"Sing it daddy!" — UKISS circa. 2010

18+ | Delulu about my emotional support men

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ Tick Tack + Forever (For KISS Me) + Forbidden Love

So releases from this point onward until around ~2014/15ish are constant and hectic, so I've had to deviate from my original plan a bit. I think grouping the JP singles + KR digital singles in 3s helps keep things a little less...unwieldy, and less constrained by image limits on posts.

Tick Tack - 1st JP Single | 2011.12.14

This was the PV that got accidentally leaked, right? Like they posted the full version of this instead of the short version, and that's why it was so easy to watch it on YouTube or whatever, and it was super easy to get the full audio because of it lol. I think it only took me a day or two to find a 320kbps download of it. Anyway, another pivotal moment of my tween years.

Tick Tack (Audio) | YouTube Music 5.3M | Spotify 1.11M

God that clock sound is so good

Love the entire vocal line stuffed into the first verse

Vocal troika taking the chorus love that for them

Also love stuffing everyone into the second verse

I like that the parallel with the first and third verses where the former is all the vocalists and the latter is all the rappers

SooHoon + Dongho bridge? An odd combo but very much goated

Honestly super impressed at how much this song is a team effort

Obviously Soohyun, Kevin, and Hoon have the most lines since they do the chorus, but Dongho gets a good amount with his little extra rap, and while AJ, Eli, and Kiseop get a couple lines each

And yeah sure it's a couple of lines, but they are attention-grabbing

Always appreciate a good bookend with the clock returning

Love the dramatic music, love the dramatic lyrics, it's such a good follow-up to NEVERLAND, and an insane first JP release

So lyrically, is this a reluctant breakup song? Like is this a toxic relationship that they're ending even though they're still in love?

That's a new breakup theme for them

10/10 "the perfect Japanese debut for a Kpop group doesn't exi-" wrong

Tick Tack (MV) | Short ver. 3.9M | Official upload 733k

Oh buckle in buckaroos I got a legit copy of this on my laptop AND of every JP MV right up until 2016 babyyy

And I can't remember if it was they learnt the choreo in 3 days (while promoting) or if they both learnt it in 3 days while their choreographer was still working on it

Iconic and lol their positions

Kiseop, AJ, and Eli are just kinda comfortably posing

Soohyun on his knees, Dongho chilling on the floor, and Kevin making modern art with his body lol

Also the dramatic grasping hands

Abandoned Warehouse Set #1 with an amazingly large clock

Abandoned Warehouse Set #2 + group sadboy shot

I love the black/white look with red accents super chic, but is Soohyun the only one without white? I mean fair he is the real MC of UKISS

Not Hoon being the only in a full pose

Ew Kiseop don't touch the dust/ash that's dirty

Oh his hair....it's kinda pompadour-esque. I remember thinking it was super cool back in the day, but it's kinda...tragic now lol

Still looks good though, hard for his face card to ever decline

Love the fanning out of this part, it's super cool on stages for such a simple step

Also these grey suits are gorgeous and it's 2011, so of course it's paired with combat boots

Surprised that this dance has only resulted in one instance of ripped pants

Could be more, but Hoon ripping his pants during their Best Of tour promos is peak comedy

This part is also very cool, very fun to look at

I could've sworn they wore gloves during the dance, but I guess not? They're wearing them for the dramatic solo shots though

Dongho with yet again the bowliest bowlcut to ever bowl

Another personal favourite choreo bit

It's a bit difficult to explain, but the force and purpose Soohyun uses when he slides his hand down Kiseop's back is so cool

The way he pops up kills me every time

These are the worst outfits in the video

I hate the white sleeves so much they make them look juvenile

Like I get black sleeves probably wouldn't have worked with this set since they'd get lost in the dark edges of the frame

But a dark colour would've worked, or heck even no sleeves

On the topic of outfits, not much to say about their hair that hasn't been said already

This was filmed during NEVERLAND promos I think, so their hair is fine

Kevin, Soohyun, and AJ have great hairstyles; Hoon, Eli, and Dongho are fine; Kiseop's pompadour is meh, but I really like his hair when they're in the grey suits

The fluffy hair looks really good on him, much better than the sleek look he wore for NEVERLAND

The dance battle is cute, really helps give everyone a bit more spotlight

This part? Seared into my brain

What's falling down from the ceiling? Ashes? Dust? Snow? Asbestos? We may never know

Anyway, no story, just a banger dance and brooding shots in The Box and some abandoned spaces

Oh and this isn't in the MV, obviously, but remember how Hoon and Kiseop nearly knocked each other out while filming this? I don't remember the exact documentary, but it must have been that one they did during NEVERLAND

They were all so enamoured with the giant clock too lol

10/10 still gives an insane dopamine rush

Coincidence | YouTube Music 113k | Spotify N/A

It's so insane that this banger is just a random b-side for a single?

I'm trying to figure out who dominates this song, and while my initial instinct is to say it's a Kevin song, Eli is also a very constant presence? Soohyun and Hoon also have parts that are more memorable. All I can say is that this is definitely not a Kiseop (RIP) song

Love the first and last choruses are SooVin while the others are HoonVin

Soohyun's little "follow me!" is so cute omg

I really like AJ's rap here he always makes it so interesting

The cute little SooSeop verse

Dongho's rap was also nice, like the little break for AJ and AJ+Eli

The little bridge part with SooHoon and Eli+Dongho is really cool

I like the darker sound of this, very fitting to be Tick Tack's b-side

Not entirely sure what the song is about? I think it's about meeting an ex again, hence all the mentions of coincidences and fate?

The colourless world mentions sure make it sound depressing though

Also looking at the lyrics, I thought the song was a lot more complex than it is? It really is just like 5 choruses, 3 post-choruses, a couple of verses and a bridge

I think the constant switching of singers/rappers help make it sound more complex

9.5/10 super catchy. I can't believe I actually forgot about this song until I got back into this hellscape

0330 -Piano & Chorus ver.- | YouTube Music N/A | Spotify N/A

There's no official upload but the fan upload of it is sitting at 16k

I think they did this in their 2012 tour? Anyway, sounds a lot like the Christmas version which I really like

Love the stripped down sound, really turns it from crying in the club to crying in the tub

What can I say, I'm a sucker for them harmonizing in the background

Vocal troika really shines in sounding like kicked puppies in this version

9.25/10 higher than the original version because I love me some pathetic-sounding men (affectionate)

Forever (For KISS Me) - 1st Digital Single | 2011.12.22

I remember this coming out!!! Got home from school and did the good ol' YT video-mp3 converter to get it on my laptop. I remember distinctly loving it, then also never playing it lol. It's got a special place in my heart now though, like special as in it makes me a bit teary lol.

Forever (For KISS Me) | YouTube Music 419k | Spotify 13k

So if I'm remembering correctly, this is a song they reworked to be fanservice. The original singers were an older NH group, I think, like before Paran

Something Eli and AJ always having to do a spoken word opening in their songs from this time is so funny to me

"Parting was so hard 'cause you are my only passion" I always thought that it was "partying was so hard" which was super funny, but I see now that I was wrong

"Come visit here it's our lovely party mansion" that always gets a chortle from me like I love them, I actually wouldn't mind drinking with them, but I do not wanna party with them they're all insane

I think it's cute they all get whole verses to themselves, really gives them all enough time to shine during encores lol

So after the Dongho and Eli raps come my favourite part of the whole song - the sex kitten vocal trio building up to Soohyun

Kiseop > Hoon > Kevin > Soohyun is sooooo good and I love building from Kiseop's soft voice to Soohyun the Powerhouse

Also once again, validates my belief that what Kevin is to Soohyun vocally, is what Kiseop is to Hoon, and is why the four of them can be matched off with each other in any way and still sound good

Honestly, the song is mostly the vocal line, sans AJ. The rap line is just there to act as hype men

Music is cute, super upbeat and poppy, and the lyrics are equally mushy

7.75/10 not something I'd listen to on my own volition, but it's always fun watching lives of this, and I love how much the vocal line is allowed to shine (read: I love how many lines Kiseop gets)

Forbidden Love - 2nd JP Single | 2012.02.29

I remember obsessively watching the short MV on YouTube because now when I listen to the song, I can still pick out exactly where it ended lol. I also remember really wanting the shirts they wore for the single cover because it was so ~*~cool~*~ and lowkey edgy, which is perfect for a wangsty tween.

Forbidden Love (Audio) | YouTube Music 1.2M | Spotify 571k

Another song, another dance beat, and I'm absolutely not complaining lol

I really like Kevin's opening line, love the "...najitte mitari-i-i" bit

Plenty of gratuitous English, a very important staple for them from this point on

Again, the entire vocal line stuffed into the first verse, yeah AJ's not singing, but he was there

Love how Hoon drags out the "...datta kedo~" part right into Soohyun's line, and the slowdown in Soohyun's line to transition to Kiseop, and AJ's rap picks up the pace again into the chorus, super fun to listen to

Even though I know the start of the chorus is "I, my, me, mine", I always forget the "mine" because it's off-beat

And okay, the first chorus always kills me because of Soohyun

The "subete kakete Egaku ai no sign", is so funny to me because I just think about him doing the ahegao face while singing it during the MC break in their anniversary tour

Like his eyes were completely rolled back and the camera, bless their heart, did a great close up

And he did it like 3 times I love him so much

Back to the song, I really like how the second verse starts with Kiseop, and how Eli bridges the gap between him to Soohyun, and they do the same thing as verse 1, this time going from Soohyun > Hoon > Kiseop

HoonVin second chorus, once again, has me begging for more duets with them, they sound insanely sweet

Vocal troika taking the last chorus is soooo good

SooHoon back-to-back high notes? They were feeding us so good

Love the constant "love, love, love" and "you make me feel this love" in the background

Like it's almost too much with the music, but it oddly works?

The song is basically exactly what the title says - a forbidden relationship that's doomed to end, but they're like "no baby I love youuuu"

There's also an implication of class difference? First verse has what google tells me translates to "this relationship began with me overreaching myself/but I finally feel like I'm equal to you"

Could just be that girl is way out of their league, idk

10/10 I go back and forth between whether I prefer Tick Tack over this, but they're both like pure dopamine being injected in to my brain

Forbidden Love (MV) | Short ver. 604k | Official upload 462k

Once again, I was so obsessed with watching the short MV

Yes I did watch the full version but I mostly watched the official short one because I couldn't afford to materially support them

There's a lot happening in this first scene

First, Kiseop, take your damn shoes off that's dirty, but I'm happy you're like kind of the protagonist for the non-dance non-solo shot parts of this

Second, why is there a life preserver on the bed? Is it supposed to symbolize that this forbidden love is a life saver?

Why are the chairs tipped over? Why is there an Arizona 51 sign? Are the sirens like directly outside the window or what? What exactly is that next to the bed?

Aww the little Kevin solo dance

I like the little circular bit they do while snapping to change formation

Soohyun bodying the hell out of this part

*Kevin voice* "Why are you so passionate during this part of the dance? Is there something you need to tell us?"

Or at least something like that god Teattari Shidai was so funny, and Kevin and Soohyun were constantly catfighting at that time

I think his explanation was about timing the body roll to it but idk he's just really good at it

I like this set by the way, a new version of The Box for them

Is...is that a tree? Why is there a tree growing in your apartment?

Ooh AJ was really hot in this era I think this is when he fully entered my crush category

Is he wearing winged liner? Goated love his eyes

Kiseop and AJ always make this part of the dance look so cool

Oh and the preceding part with the little shuffle into this

They just have that je ne sais quoi chill that makes look natural

Man I just love this dance, there's a bunch of shoulder shimmies and like at least 3 pelvic thrusts

Wait my guy why is mattress bare like that

Okay pause for a moment to talk about these costumes

Love the black-red suit combo, love the red laces on the boots

I'm a huge sucker for epaulettes so obviously AJ has my favourite suit

Love the rhinestoned lapels for Kiseop and Kevin

Like the glittery lapels for Soohyun and Dongho

Eli has epaulettes too, but because they're also black, they're practically invisible until the closeup shots

Hoon's suit is fine, just more subtle with glitter on the outside of his lapels

In terms of hair, Kiseop and AJ are on their A-game, love the fluffier hair for them

Soohyun, Hoon, and Eli all look fine, like those are pretty standard looks for them

Dongho still has his bowlcut, and while I don't hate Kevin's hair, I wish it had more texture to it?

The ironed hair with the sideswept bangs just aren't that great on him, especially not with the single-toned hair

WHY IS SOOHYUN SO GOOD AT THIS WHY IS HE SLIGHTLY CUPPING HIS HAND

Also like this set, very cool

These costumes are okay, the white-red is a nice combo, but the clothes themselves are less snazzy and more understated the other set

Most baffling choice is why Dongho has a belted coat on rather than a blazer

Also not a huge fan of the longer jackets Soohyun, Kiseop, and Kevin have on

It's not the worst, and I think I could like them in a different MV, but it's a bit too...floppy with this dance

Hairs are a downgrade from the first set of costumes, except for AJ whose hair is glorious at this time

Like I'm sorry to bring this up again but look at his winged linerrrr

He actually looks like a cat

Oooh slowmo shot during the dance break

They really love this move we'll be seeing this a lot in their JP dances

Well I mean they already did a variation of it in Shut Up!!

Also love this part it's so cool how Kiseop transitions back to the dance, very reminiscent of when he does this in NEVERLAND

I like how the choreo tones down for the double high notes so everyone's focusing on Hoon and Soohyun

Lowkey wish we got a dance version of this I would love a wide shot of this to see every bit of choreo

There's no shot of them in their casual outfits, but they all looked fine, very standard 2012 male idol fashion

So yeah, not really much of a story to this, lots of solo shots and dancing

9.5/10 I think I'd prefer a whole dance vid for this, and I really didn't like the white costumes, and they never answered why were the sirens going off at the apartment set???

Redial | YouTube Music 13k | Spotify N/A

I completely forgot about this song until recently

I do vaguely remember listening to it before, so I think I had it on my first laptop and for whatever reason either forgot to transfer it to my second one, or couldn't find another download of it

Is that...a synth harpsichord? It sounds like the harpsichord setting on electronic keyboards like I swear that's what the one at school sounded like

SooSeop sharing verses? Goated

I thought this song had a lot more Hoon and Kevin, but I guess not?

Vocal troika are kinda tied for lines, even though I think I remember Kevin's more because he does a title drop in the first chorus

Dongho gets a bulk of the raps, but Eli isn't too far behind, nor is AJ

Kiseop gets what amounts to nearly a whole verse, plus he's sharing with Soohyun so that's cool

Ooh just noticed it's a sex kitten trio leading in from the second half of the first verse to the pre-chorus and chorus

It feels like a weirdly paced song

I don't know if it's all the synth sounds and the heavy beat, or if it's the lengthier raps to a slower beat but it feels both oddly long and short at once, even though it's basically the same length as Forbidden Love

Maybe it's the shorter verses compared to the raps and choruses?

Or how the bridge comes out of the second rap chunk without really changing tempo as it goes to the last verse?

Lyrically, it's pining over an ex, very normal UKISS stuff

7.5/10 I do like it and it is in a lot of my playlists, but something about this song just makes me uneasy lol

I wish I had a fun fact for this little time, but unfortunately everything funny I know from 2012 is from after this. Anyway, crazy that this all happened within a year of 0330 and Hoon and AJ joining. Like they honestly fit in so seamlessly it's like they've always been there.

So yeah, we're fully entering what I guess we can call their 'peak' era in terms of popularity (lol, lmao even) and activities, and also approaching when I started being chronically online and had actively blogged about them on this good ol' hellsite. Yes, I did find all of my reblogs and tags from that time and dear lord, 2012-2014 for tweenies-turning-teens is very psyche-damaging in our current year.

[weed-ols]

I know Soohyun has evolved to adapt this cute puppy persona, but never forget that this is simmering just beneath that.

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ NEVERLAND

This release, by no exaggeration, permanently altered the direction of my life. This album is just hit after hit, and oscillates between adrenaline rush and sobbing loudly from the abrupt mood swings between songs, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

And yeah, this was supposed to be posted months ago but when I was grabbing screenshots, the post glitched and never saved and I rage quit writing this, but I'm back now!

NEVERLAND - 2nd Studio Album | 2011.09.01

This was so big when it came out, like I think if you were an international fan of K-pop at the time, you'd 100% know this song. Like there were download links for it everywhere, dance covers, fan uploads, it was crazy. We were so sure they were going to get their first music show win, but in classic UKISS fashion, they overlapped with another titanic comeback and had to settle for second.

So there was a little docuseries about them in 2011, when exactly it took place, I'm not entirely sure, but I'm fairly certain it was during NEVERLAND promotions. It was technically about all of the members, and the work that goes into being an idol. Some funny bits I remember about it -

Kevin accidentally stomping on Soohyun's foot during practice

Worrying about their future because groups that don't win a music show in their first 3 years usually disband (lol we're in the big old year 2024 now)

Dongho eating cake in the bathroom like a gremlin

Eli's alleged bachelor pad

I actually don't remember if this was in this documentary or from something else, but Hoon saying Kevin was the meanest to him when he first joined because he would tease him over not knowing how to dance

About the actual album now, I think that this, like Bran New Kiss, is another real turning point for them. We get a good mix of dance songs and more emotional songs, we have their first unit songs, and first real self-written song (albeit just lyrical composition with some help, but still baby steps!!)

Intro | YouTube Music 7.1k | Spotify 31k

It's 56 seconds long and basically a NEVERLAND remix

What is there to review?

7.5/10 I don't hate it though

NEVERLAND (Audio) | YouTube Music 26M | Spotify 2.5M

This went triple platinum in my bedroom I was so in love with this song (still am a bit)

One of the few songs where everyone is an active and roughly equal participant

Soohyun, Kevin, and Dongho get a bit more though but that's fine

"Money love fashion fame and all that's in between" what a banger line from Eli for once I'm not laughing at him

"And we stay forever young" Dongho, the most babyfaced baby to ever baby says

"Ggeuteun eobseo never end/Yeogin Neverland" part of the chorus? Batshit so good I love it

Some interesting vocal/rapper combos - Kevin/Kiseop/Eli; Hoon/AJ/Dongho; AJ/Kevin/Kiseop; Hoon/Eli/Kiseop/Dongho

Chorus is basically Kevin/Soohyun + Hoon for the second one

It's not very deep, but I am a sucker for the eternal youth and hedonism themes

Makes a fun dance track just slightly dark, like we're having fun at the club but also a little scared

I also like that while the vocals have clearly been processed for stylistic purposes, you can still really hear the differences in their voices, and the power in Soohyun and Kevin

9.5/10 it's just so iconic

NEVERLAND (MV) | Official upload 23M

Just realized it's been years since I've actually properly watched this MV but good god if it isn't permanently burnt into my brain

I have so many questions about who this mysterious DJ is and his purpose

Is he the reason they're seemingly trapped in this wintry apocalyptic-esque space? Is he why the party never stops? Is he even human?

Iconique this was my laptop's wallpaper for like a good year in middle school (which is a super long time)

These tinsel tops are both questionable and perfect, love the way the fabric and fringes move

This was like peak male fashion in 2011 where copious amounts of guyliner can give untold confidence

Like guyliner so thick it removes the need for eyeshadow

That's deadass gotta be like an entire bottle of liquid liner right there

Also I really like that hair colour on him

Peak male hairstyle in 2011

Like I think this was almost universal where if a guy in middle/high school had this haircut, he was automatically the coolest guy

Or in my experience, every Asian guy had either this hair, a buzzcut, or a bowlcut, those were the only hairstyles from like 2008-2012

Not the statement necklace

OH BABY WE'RE BACK IN THE ABANDONED WAREHOUSE

This is honestly one of my favourite parts

Also someone please let them out of the freezer the floor is cold and hard

FREE HIM

Love the obligatory smoulder and brood shots of the members so angsty for no reason

I like to think that this ice sculpture actually ate up majority of the budget along with the plethora of arts and crafts baubles attached to their outfits and eyeliner

Love love love this bit of choreo

I was so obsessed with this water set as a kid and still am

So obviously there isn't much to talk about the MV since it's basically a bunch of dance videos in different sets spliced with some brooding solo shots and smouldering group shots

But you know what? It works the song has enough going on that if the MV had more it would feel like too much

The sets are standard vaguely apocalyptic wastelands, and I really like the blue snowy one and the orange water one in particular

Three outfits -- the black tanks with the silver mesh/tinsel loose tank over; the black short-sleeve/sleeveless tops with metallic accents, and the white outfits at the end, and they all look good still and in motion

The hairstyles were all fine, with Kevin and Kiseop really embodying Peak 2011 Male Fashion, and Dongho with the most bowlcut to ever bowl

9/10 so iconic so good so 2011

NEVERLAND (Stages) | Highest viewed 765k (Music Core)

I was so obsessed with this when it came out like how could I not? Also incredible that they've brought The Box, which was not one of the sets used for the MV, to the music show absolutely incredible

It's like they gotta hit all the second gen tropes they can

Can't tell if I love or hate this motion sickness-inducing camera work

I can't take this part seriously anymore because I keep thinking about that charades game they played in Japan where they all mocked Kevin for this

The lines his arms make are very nice though, sharp and straight

That hair is ahead of its time

Another personal favourite part of the dance

Love that the smaller group work

This is more on the camera, but those background dancers integrated in seamlessly

Also love that everyone gets a chance to be centre I think that's really cute and everyone gets some time to shine

RIP to this arm pumping movement that disappears in like 2012 and the fact that AJ kept doing this last year

This part is so good

Everyone crowding around Soohyun while he belts, the turns, so good

Kinda like he's sucking up their energy to sustain his singing lol

Firstly, outfits

Love that they're all wearing the same basic black vest and pants, and have their own gold accents for the vests. Super simple but interesting to look at, moves very nicely

Nobody has hair crimes against humanity, just the standard 2011 hairstyles

Singing-wise, oh this was absolutely live and it's kind of insane they did all of this?

