It’s March 2020, so that means it's time for Academic Exiles to finally publish our list of the top 20 K-pop songs from 2019. Along with our friend Kelsey, we compiled our individual lists and used some sort of point system to make the final ranking—let's just blame math for why this post is so... Continue Reading →
It's the holidays, so let's take the time to appreciate small victories. We got the November list out before 2020! While October challenged us with largely underwhelming music, November presented the opposite obstacle. Pretty much everything was good, and a lot of it was really good! We'll see you in the new year with a recap... Continue Reading →
I’ve spent a lot of energy this year thinking and writing about BTS merchandise. Now, just in time for the holiday season, I’m putting my money where my mouth is and buying some of it. Since I’m willing to waste money but not too much money, we’re heading to Wish to get this thing done.... Continue Reading →
Okay, so this one took a while. I'm going to blame the holidays. You know, All Soul's Day, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, National Origami Day—all those classic November holidays that we here at Academic Exiles definitely observe. Or it could have also been the fact that despite all the big comebacks, we didn't really have strong... Continue Reading →
Sometimes, you just have to do what you know. And apparently, what I know is spending way too much time thinking about BTS merchandise. With the launch of the pop-up store House of BTS in Seoul, Mattel created another line of dolls inspired by those precocious Bangtan Boys. Instead of dumpster fires … I mean,... Continue Reading →
We made it before Halloween! Barely, but it still counts. We'll get started right away on sorting through the October debuts and comebacks. I'm guessing we'll be done around February. WORST “Dumb Litty” by KARD S: Despite picking worst songs each month, there actually isn’t much out there that Amanda and I actively hate. Sure,... Continue Reading →
September is almost over, so you know what that means. Academic Exiles is finally ready to post our list of the best songs of August! See you on Halloween, when we’re finally ready to talk about this month. WORST “Hit” by Seventeen S: Whatever “hit sound” is, it isn’t for me. To be fair, I... Continue Reading →
Every time you turn around there’s a K-pop act debuting or coming back, and it’s pretty much impossible to keep up. But dammit, we here at the Academic Exiles try our hardest, consuming just about every new music video we come across. Knowing that busier (and probably saner) people don’t have time to obsess over... Continue Reading →
The BTS Mattel dolls are upon us … or nearly. I guess some people have already gotten theirs, but if you ordered from Amazon and some other retailers in the U.S., they’ll start arriving today. This may shock people who read my original reaction to the designs, but I didn’t immediately place an order when... Continue Reading →
