Happy Tuesday everyone! It's about that time for this week's Confessions of an Uncle Fan and I should start off with an actual confession; I was inordinately busy this past week and wasn't able to follow up on my beloved girl groupers like I usually do. However, I still heard and saw a few things that caught my attention so let's get right to it.

Cool Things of the Week

Definitely on the After School Bandwagon

For the past 2 weeks I've been blabbering on about how After School now has the best teasers in K-pop, especially after the stuff they released for their new single "First Love". The problem with having good teasers is always, can the actual song and video live up to the hype? To be honest, I wasn't blown away by the song but it's definitely on the Uncle Fan iPhone playlist and it's catchy. The music video on the other hand... well, let's just say I'm embarrassed by the number of times I've watched it. It doesn't just live up to the hype, it kills it. After School:1 Uncle Fan: 0.

E-Young Underused

Speaking of After School, I saw a video the other day of member E-Young making her own teaser of their new single but by playing four instruments by herself and mixing it altogether. It doesn't take a musical expert to see that the girl has skills which are being totally crushed within the confines of a girl group. To be fair to Pledis Entertainment, this isn't their fault but a problem within K-pop in general. K-pop just doesn't know what to do with young musicians. Please don't give me the "What about CNBLUE and FT Island?" argument. There's more interest in their nail art and guy-liner than their actual musical skills. I hope she can get out in the indie or underground scene and play more because it doesn't look like mainstream K-pop is ready for her talents quite yet.

Are Girl Group Names Getting Weird Again?

First off, I'm not trying to hate on anyone or make fun of anyone so let me get that out of the way but, I've been noticing more and more weird K-pop girl group names lately. Back in the day you had Fine Killing Liberty (Fin.K.L) and Made In Lovely Kin (M.I.L.K) but then I feel like there was a moment of clarity when group names started to make sense. In 2010, Orange Caramel debuts with a name that I clearly understand but I still don't fully get and that kind of kicked off the next round of weirdness. Groups like Dal Shabet, CHI CHI, FIESTAR, Crayon Pop... I realize they have meanings but do you really want a name that you have to explain to everyone all the time? Maybe names were always this weird and I'm just getting old.

Lim Kim + K-pop Makeover = Who is That?!

When we first met Lim Kim, she was Yerim Kim, the shy girl with a unique voice jamming out to Jamiroquai with Do Dae Yoon as a member of the group 2 Months on the New York audition for 'Superstar K 3'. Nearly two years later and with the help of some K-pop stylists, she's a whole new girl who I didn't recognize at all.

Girl Group Round-up

A recap of all the girl group appearances on variety shows this past week (that I was able to watch). Feel free to add any that I missed.

'Radio Star' - Not really girl groupers but Hong Jin Young and Shinji (Hong Jin Young is quite the character)

'Star King' - After School (and poles)

'1N2D' - 4Minute and Woori

'Let's Go Dream Team' - SISTAR and 4minute (see Current Top 5 Girl Groupers below)

The Taeyeon Experiment

Each week I will post a picture from Taeyeon's Instagram feed in the hopes that one day she will post a picture of her reading this column.

So how much of a nerd am I? I saw this picture today and immediately got a turkey sandwich because while I can't really tell, I assumed that's what she was eating.

Pic/.Gif/Video of the Week

Uh.... how come no one told me Yuri was on Instagram?! You guys need to tell me stuff like this. Follow her at @yulyulk.

*Send your pics/.gifs/videos to KpopUncleFan@gmail.com or tweet me @KpopUncleFan.

Uncle Fan Mailbag

Can someone explain what was going on here? "Allkpop, please give me the opportunity to the EXO album."

-shevonneyeo

I saw a bunch of comments hash tagged out with EXO and I ignored them assuming it was some sort of giveaway but now people are just writing comments on random articles and asking for the album? Are these guys that good? They're the new SM group right? Forgive me, for my lack of knowledge of boy groups is vast.

Best comment ever. "Nana, in both teaser photos and video, makes me sweat real time."

-yoonaph

You and me both buddy, you and me both.

Uh... Do you know something I don't? "Uncle Fan, please be healthy okay?"

-lisesoshi

OK, this comment got me worried a little. I mean, yes, I could definitely stand to lose a few pounds and my eating habits aren't the best but, I'm not like... going... to die soon. I still enjoy running outside and I can lift stuff clear over my head... I'm going to eat a salad for dinner and go run until I puke.

A Few Non-K-pop Related Things

1. I know I'm late to the party here but, Mariah Carey's latest song "#Beautiful" was really good. I realize that most of the singing was by that Miguel fellow and her range isn't anywhere near what it used to be but, as a long time MC fan, this was her best song in years.
2. The 'True Blood' premiere was just so-so. I don't get the whole Lilith/Bill drinking of the blood thing.
3. It's a couple of days late but here's a great piece Time.com did for Father's Day with famous dads writing letters to their daughters.

Song of the Week

When I was writing about all the weird group names, I started to think of names I actually did like and one of the first that came to mind was Wonder Girls. It's simple, unique, and doesn't require any kind of explanation every time you hear it. To me, this is what a name should be. Plus, since we won't be seeing the group together any time soon, it can't hurt to revisit the hit that launched there careers, "Tell Me".

That's it for me. Have a good one and for everyone who graduated, enjoy the summer and get into some trouble... well, not too much.