Nmixx is a relatively new K-pop band, debuting in 2022 under the label JYP Entertainment. Comprised of six members – Lily, Haewon, Bae, Sullyoon, Jiwoo, and Kyujin, they are young but immensely talented. Nmixx had a rocky start, similar to Stray Kids, who share the same label, being panned as noisy and chaotic. As time passed, Nmixx developed its sound to a polished mix-pop with killer vocals. In 2026, they are finally getting the respect they deserve, and I am thrilled to see it!
They first came on my radar in 2023, thanks to their song ‘Love Me Like This’, but I didn’t become a fan, or NSWER as their fandom is called, until 2024 with their Fe304 album series.
Fe304: BREAK released in January 2024, with songs such as Dash, Run for Roses, and Soñar to help me get through the chaos of moving. Fe304: STICK OUT, released in August 2024, was the soundtrack of our trip up to Erie. Fe304: FORWARD hit just as we broke ground on the garden in 2025, and this album, some days, carried me through running that tiller in the mud and stubborn grass shag. From High Horse to Slingshot, this album changed something in me, lifting Nmixx to my favorite girl group (sorry, Aespa). Nmixx scratches a creative chaos in my mind that fills me with joy.
Bring a fan, I thought it would be cool to get some merch, which became quite difficult in 2025. With Nmixx being in their third year, there was a lack of offerings in the US, and those pesky tariffs from the head idiot in charge. So, I decided to get creative like I did with my Cosmic Tank.
Nmixx’s lore is based on water imagery; there is a whale on their lightstick, sea creatures, boats, and a water drop font. The font was my jumping off point. I went to Michael’s and picked up water-inspired colors – a cool purple, deep blue, and a variegated blue and white to mimic light dancing on the ocean. Three songs from the album Fe304:Forward caught my attention – Ocean, High Horse, and Know About Me, which features the girls going on an under-the-sea journey on this boat spaceship. The color palette of the album is similar to the colors I chose to knit with. I knew that for the color work, I wanted to evoke waves, incorporate ocean imagery, and feature the water drop font.
I chose to freehand a chart for the font using graph paper and an image I pulled from the internet from Nmixx promotional posts. The waves were more, see what I felt as I knit, the seahorse came from pure Pinterest roulette. The original chart was a cross-stitch seahorse that I adapted to knitting, on graph paper, later adding a stamp border to help the floats stay anchored. No pun intended. This was my first project using three colors at a time, and wow, it was brutal. On the front, I wanted the blues to create highlights and shadows, like a water drop would have. This led to some crazy tension issues and wild floats on the back.
Another issue I ran into was scale, particularly with the font. To achieve the bubbly curves, I made my scale rather large, stretching across two pieces of graph paper, and maybe this is just inexperience, or possibly I made my chart too complex, but I noticed myself ad-libbing stitches instead of following the chart due to all the mistakes I made. It turned out just fine, but it was not executed exactly how I wanted it to be. I’m pleased with the waves on the bottom and how they wrap around the tank. The back, I am lukewarm towards. I like the placement of the seahorse, for “High Horse” and the stamp for the journey they embark on, but the racer back is a little messy, since I was freehanding this pattern. But hey, the only way to get better is to practice.
Compared to my Red Velvet project, I felt confident that I could execute something to bring me joy and capture the spirit of the Fe304: Forward album. I love how this piece is one of a kind. No one else has this t-shirt or artwork, it’s a nerdy piece of knitwear for my special interest – kpop. ☺️
With this being my third merch project, I’m excited to see what speaks to me next. I’ve considered a Stray Kids Karma project and an Aespa Armageddon logo etched into a sweater. That one is going to be a big project, the logo is so intricate that when I attempted to sketch the chart last year, it was spread across four sheets pf graph paper. Maybe an Ateez project? Who knows. I do know that making your own art, and combining it with something you are passionate about, is a fantastic experience. Your passion becomes this physical object you can show off, and hopefully, bring a little sunshine to the world around you.
Okay, as a millennial, I can’t hear the word pivot without thinking of this scene from Friends. But, silliness aside, Ross was correct; you have to pivot and pivot well. The longer I sew, the more agitated I get when I make foolish cutting or measuring mistakes in my garments. Like my shortalls from last year, I tried them on over the weekend because it is feeling warm and springlike here, and I was shocked by how poorly I fit the shorts. The top portion of the shorts fits excellently, but not the shorts. No one wants weird bunching when it comes to shorts, and that was exactly the problem!
At first, I went through the stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance that no matter how delusional I chose to be, these shortalls are uncomfortable. I would not wear them. This made me feel so many regrets. The pink overalls I drafted completely from scratch, using a special fabric featuring corgis and bread from a Japanese fabric brand called Kokka Fabric, sourced from my local fabric shop, Firecracker Fabrics. The second pair was cobbled together as a challenge of fabric and repurposing. The fabric was 1 yard of 59″ cotton twill from Mood Fabrics, and the pockets were sourced from a pair of shorts in my closet. I refused to scrap these. But what could I do to fix these? With all the patterns at play, adding in a new fabric sounded scary. Cutting these into bags or future quilting projects was throwing in the towel too soon for me.
My solution came to me one night, as I was washing my face; I didn’t have to make a drastic change. I had to address the problem – the way I cut the curve of the pants. I could remove the section that divided the fabric into legs, and transform the shortalls into pinafore dresses with a few cuts and stitches! It was a success! The shorts are now a skirt, by cutting away the curved line and sewing a straight seam on the back and front of the skirt. I also made a quick swap to the back bib of the brown floral pair, adjusting the square bib to the triangle shape of the pink ones. This adjusted the fit of the dress in an excellent way. The purpose of the triangle, I believe, from the fit change on my garment is to eliminate gapping between your shirt and the back bib, so the fit follows the line of your body.
