Yes, it’s the post that the k-pop Internet has been secretly waiting for all year, welcome to the list of Kpopalypse’s favourite k-pop songs of 2023!
So, welcome to Kpopalypse’s favourite k-pop songs of 2023! So how was 2023 as a year in k-pop? Um… not great, in all honesty. While 2023 had more shortlisted good songs than any year in recent memory (my shortlist this time was well over 100 songs), I definitely felt like the top tier of songs from 2022 were better overall than this year’s. However that doesn’t mean there wasn’t a lot of great music to celebrate, but it wasn’t always easy to find, which is where this list comes in! Those who check my weekly roundups and livestreams will probably be able to guess a lot of this content, but those of you who don’t follow this site closely (or ever) should expect some surprises!
New readers, or readers who are easily confused, may wish to read the following dot points, which make clear this list’s scope and intentions:
Songs are eligible if they were released between 1st January 2023 and 31st December 2023, although the cutoff does extend a little bit prior to both dates to catch songs that were released in the dying days of the previous year. This list was published on 31st December 2023 but may appear earlier for some readers due to timezones.
Songs have to be feature tracks/singles, but B side and album tracks are eligible if they were also “debuted” on TV shows or had their own official video made for them.
Songs for OSTs are not eligible for this list, because they’re almost universally terrible and just not worth the effort to cover.
Songs for festive and sporting events are not eligible. Christmas songs have their own separate list, and sport event songs are ignored in the hope that if we ignore them they will just stop making the sport ball shape.
Songs that have confirmed AI use in either the music or accompanying visuals are considered artistically invalid and banned from consideration in all Kpopalypse lists.
Chart performance, cultural relevance, attractiveness of the members, who won something on some awards show that nobody with a brain cares about, whether someone is a morally upstanding citizen or otherwise etc are not relevant factors for this list and just like with my weekly roundup series these aspects are only commented on for “narrative colour”. This list is my 100% subjective opinion on music quality only and is purely reflective of my own personal taste, it does not constitute an authority of any kind.
“K-pop” is deliberately defined a little loosely for this list – as music either originating from or existing/trying to exist in the Korean industry. Songs that aren’t strictly “pop music” are eligible. Songs from Korean agencies trying to break into non-Korean markets and/or singing in non-Korean languages are eligible. K-pop artists featuring on non-k-pop artists’ tracks are eligible. Western attempts at “being a k-pop” are also eligible.
I write these lists for fun, good times, the joy of sharing good music with others, an easy way to collect songs that I like so I can play them later, and as a fun writing exercise because I enjoy writing. If you’re enjoying these lists for what they are (harmless subjective opinion, expressed with twisted cunty humour) then cheers to you and I appreciate your support and readership! However if you hate it, then that’s good too, please keep coming to this advertisement-free site that does no self-promotion at all and upsetting yourself over someone else’s opinion, I promise to continue to serve your special needs.
On the other hand if this post was too sunny, bright and positive for you, you may wish to consider reading my worst k-pop songs of 2023 list instead so you can feel appropriately miserable. There’s also an hourable and dishonourable mentions list which has more songs that this list doesn’t cover!
KPOPALYPSE’s 30 FAVOURITE K-POP SONGS OF 2023
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30. Chuu – Howl
I’m really enjoying the solo era of Chuu because it means that I get to perceive Chuu in Chuu videos instead of having a Loona video where it’s about three seconds of Chuu at a time (which is still 2.5 seconds more than Vivi ever got for any one camera shot but it’s still not enough). However Chuu’s solo outings have so far been bland ballad OSTs and duets that haven’t been too exciting to watch or listen to so there hasn’t been much reason to check them out. This has all changed recently with the Chuu solo album and while she mysteriously won’t even give us a throwaway “special video” for the best track on it, “Howl” is certainly really good and definitely meets required standards, leaning heavily into Chuu’s ability to actually deliver a vocal line while still having some chunky groove behind it. It does take about a minute to move past the tropical shits to really kick in and get good though, but hey that’s better than when YG have a song and they take almost the entire fucking song length to get a clue. All in all it’s a pretty good effort for someone who stole all the cookies and the money but someone please get in touch with her label about releasing “Aliens” because that would have been a top ten song this year, easily.
29. Blackswan – Cat & Mouse
Dr Music are a k-pop agency that have historically gotten a whole lot of things wrong, but they don’t usually get the music wrong, and Rania have had a generally very good track record for music ever since debut days. So I was actually surprised that when Blackswan appeared they didn’t immediately have great songs, since they’re basically the fifteenth or maybe the fiftieth iteration of the revolving-door group that is Rania. Anyway it’s good to see that the track record is now corrected with “Cat & Mouse”, and that I can get back to my Rania/BP Rania/Blackswan/[insert whatever they’re going to be calling themselves next week here] stanning. The song has a cruisy groove and some really unusual melodic quirks and doesn’t really sound like anything else in k-pop, which is quite a feat for such a genre. Not so sure about the ‘cat&mouseface’ in the video though, I think that my cat is offended by this mocking of her culture… actually no, she’s too busy sleeping, just like the k-pop fans who all slept on this great song as they’ve done with Rania’s past singles. Let’s hope that Blackswan get more good songs like this and some decent fame and money out of their k-pop adventure, it’s about time the Rania machine made some bank.