Like yeah of course there's the backtrack, but it's obvious when they're singing live versus letting the backtrack take over for the moment

I completely get why they were constantly talking about having to improve their health and fitness for this comeback because wow they sound really clean, both the vocal and rap lines

Also get why they said this was dangerous for their health, I remember trying to learn the dance and it was hard. I can't imagine having to train the dance and sing cleanly like that

On the topic of singing while dancing and the fitness and skill required for it, I think the NEVERLAND choreo is really interesting in that regard

There's a lot of up and down movement, lots of arm and footwork, but the torso stays relatively intact

Not static, but very shoulders-ribs-hips connected, and a lot of the interesting shapes and lines in the dance are mostly illusions created from arm, leg, and head placements

Which makes sense because while I don't sing, I'd imagine that keeping the torso straight and connected would help with maximizing airflow

Overall, they all did great. Everyone got their little moments to shine, though of course Soohyun shone the most, and nobody was super eyecatching, which is really good for this kind of dance

10/10 this is definitely one of those songs where the live stages are just insane to watch (*cough cough* SBS Chuseok water stage *cough cough*

Anyway, lookbook time

These feathered monstrosities with the rhinestoned tops

I swear they brought it up during UKISS On The Block when they were bemoaning second gen fashion

I think I see the vision of drawing attention to the upper body and arm lines, but it just makes their shoulders look perma-hunched

Love the skinny jeans, combat boots, and black jacket look

The individualized jackets with gold embellishments never misses

The dangly bits really help draw attention in a good way without ruining the overall lines

The white ensemble is nice, cuts a clean silhouette

But I don't like that Kevin and Hoon have theirs unbuttoned I get why, but I think if some of the others were also unbuttoned, or if they just had a different cut it would look better

The flopping vest is just a bit weird

So these outfits are from a 2011.12.30 special performance

Love love love it why did they tease a vampire concept like this if they weren't ever going to do it

Also really love reusing these vests with white skinny jeans, it's such a clean look

Shiny silver trashbag vests and blazers with white jeans

Not loving the cut of the blazers though I do think vests are probably the way to go for the dance

I do love these blazers though the slimmer-cut is definitely more flattering

Baby Don't Cry | YouTube Music 661k | Spotify 250k

I genuinely think this could've been a title track of its own it's so good

Another staple of my tween years - it's sad and angsty and moody

I like how the song song builds by letting all these sweet-toned singers do the first half before the second half is basically dominated by Soohyun and AJ + Kevin backing

Those first two verses honestly sound so pretty, and fit very well considering it's just them being sad boys

Second half is being slightly angry and petty, so of course Soohyun fits it perfectly

It's a genre-crossing "baby I love you please come back" to "baby you broke up with me :(" to "I'm gonna fight this other dude and I hope you become miserable >:c"

So so petty "I'm going to wish for your unhappiness"

Also went triple platinum in my bedroom

9.75/10 I would've given it a 9/10 for the first two verses alone they were that good

SOMEDAY (audio) | YouTube Music 1.5M | Spotify 336k

I'm fairly certain this is their first real slow song?

This was and still is such a comfort song

I love that it's a weepy song, not because it's sad in any way, but just because it's literally a comfort song

Another great collaborative effort for the first half before letting Soohyun and Kevin take the second half

Kinda surprised Hoon doesn't have more individual lines

Again, NH was kinda cooking by accident when they put them together like their voices all work so well

It's a shame we don't get to hear Dongho sing more I like his voice

The chorus is single-handedly responsible for getting me through middle school

10+ years later I still get a bit misty-eyed from this sometimes

8.5/10 I think it's a great foray into softer and more emotional songs, not their best especially compared to their JP ones, but a fantastic first go

SOMEDAY (stages) | Highest viewed 130k (Fan upload)

I don't remember them promoting this song that much yet there's so many stages?

I remember this Wave Kpop one but not the others

There's not much to really talk about since it's just singing, but it is crazy to hear Eli sing here versus even just a couple years later like he improved a lot

Super funny when Dongho sings his part and when Kevin's harmonization comes in, you completely lose Dongho's voice lol

These outfits are fine, simple, but gets the job done

Also lol Kevin wearing full smokey eye makeup here

Ooh these outfits are cozy, love the earthy palette

But also peak preppy 2011

Hoon in a full winter jacket is super funny though like everyone else is just dressed for autumn

More cozy fits, but this time in black/white/grey

Lol Dongho's little newsie cap

And Kevin's poncho like can we talk about how in ponchos were in 2011-2012?

They also sound super on in this performance. Probably the best version of the Dongho-Kevin bit I've heard

You can also pick out all the others singing during the chorus, which is pretty rare

Black jackets over white shirts with white pants, hard to go wrong

The blazers over graphic tees was so in at the time

Oh I love this very cohesive look

I don't love the jackets but the aesthetic is so consistent I don't hate it?

Different looks but very similar, very well done

Take Me Away | YouTube Music 1.3M | Spotify 272k

The goddamn faint emergency siren is literally both the worst and best part of this song because it adds ambience, but I hate the possible implications of it

Hoon/Kevin duet?!?!?! The first and last they literally just did this one song together and never again

It's like they knew this couldn't be topped and just had to pack it up

Love that every part of this song is so simple and understated so that their sweet and slightly teary voices can shine love that for them

Lyrics are hella depressing, which is why I actually don't have this on a lot of playlists because I can and will cry

I think the lives of this are way better (unsurprisingly) they really hit you with the full brunt of everything

8.5/10 simple, depressing, and understated for all the right reasons

ON THE Floor | YouTube Music 246k | Spotify 166k

I love that that's literally the official title like why is it capitalized like this

So we're just gonna completely change the mood with a fun dance song now

Soohyun/Kevin duet featuring AJ, Hoon, and Kiseop in roughly equal parts

Kiseop gets a whole verse to himself?!?!

Really is just a party song with a dash of "girl we in love"

8/10 it's a fun song that does its job, it's just not a standout in any way

Love Of A Friend | YouTube Music 434k | Spotify 68k

Back to slow and emotional again

This song doubles as both a friendzone anthem and a situationship anthem like what do you mean "we're not friends, we're not lovers"??

Another song where everyone gets a little part I love it

Opening with Soohyun/Hoon/Kevin? Goated I love the slowly increasing sweetness

Third verse with the entire vocal line stuffed in there? Incredible

I also think that verse is just so sweet lyrically

It's such a sappy love song it almost feels out of place in their KR discography like this would 100% work for a JP release

I think they all sing the chorus? Hard to tell because Soohyun and Kevin are always loud as hell and drown everyone else out, but I can hear Hoon and AJ pretty clearly at times

The bridge confuses me greatly because Soohyun clearly sings the second line, but the first line sounds like it's split between Hoon and Kiseop

I wish there was a live of this so I could confirm it

Why is there no live for this??? A travesty I say an absolute travesty

The last chorus though? Incredible

Soohyun belting his little heart out like rent's due, Kevin fighting for attention, and AJ randomly busting through

10/10 I can't even put into words how much I love this song it's one of their best slow songs

Story of April | YouTube Music 68k | Spotify 43k

Soohyun landing their first collabotration with a female artist good for him

It's a weepy love song, which is basically his forte

I think it's nice, not my favourite, but I do like their voices together

7.75/10 I don't have much else to add, but something about the song makes me feel like it's missing something?

Obsession | YouTube Music 692k | Spotify 192k

2SEOP 2SEOP 2SEOP

The chokehold this had me in was insane

I think this was one of the most listened-to song on my iPod throughout all of middle school and part of high school

I was so not normal about this song and I'm still not how could I be when I was so completely in love with the both of them

And it's so cute they cowrote this

"Love which is effable" AJ that was such a banger

Remember when they performed this for their 2012 tour and when AJ sings "tears are falling down" he just starts tenderly carressing Kiseop's cheek???

I really do like their voices paired together

Also does anyone remember if this came out before AJ's whole obsessive lover bit started or was it after, because either way I'm impressed he stuck to it at least until 2014

Like I'm sorry but that one Q&A game they played where the others were all like "being clingy/having a clingy lover is too bothersome :/" while AJ is just stomping his foot and shouting "love equals obsession!!" is soooo funny to me

Anyway when are we getting our Siyoon/Kiseop-produced UKISS album?? Like the chances of this actually happening now are significantly higher than when this idea was first floated

9/10 literally altered my brain chemistry

TOP THAT | YouTube Music 294k | Spotify 110k

Okay so now we're back to Bad Boy™ UKISS with another arrogant dance track

And the autotune is back babyyy

That persistent 'lalala' synth is both super annoying and infuriatingly catchy

Also lowkey kinda anxiety-inducing

So this is basically Soohyun's song since he's basically singing like half of it himself

AJ and Kevin get the next most lines, with AJ getting a whole rap to himself and Kevin coming and going throughout the entire song

Hoon, Dongho, Eli, and Kiseop are fighting for scraps lol

Honestly I don't remember feeling like AJ ever got so many parts, but this journey is proving me otherwise

Aggressively arrogant song

So I think that this is an angry post-breakup song where they're bitching at their ex?

7.5/10 I don't hate it, but the synth sound is so annoying. Otherwise, very normal uwukiss song

Tell Me Y | YouTube Music 88k | Spotify 81k

Rap line song??? Kinda sorta it's just Dongho and Eli with Swin PD doing the singing

Surprisingly slow and mellow song for what is ostensibly the rap line song

If you guessed this song is another "baby I miss you please come back" song, you'd be right

A very even three-person collaboration everyone got lines yay

I really like the instrumentation for this song, very chill and easy to listen to

8/10 I feel like I always forget about this song when I make playlists it's really nice

Let's Meet Again | YouTube Music 17k | Spotify 9.4k

Group project with Paran to cover a Paran song lol

Thank you Eli for the elephant impression, truly don't know what we'd do without you

So yeah it starts with a long group chat for the first few minutes while the 9 of them are stuffed in that recording booth

By the way, there's a making of album video of this and it's super adorable

The Paran guys are just teasing and babying Soohyun like that's exactly what he deserves

It's a bit difficult to sort through the voices because I'm not familiar with Paran, but it sounds mostly like the vocal line + the Paran guys

I think it's Paran who starts off, followed by Hoon and Kevin, then the vocal troika dominating the first chorus

Second verse sounds like Eli, who sounds very nice, followed by an equally nice Kiseop, then AJ, then the second chorus that's dominated by AJ and Kevin

Then SooHoon helping build into the very pretty last chorus that's mostly the Paran guys + Soohyun

I just kind of wish there was something else to help resolve the ending since it just kinda comes down, but the payoff doesn't feel super satisfying?

It's very pretty I love the instrumentation and how well it builds

You know, I've always wondered where AJ got his singing style from, like it's super distinct compared to the others, and he must have learnt/mimicked it from his Paran bros 🥺

It's such a mushy 'let's meet again' type song I love it

God I'd kill to hear a proper live of this done it'd be so good

8.75/10 god the buildup is so good and I love vocal-heavy songs

So yeah, after a very long time, I'm finally done with NEVERLAND, and we're entering their JP era next, yay!

Not a fun fact, but just a general observation, but this whole 2011-2014 period is so insane to me? Like they basically work nonstop for those 3 years doing constant promotions in Korea and Japan, international tours/concerts, all while members are coming and going? Honestly more surprised they didn't all crash and burn, considering how middling the returns were, but I guess that's why they're all batshit

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ Bring It Back 2 Old School

So...where do I start with this? The most questionable of questionable comebacks, a comeback so uncool that I cringed even as a kid. The only silver lining about this era is I can finally start dropping some great lore about them since they were getting some attention and doing reality shows. Anyway, god help us with this difficult journey.

(Quick note, yeah I have such a soft spot for Kibum. I'll always like him because of how eager he was to do slapstick comedy and fight another member for shits and giggles, always had his foot on Kevin's neck, and was Soohyun's sidekick/bestie-in-chief before Hoon showed up.)

Bring It Back 2 Old School - 2nd Mini Album | 2009.02.03

Still before my time as a KissMe, so I only listened to this after MMHN, and god was that a mistake. It confused me a lot as a kid, and still somewhat confuses me now as an adult.

So, I can forgive and understand the cringe Not Young debut, like I get it. But I don't understand how after seeing their fellow '08 boy groups that this is the comeback NH decided on. The other boy groups were all cool, hip, trendy, fun, and what have you, and NH gives them this to fight with. Is this self-sabotage? It feels like self-sabotage.

But yeah, somehow around this time, UKISS started getting a bit more attention. They had their in-house promotional webshow that was done around the spring/summer of 2009 that was filmed on a potato and had the production value of like 1000 won/episode that was brilliantly titled 'You Know U-KISS' (because they were really trying to make the hyphen a thing y'know).

It's a little pathetic to watch, but overall fascinating because they're still trying to figure out what role they should play for the cameras, like Kevin calling himself the angel of the group, and then just snarking at the others and getting called out by Dongho for constantly making fun of him. We got Kibum making fun of Soohyun and Kevin in this album but mimicking their singing-yelling; Soohyun and Kibum wrestling and pinning down an unsuspecting Xander with Dongho putting the cherry on top by covering his mouth like he's being kidnapped; girl group dance enthusiasts Xander-Kevin-Dongho dancing their little hearts out + camera-hungry Soohyun joining while Kibum just slowly dissociates while sitting on the floor, it's cinema.

There was also this little docuseries/variety show they did while promoting Talk To Me that I don't remember the name of, but it was great. There's a part where they're worrying about Dongho making friends at school, so they decide to help but bringing him lunch while doing promotions and being general public menaces. They also like publicly humiliated themselves at least 4 times to the general public in locations such as - an airport (I think it was some kind of busy public transit station), a subway car, a subway station, and at an amusement park.

So yeah, uh back to the actual album.

When I tell you I was shook when I checked the streaming numbers for these songs, I was shook. I Like You has over 1M streams on YouTube Music, and Talk To Me has 307k streams on Spotify.

To put this into perspective, on YouTube Music if we're comparing their Korean releases, I Like You is comparable to Playground (1.5M), The Wonderful Escape (1.7M), Someday (1.5M), Take Me Away (1.3M), and Without You (916k).

On Spotify (which is honestly just a mess I'm not about to get into), I did a quick check, and most of their title tracks clock in around 700k-1M streams, while popular B-sides are around 100k-300k. Shut Up!! is sitting around 530k streams, and Someday is at 330k. Talk To Me is just under Someday, and it's outperforming She's Mine (107k) and Mysterious Lady (258k). I'm so baffled by this, I have no explanation for these numbers.

Intro (On Fire) | YouTube Music 22k | Spotify 3k

Wonderful duet with Soohyun and Kevin, and alleged feature by Kibum who sounds suspiciously like Kevin

What can I say? Another banger intro that shows off their singing

They sang it live on You Know U-KISS, and it really emphasizes how loud they are, and that they are indeed good singers

UKISS Sex Song #2

8.5/10, all we needed was them singing together dramatically to make it even better

I Like You (Audio) | YouTube Music 1M | Spotify 22k

The opening makes me want to crawl out of my skin

"Hell yeah" everything Eli says makes me laugh

"Girl let me hold you down" SOOHYUN QUOI

Other than that one line, the lyrics are kinda cute in that this is basically just like any standard boy group cutesy love song

The song itself is kinda ass but is also, unfortunately, pretty catchy

I also like that this is less of a group song than a shouting match between Soohyun and Kevin, with Eli and Xander as their respective cheerleaders

I like how Xander and Eli are just present throughout the entire song, so it feels less like the rap was just an afterthought

Kibum and Dongho were also there

Look, I'm not gonna knock Dongho's 4 words the boy was going through puberty and voice changes I get it, it's cruel to make him sing

But yeah, Kibum got 4 words, he was basically the Kiseop before Kiseop joined

Yeah, you know there's not much to say about this song really. It's a song, they sang it, they rapped it, people were present, they had the Brave sound

6/10 it's just a shouting match with a peanut gallery in attendance, so while impressive for that vocal power, it's very meh just listening to the audio

I Like You (MV) | Official upload 88k

Honest to god I don't think I've ever watched this MV

Okay this is goofy af I have no idea how I'm gonna do this without screenshotting every frame because this is peak comedy

So this came out 2009, right? Probably filmed that January, or maybe even December 2008, but like not that long ago, right?

Why the hell is this shot on a potato? Not Young's fan upload had better quality than this

YouTube is alleges this is 480p, dare I say this is 240p max

Also, fun lore from the comments, but a KissMe in there says they were an extra at the club, and you know what, good for them

The image of a bus going around to pick up like 10 kids to bring to an empty club after school is very funny

I also love that nobody in that comment section full of KissMes is delusional enough to actually say anything nice about this MV

They're all going "oh well it's a catchy song", "it's kinda cute, right?" or just straight up making fun of the low production value, the godawful hair and clothes, and offering their condolences for this MV

Stupid Windows Movie Maker effects are back, babyyyyy

Perm!Soohyun and Perm!Kevin, you'll always be famous

Remember how they said that while getting the perm, Kevin was crying in the salon, called his mom, and told her he'd leave UKISS if he had to keep this hair?

Also remember that time when ASC just opened a Line chat room or something, and fans just spammed it with pics of Perm!Kevin because of course that would happen

I imagine Soohyun stoically getting it done because he's too committed to the bit, but I'm pretty sure they said he cried too

I also like that the perm wasn't bad enough, so they also gave Soohyun a mullet

A KissMe on their new fancafe set their profile pic as Perm!Soohyun and I'm in tears every time I see it because it's so high quality

Poor Xander still has his perm

Kibum rocking a wig stacked on top of that visor, which confuses me greatly because his hair at the time was genuinely really nice and thick so how much hair did they want him to have

Dongho and Eli escaping the hair crimes with a buzz cut and bowl cut. Do you think they thanked god for that?

Also I'm gonna be honest, despite his hair, Kevin is serving a bit of face here and I gotta respect that

They look goofy af walking into the club in those clothes don't clubs have bouncers that kick people out if they're not dressed right or something?

Oh wait never mind I just remembered how old they were, this is the Mickey Mouse Club, my bad

Not this fakeass band shit

Well I mean I guess Dongho being the drummer is technically true, they did say he took drum lessons while harassing him at school

So yeah about the clothes, like I get this is a retro themed comeback, but goddamn why would you do that

Soohyun looking like he's about to pull up in his pickup truck and crack open a cold one while listening to some country

Okay you know what, I don't even hate this denim jacket look, it's just made goofy by everything else

Not this stupid recurring harbour walk shot

Also, they're dressed so well here? Like that's the worst part, the stylists clearly know how to style them, but then they get given the worst concepts that demand the worst clothes

Like tell me this doesn't scream late 2000s boy group???

If Not Young was High School Musical, I Like You is a mix of Camp Rock and Spectacular

I like Kevin's pixelated distressed expression here while Soohyun is positively beaming

Okay I know they're at the Mickey Mouse Club, but like imagine hitting the children's club and someone is dressed like that

They would get bullied so hard

Like, do you see how unserious this MV is???

Also, stupid ass conga line

It's okay, they're drinking club soda because only 2 of them could legally drink at the time

Girl how old are you why are you still at the children's club??

So yeah, the plot of this MV is Eli is our protagonist, and at the start he meets our Female Lead while hitting up the Mickey Mouse Club. We're led to believe they're kind of in that flirty-not-quite-dating stage where there's this undisclosed understanding of exclusivity, I guess

FL is like kinda stalking Eli throughout the club, watching him bust a move with the boys in that horrible outfit, and I think she's relieved he's not really around any other girls

So then we get to the club soda shot, and this Jezebel struts her way over to them and starts whispering in his ear like a harlot, which our FL interprets as cheating? Betrayal?

She angrily leaves the children's club and gets into a taxi while Eli chases after her

Why are grown adults starting beef in the children's club?

We get some shots of Eli and FL looking all sad and lonely

Then DANCE BREAK!!!!!! Naturally, interspersed with shots of our depressed and teary FL because whiplash?? Never heard of her

More dumb conga lines, more harbour walk boy group shots, more dance breaks, a DJ shot

Every time they do the shirt lapel pop thing, I have to laugh it's really dumb

Like Kevin, sweetie, you're wearing a print hoodie that's sold at The Children's Place

MV ends with FL finding Eli sitting in a park, alone and cold, and we're led to believe they'll reconcile

The pro of this is this is probably one of their most plot-heavy(?) MV that's done with a clear narrative structure. It's kinda like the shameful older sibling of 0330

Again, I got two ratings for it

11/10 if taken completely unseriously, like the poor quality, low budget, terrible clothes and hair, tween movie plot are all absolutely hilarious. I was thoroughly entertained, even though I cringed every time they did the stupid conga line or showed their whole outfits

3.75/10 if taken seriously. I'm giving this a bit more grace than Not Young because of the coherent story being told, and the fact they were so serious wearing those horrible outfits into the club.

I Like You (Stages) | Highest viewed 36k Inkigayo

Oh dear god I need someone to hold me

I only found official Inkigayo stages, so I guess that's what we're watching

This one in particular is their actual first comeback stage so that's gonna be a fun mess

Also lol why does everyone get an intro slide with their full name except for Eli?

Okay before I actually talk about the stage, it is really cute how many Korean comments there are from when they went viral in 2020. It just warms my cold heart

And the older, predominantly English comments laughing at them and cooing over how courageous it is to come back after how bad this was

Thank god it's these outfits rather than the horrible hoodie ones

I don't actually hate these outfits, I just have a lot of questions

The hair is horrible, Eli's hat is terrible, why are they still wearing tags on their clothes? But those pants were kinda cool back then

This part of the dance is kinda cool I guess

STUPID ASS CONGA LINE

Perm twins centre lol

Also have I talked about Kevin's brows here? This is before he started shaping them, so he just permanently looks concerned and mildly distressed

The stupid tags flapping all over the place is *chef's kiss*

This dance is so stupid, but actually requires a lot of work?

The footwork isn't that complex, but there's a lot of jumping, travelling around, and some surprisingly sharp movements

So this live in particular....isn't that bad, given what they had to work with?

