Halooo selamat hari Selasa semuanya! Aku habis ikut tes psikotes dan rasanya lumayan burn out banget nih. Kepikiran mau ngepost sesuatu di blog tapi kok kayaknya lagi mentok otak kalau harus nulis review. Pas buka Spotify jadi kepikiran, aku kangen deh ngeshare playlist atau lagu-lagu yang lagi aku suka akhir-akhir ini. Dulu sempat beberapa kali bikin playlist of the month, cuma memang nggak terlalu rajin karena suka malas bikin templatenya, jadi nggak rutin dan akhirnya terbengkalai karena blog ini kan nichenya beauty jadi di luar topik beauty agak susah buat ngumpulin materinya.

But anyway, today I feel like sharing my current favorite playlist. Kalau kalian ngikutin aku di Instagram pasti tahu kalau akhir-akhir ini aku lagi getol banget ngewibu hahaha. I'm not new into this whole Japanese thingy, aku udah suka sama musik dan entertainment Jepang dari kecil, bahkan waktu SMA aku ikut klub Jepang di sekolah. Tapi sejak Oktober kemarin, gara-gara langganan Netflix, rasanya kayak cinta lama yang bersemi kembali sama kegiatan ngewibu. Sekarang selain getol explore anime dan manga, terima kasih sama Spotify aku jadi bisa explore J-pop lebih luas lagi. Apalagi playlist Spotify tuh benar-benar bisa pas gitu lho, sesuai sama genre kesukaan kita.

Kemudian akhirnya sekitar sebulan yang lalu aku bikin playlist baru yang isinya khusus lagu-lagu Jepang. Mulai dari soundtrack anime, sampai lagu-lagu yang masuk ke weeb TikTok, ada! Playlistnya aku namain 拾壱ノ型凪 (jū ichi no kata), diambil dari anime/manga Kimetsu no Yaiba yang artinya "Eleventh Form". Aku ngerasa frase 拾壱ノ型凪 tuh spesial karena dalam prakteknya, kekuatan Water Breathing itu cuma sampai 10 bentuk dan Giyuu berhasil bikin bentuk baru yaitu bentuk ke-11. For me, it's a sign of innovation, as well as hope and strength. Cover playlistnya juga diambil dari manga Kimetsu no Yaiba, pas di bagian yang paling bikin aku terharu :") Playlistnya sendiri isinya ada banyak sebenarnya, tapi aku ambil aja top 10 lagu-lagu yang aku paling sering putar.

Well, I hope you guys like today's post dan mungkin ke depannya akan aku bikin lagi postingan kayak gini. Nggak janji bisa setiap bulan sih karena aku sebetulnya jarang bikin playlist haha.

Yuhuu, postingan hari ini akan sedikit berbeda karena aku nggak akan bahas soal beauty product. Paketnya baru banget datang kemarin, dan aku langsung excited buat buka. Jadi buat yang belum tahu, aku ini udah lama sebenarnya jadi fans kpop group. Dulu aku fans garis santainya EXO, aku sempat jadi fansnya One Direction juga tapi setelah kenal EXO jadi nggak bisa berpaling. Sayangnya sejak EXO kehilangan beberapa Chinese membernya, aku jadi kehilangan banget dan patah hati luar biasa karena dulu aku condong ke EXO-M, yang mana 3 membernya hengkang satu per satu. Sejak saat itu aku udah nggak lagi ngefans sampai sebegitunya sama grup kpop manapun, takut patah hati lagi soalnya haha.

Beberapa tahun kemudian, aku punya pacar dan ternyata pacarku diam-diam mulai getol nontonin Twice! Aku kaget aja karena selama kami pacaran, aku jarang juga expose musik Korea ke dia, dan dia sendiri tipikal yang dengerin lagu-lagu heavy metal. Makanya waktu tiba-tiba dia bahas soal Twice, aku kaget banget. Kupikir awalnya kesukaan dia cuma sekedar lewat aja, bakal hilang seiring berjalannya waktu. Tapi ternyata makin ke sini makin intens aja deh tuh mas pacar tenggelam sama dunia Korea termasuk kdrama-nya. Kebetulan dia mau ulang tahun akhir bulan ini, jadi aku memutuskan buat beliin dia album Twice yang paling baru, yang pas banget nih releasenya dekat-dekat, yaitu Twice 9th Mini Album, More & More.

