Following a tradition first established in 2020, I’m celebrating the holidays today with the opening of gifts. These packages come in the form of seasonal K-pop tracks not yet reviewed on the blog. As much as possible, I’m only focusing on original songs. There are TONS of song covers and “Christmas versions” of existing tracks this year, but I’ve kept those out of this post because otherwise there’s just too many “gifts” to open.
Like last year, I’m either keeping the gifts or planning to return them. I’m being pretty generous this year, since nothing on this list is really doing it for me.
I’ll see you (much) later today for a write-up on the SBS Gayo Daejun. Happy Holidays!
ASC2NT – Replay
I’ve always thought this group’s vocals were really strong and this is a good example of that. Unfortunately, the actual song is pretty dull.
Verdict: Return (but the performance is nice)
Brand New Year 2025 – Twelfth Night
They’re one of the few agencies that still release annual holiday tracks. I wish this wasn’t just a boring ballad.
Verdict: Return
Chungha – It’s That Time of Year
Cheesy, but it’s got that jaunty Christmas beat that always works.
Verdict: Keep
DAY6 – Lovin’ The Christmas
Thank goodness for some energy! This isn’t amazing, but it’s got some pep.
Verdict: Keep
DIA – 365 Christmas
This is slightly funky, which is more than I can say for most of these songs.
Verdict: Keep
KIIRAS – KIIRASMAS
I thought this would be quirkier based on the title. Too bad!
Verdict: Return
MJ (Astro) – Clock
I like the chorus of this one.
Verdict: Keep
Park Jinyoung (GOT7) – Christmas Fever
This has quite a sticky groove. It’s nice.
Verdict: Keep
Rainbow18 – Good In Smile
The most welcome gift on this list by a long shot because it’s Sweetune-produced. However, it also depresses me because we get so few Sweetune compositions these days and this isn’t even close to their best.
Verdict: Keep
tripleS – Christmas Alone
Not Christmassy enough to feel festive but not interesting enough to play on its own.
Verdict: Return
Yoona (SNSD) – Wish To Wish
A soft and cozy sound, but the melodies don’t do much for me.
Verdict: Return
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
yeah, none of these songs are rly hitting :((
but infinite’s lately and lovelyz’ twinkle has been on repeat these days 😋 i absolutely loved the lovelyz stage on kbs, i rly missed seeing them together on stage
i also loved the christmas covers from the wind and tws. the wind gets my heart for simply covering infinite 😍, and tws basically delivered a vocal feast, all these high notes from four different members, ughh their vocals rly stand out for me out of any new-gen group
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The music video for “Brand New Year 2025 – Twelfth Night” is entirely AI-generated, which is pretty interesting. I think we’ll see more music videos like this in the future.
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Ew, I hope not. AI is bad for the environment and K-pop companies need to hire actual artists if they want to do animated music videos.
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XG continue their tradition of sad Christmas songs (ok it’s only two so far), and apparently Chancellor posted about this one that he wrote it for his late mother.
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