Current Event 21/03/12

[yestoday]

---- [Current Events are bi-weekly writing assignments for my junior year history class. The instructions are to find a recent article, summarize it, and describe your personal opinion on it.]

https://www.nme.com/en_asia/news/music/astro-comeback-april-2021-2898360

Alright, I’m keeping it short this time. The article announces that ASTRO have just confirmed their comeback date: April 5th, after postponing it from March. This will be their first full group comeback since May 2020 when they released Gateway, featuring the successful lead single Knock. The article mentions that late last year, a subunit of Moonbin and Sanha debuted with their first mini album, Bad Idea. This upcoming release will also be their second full length album ever in their five year career, their first being All Light, released in January 2019--one of the most beautiful albums every, physically and song-wise.

And here comes my extreme opinions at one in the morning. ASTRO are one of my favorite groups of all time (I only have four utmost favorites at the top of my stan list hierarchy, and ASTRO are one of them, which is saying a lot because there are approximately 150 other competitors on my list), and when I saw the company Tweet that GIF this morning, I was in Environmental Science about ready to lose my mind. We knew it was coming, especially when they already announced it was going to happen in March, and even before that when Moonbin teased in a livestream that their upcoming album was going to have “a lot of songs.” We expected something soon and even had confident hope that it was going to be a full length album. Lo and behold, it was! But it still felt fantastic to see that confirmation and have a date to look forward to. Even aside from my emotional attachment to them, there’s the fact that their music just really hecking slaps. It’s not even bias, because, partially, it was their music that got me liking them so much (besides the fact that they are virtually comedians and make me laugh so hard and are a light of rare joy I can find in this dismal abyss of fifty AP tests and English journals). As I mentioned before, their last full album was flawless--in fact, I got into them right after they released that masterpiece, so another full album? God, who knows what kind of cultural reset they’ll bring into the world this time. I’m just really happy! (Here comes the corniness; brace yourself.) I’m excited. I have been waiting for this for ages; it’s to a point where it feels hard to believe that it’s almost been a year since their last album. Though, a few members have had a lot of solo schedules within the year--Eunwoo and Moonbin especially--and I do want to make sure they have had enough rest before plunging back into the exhausting practicing and promotions cycle. Because, you know what, I care about them! They’ve all worked so hard for the past five years, they deserve to be happy! I can’t bury the excitement for new music or anything, but I hope they’re all well and fine. And I know what you’re thinking: what is this junior in high school doing writing about their K-Pop boys in the middle of the night on a Current Event assignment for history class that could have taken a mere five minutes for?! To be frank with you, I have no idea why I’m still here either, because now I’m all up in my ASTRO feels in the middle of the night even though my SAT test is literally this Saturday. That’s two days away. Oh man. So goodnight, Mr. Patterson, I hope you tune into ASTRO’s new album dropping on April 5th.