28. (G)-IDLE – I Do
Okay, so this is just “Spacedog” by Long:D and Summer Soul if it was a more upbeat pop song. The suspended harmony in the chorus is almost identical, the melody line there is similar in meter and the video even has the same sort of theme of potential lovers separated by science-fiction circumstance. That’s all fine though because “Spacedog” was fucking excellent, and if there was only one thing I probably would have changed about that song it probably would have been increasing the impact of the rhythm section a bit, so I can’t argue with the merits of this quasi-remake. I’m all for copies of great songs if the copy is also great and makes a few good tweaks, so this gets my stamp of approval, I just hope that Long:D and Summer Soul also get their recognition one day.
27. from20 – Beat It
I guess one of the big advantages of living in a country that’s still technically at war with your neighbour, is that military equipment for your latest k-pop comeback military cosplay concept is probably fairly easy to come by. I’m actually amazed that some Korean groups don’t do this kind of concept more often (M.O.N.T I’m looking at you) as it’d probably be a big winner with the public given that 50% of the population are forced to fight and even BTS can’t weasel their way out of military service indefinitely these days, as much as fans would like it. Some good old military cosplay is certainly a viable pathway for male idols returning from service to ease themselves gently back into the k-pops, they can even wear their very own gear for extra credibility. Also those military vests are pretty hot and I think a fair few of my readers would indeed ‘beat it’ to “Beat It”. Aside from all that though, the song is good in typical keyboard-riffing synthwave style and “without my legs, I’m a crawl to the end” is one hell of a lyric.
26. Shin Euijin – You’re My Star
My site data shows that many of my regular readers are lesbians. This is probably to be expected as it’s only natural that the combination of lesbian Chuuves computer games and lesbian-themed books on this website would have drawn lesbian readers here. My site data also shows that many readers are Dreamcatcher fans. This is probably also to be expected as Dreamcatcher do generally get favourable reviews on this website, and while I’m sometimes harsher in my wording than usual when reviewing their songs it’s only because Dreamcatcher have simply set the bar higher than many other groups so they have more to live up to. However it’s no secret that Dreamcatcher have been a bit flaccid this year with minimal output, and that output also being fairly minimal in the things that generally make Dreamcatcher sound like Dreamcatcher. So what do you do when you’re a lesbian who has been a bit upset about the lack of decent Dreamcatcher songs this year? You make your own, of course! Shin Eunjin hasn’t been shy here about getting the cracking tempo and heavy guitars out for the kind of “Good Night” style thrashing that we’ve been sorely missing lately and the results are definitely worthwhile. It even has a similar “doing random stuff in the woods” video to match. She’s also not too shy about the heavily lesbian-dogwhistling, or at least that’s what I think it is, they even do the Mormon jumping on the bed trick so I’m pretty sure. Okay, I could be wrong, but whatever, the song rocks, it deserves more views, and I hope Shin Eunjin at least got to second base.
25. IVE – Baddie
There’s something different about the way IVE’s songwriters write songs. I don’t normally like songs like this that lean very heavily into modal grooves and chanting but that’s not because such songs are inherently bad, it’s because the people who are writing them have a writing process that has a ton of failure points. In k-pop productions these days it’s common that everything that you see and hear is a result of multiple layers of outsourcing. The people who did the video aren’t the same people who wrote the song, the wardrobe designers were different again, the person with the creative vision was also someone else, and so on. This applies within the song as well – lyrics, backing track and melody writing are often handled by three different people, quite often three different teams of people. These teams often have conflicting ideas about what to do with each other’s parts, and that’s why so many k-pop songs in their final form are simply a disaster, with melodies that don’t fit over backings that also don’t fit, lyrics squeezed into an odd, unnatural meter to try and fit over the tune etc. IVE’s “Baddie” doesn’t have that problem, so either it was all done by one person, or all done by various teams and groups who were luckily all on the same page in their thinking. As a result, every note of the melody actually matches the harmony properly, the rhythms of the backings fit the meter of the vocals the way they should, there’s no random bullshit here that doesn’t belong. Modern k-pop songs can be great, even the ones that make you feel like a shark is in your area, they just need everyone involved to understand the assignment.
