open discussion

Open Discussion (April 17, 2022)

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Open DiscussionI’m trying something new this week! Hopefully it won’t crash and burn.

I thought it might be fun to close each week with an open discussion post. This is the place to share songs that weren’t covered on the blog (they don’t have to be K-pop), discuss current topics/news items, make recommendations, ask questions or just rant and rave.

If this works out and is a fun experience, I’ll plan on dropping an “open discussion” post every Sunday before we launch into the new week.

To keep things civil, there are a few rules:

  1. Be kind and respectful to one another. Any harassing language will be deleted.
  2. This is not a place to state what you don’t like about me and/or my blog. Move elsewhere, trolls.
  3. Video/gif/image embedding is totally fine. Just try to limit yourself to a couple per comment. Otherwise my moderation filter goes crazy.

Each week, I’ll open with a question to get the conversation going. Feel free to chat about anything, but if you’re not sure what to write you can use this question as a starting point.

This week’s question:

What is your all-time favorite year in K-pop, and what do you think of “K-pop 2022” so far?

129 thoughts on “Open Discussion (April 17, 2022)”

  1. I’ll start! As I think I’ve mentioned over the years, 2012 is my favorite year in K-pop. There were just so many epic songs that year, including many of my all-time favorites. However, I consider the 5-year period between 2011 and 2015 to be the golden age of K-pop — at least so far!

    As for this year… I’m super underwhelmed and uninspired by a most of the music that’s already come out. We’re about two months away from my “mid-year” round-up where I spotlight the songs in contention for my year-end top ten. Lat year, I had a whopping fourteen tracks. So far this year I’ve got… nothing. Maybe one or two from December, but 2022 is a big old goose egg. I’m a little worried. This has never happened before. 😳

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    • The songs being Goosebumps and Pirate?
      I dunno, I feel like Maison could qualify.

      But yeah, this year has been a bit empty. I’m really missing some groups too — these last few months haven’t had THAT many big name groups.

      Also that weird “Next Level”-esque “trend” is like… please, let’s move on.

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    • Maison and Love Dive are really the only songs that have “wowed” me this year which is a far cry from how things were last year.

      In terms of favourite K-pop year, mine would probably be a tossup between 2012, 2016 and (surprisingly for many) 2019. Sure it had its quite moments where nothing of note really came out it was the last year I was consistently excited for comebacks and b-sides. It had everything.

      Fantastic and instantly iconic debuts? Check! (Crown, Dalla Dalla, Flash, Valkyrie, Ring Ring Ring, Movie Star, Jopping, Focus on Me, L.O.V.E, Take Off etc.)

      Excellent comebacks? Check! (Miroh/Side Effects, Run Away, BWL, Wonderland/Wave, Superhuman/Highway To Heaven, Under Cover, Fancy/Feel Special etc.)

      Super solid albums and mini’s? Check! (Dream chapter star, Treasure series, Quantum Leap, The Fifth Season, Spark, MOTS:Persona etc.)

      Original Queendom? Check!

      Last Produce season? Check!

      ATEEZ Treasure campaign? Check!

      Truly an excellent year in my opinion and the one that actually inspired me to start my blog!

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      • 2019 was definitely a high point, along with 2016. For me, mid-2018 was the first time I started feeling a little uninspired by where K-pop was heading. That feeling’s continued off and on throughout 2020-2022.

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        • What about that drought which started from June and lasted till September? To be fair, we did get a few standouts but It was really bland and boring to be honest.

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    • For me, this year, though disappointing has yielded a few favourites. The first being Changmin’s Maniac. It is still absolutely on repeat. And next Wildside by rv. Expect the second verses from Joy and Wendy, the song kills it.

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  2. Would anyone like to talk about the Red Velvet Japanese album??? I am loving it, it has a ton of fun and bright songs for the summer playlist (#Cookie Jar, Jackpot, Snap Snap, Aitai-tai, Swimming Pool) and it sounds more like old Red Velvet than the Feel My Rhythm album.

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  3. I guess I’m at the age of “In my times, things were better”… But I don’t really know a specific year, but the second generation was the best (with the beginning of the 3rd).

    For now, I listen only the songs of the groups I follow, no other songs caught my attention…

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  5. this is fun! i guess i’ve also been pretty uninspired by this year’s kpop releases bar like 2 or 3 this year. recently, i’ve been backlogging the pre-jyj tvxq classics and feel like i’ve had hug + tonight + rising sun stuck in my head for the past month. if anyone has any fav tvxq (as 5) tracks they would like to rec i will take anything!!

    (i hope non kpop / jpop is allowed?) right now, i’ve been repeat listening to carly rae jepsen’s emotion / emotion side b / dedicated / dedicated side b + jessie ware’s fantastic what’s your pleasure. even though i thoroughly exhausted them at release, they’re such a comfort and lift up my mood a great deal especially in the midst of my own thesis hell.

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    • I’ve been listening to some Carly lately, too! It seems she’s going for a big switch-up in sound for her upcoming single. I hope it’s good!

      As far as 5-member TVXQ goes, I assume you’ve heard Love in the Ice. If not, you must check out one of K-pop’s best ballads ever.

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      • i’m a bit scared of western wind but it seems like a confident push for her so i’m hoping for the best!

        i have listened to love in the ice but it hasn’t stuck with me yet! i also really like i believe (albeit cheesier) a great deal – i feel like i need to sink my teeth into their ballad backlog in general and appreciate the suggestion

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    • Magic Castle! Its a cover of an old 1990’s song.

      TVXQ released a proper Christmas album, and Magic Castle was a single release off it. The video styling is quite a choice. (feather boas anyone?) As a result of this cover, SM started having everyone in their stable performing it live for the next few years afterward, so you can easily find GG singing it, for example.

      Here is a live live version from TVXQ. This is what live singing sounds like. (The background harmonies are canned of course.)

      As a bonus, yes, Forestella covering it. The radio shows are good places to hear real singing without post-production polish. At most, the mics will have a slight reverb on it.
      ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xnq_hhQg8Bw

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      • oh yes i love this one. for some reason i didn’t think that yunho was an incredibly stable singer (in a group of powerhouses) but the tvxq lives i’ve watched are incredible (love love love hug acapella). the cheesy stage outfits make it 100% better for sure – thank you for the video!

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    • Massive Cassie here. Just thought I’d recommend some of their slightly more obscure tracks, hopefully, to encourage you to do a deep dive into their discography.

      Phantom: TVXQ doing Spaghetti Western pop, perhaps one of the most underrated songs of all time, so good.

      9095: From their final album as 5 and written entirely by Jaejoong, 9095 is like nothing else in TVXQ’s discography. From hidden backmasking to the mysterious vibe, this is a song to analyze for ages.

      Maze: Sung entirely by Jaejoong, Maze is a fan favorite for a reason. The best song from the Trick series, it is pure rock.

      Free Your Mind: One of their most underrated singles, Free Your Mind sees TVXQ once again with TRAX for an epic rock track.

      Dongbang Tuhui: Probably one of their best Korean ballads, I love the nostalgic melody here.

      Break Out: Despite being a massive commercial success, this song (their last as five), is rarely mentioned in discussions of TVXQ’s best tracks for whatever reason.

      Always There: An A Capella track worth mentioning.

      Loving You: Another stone-cold classic, Loving You is a great introduction to their Japanese ballads.

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    • This will mark my very first comment in this blog. I’ve been lurking silently for… 1 year?2 yrs? but I can’t resist giving my own recommendation for db5k songs

      Sorry in advance, this is gonna be a veryyyy long post 😅

      Firstly, since you like their Hug Acapella, they released 3 full songs in acapella ver. I think: Whatever they say, My little princess, and Always there. They also did an acapella of Ha ha ha, a campaign song. Other acapellas are for live show like In the still of the night.
      Some compilation https://youtu.be/4PvakSTs8Lw

      If you like majestic sound like Tonight and Love in the Ice, then next in line will be Bolero. I’d put Unforgettable live here, and their Mirotic + Wrong number performance at MKMF too.

      For ballads, my favorites are Holding back the tears, Why did I fall in love with you, Stand by U, White Lies, Don’t say goodbye, Lovin’ u.

