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.
September 2025 Overall Thoughts
We’ve hit the rare (?) double-header in K-pop with two back-to-back underwhelming months. August didn’t provide much in the way of excitement and — though it was packed with more releases — September barely registered either.
Right now, there are a handful of groups/artists that I know I can count on and I’ve become very invested in them and their music. Most of these are actually newer fifth-gen acts. In this way, I’m more heavily “into” K-pop right now than ever before. However, when these acts are all on hiatus for awhile (or worse yet, return with underwhelming material), I’m like a tumbleweed rolling through the desert. As I mentioned in last month’s recap, it’s feast or famine.
In past years, I’ve enjoyed the overarching musical trends enough to find songs I like from almost any artist. But just like global pop music at the moment, sweeping sonic trends aren’t really happening in 2025. Everyone’s just doing their own thing (or emulating a couple of the industry’s most popular acts). This naturally funnels listeners into silos of their own taste and I inevitably feel myself getting funneled into certain fandoms.
Must. Resist. The. Funneling.
I can’t say there were any SOTY contenders this month, which is a bummer. There were some total stinkers, though — most of which seemed targeted at the western market.
My top three is a bit strange. There are two songs by the same artist, sandwiching another song that would usually push all the wrong buttons for me. However, I can actually see this second place choice leapfrogging to the top before too long, at which point I fully expect readers to surround me with pitchforks, hissing “Biaaaasssss! You’re biaaaaasssssseedddd!”. I probably am (hence the name of the blog) but I really expected to hate this song and I’m as surprised as anyone that I actually love it (and could argue many points in its favor).
Honorable mentions go to IDID, who had a pretty strong debut (though I weirdly like Step It Up better — I guess I’m in my hip-hop era?) and BADVILLAIN (another hip-hop track!). Hip-hop also infiltrates my top three J-pop songs. with XG and One Or Eight both snatching spots. However, my top choice is a very Bias List-approved EDM banger. Actually, J-pop was pretty strong this month. Tracks by ATEEZ and DXTEEN could have easily snuck into the top three and there were a few songs without music videos that I really loved.
I don’t want to put too many expectations on October because that’s usually the kiss of death, but after the Chuseok holidays I foresee a deluge of big-name acts and (even more importantly) comebacks from artists who have a great track record on this blog. We really need a knockout October/November to make up for these past eight weeks.
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.6
(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. XG – GALA (review)
2. One Or Eight – Bet Your Life
1. STARGLOW – Moonchaser (review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
AxMxP – I Did It (review)
BADVILLAIN – Thriller (review)
Chaeyoung – Shoot (Firecracker) (review)
from20 – Social (review)
Haechan – CRZY (review)
Hearts2Hearts – Pretty Please (review)
IDID – CHAN-RAN (review)
Momoland – Rodeo (review)
Treasure – Paradise / Everything (review / review)
WOODZ – I’ll Never Love Again (review)
Youngbin – Freak Show (review)
ZEROBASEONE – Iconik (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Week In K-pop: Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. KickFlip – Band-Aid (review)
2. TWS – Head Shoulders Knees Toes (review)
1. KickFlip – My First Love Song (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of August 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of July 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of June 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of May 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2025
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
AxMxP “Love Poem” = KEY CHANGE OF THE YEAR!!! I have chosen it already. They just slide so easily from one to the other. If I have done the annotation properly it goes from A flat Major in the verse to D major in the chorus, alllll the way across the wheel. This is not the IU “Love Poem” but their own song, a very pleasant and engaging mid-tempo. And they are all cute as the dickens and still teens. (… noting also that it took me three times to write their name correctly, and I have no idea how to pronounce it. For now, it’s Ampex to me, after the old video tape tape.) Link is at bottom.
I am also digging Chen’s “Arcadia”, Woodz “I’ll Never Love Again”, Youngbin “Freak Show”, and the new Lim Young Woong album.
Other things I found:
Junhee “Umbrella” and “Tattoo”. Lovely contemporary pop. The melodies swirl and twirl in such pleasant ways. Reminds me a bit of old Savage Garden.
Yuta NCT solo album – well at least he has a point of view emphatically and fully stated. Its pretty standard hard rock fare, but for kpop world it is refreshing to hear.
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I’ve fallen in love with the KickFlip EP, a really bright sound as we head into the fall months. That being said, I probably wouldn’t have even looked into it if I didn’t happen to decide to do a hard catch-up on the blog last week – I’ve felt the lull in songs that interest me the last few months and it did have me slowing down in k-pop listening.
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KickFlip’s first 2 releases have grown on me so much it’s unreal. Kinda doubt “tiki taka” is ever gonna make it but I love the album anyway. I really hope they catch on with wider audience.
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Looking back at this month’s releases, seems like I actually liked a lot of songs. No famine for me! I can’t say which one is my favorite though🤷🏻♀️
ZB1 – Ikonic ❤️
CIX – Wonder You❤️
KickFlip – MyFirstLoveSong❤️
AxMxP – Love Poem/ Shocking Drama❤️
Woodz – I’ll never love again❤️
Junhee – Umbrella/Too Bad❤️
Wendy – Sunkiss❤️
My HONORABLES would be:
Treasure – Paradise/Everything
LUN8 – Lost
Idid – Chan Ran
Aimers – Called Game
POW – Wall Flowers
JunK – R&B Me
DaeHyun – Haeng-Ro
HaHyunSang – Wawa
PS: on that TWS song, I don’t own pitchforks but I can buy one. You are biaaaaasssssed!!!!!😂
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1 – KickFlip – Band-Aid
2 – KickFlip – My First Love Song
3 – Jang Wooyoung – She Is
For hip-hop I’m really impressed with Young Posse’s Freestyle and YSSR.
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BIIIIIAAAASSSSS!!!!
/s
When an artist connects with you, their stuff that isn’t as good to everyone else will usually still eclipse other entries. Music is so personal in that way. The bias is real, and it’s also such an important part of a review. Nick made the point in another post, but there is a reason certain groups succeed so often when lots of groups are utilizing the same producers/songwriters. Look at groups like Shinee. I would argue their songs aren’t written SO much better than other groups during that time, but they are performed amazingly and give Shinee an edge. Like Shinee, I think TWS have a talent factor at play too, so I’m not surprised by Nick’s choice. For currently active groups, I tend to rate Nmixx, i-dle, and Purple Kiss songs a full point higher than they would probably be in other hands because I resonate with the performers, and the material they are given are usually suited to each member’s strengths. We all have our own personal TWS’s…
My top 3 this month would be:
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I also really liked Bet Your Life by One or Eight, especially the didgeridoo and plucked instrument–like sounds. I’ve been wanting to get into them because they’re fantastic dancers but the music has been so generic. Until this song they’ve just seemed like a really great dance crew that happens to put out music.
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I’m really surprised that Wendy didn’t even make your honorable mentions list. Her whole EP is excellent, a diamond in the rough for me this month.
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I could already guess your top 3 just by reading your prologue and chuckled when I finally scrolled down.
I’m also a big fan of TWS, but their pre-release just hasn’t landed for me. The track sampler sounds promising though so I’m excited.
Kickflip’s Band-Aid (my #1) and My First Love Song (my #2) were amazing. It made me dig into their previous albums, and Mama Said and Freeze grew on me after a while too.
My #3 for Sep would be NCT Wish’s Color – surprisingly enjoyed every song in that album (though can’t say the same for their previous albums).
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