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The Top 10 K-Pop Producers of 2023

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The Top 10 K-Pop Producers of 2023Each year, this countdown becomes more difficult to compile. Increasingly, K-pop songwriting has become a team activity. This makes it hard to suss out who exactly is responsible for what, and it also tends to flatten musical perspective and quirk. Even so, I’ve combed through the credits of my favorite 2023 music to find ten talents who stood out to me.

2023 Year-End Masterpost

10. ZIGZAG NOTE

zigzag-note

ZigZag Note are one of the longest-running teams on this year’s list. They didn’t produce much in 2023, but everything they touched was a highlight.

2023 Highlights:
Golden Child – Feel Me
NINE.i – Hurt
E’Last – Thrill, Neverland

9. WOODZ, NATHAN & HOHO

WOODZ

WOODZ has found a tight team of collaborators for his work and that resulted in yet another great mini album this year.

2023 Highlights:
WOODZ’ OO-LI mini album

8. FULL8LOOM

full8loom_logo

FULL8LOOM is one of the most consistently great production teams working in K-pop. Half of their output this year was for J-pop acts, but the songs were all super solid.

2023 Highlights:
Kwon Eunbi – The Flash
Kep1er – Together Forever
Boys Planet – Here I Am
INI – Let’s Escape

7. BLACK EYED PILSEUNG

Black-Eyed-Pilseung
I like how Black Eyed Pilseung played around with their sound this year. STAYC’s bubblegum transformation was a success and Cake feels very different for them.

2023 Highlights:
STAYC – Teddy Bear, Bubble
ITZY – Cake

6. SWEETUNE

Sweetune
It’s hard to justify placing Sweetune on this list when they only produced two songs this year. But quality is more important than quantity and Turn It Off is a banger for the ages.

2023 Highlights:
NINE.i – Turn It Off
n.SSign – Melody

5. RYAN JHUN

Ryan Jhun

Ryan Jhun almost always winds up on this list simply due to the breadth of material he’s involved in. As usual, I didn’t love everything he had a hand in but the fact that he delivered songs like I Am, Like It and Medusa (each so different from one another!) makes 2023 another impressive year.

2023 Highlights:
IVE – I Am, Kitsch, Not Your Girl, Cherish, Wave, Classic, Baddie, Holy Moly
SHINee – Like It
Just B – Medusa
fromis_9 – #menow
Ren – Ready To Move, Autofill, Imagine More, Lullaby
CRAVITY – Baddie, A to Z
Weeekly – Good Day (Special Daileee), Backwards
Monsta X – Beautiful Liar
Infinite – New Emotions
VIVIZ – Untie
Oh My Girl – Summer Comes

4. BANG HYE HYUN

Bang Hyehyun
I don’t know much about Bang Hye Hyun, but looking at her work with SM artists this year, she’s very much on my radar. She’s had a hand in some of 2023’s biggest bangers and seems to have a knack for great melody.

2023 Highlights:
RIIZE – Get A Guitar
NCT Dream – Broken Melodies
aespa – Spicy, Drama, Salty & Sweet
Weeekly – Good Day (Special Daileee)
ENHYPEN – Still Monster

3. IM SOHU (IGGY) x N!KO

imsuhoIm Sohu (you’ll know him as “Iggy” in the famed “Iggy & Youngbae” partnership) and N!KO were entrusted with ZEROBASEONE’s sound this year. Though there were other producers involved, these two have played a huge role in establishing ZB1’s signature sound.

2023 Highlights:
ZEROBASEONE – In Bloom, New Kidz On The Block, Crush, Always, Take My Hand, Good Night
Boys Planet – Jelly Pop
GHOST9 – Ruckus
Mirae – Girl

2. VAHN

NINE.i-Vahn-1

As a member of NINE.i, Vahn co-writes the group’s material. And given the fact the group scored my number one song, b-side and album of the year instantly vaults him to a high place on this list. His participation in Golden Child’s excellent Feel Me is just icing on the cake.

2023 Highlights:
NINE.i’s entire 2023 output
Golden Child – Feel Me

1. KZ, NTHONIUS, DINT & MEISOBO

KZ

This team delivered the most consistent sound all year with The Wind’s burgeoning pop discography. The individual members also collaborated on many tracks with other producers, but this foursome ending up being the strongest musical match.

2023 Highlights:
The Wind’s entire 2023 output

21 thoughts on “The Top 10 K-Pop Producers of 2023”

  4. My favorites would have to be whoever is producing NewJeans. Looking at their Wiki pages, it seems there are 2 main ones: 250 (Ditto, Hype Boy, Attention, Hurt, ETA, Get Up, ASAP) and Park Jin-su (Cool with You, OMG, New Jeans, Cookie), along with Frankie Scoca (Super Shy, Cool with You, New Jeans).

    Second favorite would go to Sweetune. Yes, only two songs, but I love both of them.

    Concerning Black Eyed Pilseung, did they produce STAYC’s songs this year? Their sound has been such a departure, that I assumed BEP weren’t involved. To be honest, I love BEP’s earlier, sultry and sophisticated work, and lost all interest in STAYC when they changed. I’m hoping BEP return to form. I’d rate them as my biggest disappointment this year in terms of producers.

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    • Wow, looks like Park Jin-su and Frankie Scoca were all over V’s Layover album. I ignored that one because it was so mellow; but now I think I must spend more time with it.

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      • Early BEP was more on the bubblegum side, especially their work with Twice’s first singles (TT, Cheer Up, Likey, Cheer Up). Perhaps that’s what they’re attempting to get back to this year with STAYC?

        But around 2018, when they launched their own label, their work changed to a more sultry and sophisticated sound, notably with Chungha (Gotta Go), Apink in their mature, post-bubblegum phase (I’m So Sick, %%” [Eung Eung], Dumhdurum, Dilemma), and STAYC (So Bad/Like This, ASAP, Stereotype, Run2U).

        I do love those early Twice singles, but imo that best BEP era was the one that followed, with Chungha, Apink, and STAYC (until this year).

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        • Now that you lay the timeline out like this, I guess I can see what you’re talking about. I honestly also do prefer their older work with StayC.

          But I think they’re resorting to the Bubblegum Pop because the disappointment that was Beautiful Monster’s chart performance scared them into making sure that the songs they’re giving them are guaranteed hits.

          It’s unfortunate cuz I did appreciate that they were experimenting with Beautiful Monster. But I understand where they’re coming from since StayC’s position and legacy in the industry is far from secured.

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    • The thing that keeps Ryan Jhun, and producers like him, from placing higher on the list is the fact that they work exclusively with large, ever-changing teams. It’s hard to tell what role Jhun actually plays. Without knowing more details, it’s almost like he’s the “brand name” that puts his stamp on songs worked on by a much larger team.

      That’s the tricky thing about K-pop producers in this day and age, though. Song camps make these things tricky.

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  9. Have you seen jyp’s new nizi group NEXZ’s Pre-release?
    They’re already racking up some numbers. I love the song, not entirely boyish and have a sense of sophistication. I feel like they’re making them to be the next got7.

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    • I included them in the J-pop round-up this week but I’m deliberately not watching the music video because I haven’t finished the show yet and I don’t want to be spoiled about who makes it in the group 🙂

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  10. This is a solid list but I would have included Woozi and El Capitxn. If you don’t vibe with Seventeen I can see where you couldn’t include Woozi but El Capitxn worked with a bunch of different groups as well as on the entire D-Day album and toured with Yoongi which I thought was pretty cool.

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