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.
February 2025 Overall Thoughts
K-pop continued to limp along this month, though the second half of February started to kick things into gear. Multiple highlights from boy groups old and new make up my top three choices in a pleasant volley of funk-pop interpretations that felt both nostalgic and fresh. While I’m very clear about these being my favorite three songs of the month, I’m less clear how to rank them. They switch places day by day, almost to the point where I want to consider this a three way tie.
Commercially, February was dominated by the return of K-pop legend G-Dragon and the multiple solo efforts from BLACKPINK members. There were no less than four new singles from Jennie, Lisa and Jisoo. For me, it was a mixed bag overall but averaged out in a pretty positive place.
February also saw the emergence of two buzzy new girl groups. SM Entertainment’s Hearts2Hearts made their debut and Starship Entertainment’s KiiiKiii dropped two pre-release tracks. Unfortunately, none of these songs connected with me and one was downright (intentionally) awful. I can’t say I’m overly excited about either act, but I hope they both prove me wrong in the near future.
Boy groups definitely won the month for me, with songs by ALL(H)OURS, One Pact and RE:WIND standing out from the pack of honorable mentions. We finally got some great b-sides this month as well, with NouerA, ZEROBASEONE and ONF delivering the goods on their albums. In a year that’s felt increasingly singles-oriented, it’s nice to have some consistently strong bodies of work to listen to.
Honestly, I’ve got nothing for this month’s J-pop singles. The only songs I liked were b-sides or not promoted as singles. I’m choosing three songs by default (including one from the final day of January), but I can’t say any of them would end up on any year-end countdown. Fortunately, new albums from Genic and One Love One Heart were solid and I’m looking forward to Queen Bee’s new project next week.
March has a history of delivering the goods, so we’ll see what happens this year. Personal favorites Infinite are coming back next week, though I’m refusing to get my hopes up after 2023’s disappointing return. Beyond that, there’s nothing I’m looking forward to in particular so I’ll just keep an open mind and hope for the best.
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: 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. Ryokuoushoku Shakai – Player 1
2. ICEx – Utopia
1. Rainy. – But No Love
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
ALL(H)OURS – Gimme Gimme (review)
Chungha – Stress (review)
EVNNE – Hot Mess (review)
G-Dragon – Drama / Too Bad (ft. Anderson .Paak) (review / review)
IVE – Attitude (review)
Jennie – ExtraL (ft. Doechii) (review)
Lisa – Born Again (with Doja Cat & Raye) (review)
One Pact – 100! (review)
RE:WIND – RE:SET (review)
Wooyoung (ATEEZ) – Sagittarius (reviews)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. ZEROBASEONE – Blue (review)
2. ONF – The Stranger (review)
1. NouerA – N.I.N (New Is Now) (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2025
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
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
It was a pretty good month, considering how slow it started off. I can’t argue with your top 3. My unpopular opinion: Hearts2Hearts’ The Chase is one of my favorites of the month, and I’d probably have 4 in my top 3, with a tie.
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I don’t think The Chase is *bad* and it’ll probably grow on me over the next few weeks. I just think as a debut single from a new SM group it’s the complete wrong direction
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LUN8’s Butterfly really grew on me too. It would be hard to narrow it down to my top 3 this month, I’d want at least 5 songs at the top, which is quite nice.
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Eh… it was a good month but the songs that were bad are real
Honorable Mentions
One Pact – 100!
MADEIN – Love, Afraid
Lisa – Born Again
Zerobaseone – Blue
D82 – Vinasse
Lee Changsub – Feel The Groove
3. ARrC – Nu Kidz
2. ONF – The Stranger
1. NouerA – N.I.N (New Is Now)
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.5
43 songs released this month
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I also enjoyed Nu kidz, even as the production was a bit generic if that 2000s boy group sound. I’m always a sucker for that style.