I'm fairly certain it's sung live because Soohyun and Kevin are loud as hell while Kibum is almost inaudible in one of his lines

Unsurprisingly, Soohyun and Kevin sing great, pretty stable, despite the jumping

Xander and Eli did their jobs, and Kibum and Dongho were there lol

They definitely improved a lot from Not Young though

Again, Soohyun, Kevin, and Kibum are the most polished still, but Dongho improved a lot and is actually performing the hell out of the dance, rather than just hitting the right moves

Xander and Eli didn't really catch my eye, but that's not really a bad thing, since that means they blended in and matched with the group. Xander in particular seems a lot more comfortable and aware of the camera

So yeah, they all improved their dancing to varying degrees as individuals, but definitely improved as a group

I will say though, they all do seem mildly embarrassed, but koodos for committing to the song the entire way

There's another Inkigayo stage from later that month, and it's mostly the same, just another outfit

They still have the tags on these clothes too lol

Kibum sounds better in this one though, as in I can actually hear him

And lol Kevin and Soohyun freed from their perms

Also the camera guy here loved Kevin so much that Dongho was ignored for his second line

I think my biggest problem with these stages, besides you know the material they have to work with, is that they're still taking it too seriously

You can tell they're performing with a lot of sincerity, which is good and why it's so endearing, but this is the kind of concept that needs to be treated like campy fun

Be too serious about it, and it becomes ridiculous, which is what I personally feel happened here

And yes, you can be 100% sincere but also embrace the camp

5.25/10 the material is so bad it can never be great, but they're so sincere and serious about this, I don't even hate it that much

Talk To Me (Audio) | YouTube Music 258k | Spotify 307k

Something about this song just gives me the most visceral nostalgia, and I have no idea why

I Like You is Soohyun and Kevin yelling at each other, but Talk To Me is literally them actively trying to drown the other one out, and I think that's so emblematic of how they present themselves

It's got the vibes of NH threatening to kick off the loser of the shouting match in terms of how loud they are

I'm not quite sure how much of their singing this song shows off, but it definitely highlights their volume, I'll give it that

Entering the familiar realm of placing the raps in the middle so the song can finish strong with singing lol

If you wanna have a fun time, as in you wanna end up in the hospital and get your stomach pumped, take a shot every time they say "baby"

It feels like a proto-Quintessential UKISS™ song, but with a heavy dose of early installment weirdness. We're missing some of their famous misery from being cheated on and wanting the girl back

Another standard boy group love song, but lyrically a bit closer to weepy power ballad than cutesy pop, which makes the ultra aggressive singing even funnier

For real I feel like Soohyun and Kevin are yelling "TALK TO ME DAMMIT"

Anyway, Kibum gets an incredible 3 lines, Dongho a stunning 0, and Kevin and Soohyun fighting to dominate the airtime

6.75/10 I definitely enjoy this a lot more than I Like You and Not Young, as in I could see myself putting this on some huge playlist where it might get played once a week, but I also don't really like it either? It doesn't have the same quirky and stupid charm that Not Young and I Like You have, and isn't as...comfortable(?) to listen to as Give It To Me. I might have strange tastes, but I'm not fond of being yelled at through music

Talk To Me (Stages) | Highest viewed 90k Music Core

Dumb clothes, dumb song, dumb choreo

There's a couple of Inkigayo stages officially uploaded, but the MuCore one is in HD, plus I think the mics were pretty good

One comment said this is Soohyun's song with a Kevin feature, and I think that's so true

Also not one commenter saying they think all 3 vocalists are good and someone replying that there's only 2

Okay, so I don't hate these outfits I honestly have no opinion on them

They're better than whatever they wore for I Like You, and at least the only things that you can laugh at are the bright yellow accents and Eli's stupid sunglasses

Why is he wearing sunglasses? I always thought that his eyes were one of his best features and what people really liked about him

Glad the perms are gone, and we're just rocking bowl cut, buzz cut, and standard 2009 idol hair

Also, now that Kevin's hair is less distracting, is this the last time we see his chubby cheeks at their peak? I swear he literally loses baby fat every comeback after this until like 2013

I just...really love Soohyun look at him he's so happy here, living his best life, and ignoring his #1 haters (NH upper management)

I don't understand this part of the choreo, but do you think Eli ever wanted to actually kick Soohyun and Kevin? Probably no to Soohyun because everyone worships him, but maybe yes to Kevin, and it's probably deserved

I mean, I'm pretty sure play fighting is how they show their affection anyway it's like their longest running gag next to Soohyun wanting to marry every single fan

Why's he calling me a loser while singing "let me love you" this is genuinely making me lose my shit it's so funny

All in all, I don't hate the choreo for this either, it's just kinda dumb in some places, and honestly, I think everything about this song and stage just needs to be tweaked a little bit to actually be good

I wish there were more wide shots during the dance so I could see the footwork, but it doesn't seem particularly complex, and like I Like You, is mostly made difficult by the constant travelling and need for spatial awareness

I do like the parts where they move in a line, I think it looks cool from the high shot, and I also like the frantic scampering during the chorus

Listen, I have a really deep appreciation for how difficult it is to shuffle backwards as a group while doing arm choreo, it's harder than you think

And again, like I Like You, there's even more improvements here with nobody catching my eye in a bad way, and they're all really committed to the choreo, like there's not even a sense of mild embarrassment or uncertainty

Oh, and this is definitely sung live too

Kevin, always the stable singer, not much to say there

Soohyun is throwing his whole body into every note like NH is pointing a gun at him from the stage wings

They're both so stable, so loud, and singing pretty high up there while dancing, very impressive (but that's their standard anyway)

Kibum sounds better here than in the previous stages, getting louder, and sounding more stable, so that's good for him

Eli and Xander are still...rapping. Again, don't know enough to comment on it, but it is nice their voices are clear

Dongho was there, and he looks more baby than ever, and he was committed to the choreo

7.5/10 I'm only ranking this lower than Give It To Me because I think that had better outfits and I like the song more. No this is not an objective ranking

Yeah, this is such a strange part of their career. It both feels kinda important since it's their first comeback after debut, but also super irrelevant since this era is almost never brought up. I don't even think they had a song from this album on the setlist for their 15th anniversary concert. I know they did Not Young for it, plus they'd already done it back in 2016 for their 5th JP anniversary.

Which is a great segue into my fun fact for this post which is that they've only brought up this era again very recently in 2020 when Soohyun was IG Live king, and Kevin decided he was no longer ashamed of UKISS and joined in a bunch of times. They're just out there, having a good ol' time, reminiscing over old songs when Kevin brings up Talk To Me, sings it while doing the hand choreo, then immediately gets booted from the live.

Actually, that whole IG live is great. Kevin's being extra nice to Soohyun, while Soohyun oscillates between playful banter and passive aggressive jabs because it's his IG live so he's the supreme ruler. There's one part where they're talking about their favourite releases, and Soohyun obviously goes Standing Still, while Kevin says Stop Girl, and Soo goes "I didn't really like that comeback :P". Also, not Soohyun bringing up that he stole a line from Kevin in Cinderella because he couldn't pronounce it properly, and still can't lol.

The hard part is over, the emotional labour is done, and we're finally entering into the beginning of their golden era of relevancy - Conti UKISS, and the beloathed ManManHaNi + Kiseop's official entry into the cinematic universe with the worst line distribution. It's only up from here, baby!

Ngl I'm actually sweating looking at all their stuff post-2010 there's so much music to cover, so many music videos to do + ones I've never even watched because they haven't been uploaded by avex and I don't have the DVD. Their JP albums are gonna be so long

[weed-ols]

Updated live stage opinions

I Like You

Found a different MuBank stage and wow the audio is crisp

May or may not have tried to choreo during the chorus myself and wow that's basically an aerobics class

My favourite part is that they do actually sound almost breathless at some points, like Eli's rap after the first chorus, the later Soohyun-Kevin shouting matches

You know, maybe this is the reason they got so good at singing live,

Bumping up to a 6.75/10, not enough camp, but the live singing is honestly impressive

I think my original opinion of Talk To Me is more or less the same, but I did find a festival/concert performance of it from MMHN promos, and it was the funniest thing ever. They do MMHN first in the full maximalist costuming and Bad Boy™ aura, then immediately transition to this

The slideshow with the promo pics is absolutely sending me like why you gotta do them so dirty like that?

I mean I get the choice of doing Talk To Me since it was their last promo song and infinitely better than doing I Like You after MMHN, but I think Give It To Me would fit the vibes better.

Oh, and on that note, they also did I Like You during this promo too and it's absolutely hysterical

Not Kiseop sitting this one out 😭😭😭

RETURN OF THE FUCKASS CONGA LINE HELL YEAH

Kiseop dancing along in the back they should've just put in the dance let the boy dance

So deeply unserious

I actually kind of really love this performance though? They're all smiling and laughing so I think they just fully embraced the camp. Like it's so cute that obviously they're taking this performance seriously, but not the concept and just enjoying the ridiculousness of this. Oh, and extra bonus, the audio is practically raw, and they still sound really good.

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ New Generation

Oh the great psychic damage I've inflicted on myself to do this. I was so excited, thinking about how this would let me gush about Bran New Kiss or Inside of Me, but unfortunately, I must start at the dreaded beginning: New Generation.

I will admit that this wasn't as bad as I expected. There was a lot of cringing, a lot of "oh baby what are you doing?" being whispered, but not the total trainwreck I had built up in my head. To be totally honest, I think that these two songs could've been pretty decent with better packaging and fully embracing the campiness, but I digress.

Just for funsies, I've also noted the YouTube and Spotify streams (if applicable) from the day I did the review. Dunno what to make of it yet, but I'm sure it'll be interesting.

(Also I like how I slowly become more and more unhinged as I type this review out.)

New Generation - 1st Mini Album | 2008.09.03

So I was already listening to Kpop around this time, but like most people, paid like zero attention to this because I liked the bigger and more popular and better packaged boy groups at the time. I was also just developing my logical reasoning when this came out, so I don't really remember much about this. No idea what the general feel/reception for this was, and I think the first time I listened to this was probably late 2009 after ManManHaNi, and somehow I remember really liking this at the time.

Obviously, time soured my opinion of this mini album, but now as an adult with a mostly functioning prefrontal cortex, I can say I don't really hate it? I hate the packaging of this mini album, but it's oddly endearing in how poorly it's aged.

Another thing I noticed while going back over this is how hard Soohyun, Kevin, and even Kibum carry in these first two releases. I'm not knocking on the others, and it makes sense since Soohyun had been a trainee the longest under some bigger companies, while Kevin and Kibum had both already debuted. They just seem a lot more polished in all aspects, and a lot more committed to the cheesiness. I'm probably not gonna rank them for later releases, but for this one, I think I'd put them as Kevin > Soohyun >> Kibum >>> Dongho > Eli/Xander.

While I don't have my personal rankings of them from that time (based solely off of how much I liked them, irrespective of ability, commitment, etc), I think based off of how I viewed them in 2009, it would be probably Dongho > Kibum > Xander/Kevin > Soohyun/Eli. Yeah, I was a delusional kid who had a crush on Dongho since he was closest in age to me, Kibum and Kevin were both flower boys and good dancers, while Xander was a fellow Canto speaker with an accent I could understand, plus he was funny. Soohyun and Eli were really victims of poor styling at the time, but who wasn't?

Now onto the actual songs -

Intro (Pump Pump) | YouTube Music 10k | Spotify 3.4k

I actually kinda really like this?

Catchy, more mature than Not Young, but also not inappropriately so, and it's got a cute cheeky and fun vibe?

If they turned this into the title track, maybe they would've had a fighting chance in the bloodbath that was 2008 boy group debuts

Not Kevin and Soohyun actually being able to show off their singing here more than in the actual album songs

There's like a random gunshot(?) sound and I don't really understand it

The Kibum-Kevin-Soohyun verse is kinda interesting, and by interesting, I mean it feels like they did Kibum dirty by drawing that comparison, but like also there's no other way to structure it since he is their next best vocalist

Common UKISS intro W I don't think I've ever disliked any of their intros 7.75/10

Not Young (Audio) | YouTube Music 367k | Spotify 132k

The opening quite literally gives me psychic damage, while also making me coo like an affectionate auntie watching her stupid nephews do dumb shit

Kevin's voice unsurprisingly suits this very well, that honey-like voice was made for this kind of cheese, and boy is he hard carrying

Soohyun, bless his heart, is kind of both actively ruining and saving this song

Like he's hard carrying too, and that "You gonna be my lady, yoohoo~" actually goes so hard, but his voice just sounds...way too mature for this

Which makes me wonder if this was a directional problem, or if he just wasn't able to do it at this time because he nails this concept 7 years later for Action (spoiler I guess)

Really love that first prechorus, I don't know what it is, but that Kibum-Soohyun-Kevin buildup really works well

Lyrically, I think the YT comments actually sum it up for me - "We're the new kids on this block" vs. "Stop treating us like kids" - which is it make up your minds

Also shoutout for being their first and only noona-chasing song they really never revisited this concept ever again

Really funny that Dongho is the only one at the right age to make this concept work (and maybe Eli and Kevin too, possibly Kibum if we're being generous) but he gets like 3 lines

I also found a super old live radio version of this song from their promotional period, and yes it's in the crunchiest potato quality imaginable, but it was insightful

Soohyun and Kevin sound great as always, Kibum's voice actually felt much stronger than in the actual song or in music shows, and the rap line was there

Hard carried by Soohyun and Kevin, Kibum did his job, Dongho was there, and RIP to Eli and Xander for that awful last verse (80% not their fault)

6.5/10, needs more commitment to being cheesy and to not the title track

Not Young (MV) | Fan upload 703k

You know, I feel a lot of my bad feelings for the song come from the MV

Like the psychic damage this video inflicts should be studied

Love the fact there's no official MV uploaded so there's only a crunchy fan upload to watch

I actually don't know if this is the same upload I watched back in the day, but the date doesn't seem to line up?

Anyway, crunchy potato quality is completely on brand, YouTube is telling me it's 480p but this feels like 240p at best

The stupid Windows Movie Maker transitions are taking me out

So like we all know NH is a broke ass bitch, so I wanna know if this is actually like a member's house, a staff member's house, or if they just rented it

Dongho's mom's hair is like peak Asian Mom hair like I knew so many women with that exact hairstyle, and not the skin-toned lipstick everyone wore back then

Kevin's hair and outfit are peak 'flower-boy-wannabe-bad-boy' like we all thought that hair was soooo hot, and you were either drowning in your own clothes or cutting off your circulation with no middle ground, and this was a cross-cultural phenomenon

Honestly, I feel like you could just go to a local school and see a bunch of boys dressed like this

Xander's Ronald McDonald hair I'm so sorry you had to go through that

The High School Musical-esque dance scenes have me in tears like those basketball jerseys are so goofy and Kevin's legs are lost in the fabric

Flower boy haircuts from this time are like basically the precursor to Karen cuts *cue Abby Lee Miller voice "she's got a really cool and trendy haircut it's like long in the front and short in the back"

Also his eyebrows from this time are tragic, those were dark dark times

This was also a peak fashion look for us girls back then, and you know what, it's still kinda cute

This was so serious for them I'm crying

I still don't quite understand this part

RANDOM PRE-DEBUT KISEOP CAMEO!!!!! I don't remember if he was on set because he was covering for his friend, or if his friend invited him to be an extra, but I just love that he's technically been there from the start

Is he supposed to be the antagonist of the MV? Like I get the plot is they're trying to impress their noona and whatever but like is he supposed to be her boyfriend or something, and they're gonna beat his ass in basketball to win her over???

If that's the plot, they need to get Kevin off their team that boy cannot run

No comment on Dongho's hair that's just tragic

But this whole scene takes me out like this is peak comedy

Why is Kevin perched on the bench like that, why are Dongho and Soohyun sitting on the floor and why is Soohyun grinning like a maniac, is Eli okay???

You may not like it, but this is peak male performance

This frame is a work of art

So so serious for them, I can taste the cheese

This is honestly so confusing I don't get it, but I guess I'm not galaxy-brained enough. Like did they not have enough footage or something? Is there a scene change quota they had to meet or what?

I love that every single part of this MV can be carbon dated, and not one bit aged well, and I just think that's so iconic

So I've come up with two different ratings for this MV

12/10 if you take this completely unseriously like this is so funny, so poorly aged, so cringe, it's amazing. Even while cringing, I still had fun

3.5/10 if you take this seriously, like wtf was NH thinking (spoiler, they were not)? Like even when I first watched this as a kid (and within their target age demographic!!! I, a young elementary school girl who was entrenched in East Asian media and came from a similar cultural background!!!!) it was pretty cringe. I'm giving it pity points because Soohyun was so committed to this and the funny Kiseop cameo.

Honestly, I feel like you could just go to a local school and see a bunch of boys dressed like thispoorly aged, so cringe, it's amazing. Even while cringing, I still had fun

3.5/10 if you take this seriously, like wtf was NH thinking (spoiler, they were not)? Like even when I first watched this as a kid (and within their target age demographic!!! I, a young elementary school girl who was entrenched in East Asian media and came from a similar cultural background!!!!) it was pretty cringe. I'm giving it pity points because Soohyun was so committed to this and the funny Kiseop cameo.

Not Young (Stages) | Highest viewed 191k Music Core

Again, I never watched these when they first came out, and I also don't think I watched any of these very much prior to doing this

Not gonna talk about their actual debut stage because that's like 8 pixels total

Also not doing all of their stages, just Music Core because it's actually in really good quality

Look at those fits that was peak fashion in 2008

Dongho's silly little cardigan and bowtie, Kevin's goofy polka dot sweater vest, Soohyun with the plaid vest and random sweatband, Kibum with a random tie, Eli wearing a hoodie I swear every boy had it's a real time capsule

Yeah, I'm grabbing screencaps on mute I'm not subjecting myself to this psychic damage

The multiple bracelets is so real that was such look back then

I remember I used to collect those cheap rubber bracelets to try to recreate that look

This is such an unserious part of the choreo but I will admit it's very cute in a stupid way

Also, all I can think of is the other members talking about how they think his hands are freakish and alien-like, and I think that's just foul of them, but also not undeserved considering how snarky Kevin was in those early days

Oh Soohyun, I'm so sorry they did you dirty like this

Like it's incredible how he de-ages himself a few years later when he gets decent hair and styling

And he was so committed to this like he's literally beaming while everyone else is just smiling

He also winked right before this Soohyun is the cutest I swear

Eli's comically large chain

The dance is cute, but also insanely cringy because they're kind of taking it too seriously and not as full-on campy cheese

Like I said before, Soohyun, Kevin, and Kibum really stand out here as being much more polished and cleaner in their dancing, are clearly committed to the character, and have a good eye for the camera

Dongho is also a standout because wow I forgot he had that je ne sais quoi stage presence

There's a lot of moments where the dancing doesn't quite sync up, and I think it's fairly obvious that they're still very new as a group

They have backup dancers, though not in this particular stage, but I think they had them for their actual debut stage and Music Bank

So I lied, let's check out the Music Bank stage

This actually is from before the Music Core stage (MuCore is listed as 2008.09.27, while the MuBank is supposedly from 2008.09.12)

I didn;t mention this before, but I'm fairly certain the MuCore stage is lipsynced, but the MuBank stage is definitely live

Terrible quality pic, but these were some other peak 2008 fits

I knew so many guys who had Kevin's hoodie

And not Soohyun's trash bag jacket

Soohyun and Kevin are already very good and stable at singing live and making it seem easy, while Kibum definitely struggles a bit

Honestly, I wonder if NH invested in more singing lessons for him, if Kibum could've ended up where Kiseop is now - a solid subvocalist who can also hold his own and step up to being a vocalist

I just watched this dude pull his shirt up over his head for this and no, I don't understand this part of the choreo

I don't really know much about rapping and don't have many particular thoughts on it, but Xander and Eli can be heard clearly, so that's a good thing, right?

Honestly, just ranking both of these stages as 4.5/10

MuCore stage was in better camera quality, sharper and more coordinated group dancing, but probably lipsynced and no funny backup dancers

MuBank is like 360p max and kind of a mess, but I always love hearing Soohyun and Kevin singing live, and there are funny backup dancers

Give It To Me (Audio) | YouTube Music 43k | Spotify 7.9k

I honestly had zero recollection of this song at all

So if Not Young is borderline age inappropriate for being too immature, Give It To Me swings wildly in the opposite direction and teeters into being too mature

Xander, Soohyun, and arguably Kibum are old enough for this song, while Dongho is way too young, and Eli and Kevin are either barely old enough or still young (my personal opinion, based off of some of the lyrics, but the stage of this song is actually fine)

Honestly should've been the title track, they 100% would have had a fighting chance at debut and be remembered as either 'cool new rookie group' or 'wildly inappropriate rookie group', but both are better than 'cringe rookie group'

This is like a proto-Quintessential UKISS™ song - dance beat, Soohyun doing adlibs like rent's due, Eli dropping horrifically funny one liners, and the singing dominating the rapping in all aspects

Now if only this song was a "baby I love you even though you cheated on me pls come back" song

Hard carried by Soohyun and Kevin, who are both surprisingly singing lower than what they usually do, and also do not have a shouting match at any of the song (!!!)

Does that count as early installment weirdness?

Special shoutout to Kibum who actually sounds really good for his two lines. Dunno if his voice just suits this kind of song, or if this is just a more comfortable range for him, but he sounds much better here

Another special shoutout to Dongho for having no lines, you're doing amazing sweatie <3

"And u're so tight" Eli why did you say it like that

"My boo" #1

"Shorty/shawty/whatever tf they say" #1

Does this count as a UKISS Sex Song? Feels gross typing that out, but like looking at the lyrics, I think it does?

UKISS Sex Song #1

6.75/10, knocked off points for being age inappropriate, Eli's rancid one liner (which did make me laugh), and the terrible lyrics in the rapping

Give It To Me (Stage) | Fan upload 15k

I had no idea they did a stage for this

Also, why is this actually better than Not Young?

Love the black/white/gold scheme going on

Also, these are peak Bad Boy circa 2008 looks I would've gone crazy for these guys back then

The trashbag bootcut pants, the random embellishments, the fingerless gloves, Xander rocking the shirt tied around the waist, whatever the heck Eli's accessories are, and the tragic and dramatic 2008 hair? I would've honestly lost my shit

Wait oh my god those aren't bootcut pants those are skinny pants with leg warmers oh my goddddd iconic

So are these the same gloves from Tick Tack? Also Eli wtf is that on your neck???

It's hard to tell if this is sung live or not, but what I do know is Soohyun is making his singing expressions, so I think it's live, with slightly off audio? It's hard to tell honestly, maybe the mics were bad?

