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
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. August 2025 Overall Thoughts In the immortal words of BABYMONSTER: “Sheesh!” Based on recent history, I’ve … Continue reading
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. In 2025, I thought I’d try something new and add a weekly feature to supplement my monthly round-up. Each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And … Continue reading
In many ways, 8TURN’s December single Like A Friend was the smash that got away — a spring/summer track released in the dead of winter as everyone was cobbling together their year-end best-of lists. Making matters worse, the group never promoted it until weeks later. I haven’t listened to that song nearly as much as … Continue reading
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
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. In 2025, I thought I’d try something new and add a weekly feature to supplement my monthly round-up. Each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And … Continue reading
8TURN’s Like A Friend had the unfortunate fate of being released in mid-December just as most music shows were going on hiatus. The guys finally promoted it (briefly) a month later, but I can’t help but think that if the song had arrived in summer it would have found a more enthusiastic audience. For me, … Continue reading
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
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
After the latest series of Road To Kingdom concluded last month, its participants are gearing up for comebacks and special singles. 8TURN placed right in the middle of the final rankings, but when last we heard from them on the blog my thoughts weren’t as rosy. Thankfully, Like A Friend (이럴거면 다음생에) is a total … Continue reading
I didn’t watch this season of Kingdom and don’t hold any particular allegiance to any of the participating groups, but I thought it might be fun to take a listen to the series’ original songs and do a little ranking anyway. Because I have no context around these releases, my opinions are entirely based on … Continue reading
Though I didn’t love their debut track, 8TURN’s first comeback Excel proved to be a big grower and eventually took a spot on my “Top 50” year-end countdown. As with most rookies, I feel they have a ton of potential and they’d benefit from further exploring the raucous rock energy they delivered last summer. Sadly, … Continue reading
Before I take a look at K-pop’s established artists, it’s time to spotlight this year’s fresh crop of talent! While 2022 was stuffed with girl group debuts, 2023 was dominated by boy groups. The ratio itself is pretty staggering, and much of this is likely due to the various spin-offs from MNET’s Boys Planet series. … Continue reading
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
This year’s KCON will live in infamy for a number of reasons: outrunning the remnants of a rare hurricane on my way home, testing positive for covid a day after, etc etc. However, this craziness doesn’t mean I don’t have highlights and commentary to share! For the first time, KCON LA’s concerts extended to three … Continue reading
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
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. June 2023 Overall Thoughts In the coming days, I’ll be sharing my top picks from the … Continue reading
With Kings of K-pop SHINee making their long-awaited return today, rookie group 8TURN’s new title track may fly under the radar. But against all odds, they’ve actually released the stronger of today’s singles. I wasn’t completely sold on their debut, but the rock crunch of Excel is a lot of fun. I’m not sure there’s … Continue reading
8TURN are one of two K-pop debuts today. After a relatively sparse 2022, I expect 2023 to be a busy year for boy group debuts. These guys hail from MNH Entertainment, an agency that hasn’t had a great track record. Successful soloist Chungha just announced her departure from MNH while their girl group Bvndit disbanded … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 