This is always one of the countdowns I feel least confident about because I tend to listen to K-pop more often than I watch it. It’s also a very subjective category, as my visual/storytelling/conceptual preferences may not match others’. The truth is, K-pop has become so adept at crafting fantastic music videos that I could have included so many others on this list. Here are ten that especially caught my attention this year.
Honorable Mentions:
ATEEZ – Ice On My Teeth
Jin – Running Wild
Kiss Of Life – Midas Touch
RIIZE – Boom Boom Bass
TXT – Deja Vu
WHIB – Rush Of Joy
10. IU – LOVE WINS ALL
Cinematic music videos will always have an edge, and Love Wins All feels like the short version of a sweeping motion picture masterpiece.
9. THE WIND – HELLO, MY FIRST LOVE
Puppy love in a school setting will always be endearing and it compliments The Wind’s fresh, youthful concept so well. This felt like watching a sweet coming-of-age drama.
8. RM – LOST!
While I didn’t listen to RM’s music much this year, I found the video for Lost! to be quite evocative and surreal. That’s a combination that works well for this style of track.
7. XIKERS – BITTERSWEET
I doubt anyone else will have this on their list. It’s not even a proper music video! However, sometimes “simple is best” and xikers’ performance coupled with the cool/creepy CGI effects really captured my attention this year.
6. LISA – ROCKSTAR
I didn’t much care for this song, but the video is big-budget superstar at its best. Lisa commands attention throughout, assisted by huge set pieces and cool camera angles.
5. BOYNEXTDOOR – EARTH, WIND & FIRE
Just like the song itself, this music video is stuffed with colors and personality. Its madcap energy perfectly suits the group, taking full advantage of their charm.
4. AESPA – SUPERNOVA
I like when cool, badass songs are paired with silly music videos. It helps keep them from feeling too self-serious, and Supernova‘s campier aspects work surprisingly well to compliment the track.
3. YOUNG POSSE – ATE THAT
I completely acknowledge some of this music video’s more problematic choices, but I also can’t get over the sheer bonkers energy of it all. The Grand Theft Auto concept was absolutely inspired.
2. NAYEON – ABCD
Everything about ABCD feels like a feast for the senses, overstuffed with charisma. The music video is such a great showcase for Nayeon, throwing everything at the wall in a refreshingly old-fashioned popstar package.
1. TWS – OH MYMY: 7S, PLOT TWIST, HEY! HEY!, IF I’M S, CAN YOU BE MY N?, LAST FESTIVAL
Yes, I’m including almost all their 2024 music videos because they compliment each other so well and feel like one long, quirky youth drama. It’s rare to see a group debut with such a strong sense of concept and carry that through an entire year. These videos are bright, funny, evocative and perfectly suit the music. They’re a big part of what made TWS’s debut year so memorable, twisting K-pop tropes just enough to make them feel fresh.
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
My favorite music video was definitely ARTMS’ ‘Birth’! I love LOONA, and horror concepts in K-pop, so this was perfect. The surreal paintings, immaculate editing, creepiness, a really wonderful MV unlike any other K-pop MVs’s I’ve seen before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsCd9tUdUS8
Two other ones I enjoyed are IVE’s ‘HEYA’ and ‘Accendio’. The traditional elements and color scheme of HEYA are especially gorgeous, and I liked the storytelling in ‘Accendio’ a lot.
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TripleS’ ‘Girls Never Die’ was amazing as well, though I forgot to mention it in my other comment. And aespa’s music video’s were great as always. ‘Armageddon’ is my personal favorite due to the slight analog horror aspects in it (what I wish they had more of in ‘Drama’), but the others (Whiplash and Supernova) were really good, too.
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Despite the AI, Armageddon has to be one of the best mvs I’ve seen. I loved the CGI monster work and how gritty it felt. I also loved Jaehyun’s Smoke mv. I’m a sucker for 30s vintage aesthetic, the color grading and the cinematography was stunning (it didn’t feel like just lazily putting a black and white filter), and I loved how they interpreted the Narcissus story. I absolutely adore Supernova’s mv and wish we had a performance version. I don’t really love “soft” visuals in MVs, so they don’t really tend to catch my attention, but they have their cute charm.
Bonus mention to Heya’s and Accendio’s mv, their visual language and design was great. Also for Jaehyun’s Dandelion, I like how organic it felt with all the movements, and the editing is fantastic. NJ’s Supernatural was also a quirky treat, though I appreciated the retro cityscape design more than anything else.
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Unrelated, but a while ago I discovered Tommyfebruary6’s Je t’aime Je t’aime through this blog and now it’s just dawning on me, the instrumental felt so familiar when I first listened to it, and I know both songs are synth wave, but could it have possibly interpolating Pet Shop Boys’ It’s a Sin?
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As the years have gone by I’ve stopped watching as many MVs, often just tuning in to new releases on Spotify instead, but I definitely agree with you on TWS’s music videos! I particularly liked hey! hey! and Last Festival’s MVs, especially how in the latter they had each of the members as different members of a high school drama club, which was very cute – I even watched their individual MV teasers fleshing out those storylines more cuz I liked the concept so much.
Other MVs I liked:
aespa – Supernova, Whiplash
Itzy – Imaginary Friend
IVE – Accendio
Kiss of Life – Sticky
K.will – No Sad Song for My Broken Heart (😭)
Lisa – New Woman
STAYC – GPT
tripleS – Girls Never Die
Twice – Strategy
XG – Howling
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some of my favorites:
Ten – Nightwalker
WayV – Give Me That
ichillin- Demigod
yeonjun – ggum
Jin – Super Tuna
Song – it’s call
NCT 127 – Walk
P1Harmony – Killin It
UNIS – Curious
Baekhyun – Pineapple Slice
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oh, and Ateez Work.
