"The Dress" by Dijon -- JUNNY cover
Now listen,The OG version of this song was already enough to send me into tears. It was among my most played songs in 2021. I'm in a very Korean time of my life, with the amount of BTS content I have decided to streamline into my system in the last 5 weeks. But I started venturing out into the world of Korean R&B artists and discovered JUNNY. AND THEN, he dropped this cover.. Reader, I wasn't ready. It's clean, emotional, raw.. and still light enough that it won't completely cave your chest in.
"Indigo" live at Rolling Hall
The leader. The writer. I call him the thoughtful, soulful poet, with an editor's eye. Don't be quick to put him in a box of K pop, he will prove you wrong, over and over again. His first full length solo album caught me by surprise upon first listen this year (it came out in 2023, but none of these guys were on my radar). With a stacked list of features (Erykah Badu!! Anderson Paak!! TABLO!!) RM ponders his universe separate from his responsibilities as the leader of the biggest group in the world. Questions his heartbreak (Change p.2), his longing (Closer) and his creative journey (Yun). This concert was maybe the only time he performed this album completely. In front of 200 very lucky people. And it says something that i bought this on CD (IN OUR BIG YEAR OF 2026! PHYSICAL MEDIA RETURNS) The standout lyrics for me include: "I wanna be human, before I do some art" -- Yun "Cuz true beauty is true sadness, now you can feel my madness"- Yun "If this is all we can do, yeah just lookin' at you, there's gon be no take two.. stay where you are" - Closer "Someday a great grief will do come for you, and then you'll know it too.. you can't love someone like i do" -- Change p.2
Fools - JK/RM (Troye Sivan)
I need everyone to sit down. When "Blue Neighborhood" came out and I heard "Fools" for the first time in 2015, it went platinum in my house. The quiet and yet LOUD yearning that Troye is known for is so apparent here. And as I am a yearning connoisseur, I latched on quickly. again, i have to say i am in a very Korean time of my life. I was randomly doom scrolling on the bird app, and someone posted this cover. I couldn't click over to youtube fast enough. And the minute the piano begins, I'm transported back to 2015. To some vague heartbreak moment that lives somewhere in the corner of my mind. Where I store all that useless information. I may not remember who/how/why.. but what returns is moment of revelations that some people simply do not fit in the live you want to build, in the future you are curating, no matter how much you care. And isn't that just depressing? Anyway.. JK was probably 17-18 years old when they recorded this cover and his clear voice imbues so much sadness into the already devastating lyrics. We are all aware of how extremely gifted he is, but it was RM who surprised me. I'm not super deep in their catalog yet, but this is the first time I have heard this man sing and not rap through a song and, reader... I was destroyed. "Oh our lives don't collide, i'm aware of that.." As his pitch gets higher and mildly desperate when he sings.. "I see quiet nights poured over ice and tanqueray, but everything is shattering and it's my mistake" This song is back on my playlist (the cover and the original). We just don't yearn so openly and raw like this anymore.. and to put into context of how regimented Kpop stars lives are, down to their private lives, how many times have these two gone through heartache of wanting someone they can't even THINK of approaching, much less have.. it makes this cover hit even harder. UGH .. (if you want to download the cover, it's on soundcloud.. yes in the big year of 2026) If you love Troyè Sivan (he wrote "Louder than Bombs") and you love BTS or BTS-curious, i recommend this cover. I can't guarantee it won't evoke memories of a past love gone wrong, as you find yourself on your office floor, weeping softly as RM sings "Only fools fall..."
Rothko Weather Website by Joonas Virtanen