      Classic summer would be Summer dream, but I prefer Hi ya ya and Sky more. Other upbeat songs including Step by step, Shine, Survivor, Phantom.

      For live stages, I would recommend You’re my miracle, You’re my melody, Crazy love, Try my love, Darkness eyes, Balloon.

      Also masterpiece I don’t know where to put: O jung ban hap, Purple line, Phantom, Somebody to love, Last angel (ft. Koda Kumi), The way you are, Zion, Choosey lover, Take your hands I’m electric, Are you good girl.

      Lastly, I want to close my comment by recommending Trick, where the song was separated into parts and made into another 5 songs where each members were supposedly given the main vocal. Also each songs were coupled with each member’s solo.
      Bonus: not a tvxq song but
      https://youtu.be/4Kq3ShbMUYI (the song started @5:39)

      Again, sorry for the long post. Cause honestly out of all their ot5 songs, I only dislike one song 😂😅

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  6. 2011, 2012, 2015…. Or maybe I’m just getting old.so far 2022 has surprised me by how much I’m loving the girl group releases- rocket punch, cherry bullet,g-idle, IVE…N i really don’t mind the synth trend staying

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  7. 2011, 2012, 2015…. Or maybe I’m just getting old.so far 2022 has surprised me by how much I’m loving the girl group releases- rocket punch, cherry bullet,g-idle, IVE…N i really don’t mind the synth trend staying

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  8. I’m going to say one of the early 2010’s. Which I don’t know.

    Kpop is really getting hit by the recent covid wave in Korea. Every group has had one or more out. One can only assumer every agency and producer and backstage has been hit by one or more out. As the peak has only recently passed, I think it will be early June by the time it seems like a normal schedule.

    My listening habits are already changing. Partially due to eth dearth of new kpop to feed my habit, partially because the usual car pool circuit for me is changing. Sonny boy had spring break last week, so after dropping off darling daughter I would drive him to chess camp. His preferred music when he has control of the ipod is …. classical. A few computers ago, I had a real CD player and ripped some of my classical collection to my itunes. Last week he played my multi-CD set of Vladimir Horowitz. #Raisingthemright

    Daughter when she had a chance also played this oldie but goodie from Block B, “Very Good”. It is about as punk hard rock as kpop gets, from back when Block B had just busted free from their contract and set themselves up as their own agency. (It is thought PO’s family fronted them the money, at least that is the story I have heard.)

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  9. .
    Also, I would like to highlight a new video this week from Kingdom 단심가 “The Story of Dann”. This one has me written all over it.

    So many times we hear kpop as written by some Swede that with a few small tweaks could sound like any boy band ever. This song here is distinctly Korean. The styling, the sageuk theatricality, the vocal inflections, the gorgeous hanbok in the video. (Is that Kim Yoo Jung in the video?!) The boys also really carry and deliver the song very well. It is all good for me.

    Plus a bonus point for being in 6/8 time.

    Then, THEN, towards the end they add a refrain 새야 새야 파랑새야 “Say-ya say-ya, parang say-ya” which is quoting an old Korean folk song, instantly recognizable. Yes, Wow. Extra point for that. My main men Forestella have of course sung this folk song, with Ko Woo Rim sinking so low in the bass it is devastating ‘https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZPZm4Cgzu0

    I love this. This is the why I listen to kpop. Something I can’t hear or see in any other world music. Not that I need my hanbok fetish hit every time, just saying that I would rather hear and see this then kpop trying to twist itself into a western mold and get lost.

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      • You said something about Kingdom that their title songs may not be all that but their bsides are good. With that I went and listen to their whole discography,and you’re right.
        Fallen Star, Night Air and The Story of Dann/Promise is my favorite.I love how they infuse traditional sounds in their songs.

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  10. I’ve recently been listening to a lot of non k-pop stuff and I feel like my music taste has changed so much over the past year.

    A few songs that have been dominating my playlists atm:

    Cutting Crew – (I just) Died in your arms tonight

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    • OH YES!

      I have the original album on vinyl. There, dating myself.

      My favorite Cutting Crew songs ever are “One for the Mockingbird” and “Everything But My Pride”. So much atmosphere in that last one.

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    • For some reason that sent prematurely but I’ll continue it:

      Cutting Crew – (I just) Died in your Arms
      – A classic that I recently rediscovered. Everything about this song Is just perfect including the chorus. Such a flawless distillation of everything I like about music from the 80’s

      Isaac Dunbar – Tainted Love
      – Discovered him last year and have been obsessed ever since. This one is his newest and is kinda repetitive but does slap nonetheless. If you want him at the peak of his powers check out comme des garçons and its accompanying album.

      Backstreet Boys – Get Another Boyfriend
      – Discovered this song a month ago and it has been dominating my listening history since then. What a great piece of aggressive 90’s dance pop.

      Charli XCX – Used To Know Me
      – Such an addictive little pop song from an album that finally let me fall down the Charli rabbit hole.

      Harry Styles – As it was
      – A song that hits all the right nostalgia triggers for me.

      Luke Hemmings – Saigon
      – Gorgeous synth driven mid tempo in the same vein as the Harry Styles song. But this one just feels so much more ethereal (also has a better hook).

      The Weeknd – Out of Time
      – My most played song of the year according to lastfm. Such a great sadboi jam.

      Michael Giacchino – The Batman
      – Adored the movie (3 cinema viewings) and adore the soundtrack too. Apparently it’s my most listened to album next to Dawn fm this year which is neat.

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  11. hi Nick. thank you for this new forum. i like the idea and hope it is something that you will be able to continue doing.

    as for my favorite year in kpop, there have been some years where i was very impressed, and others not so much….but, i would have to list my favorite year as the year i came into kpop, 2013….not so much as it was filled with better songs and material as some subsequent years, but just because that is the year that i discovered kpop….it was primarily kpop girl groups: Girls’ Generation (my all-time favorite female kpop group, although i am sickened by their lack of anything in almost 5 years), Spica (my second all-time favorite female kpop group – can somebody say power vocals to the maxx?) AOA (my goodness what an awesome group in their peak), Sistar (self-explanatory), and 9Muses, who, between 2012 and 2013 released 4 powerful songs: Glue, Gun, Dolls, and Wild, but then seemed to hit-and-miss after that with weaker material and line-up changes due to their sorry azz management agency….there were several other groups in there too….

    2016 is also one of my favorite kpop years, if for nothing else than Big Bang’s “Made.”

    as for how i feel about kpop 2022….thus far, i can’t say i am disappointed with this year….i don’t think any year in kpop underwhelms me because there has consistently been some very good comebacks from groups you love, and also some gems from a few debuting groups….

    but, with that said, i see a problem with kpop this year (as well as future years)….as i mentioned about coming into kpop in 2013 and falling in love with it, it seems the constant trend has been popular groups disbanding for whatever reason, and probably a lot of it due to poor management and treatment, and to a lesser extent, scandals….so many of the groups (male and female) that i fell in love with are no longer here….even some newer groups that had promise were maybe one-hit wonders because their management agency was not capable of sustaining and promoting them….

    am i at the point of depression about the kpop industry this year and subsequent years?….no, because we have a lot of great groups to enjoy: Everglow, ITZY, Twice, BlackPink (?), GIDLE, Brave Girls, EXO (hopefully), BTS, Stray Kids, Mamamoo, Dreamcatcher, and so many others….i think my concern, though, is in the fact that kpop is debuting way too many new groups and individuals (per year) in a market that is oversaturated to capacity….i guess it would be okay if the majority of these groups found their nitch and became successful, but the majority of them don’t….even if the new groups makes a splash, it they are not with a reputable and decently -funded management agency that knows how to take care of their artists, they are here today and gong tomorrow….this has been the case this year, and in subsequent years, and if it continues, i think the kpop industry is going to come to a head one of these years with individuals, groups, and material that is nothing more than constant retreads of another individual or group’s material….

    the industry should concentrate on more quality, resources, and proper management abilities to take care of its artist, than just debuting group after group after group….i think management agencies that are not the Big 4 should take notes from management agencies like HYBE, who only worked with BTS until they became the biggest male kpop group in the world, and agencies like Mamamoo’s agency, who is small, but also focused a lot on their talent, which is Mamamaoo, to be able to compete against the bigger agencies….

    sorry for the long post….i promise future posts will not be this long….