24. TripleS – New Look
How many girls are in the group now, is anyone still counting? I don’t even fucking know, but I’m not convinced that they’ve stopped adding them at this point. I guess a group like this with so many members is custom-made for the ever-popular “line distribution baby-whine videos“, as if distribution of vocal parts has ever been equal in pop music vocal group combos (just ask anyone in [insert literally any pop group active between the 1950s and 1990s here]). Of course all of TripleS’s voices are blended into a homogenised mush anyway, so the ‘distribution’ is only visual, any of these girls could in fact be singing all or none of these parts here. It really doesn’t matter who is singing it anyway when the parts are so good, with some great melodies over some fairly minimal no-nonsense backings that are maybe a bit rough for the material, but better too rough than too smooth, honestly. 2023 has really been a year of nonsense so the lack of it is a common theme with a lot of the better songs on this list. Now let’s just hope that TripleS actually get paid enough to live once their income is divided 63 ways between all the members, someone had better hope for some toothpaste commercial contract work or something.
23. Mijoo – Movie Star
I’m usually fairly upbeat about my favourite k-pop groups disbanding, because it means that the output and thus the productivity of music then gets multiplied by however many members were in the group as they all then start testing the waters for solo viability. However Lovelyz have been a real disappointment so far in this regard, with all of them seemingly stuck in coffee-shop ballad hell. All of them apart from Mijoo that is, who’s been doing well lately as part of trot duo Juju’s Secret, and is even better here as a solo singer. “Movie Star” actually leans on tropical house elements a bit, as well as the type of sonics you’d hear in a Blackpink song a bit, but manages to cobble it all together really well by not going too hard into any one thing and leaving the melodic core of the song intact. The result is pretty derivative and won’t win any awards for originality, but then if you want originality you’re really wasting time reading about k-pop in the first place.
22. CSR – Shining Bright
I’m not sure how popular CSR are but they certainly hit musical gold last year, and “Pop? Pop!” and “Loveticon” were easily some of the best songs of 2022. It’s good to see them (presumably) still doing well and making more music this year, because the k-pop world could sure use them. “Shining Bright” isn’t quite up to the level of the aforementioned two songs, delivering on melody but lacking their more imaginative arrangements in favour of some pretty typical j-pop style idol rock construction, but it’s still a good song and would probably work fine in just about any format. Here’s hoping we see a bit more of CSR next year.
21. Golden Child – Feel Me
I had high hopes for Golden Child ever since they first appeared given that they were the group that was supposedly going to take over the legacy of Infinite, and it’s been no secret that they’ve been a bit of a let-down so far. However “Feel Me” is definitely pushing things in the right direction for them. There’s a few odd sonic choices (the kick on almost every beat of the bar all the way through feels a bit leaden and unnecessary) but it’s certainly catchy enough, and it doesn’t do anything really stupid like shit its pants politician style with weird breakdowns, trap bits or any of that other nonsense that we’re getting all too used to. Now all they need is more songs as good as this one, more popularity, perhaps a label who actually have a clue about anything wouldn’t go astray either.
20. APOKI – Hashtaggg
Oh for fuck’s sake. There I was happy shitting on this ugly CGI bunny year after year, hoping she’d get the message and fucking fuck off somewhere and never come back, and then she pulls out this great punchy song and now I have to include her in the end-of-year favourites list. What a fucking drag. Even worse, I recently learned that Apoki is voiced by U Sung Eun who is an incredibly good singer, and who like most incredibly good singers in Korea makes completely boring R&B music that I hate, so now she gets in the end of year list too. It really is not good times for cynical bastard bald Austra-wasian k-pop writers, but I’m always a sucker for a great song so I’ll happily take “Hashtaggg” as a consolation prize for losing most of my self-esteem this year. It’s pretty obvious why it works, U Sung Eun suits this kind of synth-driven pop aimed at whoever the fuck Apoki is aimed at (Furries? Anime nerds? Horror film CGI artists?) because there’s not much scope in the arrangement for her to go off with her usual vocal histrionics. It’s just three minutes of great songwriting and no bullshit, you know, apart from the CGI bunny bullshit.
19. PURPLE KISS – Autopilot
One of the very few times I’ve ever been thankful for a “self MV” or “special MV” or “fill in the blank MV that isn’t really an MV but it kind of is”, “Autopilot” really deserved its own feature status, high-budget video and dance routine, but instead we get some handicam nonsense because agencies would rather push on us “in our area” nonsense than actual songs. Still it’s better than nothing AHEM PAGING CHUU’S LABEL ARE YOU IN THE BUILDING so thanks Rainbow Bridge World for allowing at least this minimal effort to be made so the song is eligible for inclusion here. Of course it’s the usual 80s throwback synth trend song but that’s okay, at least it has a fucking tune.
18. Off The Menu – Canyon
Another seriously good nugu rock banger, with this one at less than 3000 views at the time of writing, you won’t see this reviewed by other supposedly nugu-friendly publications, let alone put on any favourites lists, because there wouldn’t be enough clicks in it for them. Got to reserve places for those BTS solo projects after all plus whatever Blackpink shat out this year. Anyway the song has some really nice vocal lines, and even nicer synth lines, the synth-forward sound really works to give what would have probably been a fairly ordinary ‘indie-rock’ song a bit more kick, which is weird because usually big synths in a song like this has the opposite effect. It’s also not synthy in that synth-wave way, but just in its own way, which is cool, I actually like the synthwave trend (obviously) but it’s good to have something different that feels a bit less trend-riding.
17. Heize – VingleVingle
I’m sure that people didn’t expect Heize to get on this list and frankly neither did I, but hey if the fucking bunny can get on, so can she; it proves anybody can get on if the song is good enough. The song is actually really cool, upbeat and has similar minimalist vibes to Haee’s cover of “Subway” from a few years back, and while it lacks a bit of that song’s 80s retro charm, replacing it with a more modern dancefloor vibe, it still has the same good qualities that makes that song work. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air from Heize who doesn’t usually explore music with this much of a pulse. It’s just a shame about the video being that stupid-ass mobile phone format which is ugly and always suck but at least we’ve got a video AHEM PAGING CHUU’S LABEL ONCE AGAIN PLEASE COME IN AHEM COUGH GASP SPLUTTER CHECK 1 2 3 IS THIS THING ON
16. Nayeon feat. Felix – No Problem
Nayeon’s “No Problem” is exactly what her solo debut “Pop!” last year ironically wasn’t quite – a really good pop song. Yeah okay, Nayeon can’t sing that well and she’s pretty computer-corrected here so she sounds a bit weird in the midrange thanks to all the processing power on her voice. The stilted result will probably bother quite a few of k-pop’s vocal-obsessed idiots but honestly I’m fine with it – she sings the fucking notes she’s supposed to and the song sounds good so it doesn’t matter to me, she got there in the end. Also we’ve got Apoki in this list, so if we can have an artificial rabbit with a real voice in this list, why can’t we have a real rabbit with an artificial voice. The song has cool melody, some really tight, well-played rhythms, no stupid sections, and even Felix’s contribution which could have easily been a disastrous yelpy breakdown trap fest (because let’s be honest Stray Kids is often like that), is nothing of the sort and just slides nicely into everything else. Now imagine if Nayeon and Apoki did a collaboration, people would fucking melt down, and Josh’s balls would invert and explode up his ass.
15. Eric Nam – Only for a Moment
Eric Nam’s song has sweet slinky grooves, nice bass and some really crafty, understated melody writing that allows the track to breathe a little. It’s actually got quite similar vocal meter to the Nayeon song above as well, and I like both songs for similar reasons. If I had to pick one though, I’d say Eric Nam’s song is just ever so slightly better because… well, Eric Nam can sing and doesn’t need an entire third-world country’s worth of computer processing power applied to his raw voice in order to sound like a vocalist, so he’s a little bit easier on the ear as as result. These type of distinctions aren’t very important to me, because I’m not a “caring about vocals” kind of listener generally, but they still do represent a plus point in a song that’s trying to convey a laid-back organic style of groove rather than be in your face computer noise. It’s a great song and I’m sorry Eric Nam for confusing you with Roy Kim in a few social networking posts a while back, you’re much better than that loser, cheers.
14. STAYC – Bubble
What is it, “STAYC in your area?” “STAYC is the revolution?” “STAYC, you’re gonna hate me?” I can’t remember the fucking cheesy catchphrase that goes with this group but their song is cool. It’s a bit of an exception on this list – a lot of songs got on because they were simply good songs that didn’t do anything stupid. “Bubble” on the other hand is a song that actually does a lot of things stupid, but they still manage to fit it together and make it work, because even though there’s tempo changes, breakdowns, silly chant sections etc the tone still stays consistent throughout, it never completely goes off the rails. Someone behind this group has actually figured out songwriting 101 and realised that the songs throughout history with the weirdest change-ups still had important common threads hanging everything together. A lot of other writers could learn from this song, and they should, so we can have a better 2024.
13. Soyeon x Winter x Liz – Nobody
It’s doubtful that Liz, Winter and Soyeon met each other on set, spent any time together or even had much more than social networking chats before this song came out, given how obviously composited the video is. Why they were afraid to have these three women in the same room together who knows, but if they were all busy they really should have considered waiting for their schedules to align as it would have been nice, especially given how good they all look here individually. The song sounds weirdly composited too, like a (G)I-dle song in the verses, an IVE song in the chorus and the pre-chorus falling somewhere in between the two. However any song that sounds roughly 50% like IVE sounds 50% awesome, and the other 50% is at least tolerable enough to get you through to the IVE sections, so ultimately we’re very much out in front here and I’d just like to shout out to SM’s songwriters to say thank you for not being involved in this song as an “aespa section” really would have fucked things up, we’ve had enough “change-ups” this year so thanks for bowing out and taking one for the team!
