Over the years, I’ve been asked several times to create a post where I reveal my previously-reviewed songs that I would now bump up to a perfect, 10/10 rating, allowing them to officially join my Legendary Songs category. I guess it took a global pandemic for me to finally spend the time to compile this update!
I’ve always maintained that song reviews are a snapshot in time, vulnerable to shifts in mood and expectations. That’s why you’ve never seen me give a 10/10 score for a new song on this site. I’m not saying that it will never happen, but I really believe that a perfect song requires time to reveal its perfection. Music is so subjective, and tied to things like memories and milestones and momentum.
Not many of these choices will surprise longtime readers of this site, but I was surprised to find that each year had exactly five songs that ended up meeting this criteria. I swear, I didn’t plan it that way! I’ll be interested to see if 2020 continues the pattern. I can tell you, it’s not looking good at the moment.
But, let’s focus on the positive right now. Pull out the trophies and confetti. It’s time to celebrate these legends!
2016
Astro – Hide & Seek
Original Review
Rating change: 9 –> 10
GFriend – Navillera
Original Review
Rating change: 9 –> 10
GFriend – Rough
Original Review
Rating change: 9 –> 10
NCT U – Without You
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
Seventeen – Very Nice
Original Review
Rating change: 9.5 –> 10
2017
NCT Dream – My First And Last
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
Red Velvet – Red Flavor
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
Seventeen – Don’t Wanna Cry
Original Review
Rating change: 8.75 –> 10
Snuper – Back:Hug
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
Snuper – The Star Of Stars
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
2018
Golden Child – Genie
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
Golden Child – Lady
Original Review
Rating change: 9 –> 10
Infinite – Wind
Original Review
Rating change: 9.5 –> 10
ONF – Complete
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
Sunmi – Heroine
Original Review
Rating change: 9 –> 10
2019
ATEEZ – Wave
Original Review
Rating change: 8.75 –> 10
ATEEZ – Wonderland
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
DAY6 – Deep In Love
Original Review
Rating change: 9.5 –> 10
Stray Kids – Miroh
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
TXT – Crown
Original Review
Rating change: 9 –> 10
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I hope dreamcatcher’s scream makes it on this list. I’m not that surprised by the list, but I haven’t actually taken the time to listen to most of these acts (Astro, golden child, infinite,snuper). The only shocking thing is the low number of female acts( but it really shouldn’t have been a shock considering past posts). Were there other acts who got close but didn’t make it?
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There were tons. Just looking at my end-of-year posts will give you an idea, but the closest honorable mentions would probably be Sunmi’s Siren, TXT’s Run Away, NCT 127’s Highway To Heaven, Taeyeon’s Time Lapse and — perhaps surprisingly — Snuper’s It’s Raining.
Some of these could still eventually break in. I’m really splitting hairs when it comes to this.
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Time Lapse by Taeyeon is perfection I would for sure give it a 10.
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Damn Heroine!
That was probably the only song here that I didn’t expect. I adore it too, but I always thought u preferred Siren over it!
And to think that TXT are only 2 songs in, and both have been almost flawless. I can already feel that they’re coming back to save 2020. For me Run Away would have been the 10, but Crown is very high 9!
Also, which of these legendary songs would you say is your favourite?
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All great and deserving songs!
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Pleasantly surprised to see GFriend’s classics make it! Also, yes to Complete, yes to the two Snuper songs, YES TO MY FIRST AND LAST (still my favorite NCT Dream song, ever)!
I’d say 9 and 3 Quarters > Crown but you know what both are great songs. TXT might be my favorite 2019 rookies.
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lady and back hug were my favourite songs of 2018 ❤ im so happy at least one person loves them like i do. lady is like 100% sketch u's little brother XD
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Is that… Is that TWO b-side tracks I see that made it into the legendary league? Woah…
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Maybe we can convince Nick to add SHINee “One Minute Back” to the list.
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I see a pattern of having one artist having two song in each year LOL! My picks here are Navillera, My First and Last, Genie, and Miroh.
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I think it’s a great selection! I’m more of a girlgroups & female solo stan, so it’ll be great to discover some of the boygroups songs here.
Three songs I’d add:
– As If It’s Your Last by BLACKPINK
– Someone Like U by Dalshabet
– Gravity by EXO
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Back:Hug by Snuper is still in my Top3 all time favorite KPop tracks (with INFINITE’s Be Mine and NCT 127’s Highway To Heaven). It’s so disappointing to recover it was the beginning of their end… 😦
Complete by ONF is another track I won’t ever get bored to listen, especially if 2020 is going on this way until the end of the year.
My suggestions:
– BTS feat. Halsey, Boy With Luv
– BTS, Mic Drop
– Cross Gene, Black Or White
– Everglow, Adios
– iKON, Love Scenario (which in the beginning I definitely hated)
– KNK, Sunset
– Oneus, Valkyrie
– Steve Aoki & Monsta X, Play It Cool
– Taemin, Move
– The Uni+, Dancing With The Devil
– TXT, Run Away
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I am in love with the dance remix version of mic drop.
And Black swan which was 7 for me is now somewhere between 9- 9.25. Even I’m dumbfounded.
Onewe’s Regulus and Bvndit Dumb have also climbed high on my list while wannabe have descended.
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play it cool OMG i think you’re the smartest person on earth
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Yep, i agree with everything on this list. They are ready to graduate and be on the forever looping playlist.
