kpop 2019

to start the year off we have a gorgeous sophisti-ballad from Luna

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNYCrrYcBY

and another solid Chung Ha single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlN2BXNJzxA

oh and of course Blackpink high up on the coachella lineup - rumour was they're going to make a big push at the US market this year so that fits

yay Chungha killing it early in the year once again.

Luna's song is pretty - would prefer another "Free Somebody" though.

Blackpink signed with Interscope a few months back so yeah it makes sense. As much as I like them though, just thinking about their live performances makes me wish it was really 2NE1 at Coachella. Alas, the timing was never right.

This little ditty is 10 years old today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7mPqycQ0tQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUJ3Pq74H4c

new japanese red velvet single 'Sappy' is pretty interesting, chorus still leans towards the sort of annoying repetitive thing they've had on weaker singles like 'Rookie' but that warped brass line rules

it's probably their weirdest single yet and i'm here for that

cosign on "weird" and "here for that"

I couldn't finish Sappy the other day, but maybe I'll give it another try today. I just can't get into Red Velvet's new direction.

it's the first time one of their hyperactive kitchen sink r&b tracks has really worked this well for me, predecessors like Really Bad Boy (still can't believe they called a song that), #Cookie Jar and Rookie were nowhere near as strong

Sappy feels like it's constantly threatening to completely go off the rails rhythmically but never quite does

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5daqkRvJDE

still confused by Apink's sudden shift to being decently interesting that happened last year but i'm glad they're keeping it up

I really like this a lot, it's what So Sick promised to be but for real this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0LfLNWUwE8

just discovered this fantastic shambhala track from last year, if i'd heard this sooner i'd absolutely have it in my eoy list

Surprising (to me) chart topper, lot of fun!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBouh6xLbdo

Ok this lady rocks, this would've been campaigned for year-end heavily if I had heard it before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r076sitx4AE

'Tting' is really really good, but 'Enchanted Propaganda' might just be the greatest song in human history!

Thank you ufo/abcfsk - last few tracks are all amazing.

Meanwhile, Lee Hi's all grown up. ;_; In my head, she's still the teenager with the big voice who YG insisted on dressing like a 5-year-old.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGDwcoGnI7M

Listening to ILX Listen: 2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeicprlAbGE

Really love that Nieah track.

I don't dig this CLC single as much the G-Idle ones, and I fear this still won't be CLC's breakout moment, but it's cool that one girl group member wrote, composed and produced another girl group's single.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZO8guhtnFw

i like "No" a fair amount, Soyeon absolutely one of kpop's mvps at the moment

guys, I know I didn't do enough campaigning for it (thanks for picking up the slack ufo!) but i'm going to be really bummed if "Baby Don't Stop" doesn't make the Top 77. It was ranked 3rd on my ballot, while Red Velvet was 4th and that just barely made it in. Suspect name recognition helped RV too - they've made the list twice before.

"Baby Don't Stop" is the one i'm still hoping will place, i had it very high on my ballot too. if it does place i think it'd be the highest kpop placement ever apart from gangnam style at this point so that'd be something

that would be great yeah but i'm not feeling too confident, ILMers don't seem as interested in boybands compared to girl groups. Also, TSJ never reviewed it - I feel like that's usually needed for non-English language pop to get some traction on the poll.

i think there's still room to be pleasantly surprised after "new" did so well last year mostly from people discovering it in the nominations playlist and going "wow this rules"

My 13 yo listens to kpop. Got into it cause of a classmate. It's the only thing she listens to. Bought her some kpop gear for xmas. I love how obsessed she is.

Yeah, I noticed that Portuguese stores that barely still sells CDs do have a largeish section for K-Pop.

It's very cool to listen to kpop, I notice. Kinda like indie was when I was young (or northern soul when my dad was young). So when my kid only talks ab it, I get it. The only text messages she sends me or pics of Jungwoo. Haha.

teenage girls into K-pop are the only people in the world who are still buying physical copies of CDs - many of their fan communities organise bulk buying campaigns. (It helps that K-pop artists are also the only pop acts that still have the budget to produce album covers with bonus features like photo booklets, postcards, pull out lyrics sheets, etc.)

Well, except for idol fans in Japan.

It's the new JYP girl group! Obviously launched as TWICE counter-programming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNfTK39k55U

Chungha’s “Gotta Go” is awesome. I love the swirling psychedelic trap soundscape.

