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cherrykindness · 3 years

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let's make babies |

pairing: Harry Styles x Actress!Reader

summary: you and harry are doing a live on instagram, you've drunk a lot of wine and now the world knows that the future Mrs. Styles is ready to make babies.

warnings: mostly cute, but the title tells you what you need to know 🤪

"What is your favorite song from the Fine Line album?" Y/N read aloud, twirling in her right hand the second glass of wine of the evening, the one already halfway through. "Adore You and Watermelon Sugar, of course."

Harry giggled, rolling his eyes upon hearing his fiancée's statement.

"Y/N will always choose Adore You because it was obviously written for her." He accused. "She wouldn't give that answer under different circumstances."

The comments climbed up the screen continuously, most fans gushing about how cute Harry Styles and YN/LN could be while the other part was concerned with wringing even more information out of the slightly inebriated couple who had decided to do a surprise live one early Sunday morning.

As expected after being away for some time to begin filming Don't Worry, Darling in Southern California, Harry enjoyed a lazy weekend in the house he shared with his fiancée and her pets. The days were filled with late naps and relentless Netflix marathons, sublime and ethereal evenings, marked mostly by unexpected declarations and rounds of sex that used to last until the beams of light were shyly coming through the linen curtains. They were not a monotonous couple, so this order could easily be changed.

"Watermelon Sugar is nothing more than about my love for watermelons, don't get too creative." Harry replied to a fan while sporting a corner smile, the message standing out among the rest for its dozens of emojis and large print, questioning the singer about erotic content behind the lyrics of his latest hit. "I really don't know what you guys are talking about."

Y/N laughed, shaking her head before leaning it against her fiancé's chest, propped up on the soft white pillows that were spread practically all over the bed. The air conditioner was on at a minimal temperature and a light rain whipped on the panes of glass camouflaged by the cream-colored curtain, that being the projection of Y/N's favorite nights.

"You can tell them, I'm not shy." She joked, nudging her fiancé's waist.

"You know what it was written about and who it was written for." Harry replied, raising one of his eyebrows. "That's what matters."

It went without saying that much of Harry's newest album, as well as some of his earlier work, had been done in exclusive dedication to his future wife. Y/N had been the muse for a vast repertoire of romantic songs, and even though the singer preferred to keep the story behind his more explicit compositions a "secret", the relationship the two had shared for more than three years was already solid and known enough for the media and fans to distinguish hidden messages in small details.

"It's a song about what usually comes before the act of making babies." Y/N laughed as he pointed at the display. "Honestly, you guys are impossible."

"No, we make babies every day." Harry joked, making a funny motion with his eyebrows. "I would spend my entire career writing just about that."

"Harry!" The actress exclaimed incredulously, slapping her fiancé weakly on the chest. "Children might be watching this."

"You don't want to have babies with me?" He asked falsely offended, accepting the cup that Y/N offered him. "Because I want some babies with you."

Y/N laughed, rolling her eyes as she watched the internet freak out at the dialogue that had suddenly emerged. Since the beginning of the quarantine, it was kind of inevitable that the couple of artists would not become the darlings of all social media; they were fervently active with photos, videos, and lives that depicted step by step daily life in isolation, gaining more and more followers and making the media more and more fascinated by the relationship they both shared.

The wedding was scheduled for the summer of next year and it was perhaps the most anticipated event in the tabloids. Bets about what the model of Y/N's dress would be and lists presuming who would be selected for the short list of guests stood out among countless news stories about the famous people influencing pop culture today.

The possible arrival of a Styles baby was an inevitable topic in interviews. Harry and Niall were the only members of the ex-boyband that had not become fathers yet, and because they had maintained a solid relationship and were seen as one of the most enviable couples during the last four years, Y/N and Harry had gotten used to all this openly asked questions. They didn't mind, they even had fun with the montages and all the anxiety that dominated the whole internet, often mentioning the fandoms' efforts to represent them as such "cool" parents in perfectly edited pictures.

"No, guys, I'm not pregnant." Y/N amusingly clarified the doubt of dozens of new comments. "Please don't believe so many controversial news stories that appear out there. I was on twitter last week and saw several people theorizing about a possible pregnancy, most of the arguments based on a website that used photos from the set of How to Get Away with Murder in the season where I was actually playing a pregnant woman as Laurel." She laughed. "It's so funny! I know you guys love to guess these things, but we won't hide something so special when it actually happen, I promise."

