After several years of success in Korea, Seventeen made their Japanese debut with 2018’s excellent Call Call Call. Since then, the group has released one J-pop follow-up, which sacrificed Call’s upbeat funk-rock energy for something more in line with their newly “matured” Korean work. New single Fallin’ Flower (舞い落ちる花びら) largely replicates this mood, albeit with … Continue reading
Honestly, I came into tonight’s festival feeling pretty pessimistic. KBS’s Gayo was largely forgettable, and tonight’s line-up was missing some of my favorite acts. But, MBC ended up balking expectations and being the most enjoyable of the three gayos overall. When I think about it, this isn’t too surprising. I’ve always loved MBC’s more intimate … Continue reading
You can’t have a K-pop comeback without choreography! However, this is not a list of 2019’s most difficult or technically impressive dance routines. I’m nowhere near qualified to judge that. Instead, these are the top ten performances that really stood out to me this year. Honorable Mentions Cosmic Girls – La La Love Dongkiz – … Continue reading
For me, any end-of-year K-pop festival isn’t complete without a bit of trot. And though none of tonight’s trot performances made my list, I was happy to hear them sprinkled throughout the show. The opening artist intro was particularly fun. I’m also glad that KBS moved out of their usual performance hall for this event. … Continue reading
This is always a difficult list to form. After all, there are way more b-sides than singles to choose from each year, and with K-pop’s love of promoting genre trends, the most interesting music is often hidden within albums that not every listener bothers to check out. Today and tomorrow, I’ll be counting down my … Continue reading
The end-of-year festivals officially kicked off this Christmas, with SBS’s Gayo Daejun once again opening the three-night festivities inside the immense Gocheok Sky Dome. Unfortunately, this year’s proceedings were marred before they even started, with Red Velvet’s Wendy suffering a horrible accident during rehearsals. I’m sure that idols were (understandably) concerned about the safety of … Continue reading
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, things 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
Since the start of The Bias List in January 2016, I’ve always looked back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists each month. Now, it’s time to look even further into the past, one month at a time. And, yes, the top three rankings count toward The Bias List’s personal artist scorecard! Which … 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. September 2019 Overall Thoughts So… I don’t actually have a “top three songs” of September. I … Continue reading
Most of the time, a k-pop group’s title track is the best song on their album. But, sometimes b-sides deserve recognition too. In the singles-oriented world of K-pop, I want to spotlight some of these buried treasures and give them the props they deserve. The first time through Seventeen’s new album, I was a little … Continue reading
I’ve made peace with the fact that Seventeen’s funky days are (largely) behind them. International audiences seem to prefer “dark” concepts, and worldwide fame is too tempting to ignore. The danger, of course, is that Pledis Entertainment already has Nu’est, who churn out songs with a darker palette on the regular. With a reliance on … 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 2019 Overall Thoughts I was certain that August was an improvement over July, but after … Continue reading
With another year of KCON behind me, I’m feeling recharged. This is something I needed after a lackluster K-pop summer. Though KCON seemed a bit cursed at the beginning (both ONEUS and Chungha had to cancel, following Everglow who pulled out weeks earlier), it turned out to be a great year. It’s my fifth KCON … Continue reading
Over the past year or so, I’ve found myself more disconnected with Seventeen’s music. Their once unique blend of old-school funk and killer song construction threatened to be overtaken by current musical trends. I feared that they were losing what made them special in the first place. As a group who co-writes all of their … Continue reading
Since the start of The Bias List in January 2016, I’ve always looked back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists each month. Now, it’s time to look even further into the past, one month at a time. And, yes, the top three rankings count toward The Bias List’s personal artist scorecard! Which … Continue reading
Since the start of The Bias List in January 2016, I’ve always looked back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists each month. Now, it’s time to look even further into the past, one month at a time. And, yes, the top three rankings count toward The Bias List’s personal artist scorecard! Which … Continue reading
Reviews are only a snapshot in time, which means that many of the songs I write about will rise or fall as the months go on. I tend to be pretty moderate in my reviews, so none of these following selections have moved drastically from my original thoughts, but the first half of 2019 definitely … Continue reading
It’s that time of year again. The sun comes out, the temperature climbs, and K-pop goes tropical! Well, it wasn’t always this way. A few years ago, summer didn’t instantly mean tropical pop music, and I hope we’re working our way out of this persistent trend. But tropical or not, many of my top K-pop … Continue reading
Last year, my favorite Seventeen song wasn’t a Korean title track at all. It was their first original Japanese single, Call Call Call, which harnessed the guitar-fueled dance pop sound that I love most from the group. Because of this, anticipation was high for new J-pop track Happy Ending. It’s been exactly a year since … 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. January 2019 Overall Thoughts Last year, January bucked expectations and became my favorite musical month of … Continue reading
