I’m back with a recap of K-Pop’s year-end festivals. As always, we’ve got events from KBS, SBS and MBC in that order. However, I wasn’t aware that KBS was saving their “Music Bank in Japan” special until December 30th so I’ll probably write about that one too. Honestly, I thought they’d just mash it together with the KBS Gayo like they did last year. With so many of the bigger artists attending that Japanese event, this year’s Gayo Daechukje (sorry… “Global Song Festival”) felt quite underwhelming.

The show’s weird venue didn’t help things. On camera, it looked like the event was held in a convention center or casino or something. The crowd was too small to make the event feel grand, yet too big to make it feel intimate like MBC’s New Years Eve show is. I’m assuming the Music Bank in Japan special will be more impressive, which is why they should have blended the two together to prevent this from feeling like an afterthought.

Anyway, the hosts were a good choice this year. They got the Music Bank regulars plus a popular comedienne. I LOVE Jang Doyeon and find ILLIT’s Minju very charming and Moon Sangmin endearingly awkward. They didn’t have all that much to do throughout the night, but their patter was fun enough.

This year’s theme was K-pop being the “key” to global culture, which meant there were many references to “unlocking” things and the hosts had to say “Open your…stage!” too many times for my liking. It’s a thankless job, I tell you…

As always, this ranking represents my own thoughts, meaning it will heavily favor music I enjoyed this year as well as performances that re-arrange or remix existing songs.

(On a side note, Kazuha from LE SSERAFIM’s cover of Jungkook’s Standing Next To You isn’t on my list but I thought it was hilarious that she didn’t even try to pretend she wasn’t lip syncing. Why even hold the mic if you’re going to pull it away while you’re still “singing”? So funny.)

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10. fromis_9 – Like You Better + White Memories

Nothing too crazy here, but Like You Better was the best (2025) song performed on this show so it feels worth mentioning.

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9. tripleS – Growl

They really need to find some new songs to cover on these shows, but this was cool. The arrangement was pretty much the same, but the song suits a very large group of performers.

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8. Kiss Of Life – Medley + Lucky

Okay… I don’t know if this was good or not, but it made me chuckle so many times. The intro with the high note was pure camp. Like… incredibly funny to me. Then, for some reason they performed five songs, but only about ten seconds of each before going into a version of Lucky that sounded like a mix between vaudeville and Christmas? Weird and messy and unintentionally (or intentionally?) hilarious.

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7. The Boyz – Like I Love You

After so many K-pop idol songs referenced this Justin Timberlake song, it was about time someone actually covered it. I’m not sure they brought anything new to the track, but this was a good match for them. However, I have no idea why they chose to perform a b-side later in the show when they could have given VVV its well-deserved spotlight.

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6. AHOF x Close Your Eyes – Fire

A good choice for opening stage. It’s a great song covered by two of my favorite rookies of the year. They definitely pulled it off and it was fun seeing them paired together again. JL stood out to me the most. That kid is so talented!

And speaking of rookies, KBS did NouerA dirty by not inviting them. I mean, they were formed on a KBS show!

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5. STAYC – Bebe + Teddy Bear

This felt like a turbo-charged version of Bebe and I loved the styling/staging. I’d be surprised if the mics were on at all, but it’s not like this song is about belting out the notes anyway. Then, they moved into a rock re-arrangement of Teddy Bear, which I never would have thought to do. It felt a little weird and superfluous, but it was memorable I guess.

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4. AHOF – Pinocchio

Argh! Why didn’t they let them perform the whole song?? I loved this harder hitting orchestral mix. The opening choreo was very cool, too.

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3. Dayoung – Body

Oh, the mic was on for this one! This was really good. She’s got a ton of charisma and the song benefited from a much-needed rearrangement. A welcome shot of energy after a long string of dull singer-songwriter fare during the mid-point of the show.

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2. LE SSERAFIM – Spaghetti

What’s with all the camp tonight? The opening dance breaks with the food and utensils were cracking me up. I loved the reveal under the table, too. I hadn’t heard this remix before but I’ll be adding it to my library because it’s tons of fun.

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1. Lovelyz – Ah-Choo + Twinkle

When it comes to K-pop girl groups, Lovelyz are unsung legends to me. They may not have the same footprint as titans of the field like SNSD, but they represent a version of the girl group sound that I absolutely love and totally pine for in today’s musical climate. It’s melodic and quirky and relentlessly upbeat. Gorgeous vocals drive songs that are huge and anthemic. Ah-Choo and Twinkle are two of their very best and run circles around everything else performed tonight. It’s a pleasure to see them again and I wish they’d return and bring this style back with them.