"Especially because Y/N can hide absolutely nothing from anyone." Harry accused, leaving his drink on the corner table before settling into a comfortable position for the two of them. "Anyone who's a Marvel fan knows that. That's one of her most characteristic quirks."

"They gave me a fake script for the last two movies." Y/N agreed, shaking his head. "For me and Tom."

"We agreed to keep the engagement a secret for a while. The plan was to travel to Holmes Chapel to break the news to my family in person, but guess who got a call at ten o'clock at night from an angry Anne because she learned of her son's engagement from an interview Y/N gave the next day?"

Y/N gave a guilty smile, winking gracefully at the camera. "It was all James' fault! I'm sure he already suspected something, those questions were very suspicious."

"Of course the questions were suspicious, babe. You literally said you had a secret that involved both of us but that you couldn't tell because it was important that our families knew first."

"I thought he would think about a pregnancy or something!" The actress defended herself, feeling very convincing in her intonation bordering on obviousness. "That's a mania I can't get rid of, it's in my genes."

"Did you all hear that? Further proof that you guys don't have to worry about guessing when Y/N's pregnancy will be, I'm sure our baby will make sure to tell you everything while still in the womb, mom's genes will make sure of that."

"You are so funny, Harry Styles." Y/N sarcastically stated, holding back a giggle as countless messages with laughing emojis were frantically up. "Yeah, I know I talk a lot and all, but you have annoying quirks too."

It was obvious that live would be news the next day. Although they were completely open about matters concerning their relationship, nothing seemed better than receiving so much exclusive information from a Harry and S/N drunk on expensive wine.

"You wake up in a bad mood and you're dangerously sexy, that should be illegal."

Harry laughed, holding his fiancée's waist a little tighter as he felt her tumble a little further to the side, getting closer and closer to the edge of the bed. Y/N was dangerously weak for drinks, and the singer knew that the actress' body was already near its limit.

"You're the only sexy person here, love." He declared with a corner smile, evidently finding the whole situation funny. "Do you want to go to sleep now?"

"No." Y/N shook her head. "Can we watch some movie? Can we watch Sweet Home?"

"Of course, love." He murmured, giving the woman a quick kiss on the forehead.

Even though Harry knew that his fiancée was unlikely to make it past the five-minute mark of the episode, he made sure to restart the korean series at exactly the scene where she had stopped, the first chapter still halfway through after Y/N realized that it would be impossible to watch such a macabre work without a drop of alcohol in her blood.

She had been so excited by the taste of Argentinian wine and the idea of updating her fans after a few weeks away, that she had forgotten the main purpose of the live. Harry and Y/N had been apart for a few days due to the new movie the Brit was shooting in North America, all happening in an unrestrictedly careful manner due to the restrictions caused by the pandemic.

He was slowly migrating towards acting and the future Mrs. Styles couldn't be prouder. Y/N had felt on cloud nine when Harry had given her the news of his upcoming job, but her only pronouncement on the subject had been a succinct post on instagram. Just a photo of the couple on a trip to Germany with a simple heart emoji didn't seem enough for the actress' exhibitionist soul, and coming to that conclusion was the main reason she decided to invite him, already relatively changed, for a live appearance. Y/N wanted to go on and on about how much she loved that man and work on that whole honeyed speech that would bring her (once again) the title of "cutest bride of all time," but of course Harry had to come home from his trip with his favorite red wine and poison her with those sweet caresses that took her out of orbit, turning the degree of alcohol content into the least of her problems.

"You're going to kiss Florence." Y/N exclaimed suddenly, as if only now realizing that her fiancé would share the screen with Florence Pugh, one of her closest friends in that industry. "Kiss on the mouth."

The MacBook was still open and hundreds of new comments were going up every second, but Harry didn't bother one bit to warn her about the possibility of her becoming a meme the next day. He was having too much fun with the situation to worry.

"Are you jealous?"

"Yes." She stated with a pout. "I am jealous, I just don't know if I'm more jealous of her or of you."

"But you kiss me every day, babe." Harry laughed. "And you've been kissing other people's men for almost ten years." He joked.

"But I only think about you, I already told you that."

Harry shook his head negatively at the camera, knowing he was sharing with the fans the funniest side of his fiancée.

