I made a last minute month decision that since this is presumably my last mix CD of the "mix CD of every year of my life" vanity project, I'm totally justified in including 2021 songs that would've made it onto that unmade future mix. And I mean definitely would have made it. I'm not the quickest listener processing songs when I first hear them. I might like something right away, but it's basically in one ear and out the other and it often takes a handful of listens before a song really starts to sound like something with elements I can remember. But every once in a while a song will stop me in my tracks, grab me by the lapels and demand my attention leaving me slack-eyed and/or wide-jawed at how good it is for whatever reason. The five 2021 songs included on Disc 2 are in that league.
And I'll admit the decision to change the mixes to include 2021 songs was made rather recently after the Oh My Girl and fromis_9 songs on Disc 2 were released a week apart and made me wonder about including them. And I might also admit the decision was made easier because I had already shoe-horned the 2021 Chungha song into the original finalized track list because I couldn't make it work with only 2020 candidates. That song, released in January, was emotionally stunning and I tried slotting it in just to see how it sounded and I liked it! I ended up suppressing my obsessive-compulsive impulse to include only 2020 songs and tossed two 2020 songs to accommodate it. But then opening up the field for other 2021 songs that met the standard, in addition to the two mentioned above, I found two more and then a bunch of 2020 songs of the "original concept" went out the window.
There were no live audiences at the music shows for the entirety of 2020 so I avoided linking to those videos because the energy is different. Most are videos with mp3 sound and some supplemental live versions. Unfortunately I've found that mp3 sound is much better than the live sound videos I've been linking for the past 10 years! Maybe I shoulda been linking videos with mp3 sound all along :p
Disc One: (zip download)
1. I Can't Stop Me (Twice)
2. Feel Good (SECRET CODE) (fromis_9) (live version)
3. Voice (LOOΠΔ) (English version 'Star') (funny tweets described the choreo at the beginning as "train stopping at a station")
4. Oopsy (Weki Meki)
5. Butterfly (WJSN/Cosmic Girls)
6. No Big Deal (Elris) (lyric video)
7. Not Shy (Itzy)
8. Dingga (Mamamoo) (live version)
9. Dumhdurum (Apink)
10. Mago (Gfriend)
12. On Air (3YE)
13. Oops I'm Sorry (April) (live version)
14. Barbie (Ye-eun (CLC))
15. Eight (feat. Suga (BTS)) (IU)
16. Lazy Day (Tymee) (official audio)
17. Want It (Kisum x Bora (Cherry Bullet)) (audio only)
18. Pporappippam (Sunmi (ex-Wonder Girls))
19. D.B.D.B.DIB (Saturday)
20. yaya (ME TIME) (Yubin (ex-Wonder Girls)) (live version)
21. Push This Button (Baechigi) (official audio)
22. Diver (YooA (Oh My Girl)) (audio only)
24. Play (feat. Changmo) (Chungha) (live version)
2. Dun Dun Dance (Oh My Girl) (unofficial stage mix) (full-stage cam) 2021
3. Dumdi Dumdi ((g)I-dle)
4. Hands Up (Cherry Bullet)
5. Lalalilala (April) (stage mix)
7. Surf (Itzy) (official audio)
8. Alien (Lee Suhyun (Akdong Musician))
9. Naughty (Irene & Seulgi (Red Velvet))
10. The Paradise (Weki Meki) (audio only)
11. This and That (Yuju (Gfriend)) (audio only)
12. Things Are Going Well (Heize) (lyric video) (short music video)
13. Red Lipstick (Bolbbalgan4)
14. Hmph! (WJSN: Chocome) (live version)
15. Cry For Me (Twice)
16. Money Serenade (Mommy Son) (audio only) (annoyingly censored telecast)
17. Mimi (youra) 2021
18. Teddy Bear (Kim Sejeong (ex-gugudan) (audio only) 2021
20. X (No Flowers on the Path I've Taken) (Chungha) 2021
21. Daily (DIA) (lyric video)
22. Up No More (Twice) (official audio) (lyric video)
23. Travel (Mamamoo) (official audio) (lyric video)
Eight:
Solo singer IU's song Eight on Disc 1 is speculated to have been written at least partly with her friends Jonghyun, Sulli and Goo Hara in mind, all of whom committed suicide. I wrote about Jonghyun and Sulli, but didn't mention Hara Goo when she went one month after Sulli and six months after a prior attempt. Whoops. I brought it up thinking I could process it but realized I still can't even this long after not being able to do so at the time. I did do a recitation of Natural Liberation Through Hearing in the Between States at the time, I remember.
Querencia:
Solo singer Chungha has been around for several years and I've liked her well enough, but something about the timbre of her voice kept me from including her on these mixes. That changed with Play which came out in summer 2020 as one of several pre-release singles for her announced first full-length album due in 2021. Play was promoted and wowed me with its energy and intensity and became an immediate candidate for this mix. When the idea occurred to end Disc 1 with it, that became fixed.
