Releasing a digital single to kick off the new year has been a successful gambit for many idol acts, and it also makes sense given BOYNEXTDOOR’s busy touring schedule during the first few months of 2025. The group has steadily climbed to the upper echelons of my own bias list, but compared to other favorite … Continue reading
K-pop’s title tracks might gain most of listeners’ attention, but many album tracks are worth equal spotlight. I call these “buried treasures.” Beyond this, K-pop’s albums deliver thousands of additional tracks that settle for a more limited audience. It’s these songs that will become a part of my “battle of the b-sides” feature. In this … 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
Just like last year, I wanted to share my top twenty most-viewed posts for 2024. I find this list an interesting gauge of who is popular (at least among netizens who read reviews). The most obvious takeaway from this list is the utter dominance of girl groups. Seriously, there’s only one boy group in the … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
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
I don’t usually write a song review unless there’s an accompanying music video, but a disbandment (?) single warrants at least a brief mention. I put a big question mark in that last sentence because it’s unclear whether fromis_9 will remain together after leaving Pledis Entertainment, though history doesn’t set a rosy precedent. This departure … Continue reading
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
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
(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
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
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
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
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
HYBE’s Japanese group &TEAM has been building up to their second album this year, gradually forging a softer, more melodic sound that worked particularly well on summer singles Koegawari and Aoarashi. Earlier this month, they pre-released the wintery Illumination and now we have title track Yukiakari days before the release of the full album. This … 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! 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
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 