"I know that, honey." He assured, lightly stroking the actress' back. "I think we'd better turn off the TV and go to sleep now, I'm sure you'll have a terrible headache tomorrow."

The brit planned to bid his audience goodbye and put an end to that recording, but Y/N was drunk and her sense of right and wrong had already gone to space. Harry should have been quicker, however, because his fiancée's speech would be cause for new tags and the only subject for the interviewers for at least the next few months.

"I don't want to sleep, how about we make babies?"

That's what Watermelon Sugar was all about, after all.

#harry styles imagine #imagine1d #imagine harry styles #harry x reader #harry styles x reader #fluffy imagine #harry fluff #actress reader

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talkfastromance4 · 4 years

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breaking it in-- l.h oneshot

Copyright talkfastromance4 © All works is intellectual property of the author. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction or any part or all contents in any form is prohibited. You may not, without written expression and consent from the author, distribute works amongst other social media platforms

A/N: welp, here this is. @sexgodashton I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it😉😘

Word count: 2043

Warnings: smut no plot and very lightly edited so oops to mistakes I didn’t catch

donate to my ko-fi here :)

Masterlist

• • • •

It’s been a whole project that consumed Luke’s time of wallpaper options, paint swatches, and antique shopping for the perfect photo and throw pillows to tie the in-home studio together. When it was finally finished, Luke was beaming with pride and couldn’t wait to start writing and creating songs in his little dojo of musical creativity.

You were hesitant at first upon seeing the wallpaper he chose, but then when he showed you what else he'd picked out it all oddly looked really good. Everyday for about a week he would lock himself up in his soon-to-be studio applying the wallpaper. He’d come out of the room sticky or with black paint on his arms and tank top. You’d begged for a peek but he wouldn’t budge.

“I want you to be surprised. This is my project lovie,” he’d smile kissing your cheek as he walked by. He snagged your hand as an afterthought, “you’re more than welcome to join me in the shower.”

How could you say no?

You were upstairs folding some laundry with Petunia sprawled on the bed when you hear Luke stomping heavily up the stairs. It still takes you by surprise at his new haircut and bearded face. You miss his curls but the way his lighter blond length frames his face gives you butterflies.

“It’s all finished,” he says wrapping his arms around your stomach. “Ready to see?”

You drop whatever you were folding and follow him downstairs. As you approach the door that has been off limits for several days, you’re about ready to squeal with excitement in anticipation. Then you feel Luke’s soft hands cover your eyes.

“Luke! Come on,” you whine with your hand on the door knob.

“Shush, I want you to get the full effect. Open the door.”

You do as he says and he pushes you inside, you can feel his chest and hips press against your back as you shuffle in the room.

“Ready?” Luke’s lips tickle against your ear, his breath sends shivers down your spine. You nod and he removes his hand.

You gasp at the room, from wall to ceiling is the pink floral wallpaper with an accented black painted wall that has his guitars hung up. The framed photo of Mick Jagger and Ronnie Wood is placed above a robin’s egg blue couch with pink pillows, accenting the wallpaper perfectly. Potted plants are placed in corners and a desk with a soundboard and his laptop are perched by the window.

The 70’s style is screaming at you in the best way possible and you’re stunned at how good it looks.

“Well?”

“It’s amazing!” you gush taking a step closer but Luke’s hands are firm on your waist, keeping you pressed against him. “You did such a good job, babe, I love it.”

“You really think so?” he asks, pressing a kiss to your shoulder.

“I really think so,” you nod trying to move to the couch so you could feel the pillows. Luke’s hold is strong on your waist. “Can I not move closer?” you giggle slipping your fingers between his.

“I’ve been cooped up in here for nine days, working so hard and you know what’s been on my mind?” his voice is low as he kisses up your jaw. You tilt your head to the side, enjoying his kisses.

“What?”

“Fucking you on that couch,” he whispers, his teeth nibbling on your earlobe. You let out a whine from his words and feel the impact of his statement against your ass. He’s already hard thinking about the sexual act. “What do you say?”

“Sounds good to me,” you sigh.

“I’ve been thinking about how many times we’ll do it,” his fingers unbutton your shorts and pulls down the zipper before slipping his hand into your panties. You curve at his touch, his fingers teasing between your folds. “When I’m frustrated with a song, you’ll come in here making me forget all about it...you’ll inspire me, lovie.”