Why was this not their actual debut? This is literally what was considered so 2008 cool, the outfits were peak bad boy fashion, and the choreo is very much a product of its time (not derogatory)

Also got a good chuckle with Soohyun being the centre for the dance break while flanked by Kevin and Kibum, it's what he deserves

7.75/10 much better than Not Young in terms of dancing and coordination (makes sense, this is dated 2008.11.06), the outfits are 2008 stylish, and they all seem so much more comfortable with this?

That concludes this review of New Generation. You know, there were a lot of emotions going through this, a lot of "why does NH not think?" and "oh my god sweetie, I'm so sorry they did this to you", and "what were we all smoking back in 2008 to consider this cool?", but I think I had fun while doing this.

I have most of the notes for Bring It Back2 Old School written out, so now it's just a matter of editing and collecting screenshots, which honestly pains me to think about. If New Generation was a dark time in UKISS history, Bring It Back2 Old School is purgatory.

So fun bonus fun fact, if you've made it to the end:

I don't know how many people know this since I also found this out not too long ago while digging around, but XING, the old group that Kevin and Kibum were a part of was an absolute disaster in like every possible way. I got some of this info in English, and the rest in a bad KR-EN translation (so possibly inaccurate), but apparently the XING CEO was actually a former SM CEO who worked there around 2000-2003ish before getting ousted by the board of directors, and was responsible in part for the famous slave contracts.

So out of spite, said CEO took a bunch of SM-affiliated trainees (from my understanding, they were sort of on a shortlist to get into SM) and founded his own company to compete with SM with these new trainees and his new boy group. XING was an absolute disaster for only being around for 4 years with 5 different lineups and 18 total members having been involved. Kevin and Kibum were part of the original lineup, but Kibum bailed after a few months with the excuse of 'focusing on his education', while Kevin stayed long enough to go from maknae to leader, before dipping after the third lineup (also, according to the article I read, he was the CEO's favourite because he thought he had star potential lol). A bunch of the guys who left sued the company around 2008-2009, and got their contracts terminated.

It's hard to understand what the contracts said exactly because of the shitty translation, but it was something like exclusive 10 year contract that will be extended if a member takes personal breaks, goes to school, enlists in military, and/or goes on health leave and profits would only be paid out in fixed amounts after selling 500k (or 250k I can't remember but it was some crazy amount) units (unclear if this means total albums, or just for one release).

Apparently in 2010ish, the CEO was talking about having a 'XING family reunion concert' and asked all the guys about it and got left on read, so then he finally let the name die and moved on to terrorizing more boys (no for real, he allegedly threw a bottle of alcohol at one of the XING guys when he told him about wanting to leave).

[weed-ols]

Upon further consideration, I'm taking back my opinions on their live stages from this era -- they're surprisingly good.

After finding some very old fan uploads from 2008, while the video quality is usually poor, the audio is pretty clean and very obviously live.

Not Young

Soohyun and Kevin stand out as being pretty clean and stable, to the surprise of no one

Eli and Xander both sound clean (granted, I don't know Korean but their English is well-enunciated) and audible

Kibum is less stable, and I wonder if it's because his parts are in a range he's not totally comfortable with. He sounds much better in the second verse and the bridge than he does in the first verse

Not much to really add about Dongho since his part is so small

Bumping the live stages up to a 6/10, yeah I'm giving them a whole extra point because they're just babies here and I can't be mean to babies

Give It To Me

There's not a lot of performances of this one floating around from their debut era, but I did find a version done at what seems to be a festival/concert that's closer to a power point than a video

The audio's also pretty poor quality, but is clearly live so that's good enough

My opinions are basically the same as above, except Kibum is much better here. I notice he usually sounds very quiet in lives, but he had really good volume here, like loud enough that I can pick him out in the chorus that I think everyone sings (all I really hear is Soohyun and Kevin, and Kibum just under them)

Also Soohyun is going so hard in this live? Like after the dance break part, he does like one verse and is adlibbing for the next minute

Bumping it up to an 8/10, yes I've been very generous to this song but it's so cute how committed they are to this, and there is a lot of singing while dancing

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ Bran New KISS

Oh my goodness I remember this because it came out right before my birthday, and at a pretty sensitive age too, this mini album has always been super special to me (let's ignore the fanwars). And this lineup is honestly so near and dear to my heart, like it really does just put a smile on my face.

Bran New KISS | 5th Mini Album | 2011.03.30

Oh, the fanwars...if you watch any 2011 or earlier videos of them, there's bound to be people going at it in the comment section, what with the Xander/Kibum fighters and the Hoon/AJ defenders. It was really nasty too because NH gave some limp excuses for their departure, only to immediately be refuted by them, and it became really obvious that they were kicked out, rather than having voluntarily left.

I was personally a Hoon/AJ defender, not that I actively participated, but I was always liking comments about them. I wasn't one for any real reason, I just thought that AJ was really hot and Hoon quickly endeared himself by virtue of his singing and being funny.

AJ, or as I sometimes jokingly call him, NH's golden child, was put into UKISS because Paran was basically done, and NH probably still had his contract and wanted to make the most out of their investment. Plus, he was quite literally the right age for it since he's one of the many '91 liners.

Hoon was a ballad soloist who auditioned for NH and then got put in with the group, despite having never taken a dance class before and having to do like a 5-month crash course in it.

The way this lineup change was done is really foul and horrible of NH, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't push the group forward. I still don't think it was necessary to kick Xander and Kibum out, but AJ and Hoon were absolutely necessary. Hoon's addition basically changed most songs from Soohyun/Kevin duets to a trio now, and also opening up the possibilities of doing ballads and more vocal-heavy songs, while AJ was/is a better rapper than the others, plus he could double as a decent sub-vocalist.

As much as I hate NH and think they're stupid and useless and incompetent, they really did something when assembling this new vocal line for the group. All of their vocal tones work well together, and I honestly don't think there's a combination of Soohyun/Kevin/Hoon/Kiseop/AJ that could sound bad.

But yeah, I could go on forever about this, so I'll stop here and continue on afterward. Gone are the woman-hating bad boys in thick guyliner and complicated hairdos, our boys were back as nice sweet good boys in cute sweaters and argyle socks.

Intro (It's Time) | YouTube Music 21k | Spotify 11k

Vocal line intro!!!!

Okay I'll be fair, it's mostly Soohyun and Kevin with a verse from Hoon, and a couple lines of Kiseop

I love the Kevin to Hoon verse when they get to sing like that, their voices are like disgustingly sweet when heard back-to-back

I also love the build from Kevin -> Hoon -> Soohyun -> Kevin -> Soohyun with the swelling music

And Kiseop finishing off the song with his delicate little voice

Going from Shut Up!! to this is honestly so jarring

The autotune and music really took away the power in Soohyun's and Kevin's voices in previous releases, but you can hear them very clearly here

8.5/10 I kinda wish there was an extra 10-15 seconds to let the music hit its peak, coast a bit, then fall because it feels a little abrupt right now

0330 (Audio) | YouTube Music 37M | Spotify 3.5M

Can we talk about the song being 0330, releasing on 03.30 and being a 3:30 song?

"MORDNY PRESENT" you know it's a banger (also yes, I finally figured out what it is, I think)

Hoon starting their title track as a brand new member after such a contentious lineup change is kinda iconic

Followed immediately by AJ's rap, which is almost too aggressive for this song

Didn't he write the raps for this? Or did he just write his own part? Anyway, his first release with UKISS and he gets a songwriting credit

I always thought there was more singing in this, but it's really just 4 choruses interwoven with 3 raps

You know they didn't know where to give Kiseop his singular line, and that's why they dragged it out to be sung with the first half of Eli's rap

Having the choruses go from Hoon -> Soohyun -> Kevin -> vocal troika is pretty interesting

Weep a little bit with Hoon, get bitter with Soohyun, weep again with Kevin, then feel confused because all of them are singing together

"Don’t deny our r²π" care to explain this, AJ? I don't actually know if he wrote this, but I'm gonna say it's him

Nah I'm joking I get the meaning of it, but it's still a hilarious line to have in a ballad, and he always raps it with such conviction

It's timeless it's iconic it has an urbandictionary entry, which is pretty much how I think UKISS deserves to be immortalized

That last chorus where Soohyun's just belting his little heart out and adlibbing to hell and back while Hoon and Kevin have to sadly sing? Incredible

Peak crying in the club music - it's a nice mid-tempo ballad with ultra weepy romantic lyrics

So what I'm saying is this is the predecessor of Fall in Love

I was also so obsessed with the piano sheet and so mad I never asked my parents for piano lessons

Can I just say I thought this was soooo deep when it came out, it was on all of my sad playlists? This is peak moody tween girl music (affectionate)

It went platinum in my room, what can I say?

Also this just solidifies my hypothesis that UKISS is at their best when they're desperate and begging

9/10 an absolute iconic piece of history. To not only completely switch genres and images, but also have controversial member changes, this was incredible.

0330 (MV) | Official upload 19M

The days of boy group cinema, huh

Going back to their roots, they have now returned the concept of plot to their MV, rather than have the super low budget dance and brooding solo shots

We got multiple sets, dramatic confrontation, piano in the forest, and most importantly, rotary phone

We also got them in school uniforms, which is actually like the only time they've worn them outside of a couple of gag sketches

Eli, doing normal people things and watching Dongho sleep

It's okay it was just practice for Stalker

Also this was such a bad hairstyle for him like whyyyy is it so choppy??

Gone is the warehouse, they're now in The Loft!!!

Sorry Kiseop but they cut you out of the frame here because the piano is extremely important

Also is Kevin leaning on the piano keys? That must've so annoying

I like the random ladder thing AJ's sitting on like where does it go?

The way that this is set up looks like they're staging an intervention for Dongho

I like the casual outfits here, they all look cute and friendly and like they're not gonna shout "bad girl" at me

Hoon is probably the standout here, his shirt really suits him and those jeans are really nice

Kevin's cardigan looks warm I want it

"Two grown adults violently jump teenager"

Wait are those the uniforms they wore for that one JP fanclub event? Or are these just like the number one rental school uniforms for idols?

It's such a meet cute aww

Caught in the rain at the bus stop, gets wet, and offers her a towel

The dance parts feel so out of place but also super iconic too

Some more casual looks, I like the black/white/grey scheme going on here

Soohyun's jacket is really nice

Better shot of their intervention, and of the random lamp in the background

Yeah they all look like nice good boys your parents would approve of, except maybe for Kiseop's hair

Eli kinda looks like the guy who dresses rough but is still very nice

Oh no I assigned them school romcom personalities

This was and still is so stinking cute

And the way she just looks at him afterward cracks me up

AJ and Eli, third-wheeling their date

Why is Eli just holding his laptop like that? Why do they look like disappointed parents? Why is AJ patting him on the shoulder with his furthest hand?

Piano date in The Loft while the two oldest look on in vague disappointment

The way Soohyun just leaves and we cut to a very disappointed Hoon watching by the window

You walk into a cafe and see 6 vaguely disappointed guys watching their friend on the rotary phone, what you do?

The rotary phone is so funny like this is 2011 nobody's used a rotary phone in years, and even corded home phones were becoming old-fashioned

There's an energy to this screencap that I can't quite describe

I also feel like the dynamic is usually the other way around, and Kevin trying to stop Soohyun from doing something

Also lol the way he dramatically pulls his earbuds out

Look, I really love my wireless earbuds, but there's something so extra about the corded ones, it's like flicking shut a flip phone

Eli!!! Has!!! Had!! It!!! He's gonna go confront the little twerp!!!!

Let him go, Kevin!!!! Eli has words to say!!!

And there was nobody on the phone

Intervention pt. 2 featuring Eli and Kiseop speaking some sense into this boy

And we're given the implication that she's dead

Honestly, this was high art for little tweenie me. This was a cinematic experience in 4 minutes

So yeah poor baby Dongho breaks down, while we're treated to shots of his very concerned-looking buddies

The rooftop shots are so funny they're so dramatic

I wish we had more time of Dongho's breakdown and recovery, but yeah he recovers pretty fast from that traumatic realization

9/10 I don't know what else to say, it's cinema. We had a whole story told, some great supporting actors in the furniture, no horrific styling, it was great

0330 (Stages) | Highest viewed 580k (Fan upload)

Highest official is 319k Inkigayo. so let's watch that

Oh my god all those Korean comments from a few years ago that's so cute

Actually, scrolling through the comments, I think most the views and comments are from 2020+?

The piano miming at the start had me in a chokehold as a kid, and I still think it's really cute now

Once again, I love a good circle moment

And the cute little hop when they get in position

So simple but so cool to look at

Kinda reminds me of how kids play that security guard game on the playground where they all bunch around and protect one of them

Love this little walking bit. Another really simple but really cool to look at bit of choreo

The hands as the raindrops hitting the window? Beautiful

Love the different levels used too makes it much more interesting

The shoulder shimmies!!! I wish we got a better shot of it here

So outfit-wise, not much to say

The simple black/grey clothes fit the nice friendly boy next door vibe well, and work for the more subdued concept

The makeup is 'natural', and the hair for the most part is okay, very 2010-2011 pretty boy hair

We're no longer in the pasty lipstick days, but we're now in 'let's just slap some lipbalm/literal nude lipstick on and call it a day'

I just think that they should all be showing a little forehead like they all have nice high foreheads, so show it off a little!!!

Maybe it's just a cultural thing for me I was always told having a high forehead was attractive, and I kinda agree so long as it doesn't veer past fivehead territory

Again, I like Soohyun's jacket very chic

And the beginning of the super tight pants are here

This part always makes me giggle a little like what are you guys doing

AJ's doing the most for his little solo bit and I kinda love that for him

Dunno much about his Paran days, but according to the comments, he was usually given the fewest parts

I was so obsessed with this part as a kid

I don't remember this part of the choreo but I kinda love it

Look at Soohyun giving it his all

I love the way that when Eli and AJ do their rap together, it looks like they're just swatting the other members aside lol

Look at the conviction in that single pointed finger

So iconic

Soohyun put all his acting chops into that one belt

It's a much softer and simpler dance compared to their other comebacks, but it fits with the more subdued and vocal-heavy song

I also wonder if it's because Hoon had only been dancing for like half a year so they didn't want to have him visibly struggle

Hoon and AJ both stuck out the most to me

AJ has a very distinct quality to his movements, like they're not bad, but they definitely seem...sharper? Maybe more aggressive?

Hoon has, for the lack of a better descriptor, a very theatrical way of moving? It's not super noticeable here (but still definitely present), but you really see it later on

He also seems less sure of his dancing than the others, and he's not fully projecting outward, but again, he hadn't been dancing very long at this time, so it's completely understandable

The other 5 were very good, as always now

Dongho is the absolute star of this for me, his charisma is insane

8/10 it's a simple dance with a simple stage, but very enjoyable to watch with a lot of nice moments. It's a good stage, and while it stands out compared to their others just because of its subdued vibe, it's not huge a stand-out on its own (I say, as a 0330-lover)

Some other 0330 looks from their long promotional period

I wanna know what was going through the designer's head while making these

Could never conceptualize this, and I'm torn between thinking these are incredible and that these are horrific

Like not even the colour-blocking I'm fascinated by the cuts of these

I do like the red/white/pink colour scheme, and that shade of pink is really pretty

Eli and Hoon have me asking the most questions like what are those tops

I think Kiseop and Soohyun got off the easiest here

Another incredibly puzzling set of looks

I like the grey/white and the more formal jacket idea

I even like the colour blocks for the most part

But AJ looks like a chef, and Soohyun's....wannabe-tailcoat is confusing me

I also don't like how Hoon and Eli have blazers with white lapels like the lapels are almost unnoticeable

I like Kiseop's look the best his jacket is nice and I like his hair

These outfits are actually pretty nice

The light blue/dark blue is pretty, and I don't really hate any of these jackets

Soohyun's outfit is my personal favourite it looks really good on him

I'm conflicted on these black/white suits because they're accented with purple

Okay I'll be honest I can't tell if it's supposed to be black, dark grey, or a dark brown because the purple is really throwing me off

I love half these outfits and kinda hate the others

The white jackets all look good

Torn between liking the cut of Kiseop's jacket and hating the penguin-esque look of it

Don't love whatever's going on with Kevin and Dongho

Not loving Eli's jacket either

A lot going on with these two-toned purple and white outfits

The light purple parts are all made of some kind of satin, and so are Hoon's lapels

Hoon and AJ both have these random bits of satin-like fabric hanging from their jackets and it looks very funny when they do the shoulder shimmies

I actually like most of these, but I'm also very confused by them

I wish there were better shots of the outfits

Words That Hurt Me... | YouTube Music 218k | Spotify 31k

So this is a Kevin song I guess

Featuring the entire rap line, Soohyun, and allegedly Hoon, while Kiseop is nowhere to be found

It's another mid-paced weepy love song with a lot of begging and pining and "baby I love you please come back"

Dongho gets a surprisingly lengthy rap, I guess his voice was done giving him grief

I like the prechorus with Soohyun helping to build up Kevin's voice

AJ's rap is one of my favourite parts in this song, but I still don't get the "so please be my Wendy" bit

I get what it's meant to be, but I just don't think it fits this song

Even though it's a Kevin song, I'd say Soohyun steals the spotlight by the end while he's belting his little heart out

"Mordny present" love that so true

Also, apparently AJ and Dongho both have songwriting credits here? Who's responsible for the Wendy line?

8.25/10 it's a weepy love ballad, something Kevin is very good at, I just wish the song built more, if that makes sense.

Every Day | YouTube Music 356k | Spotify 48k

This is such a banger because it's a Soohyun song

Well okay, he's very prominent in this song, but everyone else gets a decent share of lines

So it's Soohyun featuring Kevin, Hoon, and then everyone else because it's a vocal-heavy song

I love that first verse with Kevin and Kiseop, followed by Hoon's verse

Their voices work so well together and they all sound so sweet it's a shame we never got a subunit of them

Hoon and AJ splitting that verse after the chorus is interesting too

They both have a similar kind of theatrical feel to their voices

Soohyun and Hoon doing the bridge? Goated

Soohyun belting the chorus in the background while also doing his own adlibbing is so funny and so extra and so very him

It's such a cute mushy love song, very good sweet boys who respect all women, but also a really fun upbeat song

Also, I'm not reviewing it here but maybe later, I love the dance for this it's so fun and unserious except when they do body rolls because that's always super serious business

8.5/10 I think it's super catchy, and I love the the vocal pairings we got for some of the verses, and of course, I love Soohyun in this it's like you can hear his smile

I Don't Understand | YouTube Music 216k | Spotify 57k

I was gonna say this is a vocal line song, but Kiseop only gets 2 lines so that's a lie

But yeah this is basically Soohyun, Kevin, AJ, and Hoon, featuring Dongho, Eli, and Kiseop

I'll forgive the many AJ lines he was one of the lyricists

Soohyun/Kevin/Hoon chorus? Goated we're getting a full emotional range here

AJ/Kiseop/Soohyun prechorus is super interesting. You don't really get that combo often

Eli and Dongho both get a rap verse each, and personally I preferred Dongho's

Hoon's bridge part is pretty, but I always think about that one radio live they did where his voice cracked while singing like that's super embarrassing I'm sorry you went through that

Another upbeat-sounding song with sad "baby I love you let's not break up" lyrics, but with a twist!!!

The twist being it sounds like there's no infidelity just a couple growing apart

8.25/10 I kinda wish the song was a bit longer so we could squeeze in another verse, rather than have like 70% of the song be the prechorus and chorus

Miracle | YouTube Music 187k | Spotify 21k

Another banger for SWIN, who by the way, also wrote the intro and I Don't Understand (plus other later songs)

There's always interesting vocal arrangements and mushy good boy lyrics with SWIN

This is another one just for the vocalists - Kevin and Hoon sing the bulk of the song, with Soohyun, Kiseop, and AJ making up the rest of it. Eli gets the "to the left/to the right" part, and Dongho gets nothing lol

Honestly, I'm pretty sure Kiseop gets more lines in this song than all previous releases combined

As he should, his voice is fairly sweet and fits the cute plucky feel of the song

Kevin and Hoon taking the lion's share of singing is also absolutely the right choice because they both sound like diabetes, especially Kevin

"Let me show you fantasy" something about the way Kevin sings it

Also, the short AJ/Kevin lines? I wish we got more of those I like how their voices sound together

Hoon/Kiseop prechorus is super sweet, and Soohyun just busting in the middle lol

AJ/Kiseop/Hoon/Kevin second verse? I wanted a unit song with them sooo badly, both because a) they were my favourites, and b) I think their voices work super well together

Believe it or not, there's no yearning, no pining, and no woman-hating in this song - it's just pure cutesy fluff that also conveniently doubles as perfect fanservice

8.5/10 it's cute, it's fun, it's got interesting vocal arrangements, and it gave my boy Kiseop more lines. Not much to complain about

So yeah, after doing their promotional rounds (which were crazy long, I think the last music stage I saw for this was mid-May 2011), they were immediately shuttled off to Japan. I think they said they actually didn't really know why they were there, and they were just told to live in the dorms, practice, and study Japanese, which you know, I think is believable for NH.

Not really a fun fact, but just some things I wanted to get off my chest, and that's subunits I wished actually happened/got more of instead of uBEAT:

Soohyun/Hoon - well, I guess it's already a thing, but I still want more

Soohyun/Kevin - again, technically already kind of a thing, but I wanna see those guys promote together because one minute they'll be all friendly and lovey-dovey then the next they're super passive-aggressive

Hoon/Kevin - they really gave us one of the saddest songs in their catalogue, and then just never did anything else together ever again

Hoon/Kiseop - technically also a thing, and I really like their voices together, and I also wanna see them promote together again

Platonic Roommates For Life Kevin/Kiseop - literally how have they never done a duet together? I only noticed this during Kevin's Graduation DVD where he has duets with everyone but Kiseop, and I think that's a travesty

Vocal Troika Soohyun/Hoon/Kevin - obviously. Think about how many power ballads they could do together

Sex Kitten Trio Hoon/Kevin/Kiseop - I only thought of this after a serendipitous music shuffle put Lights Out and Don't Act Innocent back-to-back, and I thought that they all sounded a little different. Let their voices build off of each other, and suddenly they sound like they're doing one of those boyfriend audios

Trot Trio Soohyun/Hoon/Kiseop - Soohyun and Hoon can obviously sing it, but Kiseop was a real surprise

Cute Pop Trio Kevin/Kiseop/AJ - look it might be a little messy, but I think it would've been great in terms of music, and I think it would've been a real visual treat for us

Hot Mess Express Trio Soohyun/Kevin/AJ - I don't have any other reason I genuinely do think this trio would've been hilarious to watch pre-2016 like there's passive-aggressiveness and blatant awkwardness it would've been a hot mess

Someone May Die Trio Kevin/Hoon/AJ - again, this would've been so funny pre-2016, but especially around 2012-2014. Do I think they'd make it out in one piece? Probably not

I really love this mini album, it's a no-skip for me. I like that they really shed the bad boy image and went all-in with the good boy next door vibe, and gave us those sad love songs that are literally made to cry in the club to.