Now, sewing is not the only place to pivot, obviously. Problem-solving is a fundamental part of the creative process. Projects rarely work out the way you want, from knitting to cooking to building a piece of furniture. In this fast fashion, consume and donate, culture poisoning my country’s culture, we are losing the art of problem-solving. This has been exacerbated by the rise of AI and ChatGPT. Why think at all? Why imagine, ponder, or research? Why try if you aren’t going to get “expert” results? That is what the rise of optimization culture is creating: the fear of trying. But you have to try to become an expert. AI is not an expert; it is a thief, stealing the knowledge of humans who have spent years and decades striving to know, unafraid to try and fail. It’s literally the scientific method. So if you are an impressionable person, who is growing up in this current era, don’t give up your creative ability for AI to do it for you. You will lose crucial thinking and creative skills if you don’t exercise your mind and problem-solve on your own. Just do it.
On Friday morning, I woke up to a shocking announcement as a NCTzen, Mark Lee of NCT 127, NCT Dream, and NCT U did not renew his contract with NCT and SM Entertainment, effective April 8, 2026. Just like that, everything has changed once again in NCT. For context, NCT is a very complex project with multiple subunits and a large roster of band members. The NCT sub-unit that I follow closely is NCT 127, the eight-member (used to be nine, until 2024) boy band consisting of Taeyong, Mark, Yuta, Johnny, Haechan, Jaehyun, Doyoung, and Jungwoo. Mark is one of the main rappers, a key part of the sound of these groups, a songwriter with Taeyong for NCT 127, and the leader of NCT Dream. NCT 127 is about to celebrate its 10th anniversary on April 9th – why is this happening?
As a NCTzen, nothing has felt normal in the group since 2024, when leader Taeyong began his military service. While he was gone, NCT 127 released one group comeback album and various solo projects, including Mark’s solo album in 2025. The solo projects have felt like a welcome distraction, as Jaehyun (2024), Doyoung, and Jungwoo (2025) began military enlistment. My favorite solo project so far has been Yuta’s J-Rock style albums that evoke the rock and metal music I loved in high school. Not even the solo projects could distract from the disturbing news, on August 28, 2024, that former member Taeil was no longer a member of NCT due to sexual assault allegations, with SM terminating his contract a few months later. Taeil was convicted in 2025, and is currently serving a prison sentence, a very short prison sentence, unfortunately. So in summation, NCTzens have been through a roller coaster of emotions since 2024.
With Taeyong’s return to group activities for 2026, this was supposed to be a new beginning, not another goodbye. I’m hoping that, in time, more will be revealed as to why Mark is departing so suddenly. I thought his solo album was good; inspired by his faith, it was a light shining in the darkness of 2025. I know that SM is a company with messy dynamics. Three EXO members recently went to court against SM over a contract dispute, and Red Velvet members Wendy and Yeri recently left SM, while remaining members of the band. Mark’s departure from both the band and the company is uncharted waters, and I’m sad. I hope all is well and that whatever is next for Mark, he will be blessed.
This is not the first departure in K-Pop for 2026; it has been an ever-growing list. So far, Danielle from New Jeans, Manon from Katseye (hiatus), Heeseung from Enhyphen, and JYP have departed or changed their roles, in the case of JYPapi. In tricky times such as these, the K-Pop world has one solution: direct hatred towards Stray Kids – and I am so fed up with the hate. In the wake of Mark’s announcement, I saw posts calling for Stray Kids to be next. Wishing all kinds of ills of the members and the group. Why is Stray Kids always the scapegoat? (Also, Jennie. Stop hating on Jennie.)
So, general K-Pop fans who like to dunk on Stray Kids, what has this toxic behavior accomplished for you? The AI-deep fakes have led to legal action by JYP Entertainment in two countries. Stray Kids won major awards, completed the biggest world tour, and wrote multiple hits in response to your hate. Such as God’s Menu, the entire No Easy, aka “noisy” album, S-Class, Comflex, Ceremony, and Phoenix, to name a few. As Bang Chan says in their song, 3RACHA, “They always say the same excuses. While they’re complainin’, we’re producin’.” So can everyone just hush and enjoy the variety in K-Pop?
To a more positive note, I am really enjoying the new BTS album, Arirang. Now, I became a fan of K-Pop at the start of 2022, with my introduction to BTS being Dynamite and Butter. Two songs I quite enjoy, but I didn’t get to experience the true BTS or a full band comeback experience until now, and dang, after a long military hiatus, I’m starting to get the BTS hype. See Army – Stays and Army can co-exist peacefully. Arirang has range. I appreciate the mellow beauty of Swim, and the haunting melancholy of Merry-Go-Round. Aliens, FYA, and Hooligan have been in my head for days. For me, BTS has an interesting duality to their vocal range. Compared to the “racha” subunits I am used to from Stray Kids, or the structure of an Ateez or NCT song, where the rappers and vocalists have clear parts, BTS flows. I’m still learning what each member sounds like, and I’m constantly surprised to learn who is doing what part. I’m excited for what the future holds for BTS, cause yeah, I get the hype now.
It’s a relief, actually, to see that in spite of military interruptions, BTS came back as one cohesive team. What has felt so heavy about Mark’s departure from NCT has been the military service and the removal of the evil one. Can we just get a breath? Will this band still be the same by the time everyone is reunited again, like BTS? I sure hope so.
I want to start off by pleading with Pinterest, please don’t work with OpenAI. (I know this is purely a rumor, but even so, I think using the internet to voice opinions is important.) I have been using your platform since 2012, and it is so useful! It has become less useful over time, with the “purely financial” decisions of peppering in a multitude of advertising pins and allowing AI-generated art to invade the platform. Even so, it is still a platform I use and love to escape into for inspiration.