You hum when he teases his middle finger at your hole then he removes his hand quickly. You let out a grunt of disappointment but he squeezes your ass.

“Take these off and have a seat,” he tells you.

You’re all too eager in removing your shorts and panties, sitting in the center of the couch. You sink onto the cushion, it already smells like Luke and you watch him tug off his dark grey t-shirt messing up his hair. You bite your lip at the thought of messing it up more when you pull on it with your fingers.

“Just how I pictured you,” he smirks kneeling in front of you. He pushes apart your legs, his tongue darting over his lower lip as he eyes you up. “Already leaking on the couch, tut, tut,” he tsks. You settle into the cushion watching him kiss the inside of your knee up your thigh. “I should fix that, huh?”

All you can do is nod, his voice and his words are going straight to your aching core. Just the thought of feeling his beard on your thighs so soon has you nearly shaking. With a final sigh, he attaches his mouth to your pussy, his tongue spreading you open. He licks at you slowly, gazing up at you lazily with his beard scratching against your thighs.

You moan at the sensation of his mouth and when his hair falls in front of his blue eyes (that also match the couch) you card your fingers through his hair tugging on the roots. Luke hums against you, vibrating your whole body as his hot tongue flicks over your clit in quick precision. Your stomach clenches at the toe curling movement and he pushes your left leg against the couch so he can use his pointer and middle finger to open your pussy lips more. He eats you out with vigor, his tongue and lips making obscene noises as he breathes heavily against you.

His beard burns in the best way and soon you’re pulling tightly on his hair as you come all over his mouth. He groans with you, collecting your juices as your body fills with intense pleasure than an overwhelming amount of bliss.

You sink into the couch as you come down, Luke giving you soft kisses before pulling away and wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, his skin glistens.

“Want you to ride me now,” he tells you, rubbing your knee. He notices the burn from his beard on your thigh and gives it a cool kiss.

“Okay,” you nod breathlessly watching him stand up. He pulls his sweatpants off, he’s gone commando, and your mouth waters at the sight of him. “You want a taste?”

You nod again leaning forward to give an open mouth kiss to his head, swirling your tongue around before taking him in your mouth as far as you can. When he nudges the back of your throat, you salivate more when you pull off him. Tears spring in your eyes from the quick second of discomfort but it doesn’t stop you from taking him in again, a slight gagging noise emits from your throat.

Luke sighs above you, jutting his hips slightly with the bobbing of your head, loving the way your cheeks hollow out as he disappears inside your mouth then suck in as you pull off him with a pop.

“Fuck, you’re so good at that,” he praises and you look up at him with innocent eyes. This time, when you pull off him you zig-zag your tongue up his shaft leaving a string of spit attached from your tongue and his tip. Luke groans then stops you from taking him in again by holding your cheeks. “Want you on top of me, now.”

He sits next to you on the couch, spreading his legs and you swing yours over his so you’re straddling his lap. He yanks your shirt off, squeezing your breasts in his hands giving each nipple a suckling kiss as you line yourself up with him. You sink onto him easily, both of you groaning at the snug fit.

You spread your legs wider on the couch, knees digging into the cushion as you start to rock against him, his large hands moving up the curve of your back.

“So pretty like this,” he sighs staring up at you, “use me to make yourself feel good, baby.”

You bite your lip and move faster. You lift your hips then drop down a few times until you find a good rhythm. He fills you up perfectly, and each time you grind down his lower stomach clips your clit and you let out a moan.

“Feels so good,” you moan, rocking even harder and faster on him. You have an idea and plant your palms against the floral wall using it as leverage to fuck yourself on him faster.

You’re huffing and panting as you use your whole body to fulfill the pleasure you’re craving, the pleasure only Luke can give you. He’s praising you as you continue, his head tilted back watching you fuck him with rapid speed. He knows you’re chasing your high, can feel your walls clenching around him and the couch bumps against the wall the faster you move.

“Mm, keep going, baby,” he encourages.

You drop your forehead against his, eyes closing in bliss as the knot in your stomach starts to unravel. Your movements become jerky and sloppy as you continue to chase your orgasm. Between his length moving so easily in and out of you to your clit rubbing against him it leaves you breathless and your ears hot.

