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. December 2024 Overall Thoughts Oh gosh, what a month for South Korea. December started with martial … Continue reading
Category Archives: Feature
Looking Back at Last Year’s K-Pop Resolutions — Did 2024 Deliver?
I’ll be making my 2025 K-pop resolutions tomorrow, but before I put that energy into the universe I’d like to rewind to last year’s wishes and see how 2024 did. Spoiler: 2024 did terribly. 1. Less Sing-Talk and More MELODY “Of all my resolutions, this is the biggest one. Can you tell by the fact … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 29, 2024)
In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading
The Bias List’s Favorite Japanese Dramas of 2024
This was an off year for dramas for me. I started so many yet finished so few. Still, there were a handful that I loved so I wanted to keep this countdown going even in a less bountiful year. Hopefully there will be more to look forward to in 2025! Rather than post my usual … Continue reading
The Top 50 Pop Songs of 2024 (10-1)
Though The Bias List is first and foremost a K-pop review blog, each month I spotlight a handful of “global pop” tracks that have taken hold of my playlist. To cap off the year, I’d like to count down my top tracks that weren’t part of the K-pop or J-pop markets. This was a weird … Continue reading
The Top 50 Pop Songs of 2024 (30-11)
Though The Bias List is first and foremost a K-pop review blog, each month I spotlight a handful of “global pop” tracks that have taken hold of my playlist. To cap off the year, I’d like to count down my top tracks that weren’t part of the K-pop or J-pop markets. This was a weird … Continue reading
The Top 50 Pop Songs of 2024 (50-31)
Though The Bias List is first and foremost a K-pop review blog, each month I spotlight a handful of “global pop” tracks that have taken hold of my playlist. To cap off the year, I’d like to count down my top tracks that weren’t part of the K-pop or J-pop markets. This was a weird … Continue reading
The Top 50 J-Pop Songs of 2024: 10-1
Now that we’ve got K-pop ranked for the year, it’s time to turn the blog’s attention to other music markets. First up is J-pop — a scene I write about every week on Sundays (and occasionally other days if a track catches my attention). Compared to last year’s excellent slate of music, I found J-pop … Continue reading
The Top 50 J-Pop Songs of 2024: 30-11
Now that we’ve got K-pop ranked for the year, it’s time to turn the blog’s attention to other music markets. First up is J-pop — a scene I write about every week on Sundays (and occasionally other days if a track catches my attention). Compared to last year’s excellent slate of music, I found J-pop … Continue reading
The Top 50 J-Pop Songs of 2024: 50-31
Now that we’ve got K-pop ranked for the year, it’s time to turn the blog’s attention to other music markets. First up is J-pop — a scene I write about every week on Sundays (and occasionally other days if a track catches my attention). Compared to last year’s excellent slate of music, I found J-pop … Continue reading
2024 SBS Gayo Daejeon: Recap & My Top Performances
As usual, SBS’s year-end festival falls on Christmas day. Because of this, the themes have been getting more and more holiday-focused with each passing year. Everyone and their mother performed a “Christmas version” of their songs tonight, but you don’t get to call something a “Christmas version” just because you throw sleigh bells on the … Continue reading
Unwrapping 2024’s K-pop Holiday Tracks: Keep Or Return?
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. Like last year, I’m either keeping the gifts or planning to return them. Unfortunately, there was a lot of coal in the … Continue reading
Year-End List Recap: The Best Overall K-Pop Comebacks of 2024
Before I move on to J-pop, global pop and other categories, I like to sum up the K-pop countdowns that have filled the past few weeks. The title of this post should technically be called “The Best Overall K-pop Comebacks & Debuts of 2024,” since not every album on this list marks the return of … Continue reading
The Top 10 K-Pop Choreography of 2024
Full disclosure: I’m not a dancer nor choreographer, and dance isn’t necessarily what I flock to K-pop for. Because of that, my choices tend to veer toward more iconic routines that are fun to watch rather than technically challenging or impressive formations. I like to believe the two can co-exist, but I do prefer fun … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 22, 2024)
In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading
K-Pop Risers & Fallers: December 2024
Rather than contain my “Risers and Fallers” feature to a single post in June, I’m going to share a bite-sized version at the end of each month. This will let me account for more songs and make a nice lead-in to the monthly round-up post. I anticipate most of these ratings adjustments will be negligible: … Continue reading
2024 KBS Global Song Festival: Recap & My Top Performances
(Note: If you’re unable to view this post on a phone, please try on another device. I believe the number of video embeds is causing trouble on certain browsers.) Yep, I’m back to writing about K-pop’s year-end festivals. They were some of the earliest events I covered on this blog but over the past few … Continue reading
The Top 10 K-Pop Music Videos of 2024
This is always one of the countdowns I feel least confident about because I tend to listen to K-pop more often than I watch it. It’s also a very subjective category, as my visual/storytelling/conceptual preferences may not match others’. The truth is, K-pop has become so adept at crafting fantastic music videos that I could … Continue reading
The Top K-Pop Producers of 2024
I remain committed to shining a spotlight on K-pop producers each year, but this list is becoming harder to create. The days of “super producers” with signature sounds seem to be behind us. The industry now stuffs its song credits with many names, making it more difficult to discern which producer is responsible for what. … Continue reading
The Top 40 K-Pop Album Tracks & B-Sides of 2024 (20-1)
A few years ago, many of K-pop’s best tracks were buried as b-sides. This year was different, with most of my favorite music promoted as title tracks. I certainly prefer this approach. After all, great songs should be paired with great visuals/choreo whenever possible. However, it made for a slightly less prolific slate of “buried … Continue reading