Some other i would add (or close to it):
Golden Child – She’s my girl
Ace – Under cover
UNB – Black Heart
Sunmi – Gashina/Siren
Momoland – Bboom Bboom
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I have no complaints, well, maybe … no, doing good here, …well …Hey, how about ACE “Undercover”. Thisclosetomynumber1 for 2019, right behind ATeez hip hop sea shanty “Wonderland” which you did elevate.
That is all.
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Great list! Thankyou!
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Off-topic but hi, I’m a frequent reader of your reviews and I wish you would use a wider ranger of grades. I feel like every song is between 7 and 9, which isn’t that big of a difference, and it kinda makes your reviews bland since we know the result is going to be the same. I feel like it’s a shame to have a grading system so developed and yet so underused. Anyway, not that big of deal, just my thoughts. Have a nice day!
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Nick is (way too) generous with his rating hahaha. If it were me, I’d likely be firing up 5’s and 6’s these days cause most recent releases are just average (Nick’s average is more like a 7, which is still good honestly). It’s also worth considering that Nick takes production and stuff into account. A song could be well-produced, but really is just average as a whole. I’d suggest focusing more on his “bias” scores cause they usually give a better picture of how Nick feels about certain songs. They’re also a bit more varied.
Shout out to my boy Ravi! Two months ago he gifted us with what I’d consider to be the worst song released by a big-name kpop artist in the past two years ❤.
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I’ve always considered the rating as a 5 to 10 scale. Remember this is a hobby and not a public service. There is a selection bias, and a slight scoring bias.
The way it breaks down, it is hard to get a horrible score on production, because companies don’t really release anything worse than “Good”. It happens on rare occasion that production is <=6, but it is fairly rare. Bias is also slightly skewed towards (mho) probably a high 7 or 8.0 on average. Again, hard to get below 6 on Bias, because why review something lower? So if for a lousy song, if is a 7 production, 7 Bias, even with a 1 Hooks and 1 Longevity = 16 / 4 = Score of 4. There is the ballpark of floor score = 4 ish.
There is extra danger in touching the Bias button too much though, because there will be a fantastic quantity of whinging in the comments. We all know examples … I mean, can you imagine if Nick actually gives a group a Bias score of 4 or 5? sweet baby hey zeus.
Ravi. I don't completely want to speak for Nick, but generally speaking a survival tactic for all things social media is to "Scroll on by". Ravi has fans, somewhere, somehow. We all have our own personal loves and loathes, which could be called "guilty pleasures" or perhaps "misspent youth". I myself keep bringing up kpopera and obscure fun facts about Super Junior, because I think it is great! But I think with Ravi, these days, Nick scrolls on by.
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Red Velvet’s ZIM-ZIM-ZALABIM atrocity is such a perfect example of a 1 outta 10 for me LOL, I get what you guys mean by being harsher with ratings. I think if I ran a blog i’d be flamed within weeks.
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Hahah see and I think Zimzalabim is like a 9.5
Production and songwriting on that track is exceptional!
for me its a listenable version of IGAB
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Complete is a gem
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I was honestly hoping TXT’s Run Away would make this list. Since you initially gave it a 9.25, I thought it had a better chance than Crown, but I guess I was wrong.
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Honestly, it’s on the verge and might just make it there with more time.
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It would maybe make it for me as well if not for the weird vocal effects in the chorus. They just throw me off and it sort of kills the energy. It’s a shame, too! I really enjoy the song as a whole.
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Wow this list is great! Hit after hit after hit this list truly makes my day and its so nice to say the tracks grow up from low nines to strong tens.
Personally I wouldn’t take away any songs from this list but I would add:
Save Me-BTS
Asteroid-ONF
Thanks-Seventeen
Run Away-TXT
Side Effects-Stray Kids
OH I ALMOST FORGOT
Sheep-Lay
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My tits are OUT for SNUPER and ONF, congrats boys! im glad they made it on this list! every little time theyre mentioned is one more chance for someone else to discover them! Much love!
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For me personally, Seventeen’s Very Nice, Snuper’s The Star Of Stars and Stray Kids’ Miroh are definitely 10 out of 10.
I would definitely add:
(Title tracks)
TVXQ – Keep Your Head Down, Catch Me
BAP – Warrior, One Shot
ACE – Undercover, Take Me Higher
Luna – Free Somebody
Dal Shabet – Someone Like You
Sistar – Alone, Touch My Body
Apink – I’m So Sick
Park Subin (Dalsooobin) – Our Love, Circle’s dream
Winner – Color Ring, Baby Baby, Sentimental
Stray Kids – Side Effects
Taemin – Move
Jonghyun – She Is
K.Will – I need you, Love Blossom
(B-side tracks)
TVXQ – Athena
f(x) – Sweet Witches
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It’s 2021.
I CANNOT BELIEVE I DIDN’T FALL FOR ONF’S COMPLETE UNTIL VERY RECENTLY.
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At least you came around in the end!
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I know I am a year-late, but I think you made a mistake on ONF’s complete and ATEEZ’s wonderland sections. Complete had gotten 9.5 whereas Wonderland had gotten 9, but in the rating change it says both had been rated 9.25.
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This list needs 2020 songs, even 2021, if I’m lucky. From my view of 2020 i feel that only 5 songs needs to bumped – New World – ONF, Goblin – ACE, Criminal – Taemin, Turn Back Time – WayV, Make A Wish – NCT.
As for 2021, (my fav song from 2021 till now is MCND’s crush btw) half the songs released this year need to be made legendary lol. Don’t Call Me, Crush, Burn It (why does this song remind me so much of blood, sweat and tears), Beautiful beautiful, What Type Of X, Killa.
its kinda weird that the first three months of 2021 are stronger than the whole of 2020.
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