I.O.I Mini Album Vol. 1 Chrysalis - Album Review (Special Edition)

Recently I was cleaning my bookcase and came across this album which was super popular back when it came out. We are talking about the OG Produce 101 group I.O.I and this is their first physical release. I remember being so excited to order this as I watched all the episodes of the first season. It is rather large and takes up a fair amount of space on the shelf. I used to have it facing outwards so you could see the cover however now it's just stacked with other albums.

Chrysalis is the debut mini album from korean girl group I.O.I and it was released on May 4th 2016. Which it's insane to think that it is one year off being 10 years since being released. Wow that's crazy and even more crazy if you think about what an amazing group I.O.I could've been if it wasn't temporary. The mini album was released in two editions: Normal and Special. The normal edition came with a 68 paged photobook and a random photo card. It is housed in your typical hardcover style k-pop album and the photobooks are glued in place. I brought the special edition from YesAsia as I thought that would the harder one to get if I didn't buy it and I would regret it. The Special Edition comes with the following: 

• Outer box packaging
• CD - 7 track mini album
  
• 100 paged photobook (68-pages same as regular edition + additional 30 pages)
• Making photobook 
• Four postcards - Group and member units
• Folded Poster (Random 1 of 11 members)
• Group poster
  

Kep1er 2nd Mini Album Review DOUBLAST - Album Review (B1ue Blast Jewel Case Version)

The inspiration for today's blog post is that I haven't posted a music review in ages so that is what we are going for. I randomly picked an album in my blog backlog and it is the 2nd Mini Album from K-Pop group Kep1er!

DOUBLAST is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean girl group Kep1er and it was released on June 20th 2022. The mini was released in four versions: Lemon Blast and B1ue Blast with both having a photobook and jewel case format. I ordered the jewel case format from YesAsia who sent a random version and I ended up the B1ue Blast one. I did like the concept of the Lemon Blast version more however this one is still fun and fresh. The jewel case format of DOUBLAST comes with the following:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• Jewel case
• 16 page photobook
• Photocard (Random 2 out of 18 types)
• Postcard (Random 1 out of 9 types)

Aespa 3rd Mini Album My World - Album Review (Zine WELCOME TO MY WORLD Version)

The blog has been nothing but Fashion Dreamer posts for a while now so it's time for a good old music review. I picked the first folder I had saved in my reviews folder on my computer and it was for an aespa release. Previously I have reviewed the Zine Spicy Version of this mini album and this time I will be reviewing another zine version which is the WELCOME TO MY WORLD one.

My World is the 3rd Mini Album from Korean girl group aespa and it was released on May 8th 2023. The album came in 19 versions and only two of the zine styles were available here in Australia which are the two I own. I brought both from JB Hi-Fi however I seen people in a local Facebook group looking to sell/trade zine versions that were available from overseas retailers. Must've imported them and those versions look awesome. The WELCOME TO MY WORLD Zine version comes with the following contents:

• CD - 6 track mini album
• 40 page Photobook
• Trading card set of 4 cards
• Photocard (Random 1 out of 4 types)
• Poster (Random 1 out of 2 types)
• English lyrics booklet
• SM promotional flyer

Zenmarket Haul - Found New Treasures!

I went into 2024 with the intention of not purchasing any Japanese releases this year due to shipping costs. This was until I was having a bad week and thought bugger it, I'm doing it! Luckily the Japanese Yen was a good rate so I got some bargains and didn't lose out too much on conversion between the currencies. For this order, I focused on getting releases that were exclusive to Japan and not available on any streaming services. The service I used was Zenmarket of course and it was a simple process. Shipping wasn't too bad with the final cost of shipping it here being around $45 and I received it within two weeks. Everything was packed perfectly with lots of bubble wrap and no damages! In total, I ordered 25 CDs which is a good number and it was about $240 for all of this including all the fees and shipping within Japan.