Without Pinterest, creative writing projects like Udal Cuain, knitting colorwork projects, sewing projects, and home decor ideas would have been more difficult to source and may not have been on my radar – ever. I’ve even learned simplified versions of songs to play on the piano before I bought proper books, for free through Pinterest. Now what about fandoms? On really difficult days, my Stray Kids board is filled with memes, SKZ Code, captured moments from lives, silly edits, and STAY inside jokes that would not exist in one place to make me smile.
I don’t want to leave Pinterest at all, but there comes a time when we must make a stand for what is right – if you integrate with OpenAI, as rumors have thrown around, many other like-minded individuals, and I will leave because, as artists, we will not stand for the theft being carried out by generative AI of our work. Art is human. Generative AI is regurgitation. Art is for an audience of many; AI-generated art is for an audience of one. Human-made art has emotion; AI-generated art is the result of algorithmic decisions. AI-generated things are not new; they are not groundbreaking. They are human effort and human creativity scraped by these computers and served up as “new” all while consuming vast amounts of electricity and clean water, for nothing but perceived “innovation” that makes these tech bros wealthier. It gives nothing to humanity; it feeds the greed of the few. Alright, that’s enough of looking into the abyss for me.
How do I plan to make this change if Pinterest is bought by OpenAI?
Crafting Books
Used Books, Magazines, and Catalogs
Respectful Fan Accounts on Instagram
Physical Notebooks
Migrating to Milanote
Blogs and Research
Building a Creative 3rd Place Elsewhere
Creating Your Own Charts
Physical Moodboards
Acknowledging Frustration
Diving into History
Utilizing Libraries
Yes, we’ll be going back to analog inspirations, like going back to the 1990s and 2000s. I’ll be crafting even slower, researching longer, and spending more time digging to learn how to do new techniques like fillet crochet or how to paint using gouache paints, but that’s okay. At least it will be honest inspiration. In time, we will all come back together through a new creative community platform, and it will be a bit of a waste of time. So, Pinterest, put these rumors to bed, please, because when it comes to AI, we artists mean business, and you will be left behind.
Last week, I shared my anticipation for Ateez’s first 2026 comeback, Golden Hour: Part 4. This album exceeded my expectations! It may be a short 5-track extended play, but it hits you like a flavor bomb. I had expressed boredom with the recent direction of their music, and I still hold this opinion of some of the music from Golden Hour: Part 2 and Part 3, but I am starting to see the vision.
Ghost
Ghost blends the traditional Ateez sound and production with the new thematic explorations of Golden Hour: Part 3 and In Your Fantasy Edition. There was an 80s sound to some of the songs in Part 3 that was okay, but not my favorite. Bringing the two artistic elements together feels like Ateez’s full circle. This song was a great opening for the album to bridge the transition of where they have been creatively and where we are going. Without it, Adrenaline and Ghost would feel jarring, in my opinion.
There’s no way out, 경고하는 메시지 Don’t say it out, 네 귀에 속삭이지 되돌리기엔 이미 늦어버렸지 Know you want it more, more than me
[Chorus:] Now, you see that I’m a ghost When the lights get low 네 진심의 끈을 풀어 Now, you see it in your soul When I get so close 감촉만 새기고 가
Adrenaline
I love this song! It’s one of those title tracks that I replay, over and over, and don’t get bored – for real. Adrenaline reminds me of some of my favorite past Ateez title tracks – Wonderland, Guerrilla, Hala Hala, Say My Name. Yeosang being front and center for the chorus is what we were asking for. I love how his voice pairs with San and Yunho. This song was less formulaic. It isn’t a build just to Mingi rapping or Junho hitting an impossibly high note. Hongjoong is still captain but sprinkled in, yet because he writes their music, you can feel his presence in the tone and character, a lot like Taeyong (NCT 127) or Bang Chan (Stray Kids).
The pre-chorus is my favorite part of the song. It builds before the beat drop, with four different members and their unique styles, increasing the tension in the song like adrenaline building in your body. It was such a clever detail to make the song come to life.
[Pre-Chorus: Yeosang, Yunho, San, Seonghwa] I can feel it go, flushin’ through my veins 시동 걸어 막 활활 타오르게 I can feel it go, runnin’ through my veins Buzzin’ up my neck, pumpin’ adrenaline I can feel it go, flushin’ through my veins 시동 걸어 막 활활 타오르게 I can feel it go, runnin’ through my veins Buzzin’ up my neck, pumpin’ adrenaline (Let’s go)
I have been underwhelmed by San’s contributions in recent years, as just the dude being used as the muscle eye candy instead of utilizing his voice. Finally, his singing is back, and he kept his shirt on. This was a gimmicky part of Ice on My Teeth that I didn’t care for because I’m not into women being objectified, and I don’t want men objectified either.
NASA
Some of the lyrics of this song are a little cringe, like referencing Apple Stock, but I think that is because NASA is also an American agency, so it felt a bit US-centered, but I get it for the theme. I’m probably projecting all my current political frustration on these lyrics because this song is good. It’s a slow burn, satisfying earworm. I love the stage performance for KBS, in their space suit-inspired outfits. There is this lovely, quiet moment on a bridge with what you assume is “space” sound. I would love for them to make more music like this song. It’s unlike anything else in their discography.
[Pre-Chorus: Wooyoung, Jongho] 뱉어 난 gold and silver 만들어, masterpiece 가치는 안 변하지 It’s ’til I rest in peace Turn up I fly, so higher than the sky We go 저 우주까지 올라, going up
[Chorus: Yunho, Yeosang, Wooyoung, *San*, Seonghwa] Shoot for the stars like NASA, always going up like my stack Ready on your mark, go faster, shoot for the stars like NASA
On The Road
This is a solid song, not my favorite, but melodically good. A breath of fresh air after two songs with big energy. It’s a song that I think will grow on me in time until I love it. It’s chill, but explores themes that they have always been good at exploring. Melodically, it reminds me of Wave, The Ring, and maybe Django.