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  13. My fav year is 2020. Mainly because that’s when i started listening to kpop. But even then, lots of great comebacks, retro trend at it’s height, that long ass MAMA i watched in it’s entirety and finally realized “yeah this kpop stuff is pretty cool”. BLACKPINK’s 2020 which was my gateway to begin with. And I feel like there was a lot of strong albums that year as well. It’s not even been two years but some of songs carry a sense of nostalgia for me just remembering when kpop was this weird, unexplored and I had no clue what anything was.

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    • Kpop this year has been mixed for me tbh. Boy Groups feel like their an all-time low for me rn. Halfway thru the year and I can probably count on one hand the amount of comebacks I’ve enjoyed on that side so far this.

      Girl groups have been better tho luckily. I wasn’t that satisfied with their output last year but so far they’ve been firing on all cylinders for the most part. Now all we need is that Blackpink comeback

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      • You’d think with Onf gone Hwanghyun would give mercy to some other boy groups, tis not to be (unless I missed something lol). However, Cravity came as a silver lining! Finally, a title track banger!
        And I kinda agree, girl groups have been better, but to me I find the songs kind of hit or miss whereas boygroups are more ‘I like a couple of songs and that’s it’.

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      • Btw, you’re one hand comment got me intrigued so I looked up a 2022 K-pop hit playlist to see how many songs I’ve liked on spotify.
        Out of 156(ish) songs, I’ve liked 12 songs, and one’s Japanese.

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  14. I’ve been rabbitholing korea’s indie scene recently as well 🧐.

    UZA – Banality of Evil, Yukari – Echo, Neon Bunny – Stay Gold, Jannabi – The Land of Fantasy, & like anything by Risso or Se So Neon have been in heavy rotation

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  15. I thought that 2021 started off slow, so 2022 starting off even slower didn’t really phase me. I swapped back into some other musical interests without really thinking about it, and most of my top songs from Jan-Mar were nugu (less consistent, harder to get invested in.) But as others have said, I’ve preferred many of the more recent releases!

    Favorite year… I got into kpop in 2019, and I think that’s my favorite out of the years where I was active. Previous years, maybe 2012?

    Most people have seen this already, but I’m going to plug “Viva La Vida” again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah7QAxsvx5w

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  16. I’ll hold up either 2013, 2014 or 2016 to be my most favored years K-pop has to offer.

    As for the second part of this question, I miss ONF lmao.

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  17. I know most won’t agree, but there’ve been so many good songs!

    Everglow’s Pirate
    Brave Girls Can I Love You
    Rocket Punch Chiquita
    Cherry Bullet Love in Space
    Dreamcatcher’s recent skit
    Treasure’s Jikjin
    H1-KEY’s Athletic Girl
    Eric Nam’s Wildfire
    Yena’s Smiley
    Stray Kid’s Thunderous

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  18. Probably not experienced K-POP enough to make any kind of specific year as my favorite. For 2022, I’ve had a look through my daily song playlist to see what title tracks I’ve put in there (there’s at least 100 songs in it now for 2022).

    DM, BOP!BOP!, Dilemma, INVU, RUN2U, WILDSIDE and Glitch. (Honorary mention to SUPER YUPPERS!, she just happened to get buried under my absolute favorite song I discovered that dominated the week.)

    Truthfully, not terribly bad. Last year, most of my 2021 k-pop highlights didn’t start until around April, though it was certainly not devoid of boy group songs like it is now. If I compared them in a similar time, I had around 13 titles tracks in the 2021 playlist by now. Looking back, not a lot of them ended up growing, so a lot of those 2021 daily picks ended up being less interesting by the year end. All 8 of these are pretty solid aside from maybe BOP!BOP! being a bit less interesting now.

    Regardless, my standards for what I want from a song is way different than this blog’s. I only really cared for 2 out of the top 10 THEBIASLIST songs last year, and only 6 out of the top 20. Plus I’m pretty biased towards girl groups, unless you really impress me with a great song like libidO, CODE, Moonlight, Killa or Favorite last year.

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  19. Favorite year(s) in k-pop would have to be 2014 (2NE1’s Come Back Home, Sistar’s Touch My Body, AOA’s Like a Cat, Orange Caramel’s Catallena), 2016 (BTS’ Blood Sweat & Tears, EXO’s Lucky One, GFRIEND’s Rough, NCT’s debut, Red Velvet’s Russian Roulette, Taemin’s Sexuality), and probably 2013 too (SNSD’s I Got a Boy, VIXX’s Hyde, EXO’s Wolf, BTS’ debut, f(x)’s Pink Tape).

    That’s definitely more than one. I suppose I’m just indecisive. I got into k-pop around 2014 and the following years hold so much nostalgia in terms of the music. 2016 definitely cemented my all time favorite groups and gave me more of an inclination to broaden my musical taste.

    K-pop in 2022 has felt a little stagnated, but some are having stellar comebacks and rookies are finally putting their names out there. BTS just announced a June comeback and while I’m not a hard-core stan, it’s nice to see the guys get back into the music scene after their previous endeavors and their world tour. I’m impatiently waiting on a few more comebacks (namely æspa, NCT 127, Everglow, and ATEEZ). I’m still holding out on a SNSD, EXO, and EXID comeback – but those feel like hopeless dreams. I’m excited to see how the year will develop and I’m hoping to see more ambitious musical choices made amongst different groups.

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  20. My current top 5 comebacks this year so far:

    1. Dreamcatcher – “Maison”

    Was any other group going to take my top spot, lol. But seriously. No group is doing it like them. It’s not even just the rock sound (which they’ve sort of been letting go of/relegating to Japanese material, and I don’t mind) but I just think LEEZ and Ollounder are putting on a masterclass in pop songwriting as far as they’re concerned. Maison’s chorus isn’t as hard-hitting as that in my favorite Dreamcatcher tracks, but it’s an effective part of an extremely effective whole.

    2. Red Velvet – “Feel My Rhythm”

    I complained that “Air” is like one of the most overplayed pieces of music ever. The fact that Red Velvet can make me enjoy it again is… nothing short of a miracle. But like I say, with pop music, if you nail the chorus, that’s most of the battle won. Red Velvet absolutely nailed the chorus. It’s gorgeous and addictive and their voices help.

    3. Rocket Punch – “Chiquita”

    I should really start paying more attention to Rocket Punch. Wasn’t really impressed by their debut, loved “Bouncy”, then “Juicy” got me right off the train. Which isn’t fair to them because “Ring Ring” is great enough to make up for that; that and “Chiquita” are quite the formidable one-two punch. Anyway, I think I’m finally sold on them.

    4. IVE – “Love Dive”

    I thought their debut was fine, but this one has really gotten under my skin. The topline is a bit light, sure, but the transition from the prechorus to the chorus is on point. It’s addictive as hell and it’s made its way into my playlists.

    5. Cherry Bullet – “Love In Space”

    I wish FNC had a clue what to do with these girls. Their debut is still one of my favorites in recent memory. A bunch of meh comebacks + a whole bunch of members including my bias leaving (and then redebuting in a group that hasn’t been given any impressive material, sadly) knocked me off the train. But “Love So Sweet” was nice, and so is this one.

    (VIVIZ just narrowly missed out, but “Bop Bop”, fun as it is, doesn’t really hold up after repeat listens, sadly.)

    Not a single boy group has impressed me this year. Doesn’t help that A.C.E and ONF have started enlistments, so that’s my top 2 boy groups out the door. I’m hoping that with TXT coming back soon we get something for them (and I’m also hoping that the next ATEEZ album is a return to form, I agree that their latest series has been meh compared to Treasure).

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    • Now, 2022 releases I’ve been listening to outside K-Pop:

      1. Hot Water Music – “Habitual”

      The new Hot Water Music album is a very strong AotY contender as far as I’m concerned, and this is my favorite song off it. A band releasing one of their most vital albums almost 30 years into their career really is something to behold.

