Junseo in the beginning and then by Junseo and Daehyeon towards the end. It’s a great performance alone, but knowing more about WEi’s story behind the performance brings it to a new level, doesn’t it?

Wish For You by Kang In Soo and Lee Sang

Did you know that the male leads in this short BL drama are actually idol singers, too? Kang In Soo is the main vocalist of MYNAME. Sadly, MYNAME garnered more popularity in Japan and have essentially no Korean activities as idols any more. Which…they are a talented group, so it’s sad. I thoroughly enjoyed their Korean releases. Lee Sang is a vocalist in the group Imfact. Another highly underrated group that often talks about their struggles to keep performing and producing music only to have it “fail.” Again, super talented group that should have much more recognition than they have. If you haven’t done it already, check out WISH YOU: Your Melody from My Heart. The acting isn’t always the greatest as is per usual in these dramas, but Lee Sang really did an excellent job and the music aspect is awesome. I really wish you could find the full OST on YouTube (legally, I mean, lol) so I can include all of the videos here as all of the songs are pretty awesome.

Finding You (너를 찾을게) by Kwon Soon Il (권순일)

If you aren’t aware already, Urban Zakapa has some great vocals! You can find member Kwon Soon Il contributing solo to several drama OSTs. The most recent is the BL drama Color Rush. I like how this isn’t a typical drama and the acting is pretty decent with our two male leads. I don’t hate the main theme which is also called “Color Rush” by Lovelyz member Ryu Su Jeong, but I really just fell in love with the ending ballad. Sadly, HS STUDIO doesn’t have the full ending song uploaded on their new YouTube account yet, but you can find the full version of “Color Rush.” You can hear a little of the song in this video. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

And that is actually it…I have been adding new songs to my 2021 playlist, but really, these three songs are the ones I have been listening to over and over again. I am also going through and trying to organize my 2020 playlist and clean it up a bit to share the music I really enjoyed in 2020, so stay tuned for that. It’s hard to get any writing done as Smokey, my dachshund puppy who was born October 22, is quite a demanding little butthead if I don’t shower him with attention.

But! I will leave you with 7 more songs anyways, lol. These are good to listen to, they just aren’t songs I feel I *must* listen to on repeat right at this moment.

Color Rush by Ryu Su Jeong

I swore I thought they had released a full version of this song, but I didn’t find it… It’s beautiful, too, but just “Finding You” spoke to me more.

Don’t Give Up by Lee Sang

IMFACT actually does write their own raps and songs. FYI. Lee Sang released this song back in May of 2020 on IMFACT’s official YouTube channel. If you can’t tell it is about not giving up during the dark times of the pandemic. There is Korean in the lyrics, the majority of them are in English, though. Isn’t a beautiful song?

Hello & Goodbye by MYNAME

I really liked this song by MYNAME. You can also see In Soo rocking his blond locks. They have several MVs that play out more like movies and I do like that. What do you think? Do you have a favorite MYNAME song? I liked Gun Woo’s longer locks here. I don’t think they have any new releases since a year ago…but their members are not young (born in the mid to late 80s), so I am sure they are probably serving out mandatory military services.

Lie (거짓말이야) by IMFACT (임팩트)

Jeup really showcased his strong vocals on KBS’s idol reboot show, but he sadly didn’t make the final line-up, but the male and female groups formed didn’t really enjoy huge popularity from The Unit. This is a five member group from Star Empire Entertainment. January 27 of this year will mark their 5th anniversary since debut. I wonder how much longer they will be around. They are talented and deserve so much more attention than they get.

Intro : Devil is in the Detail by ONEUS (원어스)

Anyone else waiting? in 10 days ONEUS’s DEVIL will be released. Looks like we’ll be getting another dark concept. It does fit the members. RAVN and Leedo do have such great charisma…and we can’t forget the flying squirrel that is Seoho. I remember when he got thrown…was it in the To Be or Not to Be promotions when he talked about enduring the pinches of the members to make such a great choreography? He is jumping and flying so much in their songs. This is a complete 180 from their latest release BBUSYEO. Are you ready? Hwanwoong’s charisma…he’s such a great performer. We didn’t really get to see much of Xion, but Gunhee had some charisma here, too. Such a far cry from his over the top adorkableness in BTS.

BUMP BUMP by WOODZ (조승연)

This is such a bop. Cho Seung Yeon is so talented, but I do find it sad that two members of UNIQ joined Produce programs. I can’t remember if we hear Seung Yeon talk about his reasons too much on Produce X 101, but we did get to hear fellow UNIQ member Wenhan talk about how before he knew it he was just acting and not doing what he really wanted to do which was music. Thus he did Produce in China. He made it to the final lineup for that group like Seung Yeon did, but with less bad results. It’s sad how they had to suffer with the whole Produce scandal in South Korea. Isn’t this a great song? He does a lot of songwriting and performing on the moniker of WOODZ. UNIQ has been inactive as a whole since 2018. Yibo, Wenhan, and Yixuan have been doing dramas in China and Wenhan is also part of UNINE. I don’t know if Sungjoo is doing much in South Korea, but at least we get Seung Yeon active as WOODZ. It would be nice if they could come back as a group, and not just for Yuehua family concerts.

EOEO by UNIQ

Yibo…his very charismatic when he dances. No doubt about that. I think he was like 16 or 17 when they released “EOEO.” UNIQ was originally set to debut under a partnership between YG & Yuehua, but they are solely under Yuehua and you hear stories about how Yuehua mismanages their idols careers. They consist of two Korean members and two Chinese members. Fun fact…Yibo and Seung Yeon share the same birthday a year apart. The rapline in this song…Yibo and Seung Yeon kill it.

And a special bonus because I mentioned being born on the same day a year apart. A favorite song of mine from 2020 which came from BL Thai drama Oxygen The Series.

MY OXYGEN by Supanut

Yes, Supanut is exactly one year older than Petch. And it’s ironic in the drama that Petch plays the senior and Supanut the Junior, just like in SOTUS. Technically Singto is older than Krist, but Singto got the junior role, although he did technically audition for Krist’s role and didn’t get it. Could you imagine a SOTUS with reversed roles? They did do that on a program. Singto did a great job in the hazing part. I think this was Petch’s and Supanut’s first acting project. While the acting is weak at times, Oxygen had some great moments.

I am not certain why, but they also dropped an all-English version of “MY OXYGEN” and it just felt weird to me since I was so used to the Thai version, lol. Supanut does a pretty good job with the English pronunciation. Which version do you prefer?

What songs are you starting 2021 with?