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
Category Archives: Feature
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
The Top 40 K-Pop Album Tracks & B-Sides of 2024 (40-21)
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
The Top 10 K-Pop Albums of 2024
K-pop has been a singles-driven market for awhile now, but that only seems to be truer with each passing year. Either comebacks don’t have enough songs to be called an “album,” or the b-sides are clearly designed to pad a tracklist rather than stand out on their own. With that said, there were a handful … Continue reading
The Top 10 K-Pop Artists of 2024
Now that I’ve taken a look at the new acts that dominated 2024, it’s time to focus on their established counterparts. Though my favorite group of the year was a rookie, most of my favorite music came from artists who debuted in years prior. As usual, the criteria is built around these three factors: Quality … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 15, 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 Top 10 K-Pop Rookies of 2024
Before I take a look at K-pop’s established artists, it’s time to spotlight this year’s fresh crop of talent! When I ran my first-ever Bias List survey, I was surprised when the majority of respondents noted that this year’s rookies were not particularly exciting. But when I took a look back at the year as … Continue reading
Global Pop Round-Up: December 2024 Edition
The Bias List is a K-pop blog that also covers a fair amount of J-pop. But just like most music fans, I enjoy tracks from all around the world. So, I thought I’d start a monthly round-up of some of the non-K-pop songs that have caught my ear. No ratings — just highlights! February 2022 … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2024 (Day Five: 10-1)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2024 (Day Four: 20-11)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2024 (Day Three: 30-21)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2024 (Day Two: 40-31)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2024 (Day One: 50-41)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading