Music

Favorite Music Video: Chungha - “Snapping”

Chungha SNAPPED! While “Snapping” admittedly isn’t one of my favorite Chungha songs, the music video is beautifully performative. Every outfit and makeup look she fiercely sports makes me dream of pulling them off. What really stood out to me were the squared, close-up shots of her face in every color of the rainbow, bringing attention to the detailed, flawless eye makeup. The fencing imagery was a nice surprise that was well incorporated in each shot. It did not take over the narrative; instead, it added to the video an extra layer of “I own this” vibe. Thanos should feel rightfully threatened as Chungha has taken over snapping.

Favorite Song: Stray Kids - “Side Effects”

Is it a lot? It sure is, but all in its rightful place. “Side Effects” comes as a brilliant cornucopia of genres that only Stray Kids could pull off. It confounds you with a soothing, slow start only to hit you with a heavy, ready-for-battle instrumental layer once the vocals begin chanting. EDM takes over and gets your body moving—there’s no staying still with “Side Effects.” Vocals and piano melodies balance out the strong EDM, leaving the listener to experience an entire set of side effects of their own. “Side Effects” is innovative and unlike anything Stray Kids has done before, and not at all what one would expect from a K-Pop track. More importantly, it does all of its weirdness correctly.

Favorite Music Show Performance- Stray Kids “FANCY” for Music Bank

Okay, okay, this might be cheating, but my favorite rookie boys performing my favorite girl group’s song? The performance came just in time for this article and my heart completely melted. I love “FANCY” and love watching Stray Kids perform live, there wasn’t much that could go wrong here. Seeing the boys in light summer clothes was a breath of fresh air. This special stage is complete proof (not like we didn’t already believe) that Stray Kids can perform anything to perfection.

Beauty

Favorite Face Mask: Mediheal’s Natural Moisturizing Factor - Intensive Hydrating Mask

Look, for someone who was seeing BTS in concert for the seventh and eighth time, I was very excited for all of the freebies. I love my boys, but man, have I spent money on them. Seeing that Mediheal had a completely free stand where I could win MULTIPLE facemasks made me so happy, and I took too much advantage of that. It took me a while to actually use the masks, and my skin did break out a little because it was too dry and I hadn’t done a proper skin care routine in a while. Once I got back to my regular routine, adding the mask was a thing of beauty. Because of it, I’ve been able to reduce how much moisturizer I use and consequently spend less. I was lucky I was able to win so many, but I will definitely start budgeting it in my beauty expenses.