"Dalla Dalla" is really fun

LOVE "Dalla Dalla". What a great debut.

seeing Taemin lean into androgyny after spending most of his early years in SHINee being uncomfortable in his role as the designated pretty one makes me happy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OfOkiVFmhM

Late but enjoying "Sunrise" too - classic spring K-pop single

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iciFwCnsyY4

the only complaint i have about "dalla dalla" is that chanting in the bridge - it was annoying enough in quite a few twice singles

taemin's "want" is really great, such a groove

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq_mbTSR-a0

Whoa that rules. I haven't liked their previous singles but this is straight up awesome.

this rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEOCbFJjRw0

new LOONA "Butterfly" is their best single in a while, doesn't quite reach the heights of say "Girl Front" or "new" but pretty enjoyable still. the chorus beat drop is very nice but the rest of the chorus lets it down a little, though it is a lot better at the end when there's more going on

Yeah that is lovely - their sound design is incredible.

Underwritten choruses or choruses that are mere excuses for a drop/dance break have been a thing in K-pop for a while now ("Killing me" by IKON and RV's "Peek-a-Boo" come to mind, but there are loads of others).

On the opposite end of the spectrum, this song is all over the place but I'm kind of obsessed with the echo-y harmonies on the chorus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C3hIJg4rHo

loona are so good arent they

Japanese singer releases Korean single in the Japanese city-pop genre style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67jSYCSrnE4

Really should post this over on the J-pop thread but on a similar tip, Japanese-Korean artist Chanmina raps/sings in both languages + English. She's a Big Bang fan if it's not obvious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ1caaQYkz0

just catching up on the past few weeks - posted about it a bit on the Big Bang thread, but what started as tawdry gossip over a nightclub assault has turned into an epic clusterfuck. Like this article doesn't even scratch the surface of what's been reported on so far (if anyone finds a decent primer on it, let me know).

Meanwhile, the rest of kpop world keeps on rolling.

the season of great debuts continues with TXT (I'm annoyed that Spotify lists them by their full name TOMORROW X TOGETHER, which is just awkward):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3iSnJ663II

"Senorita" has really grown on me. Love those horns:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8APgeFfkAk

Park Bom be like "YG who?" I don't love her in ballad mode, but this is nice enough. I'm happy to hear her voice again and she must be so relieved to have escaped YG's dungeon when she did lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnQflYjicms

And finally, the best music video of 2019 so far (sorry CRJ):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNeNwplE_aw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dab4EENTW5I

Been talking w my kpop obsessed daughter about the scandal. My colleague's sister was just "wtf is happening!" The whole coverage is weird too. Watching it on youtube, it's weird.

yeh the coverage has been a lil strange

xp that sunmi song rules

re coverage: I think it's because it wasn't a single exposé that revealed everything or a scandal that was focused on a particular issue - it started with a brawl at a club, and unfolded in fits and starts to uncover all manner of wrongdoing in Seoul's celebrity/party/business circles. The central figure in all of the stories is Big Bang's Seungri, who straddles all of these worlds - on top of being part of one of Korea's biggest and most-loved boy groups, he owns a successful ramen chain and has a reputation as a party boy. So all of the reporting has ultimately been about him really, even as it has engulfed other pop stars/celebs.

I will say that as a former Big Bang obsessive, nothing that has come out about Seungri has been particularly surprising, other than being baffled by why he thought it was a good idea to go so far in the first place. I'm just looking back at stuff I wrote in 2012-13 in which I had described him variously as: "a frat douche", "a skirtchaser", "an uncontrollable freak" and "a sociopath" - like even though I was half-joking in most of these, the signs were always there.

I'm mostly heartbroken for the young women and teenagers who worshipped these guys - it's always a huge betrayal when you find out your favourite artist are secretly terrible people. weirdly, it hasn't affected me that much but I've gone off Big Bang quite a bit in the past few years (plus, I think after Jesse Lacey/Brand New, I've come to expect that bands/male artists that mean a lot to me will probably disappoint me eventually).

artists*

Another distinct female rapper hitting it big... outside of all the shitty news stories 2019 is a good year!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcpHE-BpGHA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBBQNCDzeYo

God, that Toc Tien track rules.

Really the only track I like this year is Baekhyun's "UN Village" and the only Mini I like is his mini "City Lights"!