12. VI’ENX – On my way
One of the best boy idol group songs I’ve heard in ages I swear, and I don’t even know who the fuck these people are. Who are Vi’enx? How do I even pronounce that? What is a “Vi’enx” anyway? Who the fuck knows, I’m sure the information is out there but I couldn’t be assed looking it up because I’m too busy listening to “On My Way” to give a fuck. All I care about is their song, which is daringly against the grain for k-pop because it’s fast, punchy, has guitars, has melodies and doesn’t have bullshit. There are a few little quirks, like the instrumental at the end, but they certainly don’t ruin anything, in face more k-pop could use instrumental sections to break things up, I honestly get sick of vocals everywhere. Even the trap breakdown can’t ruin this thing, because it’s thankfully kept to only four bars and then the song picks the pace up again straight away, good work. This song has nothing drastically wrong and a lot right, now what’s your faves’ excuse?
11. J.Y. Park (JYP) – Changed Man
JYP shocked a lot of people when he came out with this song, but anybody who has been following him for a while should have seen this coming, after all it’s hardly different to his already-established music taste and also not that different to his duet with Sunmi “When We Disco” from a few years back. The main difference is that it’s not really a duet this time as his partner for this video, veteran k-pop singer Kim Wan Sun, doesn’t actually sing anything. Maybe he put her in there as a tribute to her old songs (which this sounds similar to at least in texture), or to shut up the conservative pearl-clutchers who don’t like JYP ogling younger women in his other videos (as Kim Wan Sun is actually quite a few years older than JYP), or maybe Kim Wan Sun has throat issues worse than mine and couldn’t sing or didn’t want to, but whatever the reason it feels like a huge missed opportunity. I guess it doesn’t matter that much in the end as it would be the same vocal lines anyway, and it’s certainly a seriously good song, the kind of fast, punchy tune that we need a few more of, and which is thankfully starting to gradually come back into fashion a bit as k-pop’s “in your area” fad slowly dies. The most interesting thing here for me is that the video plot shows that JYP knows all too well the pressures of k-pop stars undergoing relationships under the public eye, so the next time there’s a dating scandal with a JYP artist I expect JYP himself to be very understanding and sympathetic to the artist under scandal, I’m sure that won’t be an issue now, will it, Mr Park? Time will tell if he really is a “changed man” I guess…
10. Key – Killer
Oh and here’s what JYP’s “Changed Man” would sound like if JYP actually took himself seriously, and it’s impossible not to compare the two songs as they’re plumbing exactly the same musical territory even if they’re quite different in image. Key’s actually been great lately almost across the board, and has really taken the lead out of his shoes for this number, doing much the same thing as JYP but better, faster, and stronger in all aspects with a cracking tempo that never lets up. “Killer” also isn’t so weighed down with JYP’s novelty retro textures and production style, and as a result has a much smoother sound overall. To me the point of modern ‘retro’ movements isn’t to ape the old-school stuff blow-by-blow for the pleasure of crusty old farts (like me), but to get the spirit of what made those older songs good and fuse it with modern technology and production advancements, to make the old songwriting style more relevant for the modern age. Whoever is coming up with these songs for Key is getting it oh so right.
9. BandUni – Paranbam
Hey remember when AOA had an awesome band concept and everyone was like “oh wow, how cool, this is the change we need in k-pop, why don’t more idol groups do that? I’ll definitely support this!” Then remember when it was revealed through sales and marketing data that nobody actually gave a single shit about the band concept and k-pop fans were just doing virtue-signalling lip service to try and look like ‘good people online’ as they always do, so their label quickly sidelined their drummer, changed the rest of the girls up to a miniskirt fap concept and mysteriously then found k-pop domination for a few years? Well Kpopalypse sure fucking remembers because I always thought drummer Youkyoung was best girl, so I was happy to find out that she was still drumming after AOA’s disbandment (okay they haven’t officially disbanded yet, but let’s be real) and even happier to find out that her new group BandUni fucking rocks. Their first song “Dive” was, well… okay I guess but nothing all that notable really, however “Paranban” is just a kickass pop song with rocking guitars, a great catchy chorus and a cute theme of the group blowing their school’s Roly Poly dance combo off the stage, now that’s confidence. It’s great that everyone is now supporting her new group and… oh wait this has less than 30k views at the time of writing what the fuck. Well, at least she got that Yamaha endorsement, I’m going to only buy Yamaha instruments from now on because unlike terminally online k-pop fandom losers, Yamaha are putting their money where their mouth is.
