I generally consider myself a pretty positive, optimistic person and really want this blog to be a space that focuses on the good, but 2026 has been a uniquely challenging year when it comes to K-pop releases. I can’t remember a year where I wrote as many negative reviews, so I’m going to try something a little different and do a mid-year round-up of my least favorite K-pop songs. I know some readers will probably hate this and others will love it, but it’s a bit of a one-off either way. Consider this a purge before we (hopefully) move on to brighter skies during 2026’s second half!
What are your thoughts, readers? Leave your own picks in the comments!
10. NAZE – People Talk
The worst kind of toothless whitebread pop melody. (full review)
9. Everglow – Code
Further proof that their agency has no idea what to do with them. (full review)
8. Katseye – Pinky Up
I absolutely despise the chorus. (full review)
7. AHOF – Sugar High
It’s not that this is the worst song I’ve ever heard. The verses are actually okay. It’s that it comes from a group who has made spectacular music up to this point and Sugar High represents agencies’ worst instincts to saddle their acts with “hard” hip-hop singles even when it doesn’t match their concept. But yeah, that chorus is horrendous. (full review)
6. CORTIS – Acai
The fact that they can come up with something as good as REDRED makes a song like Acai even more unforgivable. There’s just no excuse for this crap. (full review)
5. Queenz Eye – Y2K
Can this finally put the nail in the coffin of the Y2K trend? It’s a lame novelty track filled with lamer references. And somehow, it sounds nothing like actual Y2K music. (full review)
4. BTS – 2.0
Yeah, even legends of the game aren’t immune to a place on this countdown. The sheer monotony of 2.0 makes my eyes glaze over. It’s like a flat line that goes nowhere. (full review)
3. Young Posse – Visa
Noise pollution. I admire its confrontational energy but this is literally painful to listen to. (full review)
2. VVS – BOTTLE$
You might as well just place VVS’s entire discography on this list. I’m still convinced they’re some sort of deliberate parody act. How else do you explain a song like this? (full review)
1. LE SSERAFIM x ILLIT x Katseye – Iconic By Mistake
This represents everything I hate about K-pop right now: bratty “clapbacks” at haters, chanted, non-melodic catchphrase songs, pointless braggadocio and a horrible misuse of the performers at the core of the track. You can’t tell me an industry behemoth like HYBE couldn’t find better material for three of K-pop’s top girl groups? (full review)
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
You know this year is shitty when Nick, whose negative reviews still leave some praises, made a whole “worst of” list for the first time in the 10 and a half years of this blog’s existence.
Anyways, my top 5 worst songs so far and their ratings:
1- YCC (YoungCreaterCrew) – Cortis (2.5)
2- Roll – aespa (3.5) (hate to bring my girls into this 💔)
3- Acai – Cortis (4.25)
4- Visa – Young Posse (4.75)
5- 2.0 – BTS (4.75)
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Fuck, forgot about the Katsseralit collab, that’s a 4.5 for me and like 4th on the list 😭
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And I forgot about Sugar High too, jfc 😭 anyways, my (hopefully) final rankings:
1- YCC (CORTIS) – 2.5
2- Roll (aespa) – 3.5
3. Sugar High (AHOF) – 4
4. Iconic By Mistake (Katsserallit) – 4.25
5. Acai (CORTIS) – 4.25
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Switchblade going into Roll is some of the worst sequencing ever.
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Going from cunty club banger to nursery rhyme nightmare is the worst transition ever, aespa, ily but never again 😭
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tfw 2-3 songs here are songs I unironically enjoy 🫢 diff strokes, diff folks after all!
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Sugar High is the absolute worst song this year, might be the worst chorus I’ve ever heard.
Also Nick, I’d like to see what your current rating of each song is as of now.
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Also, I’d put Acai below Iconic By Mistake solely because at least Iconic by mistake has a purpose even if it’s nowhere near the best execution. That’s like a flat 5 for me. Açaí is probably a 3. Only slightly better than Sugar High.
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Sugar High: 2.75 After rendezvous and Pinocchio, we got this?
Açaí: 3, straight to the Z tier, I don’t want to linger on about this. 2.0: 3.5, Straight up flat and full of nothingness
Blue Lips: 4.25 Hated it instantly when I heard that first line.
Iconic By Mistake: 5 had some purpose and intention but execution is nowhere near as good as it should be. I guess it’s somewhat tolerable but I wouldn’t go out listening to it. Better than Gnarly.
Visa: 5.5 just turn the sound down
Bottle$: 5, a true what the fuck? Pinky Up: 4.75, next level annoying
Y2K: 5.75 just lame
People Talk and Code are somewhat tolerable, a 6.25 or 6.5 wouldn’t hurt for either, I’ve heard much much worse, not something I’d actively want to listen to but not something I’d actively go out on hating.
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oh wow…this year hasnt been good for kpop hasnt it
anyways here’s my least favorite songs of the year (kpop only because goodness this year is so lackluster)
Dishonorable mentions: boompala – le sserafim, bottle$ – vvs, internet girl – katseye, into the sun – bts, knife – enhypen
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Oh right, Hooligan! I think 2.0 shielded it somewhat, but it definitely deserves punishment too.
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Funny cause all of twitter is bashing Hooligan while forgetting 2.0 exists 😭 both still suck though
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Eh, Hooligan is just eh, 2.0 is borderline atrocious, still I wouldn’t actively want to play it.
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all the HYBE songs in the list 🫢 but especially ICONIC BY MISTAKE pisses me off irrationally. although I’d replace PINKY UP with BOOMPALA. I don’t even wanna talk about CODE and Sugar High…
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I seem to remember Code being ok, but I don’t think I’ve listened to it since it came out, so it’s probably as bad as you say. No argument about the rest of your list! I had my hopes up for Young Posse based on past performance, but this last release sucked.