      2. Donovan Melero – “Better for the Next”

      I don’t normally care about singers of my rock bands doing solo non-rock stuff, especially schmaltzy ballads like this, but Hail the Sun is one of my current favorite bands, and Donovan Melero is one of my favorite vocalists. He really just sells me on this cheesy as hell (I mean, random French in the chorus) song.

      3. The Weeknd – “Out of Time”

      I still need to listen to the rest of the album but this is 100% my shit. That video is creepy as hell, too, and Jim Carrey’s narration really enhances it.

      4. Dance Gavin Dance – “Synergy” (feat. Rob Damiani)

      DGD are also one of my favorite bands, and this song delivers, even if I’d rather not watch videos with cockroaches, lol. That said, I’m absolutely gutted to hear about Tim Feerick’s untimely passing.

      5. Lords of the Trident – “Acolyte”

      I’ve recently been on a power metal kick, and pleasantly surprised that after years of only being repped by Symphony X (who are great, but have been quiet for too long) and Iced Earth (who have like two good songs in their whole existence and are run by a seditionist traitor) North America now has a decent power metal scene with bands like Judicator, Unleash the Archers (listen to “The Wind that Shapes the Land”, one of the best power metal songs ever), and now this one. I would recommend listening to the album on Spotify instead of YouTube, because there’s narration between every song on the YouTube upload, and it’s a bit much.

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  21. I think it’s the same for me, the period of 2,5 gen to 3rd gen (roughly from 2012-2014/2015ish) is really something✨. you get groups of the popular ones (which they’re still do up til now) but you also get tons of these pearl like not-so-popular-groups that just because they’re not targeting large audience doesn’t mean their music isn’t as iconic as the popular ones. I think it was also an era with many popped out concepts (favorite mention VIXX, Boyfriend) that I also think become the base of many kpop concepts now. I was a casual listener back then but it’s really what grows me to listen to more of kpop.

    for the later part, I’m just gonna say that I’m really looking forward for summer to come ☺️ but so far, it’s not too bad and clearly the girls and the women are leading ahead. Personal favorite is Yuju’s REC. album

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  22. To address your main question, I’m not a super longtime K-Pop listener; I only started paying serious attention in 2018 (around Dreamcatcher – You and I era) and kinda got off last year between grad school, stan Twitter getting too annoying for me, and just not caring for too many K-Pop releases. So I have little of substance to say about “favorite years” in K-Pop.

    That said, 2019 was a hell of a year.

    WJSN opened with a hell of an album; I still adore “La La Love” and the next song on the album, “You Got”, is still for me a highlight in a strong discography.

    Cherry Bullet debut is still one of my favorites, with every single track hitting the spot. A little disappointed that this still seems to be their high point.

    Twice was 2/2 for releases that year. Normally I find Twice pretty hit-or-miss but they nailed both comebacks.

    Dreamcatcher released Raid of Dream. Not only is “Deja Vu” still my favorite title track (with “Odd Eye” and “You and I” extremely close behind) but “Silent Night” still melts my face off. (The End of Nightmare is a fine album and “Piri” is a good song but in hindsight it’s a low point in a very strong discography.)

    I didn’t appreciate it at the time but ATEEZ. (Can I also pretend that “Answer” is a 2019 release lol.)

    Itzy and TXT debut years, very strong ones. Itzy have sadly fallen off a cliff, but my hope is that TXT bring us some good boy group music soon.

    The whole ReVe Festival was flawless and “Psycho” is still one of the best songs in recent memory. Still mad about what happened to Wendy, but the music stands the test of time.

    It wasn’t their absolute strongest year, and losing Laun sucked, but a year with ONF music is a good one. I was cold on “Why” at first but it has aged incredibly well.

    A.C.E – “Under Cover”. I’ll just pretend “Savage” never happened.

    On a personal note: I got to see GFriend live that year.

    Sullying this a bit was my memories of the whole incident with The Show and the ensuing fallout (where I played a bit of a minor role) but there was a lot of great music to be had.

    And that’ll be the end of my comments for now. Apologies for being a motormouth, lmao.

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    • Looking at other commenters, who seemed to agree with me that 2019 was great: I can’t believe I forgot about Stray Kids. I wish I didn’t take them for granted. They had a hell of a 2019 but they’ve been rock-solid if not particularly exciting since.

      Aaand NCT 127. I still wish they’d come back to this kind of work. I mean I still absolutely love their 2020 songs like “Punch” and “Kick It” and I enjoy a smattering of their other material but 2019 is them at the height of their powers, imho.

      BTS coming out with MOTS: Persona too. “Boy With Luv” is a bit cloying for me these days but it’s a solid song, and I still enjoy the hell out of the B-sides on that album, especially “Mikrokosmos” and “Dionysus.” It’s not my absolute favorite of their work, but it did push me to explore their other stuff; that was how I found “Boy In Luv”, “Blood Sweat and Tears”, and “Spring Day”, which remain among my favorite K-Pop songs.

      On a personal note: In fact, near the end of 2019 my family and I got to go to Korea as well, and the House of BTS pop-up store opened, and we went. (We also went to SM.) I didn’t really bring home much of anything for myself because they ran out of shirts my size and none of the merch interested me. But it was a good time.

      My aunt (technically, first cousin once removed, but in my home country we don’t care about those differences all that much) was a huge BTS fan. It was also her enthusiasm for the group that pushed me further to look into them. We tended to have the exact opposite opinions on the group’s music (all my favorites on their albums were her least favorites and vice versa) and we biased different members (she was a Jungkook stan, I am a Taehyung bias) but it was one more thing we bonded over aside from basketball. (Yeah, we brought her stuff from House of BTS.) To make an already shitty 2020 worse, we lost her after a long battle with breast cancer. For years it was really only a matter of time, but when it finally happened it didn’t hurt any less. I still miss her and it sucks that she won’t see me get my PhD when I do get it in a couple of years’ time.

      (I said last time that would be the last of my comments, but I can’t help myself. Thanks Nick and everyone else here for indulging my excess verbiage.)

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  23. Lately I’ve been obsessed with 2011’s holy trinity of “sad but catchy-in-a-nostalgic way” songs! I would love similar recs, if you have any (doesn’t have to be from 2011!)

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      • Hey! I apologise in advanced for the large amount of (just K-pop) recommendations… Please bare with me. Finding a particular song with a similar approach like your trinity is hard, especially in recent years. So the ones with ⭐ are ones I’m a lot more confident in:
        ⭐: GOT7 – If You Do, 100% – Better Day, BOYFRIEND – JANUS, INFINITE – Synchronise, B.A.P – 1004

        Some other ones that I wasn’t as confident in as they deviate from the trinity sound but still achieves the ‘sad bop in a nostalgic way’:
        Highlight – Not The End, Highlight – Loved, GFRIEND – Wheel of the year, NCT U – Without You, Produce 101 S2 – Never, Taeyeon – INVU,

        Also finally got the chance to check out MBLAQ’s Stay and BIGBANG’s Love Song as I needed to familiarise with the “sad but catchy-in-a-nostalgic-way”, so thank you! I dearly miss this kind of approach to sad bops.

        Feel free to share your thoughts on the ones you liked/disliked!

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        • Bonus: Hopefully a full song of this bside comes out but check out TAN’s Fix You. A few people on this site commented that it sounds a lot like GOT7’s If You Do and/or (especially) BEAST’s Fiction!

          This is probably the closest we’ll get to the K-pop’s 2nd gen of “sad but catchy-in-a-nostalgic-way” in 4th(?) gen now…

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          • Thank you for all the recs!! I love If You Do (adding that right to my playlist!) and Without You (NCT’s best title track). I also really like Fix You…very frustrating that it’s only half a song. But I’ll pay attention to Tan from now on to see if they deliver.

            (Thank you again!)

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        • Oh this is my forte!