Starting off with the main reason I placed this order which was these albums from m.o.v.e! I have been addicted to these albums for a while now and unfortunately they are hard to listen to here in Australia. The group isn't on Spotify nor does Australian iTunes have these specific releases. It has the singles but not the albums! So I was always listening to them on YouTube until I got sick of that and needed the physical CDs. These were various levels of difficult to get with their first album being the easiest and their third having barely any listings. So excited to have these in my collection and they sound amazing! In clockwise order from the left side, the albums I got from m.o.v.e where electrock, worlds of the mind and Operation Overload 7.

This was kind of an impulse buy as I love one particular song on this dream world album which is King & Queen. dream music is always difficult to come across and I thought I'd get the physical one as I enjoy the songs on this one. It was a pain to find as the title is so vague and I had to go through so many listings of other things to find this. Thank heavens the cover is red otherwise I wouldn't see the listings. Originally I wanted just the standard CD version but couldn't find one as all the listings were for the limited one. I wasn't too sure if the box was big or not however it is a decent size and you get lots of fun inclusions. There was even a calendar that I didn't know about!

Aespa 3rd Mini Album My World - Album Review (Zine Spicy Version)

First music review for 2024 is aespa's mini album My World! Super happy that my local music store stocks aespa as they are the only current generation girl group that I collect. Plus it makes it super easy to find the albums and I always pre-order to make sure I can get a copy. It seems to fly off the shelves quick at my local store however if I visit the same stores elsewhere, you can usually find a copy.

My World is the 3rd Mini Album from Korean girl group aespa and it was released on May 8th 2023. The album came in 19 versions which is mind boggling. Who on earth would attempt to even collect all of those. I love aespa but that's a bit too much and I wish they would cut down on the number of types available. As mentioned before, I purchased my CD from JB Hi-Fi and I got the Spicy versions of the Zine type. I didn't know which version I would get as it random on what the supplier sends so I was excited when the zine one came (even though I did buy the other version later on). The Spicy Zine version comes with the following contents:

• CD - 6 track mini album
• 40 page Photobook
• Trading card set of 4 cards
• Photocard (Random 1 out of 4 types)
• Poster (Random 1 out of 2 types)
• English lyrics booklet
• SM promotional flyer

I've been loving this style of photo book that SM has been doing lately. They are smaller to store on the shelf and the magazine concept is a fun one. This concept matched the vibe of this song perfectly and you get so many great photos in the photo book. There was just too many amazing pages to choose from for photos! I did get one of their next mini albums in the same style of photo book and they look great next to each other.

My K-Pop Collection 2023

The end of 2023 is upon us and that means it is time to round up my K-Pop collection for another year. Pretty much only purchased Korean releases this year and no Japanese ones. Luckily I was able to obtain all the albums locally in my city. The main music store here which is JB Hi-Fi has a decent K-Pop collection and it was easy to find ones I was interested in. Let's get straight into it!

First off we have aespa who are the main group that i follow nowadays. I don't stan the group but I always make sure to get their new releases. Aespa is the only girl group that my local store stocks regularly and you can always find a few different versions. All of the albums shown except Girls are purchases in 2023. I pre-ordered My World and was fortunate enough to get the Zine version which was the one I wanted! Plus I got Ningning's photocard! I eventually found the World version at another JB Hi-Fi. The Drama albums are a recent purchase from last week and I wasn't too sure about getting them. Originally they were listed as online only and wouldn't be available in store. Then the listing changed and I was able to order them. It was impossible though to tell what the versions were so I did some research online. I got the big two photobook version and the what I believe is the retail exclusive version of the Giant one. It isn't the Target exclusive as it doesn't have the same inclusions and you get the English message photocard. It is pretty easy to buy other versions of aespa albums in store and it is always those poster versions which I'm not interested in. Just not at the price they are set at and I doubt it would drop.

Isn't this the most aesthetically pleasing photo of this post? So gorgeous and I love the hardbook structure of Red Velvet releases. Previously I only had four of these albums and got two new ones in 2023. Russian Roulette and Summer Magic are the new additions and I adore how they are the same size as the other smaller ones. Rookie is just chilling there being gigantic and The Red I've had forever. The store I brought it from isn't even around anymore.

