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.
January 2025 Overall Thoughts
It’s a new year! But it… kind of doesn’t feel like it yet? Sandwiched between Western New Year and Lunar New Year, this January was largely sidelined without many new releases. I’ve watched Music Bank every week since 2014 and find its weekly line-up to be a good barometer of where K-pop is at any given time. This month, about 50% of each new episode was filled with ballad and trot singers. There just weren’t enough idol comebacks to match the running time.
This was in stark contrast to January of last year. It’s hard to believe, but nearly a third of my top ten 2024 K-pop songs came from last January. Beyond that, there were a whopping six (!) other January releases that made my top 50. That will certainly not be the case this year. Looking at this through an optimistic lens, I guess it means we can only go up from here.
The order of my top three K-pop songs might be surprising this month. Battling it out for the top spot was a relatively generic version of a song style I tend to love and a quirkier version of a song style that doesn’t always appeal to me. In the long run, “quirky” ended up winning, which can often be the case since idiosyncrasies are what tend to keep a song fresh after its newness has worn off. With that said, I don’t see any of my top three tracks challenging the upper echelons of my year-end countdown in December.
J-pop had a stronger January, with one new single I absolutely adore and a few more that I find very solid. My top pick is my favorite track in this entire round-up. There are a host of exciting comebacks on the horizon so I’m hoping the industry regains my attention after a somewhat middling 2024. And speaking of other music markets, Finland was my big winner this month. New songs by Neea River, Nelli Matula and Erika Vikman absolutely ruled my January. Straight 9’s across the board for those tracks. Let’s bring some of that energy to K-pop!
As for the blog itself, this month saw the debut of a new feature: my weekly K-pop round-up! Sundays are now your go-to spot for a weekly summary of new K-pop and J-pop singles. I was also able to complete my recaps of K-pop’s year-end festivals with MBC’s delayed Gayo Daejejeon.
As underwhelmed as I was by January, I feel like there’s a lot to look forward to in February and beyond. Without any disruptions in promotions (I hope!), the release calendar should start to fill out. We’ve already got some exciting things promised for next month. Comebacks for ONF, IVE, ZEROBASEONE, RESCENE, Chungha and seemingly all of BLACKPINK are on the horizon. Plus, there’s SM’s new girl group looming in the distance. I hope at least one of these new releases knocks it out of the park!
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.9
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Weeks One & Two
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Three
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Four
TOP J-POP SONGS OF THE MONTH
3. &TEAM – Deer Hunter (review)
2. ZEROBASEONE – Now Or Never (review)
1. Genic – It’s Showtime (review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
BABYMONSTER – Really Like You (review)
BBGirls – Love 2 (review)
Eunhyuk – Up N Down (review)
GFriend – Season Of Memories (review)
IVE – Rebel Heart (review)
Jennie – Love Hangover / ZEN (review / review)
ZEROBASEONE – Doctor! Doctor! (review)
2Z – Great Force / Something Special (reviews)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. Kim Wan Sun & Seulgi – Lucky (review)
2. CIX – Thunder (review)
1. BOYNEXTDOOR – If I Say, I Love You (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of December 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of August 2024
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
January was a sparse month, I assume the Jeju incident might have something to do with it + all the festivals/awards and stuff. But well, here are my top 3:
1- Rebel Heart (IVE) (9.5) (yeah, I happen to ignore lyrics unless they are godawful or controversial + the melodies help further in it)
2- Thunder (CIX) (9)
3- Zen (Jennie) (8.5)
Haven’t listen to IISILY more than once tbvh, I don’t vibe much with BND’s songs (though Dangerous was on loop for days at one time). I think I’d given it an 8. I assume it rose to a 9 for you (or Thunder happened to fall to a 8.75).
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Oh yeah, and I hardly expect January to be bustling, and I believe most of Feb will be sparse too until the second half.
Honorable mentions go to Graffiti (ALL(H)OURS), Love Hangover (Jennie), Really Like You (Baemon) and Season of Memories (GFRIEND)
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Thunder fell. I’ve yet to hear a “9” this year.
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We have the same top 3! Just in a different order. (Yes, I really came around on IVE’s song, after initially being annoyed by the lyrics. But melody and energy wins the days.)
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gagged that Thunder isn’t #1 😱 it’s my favorite K-pop song of the month. BND was great as well so I get it.
my most played song of January was Something Kinda Ooooh by Girls Aloud, I have been obsessed since December.
