There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” features, I can average their ratings into one mega-score and place them in a pantheon alongside other acts.
As always, this feature has some rules of its own. I’m including any “Song Review” ratings as part of this graph, including Japanese releases and collaborations with one other artist. I’m not including Buried Treasures or solo/sub-unit releases. For the ratings themselves, I’m using the most current number on this blog, so if a song was part of a “Risers and Fallers” or “Legendary Songs Inauguration” post, that’s the rating you’ll see displayed here. That means there will still be a few ratings here and there I find slightly inaccurate, but it’ll mostly reflect my up-to-date feelings.
Finally, these scores are completely subjective. Feel free to agree, disagree and argue (that’s part of the fun!), but know that this chart reflects the opinion of only one person (me).
Check out MBLAQ’s placement on the ULTIMATE ARTIST RANKING page!
MBLAQ: A Career In Song Ratings
The Breakdown
Highest Rated Songs
Lowest Rated Songs
Imperial Phases
Y -> Mona Lisa (2010-2011)
This Is War -> No Love (2012-2013)
Slump Phases
Be A Man -> Mirror (2014-2015)
Rating Average: 7.82
Overall Trendline:
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Nick, the timing of this is insane!! I was listening to MBLAQ’s discovery the other day as I am trying to listen to a bunch of kpop groups starting from 1st Gen and ending with 5th gen. My thoughts on MBLAQ are their music is a little dated. Tracks like Y, Run(this one had me laughing), and Oh Yeah sound like they were made in the early 2010s but I think This Is War is amazing, such an underrated production from Duble Sidekick, I never knew he did more theatrical songs like that. I feel like they have some good yearning tracks like Cry and Darling. I’m just surprised you didn’t even give them at least one single with 9+ rating(This is War is a 9.5 to me). Also, Rain definitely hindered them a bit as he sort of forgot about them after he enlisted and influenced their sound in a negative way. I gave their whole discography(excluding Japanese releases/OSTs) about an 8.2 so seeing an 7.82 was a bit shocking. People don’t talk about them when they mention 2nd Gen Groups, which is a bit saddening to me. I thought G.O’s vocals were the best part of this group and his goatee-mustache was iconic. Anyway, even as a newer kpop fan(became one in late 2022), I am starting to realize all these amazing groups from the 2000s/2010s are way better than today’s kpop and feel like other newer fans should try diving into 2nd gen, early 3rd gen, and even 1st gen(shinhwa, g.o.d, and s.e.s’s music is sooooo good). I am excited to see what others groups you do as well(I appreciate how you review all groups whether they’re nugu or not. Sadly, the nugu groups barely get any love, even though their songs are on par and sometimes better than the bigger companies). I know this was long, so my bad. Just wanted to get this out.
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How funny! I’m glad you’re diving into older acts. MBLAQ’s discography was never a favorite of mine, but they have a few great tracks for sure.
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Yeah, you’re right but I thought it was cool how there was this groupwar between Beast and MBLAQ when they first debuted(idk if you heard about it or even listening to kpop when this happened) and even MBLAQ and Beast played along with it, motivating each other. It was just honest competition and good fun. They even did a dance battle against each other. Imagine, if stuff like that happened today?! No weird fan wars but good ol’ fun. Must’ve been amazing to be a fan back in the day.
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It was definitely a lot simpler back then!
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Every once in a while I’ll stop and think, hmmm, wasn’t there a group called MBLAQ back in the day? And then I can’t recall any of their songs. Thanks for reminding me of “Smoky girl, smoky girl smoky girl, smoky girl, smoky girl, smoky girl, smoky girl, smoky girl.”
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