[Pre-Chorus: Yunho, Seonghwa] Can’t stay behind 다시 시작인 것처럼 We live our lives ‘Cause I’ma go down this road tonight
[Chorus: Wooyoung, San, Jongho] Go left, go right I’ma go down this road tonight That’s right, it’s time ‘Cause, nothing won’t make me change my mind Oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh Oh-oh-oh Yeah, we’re goin’ down this road tonight
This happens to me often with B-sides from K-pop. For example, when Aespa released Armageddon in 2024, my favorite songs were Supernova and Armageddon, but now in 2026, I love Bahama and Live My Life. The same with Nmixx and their Fe:304 Forward album from 2025, I loved Know About Me, and Slingshot, but now Ocean is a song I never skip.
Choose
The sentimental favorite. I recently used this song to share my ‘Melt the ICE’ hat on Instagram for the ache of this song’s emotion. I choose to stand with my neighbor, and this song excels in making me feel love. It was a great choice to end the album, a bit of a lighter production song after the EDM of Adrenaline and NASA. I believe this song was released as a single for the seventh anniversary of ATINY, the Ateez fandom.
We can be forever lost under velvet skies Fall together closer ‘Cause I would choose you And I’m trying, I’m trying, it’s you, nobody
We can stay forever even in quiet nights Run together closer ‘Cause I would choose you And I’m trying, I’m trying, it’s you, nobody
Going into 2025, I was seriously questioning my Atiny allegiance. Like, how many albums do you have to skip to not consider yourself a fan anymore? I mean, it happened to me with TOP. Thankfully, it was really just one and a half, but it felt like a long time of being in an Ateez desert, waiting for the pirate ship to sail overhead. If you are looking for something a little different to listen to, give Golden Hour: Part 4 a try!
I’ve shared several animal ear projects on the blog before, the Cat Ear Beanie, and my Loverboy re-creation Bunny Hat, but now, without further ado, may I present the Bat Ear Beanie! This was made with less than 100 grams of local spun wool I found at my farmer’s market, held double with less than 100 grams of Knit Picks Snuggle Puff yarn in Neptune. I decided to crochet this hat instead of knitting, as I did with previous projects, to have a bit more freedom in the creation. Crochet reminds me of sculpture or papier-mache. You can always add onto the stitches in ways that the tension of knit stitches does not allow, and for that, the bat ear project seemed like a great place to practice my crochet technique once again.
The hat was crocheted in the round – so much easier than knitting in the round, in my opinion, with double crochet stitches, and was knit like a normal hat. I don’t have an exact pattern for it, but you can easily make it to your measurements. The yarn I used, one strand Snuggle Puff, a heavy worsted, and one strand local wool, a DK weight, resulted in an Aran/Bulky-weight yarn. Because of this, I used a 5.5 mm hook to create my stitches. I chained the number of stitches I needed based on my head measurement and double crocheted around and around until the hat was long enough to cover my ears and most of my head, then I began my decreases. I wanted a gradual curve shape for the crown of this hat. Go slow, and remember, you can always frog and try again if the shape is not what you want. After the hat was complete, I plotted my bat ears.
What makes an animal hat special to me is the scale and placement. What I learned with my cat ear beanie was that you can make the ears too wide and too big, leading to a sloppy effect. With the bunny hat, I learned you can put them too close together, not allowing the ears to drape properly. The effect can change the entire character of the piece, so place your ears with care and think about how you want to wear it on your head so that the animal cuteness is achieved. For this hat, I was inspired by the hat Felix from Stray Kids wears at the beginning of the Creed music video from 2025.
I began my bat ears by picking up stitches on the outside of the hat. I also crocheted these in a round, to give these good structure. By crocheting these in a round, to keep the tension even across the ears, so that they would stay upward like a bat. I used single crochet stitches and tapered the ears accordingly, simply weaving in the end to the inside of the hat, with a tapestry needle.
Why did I choose a bat? To raise awareness for bats. Did you know that bats are not a nuisance, but an essential part of the ecosystem? But due to misunderstanding the nocturnal animal, mainly I would say due to vampire lore, they are seen as dangerous. Yes, they can carry rabies like many wild animals, but this is not a reason for the animal to go extinct. Their habitats are under threat, and they deserve the space to thrive. They eat pests, contribute to the pollination process, and help spread seeds.
So it’s 2026, and if you’re online, there is a good chance you have seen the 2026 to 2016 posts. The nostalgia for 2016 is real, even making me look at one of the most volatile years of my life through rose-colored glasses. But even though the 2010s were full of change for me, beginning with my junior year of high school, and ending with 2019, globally leading us into the pandemic. How weird is that? I got my license, my high school diploma, traveled to Europe, graduated from college, got married, moved out, had my first job (more like jobs), tried to have a career, reunited with my dad, met my siblings, moved out of state, wrote a novel, and lost several loved ones in 2016. My family fractured – it was so much personal change! But even so, I miss the optimism of the hipster era. I miss the simplicity of the pre-AI era and the pre-social media domination of our world. We were less logged in, less screen addicted. I’ve been drawn to watching Portlandia again, yearning for a coffee shop to spend the day in while listening to indie music, a simpler time. This week, I’ve found myself walking down memory lane in the form of 2010’s alternative music. Bands I haven’t thought of for a decade – The Joy Formidable, Phantogram, Joywave, Bear Hands, Sir Sly, etc. But one band, I determined in this holiday, into nostalgia I will not listen to again, even though they were a band I loved in the 2010s – Twenty One Pilots.