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That is a KILLER Girls Aloud song.
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Please figure out a way to do a feature ranking all the singles of Girls Aloud. We need it!
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Same here. I have not stopped playing Thunder since it came out. While I did enjoy the BND release, they don’t have the same chokehold on me as they do Nick lol – Thunder just seems so eclectic to me based on the current K-pop landscape and it only gets better with every listen.
Now for the reason I actually replied lmao – Girls Aloud are my ride or die “Western” act. Always happy to hear more about Girls Aloud in the modern day and happier to see fans still alive n’ kicking (I know they have fans, I just don’t come across them often)! I love Something Kinda Ooooh and revisited that, but I also love their more out there songs like ‘Biology’, ‘Sexy No No No!’, ‘Something New’, even ‘Graffiti My Soul’ (basically feel like the Girls Aloud bible haha)
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What about Close To Love? Always felt like that was a perfect companion to Something Kinda Ooooh 🙂
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Yeah I definitely get the feeling of it being cut from the same type of cloth
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Sexy! No No No… was my obsession in November! I’ve heard a few of their songs and have been planning to properly listen to all their albums but haven’t found the time yet. soon hopefully 🤞
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Thank you all for reminding me of Girls Aloud. Something New was on loop for me like 10 years ago lol!
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Happy to help haha!
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What a discouraging month after a promising start to 2024. The year started in a musically inferior way, appearing to return to the path established in December. For comparison purposes, the previous month was more dynamic, with a total of 37 launches, surpassing the volume of this period. Although some tracks stood out, none were able to make a real impact. In fact, I would easily swap Thunder for any other release in this selection
I have a feeling, which I sincerely hope is wrong, that February won’t be particularly memorable either, which is why I’ll keep my expectations modest. I think Nick and I differ considerably on Jennie’s solo releases and a few others. I’ve gotten used to disagreeing with certain of his choices each month, but that’s natural – after all, everyone has specific preferences, and there’s no right or wrong when recognizing what resonates individually
I always hedge my bets, and from what I heard in Lisa’s Born Again preview, there’s some promising potential. Maybe my bet is on her, even though I’m not particularly a fan of her music. As for the rest, I still haven’t found a name to place my expectations on
Honorable Mentions
GFriend – Season Of Memories
BoyNextDoor – If I Say I Love You
2Z – Great Force
Ive – Rebel Heart
Eunhyuk – Up N Down
3. Ovan, Joosiq, Lunch, Piano Man, Im Soo, Kim Changwoon – The Year
2. Kim Wansun & Seulgi – Lucky
1. CIX – Thunder
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.7
33 songs released this month
Anyway, I wish you all a great February and I hope to see you again in a future Nick post. Let’s hope that this month brings us some real hits capable of pleasing everyone present here
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There are many songs that sounded very boring to me even though almost everyone is gushing about them. Maybe I’m in one of those moods.🤷🏻♀️
Having said that, what I LOVED:
CIX- Thunder❤️❤️❤️…amazing
&TEAM- Deer Hunter❤️❤️❤️…amazing
BND- If I Say I Love You❤️❤️…super fun
MONT- O.M.W❤️
JUST B- Still I Luv You❤️
2Z- Great Force❤️
Honorable Memtions:
XLOV – I’mma Be
IVE – Rebel Heart
WEi – Not Enough
Minnie – Her
PS:
I have not listened to Onew’s and AllHours’ songs yet.
PS: Younite’s “Taste” and 8Turn’s “Like a Movie” were risers (from last month).
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sigh…I made sure not to write COX’s again, but then I “Memtions” instead of Mentions🙃
Forgot to clarify that Minnie’s “HER” might not last too long on my playlist, but for now I’ve fallen for the YT challenges (especially Jaemin’s…I have a soft spot for that guy, he is just so extra)
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If I say I love you is my number one as well this month, followed by thunder and surprisingly, Rebel Heart.
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My favorites have been Zen by Jennie, Imma Be by Xlov, and Rebel Heart by Ive.
Also, I just discovered Heart Attack by AOA recently, and have been listening to it regularly. It makes me sad that we’ll probably never get an AOA reunion, because they’ve had some incredible works over the years.
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i
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i have enjoyed CIX’s thunder really well and BND’s If I say I love you have been 1a b for me alongside thunder, but i have really enjoyed VVUP’s new release and have become and easy no 2 for me.
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