Baca juga: Album Review: Overdose by EXO-M

Awalnya sih udah sempat ditawarin buat beli bareng, tapi aku nggak ada planning sama sekali sampai tiba-tiba ingat kalau mas pacar mau ulang tahun. Langsung lah aku hubungin temanku itu dan untungnya di tempat dia pesan albumnya masih buka PO. Aku di situ masih ragu mau beneran beli apa nggak, soalnya udah lama nggak beli album Korea kan, jadi ada trust issue dulu takut tokonya bermasalah atau apa gitu, soalnya aku sering baca thread di Twitter banyak masalah barang nggak sampai karena ditipu sana sini lah. Buat beli album ini aku pesan PO di Midevio, mereka punya Instagram dan Shopee juga, bisa dicek langsung aja guys. Jaman sekarang ini lebih bisa ditrack pembayarannya karena baik DP ataupun pelunasan bisa lewat Shopee. Kalau dulu malah aku beli album Korea lewat Twitter atau Instagram ya nggak ada yang bisa jamin uangnya aman lol.

Walaupun dari tanggal DP sampai barangnya sampai ke aku cukup lama, tapi at least semuanya lengkap dan aman sentosa nggak kurang suatu apapun. Kadang tuh suka sedih kalau lihat ada kasus pihak ekspedisi suka ngerusak tabung buat ngirim posternya sampai dibelah dua padahal poster pasti limited edition, nggak bakal diprint banyak. Untungnya sih paketanku semuanya sampai dengan selamat. Oh iya, alasan kenapa aku akhirnya ikut PO adalah karena kalau di PO bisa dapat photocard benefit yang nggak bisa didapat kalau pesannya nanti-nanti alias ini limited edition nder!

Baca juga: Album Review: Miracles In December by EXO-M

Albumnya ini ada tiga versi; A, C, dan C. Karena ini album buat mas pacar, jadi aku tanyalah ke dia mau yang mana dan dia jawab A. Mungkin karena yang A ini dominan warna gelap ya jadi kelihatannya elegan dan cool gitu haha. Aku sendiri malah pengen banget yang versi C karena versi C warnanya putih cream gitu sampulnya dan covernya juga cantik kayak foto di kebun dan kelihatan effort juga. Sementara menurutku kalau yang versi A ini fotonya kayak di studio biasa pakai backdrop hitam udah gitu doang :( Ya pokoknya kalau dilihat dari luar sih kelihatan lebih effort yang versi C.

Maaf yang ini fotonya nggak bisa full karena lebar banget nder :( Pokoknya ini tuh kayak photocard tapi gede (?) haha, aku juga nggak tahu sih fungsinya apa, isinya foto individual para member sesuai tema di satu sisi, terus satu sisinya lagi foto mereka di kebun yang kayak versi C, cuma random gitu kayak puzzle karena slide yang satu nggak nyambung sama yang di sebelahnya. Di antara slidenya ada garis putus-putus yang mana artinya mereka bisa dilepas satu-satu. Kayaknya memang puzzle sih belakangnya.

Nah terus yang aku nggak tahu tuh ternyata CD-nya juga diprint beda-beda tergantung dapatnya siapa wkwk. Wah emang lucky banget sih bisa dapat Jongyeon karena bias pacarku tuh dia. Kalau aku sendiri dapatnya Jihyo dan ya karena ini bukan buatku tapi buat pacar jadi aku bangga banget dong bisa dapat versi CD yang mukanya Jongyeong hihi. Kalian kalau punya CD dari album Korea gini diputar nggak? Kalau aku sih nggak pernah, pokoknya semua perintilannya itu nggak boleh diapa-apain biar kayak kolektor barang antik.