This is a bit of an oddball post. I haven’t listened to Twenty One Pilots since 2018, but for a three-year stretch, they were my favorite band. I collected merch, CDs, and ate up the lore. The para-social relationship was built on mental health struggles, faith, and being “quirky” felt comfortable. I mean, this was the mid-2010s and the height of the “not like other girls” trope. I relished in the alternative feel of their music, what I now understand to be noise music, and the darkness I felt in my own life craved the outlet to plug into. Josh understood my shyness, and Tyler understood the anxiety and depression I was feeling at the time. It felt safe because they were “Christians” and their music had “biblical references,” but they were also questioning everything and challenging the void. I didn’t see at the time how much un-aliving yourself idealization there was in the nihilistic moments of their music. The more I listened to their music, the more depressed I felt, and that is where I began to wake out of the dream I was walking in. I haven’t seen them or their music the same way since.
I think right now, with all the ways Christianity is being watered down, misused for political manipulation, and trampled upon by religious fundamentalists, I don’t want to listen to a band that is “somewhat Christian” again. That is not an estimation of their music either; that is what I found when I looked at the TOP subreddit today. That sentiment reminded me of what turned me off the most from their music, Tyler’s waffling. Or should I say deconstructing? That was another discussion I found on the subreddit. Now it is only fair to discuss this, with my own struggles out in the open. There were some things that came to light in recent months about someone I know, who is a pastor, which contradict the Bible, and it made me furious. Combine that with the DHS sharing misquoted scripture to claim their racism and violence as a “holy” thing turned me into this character.
What has my spiritual life been like in 2025 and now in 2026? Clinging to who I know God is in the midst of all these evil, power-hungry syncophants. Have I been reading my Bible daily? No, I have been a slacker. Have I been praying consistently? Yes, more than I have been reading my Bible. Have I been avoiding Christian culture? Yes. Where have I found myself gravitating towards? People who are acting out their faith and non-believers acting in ways that mirror what the Bible calls us to do. Never in this muck and mire have I wanted to imagine a world without God. If anything, it has made me crave God’s presence in this world with more frequency. It has to be a real connection. Faith is not a feeling, and it is not something you choose one day and rip apart the next. It calls for trust and for submission to align every part of your life under what you believe in. Faith is telos. Faith does not exist in a vacuum, nor do our relationships. Some days, having faith in good triumphing over evil feels like an extremely radical thing. There is no space for indecision.
Now, Tyler is allowed to feel and think what he wants, as long as he is not hurting anyone. I don’t care. But do I think he is a good example? No. There is an immaturity to his faith. A fence sitting that is only hurting him. As Earl Smooter says in Sweet Home Alabama, “You can’t ride two horses with one ass, sugarbean.” My need for conciseness and clarity is, for sure, part of my neurodivergence. I like it when people communicate directly. Honestly. I prefer the path laid out by another favorite artist.
I give life to my words (Yeah, I’m doing what I say) I reach heights from the dirt (Yeah, I’m doing what I say) You know I bite the way I bark (Yeah, I’m doing what I say) (Doing what I say, doing what I say)
Creed by Stray Kids
Decision matters. Being aligned with what you believe in, in every aspect of your life, which takes being truly honest with yourself, will bring mental peace. Mental peace was something I never personally felt from their music. I could feel the overthinking, tearing at the seams, the complete drifting in the current. It could be dressed up with lore or cringing lyrics, but the identity was never solid. Taking time away from their music gave me such relief. Ironically, my time of being part of the Clique was followed by a period of listening to mostly worship music for a few years before landing in K-pop. I think I personally matured out of the place where the Clique remains, waiting for identity. Where their leader remains. I think it is easier to not confront ourselves than it is, to have these times of personal crossexamination. But I think it’s a poor witness for your faith to never pick a side. How can something so integral to your life, your worldview, be left with unresolved doubt? What a loose end.
Deconstruct with integrity. Affirm your faith with integrity. I’m all in favor of confronting the church for its cowardice over injustice in America. Jesus showed us how. So did his servant Paul. But to leave it as a vague, Blurryface, is immature thinking. Through my research for this post, my searches for a clear answer about Tyler’s faith left me with more questions. Like a politician, it is vague and hard to define. Answers offered were that he can’t put it into words, he is wrestling, still defining, or can’t put it into words. What? More digging led to answers outlining TOP’s music as his way of communicating his search for understanding. To explore doubt by supposing a world without God – well, that’s why I found their music so dark! I am actively shaking my head. Again, there needs to be more maturity in songwriting, creative writing, philosophy – something to explore these themes with more nuance. I am just not impressed. Especially when you contrast Tyler’s exposition of his faith and the world we are living in, to the faith journeys of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. In summation, I find the faith and doubt of TOP to be cliché and played out. Go deeper. Tell us what you believe in, like fans have requested, concerning the genocide in Gaza.
Now, TOP fans, this is my opinion, and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. None of this was written as an attack on you or your favorite group, just my honest reflection on a time of my life where Twenty One Pilots spoke to me. I’d say really the only part of this “lore” I’ve listened to is these four albums – Twenty One Pilots (2009), Vessel (2013), which was my favorite, Blurryface (2015 the album I started with, and Trench (2018), which I disliked so much I sold my concert tickets and donated my merch. You, Clique, have popularity on your side. I know I am in the minority, but I’m also in the minority of thinking Taylor Swift is a terrible songwriter, and that hasn’t stopped me.
What kind of music did you enjoy in the 2010s? Has your music taste changed? Thanks for spending time with me today, dear reader. Until next time ❤
For two years, I’ve been mulling over how to dive into Stray Kids and their music, the way I’ve done with other K-pop artists, like aespa, Ateez, and i-dle. I sipped my toes in with My Tagline and Skz Hop Hip Tape, but I have not shared anything deeper, because dang, this band can be controversial, fan wars suck, and I also deeply love their music. It’s got me through rough patches and high highs; it is probably my neurodivergent special interest. It’s a spiderweb of music, funny moments, and an overall safe place to land, thanks to elements like Chan’s Room. Borrowing the Song-A-Day challenge format and filling out my own card seemed like the perfect way to get back into K-pop deep dives. (Then I hope – I can finally get myself to write about Kpop Demon Hunters!)
