This year, I’m breaking my “Top Albums” list into two: one focused on full-length albums and one focused on minis. For the mini album category, things get a bit repetitive because many of the year’s strongest acts released multiple projects and I don’t limit myself to spotlighting just one. As far as qualifications, I consider … Continue reading
Tag Archives: pledis
The Top 10 K-Pop Artists of 2025
Though rookie groups defined this year in K-pop for me, that doesn’t mean there weren’t great things coming from the industry’s established artists as well. As usual, my criteria for these artists is built around these three factors: Quality of work Quantity of work Influence of work on the industry The first criteria far outweighs … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2025 (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 2025 (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
Grading the K-Pop Agencies 2025: HYBE CORPORATION
It’s that time of year again! While December is filled with year-end countdowns, I like to take a look back at some of K-pop’s biggest agencies during November. Before reading (especially if you’re new to the blog), it’s helpful to know that my grading focuses most heavily on music releases and how comebacks are managed … Continue reading
The Top Three K-Pop Songs of October 2025
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. October 2025 Overall Thoughts October started slow as Chuseok celebrations caused a week or so of … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from October 12 – 18
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
TWS PLAY HARD: In-Depth Album Review – Here For You
1. Head Shoulders Knees Toes // 2. Overdrive // 3. Hot Blue Shoes // 4. Caffeine Rush // 5. Overthinking // 6. Here For You HERE FOR YOU Fan songs are an integral part of an idol group’s discography, and they’re at their best when they’ve got some heft to their melody and production. TWS … Continue reading
TWS PLAY HARD: In-Depth Album Review – Overthinking
1. Head Shoulders Knees Toes // 2. Overdrive // 3. Hot Blue Shoes // 4. Caffeine Rush // 5. Overthinking // 6. Here For You OVERTHINKING We’re back in highlight territory as the album moves toward its finale. When Overthinking was first teased, I commented that it sounded like “Lucky To Be Loved in the … Continue reading
TWS PLAY HARD: In-Depth Album Review – Caffeine Rush
1. Head Shoulders Knees Toes // 2. Overdrive // 3. Hot Blue Shoes // 4. Caffeine Rush // 5. Overthinking // 6. Here For You CAFFEINE RUSH Caffeine Rush is the only completely outsourced song on the new album without any of TWS’s usual composers participating in its creation. Among its composers are two of … Continue reading
TWS PLAY HARD: In-Depth Album Review – Hot Blue Shoes
1. Head Shoulders Knees Toes // 2. Overdrive // 3. Hot Blue Shoes // 4. Caffeine Rush // 5. Overthinking // 6. Here For You HOT BLUE SHOES I’m not sure what a “hot blue shoe” is, but it definitely paints an image in your head. If you thought TWS got hip-hop out of their … Continue reading
Song Review: TWS – Overdrive
For groups like TWS who debut with a bright, youthful concept, the need to “mature” their sound is always lurking just around the corner. I’ve seen it with pretty much every act I’ve loved over the past decade and the inevitable arc from cute young kids to grown, sexy adults can go two ways. Either … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from September 28 – October 4
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
The Top Three K-Pop Songs of September 2025
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. September 2025 Overall Thoughts We’ve hit the rare (?) double-header in K-pop with two back-to-back underwhelming … Continue reading
Song Review: S.Coups x Mingyu (Seventeen) – 5, 4, 3 (Pretty Woman) (ft. Lay Bankz)
As Seventeen enters their inevitable military enlistment era, focus has shifted from group work to solos and sub-units. Next on the docket are S.Coups and Mingyu, joining forces alongside American singer/rapper Lay Bankz for a party track that heavily samples Roy Orbison’s iconic 1964 hit Pretty Woman. Wow… that’s a lot going on in one … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from September 21 – 27
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
K-Pop Risers & Fallers: September 2025
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
Song Review: TWS – Head Shoulder Knees Toes
TWS have been teasing their October comeback for some time now and today we finally have our first taste of their upcoming mini album. As any regular reader of the blog already knows, I’ve become a mega fan of their music over the past two years and love the way they’ve been able to establish … Continue reading
K-Pop’s SONGS OF SUMMER 2025
Technically, there are still a few weeks left of summer in my area, but with days getting shorter and back-to-school looming around the corner, we’re quickly transitioning to fall. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to look back at the past few months and determine my ultimate 2025 summer playlist. I … Continue reading
2025 LEGENDARY SONGS Inauguration Ceremony
It’s that time of year again! Now that there’s been enough time for songs to settle, I’m ready for another Bias List Legendary Songs Inauguration Ceremony. I inaugurated a ton of songs last year (maybe too many?), so this year’s ceremony is far smaller and only covers songs released in 2024. As usual, only material released … Continue reading