Hello everyone, welcome to my weekly series where I share some exciting / interesting things that happened in Kpop. My goal is to spread a little bit of positivity and encourage you to share something that brightened your day or week.
Grab a drink or a snack and let’s start.
Eunhyuk, the soloist with 20 years of experience
On Monday, January 28, Super Junior’s dancer extraordinaire, Eunhyuk had his official solo debut. His title track “UP N DOWN” shows Eunhyuk’s charms and magnetic charisma. In the music video he had special cameos from his fellow SUJU member Shindong and choreographer J.Black.
His album ‘EXPLORER’ has seven songs: “A-yo”, “UP N DOWN”, “TRAP”, “You & I (feat. Kyuhyun)”, “Step By Step”, “Second Chances”, and “EMPTY (special track)”. The album is full of retro Y2K sounds. Eunhyuk truly embodies Y2K through his choreography, styling, and music.
Because he debuted with Super Junior in 2005, 20 years ago, during the Y2K movement, his solo work feels authentic. I’m proud of Eunhyuk and I’ve been enjoying everything about his solo debut, yes that includes his Studio Choom performance, I highly recommend checking it out.
Watch Eunhyuk ‘UP N DOWN’ MV here.
Watch my reaction video to his music video here.
Double aces, Taemin and Ni-ki command the stage
The 2024 MBC Music Festival, which was originally set to air on December 31, but was postponed due to the Jeju Air plane crash, aired this year on January 29 and 30. One performance in particular that absolutely made my week was Enhypen’s Ni-ki and SHINee’s Taemin collab stage. If anyone has followed Ni-ki’s journey you’ll know how big this collaboration was for him. Ni-ki is an impeccable performer and whatever choreography or song he is given he will always give 100%.
During the MBC Music Festival he had a brief dance solo then he performed Taemin’s “Guilty”, which he was later joined by Taemin himself. Their stage presence was well balanced and each complimented the other’s performance style. I was in awe at how powerful both guys were. I hope to see more collaborations between Ni-ki and Taemin in the future. Without a doubt Ni-ki is 5th gen’s ace.
Check out their performance here.
Jennie’s duality
On January 24, Jennie surprised everyone by dropping her video “Zen”. I spoke about this recently on my channel, but “Zen” was absolutely epic. The visuals of the music video, the song, and the lyrics gave me chills. To me “Zen” represents Jennie as someone who has risen up despite the hardships she’s faced in her career and has successfully established herself as an artist. Although the song isn’t on official music streaming platforms (yet) I have been listening to the song repeatedly throughout the week. I have YouTube Music, therefore it’s easy for me to listen to it.
Watch Jennie’s “Zen” video here.
This past Friday, she released her song “Love Hungover” feat. Dominic Fike. It is vastly different from “Zen”. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the song. I think I’ll have to listen to it a few times until it grows on me. That happened with “Mantra”, at first I didn’t like it but now I love the song. The music video to “Love Hungover” is a cinematic comedy, in the best way. I enjoyed this MV, it was full of unexpected twists and it was fun to watch. In the video Charles Meltonas is her love interest and I think he did a good job. I love seeing Jennie’s duality in the videos and music she has released and I look forward to her album.
Watch Jennie’s “Love Hungover” here.
GOT7 galore
GOT7 recently had their concert NESTFEST, on January 31, where they blessed Ahgase’s (their fans) with performances from their hit songs. I’ve been watching their videos with a huge smile on my face. There’s something about GOT7’s music that feels so timeless. However, there is one song in particular that is very special to me and that is “Lullaby”. GOT7 performing “Lullaby” in 2025, brightened my entire day. Before I started my Kpop reaction channel in 2019, I posted about GOT7’s comeback for “Lullaby” right here on my blog in 2018. It was my first blog post talking about a Kpop comeback and that song will always have a special place in my heart.
On January 28, Dingo Music released GOT7’s Killing Voice. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Killing Voice, it’s when a group or artist perform their hit songs in one go.
GOT7’s set was fantastic, I was singing and dancing along to it as if it was a concert. I’m so happy the members were able to do this and like I keep saying, I’m thoroughly enjoying this comeback.
Watch GOT7’s dingo Killing Voice here.
That is it for this week’s Kpop recap. Share below what was something that happened in Kpop last week that brightened your day?
-EliMarie
elimarieproduction.com 