We're entering NEVERLAND next, and boy that is banger after banger, and that leads us right into their honestly crazy hectic 2011-2014 period where I'm very distressed because there's so much music to cover.

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ BREAK TIME

Well, we're here, at the end of an era, the last album featuring Kibum, and the last album Xander did before rejoining 12 years later. I remember being absolutely obsessed with the choreo as a wee little tweenie, while also having the sense to be a little embarrassed by the lyrics.

BREAK TIME - 4th Mini Album | 2010.10.04

So this release absolutely changed my tweenage brain chemistry in a way I can't fully explain. Maybe it was the song, maybe the lyrics, maybe the MV, maybe the fantastic choice to just style them in suits, I don't know, but tweenie me was so down for this. Still fairly normal about them though.

And first, before anything else, can we all just appreciate how bad this cover is? Like it's so fake-looking that Xander looks like he's been photoshopped in, and they look like they're just standing with a green screen (which is probably it). NH is nothing if not consistent in being low budget.

Anyway, this little spiel pertains less to the actual album and their activities at the time, and more about the behind the scenes stuff. So for Hoon's birthday livestream, he had Xander as his special guest, and we learn some real foul stuff about NH. Hoon was brought in roughly around this release, give or take some, and Xander was put in charge of teaching him all the songs and dances. Now Hoon was under the impression he was just a new addition, but Xander already knew he was out. Again, I'll see you in hell, NH.

So some idle thoughts that have arisen from this - did the others also think Hoon was joining them as an addition? Is that why Kibum was moved to the rap line for this release? Were they under the same assumption with AJ, or did they not know about him joining them? I feel like some of this has been said before, so maybe one day I'll do a real deep dig to try to find something on this.

Intro (Before Yesterday) | YouTube Music 209k | Spotify 22k

This intro is so good they falsely promised us a full version

"More than present/Mordney present" iconic

Love the lowkey chill vibes and the always-wonderful Soohyun/Kevin duet

That last "meolli wasseo" Kevin does? Incredible

"Yeah girl" Eli makes me chortle all the time

I never listened to intros as a kid, but this one had me by the jugular

To go from this right into Shut Up!! is so good, what a change in tone

8.75/10 I still have the faintest hope that one day we'll get the full version

Shut Up!! (Audio) | YouTube Music 5.6M | Spotify 534k

"This is more than present/mordney present" I always laugh at this it's so good

You know it's gonna be a banger when you hear that

Having Dongho, the babiest of babies with babyfaces, do the oppa parts is so iconic

"Girl you're pissin me off" if I had a nickel for every time Eli says he's pissed off...

So yeah this song is basically 3 minutes of Soohyun and Kevin aggressively singing back and forth, with a quick break for Xander, Eli, and Kibum to butt in, Dongho being funny, and Kiseop's one line

For the longest time, I didn't even realize Kiseop had that line I genuinely thought it was Kevin because of the backtrack

I think even though when I think of this song, I think of Kevin, Soohyun carried this harder he's just more aggressive in singing

The lyrics are very funny when we look back now, and peak UKISS "baby I hate you you cheated on me >:("

I think this is the most woman-hating of their songs, except for DORADORA maybe, but that's less aggressive

The comments under this are super funny too, insisting it has to be Shut Up!! and not just Shut Up, and that the exclamation marks are very important because of how loud they are

I forgot to mention this last time, but Bingeul Bingeul and Shut Up!! are both on the shorter end of their title tracks, clocking in around 3:10-3:15, but they both feel very complete

8.5/10 I have such a soft spot for this song, okay? It helped revive their careers, is slightly embarrassing to listen to but also a very solid song on its own, I just really love it.

Shut Up!! (MV) | Official upload 3.9M

There's two versions of this that aren't really that different - the clean version and the full version

I think the clean version just has some of the shirtless shots removed? I don't remember

God I remember watching this every single day I could as a kid

"High definition" meaning 480p which to be fair, was high def for us back then

Kevin learning that this only goes up to 480p when they used a "super expensive camera" still cracks me up

Also not the girl in the MV being way more famous than all of them combined now lol

All of them except for Eli looked so awkward with her

THE SUBWAY SET that's actually just a set they made in their usual warehouse

I think it was in Standing Still where they pointed out where they filmed this

Those white suits are ~*~sophisticated~*~

Absolutely iconic part of the choreo

Was it in Midnight Idols when the one senior idol was like bro what the hell are you guys doing?

The blue suits are also ~*~sophisticated~*~

They were trendsetters for this

Kiseop's crop top is goated I can't even begin to describe its impact on me

Peak bad boy with a dash of indecency

The necklines, the gloves, the wrist accessories, the hats, the washed out lighting, the abandoned warehouse, the thickening and darkening of the dramatic guyliner *chef's kiss*

The way he just kinda hops out

I wheezed a little at this frame

These shots are absolutely hilarious

Look at the art project on Kevin I don't remember how much time he said they spent on it

It's so funny looking at him compared to Kiseop like you can tell which is fake

Interesting who was made to go topless and was kept clothed

Anyway put on some clothes, you'll catch cold from the wind

Also, nothing like hanging out in the locker room? steam room? whatever with the boys while lounging around and putting on smoulders

Peak "look natural look natural look natural"

I just thought this frame looked funny

Soohyun doing normal people things and just shouting "WAE JAKKU" in her face

That's actually a pretty nice shot of them

I'm reminded of the comments asking if they got into a fight with cats

It was an aesthetic of the times, that's for sure

Eli, once again with his funny hats

I completely forgot about the French tattoos

Luckily, I now know enough French to confidently say that says "lie/lying" okay we're just namecalling women now

'Like nothing happened" lol that's so dramatic

Like their last two MVs, not much story, just a bunch of dancing in abandoned warehouses and subways, chilling in the locker room with the boys half-naked, some shots of Eli on a motorcycle, and all of their solo shots with the girl

I guess Eli is technically the main protagonist of this, what this is, I'm not sure

7/10 I like their outfits when they're clothed, and I love the shot of them lounging on their logo. Wish it was more dramatic though, like come on you guys are supposed to be angry bad men put some (not-drawn on) muscle to it

Shut Up!! (Stages) | Highest viewed 542k (Fan upload)

Highest official upload is 241k MuCore

Or 1.9M if we count the TeenKiss stage (which I personally love because both Soohyun and Kevin are very hot there)

Also, remember how Eli broke his hand while practicing this dance and then showed up to the next music show with a cast/splint/I don't remember?

He really shouldn't have done that like bro let your hand heal????

Look at Dongho's shoulders lmao he was so short compared to them

Like it's bad enough he's the babiest babyface but he's also the shortest??? Makes the performance 100x funnier

So styling, not much to say. They're all in tailored black suits, simple patterned ties, and I think they all have natural/slightly lightened hair, and no crazy hairstyles

Eli, Xander, and Kiseop have theirs styled as combovers - Kiseop looks good, though I'd tone down the eyeliner, and I'd say it's not the best but also not the worst for Eli and Xander

The others just have very natural hairstyles (also this is not the last time Kevin has this cut)

Who gave Eli the double-breasted jacket? It looks so...tight on him. There's honestly a few parts in the dance where I wonder if it really was tight because he's not leaning back very much, but he does do other shoulder movements so I don't know

I don't have anything to say I just really love this choreo no matter what and I'm so mad they didn't do it in their 2016 concert version

Another favourite bit of choreo

Soohyun's so aggressive here I love it he's never not committed

The fact that this bit of the dance is just because of a pun lol

Also he really is just touching and caressing everyone in this dance like he immediately goes to touching Kibum's face after this

Love hearing the crisp clap from the mics that's always so satisfying

They really love doing this kind of choreo in their dances

Not Kiseop nearly slipping on this, but good on him for catching himself without much interruption

Soohyun in the centre, right where he belongs

Oh wait they don't have the handkerchiefs for this one?

I love the choreo for this, the use of height to make interesting images, the sharp to smooth arms, and the entire chorus dance

Timing that kind of delayed effect is honestly such a pain to practice but it looks so cool

Also love the heaviness used for the pizza tossing choreo

Dance-wise, they all did really good, they're all sharp, well-timed, and throwing their whole body into the small details

The footwork's not the most difficult, but I also don't expect these dances to be that difficult since they have to sing

Dongho, again, serving the most face because this concept feels like it was made for him

Singing sounded live for the most part, but a lot of it is kind of hard to hear because of the backtrack

8/10, Shut Up!! has such a precious place in my heart, and I love the full choreo

Ooh found the handkerchiefs!!

Also this is the one where Eli's wearing a brace on his hand

I like all the individual pieces of these outfits, but not all together

The blue is nice, and the material is shiny but not baggy-looking, and I like the maroon dress shirts, but I don't love them paired together. The sparkly grey ties are a super nice touch though

I like these maroon suits

Xander's hair is like a baby version of his MMHN hair lol

No handkerchiefs though

The monochrome suits are really nice, though I'm questioning Kiseop's and Xander's hair

No handkerchiefs here either huh I thought this had more handkerchiefs

Wait is this a pre-dab dab?

The way that this video started off as 144p even though it's set at 1080p

Handkerchiefs are back baby!!!

I really like these white suits they look really good

Light It Up | YouTube Music 644k | Spotify 85k

This is Soohyun's song, everyone else is just a feature

Like half the song is just him, Kevin, Dongho, and Xander make up the other half, plus a couple of lines from Kiseop and Eli

And I wouldn't have it any other way, he kills this song

Also don't think there's any Kibum lines in this

It's so good, like it's crazy this is just a B-side

Feel like a broken record, but I kind of wish there was less autotune used so we can experience Soohyun's voice in all its glory

How do we not have a live of this? That feels like a crime

I like the Kevin/Kiseop part leading into Soohyun and the first chorus

We're veering right back into "baby I love you please come back I miss you" territory

I'm also pretty sure half this song is just the chorus

8.75/10 love the chorus/Soohyun solo, and I like how the song builds and swells

Rock Ya' Body | YouTube Music 257k | Spotify 11k

Common Soohyun/Kevin duet with brief features from the others

I hear Kiseop for a couple of lines in the chorus, Eli is doing the "clap clap..." part, I'm fairly certain it's Xander doing the rap verse, and Dongho might have the last line of the chorus. I don't know about Kibum

He might have a line in the chorus? Maybe the "clap it up" part? I can't really tell who's doing that

Like I'm not gonna lie I'm really bad at picking out Kibum's voice, and it's super difficult with all this autotune

But yeah standard arrogant UKISS dance track, a precursor to TOP THAT, if you will

Kevin opening with "hey little mama" is so funny

Soohyun's little "I'm hot news baby" is also very funny

Another borderline UKISS Sex Song, but I'm not counting it because it's not explicit enough

Love the persistent clapping throughout the song it's super catchy

8.25/10 it's a fun and catchy dance track, and that's something these guys do very well

Avater | YouTube Music 67k | Spotify 12k

Okay I have no idea who's doing what in this song, but I think it's a rap line song?

The only thing I'm sure of is Soohyun comes in either actually singing or doing the backing for the "100% synchronized high and low" part

I don't think I hear Kevin or Kiseop anywhere

I hear Xander and Eli pretty consistently, even through the autotune, and I think I hear Dongho a couple of times

The chorus is hard to tell though, it could be a heavy autotuned Kibum or it could be Eli or Xander

Look, I dug through old videos of this to both get a decent translation, and to figure out who's doing what in this song

Another fun party song, and UKISS Sex Song #3

It's been almost 14 years and I still don't know what "checkin yo steez" means

Also uh I've chosen to interpret the lyrics as just risque, but like it could very easily be interpreted as wanting to make this girl a puppet? Isn't that kinda dark lol

Oh and the autotune is so heavy here, fitting and absolutely appropriate for this song, but super heavy

7.5/10 I think I'm biased because I've listened to this like 30 times trying to figure out who does what, so now I have a mild headache

Don't really have any fun facts other than crumbs of funny bits. Most of my knowledge is either concentrated from little bits of info I gained through osmosis about their very early career, or the wild shit they did in Japan.

So, at the end of 2010, Xander, Soohyun, and Eli did a spinoff of 'We Got Married' called 'We Are Dating', and all I remember from that show is Eli ripping his pants, thus becoming the first member to do so, and Soohyung magical suitcases of everything. It was an okay watch, but in hindsight, Eli being so awkward, whether it was scripted or not, makes sense because wasn't he already dating his ex-wife at the time? I get that the company probably didn't know since they were still under a dating ban, but wow that must've been weird. Like they could've picked Kibum, or Kiseop, or Kevin to do it, but no they chose him.

When they did Midnight Idols, the talent portion was so great - Eli cracking a bone while doing a kick; Xander doing a yoga pose only to immediately give up after 5 seconds; Dongho and Kevin being girl group dance enthusiasts and scaring each other via unintended eye contact; Soohyun serenading Kibum's brother's thigh; Kiseop climbing up the chalkboard, it was fun times all around.

Well that's that. It was really fun to go back this far and quite literally watch them go from weird cringy rookies to whatever the hell they are by Shut Up!!

UKISS Era - Woman-hating Bad Boys - Complete!

[weed-ols]

Hoon on King of Masked Singer <3

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ Only One

Ah yes, their 1st studio album, and the peak of UKISS. I remember this coming out because it was around the time of the Olympics, and I don't know why that's the way I remember it.

But yeah, they were soooo popular now, they had tons of variety shows - Pops in Seoul for the English line, Chef's Kiss was right after this, and I think UKISS Vampire was done around after that, or after Break Time, I can't remember.

Only One - 1st Studio Album | 2010.02.03

I liked Bingeul Bingeul when it came out, and I still do prefer it to MMHN. Not entirely sure why, though it might be because I'll always associate with Chef's Kiss, and that makes me feel some real warm fuzzies. Also, was this when Soohyun's dating scandal happened? Or was it after this? Anyway, kudos for him to just going "thanks for making us the #1 trending topic XD"

This is something I meant to put in the Conti UKISS review but forgot, and it's that they seem so much taller in MMHN. Like I know Dongho and maybe Kevin and Eli were still growing, but all of them just seemed so much taller, for MMHN, and that's the importance of good styling.

So yeah, we're still in their woman-hating era, but it's a little dialed back now. I don't really have any good relevant tea about this era, which is a little weird. Was this when they had their first ever concert? I think it happened before Break Time, and if I remember correctly, it was because the Philippines LOVED Bingeul Bingeul and it went crazy viral there, so as a thank you they had a concert in Manila.

I don't think I ever watched the full concert, but I kinda feel like it would be the endearing disaster that any small-mid company's group would have when hosting a concert in somewhere not South Korea/Japan/even China. I think I remember the audio being really bad and I wasn't sure if it was just the video/recording problem or if it actually sounded like that on stage. Did they even have enough music to do a concert?

Oh right, and beware of this album on Spotify I don't know why it's so messed up, but there's 2 versions of it up, and like a couple songs show up on the Real School OST and none of this is consolidated. It is a hot mess, do I like tell Soohyun this on Bubble or on b.stage or what?

Intro | YouTube Music 2.6k | Spotify 1.3k

It's 20 seconds long what do I even say

The piano is nice until Kevin's autotuned voice kicks in

5/10 meh I like what I heard, but it's 20 seconds

Bingeul Bingeul (Audio) | YouTube Music 3.2M | Spotify 560k / 1.78M

I have 2 numbers for Spotify because the album version has 560k, but for some reason they the Real School OST there, and the numbers aren't consolidated and that one has 1.78M

Yeah I don't get it

"U U U UKISS AND BRAVE SOUND~" so iconic

I like that the whole premise of this song is "baby I love you please come back" like name a more dynamic duo than UKISS and being pathetic begging men

And the fact that this breakup is basically their fault, yet Kibum is still out here calling me bad? Uh excuse you you're the one who's in the wrong

Does that count as woman-hating? Perhaps

"You make me tingle tingle" absolutely horrific, thank you Eli

The "jjaeggakjjaeggak" part after Eli's rap is one of my favourites I don't know why, it's so catchy

This is mostly a Soohyun/Kevin duet featuring Kibum, Eli, Xander, and Dongho

Kiseop was there and he probably looked gorgeous

Not much to say about the singing since it's mostly been autotuned, but Kibum does sound much better here, and I like the contrast between him and Soohyun

The rappers rapped, that's for sure

Something about the way Dongho sings "you are the only one" is so cute

7.75/10, it's just a fun dance song, not much more I can add. Not earthshattering, but super catchy

Bingeul Bingeul (MV) | Fan upload 10M

Wait was this never uploaded officially?!?!

So I'm watching the alleged HD version and it's still giving 360p-480p, even though YouTube says it's 720p

Again, is this the same expensive camera for Shut Up!!?

But oh my god we've entered the iconic 2nd Gen MV Box

I forgot that it's not just The Box, but a Spinning Box

Get it??? They're making kissing gestures because U U U UKISS and~! It's so corny I love it

This part of the choreo is always gets me it's so fun to look at

The rapid cuts between the members lol

Again, some peak 2010 looks here

First, I gotta give my condolences to Dongho apparently it took like 7 bleach jobs to get his hair that light

I don't know if they did it in a single sitting, a couple, or spread out, but damn that's gotta hurt the scalp, even if he was young

He does look good with that pale blond though

Xander's hair is tragic they just gave him what they gave Kibum for MMHN, except it really doesn't suit Xander

Kiseop looks amazing as always

Kibum's hair is like a 3D sculpture I wanna know how much product is in it

I like Kevin's hair colour, that light brown always looks good on him, but I hate the bowl cut it's so not a good look

But yeah the studded jackets, necklaces, copious amounts of leather, so 2010 bad boy chic

Oh and we can't forget the skin-toned lipstick, guyliner for days, and emerging smoky eyes

I forgot the chorus dance is supposed to be done in a circle that's really cool, but I do just love a good circle moment in a dance

Now THAT is a look

Is it good? Is it bad? I don't really know but I love the eyeshadow

The hair isn't super flattering though

I have conflicting feelings about these white outfits

I love the overall look and feel of them, but I think a lot of them aren't flattering when they dance

Kevin and Kibum both have the longer jacket and it makes the dancing feel really clunky and difficult

They also have a padded shoulder look, which I actually do like most of the time, but here it makes them look like they have bad posture and permanently hunched shoulders

It's kinda giving cartoon proportions

So yeah, not much happens in this MV it's literally them dancing in The Box in the studded jackets, some solo shots in The Spinning Box, some other solo shots with the art projects drawn on them, and dancing shots in the white outfits

Yeah there's only 2 outfits in this MV, 3 if you count the art project looks

Yes NH give us no budget

Okay, let's be fair, they blew the entire budget on Kibum's hair products, Dongho's bleaching sessions, Eli's eye makeup, the white outfits, and the ink art shots

4.75/10 it was boring, and saved mostly by Eli's cool eye look, and the fact I don't despise every outfit here. At least they're not in a warehouse for this MV, or you know what, they probably are, but they're contained in The Spinning Box, so that's a little interesting

Bingeul Bingeul (Stages) | Highest viewed 1M (Music Core)

Because I cherish my eyes, I'm watching the 1M MuCore one because that one is in HD

I'm sorry but the opening kinda looks like Soohyun's shaking his butt for us

Oh and they're also using headsets for this, I think this is their first comeback using them

Bless the camera guy for giving us a wide shot of this it's my favourite part of the choreo

I love the use of use of differing heights it makes such an interesting image

Wait, are...are those capris? Are they all wearing capris other than Kibum??? Oh my god

Soohyun kinda looks like an exotic bird with that hair

There's a lot happening with that top - the leather vest, the different coloured sleeves

This is actually a pretty good look for Kibum, and he looks weirdly happy here

I think he winked before this too how cute

Camera guy why are you not focusing on Eli like yeah I love Soohyun too but sheesh how could you ignore Eli during this iconique line??

I love that you can hear them slapping their arms during the "nae ego" part of the rap

CAMERA GUY WHY WOULD YOU CUT AWAY FROM SOOHYUN'S BODY ROLL HE'S REALLY GOOD AT THOSE

I really don't like this outfit on Kevin it's not flattering at all on him

And I hate his hair

Also not loving Eli's top, but I appreciate the random clump of fabric

Ki brothers really do be the best dressed here

He had no lines in the song so they gave him the final pose lol

So I've always thought the Bingeul Bingeul dance was silly, especially the chorus part, but after seeing the MV I see the vision now

It looks really cool when they're in a circular formation, but stupid when they're in lines, but circles aren't the best for stages like this

The dance isn't particular difficult, I think the opening is probably the hardest due to the synchronization

The funny chorus bit was probably more difficult for the MV than here

I will say this kind of choreo falls flat without enough commitment, so while funny to watch, they definitely committed

Not much to say other than that. They clearly work well as group, they're all at a minimum competent dancers, and the only real standout here is Dongho

Like MMHN, this choreo is basically made for him, plus he has that kind of je ne sais quoi and pulls your eye

It was sung live, it was a Soohyun/Kevin live duet, the rappers rapped, and I suspect a loud backtrack for Kibum and Dongho

7.5/10 the stage design is kinda boring, and I don't like a lot of their looks, but it's a fine stage overall

A quick Bingeul Bingeul lookbook because I can still upload more images

I forgot it was a super shiny material

The fabric moves better than I thought, but I don't know I still don't love the look of it

The pants look especially bad in movement, like they're way too baggy because of how the fabric hangs and reflects light

And yeah, I still stand by Kibum and Kevin having the worst jackets

Also I think this was the first stage they did for this?

Mics were really good, and Eli ended this stage? Do they take turns for the final pose?

Why are half of them dressed for the same event and look like they lost the dress memo?