I was not prepared for Querencia when it was finally released. A "full-length" album is at least 30 minutes and can be as short as that, but usually means 40-45 minutes. Querencia clocked in at 60 minutes, which in LP terms can qualify as a double album. And that may have been what they were thinking because the album is divided into four 15-minute sections, each beginning with a short instrumental indicating a "side" and a descriptive name. This is arguably a concept album! The short incidental pieces may seem to be throwaway tracks, but I think they help move the album along and make it easier to digest its length.
The album had a total of five pre-release singles which ranged by my estimation from good to incredible and seven videos (as well as, I think, two English and one Spanish track). When I listened to the album there was a lot of looking up at my speakers thinking oh my god! and whoa that's cool, and Billboard included it among the top 50 best albums of 2021 so far. For me, the album is some sort of . . . K-pop masterpiece. It's the only K-pop release I've encountered that made me even loosely think of the word. It's not that every song is great, the "lead single" Bicycle which she promoted seemed a surprise choice for that purpose considering how many other great tracks there are, but the concept and structure of the four "sides", along with the quality of the songs, I felt helped elevate the album as a body of work above anything I've heard out of K-pop. There's a pacing to the songs which reminds me of some rock masterpieces (Ziggy Stardust comes to mind) where not every song is stand-out incredible but with each track there's a feeling of satisfaction and the momentum of a perfect listening experience.
Gfriend
A shocking piece of K-pop news in 2021 was the sudden and unexpected disbanding of Gfriend. All the members were up for contract renewal, that much was known, as were the good relations between the members and with their agency, Source Music which was recently acquired by the agency of global phenom BTS. It was generally expected that all members would re-sign, no one expected them to resign, there was no indication or reason why they would. The group looked healthy, they looked upbeat and having fun in videos on their channel, they were putting out good music with better than average sales for a girl group and winning #1 spots on music shows.
It just suddenly dropped out of the blue that all six members were leaving Source and their disbandment was confirmed a few days later when leader Sowon mentioned the group was "officially over" in a message to fans. Of course no one knows what happened as Koreans are infamously lacking in transparency about these things. Maybe Koreans like wild rumors and speculation spreading like a pandemic instead of just being honest and upfront and laying things to rest (mind you it's a country where simple dating between celebrities is treated as a "scandal", and if they lie about it to avoid it becoming a scandal the lie also becomes a scandal). Obviously some red line appeared that either party couldn't get past despite both parties wanting Gfriend to continue. There has been speculation that involvement by BTS's agency was somehow an issue since that's the only thing fans could point to as having recently changed in their situation (see what I mean?).
It's just such a shame realizing there will be no more music coming from these girls because they really were quite good. Even though I only got into them a couple years ago I never thought they weren't good, it was the songs that weren't hooking me and I was more waiting for one that would. They didn't feel like they were anywhere near done. They were still releasing songs that felt fresh with exciting performances and even the b-sides were excellent. They weren't flatlining with mediocre songs and performances and lukewarm responses that plague some girl groups towards the end.
I'm glad I was only a fan for a couple years and not long-term invested in them, but it must have been devastating for hardcore fans. It might have felt like a death in the family would and there was probably a lot of shock and bawling in the fandom, as passionate as they tend to be.
Brave Girls
In contrast, a feel-good underdog success story of 2021 was Brave Girls. Brave Girls have been around struggling since around 2012 undergoing numerous member changes leaving no original members in the group. The failure of their 2020 song (on this mix, one of my favorites on the year – I never watched it without grinning like an idiot because of the nostalgic feel and cute choreo) meant to them that Brave Girls was pretty much over, fait accompli. By early 2021, two members had already moved out of the group dorm and one had preparations for a new business already in the works. They were days away from officially disbanding and the agency had already scheduled a meeting to discuss announcing it when a video of them suddenly went viral.
The four remaining members had kept busy the past few years performing often at military bases all over the country and had become quite popular with soldiers. The YouTube user who posted the video wasn't trying to save the group or anything, he was just making his usual videos where he compiles stage performances of songs he likes and places comments that were made on videos on the screen like they were happening in real time. The video was of a 2017 song Rollin' that didn't go anywhere. I liked it well enough and watched all the music show performances but it didn't make it onto that year's mix CDs.
After the video was posted in February, word that the song was climbing the charts quickly got to the agency and the girls and I'm sure they were all stunned silly wondering what the hell was going on. It didn't stop until the song hit #1 on all the K-pop charts and the meeting to disband the group was cancelled. Realizing it wasn't a fluke and the song's resurrection was only gaining momentum, it was decided that the group would return to the music shows to promote the song again and subsequently got the group's first coveted #1 wins multiple times over the next month!