I mean, I stopped listening actively to Kpop but still.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bck8PTQGujo

the only track i really love from this year has been red velvet's "sappy". feels like everything's even more caught up in bland trop house than before so i've been increasingly uninterested

for me it's mostly just been

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bRyQbD9U9c

feeling “UN Village” and “Love Talk”, thanks for those!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ymwOvzhwHs

twice go deep house on "feel special", it's fun enough

OKAY there are TWO tracks I like this year... one is Baekhyun's UN Village and the other is GWSN's The Interpretation of Dreams!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_j8OKeZMHg

It's a throwback to the alt-RnB sound Kpop had in 2012-2013 and I'm here for it.

https://en.yna.co.kr/view/AEN20191014008551315

RIP Sulli, f(x) were the greatest so this is very sad

it's being investigated if her death was suicide and i've seen some places claim to confirm that it was, which would be extremely tragic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnku4o3tRB4

Just saw this news, so heartbreaking. f(x) were indeed the greatest. :(

Yeah, rip :( The Pink Tape is the best k-pop album, and one of the very best pop albums of the decade, imo.

"Airplane" still rules

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70MBQrlsr_M

I always felt bad for Sulli, she was treated very badly by the Korean press over her dating "scandal" and basically not fitting in the image her label had crafted for her.

yeah if it is indeed suicide it would unfortunately be not that surprising considering all the ridiculous shit she's had to deal with from the public and the press on top of her struggles with anxiety and depression

Just watched this from June, have people seen this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5uE7KDkDFE

I'm sad about Sulli.

There's a photo that circulated a while back, of f(x) on the set of variety show A Song for You on their press junket for.... I can't remember? The one before 4walls.

Anyway the episode was edited to make it look like Sulli was not there, only the other four were. And they laugh and joke like everything's fine. But in the photo Sulli is sitting right next to them on set, basically catatonic/too depressed to function.

I think about this often because it shows the gap between image and reality. And Sulli more than others really suffered from this gap, I think.

Hmm I found the clip - they were promoting Rum Pum Pum Pum just before Sulli's break from the group in 2014. Anyway out of respect I don't really want to link to the video but you can find it on omonatheydidn't by searching "f(x) a song for you".

Anyway the heartless capitalist logic... the social media logic... the entertainment industry logic of always needing to pretend that you are fine. And if you are not fine, well then, you simply won't appear at all.

RIP Sulli.

p basic but i really like ladies code 'set me free'

http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gif0f4_1z2w

also i was only so so on 'bon bon chocolat' so ended up being a couple of months late on everglow's follow up but i really like 'Adios' even though i get the urge to sing a speeded up 'god rest ye merry gentlemen' over the chorus break

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gX_p1VkgA4

didn't see it mention on this thread but one of my favourites from early in the year is mamamoo 'gogobebe'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp56JdkmE9s

1 billion views (in 18 months) for BLACKPINK's "The Ddu-Du Song"

"Blackpink are the first K-pop band to join YouTube's 'billion views club'"
- https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-50405408

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHNzOHi8sJs

Looks like everyone has been hit with that ddu-du.

So, tell me... Have they hit you with that ddu-du?

I am far from a scholar but this strikes me as a C+ jam at best

Rene bae has taken over my ig, don’t even know why

iirc the favourite blackpink tracks here are "whistle" and "if its your last" which are both fantastic. "ddu-du ddu-du" is still as mediocre as it was on release

i like 'kill this love' a lot as well as 'ddu-du' and 'whistle'.

from earlier in the year i like hwash's solo 'twit'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScSn235gQx0

also oneus 'twilight'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Njp-J2s5uw

*hwasa not hwash

ddu du ddu du is a perfect storm of easily replicable song-specific dance, killer video (fennec fox! disco ball tank!) and a good jam, all of which travels well. not surprised it hit hard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvRnW-4P8dw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Fwdnij49o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1PvIWdJ8xo

i like "unstable" but wish there were more to it than that

can't believe i completely forgot to post the Lim Kim single from last month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5S3sPpkd8w

i need to get around to her EP, this reinvention has been pretty wild

sadly I can't get into her new stuff at all, though I'm happy she seems happy doing what she loves.