The random thing hanging off of Xander's jacket lol

I like Kibum's vest love the epaulettes

Why is Kiseop just wearing a button-up with epaulettes?

I don't even hate these looks individually, and I even see the running motif in them, but they don't feel unified

Kevin, Dongho, and Soohyun should have larger shoulder ornaments

Xander needs an epaulette or something

And Kiseop should be wearing a vest like Kibum or a jacket like the others

Kiseop finishes this one huh

I hate these looks I like the monochrome idea, but what's with the beige/khaki?

And why are some members in all black but the others are mixed?

Not Soohyun wearing a black pleather crew neck with a black pleather jacket

The mics were really good here and they were all live, I think Dongho's voice cracked a little

Uh those are some looks

I hate those pants so much just let them wear long pants

Before there were those hidden socks and exposed ankles, there were the exposed calves and shins

The copious amounts of pleather is incredible

Without You | YouTube Music 924k | Spotify 388k

Oh my gosh I love this song it's one of my favourites

It's sounds so cute, so sweet, and it's so catchy like I'll honestly start humming this at work without even realizing it

The "baby I love you please come back" song like it's that good

Once again, cementing the fact they're at their best when begging

"Boo" #2

It's honestly amazing how dissonant the lyrics are to the music, like the song itself is fast-paced and cheery

Then the lyrics are basically them begging their girl to come back and crying themselves to sleep

And the fact that this is one of their encore songs, truly incredible

This is basically just a Soohyun/Kevin duet featuring Eli and Xander

They're both killing it though - Soohyun has that bitter voice that works great with the lyrics, while Kevin has that sweet voice that falsely advertises that this is an upbeat song

Their vocal synergy is unmatched

9/10 an all-time favourite of mine so yeah, I'm biased

Mworago (Audio) | YouTube Music 449k | Spotify 26k

Remember how there was supposed to be a 3D animated music video for this? Yeah me neither

The fact that there's a 15 second teaser of it on YouTube literally haunts me

The concept for it is probably rotting in NH's basement or something

So this is what I imagine to be the sequel of OK!

There's a line about the girl making them seem like a beggar, and what did they say in OK? That they weren't going to be a beggar

Thus based off of their pattern of "baby I love you even though you cheated on me", this could either be OK's prequel or sequel

Personally, I like this as the sequel because it makes it 10x funnier

The whole song is basically "you treat me like shit but baby I love you please come back", which is a new variant for this genre

Allegedly, Kiseop does the intro bit, but I'm not buying it. A couple of sites I've checked out attribute it to him, but I don't hear him?

So this is a Kevin-centric song featuring Soohyun and the rap line, with none for Kibum and Kiseop

I think his voice is very well-suited for it - he sounds just like a kicked puppy most of the time, but musters up the right aggression

Soohyun, sounding bitter as always

But they're both hampered by the autotune, that damned Brave autotune

I thought it was interesting they attached Eli's rap to the first verse to lead in to the chorus

Actually, Xander and Dongho both rap before the next chorus, interesting placements

It doesn't sound bad at all, I kinda like it

No funny one liners, unfortunately

8.25/10 more points than Bingeul Bingeul it's more creative and I love a good UKISS being pathetic beggars song

Mworago (Stages) | Highest viewed 89k (Fan upload) | 26k (Inkigayo)

I feel like I have no recollection of ever watching these stages before recently

Oh my gosh I actually love most of these outfits? The black/red is so nice

I love Kevin's little plaid jacket like it's so cute I want it

And not his statement necklace

Dongho has a kind of taupe trash bag shirt, love that for him

The vests are kinda taking me out

And Kibum's single arm warmer thing

Oh I love Kiseop's jacket too, especially the plaid lapels

They all have much better hair here; Dongho back to his bowl cut, Xander's looks more natural and comfortable, Soohyun has typical idol hair, Eli for some reason is blond again, Kibum rocking the same 'do from Bingeul Bingeul, Kiseop's is...very Kiseop, and Kevin's fluffy light hair

The makeup is very light too, love that though I hate the lipstick still

That pose kills me

His lips were moving during this so I guess this is Kiseop's part?

Head choreography was really in with them, huh?

It's kinda cute, makes sense since Soohyun's just shouting "what" the entire time

It's not even that similar but this screams Stalker

Why does he enter like that?

Same vibes as when you're not sure if you're entering the right room or if you're interrupting someone

This is so dramatic, and for what? I love it

It's not a super iconic dance but I like it anyway. It looks pretty aerobics-intensive

There's some weirdly soft moments in the choreo for this kind of dance song though. I don't hate it, but it feels a little out of place since so much of it is sharp and angular

It also makes a lot more use of height, lots of crouching and bending

Soohyun and Kevin are definitely singing live, their expressions say it all, and it becomes obvious when you hear Soohyun fighting with backtrack!Kevin, and when Kevin lets the backtrack take over to catch his breath

It's a bit harder to tell with the rappers since they also have that autotuned voice thing

7.25/10 I would watch it again, not super memorable, but some interesting choreo

I still have 5 images left before I hit the limit Mworago lookbook time

I like these more relaxed looks, very 2010

Wait is Eli wearing sweats?

Actually all the other videos are too crunchy never mind

Bang Bang Bang | YouTube Music 292k | Spotify 27k

UKISS party song hell yeah with a dash of um...I'm not entirely sure

I've read a couple translations of this and I'm still trying to piece it together

I think it's a "baby I love you please come back" and "angry we broke up so now I'm partying the pain away but it still hurts" mix?

It also feels like an allusion to sex? Like other than the bang bang bang part

Not counting it as a UKISS Sex Song but it's close, it just needs to be more explicit

I do appreciate the storytelling in the lyrics, starting off with "feel like shit gotta go have fun", the sex allusion, "baby I love you", "I'll never love again leave me alone >:(", "baby I miss youuuu", and ending with party lyrics again

It's basically another Soohyun/Kevin duet featuring everyone but Dongho

Interesting parallel with the Kibum/Soohyun and Kiseop/Kevin verses

Once again, I'm asking for more VinSeop verses their voices work well together

How do Soohyun, Kevin, and Xander all sound so nasally here? I thought it might've been the autotune or something but Kibum, Kiseop, and Eli sound relatively okay

Like I'm genuinely impressed I want them to try to recreate this some day

"Singing that!" I thought for the longest time Xander was saying "Sing it dad!"

Also Eli back to calling us bad girl huh

7.5/10 it's a fun song, super catchy, but the autotune is...a lot, and I mean there's not much else to it

Dancing Floor | YouTube Music 216k | Spotify 15.8k

Nasal kings here we go

Bang Bang Bang was just warm up here they're so nasally it's incredible

Like I think it was in that 2020 IG Live with Soohyun and Kevin where they're talking about old songs, someone brings up Dancing Floor, and they literally cannot replicate it

It gets mentioned again in their 2021 vocal line mini reunion and somehow Hoon nails it???

But yeah the lyrics are literally "I'm so depressed that my girl left me so now I'm gonna tear up the dance floor and become the disco king"

Gotta respect the mindset

Horrific how catchy this song is, but understandable since this is the same guy who did Mazeltov

It does feel like a proper Soohyun/Kevin main/lead vocalists + Kibum the subvocalists and accompanying rappers who get like 3 lines each as the bridge

Poor Kiseop with nothing

"Sing it daddy!" the only thing more surprising than hearing this incredible one liner, is the fact that Xander is the one who yells it and not Eli

6.5/10 just because of how horrific their nasally voices are in this my god. It is super catchy though

ManManHaNi (New ver.) | YouTube Music 12M | Spotify 451k

Not much to say, it's a MMHN all right

There's just added some more music and a slightly slower feel to the song, which is basically a negative for me

I think I prefer the original version because it's 8 seconds shorter, and I think it carries the momentum of the song better

Not loving the weird tempo change before the chorus like come on stop torturing me like this

But I do prefer the more stripped percussion for Eli's rap

Also not someone in the comment section saying the original MMHN is the same age them baby what you're a literal fetus

6.5/10 inferior MMHN variation, and I had to not only relisten to the original version for comparison, but I had to listen to this twice

OK! (Remix) | YouTube Music 14k | Spotify 5.2k

I know it's a remix and all that, but I wish it was an acoustic or stripped version

Like that was my biggest complaint with the original with how the autotune detracted from Kevin's voice

And now we just have a lot more noise layered on

6.25/10 not horrible, but there's nothing about this remix that improves on the original, except I guess add more dance beats

I Like You (Remix) | YouTube Music 8.1k | Spotify 2.2k

I like that this is basically a remix of the instrumental with the chorus repeating

Like the song was so unsalvageable they just had to remix the instrumental

This is basically something you'd do like an aerobics class to or whatever

6.25/10 I liked it more than the original

Talk To Me (Remix) | YouTube Music 44k | Spotify 5.9k

Okay this kinda slaps

The remix actually tones down the Soohyun vs Kevin shouting match so it just sounds like normal singing now, which makes this pretty nice to listen to (though not as funny)

The recurring keyboard/piano bit even adds a bit of class

7.25/10 I actually really like this and I'm gonna put it on a playlist now

Not Young (Remix) | YouTube Music 15k | Spotify 4.7k

The lively beat helps a bit

But now there's this weird...dissonance? Like this remix is still pretty soft, but it feels too hard for a song like Not Young

6.5/10 I'm very confused, not in a bad way, just...not sure of what to make of it. I don't hate it, but I also don't like it much more than the original, plus the weird clash between the lyrics and beat that just doesn't work

Give It To Me (Remix) | YouTube Music 10k | Spotify 2.3k

Since the song already had a strong beat, the remix works really well

The dance break sounds much better

I'm a bit confused by the choice to sort of 'hollow' their voices? I don't think that was necessary

The tempo feels a bit faster, and I think it fits a lot better with the whole "don't stop the beat move your feet" bit

7.25/10 another new song going to a playlist

Not really fun facts, but some funny tidbits I remember regarding this time - there's an interview of them from either the time they were filming the Bingeul Bingeul MV or just after, and it's so cute. One of the questions was who made the biggest first impression, and I remember Eli said Dongho because he thought he looked like a tacky country bumpkin. Kevin backhandedly compliments Soohyun by saying he took one look at him and knew he was probably the best singer there (cue Soohyun shouting "what, am I ugly?").

They also get asked who watches porn, and everyone kinda nervously looks around, except for Soohyun who proudly raises his arm, and slaps Kibum to raise his too. If you remember my last post, Kiseop had already admitted to watching it on Soohyun's laptop with Kevin, so those two are lying liars.

This tidbit is actually from 2023, but Soohyun was talking about his early days under NH, and how the lower management really liked him because he could sing well and worked hard (to the point they'd tell him to stop practicing and go back to the dorm because they couldn't sleep), but upper management hated him because he wasn't a flower boy. Apparently the higher-ups never called him by his name early on, just always "hey you", and never complimented him, and the first time they called him by his name was around Bingeul Bingeul and it made him cry. NH, I'll see you in hell.

We have one more release before this OT7 era is over, and while I do look upon this time very fondly, I'm excited for the 2011-2013 years, their back-to-back bangers, and the HD JP MVs I have in my possession.

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ CONTI UKISS

Welcome aboard this hell ride, Kiseop! You're not getting off until 2019, and even then you're never really gone before throwing yourself back into the fray in 2022! You're here for forever now!

The hard and pitiful struggle era is over, they've discarded the good and cute boy image, and are now into their edgy woman-hating bad boy period because that's actually what was kind of in at the time. Gone are the perms, bowties, and sweatervests, and enter confidence-bestowing guyliner, entire bottles of hairspray to hold their aggressive sideparts, and attempts to look brooding

CONTI UKISS - 3rd Mini Album | 2009.11.06

So I don't remember when this dropped, but I do remember that I started listening to them shortly after they released this. Now, I wasn't too young to be on the internet, but too young to find browsing forums interesting, however I do remember my sister and brother both being into them, and their friends at school too. I think if you go check some old LiveJournal pages, this is around the time they really started popping off.

Kiseop is now in because NH thought having another flower boy would help boost their popularity, and you know, in typical NH fashion, they give him like 2 seconds of singing, and tell him his job is just to dance and look pretty. My gosh, did he ever look pretty, so pretty that even little almost-a-tweenie me picked him out to be my new delusional celebrity crush. Who needs lines when you look that pretty? Mind you, I still was very normal about them at this time. I liked ManManHaNi, but I didn't love it to the point of being not-normal about them. That happened around 0330, if you care.

We're also now entering the Quintessential UKISS Sound™ era, which is really just what a lot of pop music at this time sounded like - lots of stylistic autotune, the heavy dance beats, lyrics all about partying and/or angry love songs. This entire mini album basically encapsulates that late 2009-early 2010 pop sound, and I love that for them.

ManManHaNi, as we know, saved their careers not once, but twice, and will probably continue to be their lifeline until we all turn to dust, and maybe even after that. So yeah, I have a very love-hate relationship with this song because I'm very grateful that it was their big break and memorable enough to keep them around for so long, but like I'm also just really sick of hearing it.

Intro | YouTube Music 6.2k | Spotify 5.6k

Even though it has that autotune sound, it still sounds out of place because of how lowkey the music is lol

"shawty" #2

"Shake ya booty left and right" great one liner by Xander

Very well balanced intro, it actually does feel like a more-than-two-person collaborative effort between Soohyun, Kevin, Xander, Eli, and I think Kiseop who gets to whisper-sing "shake shake shake it shake it"

It could be Kibum, but I'm 99% sure it's Kiseop from how soft the voice is

Is this the precursor to Rock Ya' Body?

7.5/10 I liked it, but it's not a wowing banger like Pump Pump or On Fire.

ManManHaNi (Audio) | YouTube Music 12M | Spotify 1.38M

If I'm being honest, I don't even think it's possible for me to give much of a coherent opinion on this

Like I said before, I'm always a little happy to hear MMHN because you know, it made my boys famous and saved their careers, but like I'm also super sick of this song

Deadass this is on none of my playlists other than my Complete UKISS Discography one because it has to be

Okay I have the JP version on a couple, but that's because I actually bought their 2016 compilation album, and I'm sure as hell gonna get my money's worth of it

The opening evokes some visceral feeling I can't quite name

"Bad girl", "crazy girl", what have women done to you boys??!?

Also lol things UKISS have called me in one song - baby girl, bad girl, crazy girl, yeougateun/foxy girl

Since I basically never listen to the plain audio of MMHN, and usually only hear it when I watch their live shows and whatever, I was actually expecting to hear Hoon for the third verse, so imagine my surprise when I hear Kibum

"Love's final round" such an iconic line, thank you, Soohyun

The random cat noise during Eli's rap always takes me out

"You make me pissed off!" literally pops into my head randomly all the time, Eli's one liners never disappoint

I guess it's the 4th verse, but yeah the verse right after Eli's rap is sooo cursed

Someone on Twitter did a compilation of it a while ago, and there's like 6 different versions of it

I do like it though, the rhyming is cute, and Dongho, Kiseop, and Kibum do all have vaguely similar voices - soft and weak-sounding

Both of Xander's rap verses are also uniquely cursed, courtesy of that same Twitter user, there's like 6-7 different people who've done it

Anyway, standard "UKISS break up song where they also kinda hate women but lowkey also still sound a little in love" song

Unsurprisingly, a Soohyun and Kevin duet with features by Eli and Xander, and a featuring feature of Kibum, and Dongho and Kiseop were there

For real, how do you put a guy into a group and then only give him one word for his debut

Uh 7.25/10 I don't actually know because I don't even think I can fake an objective rating for this. It's a catchy and fun aggressive dance song, I don't know what else to say. The autotune makes it difficult for Soohyun and Kevin to have these standout vocal moments, and they obviously sound great, the rapping is kinda cringe but also kinda iconic, people were present, I don't know I've heard this song a million times against my will.

ManManHaNi (MV) | Official MV 1.1M | Fan Upload 1.8M

Why was the official one only uploaded 2 years ago?

I actually don't remember if we all just watched the fan upload or if there was another official MV because I haven't watched this at all in like 10 years

Love that official MV only goes up to 720p give us low budget please

And the 720p is giving 360p, perhaps a very generous 480p look

Was this shot on the same famous expensive camera they used for Shut Up!!

We've also abandoned having a plot for this MV it's just them dancing and trying to look hot (or in Kiseop's case, just actually being hot)

The stupid blurry-to-focus shots are sending me

Oh these outfits are legendary, peak 2009 bad boy looks with unnecessary bondage gear, hair so styled they could survive a typhoon, pasty your-lips-but-actually-too-cool-toned lipstick, and guyliner so thick that raccoons are jealous

The pants, the boots, it was hot it was fresh it was 2009

This is such a dramatic hairstyle, and I like the colour

This was actually so chic for the time though - the super long bangs covering one eye, the streaks, so 2009

Kiseop, looking amazing as always in the back with the quintessential bad boy flower boy hair

And Soohyun with a very standard 2009 male idol hair, but a little edgier

Blond is not Eli's colour, I'm sorry but I hate that they made him blond so much from 2009-2013 because I think he looks best with dark hair, or that red hair from PaNiC!

And I'm also not a fan of the hairstyle he had from 2009-2010, he looks best with it styled away from his face because then his eyes get emphasized

Xander is rocking a tall wannabe-slightly-off-centre pompadour

Dongho has what I've seen described as a 'baby bonfire' (and it's even red!!!)

I'm gonna go off on a rant real quick, but I actually hate Full Blondie!Kevin so much

I don't know what it is, but he's only had one full blond look that I didn't hate when they did the Love On U MV

I hate his blond hair in MMHN, I hated it Alone, I'm not counting the blond/caramel highlights from 2014~2015, and I hate his blond hair right now

Something about it makes me react like an aggressive possum

It washes him out a lot, especially if the colour is super light like in MMHN, and the lipstick (or lack thereof) isn't really doing him any favours

At least this blond look is styled to not show off the hairline because speaking as someone with a similar skin tone and large forehead, blond roots make us look like we're balding

Moving on, the shoulder dance is so iconic

The heel bouncing, the 'ripping my heart out of my chest and throwing it away' choreo, legendary I tell you

This is such a funny shot and I think it's because the lipstick is making him look like sick Victorian child

The random shots of Kevin in the car are killing me like why is it yellow? Could NH not get like a cool red car, a sleek black car, or what?

He's not even driving what are you doing where are you going

I like his silver jacket though I wouldn't wear it, but I like it

Also, Kevin's heavily styled hair just flapping around while they dance because it's so long, but also not even losing its shape is great

Oh, I really unironically love these outfits I'm a sucker for suits/suit-adjacent looks

Kevin's sparkly blue dress shirt is great, and the sublte blue details everyone has

Eli and goofy hats, almost as iconic as Eli and terrible one-liners

Isn't this the same alley set they used when they filmed Quit Playing? It also kinda looks like Love On U too

Love that the direction here is clearly 'look brooding'

Kibum posed the hell outta that shot, good for him

Can't make out their expressions, but Xander and Kiseop look like they're serving something

Soohyun and Kevin are making me laugh, as always like why are you both trying to look cool by the wall

I love Kibum's random scarf so much like you don't understand

It's so random, so out of place, and he's working the hell out of it to look brooding and cool

And so with the fashion zeitgeist at the time we were really accessorizing everything with anything just because we could

"YEOUGATEUN GIRL" you will always be famous

More peak emo bad boy flower boy idol shots

I love how this MV is also clearly low budget too, but feels less cheap than its predecessors just because they spent all the budget on clothes, hairstyling tools, Kibum's scarf, and the car they only used for like 3 shots

There's about 3-4 sets used here - the warehouse set where they shot most of the group dance, did some solo shots against the white brick wall, and probably the car scene too; the wood panel room where they did the other solo shots, the white backdrop for the rest of the group dance, and they narrow alley that I think actually might just be a part of the warehouse set

7.25/10 There's not as much to make fun of compared to the other two, and not as much to cringe at. Yes I cringed at Blond!Kevin, but that's personal beef and not an actual sin, and honestly, it just feels like such a 2009 boy group MV. No plot, just dancing and solo shots where they attempt to smoulder with varying degrees of success

ManManHaNi (Stages) | Highest viewed stage 772k Music Core

Like the MV, I don't think I've watched any of their music stages for MMHN in years (not including the MMTG stage, and concert stages, obviously)

So I tried to find the earliest stage of this, and what I got was an Inkigayo one dated 091108, so let's do that one first then the HD MuCore one

Firstly, this choreo was made for Dongho, like he's so effortlessly arrogant it's amazing

Secondly, I love the opening choreo of them just kind of rolling their necks and fixing their clothes it's so fitting

It's only 480p, but bear with me. Love 5/7 of these outfits I'm a huge fan of the military-esque top, and tell those don't look like something a boy group would wear nowadays

I like the weird culotte-cut pants because this is the transition era between baggy 2000s pants to the skintight look of the 2010s

Thank you stylists for giving the right people the sleeveless tops

It's all sooooo late 2000s bad boy - the black/gold colour scheme, the random embellishments like they were just attacked by a craft store, the dramatic visual kei-inspired hair, the gloves, the boots, the thick guyliner, I love it

Unfortunately, they still have those pasty lips :/

That part is so aggressive it's so 2009 that was trendy

Love love love his jacket it's absolutely gorgeous, and I bet they blew the entire comeback budget on it

The camera dude zooming in on Kibum every time they do the MMHN bit before quickly zooming out is sending me

I like his top too - less embellished than Kevin's but still a very stylish military tunic

I like the less blond look, but still don't love it. I'm also kinda torn on whether I like his outfit or not since I love the epaulette and chains, but I'm not a fan of the vest

Same thing with Kiseop I like the aiguillette and gold lining, but I think the cut of the top is just bland

Xander's is borderline because it's so overly-embellished that it compensates for the simple top

Why do they all look mildly frightened here

Also, I think Xander and Kibum are both wearing some kind of weird black/gold cloth around their waist? Or maybe it's from their tops? I don't know but it's flapping around

Not the camera pulling away when Xander does his fox sign why do you hate me

Kevin is particularly committed to this shoulder shimmy of MMHN like it's not that the others are slacking, but he's just doing it super aggressively

It's definitely live, you hear Soohyun and Kevin loud and clear, the rapping was live, Kiseop and Kibum were quiet but live, and the only part I think was lipsynced/had a super loud backing track was Dongho's bit but that's like a single word

On to the MuCore one so I can actually judge the dancing a bit more and see perhaps more than 8 pixels

It's not important but I like the starting shot on the disco ball

The bondage outfits!!!!