This year I wasn't planning on collecting more releases from Oh My Girl but I lucked out with finding their latest mini album stocked in my local store. Seems such an old girl group to find so easily available. Love the design on these two albums and all the inclusions were gorgeous. I'm a big fan of bookmarks being included in albums recently as that is definitely something that I will use often. Also picked up their first mini album which I ordered specifically in as the price was quite reasonable.

August Favourites

August was honestly not my month! I was super sick for a large portion of it and then my computer and phone broke as well. So I haven't been able to blog much and luckily I had some posts saved in drafts. I will be posting from the drafts until I can get a new hard drive to fix my computer. The favourites for August will be short as I'm attempting to post this from my phone whilst it is still barely alive.

Gaming

Played way too much Nintendo Switch this month with being sick. I've been into Hatsune Miku Jigsaw Puzzle and Calm Colours mostly along with some other random find it games. At the start of the month, I was playing We Love Katamari a lot which is super fun. They did a great job with the remaster and I prefer it over the first remake on the Switch.

Music

Randomly got this G-Idle mini album from JB Hi-Fi and everyone seems to be doing this magazine style cover with their releases. I know it's nothing new as K-Pop groups have been doing it for ages and I've noticed a lot of SM groups are having this design. The albums are so large they barely fit on the shelves at the music stores now. Haven't had a chance to listen to it yet due to computer issues but I have heard the title track is quite good.

Also had two orders come in this month that I had been excited for. First being the new The Hives album which I'm super pumped for. Cannot believe they released a new CD after so long! The other one is Big Time Rush's new album which is another I cannot believe it moment. I nearly died when I saw it up for preorder. Who would've thought the boys would bring out a new album in 2023? I do however hate how these are both in cardboard sleeve cases. Ugh these are my least favourite and hate storing them. I have been making a stack of all my newest CDs in this style of case and no idea where I'm going to put them.

Red Velvet Vol 1. The Red - Album Review

I thought I had done a Red Velvet review on the blog in the past however turns out I actually haven't! Red Velvet is a group that I used to be quite into but have dropped off in interest in recent years. Like I like their music, I just prefer their old stuff and that is mostly what I have in my collection. The Red album was the first Red Velvet CD that I got in my collection and I even recall buying their debut single Happiness on iTunes when it first came out. I used to post stacks of Red Velvet images on my Tumblr back in the day before Yeri joined and I'm sure I would post more now with Yeri as she is my bias in the group.

Vol. 1 The Red is the first full album from Korean girl group Red Velvet and it was released on September 9th 2015. The album only comes in one version from what I researched even though some sites list there being a blue and red version. I looked this up and couldn't see this supposed red version which is just the booklet inside the jewel case with a red background instead of blue. A version of the album was released in Taiwan in October and everything is the same with that one. For the photocard I got Irene who is the member I tend to get besides Yeri. Funny how you always end up pulling the same members. I brought my copy of The Red from a local (now sadly closed) K-Pop store and it came with the following contents:

• CD - 10 track album
• Sleevebox
• Jewel case
• 24 page lyric booklet
• 48 page photobook
• Photocard (Random 1 out of 6 types)

T-ARA 11th Mini Album So Good - Album Review

Considering how much I love T-ARA, I actually don't have many of their releases in my K-Pop collection. Most of their music I brought digitally over the years and never looked for the physical ones. Such a solid discography from one of the best girl groups and their Japanese stuff is amazing as well. I've reviewed some of their Japanese albums before but today will be the first Korean album. Let's start off with T-ARA's So Good mini album.

So Good is the 11th Mini Album from Korean girl group T-ARA and it was released on August 4th 2015. This mini is also known as their 7th mini album as that is the number if you don't count repackages. And T-ARA had a lot of mini album repackages! I've got with calling it the 11th as that is the number stated on the front cover. I purchased my copy of So Good from a Korean store in town which has sadly shut down. I remember being so excited to see it on the shelf as I thought T-ARA wasn't popular enough to be stock here. You don't get much with this release and the contents are limited to:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• 80 page photobook

TWICE 5th Mini Album What Is Love? - Album Review (B Version)

Ok who doesn't love the amount of inclusions you get in TWICE releases!? Just look at this all this cute stuff their What Is Love? mini album comes with! That is what I will be reviewing today as I thought it was time to post some mini albums from TWICE. This is a group that I have a few pieces from and they always look rather lovely on the shelf. The shop I ordered this from was sent a random version and I ended up with the B version. I quite like the cover of the A version but hey I'm happy with whatever just because it's TWICE!