Nice quick interview explaining her new direction: https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/xwe7kz/lim-kim-is-forging-an-independent-k-pop-revolution

more awful news:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/nov/24/goo-hara-k-pop-singer-found-dead-aged-28

absolutely tragic that it came to this, KARA were fantastic and Hara had really been through a lot lately

Jesus, I was out the whole day and just saw this. Don’t know what to say anymore, this is so awful. Her asshole ex needs to be in jail.

The last photo she posted on IG is heartbreaking. Also, all her photos with Sulli. :(

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/list/8544710/best-k-pop-songs-2010s-top-100

this is a surprisingly good list, apart from a few things like "good day" at #1 being both strange and boring

Agreed - I’ve actually made my own top 100 list (which I’ll post when I have more time this week) and yeah there’s a lot of overlap with that one. I have a different IU track at no. 1, lol.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B5SIbaglGzP

Always looks like she’s going to jail

As promised, my top 100 Kpop songs of the 2010s.

Embarrassment of riches tbh - I stuck with a one track per artist rule (subunits and solo tracks allowed) and only songs that were actual singles/had proper MVs (no deep cuts), and still couldn't find space for every thing I loved.

Seo Taiji x IU - "Sogyeokdong"
Infinite - "The Chaser"
2NE1 - "I Am The Best"
Orange Caramel - "Catallena"
Hyuna - "Bubble Pop!"
NCT U - "Baby Don’t Stop"
f(x) - "Rum Pum Pum Pum"
miss A - "Bad Girl Good Girl"
EXO - "Growl"
4Minute - "Volume Up"

Girls Generation - "I Got A Boy"
BOA - "Only One"
Oh My Girl - "Closer"
SHINee - "View"
Big Bang - "Bad Boy"
Red Velvet - "Bad Boy"
Blackpink - "As If It’s Your Last"
2PM - "A.D.T.O.Y"
LOONA/Yves - "new"
MBLAQ - "Smoky Girl"

SISTAR19 - "Gone Not Around Any Longer"
KARA - "Pandora"
T.O.P - "Doom Dada"
B1A4 - "What's Happening?"
After School - "Flashback"
Luna - "Free Somebody"
Brown Eyed Girls - "Sixth Sense"
PSY - "Gangnam Style"
T-ara - "Roly-Poly"
Wonder Girls - "I Feel You"

TWICE - "T.T."
Nine Muses - "Figaro"
Block B - "HER"
Lim Kim - "Awoo"
Taeyang - "Eyes Nose Lips"
EXID - "Up & Down"
VIXX - "Chained Up"
Wings - "Hair Short"
Ga-In - "Bloom"
Troublemaker - "Now"

K.Will - "Please Don’t"
GD&TOP - "Knock Out"
Ailee - "I Will Show You"
Dal Shabet - "B.B.B. (Big Baby Baby)"
SUNMI - "Siren"
Evol - "Get Up"
Lee Hi - "Breathe"
Ladies' Code - "The Rain"
BTOB - "WOW"
Lip Service - "Yum Yum Yum"

(G)I-DLE - "HANN (Alone)"
Kim Sungkyu - "Kontrol"
Rania - "Dr. Feelgood"
HyoLyn - "SEE SEA"
PENTAGON - "Shine"
Park Ji Yoon - "Beep"
Taemin - "Drip Drop"
Crayon Pop - "Bar Bar Bar"
Lovelyz - "Ah-Choo"
Yubin - "Lady"

GLAM - "I Like That"
SNUPER - "Platonic Love"
MOMOLAND - "BBoom BBoom"
The Boyz - "Giddy Up"
SEVENTEEN - "Don't Wanna Cry"
Chung Ha - "Roller Coaster"
Fiestar - "Mirror"
HISTORY - "Psycho"
BOYFRIEND - "Janus"
April - "Oh! My Mistake"

AOA - "Miniskirt"
JYJ - "Back Seat"
Mr.Mr. - "Highway"
Girl's Day - "Expectation"
Seulgi, SinB, Chung Ha, So Yeon - "Wow Thing"
Park Bom - "You and I"
G-Dragon - "One of a Kind"
Jonghyun - "SHE IS"
CL - "Hello Bitches"
BTS - "Dope"

SF9 - "Now or Never"
Teen Top - "ah-ah"
ITZY - "DALLA DALLA"
I.O.I - "Very Very Very"
WINNER - "Really Really"
SISTAR - "Touch My Body"
Secret - "Madonna"
A Pink - "I'm So Sick"
Infinite H. and Zion T. - "Without U"