8. APOKI – Space
The bunny is in here again, and I don’t want to hear a fucking word ever again from any cunt ever about how “these lists are biased” because if there’s one and only one thing I would show severe bias against in a list like this, it’s this fucking space-rabbit. She sure as shit wouldn’t be in here twice, I can tell you that much. As it happens this time the ugly digital carrot-muncher is doing a kickass disco bop in the style of Gfriend’s “Mago“, fuck me dead. Not only that but it’s almost as good as “Mago” too, all it’s missing is the lyrics about satan worship (which always helps something move up a few places in these lists, take note songwriters) and performers that don’t crack my LCD screen with their CGI ugliness. It’s clear that someone out there is trolling me, they’ve been looking at my past Apoki reviews and have deliberately put out something that’s high-quality enough get into the upper end of my favourites list just to make me pay for all the times I told Apoki to go and shove a carrot up her ass and fuck off out of k-pop. Okay, game’s over, Apoki wins, Kpopalypse loses, let’s just move on quickly now so my self-esteem has some slim chance of survival.
7. TXT – Chasing That Feeling
For the people who get mad at me when I hate a song and have something to say about it, know that the hate I get for that is nothing compared to what I get when I actually like something. TXT are another group that people mysteriously get mad at me for when I praise them every so often and I don’t know why (can only assume it’s BTS fans jealous that their faves didn’t pave the way) but tough shit because TXT continue to be better on average than other boy groups on their label. Those synths kicking off the show are great and it only gets better from there, with one of the catchiest boy group choruses I’ve heard in nearly a decade. The video is cute too with TXT flexing their paving the way superpowers, like the power to not suck at music, the power to not have trap or rap anywhere in a k-pop song, the power of not changing the song into some irrelevant shit halfway through… what do you mean these aren’t real superpowers? If ordinary mortals are capable of feats like this, how come hardly anyone else is able to perform them, huh?
6. ITZY – Bet On Me
Itzy’s fans mostly don’t like this song for some weird reason, and after thinking about it for a while, I kind of get why they wouldn’t. Most of Itzy’s other songs are bold, brash, packed to the brim with noise and not really that melodic, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t like something this restrained and minimalist. Hell, they probably hardly have any ears left to perceive music at all after willingly subjecting themselves to tuneless nonsense like “M.A.F.I.A In The Morning” on repeat, so it makes sense. Even the better Itzy songs like “Wannabe” are pretty damn noisy and crowded in places, so the fact that their fanbase didn’t really appreciate aspects of “Bet On Me” like the subtly building arrangement, the space in the mix and the fact that occasionally something sits still for two seconds isn’t really that surprising. Still, actual music fans should appreciate it, and while that’s not a demographic Itzy (or indeed, k-pop as a whole) goes for often, it’s nice when it does happen, and I definitely appreciate the effort.
5. Kerrigan May – Daddy
Kerrigan May is one of the many people who adorn the overcrowded ‘yolo skrrt’ end of the Korean rap circuit and her songs range from impressively blasé and shallow to impressively silly and shallow to impressively unlistenable and shallow. This of course means that she’s at least always impressive somehow, but she mainly has just impressed me with her stellar attitude so far. “Daddy” is the first time she’s really impressed me with the actual music. and it’s the sort of hard-hitting but catchy club banger that I’d expect out of N.O.M or maybe Miss Kittin or pretty much anywhere other than Kerrigan May. I’m not sure what possessed her to do this, and she’s never done anything like it before or since as far as I know, but it’s pretty fucking good and I could use a lot more of it so I’m not going to complain.
4. NewJeans – ETA
Any conversation about NewJeans can’t exist and be honest without also addressing Min Heejin’s creepy underage Brooke Shields/Serge Gainsbourg fetish and her disturbing attempts to bring this type of fundamentally dishonest postmodern arthouse aesthetic into k-pop by projecting it onto a group of keen, likely none-the-wiser youngsters while hand-waving away valid criticism. However NewJeans also rightfully have fans; put aside the dog-whistling (if you can) and their package represents something genuinely different in the k-pop industry that people of all ages appreciate, and that other labels are moving quickly on to try and emulate (and failing). Two things can be true at once, and it remains true that Min Heejin is impressively accomplished as a creative director in ways that others of her ilk in Korea’s risk-averse industry certainly are not. However the music has so far remained NewJeans’s weakest link – their anemic, lightweight songs mainly just don’t cut the mustard and certainly fail to impact in the same way as all of the other hype around the group (both positive and negative). “ETA” is the first song that breaks this pattern and really delivers on their musical promise. The key aspects that make it work aside from the fast pace (common to most of their newer songs) is the quickly rotating melodic mantras and noisily chattering brass loop which combine to give the song a much-needed abrasive edge and punch that their other more recent songs like “Super Shy“, “Ditto” and “OMG” definitely sorely lack. It’s pretty fucking accomplished and given that the whole thing is basically just an ad for the latest iShit, it should remain clear why I do not and never have accepted “it’s just an advertising song”, “it’s just a song for the fans”, “it’s just a [fill in the blank]” as an excuse for bad songwriting. If you’re writing a song, why not make it matter. For better and worse, NewJeans matters, at least this time around.