DAY 1 – My first experience with the eight-member Korean boy band, Stray Kids, was their song Maniac (2022). Shortly after Maniac and its album, Oddinary, were released in March 2022, the algorithm served me the Maniac music video, and my taste in music has been transformed. For good, I’d say!
DAY 2 – Case 143, released in October 2022, was my first official comeback experience. With the release of Maxident, I discovered Skz Code, compilations of funny moments, memes, etc. I dipped my toes into the world of Stay and haven’t looked back. Case 143 is one of their songs that challenges song structure, the whole way through. It’s complex.
DAY 3 – Creed. I think this because Karma was released at a time (August 2025) when I felt lost, pissed off, and in need of a song that captured how fed up I was feeling about the world. But I needed a song that was not one of my old standbys of Breaking Benjamin, Evanescence, System of a Down, or Nightwish. Stray Kids, no matter what emotion they explore, always have light in the darkness. I listened to this song like an emotional release through August, September, and in the culmination of stress in October. It just scratched that part of my brain that needed a song to echo all my big feelings.
DAY 4 – Novel is a fantastic, underrated song with a great high note. It’s from The Sound (February 2023), a Japanese release, so it flies under the radar until you dig into their discography. I found it this year while listening to the full The Sound album while tilling the garden.
DAY 5 – My favorite SKZ record is Want so Bad by Minsung, also known as Lee Know and Han. I love this song for its music, the happy feeling it brings me when I listen to it, and the thrill of these two pals getting to write a song just the two of them. This is not because I am shipping them. I’d also argue this song would be lovely in a K-drama similar to The Potato Lab or Business Proposal. It is instant dopamine, give it a listen! My final thought is, listening to this song again, Lee Know’s song Youth from the SKZ Hop album feels like a sequel to this song in their discography, which is varied and, to be honest, vast for only being a band for 8 years.
DAY 6 – Haven is a song about identity and courage, being yourself, and it is so comforting. All I want is the space to be myself. This song was released in 2020, but it didn’t hit my radar until 2024, when they performed it at Lollapalooza in Chicago, and it was like it hit me in my core. I felt like I had found a little virtual home in their music. A haven, literally. I’ve always felt like an outsider – a stray.
DAY 7 – My Pace is a no-skip; it is a song that, when it plays, I must listen and soak up all the vibes of this anthem. I love Changbin’s barking, aggressive rap lines. I want to jump around. It was another stunner from Lollapalooza that I hadn’t appreciated in its true form until I watched them perform it on a big stage. My Pace is an original, from their early days back in 2018, when Stray Kids were still rookies. They have always been good and always deeper than the “noise music” or “braggy” accusations.
DAY 8 – Divine, you have bewitched me body and soul, and I love you most ardently. There is not a boring song on ‘Do It’ (November 2025), to be clear, but this new song, Divine, has eclipsed Do It for me. Divine’s music video is such a fun ride if you like vintage Asian cinema or stories like Smallville, Lord of the Rings, etc. They face down a dark force and defeat it, turning their enemies into the scales of a sweeping dragon in a painting. The song showcases a Korean legend, with the lesson being not to escape away from reality too far and neglect your responsibilities. There is an old school hip-hop feel, random noises, and the electric energy of God’s Menu and Thunderous.
DAY 9 – Just one favorite B-side? That’s cruel. The b-sides are where Stray Kids really shine. I guess if I can only choose one, Leave (November 2023). It’s such a bop. It’s one of their softer, melodic songs that, in my opinion, marked the new era of Stray Kids. By 2023, they were fine-tuning their sound, and I could see where the possibilities could be long-term. The way they share the lyrics across the song, they truly are one band. One sound. Also, that chorus, “Lalalala la Lalalala x3, I’m missing you.” It’s haunting and beautiful. I could see how this band would be one I would keep listening to, as long as they want to put out music.
DAY 10 – LALALALA from the November 2023 album, Rockstar, is magnetic. LALALALA is language play. The original Chinese character Rak, pronounced slightly between la and ra (To the best of my understanding, I am not an expert.) and represents emotions – fear, sadness, anger, and happiness. The song’s journey gets rid of the rest until only happiness remains. Using the repetition of “Feel the rock” and “Let it rock” to bridge the gap between east and west, delicately weaving together this metaphor. The dance, oh, how I wish I could do it. The beat is so catchy. Such a good hype song!
DAY 11 – I’m a sucker for a Seungmin soundtrack. If I had a clear bias in the group (I’m an OT8 bias for reference), Seungmin would most likely be my bias wrecker for how I have grown to appreciate his vocal range since 2022. For all eight members, my favorite OST would be ‘Why?’ from January 2024, but overall, I am enamoured by My Destiny by Seungmin and the growth of his voice over the years. There is nowhere to hide in My Destiny; it is all vocals. So again to the haters, if you think Stray Kids are phonies, they are most certainly not! My Destiny is a romantic song with a subtle melody, perfect for the K-drama, The Potato Lab (March 2025).
DAY 12 – Ceremony (August 2025) is the best workout song, full stop. Try listening to it while doing cardio. The song doesn’t have a chorus until the end; it just keeps building and circling. It will push you, but it will feel like an exhilarating party.
DAY 13 – Parade is a Japanese release from the Hollow album (June 2025), which I’d love to see them circle back to with a music video. A full-scale production with a real parade, a band, confetti, floats, and excitement. Something like Ceremony would be fun.
DAY 14 – When Hollow (June 2025) came out, it changed me. It melted me, and I cried listening to the lyrics. Like ‘Golden’ and ‘This Is What It Sounds Like’, it broke me. One of my loved ones and I were fighting, and I was worried about their health. A former friend was really piling on their problems, and I was drained and feeling lonely. This song got it.
