What’s Spinning?: My First K-Pop Bias, All Grown Up
Welcome back to “What’s Spinning?,” a column updating Reedies about new music releases, spotlighting both what’s niche and already popular! I was recently advised to listen to more music that makes me happy, so, of course, this week I turned to my favorite K-Pop group of all time…
Anyone who knows me will know that my absolute favorite K-Pop group is Twice, and a lesser-known fact is that my very first K-Pop bias member in the group was Son Chaeyoung. Twice recently celebrated the ten year anniversary of their debut album in 2015, so you can imagine that many Twice fans were anxiously anticipating Chaeyoung’s solo musical ventures. On September 12, 2025, Chaeyoung’s first solo album, LIL FANTASY vol. 1, was finally released, fulfilling fans’ wishes. Longtime fans of Twice are accustomed to the group’s bubbly, sweet, and often girl-power-centric pop songs, but Chaeyoung’s debut finds a contrasting mellow sound. The song progression of her album follows themes of loneliness, self-consciousness, and the need to find and accept oneself. Her songs flip between bare-bones guitar-focused melodies accompanying a narrative and dreamy, wispily-vocalized, electronic-heavy ballads. Overall, the album incorporates a lot of R&B and indie rock influences. Listeners can definitely hear the stylistic influences of artists like Clairo and The Marías, both of whom Chaeyoung cites as inspiration.
The album’s visual concept is equally interesting as the auditory aspects. Chaeyoung creates a Tim Burton-esque fantasy land which she escapes to in her promotional photos and videos. Her recent Instagram and TikTok posts evoke a whimsical gothic aesthetic, featuring Chaeyoung’s own artwork. Over the last few years, Chaeyoung has steadily posted her own surreal illustrations across social media, and the artwork surrounding LIL FANTASY vol 1. provide a familiar glimpse into her wildly imaginative mindscape.
Standout tracks on the album for me include “AVOCADO (fear. Gliiico),” “SHOOT (Firecracker),” and “내 기타 (My Guitar),” but I highly recommend listening to the album in its intended succession. Chaeyoung’s debut solo album dreamily and concisely delivers on the perfect mission: a peek into the mind, intentions, and deeper feelings of a seasoned K-Pop star, offering insights that don’t typically meet the public eye.