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I feel so happy seeing you go all out for TWS, always like it when one is unapologetical in showing off what they love.
One MV that took me aback this year was Whiplash by aespa, it was something that only SM could do and the girls really nailed the aesthetics as well. Even the stills were amazing.
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I’m glad you appreciate the TWS love! When drafting these countdowns, I was worried it was going to get super repetitive but it’s just one of those years where one (or more accurately… three) groups totally dominated for me.
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I haven’t given favorite MV much thought this year, but Lisa and Rosalia’s New Woman MV is definitely one that stood out to me. While the song itself is decent (the hard slowdown for Rosalia’s verse continues to be jarring), the MV feels truly inspired and elevates the music for sure.
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I did very little mv watching this year so I don’t really have anything to add, but here are a few I liked:
IU – Love wins all
TWS – Oh Mymy, hey hey
RIIZE – Impossible, Boom Boom Bass
tripleS – Girls Never Die
Nayeon – ABCD
Itzy – Imaginary Friend
IVE – HEYA
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Surprised to see so much love for Lisa here, including in the comments. She’s going to be in season 3 of White Lotus, which I’m really looking forward to, given how great seasons 1 & 2 were.
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Rarely watch MV’s because usually I just click on them and listen to the songs while doing something else. Here are some that caught my attention:
ACE – Piñata – simple but mesmerizing
IVE – Accendio – cool story
RED VELVET – Cosmic – aesthetics were beautiful even though I think it was based on a really sinister concept?
ONF – Bye My Monster – what can I say? Everything about this comeback was absolutely wonderful to me.
BoyNextDoor – Dangerous – fun fun fun
Stray Kids – Chk Chk Boom – watched for the hype, stayed for the choreo
Ateez – Work – it’s ridiculous, but memorable
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My list:
G-IDLE “Super Lady” obviously
Ive – Heya
Ive – Accendio
Newjeans – Supernatural
Tws – Plot twist, Last Festival
Aespa – Supernova
ARTMS – Virtual angel
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illit – magnetic was my favorite.
ateez – work and aespa – supernova also stood out.
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wtf lol
Heya and Accendio were far and away the best MVs this year. Only Armageddon comes close
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stupid and silly list
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I wish I could get away with being this curt and dismissive, but I actually put effort into my commentary.
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I agree that IU’s video was epic but I was most moved this year by the video, Gone, by B.A.P. (bang&jung&yoo&moon) and its backstory of the joyous reunion of its members after 7 years.
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These are the music videos that stood out to me the most this year, mostly in release order.
ARTMS – Birth: It’s rare for a K-pop video to be genuinely dark like this, and it’s also peppered with these weird creepy illustrations that advance the storyline and give it a unique aesthetic. One of Digipedi’s finest works.
TripleS – Girls Never Die: Another dark one; in an industry that usually portrays girl groups especially as living in some sparkly idealized world, the girls here are presented as semi-feral/homeless and the video deals with themes of alienation, depression and death. What’s not to like?
IVE – Accendio: IVE as shown as magical girls fighting their evil nemeses, who are also themselves. It doesn’t get more camp than that, and I mean this as the highest compliment.
aespa – Supernova: The girls portray, not so quite supervillains but these alien, deranged, superhuman forces of nature; it’s just so creative and fun.
RM – Lost: This was like a K-pop Being John Malkovich: ‘Being Kim Namjoon’. Just outright the most inventive music video of the year, worthy of submission to short film festivals.
NewJeans – Right Now: Fun video around the concept of waiting for one’s crush to respond to a text. The acting is great but what also sets it apart are the psychedelic interludes and all the cute animations.
Kiss of Life – Sticky: This makes my list mainly for its cinematic ambition: it’s filmed with only a few long takes which are cleverly stitched together to make it seem as if there were only a single take.
ILLIT – Cherish: Silliest video of the year, with a theme revolving around teeth. (!) Just outright adorable.
XG – Howling: The XG members are these fairy warriors (?) that invade the planet and topple its dark lord, or something? Just visually stunning.
Yves – Viola: I guess I like the lo-fi aesthetic of this one? It shows that it’s still possible to create something stylish with a low-budget studio shoot, if the creative vision is there.
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Fully agree about Ate That, the MV is just bonkers and that makes it great. Perfectly executed GTA concept with lots of little references sprinkled in (YPS as UPS, “blockbusted” with the Blockbuster logo, …), and the CGI was really well done.
The MV producer posted some behind the scenes on YouTube which were interesting to watch: https://youtu.be/U9a4Tk0RDwo
There’s also a VFX breakdown by the CGI artist: https://youtu.be/5fLhVRltBUw
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Apart from that, I also enjoyed Supernova.
But my favorite this year was tripleS’ Girls Never Die with a rather dark and depressing concept, which still managed to portray a very hopeful vibe. Visually and conceptionally 10/10. And the song is my SOTY as well which isn’t decisive for my rating but likely helps.
Then there’s ARTMS’ Birth with an eery vibe and amazing acting. I like how there’s a mix of video and hand-drawn elements.
And lastly, the clearly divisive Virtual Angel (also ARTMS). It’s another dark concept that covers obsessive fan culture. It got a lot of flak for its quick cuts that many fans weren’t even able to watch with how “bad” it was (thankfully, they also released a “Human Eye version” that reduced those eye straining effects a bit later). Nonetheless, I respect the decision of putting concept/artistic freedom over numbers (streaming targets).
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