Rocket Punch: Blue Punch 3rd Mini Album Review

Rocket Punch has come back with their third mini album on August 4th, 2020, which is in line with their first anniversary on August 7th! Generally for Woollim artists, after they announce the fandom name, the following album would be a single titled that fandom name. I thought Rocket Punch would follow this trend and release a single titled Ketchy, but it looks like they're following their colorful punch mini album series with Blue Punch.

I preordered Blue Punch from Ktown4u; the album comes with a pre-order accordion book and external first press poster, but for Ktown4u you have to actively select that you want these free gifts. On August 7th, I checked Ktown's site and on the frontpage there's a notice that due to an increase of orders, all shipments are delayed but should be sent out by early next week. Later on August 7th, Ktown sent me a shipment notification with my DHL tracking number.

My album (along with Sunggyu's DVD and kit video) arrived on August 10th in a cardboard box way too big for the contents.

Luckily the two concert sets and the album were bundled together in bubblewrap and arrived in great condition. The poster and accordion book were also in between the DVD and album.

Here are the contents of Blue Punch: the poster (I chose folded), the album, and the accordion book.

I absolutely love the consistency of Rocket Punch's three releases. Following Pink Punch and Red Punch, Blue Punch also comes in photobook packaged up in a clear plastic resealable pouch.

The backside of the pouch lists the tracklist.

To best preserve the pouch packaging, I carefully cut open a long slit at the top.

Here is a comparison of the packaging for all three mini albums.

The photobook style is similar to the previous two albums, with Blue Punch's theme being underwater.

Here is a closer look at the front cover and graphic design of the photobook. The underwater theme is really cute and fits perfectly with the color theme and summer concept. There's also a really pretty sheen over the logo and white splash design. The album dimensions are the same as the previous photobooks, roughly 7" by 7.125" by 0.375".

Like the previous two mini albums, this photobook also contains 80 pages and follows a similar comic book style. Towards the beginning displays the tracklist, along with a group photo from the bubble photoshoot.

This photobook contains a total of 3 photoshoots, with the first section beginning with a group photo from the yellow outfit shoot.

The next 12 pages contain individual member photos from the bubble shoot. I am absolutely in love with the sparkly strands in Yeonhee's hair along with her top, and this photo of Juri is just so cute!

Then there is a group photo from the same shoot.

These next 4 pages are like a collage, with photos from the blue outfit shoot. This is where the sticker sheet was placed.

The following 6 pages contain individual member photos from the yellow outfit shoot. I have to say, Suyun looks absolutely stunning with this hair style! The shade and cut suit her so well.

Each song has a 2-page spread throughout the photobook, complete with song credits, song lyrics, and artwork matching the song. The graphic here is a bit dark, with that cat buried in the sand!

The next section contains 6 pages of individual member photos from the blue outfit shoot. Dahyun suits this hair color so well~

Following is a group photo from the same shoot.Yunkyoung looks like a mermaid with this hairstyle!

The remaining pages are individual member shots from all 3 photoshoots. I can't get over how ethereal Yunkyoung looks, and Juri is the absolute cutest here!

Here is the graphic for "TWINKLE STAR". It seems a bit different from the other graphics in this photobook, but still adorable! Also the random member stand was placed here.

The shots of the girls lying down in the bubble shoot are absolutely gorgeous. And Yunkyoung looks like the girl-next-store; she is absolutely stunning in all 3 shoots!

The last 5 pages are for the Thanks To section, followed by a page of credits for the album.

One of the photocards was placed in the Thanks To section.

The very back of the photobook has a slip for the CD. The second photocard was placed here.

Here is the design of the CD, a cute representation of the graphics found within the photobook!

Blue Punch includes this sticker sheet, similar to the two previous albums. This sheet includes the members' names along with motifs found throughout the album.

The album also includes a random member mini standing card out of 6. All 6 are from the yellow outfit shoot.

Here is the backside of the mini standing card.

There are also 2 random member photocards out of 30 included in each album.

Here are the backsides of the photocards. Each member has 5 different photocards, and the backside is either blue or white. The photocards have a glossy finish.

An accordion book is also included as a pre-order benefit, while supplies last. One side has individual member shots from the yellow outfit photoshoot.

The other side has a group photo and individual member shots from the bubble photoshoot. The quality of this book is really nice and sturdy, with a glossy finish.

Lastly, there are also 2 exterior first press posters. I got the one from the bubble photoshoot; the other is from the blue outfit shoot. As a note, Woollim's exterior first press posters seem to be getting smaller; with Golden Child's Take A Leap and now Blue Punch posters having dimensions 440 mm by 610 mm.