BTS – 2.0 is #1 worst for me by far. I would also add BOOMPALA, GO, WDA, CHOOM as pretty awful songs.
Lemonade and Lemon Tang really get under my skin, but of course they have some strong redeeming qualities. Both TTs from NMIXX were very disappointing to me as well.
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I actually think Pinky Up is their best unserious song they have released. Far better than Gnarly.
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I still think that Gnarly is better just because the instrumentation is so interesting, but I do agree that Pinky Up isn’t too bad!! I love the verses and the final chorus is also kind of a banger. I just wish they tried harder on the choruses, but that goes without saying.
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Frankly speaking, I don’t listen to songs I dislike and usually just forget about them, so there’s no way I can make a list.
Having said that, and I know this may get me in some trouble, I still resent the disappointment and frustration I felt with every single song in that BTS’ Arirang album.
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Agree on both counts:(
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i love having a consistent slew of great music but ngl sometimes horrible music can make for an entertaining experience, particularly when i see reactions and reviews of the horrible music
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young posse, how can you release something as good as “ATE THAT” and then whatever the fuck is visa???
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some of the worst songs i’ve experienced so far in 2026
Dishonorable mentions:
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seeing all the bullshit hybes been pulling w their ggs this year gave me a huge newfound appreciation for newjeans n what they stood for
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Amen
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Never thought Nick is going to the dark side so soon this year LOL
My pick for 2026 worst song mid-year:
Roll – AESPA (this nursery rhyme will bring you closer to unholy dream realm)
Sugar High – AHOF (I still can’t unhear the ‘SHIT’ chorus verse)
Sugar Honey Ice Tea – BABYMONSTER (another “SHIT” song, please tell YG not to play with their food anymore, enough is enough)
Do Your Dance – RIIZE (no matter how good the production is, it still felt incredibly annoying to listen the cringy intro and the soulless repeating head hip shoulders toes verse)
BOTTLE$ – VVS (there are many better ways to channel your inner rage rather than rapping bitches and bottle everywhere in the song)
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I like that BTS song, haha. It sounds like something that would easily fit on NCT’s great Empathy album, along songs like The 7th Sense and Boss.
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Now we’re talking! This is the kind of ranking where I can add a ton of songs
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imo Billlie’s ZAP and Everglow’s Code are pretty interchangeable, though ZAP had better parts. I like Code’s choruses more but its not better than ZAP’s final chorus. (though they both were pretty much just sing-shouting, ZAP had a more climactic feel)
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I don’t know what y’all are saying but I unironically enjoy Visa, it’s such a hype track. And as for BOTTLE$ can’t say I would ever choose to play it again, but the one time I listened to it / watched the video I was thoroughly entertained (and actually laughed out loud at least once).
But man, what’s going on over at HYBE with their girls groups? Let’s take stock:
– Le Sserafim: I used to like their music a lot up to Hot, but I thought Spaghetti was terrible and Boompala is even worse.
– Illit: I used to like their music a lot up to Do the Dance, but I couldn’t get into Not Cute Anymore and even less so It’s Me.
– Katseye: I liked songs like Touch and Gabriella, but Gnarly was categorically not for me and neither is Pinky Up.
And then to top all of this off they go ahead and release Iconic By Mistake, which somehow manages to be the worst of the lot. Honestly it feels like a victory lap but probably not the way HYBE intended: it’s as if they’re saying “yeah we’re going to put out any kind of slop and the public is going to buy/stream it, because that’s how powerful we are”.
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As for Sugar High, somehow I’d missed it but man, it’s as bad as everyone is saying. It reminds me of NouerA – Pop It Like from earlier this year which was also a massive disappointment from a group that had previously trafficked in excellent title tracks, though it seems that one narrow escaped this list.
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My personal worst K-pop songs of 2026 so far:
AHOF’s Sugar High sounds like someone found an unfinished 2019 demo in the company basement and thought, “Yeah, let’s release this.” Almost similar to SuperM‘s era imo.
I actually LOVE weird songs. Early NCT gave us Simon Says, Cherry Bomb, Mad City… weird songs with personality. That’s why I had zero trouble getting into BTS’ 2.0. I was even addicted to Cortis’ Acai and TNT, lol. Weird isn’t the problem. Bad execution is.
As for BTS’ new album, it feels like a bunch of different ideas packed into one project. I actually enjoyed quite a few songs, and I like the cinematic feel overall. My only complaint is that the vocal coordination sounds a bit messy at times.
Iconic by Mistake is just… there. It feels like it was engineered in a lab to become a dance challenge. Their recent releases all have that instantly catchy formula where the chorus gets stuck in your head after one listen, whether the song actually says anything or not.
Marketing team: 10/10. Music: …well.
*No hate to any of the artists! Just my personal opinion. Music is subjective, and everyone has different tastes, so what’s a skip for me might end up being someone else’s favorite song.
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I actually think that NCT Wish’s own vocals are okay, but their mixing is awful TT-TT. I’ve heard their live vocals, and they also have quite a good blend. For some reason, their voices are just so tinny in their album tracks.
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it’s like they realized they can release shitty tiktok brainrot songs and people will STILL make it go viral. what’s the point of actually TRYING when you can make slop and people will lap it up like dogs 🙄
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i like the BTS songs. A lot of their fanfiction is about being gangsters or mafia so it makes sense that they would make songs about that. Funk is kind of different then say super cheerful Dynamite but it suits their Boy meets evil thing just fine. Just my opinion.
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