Oke kita masuk ke bagian yang paling sering ditunggu-tunggu sama album hunter yakni PHOTOCARD! Jadi seperti yang aku bilang di awal, buat PO ini bisa sekalian dapat photocard benefit di mana tiap member ada individual selfie-nya ditambah group photo ot9. Yang bawah itu photocard benefit, yang atas itu ya photocard biasa kalau kita beli albumnya meski tanpa PO bakal tetap dapat. Surprisingly album Twice ini nggak pelit photcard karena bahkan yang bukan benefit aja dapatnya 5 sekaligus lho. Terus ada kartu hologram gitu juga tapi aku nggak tahu itu apa dan nggak berani buka heheh takut rusak karena ini kan harusnya hadiah ya jadi bukan punyaku. Tapi ya ampun Twice tuh cakep-cakep banget nggak sih guys huhu mau nangis!

As I've promised last June, I'll be starting each month with at least my current top 'something' because it's fun to do? Like if you think about it, there are just so many categories you can break down and last month I did a wishlist, and I was originally going to do my current reading for July but all of my favorite books are in Jogja so that couldn't happen. I switch it up with my current playlist because I've turned on my premium membership again on Spotify (finally YES, after so many months having to keep shuffling and listening to ads in between songs) and I've discovered a lot of good tunes that I would like to share with you guys in hopes you would share your current playlist too! There's really no particular order in setting them together except for the Girls Like You because damn, it's a really cute song with a simply beautiful video clip.

Find me on Spotify: NAVARTIERRE

Woah, finally.

Actually I've been planning to make a review of their latest mini album but I never did because it's always better to make a review when I've got the physical copy of the album itself like I always do. And because of the many incidents starting from the tragedy of the Sewol ship accident to Kris filing a lawsuit against SM, causing delays of the shipping of my album.

Nevertheless, the album itself arrived within my door step on May 26th, a month after I clicked that "proceed" button on the webstore. And fortunately, the package arrived in a good condition. Anyway, I often get questions on askfm asking where do I buy my EXO's albums. Honestly speaking, when it comes to ordering album from Korea, it's better for you to make a few research on some of your friends or even me, to know which kpop stores are reliable enough to shop at. I would recommend you (especially Indonesian readers) to shop at Gasoo Galore because GG has its own webstore and even the procedure of its ordering system is pretty complicated, which in my opinion the more complicated it is, the more reliable the shop. I have personal experience of buying EXO's repackage album, Growl, through some random kpop shop on Twitter. And I gotta tell you it wasn't a nice decision because if SM didn't send me a message consisting the images of EXO's repackage album, I wouldn't buy it. So it was a last minute decision and very rushed. I bet when I placed my order back then because the reliable of the online shop itself should be questioned but I had no other choice because most of the online shops had closed their date limit of ordering the album. And it was the only one left and at the end I didn't get a poster from Growl :c So I remind you to closely look for the shop you're ordering from.

Since their Christmas album, MID, I've started buying Korean albums through Opparels (Twitter | Instagram), and I can safely say that they're trusted seller. Opparels don't only sell Korean albums but also Japanese albums. They also offer you magazines, original cosmetics (Nature Republic for example), clothes, and official merchandise. What I love from Opparels, is that even until now I still can order EXO's first mini album, MAMA, and they say I still can get the poster! Posters are hard to get once you order the album far after it has been released because they're limited edition. Opparels surely sell stuffs much cheaper than GG :)

As always, I will do a review using the Mandarin version of the album. And for those who don't know why I only buy M's version, I'll soon explain it in another post. So here comes the review!

Appearance:

☯ Since the beginning of the teaser for the mini album, I was happy because that means EXO was going to have a new logo. And now it's not only their EXO logo, but also each members' individual symbols have been upgraded. The maze gives a lot of assumption, does that mean we're going "overdose" while listening to their latest album and be trapped by its beautiful songs and not being able to free ourselves? The colors of the maze are different for each version. If you happen to see the Korean version, black dominates its over, while white dominates M's version. SM just turns the table, as you can see above.