Dongho's slightly off-the-shoulder jacket is such a good design choice like I don't know if they tailored it to do that, or taped/pinned it or what, but it emphasizes the shoulder shimmies soooo well

I don't know what they did to Eli's hair I don't think his bleach would've washed out to that colour so quickly, and it's just such a weird colour

Actually love the "grabbing my heart and throwing it away" choreo

You can see who has good back flexibility and who doesn't lol

I'm surprised Eli didn't go lower because he's crazy flexible in his back as we saw in We Are Dating; not surprised about Kevin we know he can fold himself into a suitcase; Kiseop's pretty good from what I can see, not surprised about Dongho, Kibum, and Xander

Actually maybe Eli just didn't go low because he's not as committed to the bit as Kevin and Kiseop

Okay, I'll be fair it's equal parts flexibility and core strength, and I'm still not surprised by who's uber committed

ELI WHAT ARE YOU WEARING

Also oh my god his eyes are huge here

Dongho, Kiseop, and Kevin all serving face here, good for them

Tell me this choreo wasn't made for Dongho he's absolutely killing it

Soohyun looks a little pained

I know they need a wide stance for the heel bounces, but can we talk about how wide Kibum is? Love that for him

Another one of my favourite bits of MMHN

Circle formations in dances are always fun to do and interesting to watch

Kevin wags his finger a lot it's pretty funny

"YEOUGATEUN GIRL" come on camera guy just zoom in on xander for his moment

Looks like Soohyun's about to shove Dongho aside

And an unflattering mid-transition shot of Kevin

Camera guy is struggling to pick who to zoom in on for the final chorus

You know, I felt like I knew the MMHN dance from all those concerts and shows, but it turns out there's chunks of choreo they've simplified or just straight up discarded over the years

There's a whole bit with all the non-Soohyun members after Xander's last rap where they're just doing a bunch of dancing I've never seen before?

Again, footwork isn't super complex, but there's a lot of formation changing, a lot of entering/exiting circles and back into a line

When they do the leaning circle thing when Soohyun's singing "ddeo-olla", that actually requires a lot of core, glutes, and lower back work

The shoulder shimmies during the chorus would need a lot of core muscles too because their alignments are all fairly straight (or at least it should be)

It's also so weird to see them attack the choreo with so much aggression, like yeah they usually commit to MMHN choreo anyway, but there's just that extra snap they had for the music stages

Guess performing it a couple hundred times a year sucked the fun out of it, huh?

But overall, lots of improvement from Talk To Me

Kevin and Kiseop still stand out as the best dancers with the most committment and ease of movement

Dongho is another standout, mostly due to how well-suited he is to the choreography, and by this point he was a pretty competent dancer

Soohyun is a bit harder to tell because he has less dancing parts, but he's never disappointed me

Xander, Eli, and Kibum all blend in well, which again, is a virtue in group dancing

They all look so confident and comfortable on stage, and they're all much better at working the camera, it's kinda crazy to see how much they improved from Not Young

Singing here is live too, clearer than the Inkigayo one, though that might just be a mic/video quality thing

7.75/10 enjoyable to watch, no back pains from cringing, and they're committed to the concept.

Just as a bonus, here's some more costumes they wore while promoting MMHN because I think that's the most important part of a comeback lol

Love the jacket colour it's so pretty

And the tight pants so with the times

Not the recurring trash bag material

But the all-black look is so bad boy

Not the suit tops paired with the golden trash pants

There's a lot going on with those jackets

Peak 'attacked by a Michaels before the music show' look

The random feathers, ruffles, embroidery for god knows who, chains galore, the randomly recurring houndstooth pattern, fringes because why not, I love it

OK! | YouTube Music 368k | Spotify 29k

I actually do like this song, like unironically it's on some of my regular playlists

This is a Kevin song featuring Soohyun, Xander, Eli, Dongho, and Kibum + 4 words from Kiseop, bless his heart

NH really hired him for his looks and gave him nothing

Never bothered to look up the lyrics until now, so I thought it was just a dance song, but I was wrong

Rare anti-simp song that also isn't anti-woman, truly impressive for the time

It's basically just them going "oh I was such a stupid doormat who let my girl walk all over me but now I freed myself and I'm sexy free and single and out to party"

Also an ongoing theme of being like a beggar to this girl

Normally, especially after looking at the lyrics, I would advocate for this to be a Soohyun-centric song because his voice has that bitterness that suits the concept

But I think with the brighter music and the self-deprecating lyrics, Kevin's sweet voice really does suit this better

Like he really does give the right balance of bitter remorse and optimism

Kevin and Kiseop splitting lines is so very dear to my heart

Even though the autotune kills some of this, I've always felt that their voices complement each other very well

Keep a pin in that because I'll be coming back to harp on this later many many times

No funny Eli one liners, but we got some great ones from Dongho and Xander

"I can go to club again" Yeah it makes sense with other half of the line being guilt-free, but something about the way Dongho says this is sooo funny

"I don't love you no more it's time to gotta go" Thank you, Xander

Also, this song talks about getting drunk at the club, and how many of them could even drink at this time? Weren't you guys just at the Mickey Mouse Club?

7.75/10 The autotune, while a stylistic choice I understand, really dampens their voices, but overall I really like this song - it's fun, catchy, bright, and with some silly one liners, which is all I could really ask for

So, I actually have two fun facts for today because the first is really short, and the second is less fun and not even that unknown, just kind of fascinating.

Around this time, I think either during or right after their MMHN promotions (not sure, but definitely in this timeframe because Kevin still has that cursed blond hair), Kiseop was in a variety show about ulzzangs. They bring in Soohyun as a guest for an episode, and they're supposed to try to shock each other by exposing secrets, and Soohyun just loudly and semi-proudly declares that Kiseop and Kevin borrowed his laptop, and when he got it back, he found porn.

And Kiseop, my boy Kiseop, just goes "yeah that's true", and I want you to keep a pin in that because it'll come up again next album.

The next not-so-fun fact is oh my god they've done so many different versions of MMHN. They have the original Korean version, the Japanese version, a blended Korean-Japanese version, and then all the different lineups. What I've learned from collating this information is MMHN requires just two people to work, and here are the lineups I'm aware of:

Xander, Soohyun, Kibum, Eli, Kevin, Dongho, Kiseop | 2009-2010

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Dongho, Kiseop, AJ, Hoon | 2011-2013

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Dongho, Kiseop, Hoon | 2012

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Kiseop, Hoon, AJ | 2013-2014

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Kiseop, Hoon | 2014

Soohyun, Eli, Kevin, Kiseop, Hoon, Jun | 2014-2017

Soohyun, Eli, Kiseop, Hoon, Jun | 2017

Eli, Kiseop, Hoon, Jun | 2018

Soohyun, Kevin | 2020

Soohyun, Hoon | 2021 (I don't know if there's a full version of it)

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop | 2023

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, Eli, Xander, AJ/Siyoon | 2023

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, Xander, Siyoon | 2023

Soohyun, Hoon, Kiseop, Eli, Xander | 2023

Why the hell is their lineup so unstable? It's like once a few years pass, they have to change lineups. Also, insane that Soohyun has only not been in one version, and Hoon has only missed one since joining.

Oh, well I guess the real fun fact is that they've had 3 songs where all 10 have performed it at some point - Not Young, MMHN, and Without You, hilariously.

So we're closing off their rookie era now, and into...actually, I'm not sure what to call 2010 as. Their success years? Don't really know, but I'm excited we're coming up on Bran New Kiss where I have a whole essay prepared on the vocal line because I think they're absolutely fascinating.

UKISS Era - Cringe Rookies - Complete!

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ Bring It Back 2 Old School

So...where do I start with this? The most questionable of questionable comebacks, a comeback so uncool that I cringed even as a kid. The only silver lining about this era is I can finally start dropping some great lore about them since they were getting some attention and doing reality shows. Anyway, god help us with this difficult journey.

(Quick note, yeah I have such a soft spot for Kibum. I'll always like him because of how eager he was to do slapstick comedy and fight another member for shits and giggles, always had his foot on Kevin's neck, and was Soohyun's sidekick/bestie-in-chief before Hoon showed up.)

Bring It Back 2 Old School - 2nd Mini Album | 2009.02.03

Still before my time as a KissMe, so I only listened to this after MMHN, and god was that a mistake. It confused me a lot as a kid, and still somewhat confuses me now as an adult.

So, I can forgive and understand the cringe Not Young debut, like I get it. But I don't understand how after seeing their fellow '08 boy groups that this is the comeback NH decided on. The other boy groups were all cool, hip, trendy, fun, and what have you, and NH gives them this to fight with. Is this self-sabotage? It feels like self-sabotage.

But yeah, somehow around this time, UKISS started getting a bit more attention. They had their in-house promotional webshow that was done around the spring/summer of 2009 that was filmed on a potato and had the production value of like 1000 won/episode that was brilliantly titled 'You Know U-KISS' (because they were really trying to make the hyphen a thing y'know).

It's a little pathetic to watch, but overall fascinating because they're still trying to figure out what role they should play for the cameras, like Kevin calling himself the angel of the group, and then just snarking at the others and getting called out by Dongho for constantly making fun of him. We got Kibum making fun of Soohyun and Kevin in this album but mimicking their singing-yelling; Soohyun and Kibum wrestling and pinning down an unsuspecting Xander with Dongho putting the cherry on top by covering his mouth like he's being kidnapped; girl group dance enthusiasts Xander-Kevin-Dongho dancing their little hearts out + camera-hungry Soohyun joining while Kibum just slowly dissociates while sitting on the floor, it's cinema.

There was also this little docuseries/variety show they did while promoting Talk To Me that I don't remember the name of, but it was great. There's a part where they're worrying about Dongho making friends at school, so they decide to help but bringing him lunch while doing promotions and being general public menaces. They also like publicly humiliated themselves at least 4 times to the general public in locations such as - an airport (I think it was some kind of busy public transit station), a subway car, a subway station, and at an amusement park.

So yeah, uh back to the actual album.

When I tell you I was shook when I checked the streaming numbers for these songs, I was shook. I Like You has over 1M streams on YouTube Music, and Talk To Me has 307k streams on Spotify.

To put this into perspective, on YouTube Music if we're comparing their Korean releases, I Like You is comparable to Playground (1.5M), The Wonderful Escape (1.7M), Someday (1.5M), Take Me Away (1.3M), and Without You (916k).

On Spotify (which is honestly just a mess I'm not about to get into), I did a quick check, and most of their title tracks clock in around 700k-1M streams, while popular B-sides are around 100k-300k. Shut Up!! is sitting around 530k streams, and Someday is at 330k. Talk To Me is just under Someday, and it's outperforming She's Mine (107k) and Mysterious Lady (258k). I'm so baffled by this, I have no explanation for these numbers.

Intro (On Fire) | YouTube Music 22k | Spotify 3k

Wonderful duet with Soohyun and Kevin, and alleged feature by Kibum who sounds suspiciously like Kevin

What can I say? Another banger intro that shows off their singing

They sang it live on You Know U-KISS, and it really emphasizes how loud they are, and that they are indeed good singers

UKISS Sex Song #2

8.5/10, all we needed was them singing together dramatically to make it even better

I Like You (Audio) | YouTube Music 1M | Spotify 22k

The opening makes me want to crawl out of my skin

"Hell yeah" everything Eli says makes me laugh

"Girl let me hold you down" SOOHYUN QUOI

Other than that one line, the lyrics are kinda cute in that this is basically just like any standard boy group cutesy love song

The song itself is kinda ass but is also, unfortunately, pretty catchy

I also like that this is less of a group song than a shouting match between Soohyun and Kevin, with Eli and Xander as their respective cheerleaders

I like how Xander and Eli are just present throughout the entire song, so it feels less like the rap was just an afterthought

Kibum and Dongho were also there

Look, I'm not gonna knock Dongho's 4 words the boy was going through puberty and voice changes I get it, it's cruel to make him sing

But yeah, Kibum got 4 words, he was basically the Kiseop before Kiseop joined

Yeah, you know there's not much to say about this song really. It's a song, they sang it, they rapped it, people were present, they had the Brave sound

6/10 it's just a shouting match with a peanut gallery in attendance, so while impressive for that vocal power, it's very meh just listening to the audio

I Like You (MV) | Official upload 88k

Honest to god I don't think I've ever watched this MV

Okay this is goofy af I have no idea how I'm gonna do this without screenshotting every frame because this is peak comedy

So this came out 2009, right? Probably filmed that January, or maybe even December 2008, but like not that long ago, right?

Why the hell is this shot on a potato? Not Young's fan upload had better quality than this

YouTube is alleges this is 480p, dare I say this is 240p max

Also, fun lore from the comments, but a KissMe in there says they were an extra at the club, and you know what, good for them

The image of a bus going around to pick up like 10 kids to bring to an empty club after school is very funny

I also love that nobody in that comment section full of KissMes is delusional enough to actually say anything nice about this MV

They're all going "oh well it's a catchy song", "it's kinda cute, right?" or just straight up making fun of the low production value, the godawful hair and clothes, and offering their condolences for this MV

Stupid Windows Movie Maker effects are back, babyyyyy

Perm!Soohyun and Perm!Kevin, you'll always be famous

Remember how they said that while getting the perm, Kevin was crying in the salon, called his mom, and told her he'd leave UKISS if he had to keep this hair?

Also remember that time when ASC just opened a Line chat room or something, and fans just spammed it with pics of Perm!Kevin because of course that would happen

I imagine Soohyun stoically getting it done because he's too committed to the bit, but I'm pretty sure they said he cried too

I also like that the perm wasn't bad enough, so they also gave Soohyun a mullet

A KissMe on their new fancafe set their profile pic as Perm!Soohyun and I'm in tears every time I see it because it's so high quality

Poor Xander still has his perm

Kibum rocking a wig stacked on top of that visor, which confuses me greatly because his hair at the time was genuinely really nice and thick so how much hair did they want him to have

Dongho and Eli escaping the hair crimes with a buzz cut and bowl cut. Do you think they thanked god for that?

Also I'm gonna be honest, despite his hair, Kevin is serving a bit of face here and I gotta respect that

They look goofy af walking into the club in those clothes don't clubs have bouncers that kick people out if they're not dressed right or something?

Oh wait never mind I just remembered how old they were, this is the Mickey Mouse Club, my bad

Not this fakeass band shit

Well I mean I guess Dongho being the drummer is technically true, they did say he took drum lessons while harassing him at school

So yeah about the clothes, like I get this is a retro themed comeback, but goddamn why would you do that

Soohyun looking like he's about to pull up in his pickup truck and crack open a cold one while listening to some country

Okay you know what, I don't even hate this denim jacket look, it's just made goofy by everything else

Not this stupid recurring harbour walk shot

Also, they're dressed so well here? Like that's the worst part, the stylists clearly know how to style them, but then they get given the worst concepts that demand the worst clothes

Like tell me this doesn't scream late 2000s boy group???

If Not Young was High School Musical, I Like You is a mix of Camp Rock and Spectacular

I like Kevin's pixelated distressed expression here while Soohyun is positively beaming

Okay I know they're at the Mickey Mouse Club, but like imagine hitting the children's club and someone is dressed like that

They would get bullied so hard

Like, do you see how unserious this MV is???

Also, stupid ass conga line

It's okay, they're drinking club soda because only 2 of them could legally drink at the time

Girl how old are you why are you still at the children's club??

So yeah, the plot of this MV is Eli is our protagonist, and at the start he meets our Female Lead while hitting up the Mickey Mouse Club. We're led to believe they're kind of in that flirty-not-quite-dating stage where there's this undisclosed understanding of exclusivity, I guess

FL is like kinda stalking Eli throughout the club, watching him bust a move with the boys in that horrible outfit, and I think she's relieved he's not really around any other girls

So then we get to the club soda shot, and this Jezebel struts her way over to them and starts whispering in his ear like a harlot, which our FL interprets as cheating? Betrayal?

She angrily leaves the children's club and gets into a taxi while Eli chases after her

Why are grown adults starting beef in the children's club?

We get some shots of Eli and FL looking all sad and lonely

Then DANCE BREAK!!!!!! Naturally, interspersed with shots of our depressed and teary FL because whiplash?? Never heard of her

More dumb conga lines, more harbour walk boy group shots, more dance breaks, a DJ shot

Every time they do the shirt lapel pop thing, I have to laugh it's really dumb

Like Kevin, sweetie, you're wearing a print hoodie that's sold at The Children's Place

MV ends with FL finding Eli sitting in a park, alone and cold, and we're led to believe they'll reconcile

The pro of this is this is probably one of their most plot-heavy(?) MV that's done with a clear narrative structure. It's kinda like the shameful older sibling of 0330

Again, I got two ratings for it

11/10 if taken completely unseriously, like the poor quality, low budget, terrible clothes and hair, tween movie plot are all absolutely hilarious. I was thoroughly entertained, even though I cringed every time they did the stupid conga line or showed their whole outfits

3.75/10 if taken seriously. I'm giving this a bit more grace than Not Young because of the coherent story being told, and the fact they were so serious wearing those horrible outfits into the club.

I Like You (Stages) | Highest viewed 36k Inkigayo

Oh dear god I need someone to hold me

I only found official Inkigayo stages, so I guess that's what we're watching

This one in particular is their actual first comeback stage so that's gonna be a fun mess

Also lol why does everyone get an intro slide with their full name except for Eli?

Okay before I actually talk about the stage, it is really cute how many Korean comments there are from when they went viral in 2020. It just warms my cold heart

And the older, predominantly English comments laughing at them and cooing over how courageous it is to come back after how bad this was

Thank god it's these outfits rather than the horrible hoodie ones

I don't actually hate these outfits, I just have a lot of questions

The hair is horrible, Eli's hat is terrible, why are they still wearing tags on their clothes? But those pants were kinda cool back then

This part of the dance is kinda cool I guess

STUPID ASS CONGA LINE

Perm twins centre lol

Also have I talked about Kevin's brows here? This is before he started shaping them, so he just permanently looks concerned and mildly distressed

The stupid tags flapping all over the place is *chef's kiss*

This dance is so stupid, but actually requires a lot of work?

The footwork isn't that complex, but there's a lot of jumping, travelling around, and some surprisingly sharp movements

So this live in particular....isn't that bad, given what they had to work with?

I'm fairly certain it's sung live because Soohyun and Kevin are loud as hell while Kibum is almost inaudible in one of his lines

Unsurprisingly, Soohyun and Kevin sing great, pretty stable, despite the jumping

Xander and Eli did their jobs, and Kibum and Dongho were there lol

They definitely improved a lot from Not Young though

Again, Soohyun, Kevin, and Kibum are the most polished still, but Dongho improved a lot and is actually performing the hell out of the dance, rather than just hitting the right moves

Xander and Eli didn't really catch my eye, but that's not really a bad thing, since that means they blended in and matched with the group. Xander in particular seems a lot more comfortable and aware of the camera

So yeah, they all improved their dancing to varying degrees as individuals, but definitely improved as a group

I will say though, they all do seem mildly embarrassed, but koodos for committing to the song the entire way

There's another Inkigayo stage from later that month, and it's mostly the same, just another outfit

They still have the tags on these clothes too lol

Kibum sounds better in this one though, as in I can actually hear him

And lol Kevin and Soohyun freed from their perms

Also the camera guy here loved Kevin so much that Dongho was ignored for his second line

I think my biggest problem with these stages, besides you know the material they have to work with, is that they're still taking it too seriously

You can tell they're performing with a lot of sincerity, which is good and why it's so endearing, but this is the kind of concept that needs to be treated like campy fun

Be too serious about it, and it becomes ridiculous, which is what I personally feel happened here

And yes, you can be 100% sincere but also embrace the camp

5.25/10 the material is so bad it can never be great, but they're so sincere and serious about this, I don't even hate it that much

Talk To Me (Audio) | YouTube Music 258k | Spotify 307k

Something about this song just gives me the most visceral nostalgia, and I have no idea why

I Like You is Soohyun and Kevin yelling at each other, but Talk To Me is literally them actively trying to drown the other one out, and I think that's so emblematic of how they present themselves

It's got the vibes of NH threatening to kick off the loser of the shouting match in terms of how loud they are

I'm not quite sure how much of their singing this song shows off, but it definitely highlights their volume, I'll give it that

Entering the familiar realm of placing the raps in the middle so the song can finish strong with singing lol

If you wanna have a fun time, as in you wanna end up in the hospital and get your stomach pumped, take a shot every time they say "baby"

It feels like a proto-Quintessential UKISS™ song, but with a heavy dose of early installment weirdness. We're missing some of their famous misery from being cheated on and wanting the girl back

Another standard boy group love song, but lyrically a bit closer to weepy power ballad than cutesy pop, which makes the ultra aggressive singing even funnier

For real I feel like Soohyun and Kevin are yelling "TALK TO ME DAMMIT"

Anyway, Kibum gets an incredible 3 lines, Dongho a stunning 0, and Kevin and Soohyun fighting to dominate the airtime

6.75/10 I definitely enjoy this a lot more than I Like You and Not Young, as in I could see myself putting this on some huge playlist where it might get played once a week, but I also don't really like it either? It doesn't have the same quirky and stupid charm that Not Young and I Like You have, and isn't as...comfortable(?) to listen to as Give It To Me. I might have strange tastes, but I'm not fond of being yelled at through music

Talk To Me (Stages) | Highest viewed 90k Music Core

Dumb clothes, dumb song, dumb choreo

There's a couple of Inkigayo stages officially uploaded, but the MuCore one is in HD, plus I think the mics were pretty good

One comment said this is Soohyun's song with a Kevin feature, and I think that's so true

Also not one commenter saying they think all 3 vocalists are good and someone replying that there's only 2

Okay, so I don't hate these outfits I honestly have no opinion on them

They're better than whatever they wore for I Like You, and at least the only things that you can laugh at are the bright yellow accents and Eli's stupid sunglasses

Why is he wearing sunglasses? I always thought that his eyes were one of his best features and what people really liked about him

Glad the perms are gone, and we're just rocking bowl cut, buzz cut, and standard 2009 idol hair

Also, now that Kevin's hair is less distracting, is this the last time we see his chubby cheeks at their peak? I swear he literally loses baby fat every comeback after this until like 2013

I just...really love Soohyun look at him he's so happy here, living his best life, and ignoring his #1 haters (NH upper management)

I don't understand this part of the choreo, but do you think Eli ever wanted to actually kick Soohyun and Kevin? Probably no to Soohyun because everyone worships him, but maybe yes to Kevin, and it's probably deserved

I mean, I'm pretty sure play fighting is how they show their affection anyway it's like their longest running gag next to Soohyun wanting to marry every single fan

Why's he calling me a loser while singing "let me love you" this is genuinely making me lose my shit it's so funny

All in all, I don't hate the choreo for this either, it's just kinda dumb in some places, and honestly, I think everything about this song and stage just needs to be tweaked a little bit to actually be good

I wish there were more wide shots during the dance so I could see the footwork, but it doesn't seem particularly complex, and like I Like You, is mostly made difficult by the constant travelling and need for spatial awareness

I do like the parts where they move in a line, I think it looks cool from the high shot, and I also like the frantic scampering during the chorus

Listen, I have a really deep appreciation for how difficult it is to shuffle backwards as a group while doing arm choreo, it's harder than you think

And again, like I Like You, there's even more improvements here with nobody catching my eye in a bad way, and they're all really committed to the choreo, like there's not even a sense of mild embarrassment or uncertainty

Oh, and this is definitely sung live too

Kevin, always the stable singer, not much to say there

Soohyun is throwing his whole body into every note like NH is pointing a gun at him from the stage wings

They're both so stable, so loud, and singing pretty high up there while dancing, very impressive (but that's their standard anyway)

Kibum sounds better here than in the previous stages, getting louder, and sounding more stable, so that's good for him

Eli and Xander are still...rapping. Again, don't know enough to comment on it, but it is nice their voices are clear

Dongho was there, and he looks more baby than ever, and he was committed to the choreo

7.5/10 I'm only ranking this lower than Give It To Me because I think that had better outfits and I like the song more. No this is not an objective ranking

Yeah, this is such a strange part of their career. It both feels kinda important since it's their first comeback after debut, but also super irrelevant since this era is almost never brought up. I don't even think they had a song from this album on the setlist for their 15th anniversary concert. I know they did Not Young for it, plus they'd already done it back in 2016 for their 5th JP anniversary.