          Love all the ones mentioned here but would like to add a few:

          *WARNING MANY TRACKS*

          K-POP
          100% – Not Today
          BAE173 – Annoyed / Loved You
          MYNAME – Baby Im Sorry
          Brave Girls – After We Ride
          The Midnight Romance – The Midnight Romance / IMTY
          Target – Beautiful
          JBJ95 – Spark / Hey Summer
          Brave Girls – Memory
          Teen Top – Love is
          SHINee – Tell me what to do
          ASTRO – Lonely / Always You
          KNK – Back Again
          TRCNG – Missing
          Weeekly – Top Secret
          Tablo and Taeyang – Tomorrow
          TST – Paradise
          Jeong Gewoon – Love in fall
          Seventeen – Heaven’s Cloud
          Lunch – Way Back Home (2021)
          SPICA – Tonight

          J-POP (all of these can be found on YouTube or streaming :))
          Official Hige Dandism – Yesterday / Pretender + pretty much their entire discog
          Masaki Suda – Sayonara Elegy
          On/Off – futatsu no kodou to akai tsumi
          SHINee – Kimi no Seide
          Arashi – Natsu Hayate
          E-girls – Perfect World
          Fantastics – Hey Darlin
          Solidemo – Love Yourself
          Sekai no owari – Umbrella
          Keyakizaka46 – Silent Majority
          Yoshiki, Hyde – Red Swan
          L’Arc En Ciel – Mirai
          UVERWORLD – Colors of the Heart
          Ketsumeishi – Sakura
          ClariS – Connect
          FLOW – Colors
          Blue Encount – Polaris
          ChouChou – Yasashisa no Riyuu
          Kalafina – To The Beginning
          Goose House – Hikaru nara
          Leo Leiri – harukaze

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  24. i’d say 2013 or 2012 would be the best year for kpop for me. there have been so many damn good songs that came out those years that i could give a 10/10.

    as for this year, its the first half of kpop 2020 all over again. after an incredible 2021, this year just feels dull in comparison. its worrying because i feel like the rest of the music industry is this way, since i listened to all the American Song Contedt songs and i have nothing much to say about them (spoiler: at least 80% of them are generic country songs/ballads).

    overall, 2022 is a flat out meh, and im not excited for may, despite lesserafim debuting.

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    • I agree that the global music scene seems to be in a bit of a rut at the moment. I like where it’s trying to go, but it feels like everyone is opting for “vibes” over fully-realized songs.

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  25. For my favorite year in Kpop I think I would have to break it up into my favorite year from before I was a fan and my favorite year after joining the kpop sphere, as I don’t think I can properly compare years I didn’t actually experience as a fan to the years I did. So as someone who became a fan in 2018 I would say my favorite year prior to my fandom was 2012 (which I will absolutely agree was legendary) and my favorite year as a fan was 2019. I think it partially has to do with the fact that it was the first full year that I was a fan and actively paid attention to most releases but I still think 2019 was a great year. So I’m just going to list some of my favorite things from 2019.

    – The absolute monster class of rookies that debuted in 2019 that are still largely going strong. Which included Oneus (my second favorite group ever) who had my personal favorite debut year ever, dropping three great mini albums.
    -Key dropped my favorite solo album ever with his repackage I wanna be.
    -Taemin dropped my favorite Taemin album to date with Want.
    -Nu’est came back as a full group.
    -A.C.E dropped Undercover, my favorite title of 2019 and one of my favorite titles ever. It was also the first time a smaller group really caught my attention and ensured that I would do my best to find the truly epic material released by lesser known groups.
    -NCT 127 dropped the one two punch of Superhuman and Highway to Heaven, still their best title tracks.
    – Cosmic Girls dropped their summer classic For the Summer, and then As you wish later in the year.
    – NCT dream dropped my favorite Dream album with We Boom.
    -Wayv, my favorite NCT subunit debuted.
    -Stray Kids and Ateez both had great debut year follow ups.
    – Dreamcatcher released Raid of Dream, the first gg album that really caught my attention.
    – SuperM actually had a great debut.
    -Victon released Nostalgic Night, one of my favorite titles and mini’s ever.

    As for how 2022 has been so far I will agree I don’t think we have gotten any show stopping top ten material title tracks yet. However I still think their has been plenty of gems and some great b sides. Last year it seemed like we were getting a new boy group every week now it seems we have switched to girl groups which is interesting. Overall I am hoping as we get closer to summer the title material might get better, nothing like a jolt of sunshine to boost the energy.

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  26. I’ve only been a k-pop fan for a few years so I don’t think i can make any commentary on what the “best year of kpop” was (2019 was really good in terms of debuts though. Everglow, Itzy, TXT, AB6IX, Cherry Bullet, etc. all had very strong debut songs. And just in general, most of my favorite kpop songs are from 2018 – 2019.)

    but 2022 has been okay. it seems like so far, there are mainly just a lot of mediocre releases with a couple of standouts. however, ive’s latest song “Love Dive” is honestly my favorite song since skz’s “Miroh” (which was released three years ago). but for the most part i’m just looking forward to hearing comebacks from groups that debuted last year.

    This is also slightly unrelated, but a group that I’ve been interested in lately is Skyle (they debuted last year). I wouldn’t call myself a fan, but the group is pretty intriguing. they seem to have a heavy-metal-type sound (like Dreamcatcher or Pink Fantasy), so I’m excited to see what their 2022 comeback will be like.

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  27. This year was all me discovering the singer
    (Rina sawayama) her debut album is fantastic
    It’s such throwback to late 90s early 2000s
    I definitely recommend giving a listen
    Some of my favorite highlights from her album
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=AXekXn25GRs (Dynasty)
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=OtgyVGqMrOA (STUF)
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=_AtCqXjg_cM (XS)

    Also Miley Cyrus plastic hearts album

    Midnight sky was ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL her vocals
    The melody and the lyrics were powerful literally everything https://youtube.com/watch?v=ytiqx4Qrias (Midnight sky)

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    • Rina’s name has been mentioned several times in the comments over the past few years. I’ve really got to take some time to dig into her music. I like what I’ve heard so far!

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  28. I’ve been venturing in to Ppop lately. Zack Tabdulo is one of my favorites. I love his English songs. SB19 Napa is another favorite of mine. Cean Jr. Binibini is also wonderful.
    I’ve seen this Japanese group continuous being advertise on my social media, Crimson Crate Clan, how are their songs?

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  29. So far this year, love dive and maison have been this year’s favorite following with maniac.
    Love dive and maison sounded even better with a few more listens.
    Odd eye deserves a 9.

    I was wondering what you thought about domino by skz? from 2021.
    Also, dreamcatcher have yet to bring home their first win. I believe they’ve been trying for 8 years now. I suggest everyone vote them on twitter polls + with proofs and on idol champ

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  30. Hey Nick! I’ve actually been a reader of your blog for around 4 years now and I think it’s about time I make my debut here as a commenter as well :’>

    I want to highlight an interesting comment I found on one of the Kpop subreddits about how the Jpop industry enables performers to succeed without visuals, whereas that’s not really a thing in Kpop and just about everything else (*especially* the visuals) takes precedence over the actual music there in terms of factors for success. I think it’s pretty neat how you have essentially faceless artists like Ado and even virtual musicians (as in human performers using a virtual avatar) able to make a genuine splash in the charts over in Japan based on what seems like an appreciation for their voices and their material alone.

    I’m about to expose how much of a weeb-adjacent zoomer I am, but I was wondering if anyone else also shares an interest in virtual singers/Youtubers? I absolutely adore Hoshimachi Suisei and I’m still not over how awesome her album ‘Still Still Stellar’ is! Strikes a nice balance between dance pop and more rock-leaning tracks and her voice absolutely nails both genres.

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      • I actually came across this the other day and apparently she’s a fully AI musician? My original comment was more referring to human artists who express themselves with a virtual model like APOKI but yeah, it’s kinda crazy how much these voice synthesizers have evolved over the years.

        Maybe it’s because I listened to a lot of Vocaloid when I was younger, but I like it a lot more when they tether this software with more stylised visuals as opposed to using it as a basis to create these hyper-realistic looking AI singers. Just think the latter comes across as extremely uncanny most of the time, because we all saw how much of a disaster Eternity turned out to be right? haha

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    • Welcome to the comments section! You bring up an interesting point.

      I think the idol side of j-pop still relies heavily on visuals, but allows for a much wider variety of them. But with that said, it still feels like the songs are always the star of the show… probably because so many of them are also OSTs.

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    • I presented one example of how the industry tries to fuse artificial elements with reality, but here are a few more ways…

      Human presented as an AI:
      Mayu Watanabe “Hikaru Monotachi” (2012)
      Ref (MW:HM): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujGbMjapoNE

      Humans as CGI / AI as human / Humans as cell animation:
      aespa “Savage” (2021)
      Ref (a:S): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPdWvnAAurg

      There’s a tonne of MMD (CGI) takes on existing music, such as:
      77T Rendering: HAKU “Shake It” (2020)
      Ref (77TR:H:SI): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AmjFLdpkyw

      Humans as articulated robotic mannequins:
      FEMM “The Real Thing” (2014)
      Ref (F:TRT): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5sPxuf4tDY
      Note: Group is still active as recent drop demonstrates:
      FEMM “Outta The Clouds” (2022)
      Ref (F:OTC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH5132ouuwo

      …and Robots as humans; but not really:
      HRP-4C (2010)
      Ref (H-4): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhyRBraR6pw
      Note: You’d think in the 12 years since this video that we’d have made major leaps forward, but, umm, nope.

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  31. For the first part, I can’t answer, I don’t think I have enough knowledge of past songs to make a healthy call, however 2019/2020 was quite good from what I remember.
    As for the second part, Onf aren’t here, Lovelyz disbanded and Golden Child is focusing on Japan. This has been going bad for me. However, I think Mirae and Txt(!) can pick some slack. I hope Bdc will comeback after Younite debuted, Ab6ix as well.

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    • Oh yeah if anyone knows any good 2nd gen albums I should listen to please tell me. I’m taking advantage of the drought of good songs we’re having this year to expand my K-pop tastes.

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      • I got some recommendations!

        TVXQ – Mirotic (the 16-track edition is pure heavy-hitting pop)
        Wonder Girls – Reboot (80s Concept album released in the early 3rd generation)
        Bigbang – Still Alive (One of the greatest EDM albums ever)
        SHINee – The Misconceptions of Us (20 track pop bonanza)
        SHINee – Everybody (Glitchy electronic pop showing SHINee at their best)
        G-Dragon – Coup D’Etat (An expansive hip-hop masterpiece)
        F(x) – Pink Tape (Art-Pop with some clever lyrics)
        F(x) – Red Light (Their most out-there release)
        TVXQ – Secret Code (Technically J-Pop, but a must listen)

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  32. Favorite year? To be honest, they’ve all had ups and downs as far as music and I’d be fine if the quality of releases was the only metric I needed to focus on. But that’s not the case. I think if I had to pick a time that was special for me with K-pop it would be any date leading up to September 2, 2014. Up until that day, I was just another bright-eyed fan anxiously awaiting new releases and watching any S.K. TV shows I could find that came with English subs. A regular day meant visiting half a dozen blogs for any tidbits on news and upcoming events. Then I’d pour through YouTube looking for anything K-Pop related. The world hadn’t adopted this genre very much back then, so having to settle for videos with crappy resolutions like 320p, 480p, etc. was a bummer, but it was better than nothing. Then the calendar advanced one day to September 3rd and everything changed for me.

    On that day, I opened my browser and went to a general news aggregate site that focused on world events. I usually start my browsing by trying to keep up with a few current events; then move on to K-Pop. That’s when I saw the headline. “K-Pop group LADIES’ CODE involved in fatal accident.” It wasn’t even a K-Pop site running the story, but a regular American news site. As I wrote, K-Pop wasn’t widely recognized back then so I immediately thought, “What? Is this some kind of mistake?” But it wasn’t.

    I must have spent 12 straight hours searching for any and all information on the accident. I had multiple browser windows open and was feeding most of them into translation sites. I kept refreshing pages to get updated news. What was immediately known on that day was that EunB had died during the crash, RiSe was in critical condition, Sojung was seriously injured, Ashley and Zuny had minor injuries. I was in total shock. I know people always say things like, “Oh, I really liked them.” but I genuinely did; a lot actually. EunB was my bias, with Sojung in a close second place. I remember feeling guilty that I didn’t stan RiSe as much as I could have, but told myself I’d make up for that when she got better. She died four days later.

    I remember seeing the videos of EunB and RiSe’s funerals. Part of me was angry that reporters had invaded a family’s private moment like that and yet another part of me felt guilty for watching what I was cursing the reporters for. It was very conflicting. I think I just needed to feel a connection to the three surviving members. During EunB’s service, Sojung was still in the hospital so only Ashley and Zuny were able to attend. They were shattered and I felt it while watching it. Then came RiSe’s service. This time, Sojung was able to attend but she was in a wheelchair. At one point, as they were carrying RiSe out, the grieving party emerged including the three girls. Again, Ashley and Zuny were having a hard time. Sojung just sat in the wheelchair motionless as they brought her out. The camera focused on her for a moment and then her head sank into her chest. I completely lost it. I just couldn’t stop crying.

    Up until September 3rd, 2014, I never knew just how much I had attached myself to the groups in this genre. I’ve been listening to music and following groups from all over the globe for over 40 years leading up to that moment. I learned of singers and musicians dying in every way imaginable and while I was saddened at their passing, I wasn’t impacted even close to what I was experiencing this time. It just felt more personal. I knew how much these girls went through to pursue their dreams. I knew how scared they were that they wouldn’t be successful or able to continue doing what they loved. And then.. ..this. This senseless end without any meaning other than a kick in the stomach.

    K-Pop changed for me after that day. I became guarded. I still liked all the groups I was following, but I ended up putting up a thin shield around myself. I never wanted to feel what I went through with that horrible event ever again. In the years that followed, there was more tragedies (e.g., Sulli, Hara, et al) and each impacted me; especially Goo Hara. In all instances, my shield held up and I was not affected as much, but that, too, brought a sense of guilt with it.

    8 years later and I’m still here. Still following groups. Still waiting for the next great release. Still trying to keep up with news. But.. ..I’m not the same as I was at the beginning. I don’t think I’ll ever be.

    Sorry. This was listed as a “say what’s on your mind” thread. That’s what was on my mind today.

    In an effort to leave on less of a “Debbie Downer” note, here’s a couple of recent releases I’ve been listening to that haven’t been covered here…

    Seori “Can’t Stop This Party”
    Ref (S:CSTP): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qG4JnFVpZw

    the peggies “Highlight Highlight”
    Ref (tp:HH): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKhla9ZuM5M

    Ryokuoushoku Shakai “Character”
    Ref (RS:C): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulforNn47PM
    Note: “Hiwa Mata Noboru Kara” just dropped recently; also good

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  33. Ooh, love the idea of an open discussion BiasList post, hope this becomes a regular feature.

    It is difficult for me to pick my favorite year for K-Pop. I’d probably say 2011, since it was the most consistently great year, but I’d say 1996-2009 was roughly the greatest era for Korean music.

    K-Pop has been pretty ‘meh’ in 2022, but so has the rest of the music scene, I mean. There is a lot of good, and very little great. As a result, I have mostly been listening to older music. I particularly am trying pre-1960s music, as I find it strangely underrated in modern times. For the West, I have been listening to Fred Astaire (a longtime fan of his), some Yun Sim-Deok, Hong Nan-Po, KL Saigal, Mukesh, and Rafi. A 50s album I’d recommend is Pyaasa, a Bollywood masterpiece, and a gateway entry into the Golden Age of Bollywood.

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  34. ive been obsessed with (inactive) early gen3 groups…vixx, bap, infinite, gugudan, aoa, ze:a, snuper so i’d say 2012-2016 are my fav years with 2013/2014 being the best

    as for this year so far, i’ve learned to lower my expectations thanks to 2020 and 2021 lol but even so, its mediocre with way too much western influence. i feel very…disconnected..from the top 20-ish groups tbh

    my 2022 faves so far:

    title tracks-
    – gingamingayo (billlie)
    – du du du (tan)
    – x-ray (ghost9)
    – maison (dreamcatcher)
    – skinz (onlyoneof)
    – *fine* songs: feel my rhythm, love dive, adrenaline, maniac, chronograph, ruby, smiley

    bsides:
    – maniac (changmin)
    – suit dance (onlyoneof)
    – gaslighting (onlyoneof)
    – lock down (jinjin&rocky)
    – switch (drippin)
    – lxxk 2 u (yena)
    – pretty boys (yena)
    – one shot (pentagon)
    – the game (pentagon)
    – higher (btob)
    – fix you pt.1 (tan)
    – bamboleo (red velvet)
    – know ya (wei)
    – annoyed (bae173)
    – tyt (take you there) (ghost9)
    – champion (ghost9)
    – starlight, no dot, locked inside a door, winter, beauty full, playground (dreamcatcher)

    but….i did get many songs (not listed above) to add to my playlist titled “how to not fall asleep in class”… so much shouting and questionable rap lol…

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    • however i believe that kpop has just…shifted its target audience now. i know many people who are only now getting into kpop or actually really enjoy this year’s releases a lot. it also seems that pop rock might become the new “trend” thanks to hybe’s recent obsession with it ….i’m down as long as we get more stuff like txt’s ttc: freeze

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  35. Three of my top five songs of all time – Side Effects, Superhuman and Wonderland are all 2019, so that’s probably my favorite year. The other two of the five are Ghosting and Dance no Riyuu, both of which are 2020.

    This year has been dull in terms of highlights, even if it was surprisingly consistent. There seem to be less 6’s and 7’s and most of the songs are just 8’s. Which is nice, yes, but I don’t feel like I would remember this year, at least so far, like I would remember 2020 because of Answer or 2018 for Lady or 2021 for Sticker(that is, for me….)
    Even considering December, there isn’t much to talk about this year outside Goosebumps, Skinz, Devil and mayyyyyyybe Maniac.

    In summation, still waiting for a standout 2022 song.

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    • “There seem to be less 6’s and 7’s and most of the songs are just 8’s. Which is nice, yes, but I don’t feel like I would remember this year, at least so far”

      ^^^^^
      Are you me? lol

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      • I don’t know if this makes me easily satisfied or having low expectations, but I actually still enjoy having a lot of “8s”, per se – I don’t know if I’d say I prefer that over having some standout 9s and more 6s/7s, but I seem to be in the minority in this comment section about not being disappointed in 2022. I guess it’s just a different way of looking at the spread of scores so far this year.

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  36. For me 2012 and 2015 are the best, and 2015 especially was a really fun time for me to get into kpop. So many great comebacks and albums from both 2nd and 3rd gen.
    2022… well I haven’t been paying too much attention 😅 I’m one of those people who only listens to the groups they like so I don’t check out most releases.

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      • Also! If anyone comes across my comment I’ve been obsessed with Faakhir’s debut album Aatish since last year and it’s become one of my top listened albums now. So do check it out if anyone is interested in Pakistani music.

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  37. A while ago we had a Singles Jukebox AMA on /r/popheads, and the question of “what has been the best music year of the past decade” came up, so I’m just going to copy and paste my answer for May 2012-April 2013:
    Infinite – The Chaser (natch)
    Crayon Pop – Bing Bing
    B1A4 – What’s Happening (which was technically May 2013, admittedly)
    SNSD – I Got a Boy
    Girls’ Day – Expectation
    9Muses – Dolls and Wild
    2NE1 – I Love You
    4Minute – Volume Up
    Miss A – I Don’t Need a Man
    EXID – Every Night
    Ladies’ Code – Bad Girl
    DMTN – Safety Zone

    Meanwhile my 2022 in K-pop has been almost nonexistent. I hope Dreamcatcher does well and I want OnlyOneOf to get paid for the nonsense their company subjects them to, but otherwise it’s just hard for me to enjoy the industry anymore.

    Switching gears: Nick, can I interest you in reviewing Fujii Kaze’s “Matsuri”? Asian Junkie featured it a couple days ago and I fell in love with it immediately.

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    • Fujii Kaze’s got a great vibe, but I haven’t yet found the song that really gets me invested in his music. I like the chorus of this one, though. Sounds like it’ll be an earworm.

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  38. Unpopular opinion:
    2020 is not a bad year in KPOP, the good songs have impact and a defining characteristic than songs released after that year. Like I just know it is a 2020 kpop song right away. Songs like Answer by Ateez, The Stealer by TBZ, One by Golden Child, Angel by OnlyOneOf, Blue Hour by TXT, Alien by Suhyun, Summer Breeze by SF9, Pporappippam by Sunmi, Mago by GFRIEND, I Can’t Stop Me by Twice, La Di Da by Everglow and Criminal by Taemin are all amazing and A+ songs for me. 2020 songs ignite more feelings even the not so good ones more than the okay-pop we’re hearing a lot lately that make us feel indifferent. I feel the good songs we get after that year are the ones that feel more generic upbeat pop (except ONF of course). I will even say 2020 is the last year I felt KPOP is KPOP.

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  39. To be very honest, 2022 has not been a good year for music. Maybe it’s because I don’t check out male kpop acts, but the girl groups/soloists have not produced any songs that have truly stuck to my soul, enough for me to call it legendary. There are a fair bit of good songs but they’re still lacking in some ways. Some examples are love dive, step back, thank you, chiquita etc.

    for me, 2015 still remains a very superior year, we got the combination of both 2nd gen and 3rd gen artistes being active and the time frame might’ve been ambiguous but we got both the new and the seasoned types of music, really such a good year for me.

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  40. I haven’t been a K-pop fan for long enough to judge part 1 of the question, but part 2 I guess I’ll be the contrarian here and say that I’m not really all that disappointed in 2022 K-pop so far. Maybe I have low expectations, maybe I’m easily satisfied, I don’t know. There are plenty of songs that have come out that I like and listen to a lot – sure, maybe there aren’t absolute standouts, but maybe I’m ok with a lot of 8.5/8.75s.

    (Also I think this is a cool feature, and would love to see this continue weekly!)

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  41. Being that this is the inaugural launch of a new theme for Nick, it was probably in poor taste for me to lead with depressing piece, so I’ll make up for it.

    If this is going to be a monthly topic then each month I’ll make a post that will relate to that specific month. For example, this is April, so I’ll make two separate lists. First, favorite groups that start with each of the letters in April. Then, I’ll do the same for songs.

    Favorite artists starting with the letter…

    A: Gotta go with AOA. Yes, I know I’m passing up After School, Apink, and the months own namesake (April), but AOA really did have a hold on me.
    P: PSY. Yes, I know he blew up the netz with Gangnam Style, but there’s more to him than that. Others: Primary, Purfles, Playback, P.O.P, et al.
    R: Red Velvet; duh! …but you’d be surprised at how much I had to pry that choice away from Rainbow.
    I: Easy choice.. ..IU, but there was competition from ITZY, (G)I-dle, I.O.I, IZ*ONE, et al.
    L: LOOΠΔ. You’d think from my first post I’d pick LADIES’ CODE, but, well, it’s difficult. Others: Lovelyz, Lee Hi, Laboum, Lee Hyori, et al.

    Favorite songs starting with the letter…

    A: Orange Caramel “~A-ing” (I really flipped when I first experienced them). Others: Ah-Choo, Abracadabra, Apple, Adios, Alone, A Girl Like Me, April Story, Apple Pie, A Bad Thing, Automatic, A, Anymore, and many more.
    P: KARA “Pandora” (when this dropped, I was floored). Others: Peek-A-Boo, Power Up, Playback, Pinky Star, Pow Pow, Palette, Pepe, Painkiller, Pretty Pretty, Party (XXO), Poison, Pray, et al.
    R: SNSD “Run Devil Run” (because that was the song that introduced me to this genre). Others: Rough, Run, Remember, Rainbow, Russian Roulette, Red Flavor, Rookie, Ring My Bell, Ring Ma Bell, Red, Runaway, Rose, Rock U, Roly Poly, et al.
    I: 2NE1 “It Hurts” (my intro to 2NE1). Others: ICY, Irregular Office, I’m So Sick, I Like It, I Wish, ICE CHU, I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend, Ice Cream Cake, I’m Ill, I Like U Too Much, I’m Jelly Baby, I’m In Love, I Don’t Know, I Swear, I Miss You, It’s You, I’ll Be There, I’m Fine, Thank you, et al.
    L: T-ara “Lovey Dovey”. Others: Likey, Lair Lair, La La Love, Lost N Found, La Di Da, LATATA, La La La, Lady, Last Night Story, Loving U, Love Whisper, Lonely, Lovesick, Lucky One, Loser, Lies, LUV, Like A Cat, Like a Star, Luv Virus, et al.