DAY 15 – I love singing along to Surfin’ even though I can only sing half the words, but dang, what a masterpiece from Lee Know, Changbin, and Felix back in 2021 from the No Easy album. It’s summertime. It’s upbeat. It’s got a rhythm that echoes the cadence of the waves and sea breezes. It’s one of a kind.
DAY 16 – I’d love to see them perform ‘Slash’ from Deadpool and Wolverine (August 2024) live on tour, or maybe a festival performance. I don’t think they have ever performed it. It was released quietly with the Deadpool and Wolverine theater release. To the best of what I’ve gathered from people who saw it, Disney didn’t even put it in the movie…because they suck. But like, what about a tiger, dual sword-wielding, superhero? Yes.
DAY 17 – I’d be interested in them re-releasing Hellevator (2017) with the music production and style they have now. It’s a fantastic song, but it does feel a bit 2010s and Chainsmoker-y in the production, as was popular at the time. No shade to the original.
DAY 18 – I’ve been trying to save God’s Menu (June 2020) and have no duplicates, but the opening sequence of God’s Menu goes
어서 오십시오 eoseo osibsio
이 가게는 참 메뉴가 고르기도 쉽죠 i gageneun cham menyuga goleugido swibjyo
and sounds like Changbin is saying “shit show.” I’ve shared this song with a loved one, and they literally have remarked, “Ah, it’s the shit show song” upon hearing it. Still the funniest misheard lyric for me.
DAY 19 – S-Class (June 2023) from the 5-Star Album was not my jam the first time around. It took multiple tries, and feeling a bit lost, until this song won me over. It was so different in structure. But that whistle, the chorus, and the music video eventually got me excited. Now this is one of my favorite title tracks for its signature Stray Kids randomness.
DAY 20 – Tortoise and the Hare (September 2020) for me is the most meme-worthy song because of one simple chorus swap – I know, you know, we know, Lee Know. This was reprised in the song Jjam in July 2024 from the album ATE. It is one of my favorite little easter eggs, especially when Lee Know encourages it with random Tortoise and the Hare references.
DAY 21 – Okay, this might be a weird pick to play for grandparents, but they were both into music. I’m choosing my maternal grandparents for this. Papa was in a quartet, and Grandma was a pianist who also taught. If I could catch their interest with good vocals, solid music, and the romance of the song, I could have opened the door to showing them more. My choice, if they were still here, is Waiting for Us from the album Oddinary (March 2023).
DAY 22 – Cheese is a go-to sing for me when I have chores to do around the house and zero motivation. This song is from No Easy (2021) and has so much attitude. I love it. This song has a misheard lyric for me – “Hook ya? Cheese!” It’s also a song that makes me think of my dog Sully, who loved cheese.
DAY 23 – Since I already used God’s Menu, and I refuse to duplicate with this many songs to choose from, I say Thunderous from No Easy (2021). This song has swagger. I listened to this song second, after Maniac, with maybe God’s Menu or Venom afterwards. Upon watching the Thunderous music video, I thought, “How freaking cool is this band?!” I’d never heard a band blend modern and traditional with such skill before.
DAY 24 – DLMLU or Don’t Let Me Love You (2023) is one of their great, slightly problematic love songs. They do a fantastic job of capturing the dysfunction of relationships, and this song is just that, a song fighting the undeniable pull the narrator feels. It’s got a great beat, and doesn’t get the attention of other Stray Kids songs, such as I Like It or Collision. Honorable mention: Venom (2022), which gets sidelined for Maniac but is complex, satisfying, and has a fun music video.
DAY 25 – In 2023, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign covered All In by Stray Kids at a halftime show, and it was so flipping satisfying. I have been waiting for their music to show up like this, and when it did, I was over the moon. All In is a high-energy Japanese release from October 2020.
DAY 26 – Cover Me from 2023’s Rockstar album stood out for many reasons, one of them being the harmonizing, the slow pace, and the one-take high note from Seungmin that is phenomenal. But the lyrics got me; they captured the feelings I’ve felt for so long. Being the kid on the fringe. All my friends had two parents, didn’t live with their grandparents, had siblings with the same mom and dad, didn’t have childhood trauma, and now I understand the outside thing I felt was also because of neurodivergence. I’ve never quite fit anywhere, only in passing, and this song gets all of those feelings. Thank you, Hyunjin, for this gem.
DAY 27 – Rama Giant! That’s how Han’s recording sounds, and I love it. It’s supposed to be “I’m a giant.” I also love this music video, as the meaning is deeper than it seems. Han’s sneeze. The clever line of “do re me fa King giant!” This title track, Giant came out in October 2024, on an album of the same name. I’m not over this song. It was one of my most listened to albums of 2025. It’s a Japanese release, so it gets less notoriety, but that’s okay. I hope one day they add it to the regular set.
DAY 28 – Domino is iconic. It’s also a great car jam because there is no weird stuff in the background, as Kyle says. He doesn’t like how much chaos, sirens, etc, they add to the back track for driving, and I get it. It does create mental chaos. Domino, from No Easy (2021), has been a favorite since my first listen. The cadence, the creativity. I just love listening to it, but especially in the car on a zippy and winding road.
DAY 29 – Chan’s solo, Railway (2024), would be my choice for a superhero theme, maybe an odd choice, but I could see it working for a complex, maybe misunderstood superhero? Watching Smallville has shown me the levels, and somewhere underneath, Clark Kent is here in this song, in the moments when he feels like an outsider. Maybe a show where both Railway and Escape were the title credits and ending credits? That could be satisfying.