3. VIVIZ – Untie
Someone has to bring sexy back into k-pop, so it might as well be the sexiest girls in k-pop, and I honestly couldn’t think of anyone better than Viviz to perform this. I’m not even talking about their visuals, although those are great too obviously (I mean, it’s Viviz, so…), but we all know how powerful k-pop’s image-creation machine is, anyone in k-pop can look sexy enough with the smoke and mirrors placed just right. Like the very best ‘sexy concept’ songs in all of k-pop, “Untie” actually sounds sexy as well, and that’s actually incredibly rare and much harder for agencies to get right. To that person who caused friction (and not just the good kind) in his sexual relationship by fucking his partner in time to Hudson Mohawke’s “Cbat“, you should seriously try “Untie” instead. I promise that she won’t be mad.
2. Weeekly – Good Day (Special Dailee)
Carrying similar vibes to CLC’s excellent “To The Sky” and seemingly written with the same purpose in mind (cheering the group’s own fans on to hopefully not suck at school like a bunch of TikTok-addicted illiterate corporate zombie morons) “Good Day” is more than good, it’s one of the best pop songs this year. It’s pretty straightforward and simple with that basic chorus and that great guitar riff coming at just the right times to keep things moving. If it had a bit more of a focused approach and didn’t have a couple of stupid momentum-killing drops in it (and having Jiyoon still in the group would have helped too ahem), it may have gotten the number one spot, it’s that good.
So what’s the number one song this year? Well, it’s not Chuu’s “Aliens” because she didn’t make a video for it or release it as a single so it’s not eligible. Just saying. Let’s just take a moment to listen to “Aliens” and notice yet again how great it is.
However as excellent as it is, “Aliens” would have only got to the #2 this year had it been eligible to do so. So what’s #1, well it’s…
Drumroll please…
1. IVE – I Am
Did I mention earlier in this list that there’s something different about the way IVE’s songwriters write songs? Well, there is. It’s worth mentioning again, because it’s true. There’s something different about the way IVE’s songwriters write songs, or at least, about the way they’re choosing to write songs for IVE. It seems to me that the songwriters for “I Am” (and it’s credited to a bunch of people, so who the fuck knows who was responsible for what) actually more or less know what they’re doing when it comes to writing that ‘music’ stuff. I know, weird that such people would even bother with k-pop at all, right? Yet they do and I am very grateful.
So to understand the quality of this song and why it works for me, here’s my rough timeline of feelings when listening and watching IVE’s “I Am” all the way through:
0:05 – oh wow, no fucking around, we’re already into the verse
0:09 – …and it’s good! That better not be an NFT she’s spinning around there
0:12 – okay I think it’s just a swipe card, no need to panic, we’re good
0:22 – wow the pre-chorus isn’t a drop to half-time, it’s actually a pitch lift from the verse and keeps the same tempo
0:32 – okay nothing to do with the song but how good does the video look. I don’t mean the girls, I mean YES they look good too obviously but I just mean this is edited really snappily, not too much or too little, and all the scenes flow nicely, everything sparkles like polished metal and the camera is always moving, but never enough to be irritating, it just floats along with the floating melody, S+ tier cinematography
0:39 – oh hang on so I was wrong before, THIS part is the pre-chorus, because it’s dropping to half-time – well, it isn’t really but the prominent beat is gone so it feels that way
0:45 – so this is good too, that means we’ve got three completely unique melodies, all in the same key and the same tonality, without any lame ‘switch-ups’, and we’re not even at the chorus yet
0:52 – FUCK DON’T JUMP OUT OF THE PLANE WITHOUT A PARACHUTE GODDAMN there’s so many other k-pop people I’d push out of a plane before these girls I swear
1:01 – okay, so this is the same melody as the pre-chorus, so actually what I was listening to before WAS in fact the chorus, and THIS is the chorus again but a + version with the beefed-up backings, now that’s cool but it also means that I got it wrong again and I was right the first time about where the pre-chorus was… or was I? If I’m defining pre-chorus by melodic elements then it happens at 0:20, but if I’m using rhythm to delinitate the pre-chorus instead it happens at 0:36. A bit of subjectivitiy here of course, but this ambiguity matters, because it’s subverting expectations a little about where things should go in a pop song, it’s keeping the listener interested and that’s important in a genre where everything is usually so by-the-numbers
1:09 – I suppose we have to have the rap but it sounds good here because the beat is still there, it’s okay, the sassiness fits the track and the general theme
1:12 – if you know the combination to just one of those wall safes can you email me plz kthx
1:16 – oops there goes the beat, but it’s synchronised with Liz visuals so I can’t hate… Liz will help me remain strong in the face of trap nonsense, let’s hope it doesn’t drag out
1:22 – okay, we’re coming out of it already, that’s good, I can forgive a stupid trap break if it’s only six seconds long, let’s go back to the fucking song cunts yes YES