☯ Plus, if you pay quite the attention, the labyrinth on its cover has a faint highlighter line if you play it under the light which shows a way surrounding the entire maze. That's pretty cool.

Packaging:

☯ I need 15 minutes to completely open the box. I don't understand why is it very tight?? At first seeing from the web, I knew it was going to be the same to MID. The inside of the album? It's a total twin to MID. SM doesn't change much of the design of the album aside from its outside appearance. I’d say, I'm not surprised with the entire concept of the album design because I've seen it in MID and I was slightly hoping SM would give us something new and mindblowing because the new symbol of EXO definitely makes me thinking like that.

PS: The sticker set is a gift form Opparels, not the official one coming from SM.

Photobook:

☯ I love the outside of the photobook cover. It's the initial of each member's name carved using labyrinth. Eventhough the overall content of the book isn't as overwhelming as Growl or as cute as in MID. The images this time are their close up photos covered in dreamy and hallucinating effects. Fine for me, because however I like the boys' fashion here, not too ordinary like they were shot in MAMA album, but still simple and not too much like in Growl / XOXO. Totally make me going ‘overdose’.

Music:

☯ For an album that got delayed only for respecting a ship accident, Overdose is such a heart breaker. Nothing fresh comes from this album and I can hardly find my favorite songs from this except its title song. I feel bad for the album because it takes time for me to actually understand what the hell is this album trying to prove?? I don't know what genre the entire album is, and sadly there are only two~three songs that get stuck on my head, and even that, not for a long period.

☯ Most favorite track: Overdose, Thunder, Moonlight.

☯ Least favorite track: Run.

Photocard:

☯ I don't know is it me or luck is on my side, but fortunately I got myself one of EXO-M's members which is Luhan. I'd be crazily looking for a friend to trade with my photocard if I got any of EXO-K's members (unless it’s Sehun) (really though I can’t seem to hate him because Taohun duh). I was hoping to get Kris' photocard because it's extremely rare which I don’t know why, but it's merely for the sake of completing my individual photocard of each members (so far I have PC of Tao, Lay, Luhan, and EXO-M ot6) (next target is going to be Xiuchen) because after this Overdose era, SM is not going to produce Kris' photocard again and I'll be very very very sad :c Well, what can I say about the photocard? Maybe from the photo itself, Overdose fortunately shows their best shot this time haha—and that's one reason why I'm craving for Kris' because duh, I can't with his brows ;~;

Well, that was quick.

Overall, I'm gonna give it 7,9 out of 10. Because straight 8 is just too good for the entire album, but 7,8 doesn't do justice when EXO have given their best on this album. So 7,9 it is.

Too bad, because well, music plays a really big part on this and even the songs in this album doesn't "wow" me like they ever did through XOXO. Too bad, huh? And I can't even believe myself for giving them such score :c But a review is a review and to top it; I'm quite disappointed with Overdose.

Remember this post when I talked about my Growl album? Now I'm going to talk about EXO's album again haha! Back in late November 2013, SM announced EXO's upcoming comeback on releasing a Christmas album at the end of the year called Miracles in December. And I was terribly mad at SM—like I always do, tbh—because the thing about EXO releasing any kinds of album will lead to me buying each one of them. I love collecting something and collecting their albums is what I'm currently doing. I know it's just a music album, duh. All bands and singers in this world have at least one of their own. But with EXO, it's totally different, at least for me. I can't seem to ignore the kpop stores that were up on my ass offering me to buy albums through them and fml I was afraid that hyung would mock me because I COULD'VE JUST DOWNLOADED THE ALBUM FROM ITUNES YO—or even listen the songs from YouTube. But that's not my style. That's not how I roll. In the end I saved up for 2 weeks and told mom I was going to buy an album. She was so surprised to hear the price of the album (in the end I only paid for IDR 220K) because she said that the price was so expensive for an album which only has 5 (it's 6, but 1 is instrumental) songs in it. Well fortunately that's true but I never care anyway.