DAY 30 – Night (2024) is an original soundtrack, but dang, this song is so good. It’s like a rock opera. The guitar, the piano, the range of the vocals, and the orchestral swell of it all into a final crescendo. This song could easily be just a song for an album. I really want them to keep exploring J-rock and these big opus-type songs. It brings everything I love about classical music into the mix. I crave more.
DAY 31 – Chk Chk Boom has currently dethroned Miroh for me as the Stray Kids anthem, please Stay, don’t hate me. It’s just been the song that has had such massive reach for the past year with awards, the Dominate tour, and even the satisfying feature of Ryan Reynolds in the music video. It shows how much they have accomplished, and it is also a fantastic song.
Phew! I did it. That was a lot of decisions, and I could probably keep revising and revising. I truly love their discography; it’s self-produced, written by them, and choreographed by them. They recently won the Daesang (album of the year) at MAMA 2025. They broke the Billboard 200 record for No. 1 album debuts with Karma, and extended the record to 8 with Do It. It’s truly impressive. In this world of increasing convenience, AI slop, and conformity, you can still excel and be yourself. That’s what they have done.
This is a bit of a follow-up to my discussion of cultural boredom from earlier this year, a little update to my creative slump, and exciting developments for my hunt to replace my reliable crafting supplies. The world still feels like it is on fire, but I think I am learning how to thrive again. It takes me a long time to process things, so maybe that’s why?
Spaghetti and Gnarly
Le Sserafim released a song that captures the wonderfully nonsensical world of a good K-pop song. Spaghetti is catchy, silly, and makes me crave spaghetti, so that’s what I am cooking tonight. It is what I remember the music videos of K-pop to look like when I took the plunge in 2022. It was fun, and in the last few years, it has lost some of its luster with darker concepts, instead of cute, and a bit uninspired. Although I’m fully into K-pop, it has been repetitive and bland for most of 2025. Except for my favorites – Stray Kids and Nmixx. Enter Gnarly by Katseye. A song that is so jarring it’s bad but also amazing, it’s been a weird one for me, the thesis of this year, it has felt like. “Everything is gnarly.” A phrase that has carried me through bizarre headlines and life’s bumpy road this year. For me, Gnarly was going to be the song that typified what I remember feeling in 2025, until Bleep by Stray Kids dropped in August. But now, I hope I will remember moments that feel like the upbeat wonder of Spaghetti. What about Golden? I desperately need to compile notes for K-pop Demon Hunters because that has been such a gift.
Big Twist at Michaels
Big Twist is back at Michaels, for real, and it’s kind of silly to admit this, but it feels comforting. There’s a Joann Knit and Sew Shop section in the store, and like, maybe it was a bad dream? I mean, all the crafting drama definitely happened this year between private equity, tariffs, and Sci Show declaring the arrival of physicists to help the knitters. The familiarity was maybe all my neurodivergent mind needed to just relax a bit? Now the fabric is not good, but it could get better in time. I’m choosing to be hopeful, I mean, the recent US election showed a strong rejection of the Trump Administration, so as people have said all year, if it can get worse, it can get better. And for me, who hates change with a passion, I’ve learned that if it disappears, it can come back. I just need to work on my patience. I have found a second local yarn store in my own state, and a great local fabric shop. I’d say I’m pleased to the point that I am not missing Joann like I thought I would.
Stitches for Identity
I believe I am finally moving out of the depressed forest that is being laid off due to personal and global trauma. I’ve been listening to Kitchen and Jorn’s Losing Followers Podcast, where they have been talking through the post-Buzzfeed time of their careers. I was in a toxic job at Great Dane Trailers in the late 2010s, and it was freeing yet terrifying to lose that job. Listening to Jen and Kristin talk through the transition of leaving a job that demanded all of them, to be free from that monster, but also lose all connection to the project they built from the ground up, has been a balm to me. When I was laid off, I lost my app and my content calendar, my magazine contribution. I was wrecked, and I didn’t know how to process that for years. I felt like a loser. I dove into crafting, and for years, those stitches of thread and yarn gave me meaning.
The blog, though, and finally this year uploading my manuscript to this website this year connected me back to what makes me feel like me. I have always been drawn to writing, and not having that or a way to work towards something bigger than just sharing my creations on social media was gnarly. But this blog and your community have helped me find my way back. I mean, heck, Udal Cuain and my original blog, where I shared chapters, was the portfolio that landed me the corporate job. Although it’s gone, what I learned and experienced stayed with me and has made me grow into who I am now. This has been a full circle.
It’s been freeing to admit to myself and loved ones that I was depressed by that career loss. Starting over again has been confusing, but it’s not all figured out yet. There is still time to find a new place where I belong. I’m in the process of recalibrating, and that is a direction in itself. I feel freed from the weight of “monetizing my hobby” and the impossible summit of creating a small business as someone who truly is not cut out for the accounting or marketing parts.
Unmasking and Coping for the First Time
Truly, though, as I reflect on this year, getting serious about health – mental, physical, and emotional – for the first time has contributed to the feeling of optimism I have leaving 2025 that I did not have entering 2025. I have healthier boundaries in relationships, more honesty about how I’m doing, and whether I am feeling overstimulated. I recently got into rebounding, aka a fancy term for jumping on a miniature trampoline for cardio. Wow, I like this for my mind! It resets me, and it’s helping me get stronger. I used to feel ashamed of who I am. I didn’t understand why I felt so different, nor did I know how to communicate burnout without pushing friends and loved ones away. Being unmasked was tumultuous for the first couple of months, but now I never want to put that neurotypical mask back on.
How has 2025 changed you? I think it has made me unapologetically empathetic. Bolder to say I disagree with wrong because the stakes have been higher than ever in my lifetime. I hope to carry that forward into 2026, because I think the opposite of late-stage capitalism is community, so let’s burn it down with empathy. Thank you, dear reader, for spending time with me today. I wish you love and kindness.
One Rabbit Riot 