2:00 – okay I should stop overthinking it it’s just fucking good, I think at this point if the song was going to start sucking it already would have by now, mind you we DO have the break coming up [bites nails in anticipation] let’s get it right, girls
2:12 – okay this break works because they’ve kept the pulse with the finger snaps and they’ve also kept the same tonality oh thank fucking god, any other group would have shoved “Mary Had A Little Lamb” or “Three Blind Mice” in this spot for no reason at all, or done a chant chorus like “I AM, I AM, I A-AA-AA-AAAAM” or some bullshit like that
2:27 – okay now THAT is a really interesting way to develop the break, it’s the same type of transition that Queen would use in a lot of songs, like they’re using the rhythm of “Ogre Battle” combined with the harmony shifts of “Bicycle Race“…. but it also doesn’t really sound like either. Break just went from acceptable to actually fucking awesome and enhancing the song to a great degree, also the fact that the vocal carries the break so much means they actually plan to sing this properly, which doesn’t enhance the song itself any but it’s a nice thought
2:32 – they’ve changed the melody of the chorus just coming out of the break slightly, which is very cool, most k-pop songs if they change anything they usually just add another layer of something, OR they go WAY in the other direction and do a Blackpink style jump-the-shark – this is neither, it’s a proper “development” of the chorus melodic motif (classical musicians will understand what I mean, and no it’s not on that level of complexity because it’s a much shorter song but it’s the same basic concept). Not normal for k-pop, very refreshing, very cool, the slight difference makes you want to listen to the final chorus again, while still identifying it as the final chorus and not a separate section.
2:37 – okay they’re doing the runway thing to prove they’re confident or whatever, okay we get it, you’re winning at life with this great song and we’re not because we’ve been wasting our lives listening to songs by other groups that are not IVE, point taken, we will reflect
2:39 – netizens who have been calling Liz fat and ugly should get a letter-opener or a meat skewer and stab themselves right in the fucking eyeballs because they’re clearly not using them
2:50 – this entire package is shit hot, I hate those dumb “IVE = 100% MV = 100% VISUALS = 100% SONG = 100% PRETTY GIRLS = 100% VOCAL = 100% ATMOSPHERE 100% STYLE = 100% CHOREOGRAPHY = 100%” comments (and yes I copy-pasted that from a real comment) but I’ll tolerate them in this instance because that it literally what this is
3:02 – okay it’s done, I’d better listen to something different now or I might start expecting all songs to be this good and then k-pop will be in trouble
There you go. Let’s have some relevant bonus content.
Here’s IVE doing it live on that annoying TV show where they have the band glued against the back wall as far away from the performers as possible because we wouldn’t want any live atmosphere now, would we. It’s still great though and while it’s not all live vocal (they are getting some serious backing track help in the big chorus), a lot of it clearly is.
This video gives you a much better idea as it’s obviously all live vocal with the backing track way in the background. Not that I want to be one of those “my bias can sing!” cunts because for k-pop is really doesn’t matter all that much, but it’s still worth mentioning just because I can, and because if I don’t mention it people will ask me about it a ton so I have to address it. In short, yes, they can sing.
And here’s an encore stage and IVE have no problem with it. Zero stage presence of course but they hit the notes they’re supposed to, and consistently. I know I’m harping on this point but being able to do this in k-pop is rarer than you might think, so it’s just for educational purposes.
Let’s have another live stage. Top-tier fashions here.
And another. Note that there’s six girls in the group but one girl Rei was on hiatus when they did all the “I Am” live stages. Apparently it was for health reasons, probably the extreme quality of this song was something she was physically unprepared for so she needed a bit of time out to adjust. She’s back in the group now and doing well, as far as I know.
Oh and just in case you were having too much confidence in the human race, just for something different here’s the version they did at some shit awards show that has a far inferior arrangement. Despite that it’s still a great song, but if they went to a single release with this weird backing switch-up version I think I would have said ‘fuck it’ and given Chuu the top spot this year.
Have one final version of the song, apparently this one’s in 4k, I can’t verify this because I’m an old fuck so my eyes only go up to 1080p but maybe this effort isn’t wasted on you, so enjoy, if you can!
That’s all for 2023! Thanks so much for supporting me through the year – Kpopalypse will return in 2024 with more posts, more lists, more trufax, more books, more annoying people with my worthless opinions, and more of all the things that make Kpopalypse a thing! And don’t forget – if the great songs in this list made you feel too much joy and happiness, there is also the worst k-pop songs list 0f 2023, so check it out if you think you can handle it! Or better yet, don’t, and just listen to the songs on this favourites list again!
See you next year everyone!
