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. When thinking about picking a buried treasure for NCT 127’s newest … Continue reading
Despite unlimited potential for new sub-units, NCT’s Korean promotion has largely boiled down to releases from either 127 or Dream. Both have secured plenty of fans under the NCT umbrella, showing a remarkable level of diversity when it comes to genre and style. Still, when I think of NCT 127, I immediately picture experimental soundscapes, … 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! April … 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
SM Entertainment’s EDM division has always felt like a pet project, often forgotten and rarely promoted well. We’ll get a Hitchhiker track here, a BeatBurger track there, and none seem to stick in the public consciousness for long. To tell you the truth, I’m really only drawn to these kinds of releases when a known … 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. Despite being active in Japan for many years, Super Junior don’t … 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
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 2020 Overall Thoughts What a K-pop wasteland this January was. The new decade kicked off … Continue reading
Super Junior are at the stage of their career where they can get away with anything they want, musically. And in the case of repackaged single 2YA2YAO! (it’s a mildly amusing pun in Korean), that means teaming up with Block B’s Zico for an uncharacteristic hip-hop track. In a happy bit of happenstance, Zico himself … Continue reading
With over 2,900 songs on my iPhone’s “K-Pop Singles” playlist, I thought it would be fun to add a bit of unpredictability to my song review posts. So as a result, we have the “Random Shuffle Review” feature. The rules are simple. I fire up my playlist, press “shuffle,” and whatever song plays first gets … Continue reading
2013 was a high-concept, musically diverse year in K-pop. Hip-hop hadn’t yet taken over, and melody was still king. Instrumentals aimed for the rafters of stadiums, bringing in explosive guitar, sledgehammer beats and bombastic electro riffs. Songs played around with structure in artful, unexpected ways, often polarizing opinion before unveiling themselves as future classics. Here … Continue reading
2013 was a high-concept, musically diverse year in K-pop. Hip-hop hadn’t yet taken over, and melody was still king. Instrumentals aimed for the rafters of stadiums, bringing in explosive guitar, sledgehammer beats and bombastic electro riffs. Songs played around with structure in artful, unexpected ways, often polarizing opinion before unveiling themselves as future classics. Here … Continue reading
2013 was a high-concept, musically diverse year in K-pop. Hip-hop hadn’t yet taken over, and melody was still king. Instrumentals aimed for the rafters of stadiums, bringing in explosive guitar, sledgehammer beats and bombastic electro riffs. Songs played around with structure in artful, unexpected ways, often polarizing opinion before unveiling themselves as future classics. Here … Continue reading
December’s glut of ballads seems to have extended into January this year. It feels like all I’m doing lately is reviewing ballads, which makes it hard to come up with anything new to say. Of course, TVXQ are no stranger to big, emotive balladry – especially when it comes to their Japanese work. But one … Continue reading
Taeyeon publicly stated that 2020 was going to be a year for her to focus on her mental health, so kicking it off with the release of Dear Me (내게 들려주고 싶은 말) seems fitting. The song leads a repackage of her October album, and is a hopeful wish for her own personal strength. It’s … Continue reading
Despite its title, I’m quite confident that this list does not represent the “best” J-pop tracks of the year. It’s a much more filtered list than my K-pop countdowns, because I just don’t keep up with J-pop as strongly as I’d like to. So, what you’re getting here is twenty great tracks by artists that … 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 2019 Overall Thoughts December always feels like a throwaway month for K-pop, and this was … 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
One song. Every day. Alphabetical order. Keep up with EXO’s A-Z reviews here! 3.6.5 (from XOXO / Growl – 2013) 3.6.5 feels like a good track to end this (seemingly endless) K-Pop A-Z segment. It’s not a complicated or groundbreaking song, but it’s an unusually potent burst of pop energy within EXO’s discography. The track … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 