I’ve got to be honest: 2025 has not been my favorite year in Korean music. I became a regular K-pop and K-indie listener around 2018/2019, and this is the first year I have genuinely struggled to find things to get excited about. I’m keeping my fingers-crossed for the second half of the year (and recently participating in two Seoulbeats Mid-Year discussions about some of 2025’s bright spots in dance and comebacks was a nice morale boost!), but it’s been a bit dreary.
Still, not everything is doom and gloom. I have loved a handful of 2025 tracks, many of which are gathered in this playlist. Bringing them together, I was struck by the fact that no matter if they were instant favorites (“Set Net G0?!“) or slow-growers (“Stunner,” “BTG”), upbeat (“Gameboy”) or more languid (“Love Hangover,” “Little Monster”), each song avoided fuss and just combined clear rhythms with memorable refrains. In a way, then, this playlist is my accidental ode to going back to basics: percussion and melody.