Your nails scratch into the wallpaper as you cry out, your orgasm finally exploding inside you and Luke groans with you. Your body is already trembling as you fill with the best pleasure, ears ringing in the wake as your hips begin to slow. You grind against him in aftershock, toes uncurling.

“So hot, lovie,” Luke sighs, stretching his lips to yours in a lazy kiss. You kiss him back, hands falling limp from the wall onto his shoulders and your other senses come back. His hands rub up and down your back, you try to gather your thoughts and your new surroundings.

“That was incredible,” you whisper.

“You got one more for me?” he murmurs on your neck and you nod. Words are escaping you a lot today.

Luke lifts you off him slowly, you wince at the loss of him inside you and repositions you so you’re laying on the pink pillow. He hikes your knee to your chest, eyes locked on yours as he slides inside easily. Your mouth opens at being filled once more, Luke snaps his hips against yours.

His hair dangles in his face as he fucks into you, his chest keeps your knee to your chest while your other leg is on the floor. You’re sighing heavily, loving the quick pull and push as he disappears inside you, you meet your hips with his and then you’re coming again.

Luke’s breathing heavily, jack-hammering into you as he chases his own climax.

“Come for me,” you tell him, breath escaping your lungs at each thrust he gives you. “Just like that, mmm.”

He fucks you faster, harder, until you’re seeing stars and his hips still against yours. You’re filled with his hot ropes of his orgasm, his hot breath fanning over your neck and he groans into your skin.

You both lay there in post-coital euphoria, sex hanging in the air in the 70’s styled room and it couldn’t be more perfect. Your bodies are sweaty, chests heaving, then Luke lifts his head looking at you dazedly.

“Now I can start using this room,” he tells you, shifting his body so your knee can fall straight. You’re already starting to feel the soreness in your legs and you will definitely be walking funny for the next day or two, but it’s a welcomed pain.

“Because we had sex on the couch?” you snicker brushing his bangs from his face. There’s still a slight curl at the ends.

“Had to break it in,” he grins then gives you a mind numbing kiss.

• • • •

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#luke hemmings smut #luke smut #luke 5sos smut #luke 5sos #luke 5sos writing #5sos writing #luke hemmings oneshot #luke oneshot #luke hemmings 5sos #luke x female reader

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vskpop · 7 years

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August 2017 ⋅ Enerzetic

Gashina - Sunmi

It’s true across most big companies that we will never get to see what their artists actually want to do until they either have enough power to make their own decisions, or they leave the company entirely. While Yeeun has always been the clear breakout act within Wonder Girls, and the only one with some space to do her thing, I have been waiting for Sunmi to have a decent solo career ever since 24 Hours.

Sunmi had a bunch of writing and composing credits in the last two Wonder Girls album, so it’s not a surprise that she knew exactly what she wanted to do and how to do it as soon as she moved away from JYP. If Gashina is anything to go by, full creative control for Sunmi is everything I didn’t know I wanted. It’s catchy and sexy, which we knew she could pull off, but also incredibly weird and out of the box. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

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Following - Hyuna

Last year, Hyuna’s comeback was an exaggeration of all her defining elements, and not in a good way. It came out in the first moments of a very very bad phase for Cube Entertainment, a phase they haven’t left behind yet. After the excellent Triple H project, it’s nice to see Hyuna build on her past work rather than staying exactly where she was thematically and musically.

While the central idea of title song Babe is kind of weird - she feels younger and younger because of her love interest, to the point that she feels like a baby - I like that for once Hyuna didn’t have to put all her effort into being sexy, and looks happy and carefree in the music video and in the live performances.

Babe has catchy parts, but doesn’t shy away from its weirder, more meandering parts. It’s definitely a dance song, but there is more to it: even if the song is about feeling younger, Hyuna is growing up as an artist and can do more than straightforward party tracks.

While A’wesome sounded like a collection of random leftovers from other projects, Following sounds like a cohesive piece of work that shows all different aspects of Hyuna, now a grown-up with control over her releases; after years of collaborating on her songs’ lyrics, she has composition credits as well this time.

Party and Purple mix the party atmosphere of older Hyuna classics with the voices of Cube’s newest acquisitions, Pentagon’s Wooseok and E’Dawn. Dart and Mirror might be trendier, but they are the real gem of this album: both songs are performed by Hyuna in her actual singing voice rather than her high-pitched tough lady voice.