This mini album includes the following tracks:

1. BLUE PUNCH - Composed by Egae and Yongbae, this intro track gives a sneak peek to the title track.
2. JUICY - This track is created by Egae and Yongbae, who also created "Pink Punch", "Bimbambum", and "Lilac"! It completely makes sense why I love this track so much and how it rivals "Bimbambum" - the repetitive lyrics are just really addicting and so fun! This song fits the summer theme so well and is just so refreshing.
3. SUMMER PUNCH! - This is such a fun B-side and I really hope the girls are able to promote this song! It also fits the summer concept really well and is just so energetic and cheery.
4. 여름밤 - (One Summer Night) is the only ballad of the album, and again fits well with the summer theme. It's created by MonoTree (which I just learned was a company created by several producers who were from Sweetune!), who also created Toheart's "Tell Me Why", Infinite's "Still I Miss You", "Breathe", and "True Love", and Golden Child's "She's My Girl".
5. TWINKLE STAR - This track is co-created by CODE 9 and PURAVIDA, who also worked together on "BOUNCY". CODE 9 also created "Lucid Dream" and "Do Something".
6. THE THE - These last two tracks seem to be a bit more hard and edgy, reminiscent of "BOUNCY" to me. The tracklist is well balanced and flows nicely from fresh and energetic to a softer ballad to a more harder sound.

After the release of Red Punch, I wasn't sure what direction Rocket Punch would follow up with. But for the summer, this album is absolutely perfect! The tracklist as a whole is really upbeat and energetic, and the ballad has lyrics fit for summer. Pink Punch is still my favorite album based solely on the music, but Blue Punch is a close second (I think "Juicy" is my favorite title though!) and Blue Punch definitely has my favorite packaging based on the refreshing concept and graphics.

Tenstar Magazine June 2020 Review

Golden Child's gag duo Jangjun and Jibeom have had quite the schedule together in June! They had a featuring in Tenstar magazine's June 2020 issue, were a part of the panel on "King of Masked Singer" and also advertising nail products for brand Dashing Diva. 

Pre-orders for the June issue of Tenstar began in late May and were quickly sold out on many places online, so I lost hope in trying to get a copy for myself. But then while browsing for where to pre-order Golden Child's Take A Leap mini album, I saw that Ktown4u still had Tenstar in stock and it included the 5 photocards! I ordered on June 14th and within the same day they shipped it out. Because there are delays with Korea Post due to Covid, the only available options were UPS and DHL. The magazine was under $9 USD and the cheapest shipping (UPS) was about $20 USD.

My magazine arrived on June 16th wrapped in several layers of bubblewrap with a larger bubble insulation on top to fill the space inside the sturdy cardboard box. Overall, I'm really satisfied at how quickly Ktown4u shipped it and how well packaged the magazine was, a great relief when I've never found a company I could fully trust.

I usually don't order magazines online unless if it's a really good deal or if I'm pre-ordering something else anyways. But this magazine was really special - a whopping 26-page featuring along with the cover dedicated to Jangjun and Jibeom, along with a set of photocards. I know oftentimes magazines come with such goodies, but my purchases usually don't include them, so I'm really happy this order did!

And here's the beauty~ The magazine came wrapped from the manufacturer.

The set of photocards came in a resealable clear plastic bag inside the wrapped magazine.

They say they're photocards, but they're really postcard sized! These postcards are really high quality with a matte finish.

The backsides have printed messages from the boys. Jibeom's message on his 3 cards are the same, and Jangjun's messages on his 3 are the same as well.

There's a cute page of Jangbeom on the table of contents.

And here is the beginning of Jangbeom's 26-page feature!

There are three photoshoots.

Here is Jibeom's famous "shielding my eyes from the light" pose~

This outdoor shoot is my favorite of the three!

Model material right here; Jibeom looks so good in this style, and he's back at it with a striped shirt^^

Wow Jangjun looks so serious and mature here!

Here is the sporty photoshoot. Jibeom looks so soft with that baseball cap, especially with the pink accent!

That statue reminds me of the one in "Wannabe".

I'm running out of commentary...but anyways they're cute and pull off the sporty look well!

Jangbeom really are model material.

They are too cute and playful together!

The last four pages show behind-the-scenes photos. These two pages show shots from the sporty shoot. The one with Jibeom holding the hoop behind him is too cute, and Jangjun dramatically holding the basketball!

The final two pages show behind-the-scenes photos from the remaining two photoshoots.

Overall, I'm so proud of Jangbeom for having such an extensive feature in a magazine! These two haven't been featured in magazines often, but they represented Golden Child so well and really put on a great cover and article. And again, I'm so happy to see 26 whole pages dedicated to the two, and for the magazine to include the postcard set! I can't wait to see what else these two have in store~!