Which is a great segue into my fun fact for this post which is that they've only brought up this era again very recently in 2020 when Soohyun was IG Live king, and Kevin decided he was no longer ashamed of UKISS and joined in a bunch of times. They're just out there, having a good ol' time, reminiscing over old songs when Kevin brings up Talk To Me, sings it while doing the hand choreo, then immediately gets booted from the live.

Actually, that whole IG live is great. Kevin's being extra nice to Soohyun, while Soohyun oscillates between playful banter and passive aggressive jabs because it's his IG live so he's the supreme ruler. There's one part where they're talking about their favourite releases, and Soohyun obviously goes Standing Still, while Kevin says Stop Girl, and Soo goes "I didn't really like that comeback :P". Also, not Soohyun bringing up that he stole a line from Kevin in Cinderella because he couldn't pronounce it properly, and still can't lol.

The hard part is over, the emotional labour is done, and we're finally entering into the beginning of their golden era of relevancy - Conti UKISS, and the beloathed ManManHaNi + Kiseop's official entry into the cinematic universe with the worst line distribution. It's only up from here, baby!

Ngl I'm actually sweating looking at all their stuff post-2010 there's so much music to cover, so many music videos to do + ones I've never even watched because they haven't been uploaded by avex and I don't have the DVD. Their JP albums are gonna be so long

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand ~ New Generation

Oh the great psychic damage I've inflicted on myself to do this. I was so excited, thinking about how this would let me gush about Bran New Kiss or Inside of Me, but unfortunately, I must start at the dreaded beginning: New Generation.

I will admit that this wasn't as bad as I expected. There was a lot of cringing, a lot of "oh baby what are you doing?" being whispered, but not the total trainwreck I had built up in my head. To be totally honest, I think that these two songs could've been pretty decent with better packaging and fully embracing the campiness, but I digress.

Just for funsies, I've also noted the YouTube and Spotify streams (if applicable) from the day I did the review. Dunno what to make of it yet, but I'm sure it'll be interesting.

(Also I like how I slowly become more and more unhinged as I type this review out.)

New Generation - 1st Mini Album | 2008.09.03

So I was already listening to Kpop around this time, but like most people, paid like zero attention to this because I liked the bigger and more popular and better packaged boy groups at the time. I was also just developing my logical reasoning when this came out, so I don't really remember much about this. No idea what the general feel/reception for this was, and I think the first time I listened to this was probably late 2009 after ManManHaNi, and somehow I remember really liking this at the time.

Obviously, time soured my opinion of this mini album, but now as an adult with a mostly functioning prefrontal cortex, I can say I don't really hate it? I hate the packaging of this mini album, but it's oddly endearing in how poorly it's aged.

Another thing I noticed while going back over this is how hard Soohyun, Kevin, and even Kibum carry in these first two releases. I'm not knocking on the others, and it makes sense since Soohyun had been a trainee the longest under some bigger companies, while Kevin and Kibum had both already debuted. They just seem a lot more polished in all aspects, and a lot more committed to the cheesiness. I'm probably not gonna rank them for later releases, but for this one, I think I'd put them as Kevin > Soohyun >> Kibum >>> Dongho > Eli/Xander.

While I don't have my personal rankings of them from that time (based solely off of how much I liked them, irrespective of ability, commitment, etc), I think based off of how I viewed them in 2009, it would be probably Dongho > Kibum > Xander/Kevin > Soohyun/Eli. Yeah, I was a delusional kid who had a crush on Dongho since he was closest in age to me, Kibum and Kevin were both flower boys and good dancers, while Xander was a fellow Canto speaker with an accent I could understand, plus he was funny. Soohyun and Eli were really victims of poor styling at the time, but who wasn't?

Now onto the actual songs -

Intro (Pump Pump) | YouTube Music 10k | Spotify 3.4k

I actually kinda really like this?

Catchy, more mature than Not Young, but also not inappropriately so, and it's got a cute cheeky and fun vibe?

If they turned this into the title track, maybe they would've had a fighting chance in the bloodbath that was 2008 boy group debuts

Not Kevin and Soohyun actually being able to show off their singing here more than in the actual album songs

There's like a random gunshot(?) sound and I don't really understand it

The Kibum-Kevin-Soohyun verse is kinda interesting, and by interesting, I mean it feels like they did Kibum dirty by drawing that comparison, but like also there's no other way to structure it since he is their next best vocalist

Common UKISS intro W I don't think I've ever disliked any of their intros 7.75/10

Not Young (Audio) | YouTube Music 367k | Spotify 132k

The opening quite literally gives me psychic damage, while also making me coo like an affectionate auntie watching her stupid nephews do dumb shit

Kevin's voice unsurprisingly suits this very well, that honey-like voice was made for this kind of cheese, and boy is he hard carrying

Soohyun, bless his heart, is kind of both actively ruining and saving this song

Like he's hard carrying too, and that "You gonna be my lady, yoohoo~" actually goes so hard, but his voice just sounds...way too mature for this

Which makes me wonder if this was a directional problem, or if he just wasn't able to do it at this time because he nails this concept 7 years later for Action (spoiler I guess)

Really love that first prechorus, I don't know what it is, but that Kibum-Soohyun-Kevin buildup really works well

Lyrically, I think the YT comments actually sum it up for me - "We're the new kids on this block" vs. "Stop treating us like kids" - which is it make up your minds

Also shoutout for being their first and only noona-chasing song they really never revisited this concept ever again

Really funny that Dongho is the only one at the right age to make this concept work (and maybe Eli and Kevin too, possibly Kibum if we're being generous) but he gets like 3 lines

I also found a super old live radio version of this song from their promotional period, and yes it's in the crunchiest potato quality imaginable, but it was insightful

Soohyun and Kevin sound great as always, Kibum's voice actually felt much stronger than in the actual song or in music shows, and the rap line was there

Hard carried by Soohyun and Kevin, Kibum did his job, Dongho was there, and RIP to Eli and Xander for that awful last verse (80% not their fault)

6.5/10, needs more commitment to being cheesy and to not the title track

Not Young (MV) | Fan upload 703k

You know, I feel a lot of my bad feelings for the song come from the MV

Like the psychic damage this video inflicts should be studied

Love the fact there's no official MV uploaded so there's only a crunchy fan upload to watch

I actually don't know if this is the same upload I watched back in the day, but the date doesn't seem to line up?

Anyway, crunchy potato quality is completely on brand, YouTube is telling me it's 480p but this feels like 240p at best

The stupid Windows Movie Maker transitions are taking me out

So like we all know NH is a broke ass bitch, so I wanna know if this is actually like a member's house, a staff member's house, or if they just rented it

Dongho's mom's hair is like peak Asian Mom hair like I knew so many women with that exact hairstyle, and not the skin-toned lipstick everyone wore back then

Kevin's hair and outfit are peak 'flower-boy-wannabe-bad-boy' like we all thought that hair was soooo hot, and you were either drowning in your own clothes or cutting off your circulation with no middle ground, and this was a cross-cultural phenomenon

Honestly, I feel like you could just go to a local school and see a bunch of boys dressed like this

Xander's Ronald McDonald hair I'm so sorry you had to go through that

The High School Musical-esque dance scenes have me in tears like those basketball jerseys are so goofy and Kevin's legs are lost in the fabric

Flower boy haircuts from this time are like basically the precursor to Karen cuts *cue Abby Lee Miller voice "she's got a really cool and trendy haircut it's like long in the front and short in the back"

Also his eyebrows from this time are tragic, those were dark dark times

This was also a peak fashion look for us girls back then, and you know what, it's still kinda cute

This was so serious for them I'm crying

I still don't quite understand this part

RANDOM PRE-DEBUT KISEOP CAMEO!!!!! I don't remember if he was on set because he was covering for his friend, or if his friend invited him to be an extra, but I just love that he's technically been there from the start

Is he supposed to be the antagonist of the MV? Like I get the plot is they're trying to impress their noona and whatever but like is he supposed to be her boyfriend or something, and they're gonna beat his ass in basketball to win her over???

If that's the plot, they need to get Kevin off their team that boy cannot run

No comment on Dongho's hair that's just tragic

But this whole scene takes me out like this is peak comedy

Why is Kevin perched on the bench like that, why are Dongho and Soohyun sitting on the floor and why is Soohyun grinning like a maniac, is Eli okay???

You may not like it, but this is peak male performance

This frame is a work of art

So so serious for them, I can taste the cheese

This is honestly so confusing I don't get it, but I guess I'm not galaxy-brained enough. Like did they not have enough footage or something? Is there a scene change quota they had to meet or what?

I love that every single part of this MV can be carbon dated, and not one bit aged well, and I just think that's so iconic

So I've come up with two different ratings for this MV

12/10 if you take this completely unseriously like this is so funny, so poorly aged, so cringe, it's amazing. Even while cringing, I still had fun

3.5/10 if you take this seriously, like wtf was NH thinking (spoiler, they were not)? Like even when I first watched this as a kid (and within their target age demographic!!! I, a young elementary school girl who was entrenched in East Asian media and came from a similar cultural background!!!!) it was pretty cringe. I'm giving it pity points because Soohyun was so committed to this and the funny Kiseop cameo.

Honestly, I feel like you could just go to a local school and see a bunch of boys dressed like thispoorly aged, so cringe, it's amazing. Even while cringing, I still had fun

3.5/10 if you take this seriously, like wtf was NH thinking (spoiler, they were not)? Like even when I first watched this as a kid (and within their target age demographic!!! I, a young elementary school girl who was entrenched in East Asian media and came from a similar cultural background!!!!) it was pretty cringe. I'm giving it pity points because Soohyun was so committed to this and the funny Kiseop cameo.

Not Young (Stages) | Highest viewed 191k Music Core

Again, I never watched these when they first came out, and I also don't think I watched any of these very much prior to doing this

Not gonna talk about their actual debut stage because that's like 8 pixels total

Also not doing all of their stages, just Music Core because it's actually in really good quality

Look at those fits that was peak fashion in 2008

Dongho's silly little cardigan and bowtie, Kevin's goofy polka dot sweater vest, Soohyun with the plaid vest and random sweatband, Kibum with a random tie, Eli wearing a hoodie I swear every boy had it's a real time capsule

Yeah, I'm grabbing screencaps on mute I'm not subjecting myself to this psychic damage

The multiple bracelets is so real that was such look back then

I remember I used to collect those cheap rubber bracelets to try to recreate that look

This is such an unserious part of the choreo but I will admit it's very cute in a stupid way

Also, all I can think of is the other members talking about how they think his hands are freakish and alien-like, and I think that's just foul of them, but also not undeserved considering how snarky Kevin was in those early days

Oh Soohyun, I'm so sorry they did you dirty like this

Like it's incredible how he de-ages himself a few years later when he gets decent hair and styling

And he was so committed to this like he's literally beaming while everyone else is just smiling

He also winked right before this Soohyun is the cutest I swear

Eli's comically large chain

The dance is cute, but also insanely cringy because they're kind of taking it too seriously and not as full-on campy cheese

Like I said before, Soohyun, Kevin, and Kibum really stand out here as being much more polished and cleaner in their dancing, are clearly committed to the character, and have a good eye for the camera

Dongho is also a standout because wow I forgot he had that je ne sais quoi stage presence

There's a lot of moments where the dancing doesn't quite sync up, and I think it's fairly obvious that they're still very new as a group

They have backup dancers, though not in this particular stage, but I think they had them for their actual debut stage and Music Bank

So I lied, let's check out the Music Bank stage

This actually is from before the Music Core stage (MuCore is listed as 2008.09.27, while the MuBank is supposedly from 2008.09.12)

I didn;t mention this before, but I'm fairly certain the MuCore stage is lipsynced, but the MuBank stage is definitely live

Terrible quality pic, but these were some other peak 2008 fits

I knew so many guys who had Kevin's hoodie

And not Soohyun's trash bag jacket

Soohyun and Kevin are already very good and stable at singing live and making it seem easy, while Kibum definitely struggles a bit

Honestly, I wonder if NH invested in more singing lessons for him, if Kibum could've ended up where Kiseop is now - a solid subvocalist who can also hold his own and step up to being a vocalist

I just watched this dude pull his shirt up over his head for this and no, I don't understand this part of the choreo

I don't really know much about rapping and don't have many particular thoughts on it, but Xander and Eli can be heard clearly, so that's a good thing, right?

Honestly, just ranking both of these stages as 4.5/10

MuCore stage was in better camera quality, sharper and more coordinated group dancing, but probably lipsynced and no funny backup dancers

MuBank is like 360p max and kind of a mess, but I always love hearing Soohyun and Kevin singing live, and there are funny backup dancers

Give It To Me (Audio) | YouTube Music 43k | Spotify 7.9k

I honestly had zero recollection of this song at all

So if Not Young is borderline age inappropriate for being too immature, Give It To Me swings wildly in the opposite direction and teeters into being too mature

Xander, Soohyun, and arguably Kibum are old enough for this song, while Dongho is way too young, and Eli and Kevin are either barely old enough or still young (my personal opinion, based off of some of the lyrics, but the stage of this song is actually fine)

Honestly should've been the title track, they 100% would have had a fighting chance at debut and be remembered as either 'cool new rookie group' or 'wildly inappropriate rookie group', but both are better than 'cringe rookie group'

This is like a proto-Quintessential UKISS™ song - dance beat, Soohyun doing adlibs like rent's due, Eli dropping horrifically funny one liners, and the singing dominating the rapping in all aspects

Now if only this song was a "baby I love you even though you cheated on me pls come back" song

Hard carried by Soohyun and Kevin, who are both surprisingly singing lower than what they usually do, and also do not have a shouting match at any of the song (!!!)

Does that count as early installment weirdness?

Special shoutout to Kibum who actually sounds really good for his two lines. Dunno if his voice just suits this kind of song, or if this is just a more comfortable range for him, but he sounds much better here

Another special shoutout to Dongho for having no lines, you're doing amazing sweatie <3

"And u're so tight" Eli why did you say it like that

"My boo" #1

"Shorty/shawty/whatever tf they say" #1

Does this count as a UKISS Sex Song? Feels gross typing that out, but like looking at the lyrics, I think it does?

UKISS Sex Song #1

6.75/10, knocked off points for being age inappropriate, Eli's rancid one liner (which did make me laugh), and the terrible lyrics in the rapping

Give It To Me (Stage) | Fan upload 15k

I had no idea they did a stage for this

Also, why is this actually better than Not Young?

Love the black/white/gold scheme going on

Also, these are peak Bad Boy circa 2008 looks I would've gone crazy for these guys back then

The trashbag bootcut pants, the random embellishments, the fingerless gloves, Xander rocking the shirt tied around the waist, whatever the heck Eli's accessories are, and the tragic and dramatic 2008 hair? I would've honestly lost my shit

Wait oh my god those aren't bootcut pants those are skinny pants with leg warmers oh my goddddd iconic

So are these the same gloves from Tick Tack? Also Eli wtf is that on your neck???

It's hard to tell if this is sung live or not, but what I do know is Soohyun is making his singing expressions, so I think it's live, with slightly off audio? It's hard to tell honestly, maybe the mics were bad?

Why was this not their actual debut? This is literally what was considered so 2008 cool, the outfits were peak bad boy fashion, and the choreo is very much a product of its time (not derogatory)

Also got a good chuckle with Soohyun being the centre for the dance break while flanked by Kevin and Kibum, it's what he deserves

7.75/10 much better than Not Young in terms of dancing and coordination (makes sense, this is dated 2008.11.06), the outfits are 2008 stylish, and they all seem so much more comfortable with this?

That concludes this review of New Generation. You know, there were a lot of emotions going through this, a lot of "why does NH not think?" and "oh my god sweetie, I'm so sorry they did this to you", and "what were we all smoking back in 2008 to consider this cool?", but I think I had fun while doing this.

I have most of the notes for Bring It Back2 Old School written out, so now it's just a matter of editing and collecting screenshots, which honestly pains me to think about. If New Generation was a dark time in UKISS history, Bring It Back2 Old School is purgatory.

So fun bonus fun fact, if you've made it to the end:

I don't know how many people know this since I also found this out not too long ago while digging around, but XING, the old group that Kevin and Kibum were a part of was an absolute disaster in like every possible way. I got some of this info in English, and the rest in a bad KR-EN translation (so possibly inaccurate), but apparently the XING CEO was actually a former SM CEO who worked there around 2000-2003ish before getting ousted by the board of directors, and was responsible in part for the famous slave contracts.

So out of spite, said CEO took a bunch of SM-affiliated trainees (from my understanding, they were sort of on a shortlist to get into SM) and founded his own company to compete with SM with these new trainees and his new boy group. XING was an absolute disaster for only being around for 4 years with 5 different lineups and 18 total members having been involved. Kevin and Kibum were part of the original lineup, but Kibum bailed after a few months with the excuse of 'focusing on his education', while Kevin stayed long enough to go from maknae to leader, before dipping after the third lineup (also, according to the article I read, he was the CEO's favourite because he thought he had star potential lol). A bunch of the guys who left sued the company around 2008-2009, and got their contracts terminated.

It's hard to understand what the contracts said exactly because of the shitty translation, but it was something like exclusive 10 year contract that will be extended if a member takes personal breaks, goes to school, enlists in military, and/or goes on health leave and profits would only be paid out in fixed amounts after selling 500k (or 250k I can't remember but it was some crazy amount) units (unclear if this means total albums, or just for one release).

Apparently in 2010ish, the CEO was talking about having a 'XING family reunion concert' and asked all the guys about it and got left on read, so then he finally let the name die and moved on to terrorizing more boys (no for real, he allegedly threw a bottle of alcohol at one of the XING guys when he told him about wanting to leave).

[weed-ols]

Reviewing Every UKISS Release: By Unpopular Demand

Nobody asked for this, I don't even think anybody wants this, but I have a voice, and I'm gonna use it while I have a mild mental breakdown over how long it's taking me to rip their concert DVDs and consequently breaking my only USB and therefore forcing me to shell out even more money after splurging on them. Like it's fine, it only took me two hours to rip Action after spending an hour fiddling with the damn DVD reader before giving up and using a busted old laptop.

Anyway.

So to start, some general opening remarks about this whole unasked project, some rules or whatever:

They have a ton of music. I saw someone on twitter mention it a while back, but after writing down everything I need to listen to, it's a lot. There's about 11 studio albums, 13 mini albums (granted, one is a Christmas repackage + 2 new songs), and a bunch of JP singles (most of which made it into albums, but still they had to promo those).

I have no idea what to classify their clothing album Only You as. It's only 4 songs long, but I feel like that's enough to call it a mini album/extended play/whatever? Also, it has like no presence whatsoever on YouTube or Spotify, and the only reason I remember it exists is because for some reason I have the album art on a random USB (not the one I broke).

Neither Spotify nor YouTube Music have their full discography. Spotify is missing all their JP releases prior to Panic (meaning we're missing the Christmas album and a lot of b-sides), while YouTube Music has their JP discography, but is missing Collage, Moments (funny enough, the Mysterious Lady single is still there), Mono Scandal (which was there right up until last week).

While hunting for some of their music, I found an OT6 version of Ready For U that someone mixed, and I also found out there's a version of OT6 RUN A WAY, but I don't think it exists anywhere publicly.

A lot of their songs have a bunch of different versions, courtesy of their unstable lineups, but I probably won't touch on all of them. A lot of them are from their concerts, so maybe if I do concert reviews if the DVDs start cooperating, and I'm not masochistic enough to sit through every single ManManHaNi performance.

I won't do their JP singles separately, I'll do the entire album, then do the b-sides grouped by album release.

Format is something along the lines of -- actual music, music video(s), and music show stages. I found my feelings varied quite a bit from music-music video-music show due to costuming and choreo.

This is mostly for archival purposes, as in I'm just dumping all the info I know on these releases here for myself, and whomever finds it helpful. A lot of things are from my own memories from back in the day, so they might not be totally accurate since a lot of the sources are gone. Feel free to add/correct if the 10 Kissmes on here are willing.