It’s really special that Hyuna and Sunmi are promoting at the same time: the two Wonder Girls alumnae (even though Hyuna’s experience as a WG was quite short) show that there is a life on the other side of a girl group, and that women idols can find their own voice in an industry that doesn’t particularly want them to.

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White Night - Taeyang

There is a fringe of k-pop fans that is absolutely obsessed with establishing scientifically that their favourite is the best singer in terms of technique. I have never seen this kind of morbid obsession in Western pop music, but it does make me laugh to see people spending so much energy on letting everyone know that Taeyang is a bad singer.

Bad technique or not, I think Taeyang is one of the most charismatic, emotional singers in k-pop. This comeback is quintessential Taeyang for me: both Darling and Wake Me Up are sweeping, emotional songs that sucker punch the listener with the insane expressiveness of Taeyang’s voice.

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I think this is the first time that instead of pairing a dance song and a ballad, Taeyang chose to go with two slower songs. I’m not huge on very samey comebacks, but the pairing of Wake Me Up and Darling really allowed him to show all of his strengths, and probably to save all his choreo energy for the huge tour he’s embarking on.

It’s also interesting to consider that both Taeyang and G-Dragon, who are celebrated for their danceable or more hard-hitting songs, went with ballads for their comeback. It’s obvious that G-Dragon’s circumstances were forced (and that his original plan was different), but I like seeing that they have reached a point in their career where they can do something that feels close to their heart rather than something that is easier to sell.

I think it will be hard for Taeyang (or anyone) to ever put out an album that’s better than Rise, but White Night is as good as I expected to be. The only song that’s an obvious dance single is Naked, which would have never ever been picked because it would have never been aired on Korean TV with the lyric “I want you naked”. As usual, his intros should be whole songs and he knows it - so much that this time he made a music video for the intro to White Night this time around.

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Since this might be Taeyang’s last comeback before his enlistment (although I secretly think and hope we will get one more GD x Taeyang), I was terrified of how it would turn out, and I was honestly just relieved that he managed to go through an entire album without any gross cultural appropriation. Even though I still don’t want him to go on a two-year hiatus, I think I can be happy (and by happy I mean rolling in my own tears listening to White Night) with how he closed this chapter in his career.

Our Twenty For - Winner

It will take me some time to get used to Winner having regular comebacks instead of disappearing for 18 months at a time. I’m glad to see that their new four-member incarnation is finding success shedding their mid-tempo image and throwing themselves into the latest trends.

Winner used the obvious title song (the one that sounded like Really Really) as the b-side of their comeback. Island has the staples of every other tropical track, but is made a bit less predictable by avoiding the drop and going with a chorus that’s a bit less formulaic than Really Really’s. I have to admit that it’s my favourite song between the two; the video is so gorgeous and romantic, and the song is the perfect halfway point between hype and chill.

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The actual song that was promoted, Love Me Love Me continues the tradition of Winner singles with a repeated title (after Really Really and Baby Baby) but switches things up again in terms of sound. When everyone else is stuck in a labyrinth of EDM trends, they looked in a different direction and put out a disco-inspired song. It’s similar enough to Really Really in structure, but it’s a signal that new Winner is ready to experiment and maybe is not so set on a new identity yet.

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If there’s something that I appreciate about Winner, it’s that their lyrics aren’t made up of the same three sentences of the average love song; they actually express feelings that people in their twenties would have, like the apparently very controversial line “I want to mix it up with you on the sofa”. They are corny enough to sell, but not so much that thinking about what they’re actually saying makes me cringe.

Winner have always focused on ballads; it’s interesting to see how they still clung onto a slower song in their first new-formation comeback, but they’ve entirely let go of it this time.

In a way, we are still looking what ‘color’ suits us best. ... I’d say right now, we are in round four (of 12 rounds in boxing).” - 04/08/2017

For me, none of their songs has reached the levels of EXIT: E, but I appreciate seeing that they aren’t afraid to branch out and that YG is letting them.

Bonus: Island and Love Me Love Me acoustic version

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1X1=1 (To Be One) - Wanna One

I am positive that the eleven weeks I spent sweating and crying over Produce 101 will be the last time I follow a Korean survival show (until the YG ones come around, that is). I was bound to be attached to Wanna One even after my favourite Samuel didn’t make it through just for the sheer amount of time I spent watching the show and following the drama and controversies around it.

