On Dececember 15, DAZED magazine released their list of the top 50 K-Pop songs released in 2023. While they’re far from being the only company to share such a list, they have arguably one of the most unique and interestingly diverse tastes in this area, including not just popular title tracks but lesser-known B-side tracks as well. Here’s a look at the top 10 of their list, including a snippet of why they chose each one.
10. “Nobody Knows” by KISS OF LIFE
“Nobody Knows” was released on November 8 on KISS OF LIFE’s Born To Be XX album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
But the track itself explores a reluctance to be in an super-couply relationship and, rather, the desire to keep things on the lowdown in a situationship that’s entirely on their own terms. It’s jazzy and coquettish, with a pop diva-meets-Chicago performance that’s smooth, unhurried and refined.
— DAZED
9. “Polar Night” by Agust D
“Polar Night” was released on April 21 on Agust D’s D-DAY album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
The frame of “Polar Night” – its strings, and bluesy bass and guitar – might be beautifully ornate but the reflection it contains of a hypocritical, short-sighted society in disintegration is a soberingly ugly one.
— DAZED
8. “Rose Blossom” by H1-KEY
“Rose Blossom” was released on January 5 on H1-KEY’s Rose Blossom album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
H1-KEY understands the struggle to upright in the face of adversity in a resounding, 00s-esque pop song, their message one of pragmatism over pitiful – ‘I can hate but nothing will change’ – and tenacity over surrender – ‘I’m a rose among the concrete, Until this bleak city becomes filled with colour, I’ll keep my head up, stand my ground until the very end’.
— DAZED
7. “Bubble” by STAYC
“Bubble” was released on August 16 on STAYC’s Teenfresh album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
Hard-wired to worm inside your brain and begin looping ‘I’m sorry, bubble bubble bubble’ at any time of the day like a switch being flicked, this is K-Pop at the uber glossy, candy-coated, hyperactive end of its spectrum.
— DAZED
6. “Rollercoaster” by NMIXX
“Rollercoaster” was released on July 11 on NMIXX’s A Midsummer NMIXX’s Dream album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
Here the subtle disco and elastic-y house hits a sweet spot for a buoyant and confident-sounding NMIXX, who make this record into a little ray of sunshine.
— DAZED
5. “Falling” by PIXY
“Falling” was released on March 10 on PIXY’s Chosen Karma album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
For some, such total submission makes this a horror story disguised as a pop song but “Falling” – unrelentingly seductive with airy vocals and atmospheric synth-pop – sees PIXY purposefully disappearing deeper into oblivion, finding freedom through the abandonment of everything else.
— DAZED
4. “Criminal Love” by ENHYPEN
“Criminal Love” was released as an OST for ENHYPEN’s Dark Moon: The Blood Altar webtoon. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
ENHYPEN’s vampire concept underpins swathes of their discography, including this year’s “Sweet Venom” and “Bite Me”, but never has it been paired with something as extravagantly moody as “Criminal Love”. Released to soundtrack their parallel webtoon project (Dark Moon: The Blood Alter), it easily stands alone nevertheless, a slow-simmering ache of a song on which ecstasy and agony are one and the same.
— DAZED
3. “I Don’t Understand But I Luv U” by SEVENTEEN
“I Don’t Understand But I Luv U” was released on April 24 on SEVENTEEN’s FML album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
But what was cute as a comment is reimagined as secretive and sensual on record (‘Only inside of you, I’m a blooming flower, spread the fire’), led by a serpentine guitar riff and a reverential vocal that intensifies the song’s intimacy, the aural equivalent of full body worship.
— DAZED
2. “Hongdae R&B” by BIBI
“Hongdae R&B” was released on August 31 as a non-album digital single. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
[BIBI] views her existence in the same way – ‘A worn-out neighbourhood with no teeth, expensive prices for no reason, looks like me / It seems like it’s broken.. / An empty soul that is missing something’ – but can’t bring herself to leave, melting into the night’s intoxicating, neon-washed embrace with a breathy reluctance.
— DAZED
1. “Let Me In” by EXO
“Let Me In” was released on June 12 on EXO’s EXIST album. Here’s what DAZED has to say about it!
Few could deliver effortless beauty on a song whose instrumental isn’t much more than a warm ambient bath, and where the protagonist has fallen in love so deeply that they exist isolated, starving for the touch of their lover and willing to wait at the bottom of sunless oceans for it.
— DAZED
