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
Tag Archives: starship
2025 KBS Global Song Festival: Recap & My Top Performances
I’m back with a recap of K-Pop’s year-end festivals. As always, we’ve got events from KBS, SBS and MBC in that order. However, I wasn’t aware that KBS was saving their “Music Bank in Japan” special until December 30th so I’ll probably write about that one too. Honestly, I thought they’d just mash it together … Continue reading
The Top 10 K-Pop Rookies of 2025
I’ll take a look at K-pop’s established artists tomorrow, but I like to share my thoughts about this year’s rookies first. For me, 2025 was defined by its rookies. This is probably my most competitive countdown this year, as there were so many new groups I found compelling. Surprisingly, many of these emerged from survival … 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 Four: 20-11)
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 One: 50-41)
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 Three K-Pop Songs of November 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. November 2025 Overall Thoughts Though there’s still another month left of 2025, I always consider November … Continue reading
Grading the K-Pop Agencies 2025: STARSHIP ENTERTAINMENT
Before I take a brief look at many of K-pop’s smaller agencies, there are a few that I have more to say about. Consider these “bonus” write-ups — shorter than the “big four” but longer than a paragraph or two could cover. As usual, the thoughts below are my own and aren’t privy to any … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from November 16 – 22
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
Song Review: IDID – Push Back
One of my biggest pieces of advice for any newly debuted group is: don’t give the public time to forget about you. Starship Entertainment seem to agree when it comes to their promotions for IDID. The group actively promoted and performed their debut track for almost two months and now they’re extending that blitz with … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from November 9 – 15
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
Buried Treasure: CRAVITY – Everyday
A K-pop act’s title track isn’t always the best song on their album, even if it’s the one most people will hear. 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. We love a repackaged album that … Continue reading
Song Review: Monsta X – Baby Blue
As K-pop’s 2025 release schedule starts to slow ahead of the end-of-year festivals and award shows, Starship Entertainment is having a few of their artists release digital singles. This is a smart way to feed their fan base without needing to invest in larger projects during a time that’s already busy. Monsta X have an … Continue reading
Song Review: CRAVITY – Lemonade Fever
Repackage albums aren’t as common in K-pop as they used to be, but I’ve always liked them. They give artists a chance for an ultra-quick comeback and extend the promotional life of a project. CRAVITY’s Dare To Crave was already a very strong album with a killer title track, but now they’ve extended it with … 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
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
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from September 14 – 20
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
Song Review: IDID – CHAN-RAN
After a very long wait since their July pre-release Step It Up, Starship Entertainment’s new boy group IDID make their debut today. Step It Up grew on me immensely and I’ve since gotten to know the group through their pre-debut variety content. Now all that’s left to deliver is a great title track. Does CHAN-RAN … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from September 7 – 13
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
Song Review: Dayoung (WJSN) – Body
Those of us begging for a WJSN comeback have been tossed the smallest bone by Starship Entertainment today. The agency has unveiled member Dayoung’s first solo single with almost no promotion or build-up. However, beggars can’t be choosers and I’m happy to see WJSN back in any capacity. I wouldn’t expect member solos to uphold … Continue reading