The rumours that Produce 101 was rigged are unsurprising and, to be fair to Mnet, I do think that the final 11 members really create a fantastic team . After countless hours of performances and variety shows (you might sense that I’m a bit obsessed) I think they are one of the most well-balanced groups I’ve ever seen in terms of actual talent and personas/personalities.

While at this point I have my doubts that debut track Energetic was actually picked by the public and not by the managers of Wanna One, I think it’s the perfect debut song for them.

There is nothing crazily original in this song, but it capitalizes on all the best parts of Wanna One: charismatic dancers, top-notch vocalists, expressive rappers. It was clearly written knowing that capable people would perform it (if not exactly who would perform it), and that their parts didn’t need to be easy or muddled to cover their lack of skills. Mnet also managed to pull through and get a track written by Hui of Pentagon, who was behind the most successful Produce 101 original track, Never, pretty much guaranteeing the success of Energetic.

I am very impressed that Mnet managed to put together a video balancing a more cheerful, colourful vision of Wanna One with the edgier, blue-and-pink neon trend that has swept up “aggressive” k-pop groups. It really shows each member in their best light, and how the group will be able to switch genres and styles without looking out of place.

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Seeing the music video for their second possible debut song Burn It Up makes it clear that there wasn’t a chance in hell that it would be the title track. Terrible editing and post-production aside, Burn It Up is a perfectly good song, albeit on the more banger-y side of k-pop trends, a style that Produce 101 never seemed to be particularly inclined towards.

I still really like the rapped pre-pre-chorus, and the distortion in the chorus felt like an interesting way to switch up the k-pop chorus formula that has been everywhere in the past couple of years (screamed title of the song + dance break).

Apart from the fact that it’s a bit conventional, Burn It Up would have really penalized the vocalists in Wanna One since it’s almost entirely rap or rap-singing, so I’m even happier that they went with Energetic.

The more I listened to it, the more I realised that there was another group that disappointed me lately and would have suited this song: it’s perfect for iKON, and I do hope that after their recent debacle they take a page from the Wanna One book and go for something similar to Burn It Up.

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Wanna One have a sea of advantages over IOI, starting from the fact that they are men, so they aren’t expected to adhere to a cute, innocent concept. They are also benefitting from all the experience that Mnet and YMC gained from IOI’s failures and successes. Their debut is a million times better than the terrible Dream Girls, so I want to believe that all the other problems IOI had will be avoided this time around. I am really looking forward to the next 18 months with Wanna One.

Holiday Night - SNSD (Girls’ Generation)

In a year of underwhelming comebacks for SM artists, SNSD just reached a whole new level of disappointment for me: I’m furious that this half-assed comeback was their tenth anniversary. They have been working incessantly for ten years and this is what they got.

Considering their team must have been preparing this comeback at least since the end of the You Think/Lion Heart promotions in 2015, it’s quite shocking to see how uninventive and cheaply made their new round of “promotions” (more on that later) was.

I think most people agree that Party was a terrible song, so I can’t imagine why SNSD would double down on it with Holiday. The song is a decent b-side at best, and the styling is atrociously childish for a group of adult women; if Taeyeon hated Gee, I can’t imagine how she felt about this. I can hardly get past Hyoyeon’s rap, which is literally “You know I’m hot, hot, hot, hot”; SM could have at least gotten someone to write her decent lyrics.

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All Night is a fun song, and with a much more current sound than Holiday. It does a good job mixing the bouncy atmosphere you’d want for a celebration and a sound that matches a group of women in their late twenties.

The video feels a bit strange - as if they had had to cut out some elements that were key to the narration and we were only seeing the leftovers. If I had to put my money on something, it would be that they had to cut out 90% of the footage with drag queens.

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There is everything to hate about this comeback, still - the videos have clearly been shot on the cheap, and some of the costumes are just horrendous. Seeing this comeback in the context of the larger situation with SNSD, however, makes the subpar quality of Holiday Night one of the least important problems that the group and fans should have.