What Is Love? is the fifth mini album from Korean girl group TWICE who we all know by now cause they are megastars. The mini album was released on April 10th 2018 and came in two versions: A and B. I purchased my copy through JB Hi-Fi as a special order and received it in a timely manner. It is always so fun opening a TWICE album to see what extras you get. What Is Love? comes with the following contents:

• CD - 6 track mini album (Random 1 out of 9 member plates)
• Photobook
• Photocards (Random 5 out of 90)
• Scratch card (Random 1 out of 9)
• Clear postcard (Random 1 out of 9)
• Random sticker (Random 1 out of 9)
• Lyrics booklet

BLACKPINK 2nd Mini Album KILL THIS LOVE - Album Review (Pink Ver.)

Back for another BLACKPINK review with the pink version of their 2nd Mini. I reviewed the black version earlier and it feels so fulfilling when you have a complete set of an album. I don't achieve it often with Korean releases as there is usually a few editions and can be a pricey endeavour. Plus the groups I usually collect didn't do multiple versions. BLACKPINK is one of the few groups where I have complete sets which is only their mini albums but I'm calling that a success.

KILL THIS LOVE is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean girl group BLACKPINK and it was released on April 23rd 2019. The mini album was released in two versions: Black and Pink. Both versions were easy to find through JB Hi-Fi and I purchased them a few years ago. The thing I love about this mini album is that it sits nicely on the shelf and the box is great for holding all the extras inside. Usually I'm not a big fan of box style albums however this one works great. The contents of this mini album are as follows:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• Outer Box
• 52 page Photobook
• Photozine
• Accordion Lyrics booklet
• Photocards (Random 4 out of 16)
• Polaroid Photocard (Random 1 out of 8)
• Stickers (Set of 6)
• Poster (Random 1 out of 4)

BLACKPINK 2nd Mini Album KILL THIS LOVE - Album Review (Black Ver.)

BLACKPINK is a group that I casually collect much like TWICE. Their releases are easy to purchase at local music stores so I tend to pick them up if the price is good. A few years ago I ended up collecting both versions of their 2nd Mini Album KILL THIS LOVE and that is what we will be looking at today. And lots of lovely photos are included as you get some great inclusions with this release.

KILL THIS LOVE is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean girl group BLACKPINK and it was released on April 23rd 2019. The mini album was released in two versions: Black and Pink. I brought both versions from JB HiFi where I found one colour at my local store and after ringing around, I found the other colour at a nearby store. This mini album has a large number of contents which are as follows:

• CD - 5 track mini album
• Outer Box
• 52 page Photobook
• Photozine
• Accordion Lyrics booklet
• Photocards (Random 4 out of 16)
• Polaroid Photocard (Random 1 out of 8)
• Stickers (Set of 6)
• Poster (Random 1 out of 4)

2nd Mini Album 화양연화 The Most Beautiful Moment In Life - Album Review

First off I want to say how easy this photobook in this album was to photograph! The pages stayed open in the most perfect position and I could get photos of the entire page. Photobooks are notoriously annoy to photograph so I'm glad this one turned out good. This album I'm talking about is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean singer Hong Jin Young. I feel in love with her songs and have ended up with two of her albums in my collection.

The 화양연화 Most Beautiful Moment In Life is the 2nd Mini Album from Korean trot-singer Hong Jin Young and it was released on March 24th 2016. There was only one version of their album and I brought my copy from YesAsia. I always brought my K-Pop and J-Pop from YesAsia in the early days of collecting. I'd pick up a few at some local Korean shops but sadly they have all closed down. There isn't much to this album and you don't get any photocards. I did notice she has started doing photocards in her latest release and they look amazing. The 2nd Mini Album includes the following contents: