At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade.
November 2023 Overall Thoughts
For the purpose of this blog, November marks the end of the year for K-pop. Eligibility for my year-end best-of lists closes as soon as we hit December, so my mind has naturally moved on to a summarization of 2023 as a whole. With that in mind, did November deliver any tracks that will find their way onto my year-end lists?
Yes, it did. In the context of this (very) underwhelming year in K-pop, November was slightly above average. There was a legitimate battle for my top three, with the third place switching back and forth between artists for the past few days. The Boyz’ Watch It might still get there in the end. I’m finding it more and more addictive by the day.
I know a lot of K-pop’s energy seems focused around buzzy girl groups this year, but I continue to find 2023 very dull in that category. I guess I just don’t love where musical trends are at the moment for girl groups, while boy groups are veering towards upbeat, funk-inspired tracks that are more suited to my taste. It’s frustrating, because ideally I’d love a more diverse mix of songs on these round-ups.
November was a month of growers. Beyond my top three picks, there are a handful of songs that have been on steady rotation despite some misgivings when I first reviewed them. ZEROBASEONE’s Crush has proven addictive (I actually like the shouting, now!) and ENHYPEN’s Sweet Venom won me over in spite of its generic leanings. J.Y. Park, eite, GreatGuys and 24K+ also had strong releases I enjoyed this month.
Of course, for me November was largely about Golden Child’s long-awaited comeback. The personal bias is strong with this group, but it’s built on a bulletproof catalog of music and fantastic vocal performances. They didn’t disappoint me, making their long hiatus slightly more worth it.
My mind is also turning toward my favorite J-pop songs of the year, and there are many to choose from. I’m very excited about this year’s countdown. Much of my fandom energy in 2023 has gone toward my favorite J-pop acts. This wasn’t a super strong month for new music, but a number of my favorites released songs and it’s no surprise to see many of them taking my top three spots.
Now, all that’s left is the plethora of year-end lists staring us down as we enter December. I don’t expect much from December when it comes to new music (though the impending TVXQ cb has my full attention), but it’s bound to be a busy one on the blog. I hope you’ll all check out the year-end features and chime in with your own picks!
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.8
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week One
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Two
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Three
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Four
TOP J-POP SONGS OF THE MONTH
3. Fantastics – Starboys (review)
2. Hiromitsu Kitayama – RANSHIN (review)
1. Ryugujo – SHORYU (→↓↘︎＋P) (review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
The Boyz – Watch It (review)
Crush – Hmm-cheat (review)
eite – Independent Woman (review)
ENHYPEN – Sweet Venom (review)
GreatGuys – Deep In Love (review)
J.Y. Park – Changed Man (review)
Nam Woohyun – Baby Baby (review)
Omega X – Junk Food (review)
Soyeon x Winter x Liz – Nobody (review)
Viviz – Maniac (review)
Weeekly – Vroom Vroom (review)
ZEROBASEONE – Crush / Melting Point (review / review)
24K+ – Roller Coaster (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. AMPERS&ONE – On And On (review)
2. Jungkook – Standing Next To You (review)
1. Golden Child – Feel Me (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of August 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of July 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of June 2023
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
If you’re looking for good girl group tracks you might’ve missed this year, check out QWER’s Discord on the Kpop side (It was released in October and is rising up the charts now) and &Me from Produce 101 Japan The Girls, they both give Gfrend/WJSN/Kara vibes
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My top three are basically the same except Watch It would be my #3!
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My top 3 are
JYP – Changed Man
WayV – On My Youth
Kookie – Standing Next to You
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OOFT how did Nick miss On My Youth, that song is absolutely #1 for me
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It’s technically C-pop, so it isn’t eligible for the K-pop portion of the round-up. Otherwise it would be there for sure!
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Pleasantly surprised that Maniac made it!
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SKZ Lalala and Jungkook Standing Next to You are probably my top picks. Weeekly Vroom Vroom too with how many times I heard it! Aespa Drama was an odd grower too.
I loved Golcha Feel Me but didn’t listen to it much so doesn’t come to my mind right now (I’ll be raving about this next year lol)
MCND Oddventure might grow on me too. And the bsides.
All 3 of my ults came this month – SKZ, DC & Ateez -> and honestly I had high hopes for DC and Ateez and not much for SKZ based on my levels of interest for their last few cbs. It ended up as a complete twist though because SKZ’s Lalala was the only one that hit me right from the get go. DC’s OOTD grew on me as a song but I can’t really see it as a DC cb. And for Ateez’s Crazy Form… um, idk 😂 I heard it today and though the MV is so cool and full of life the song feels so… subdued . Not what I expected from Ateez. It might grow though lol.
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Amazing month!!!
TT:
Golden Child – Feel Me❤️
Xodiac – Only Fun
Ampers&One – On & On
Bsides:
MCND – Pop Star
MCND – Run❤️
&Team – Dropkick
Solos:
Yedam – Miss You❤️
Honorables:
GreatGuys – Deep In Love
Vixx – If You Come Tonight❤️
MCND – Odd Venture
Nine.i – Neverland
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no chill kill ouu thats not
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chill kill was goood, classic red velvet
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Top 3 title/promoted tracks:
1. Watch It, The Boyz
2. Untie, Viviz
3. Dropkick, &Team
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Viviz – Maniac
WayV – On My Youth
Red Velvet – Chill Kill
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November was an amazing month for this year’s music. Some songs I enjoyed:
– Jungkook – Standing Next To You
– Golden Child – Feel Me
– Red Velvet – Chill Kill
– ZB1 – Crush
It was also the month where I decided to give a bunch of your global pop songs of the year that I haven’t heard before a listen and boy, why haven’t I discovered those gems earlier?!
I have a newfound appreciation for both Ava Max and Ellie Goulding, their albums were surprisingly stellar. I have a feeling they will be on repeat for the coming months. Also, thanks for introducing me to Slayyyter; her songs really slap.
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Speaking of global pop, since I know you loved Tyla’s “Been Thinking” (which is solid), I’m curious to know your thoughts on her popular song, “Water” (released a few months ago), and her new self-titled mini (which is released today)
Also, what are your thoughts on VCHA’s new pre-debut single?
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Water’s okay, but Been Thinking deserved to smash way more imo. Haven’t listened to the EP yet, but I plan to!
Ready For The World is better than their other song, but this group does absolutely nothing for me. They don’t seem to have any musical perspective. It’s very generic.
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IKR. I hope more people get to know about her songs (before Water), especially “Been Thinking”, now that she’s a rising artist.
Speaking of that, I just found out that her self-titled release is going to be a full album released in March of next year and that she just dropped a couple of new songs today to promote it. I guess I was misunderstood because I first saw those new songs through Spotify grouped together in one release and thought it was an EP. So, my apologies on my part although we got new music from her after all.
As for VCHA, I’m not a fan of their music (although I really enjoyed their A2K show), but thankfully they are all pre-debut singles. Guess we’ll see what their actual music direction will be once they debut next month with new music.
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WHERE ARE A T E E Z THEIR MAGNIFICENT THEIR ENERGY IS SOMETHING OUT OF THIS WORLD MY THEY ARE INDEED ONE OF MY FAVORITE K-POP IDOLS WITH BOUNCY DAY TORE IT UP!!!🔥 ON FIRE
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ATEEZ released their song on December 1st, so it wouldn’t have been eligible.
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I MEANT WITH BOUNCY THEY TORE IT UP ATEEZ SO MUCH TALENT IN THAT GROUP WITH AN EXCELLENT LEADER CAPTAIN HAS DONE AMAZING JOB WITH HIS MEMBERS SAN AND WOOYOUNG GORGEOUS THEY’RE ALL AMAZING AND NEED TO BE RECOGNIZED FOR THERE HARD WORK.🌶️🔥🌶️🔥
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