If it were written as a fairy tale it wouldn't have been more unbelievable. Any lingering doubts were gone, any lingering debts were surely cleared, they had a run of appearances on variety shows, landed several advertising spots and their agency moved them into a bigger dorm where they don't all have to share one bathroom and gifted them with luxury bags! They are scheduled for a summer comeback that will be written by the agency's CEO*. Being realistic the group is at the end of their run with their average age hovering just below 30, but at least they'd be going out with all of Korea knowing their name and many more than their long-time suffering core fans happier than clams for their unexpected success.
* The CEO is Brave Brothers (his professional moniker) who is also a producer/composer who has written numerous hits for other girl groups. On my mixes there are only a few K-pop years that don't include a song with the "Brave Sound" audio watermark. Ironically, the only year Brave Girls are represented is 2016 and neither of those songs were written by Brave Brothers. However he did write Rollin' so he's gotten affirmation against accusations that he gave all his hits to other groups and neglected his own banner group, a claim he denies.
original post (with original ending concept):
My Final Mix CDs (2020 edition):
This is mostly the 2020 mix CD collection I would've made under normal circumstances . . . until it isn't. The latter part of the second disc is concept driven. The only other time I tracked a mix CD by a concept was the end of 1970 when I paid respects to the break-up of The Beatles. In this case, I can't really articulate what the concept was. It was just a feel, and when that end sequence came together (quite quickly) it got locked into place that way.
What it did remind me of is the concept at the end of Stephen Sondheim's 1970 musical Follies. Three-quarters of that show is just a Broadway show merrily rolling along, and then it reaches a point when the principle characters (and the younger versions of themselves) break down into a cacophonic bickering and then the orchestra interrupts with a great fanfare* (the intentionally cheesy "Loveland" (where everybody loves to live and lives to love)) and simultaneously ends the story as it was and goes into the "follies section" of the show. The follies section is each of the principles explicating themselves and contrasting life expectations against what became life reality in follies style, but maybe much darker and cynical than any follies ever were.
* link is to a bootleg video that just demonstrates how it unfolds but the whole "follies" sequence might be hard to appreciate if not familiar with the musical (it's also a different version of "Loveland" from what I have in my collection).
A big part of that comparison with Follies (in my mind) is that Twice's "Up No More" opens with this dramatic, fanfare-like sound that I thought was reminiscent of what "Loveland" did. Seriously, whenever the song came up on my iPod Shuffle it was a like a brave new world dawning out of and interrupting whatever song played before it. The following songs, regardless of lyrics even though some of them actually could apply, just touched personal feelings I was having facing the end of this life's days.
Disc One:
1. I Can't Stop Me (Twice) (live version)
2. Feel Good (SECRET CODE) (fromis_9)
3. Voice (LOONA)
4. Butterfly (WJSN-Cosmic Girls)
5. Hands Up (Cherry Bullet)
6. No Big Deal (Elris)
7. Oopsy (Weki Meki)
8. Not Shy (Itzy)
9. Dingga (Mamamoo)
10. Dumhdurum (Apink)
11. Mago (Gfriend)
12. We Ride (Brave Girls)
13. On Air (3YE)
14. Oops I'm Sorry (April)
15. Barbie (Ye-eun (CLC))
16. Eight (IU)
17. Lazy Day (Tymee)
18. Want It (Kisum x Bora (Cherry Bullet))
19. Pporappippam (Sunmi (ex-Wonder Girls))
20. D.B.D.B.DIB (Saturday)
21. yaya (ME TIME) (Yubin (ex-Wonder Girls))
22. Diver (YooA (Oh My Girl))
23. Fall Again (LOONA)
24. Play (Chungha)
Disc Two:
1. Why Not? (LOONA)
2. Dumdi Dumdi ((g)I-dle)
3. Lalalilala (April)
4. This and That (Yuju (Gfriend))
5. Alien (Lee Suhyun (Akdong Musician))
6. Surf (Itzy)
7. Naughty (Red Velvet: Irene & Seulgi)
8. The Paradise (Weki Meki)
9. Things Are Going Well (Heize)
10. Red Lipstick (Bolbbalgan4)
11. Hmph! (WJSN: Chocome)
12. Cry For Me (Twice)
13. Money Serenade (Mommy Son)
14. Apple (Gfriend)
15. Push This Button (Baechigi)
16. X (No Flowers on the path I've Taken) (Chungha) 2021
17. Daily (DIA)
18. Up No More (Twice)
19. Just Us (Weki Meki)
20. Our Garden (WJSN-Cosmic Girls)
21. Your Name (Ryu Sujeong (Lovelyz))
22. End of Story (YooA (Oh My Girl))
23. Travel (Mamamoo)
other 2020 candidate songs:
Accio (Berry Good)
Nonstop (Oh My Girl)
No. 1 (Fanatics) (audio only)
Island (Youha)
1/1400 (Heize (feat. Ji Chanel))
other 2021 songs that would've made it:
Next Level (aespa)
Summer By Myself (Brave Girls) (audio only)
Stalker (3YE)
I Can't Breathe (GWSN)
Alcohol-Free (Twice) (full-stage cam) (tower cam)
