Still around and a quick interest update.

 This year has been quite the year of change for me as I ended up moving to another state and it took much longer than I ever expected to be able to find a place to move into. That said I have finally achieved my long term goal of being able to move into a place of my own so I am quite happy with that.

Between all of that I have been getting back into K-pop and Johnny's. I think I have reached a point that I am trying to balance my interests now in terms of time and money spent on them. I feel like I have reached a point with K-pop that I have a few groups now I plan on continuing with but overall less and less groups are catching my interest, let alone holding it. With Johnny's though I still feel like I have a long way to go to catch up. Not spending so much on K-pop will help a lot with that. 

I am so excited for Naniwa Danshi's debut and have their debut single on pre-order with NEWS' upcoming single. It will be so nice to get both in my hands later this month.

With my favorite Hello!Project groups no longer around (Country Girls and Kobushi Factory) I feel like I am mostly hanging on for Oda Sakura in Morning Musume. Though I would enjoy Momusu much more if they were more active with releases. I have no idea what H!P is thinking, all I can assume is that not being able to perform as much is hurting financially so they could not release much. But I do not think such a release drought is helping either. And it is sad the only Momusu '21 single we are getting is more because Sato Masaki is graduating than anything else.

Other than that not much has changed with the other music I follow. I will probably make a few posts to go over exactly which idols I follow like I have before as I make another try with this blog.

Treasure to make Japanese debut

It has been announced that in March Treasure will be having their Japanese debut. Their first Japanese release will be an album titled The First Step: Treasure Effect and will come out on March 31st. 

The album is listed as having 13 tracks all in Japanese with only the unreleased song BEAUTIFUL being confirmed. That said I doubt the group will be learning many songs from scratch and expect the ten songs on their Korean album to get Japanese versions on this album. So with BEAUTIFUL there will be three brand new songs (as I really hope we will not get the remixes on this) which should not be too demanding with the group actually getting some decent time between releases. Also BEAUTIFUL will probably be ready to be switched out as the ED song for Black Clover by then so having another new Japanese song to be used as a tie-in to something it would be helpful to keep the release and group in people's minds after it hits shelves.

Overall I am excited for the release, though I do hope the boys get to slow things down a little in the coming year. YG started them off with a bang with the three singles in three months and then an album soon after and while there is more time between that release and this one it still feels like they are not getting much of a rest. But on the other hand they do need to make sure they secure their foot hold in these markets so they can have longevity as any new group would have to do. I just hope they are managed well enough to avoid members burning out.

Sexy Zone Let's Music!

Sexy Zone is moving forward with releases as they have their next single Let's Music announced to be released on March 24th. It will only feature the four currently active members as Marius Yo is still on hiatus for his mental health. 

Honestly it feels to odd for the group to have finally been back to the full five member roster with their last single when Matsushima So returned to the group after his hiatus just for them to be back to four members but it is a different member missing. That said I am glad Marius is getting all the time he needs to rest. And just as fans patiently waited for So's return we will wait for his. But he will of course will be missed.

On a personal note I was going to start skipping picking up the group's singles and just buy their albums but I will pick up at least the regular edition of this single. If just so I can feel like I am supporting the group as they go through yet another rough time for them.

Let's Music [w/ Bonus, Bundled Set of All 3 Editions]

Sexy Zone

2PM 2021 comeback confirmed

While it was hoped and even somewhat expected for by fans it has been confirmed that when Junho completes his military service in March, 2021 2PM will be ready to return with full group promotions. 

Naver article (Korean only.)

With My House becoming a viral hit in 2020 despite no new promotion for it, having 2PM getting back into group promotions as soon as possible is the smart thing to do. Especially as groups that stop full group promotions to have members do their mandatory military duty always risk being forgotten as newer groups debut or start filling the void left. But I do not think that was as much of an issue with 2PM as there are very few if any other boy groups that have the same "beast idol" image that 2PM has that are still active.

Of course no matter how popular they are I will still be a fan and eagerly await to have new music from the group again.

Secret Number's Lockey

 Honestly I was not sure what to think when Secret Number announced that they were going to run a contest to choose a fan name. K-pop fan names can get, well let's just say interesting at times. But it looks for this group a bullet was dodged. The fan name for the group is Lockey (Pronounced "lucky" because K-pop.). For a full explanation for it just check out the graphic below that goes over it.

Honestly I have been a fan of J-pop and K-pop for so long I think my questionable English meter is broken, but I would like to think this is one of the better fan names. It is better than Aespa's My, but let us face it, that is probably one of the more questionable fan names in K-pop in general so it is not hard to be better than it. Either way I am happy with what was selected with Secret Number, especially as it sounds like the group may have a comeback in the near future. And I hope with each new release the group brings in more Lockeys. 

Burning NEWS

 It has been announced that NEWS will be will be taking over the opening theme song for Yashahime anime series. The new song will be called Burn and will start airing with the anime on January 9th, taking over from SixTONES op theme NEW ERA.

Johnny's Net (Japanese)

I am really surprised that there is a new song for NEWS already as it has not been long since their latest single release. That said I will never say no to more NEWS. And I am really happy for them to get a tie-in like this. 

It is kinda surprising too, as usually artists from the music label that is sponsoring the program that are selected for theme songs. But Johnny's does have SixTONES with Sony Music Japan and have had other artists on the label before so they could just be using the good relations they have with the company. Especially since SMJ has a high selling group from Johnny's with SixTONES.

And this hopefully means there will not be much a wait for NEWS' next single. Though that does mean I probably should start saving up for it now.

Getting closer to 2PM

Earlier this week it was announced that Chansung of 2PM has been officially discharged from his military service. This leaves Junho to be the final member of the group needing to finish his mandatory military service.

Allkpop article (English)

2PM was one of the first groups I got into back when I first got into K-pop and have never completely stopped following over the years. Ever since getting back into K-pop last year I have been waiting for the group to be able to resume activities again so getting the news that we are one step closer is exciting. And Junho should be done this March and then the group can be complete again.

I have to confess since catching up on the group I was a bit worried about 2PM continuing on as 6, with Taecyeon signing with another agency so it was a relief to see him at the celebration for Chansung. And it has made me even more hyped for when they can come back.