    If a future month uses any of this months letters or repeat letters, I’ll pick a different song for that slot.

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  42. Random rants idk where else to put-

    • Purple Kiss’ memeM is so frustrating. It has greatness in parts but the rest of the song is annoyingly grating. Also, it sounds great on headphones.

    • Why can’t Dreamcatcher improve the look of their album covers? Like, they don’t match the quality of their music.

    • I’ve already made this recommendation, but Jwiiver’s Jtrap is one of the best kpop songs I’ve heard this year.

    • Like many of them have mentioned above, The Weeknd’s new album is a masterpiece, complete with the vibes, the aesthetic and the music. Take my breath and out of time are my favourites.

    • The Door by Chloe George is amazing. It has a nice alt vibe with beautiful melodies. Melancholic yet hopeful, it is really pretty. It also comes complete with a rock outro.

    • Vaundy’s music(jpop) is amazing.

    • Akuma no Ko by Higuichi Ai is one of the best ballads I’ve heard. Incredibly cathartic, I initially discovered her through a comment here.

    • I’m still salty about gfriend’s disbandment. They are what lead me to this blog when I was searching for a review for Apple.

    • Conan Gray’s recent releases are all wonderful.

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  43. While I’ve been into K-Pop since late 2018, I would love to go back in time to the start of 2012 to experience K-Pop. I’m floored by how many quality tracks were released during that time! Shout out to the years 2013, 2014, and 2015.

    For this year, I’m a bit underwhelmed. There are a handful of solid songs, but I’m still craving knockouts. My top K-pop song for this year is Rocket Punch’s Chiquita.

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  45. I caught the tail end of 2020 in kpop, so last year was my first full year in Kpop. ITA about most title tracks being a little “there”, but there are some great b-sides, which i seem to gravitate more to anyway. I’d love this year’s Criminal, Black Mirror, or Killa to happen (and the Chain G. to stop screwing around on TikTok and getting back to making some damn songs) but if the alternative is listening to the new Onew album or Sorn or Pentagon, it’s pretty pleasant.

    Really liking the new NCT Dream. Sure the title was a little gimmicky, but I liked it. But the B-sides are super good – real R&B feel and their chemistry is ridiculous. I also like this dude that Kpopalypse hipped me to, Kino2Jsly. He’s a rapper with a sense of humor who has some actual songs.

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  46. I think my favorite year is still 2014. VIXX leading the way with one of my all-time favorites in Error, but there were so many good tracks that year (f(x), T-ara, Apink, SNSD, Infinite, Berry Good, etc.).

    A lot of people are down on this year, but I think it has been really strong (at least on the gg side). INVU is my favorite Taeyeon track in a long time. STAYC’s Young Luv is spectacular. Also impressed by the Yena, Yuju, Dreamcatcher, and Rolling quartz albums. Have enjoyed stuff from WJSN Chocome, rock-infused (G)I-DLE, Sorn, Rocket Punch, IVE, Suho, and lesser known stuff from the likes of W24 and Sonic Stones.

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    • I haven’t been here long enough to qualify for a favorite kpop year… so I’ll answer the second part.

      I like 2022 just fine so far:D

      I’ll compare 2022 and 2021 month by month

      January : 2022 wins for me here. Yes, 2021 had Odd Eye, Burn It, Hwaa, Crush, Love So Sweet (songs I really like) + T1419 (I’m an unashamed fan of their debut)

      BUT 2022 beats out 2021 because I love certain songs from now so much more : Crazy about You, Bobbin, Do It Like This, Catch The Stars, Super Yuppers, Dessert, Athletic Girl, Wa Da Da, Marvelous, Love me Like, Feelin Like, Devil – and the craziest part – NONE of them are my ult groups! They’re all groups I’m getting into or don’t know much and so I find Jan 2022 even more impressive!

      February : Excalibur, Beautiful Beautiful, Breathe and Paranoia are extremely strong songs of 2021 which are still strong for me! This February I felt quantity-wise there were more songs I liked – INVU, Jikjin, Jtrap, Chiquita, O.O, Gingamingayo, Dilemma BUT I would take Breathe alone over any of this XD

      March : 2021 March was probably my favorite month! Fireworks, Get Away, Seoul, Not Over, Do or Not, Killa, After School – definitely a great month because I discovered 3 groups I vibed with so much – Verivery, Ghost9 and Mirae! And Purple Kiss though it was a debut I don’t think of much – the group itself is firmly in my heart!
      2022 March is less about discovery but it too gave a lot of songs I enjoyed! A rather filled month! Maniac, Du Du Du, Too Bad, Bad News, Love in Space, Ascension, Adrenaline, O, and Purple Kiss again – a song which seemed mehmehmeh at first but I love their vocals so much that it’s catchy!

      Also March has my favorite song of the year so far – Epitaph, so 2021 and 2022 both have awesome Marches for me!

      April : It’s not over yet… but last year had Atlantis, Antidote, Dancing in the Starlit night, Drunk Dazed, Ugly Dance and Gratata. All good strong songs, except for Gratata which is a good guilty pleasure!

      This month so far has Maison which probably beats most of them and is close to Atlantis level for me! Then there’s Love in Bloom, Love Dive, Promise and X-ray – 4 really enjoyable songs! And this month isn’t even over yet with a distant Verivery cb I’m looking at! 😀

      So overall I’m really enjoying 2022 so far but I agree there are certain songs of first half of 2021 that can single handedly beat all these songs. The only song of 2021 I feel has a chance to fight against my top songs of last year is Epitaph… which is fortunately or unfortunately Japanese 😂

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      • I love fresh perspectives. After spending years in this genre, you an unavoidable develop a slant in your perceptions. Listening to others that are experiencing this genre for the first time helps me rekindle some of that shock and awe wave I was surfing back at the start.

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  47. This is a complete non sequitur but anyway… I was looking through some discussion of ballads upthread and I remembered this song… I don’t really have any interest in jpop these days, but I briefly listened to it when I was a kid and really into anime… and I loved this song……

    I mean I *really* loved this. As like, a 13 year old girl. I thought this was so romantic, basically the most beautiful song I had ever heard. I am losing my mind. Why does it sound like that? Why do they look like that? Why are they dancing like that? Why are they dressed like yakuza? Why are they performing in an alleyway that is maybe also some sort of gravesite or memorial? WHY AM I OLD??????????

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  48. Fave Kpop Year: I’ve only started listening in late 2018, but I would go with 2019. Kpop in 2022 has been quite the letdown…

    Really bopping to ADRENALINEEEEE NAE SIMJANGE SHOT

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  49. My favorite K-pop year would be 2015 or 2016 mostly affected by BTS’ “WINGS” album and BIGBANG’s “MADE” album while other artists we’re releasing great music

    While I think 2022 so far has been mostly generic bb & gg music trying to sound unique yet the formula is still the same, but gladly there is still great releases from soloists like Max Changmin, MARK, Onew, etc. (Especially Changmin’s “Maniac”, I have listened to it at least 100 times and it’s still amazing)

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  50. My favorite years in kpop are 2012 and 2016, when I look back, so many of my all time favorites came from those 2 years and were so full of innovation and creativity. Both last year and this year (and somewhat 2020 also) have been extremely underwhelming for me, barely anything lately has gotten me really excited, and I find myself less and less interested in new groups & releases. Even my favorite groups have started to go slightly downhill for me in the last few years. I’m tired of everything starting to sound the same or so generic, what happened to stuff that was fun, interesting and worth looking forward to.

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    • unfortunately, that’s what happens in a market / industry that is way oversaturated….every year kpop tries debuting hundreds of new groups….this is not good on a lot of levels, but the one most concerning to me is that the majority of these groups are funded and managed by upstart management agencies (or struggling ones) that are not capable of properly managing, funding, or promoting these groups, even when said group may have potential….i think over half, or more, of these groups fail and disband, or end up struggling for years until they disband….

      with so many groups debuting, it gets hard on originality, and we see a lot of retreading of songs, concepts, images, and themes….it’s really sad….a lot of groups (especially girl groups, for me) had promise and were here one day and gone tomorrow….

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