So, uh, how are y’all holding up in the face of apocalypse? I sincerely hope every person reading this is doing alright, and continues to be so until this nightmare comes to an end. Still, as the White Horse of Pestilence sweeps across the globe, those of us stuck inside are facing a lesser, though still real, issue: that humanity as a whole is starting to go a little stir-crazy. I have not left my house in somewhere between two and half, and four weeks. Time has lost all meaning, bi-weekly conference calls have become a highlight of my day, and I am very close to walking the cat for an excuse to go outside. And, like I have in many other trying times, I turned to K-pop.

Rather than searching out new groups or releases, I turned to the past. Not quite old-school, but rather vintage songs. I dug into the music that got me into K-pop in the first place, older tracks that I tend to push aside in favor of newer, shinier music. I have let myself wallow in the feeling of “I haven’t heard this in forever”, reminiscing in the sounds that have been replaced, trends that have been done, overdone, and not done so long ago that they are almost ready to become cool again. If reminiscing on that time from the late 2000s and the early 2010s helps me not shank those around me, then everyone wins.