The fun thing about collecting Korean albums is there's a plenty of "small joy" that you can't get in Hollywood albums. Like photo cards and photo book official from the company inserted along with the album. The rush of blood when I slowly open the package and secretly hoping that I would get any of my bias' photo cards, and the squealing and dumb laughter when I look at the photo book—it's always so much fun! I spend half an hour everytime I get EXO's latest album and I even can't stop looking at Growl for 2 days I mean DUDE IT'S SO THICK FULL OF SINFUL porn PICTURES OF EXO. Speaking of that, I guess I'm so lucky when I buy the albums I mean the last time I bought Growl, I got EXO-M ot6 *awkward dancing* and this time of Miracles in December I got LORD HUANG ZITAO omg I mean he's my ultimate bias and I was thinking how many albums I have to get before finally getting Zitao's photo card I was kind of desperate when I first bought XOXO because I got Kyungsoo but then traded it with hyung so I got mine Yixing. BUT then I bought MID and Zitao's photo card popped up like it was being shoved into my face lmao.

I feel so blessed haha I mean guh I can't describe my feelings when I open the box and it was so nerve-wrecking because the snowball card was turned upside down and the first thing I looked is the green part which contains his message and for the love of god I can recognize that hand writing even in the Afterlife seriously Zitao has his very own style. But I doubt that one belongs to him tho as you can see on the card his isn't that hard to read despite the fact that it's Mandarin. The one in the last photo would most likely is Kris' lmao his scribbles are just so messy I don't understand this man I guess that's the perks of knowing 3 languages with 3 different alphabets (English, Korean, and Mandarin).

See you on the next post! xx

Well well well, I guess I've missed a whole lot of internet life for the past few weeks. This is, I must say, the longest break I've ever taken from the blog world. I went to places, spent my holiday beautifully, took pictures like there's no tomorrow, and still fangirling as crazy as ever. I really can't stand for living without personal internet connection—whenever I want to see updates, I have to connect to my school's wi-fi and that sucks. Not to mention the lack of free time I have between the hectic schedule of being in my final year of senior high. I have to keep studying this and that, now that I have extra time to study aside from school, it's almost impossible for me to find free time and take a peek of my internet life. Not-so-proud to say that Instagram and Twitter are the only medias I've been updating in my blog absence. Therefore, making me so poor as a blogger :( But don't worry though, I'll try to make up my mistakes by making some make over to the blog—but I still can't promise you with updates, okay? The web is still on the working, it'll finish on time with new concept! This time I'll try to keep the URL permanent. And the whole concept as well. You've got my words~

Anyway, now that I'm in a new class at nearby course—I've only attended 4 classes until today—there's this one guy that has caught my attention since day one. I always have things for smart guys. They tend to show more respect to teachers and friends, they think before they talk, and the most important, they're quiet. I really wanted to talk to him but never had the guts to because hell, he seems so superior and high class I can't really reach with my very low knowledge. But just yesterday he actually laughed with my ramblings and the seconds afterwards, I found myself talking non stop with him, discussing a lot of things, exchange our minds and well, we kind of argued a little but it was worth it ;D Now that I can't stop looking forward every Tuesday and Friday just to be able to see him! Oh oh, here's for another plus point for me; I had a try out for the national exam last Sunday and since the materials were from the first grade, I was kind of desperate at first because like hell I'd remember everything. So I ended up only studying about English and History. Yesterday I checked the result and God freakin damn it I scored at the 25th place out of 191 students! O.o I didn't even answer the math questions—not even one! Oh that gives me such motivation... :)

Aaaannnddd what's coming to my collection recently is this EXO's repackage album. Though hyung told me not to buy it, I couldn't help myself not to. I mean, not that I want to keep the pictures, or that the CD will remain on shuffle every single day, but more because I have a feeling for collecting stuffs  when I have started getting one. Sooo, I don't think I'll be able to keep my wallet healthy if I keep seeing updates from EXO. I'm starting my hiatus now, fuuh...

Till then, see you when I see you! xxx