We're still alive and kicking! Promise! Here, have a playlist for all the songs we talk about this episode. I don't know how these work any more, let's just skip straight to notes: Claudia is very sorry for the audio ducking. Much like last time, these are the "songs we found interesting" of 2022, although Claudia wants you to know Key's BAD LOVE i…

We're back! And there's no better way to kick off season 2 than with the MOST confusing of boy bands, NCT! Watch the Korean music video, the performance MV, or the live stage performance then hop back and join us. Onward to notes: Lee Soo-man, 2016: Neo Culture Technology, the business presentation that was also one of the places where this new gro…

What a year it's been It's here! It's finally here! Listen to Stan Ontology crown the Taemin Of The Year, the peaks and nadirs of NCT, celebrate the output of some special soloists, revisit the Summer of Disco, and finish with a warm hug and a staggering, wild-eyed prophetic track about the vibe of this bizarre year, covering all of our favourite s…

An unenviable record of that time we decided, for some reason, to just blast our ears with nonstop PSY for a long time, edited down for your listening pleasure. A warning: the MVs for Gangnam Style, Gentlemen and Daddy all feature rapid flashing lights or rapidly flashing cuts. In order: Gangnam Style is at (1:53), Gentlemen at (6:54), Daddy at (11…

It's, incredibly, still here! Refresh your memory with the music video, the stage performance (this one's got good fan chants), or the dance practice. SparkNotes for Demian, but actually. Colin Marshall, Why Do Koreans Love Herman Hesse's Demian Above All Other Western Novels? Here's Bach's Kyrie I from Mass in B minor. And the organ piece Suga pla…

It's finally here! Let's get to it. Listen and watch the music video, the stage performance (this one's got good fan chants), or the dance practice. Onward to notes: GLAM's biggest hit, In Front of the Mirror, a "trot, Europop and hip-hop" song. They disbanded in 2015 after a blackmailing scandal. TIME interviews Bang Si-Hyuk. Here's a fan-made exp…

See and listen to just how Nobody will never change: the English music video, the Korean music video, the Japanese music video, the Mandarin Chinese music video, or the song release live stage performance. Onward to notes: Wonder Girls' debut song, Irony. Wonder Girls' contribution to the debt that K-pop owes to reggae. I Feel You, which literally …

Listen and watch the music video, the Japanese music video, the song release live stage performance (feat. uncomfortably long elongated intro), or dance practice video. Onward to notes: Mnet is a big subscription music TV channel. OK so the whole deal with 2AM/2PM: they were once an 11-man band called One Day and then they split in half. 2AM has be…

Listen and watch the music video, the song release live stage performance, or dance practice video. Onward to notes: Their latest single, released on the same day as BTS's Stay Gold: How You Like That BLACKPINK - Boombayah, which released with Whistle as part of their 2016 debut. "Fan greet" is shorthand for "fan meet-and-greet". Lady Gaga, BLACKPI…

Listen and watch the music video or the song release live stage performance. Onward to notes: English language reporting on Red Velvet's North Korean concert. Stan Ontology wants to note here that any event like this is going to be rife with contradiction and tensions - it's not as if there aren't emotional performances going on for the South Korea…

In light of the massive protests going on in the USA at the time of releasing this episode, we open this episode with a message of support for the Black Lives Matter movement. Stan Ontology supports the efforts of Black and indigenous activists in America and across the world, fighting for justice against a state that has long treated Black and bro…

Wherein we crack a longstanding mystery: Why did 2NE1 have a reggae remix in their first studio album? As always, watch the music video, the dance practice video, or the song release live stage performance. On top of that, here's the acoustic live version, dedicated to the Sewol Ferry tragedy victims. Onto the chronological bullet points: Start you…

The episode that's secretly an introduction to SHINee, dance music, the phenomenology of sounds, and a different SHINee song all at the same time. On the menu today are: the music video, the dance practice video (a legend in its own right), the 2010 song release live stage performance, the 2018 world tour version, or the live rock remix. Phew. You …

I've got youuuuu, under my skin for at least another hour. Talk MIROTIC to us, TVXQ. Once more, choose between the music video, the dance version, or the live stage performance. Starting on a serious note (warning for discussions of sexual assault, drug use, police corruption): a timeline of the Burning Sun scandal. Park Yoochun, former TVXQ member…

Hello world! Stan talent, stan a legend, stan LOOΠΔ ONTOLOGY. Join us as we start our dive into Korean pop music, and work through the sonic sugar rush that is SNSD's Gee. We suggest listening to the song at least once before you listen to us go on about it! Take your pick from the music video, the choreography-centric version, and…