GFriend - "Rough"
Rainbow - "Black Swan"
Beast - "Good Luck"
ToppDogg - "Annie"
DAY6 - "I Wait"
Cross Gene - "La-di Da-di"
Tiny-G - "Miss You"
Lee Hyori - "Bad Girls"
U-Kiss - "Stop Girl"
SunnyHill - "The Grasshopper Song"
fromis9 - "Love Bomb"

Honourable mentions:
iKON - "Killing Me"
Crush, Zico - "Cereal"
SPICA - "Russian Roulette"
gugudan - "Chococo"
Stray Kids - "Miroh"
AKMU - "200%"
Stellar - "Sting" / "Vibrato"
WJSN - "Secret"
MINO - "Fiance"
Younha - "The Real Reason We Broke Up"
Bestie - "Love Options"
NCT Dream - "We Young"

Youtube playlist: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP-ajiMFDEG4CC17dHl2qrmT2s3D6bV0P
Spotify (missing a few): https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4Z9csNSzcZnHBxMwdNWICf?si=f8kEFBE_TvigzDSoKHb2dw

that's a great list, it's really been a fantastic decade for kpop (this year excepted). looking forward to digging into the picks i'm not familiar with

thanks, had a lot of fun compiling it and rediscovering songs I hadn't listened to in years...

Yeah I struggled to find any tracks from 2019 I liked enough to include - thank god for "Dalla Dalla"! Big contrast with 2018, the strongest year since Kpop's 2011-2014 peak and well represented in my list.

great list that, thanks!

Roz you are like reading my mind. My list would be pretty similar. There might be a couple things on there from artists we've never heard from again, like "Musiche" by Crazyno though.

Would love to see your list if you did one! Some of the songs on mine I would never have heard if you hadn’t told me to check them out (eg HISTORY, U-Kiss).

Checking out some stuff I've missed and I actually really like Dawn's "Money" - kpop needs more songs dissecting life under late-stage capitalism imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr8-EFdl6gg&feature=emb_title  

I liked the line where he's going through an existential crisis but he can't talk about it cause his parents are asleep lol... relatable. Dude was always meant to be a solo star, getting kicked out of Cube just sped things up for him. 

And speaking of idols who've left their previous labels, I'm so happy CL is out of YG! She's released more songs in the past two weeks than she has in the previous four years: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuX8lXIexG8dRXFx54CVm2Q

It's funny how every track so far could be read as shade on YG, and she clearly wants everyone to know how pissed she is - all the videos have subtitles in 16 languages.

Most of the songs sound (understandably) unfinished, but you could see how some could have been worked into something better if YG had been serious about releasing them. But I can also see why he didn't - CL had clearly grown past the "tough female rapper" identity and YG doesn't like growth in his female stars. 

These are my faves so far: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=outk3lqsFHc&feature=emb_title  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4Q-DulyShA  

Ah dammit, messed up the embeds again.

Dawn's "Money":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr8-EFdl6gg  

CL's "+ONE AND ONLY180228+":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=outk3lqsFHc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oA6sS1ndTM4

SAAY- ZGZG

thankful to TSJ's reader's week for introducing me to this which is surely one of the year's highlights

this is a fantastic playlist, thanks Roz!

Red Velvet wrapping up the year (and decade) on a high - this rules:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR8Mrt1IpXg

i like "psycho" a lot but it's still only their second or third best single of the year

I couldn't get into any of their other singles this year, sadly. Really like "Psycho", but I would - "Bad Boy" is my favourite track of theirs and this is fairly close to it.

Meanwhile, horrifying details about Wendy's onstage accident at SBS' Gayo Daejun: https://omonatheydidnt.livejournal.com/25230978.html#comments#comments

She fractured her right pelvis and wrist and cracked her right cheekbone. She also suffered multiple bruises all over her body. It is expected that it will take months to recover. She's currently in a hospital in Seoul undergoing a thorough inspection. The swelling is so severe that it's impossible to give an accurate diagnosis.

Music aside, 2019 really feels like all of the worst aspects of k-pop coming to the fore. :(

"sappy" is one of my absolute favourites of theirs and "umpah umpah" was solid. "zimzalabim" was a total mess though.

i hope wendy recovers well and that this incident can lead to some of the necessary changes in the industry so that actually caring about the safety of idols, and everyone else, can become important. seems unlikely though :/

rolling kpop 2020

made a new thread at last