I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that SM is using organized-crime-level intimidation tactics to make the members renew their contracts: cutting their promotions short, refusing to reprint the album, sending them to schedules with no security, throwing out random contradicting news for media play…

I’ve read as much as possible about the situation (as much as a non-Sone can) and I honestly can’t imagine how being treated like this would make anyone reconsider the choice of leaving SM. I really wish the best to each of them, especially after they’ve worked so hard for ten years for a company that showed yet again that doesn’t give a shit about them.

Free’sm - CLC

The first thing I thought of when the Seonho teaser for CLC’s comeback was dropped was Reality from La Boum (the French film, not the Korean girl group).

Where Are You? is yet another sharp turn for CLC, coming from a “fierce” concept in their previous comeback with Hobgoblin. I wasn’t persuaded by the song straight away, but I ended up falling in love with the 80’s inspired sound and the strange, dreamlike, artsy music video.

I wasn’t so in love with the styling of the performance, which saw the still pretty young members wear outfits I wouldn’t wish to the last surviving second-generation girl group.

Free’sm sounds like a strange mix of bits that they had leftover from previous comebacks and from what they had in mind for them. There’s one tropical song, one hard hitting song, one cute song (that they ended up promoting), et cetera.

Lack of success has pretty much made CLC a directionless group since day one, but this comeback, especially with the promoted song switch in the middle of the promotion - from Where Are You? to cutesy Summer Kiss - really highlights how Cube Entertainment have literally no idea of what they should do with them.

I understand why they would want to try different things and see what sticks, but I don’t think that the constant flip-flopping between concepts will help them cement a fan base. Free’sm has sold about 1500 copies as I write, a pretty severe dip from the 4000-5000 of their previous albums - still an unsatisfactory number for Cube, but not as abysmal as what they did now.

After listening to the album over and over, I still wish that Cube had pushed through with the “tough” concept and had picked Call My Name or I Like It as the title track. Call My Name is trendy enough to be popular, and fierce enough to escape the cuteness. I would have picked I Like It as one of my favourite songs of the year if it wasn’t for the obnoxious chorus; Seunghee’s pre-chorus is just about perfect and I hope to see it live at some point.

With Pentagon hitting it big and Hui becoming a household name as a producer, as well as trainees Guanlin and Seonho making a splash on Produce 101, I can’t imagine that things will look up for CLC if they don’t turn their career around by mid-2018.

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Sixteen - Samuel

It’s shocking to think that Samuel is at his nth debut and he’s only fifteen. He was supposed to debut in Seventeen (which is how I ended up following him), he was in the terrible 1Punch, he was on Produce 101 and narrowly missed being in the final group, and now he’s debuting again as a solo artist.

Despite how much I love him, I don’t think this was a very good idea. While it’s obvious that he’s talented and has been working hard for years, he’s still not the most well-rounded performer - which makes sense, since he has literally just turned 15.

The album is sort of neither here nor there for me; a lot of it felt really dated and I’m not sure if the autotune was meant to be a feature or just be covering up for Samuel’s vocal shortcomings. I didn’t mind the song with Chungha, but it’s still not something I would listen to again.

Being onstage by himself underlines Samuel’s limitations and I think he would give his best in a group, even just to share the pressure he seemed to be putting on himself during Produce 101. I hope that Brave manages to build a group around him in the coming months/years, because I can’t imagine this being sustainable for him.

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Ever - Jeong Sewoon

I felt bad giving space to Samuel and not dedicating a single word to another of my very favourite Produce 101 contestants, Sewoon. Differently from Samuel, he always looked out of place in Produce 101, and like he didn’t really want to be there or be a idol.

I highly doubted Starship would be able to put together a group for him, but I was glad to see that at least for now he is getting a solo debut. The single Just U and the rest of the album exquisitely blend pop/trendy sounds and the more singer-songwriter identity that is Sewoon’s signature.

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Ice Chu - Gugudan Ogu Ogu

While I was bound to watch everything this sub-unit would put out because of my eternal loyalty to Kang Mina, I wasn’t so sure I was going to like their debut concept. I don’t know if I would say I was “pleasantly” surprised, but the horrifying tortures they inflict on the ice-cream people in the video for Ice Chu really gave an edge to what I would struggle to define as a cute concept, at this point.

The hammering rhythm, the tiny voices, the cute-but-freaky concept really reminded me of the later songs of Orange Caramel (it’s more Catallena than Magic Girl). It was watered down just enough to be appropriate for Mina and Hyeyeon, who have just turned 18, but it’s all there. I love it.