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Nu Kidz is really good. It’s the kind of music that never goes out of style for me. I was really surprised that some people didn’t pay so much attention to this song. The production that reminds me of a Korg Triton synthesizer, based on 1999s, which became popular in different musical genres, such as pop, hip hop and R&B. This synth is known for its wide range of sounds and features, and it works so well in K-pop. I was also surprised that Feel The Groove didn’t gain prominence, it’s a real earworm reminiscent of New Jack Swing.
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Hey Nick, would you be doing a review on SM’s british boy band dearAlice as their song dropped today?…dont know if it really counts as kpop tho
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No, and I don’t like it enough to feature in my global round-up, unfortunately.
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yes the song was quite underwhelming…i did really like these two songs that released this year from stela cole if u cud give them a listen
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=4zC5PSCQDp8&si=9ubcSgiGDh9Bjcdt
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=mZQ7cVjTL5c&si=8n-shGnKqiAt9Gka
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PLAVE mini-album Caligo PT. 1 topped February for me. Solid title track with beautiful B-sides. The whole project is amazing for me
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February was a so-so month, with the first half being alright, though pretty slow, but it did build up well in the second half. Hearts2Hearts and KiiiKiii were okay, none of them stood out to me (and sadly, that goddamn interpolation of “Debut Song”, infact the whole song is stuck in my head like an annoying earworm… it’s always the shittiest songs that get stuck inside your head, eh?). dearALICE also made their debut… it was okay, I loved the production, but as an overall song, it’s really underwhelming. I’d prolly put it in 7s with production a 9. 3/4th of the pinks released their solos, and I loved them all, ExtraL’s growing a bit on me, though none made it to my Top 3. But the boy groups were fantastic this month. ALL(H)OURS and RE:WIND released great songs, but it was ZB1, ONF and NouerA that stole the show. I have yet to check the albums out (apart from Bring The Crunk, and I’m also not really into checking albums unless it’s from my faves), but they sound promising since I know I can trust your word.
Anyways, enough yapping and here’s my top 3:
1- The Stranger (ONF)
2- N.I.N (New Is Now) (NouerA)
3- Blue (Zerobaseone)
Honourable mentions:
Gimme Gimme (ALL(H)OURS), Too Bad (G-Dragon ft. Anderson .Paak), Attitude (IVE), ExtraL (Jennie ft. Doechii), Earthquake (Jisoo), Born Again (Lisa ft. Doja Cat and Raye) and Re:set (RE:WIND)
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have you heard the bside chill by lisa? is such a good song, buried treasure material along with lifestyle
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While I am not sure it will hold up with time as a top 3 favorite in time, Hearts2Hearts completely sold me with their debut. It’s also interesting that this is partially written by/credited to FLO because you can hear how it comes through with the vocal layering. The dreamy mid tempo moodiness really works for me but I can get how it isn’t an immediate smash for some people.
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I’m like 99% sure the verses and the bridge were written by FLO, I can practically hear the girls singing them. I enjoy H2H’s version but I hope FLO’s demo leaks because I’d love to hear them doing riffs and runs than what was left in H2H’s version.
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February was slow for me. I actually only ❤️❤️❤️ ONF – THE STRANGER
Honorable Mentions:
AllHours – GimmeGimme
Evnne – Hot Mess
OnePact – 100!
Lun8 – Butterfly
Ash Island – Ghost of You
H2H – The Chase
KiiKii – I Do Me
PS: I’m still on the fence with ZB1’s Blue and NouerA’s NiN
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I really expected ONF to be on the list but not disappointed. It was not my fav of their TT yet it still quite enjoyable for me. Everyone please listen to ONF – The stranger too! ❤️
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my top song of the month (and my soty) is gaga’s abracadabra! its just that incredible of a song
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So far this year, my favorite music actually hasn’t come from Korea or Japan…
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Plave new album is doing so good last month. Especially their B-sides, Chroma Drift ( a city pop genre ) , literally my favorite
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My top two for Feb 2025
ONF – The Stranger
Crackshot – Follow Me (old song but I only discovered it recently due to My Dearest Nemesis!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmmpmU_boJ0
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