K-pop (2014)

I was pretty big on YG this year. I'm not huge on the Winner album but Empty is one of my favorite k-pop songs of the year. Love how each vocalist is utilized to highlight one another. I loved the 2NE1 album too, my favorite K-Pop album since SNSD's last Japanese one. And AKMU's 200% is my soty so there's that. Didn't realize you lived in Korea now Jakob, thought you were just there for a bit.

i loved most of what YG put out this year, and their music videos/promotional campaigns (WINNER) have been god-level. but subjectivity aside, in sheer business terms, it's inarguable that 2014 was their year. they absolutely destroyed the competition.

and yeah! just moved here a week ago. up in this piece like it's permanent~

idc, songs >>>

completely disagree on a songs level, but maybe we're listening to different things

also thank u soyrev for reviewing the seio taiji record which caused me to finally download it. i don't like anything on it more than the first two songs but it's still very nice

also i had no idea iu did a version of "sogyeokdong" until reading the singles jukebox today. of course it's a link upthread and not an embed so i totally scanned past it. imo her version >>>> seio's, lifts the song up entirely

the IU version is definitely more accessible and...yeah, lifted. but i think it's more meaningful coming from seo taiji...plus it sounds less obviously indebted to chvrches when being sung by a guy

we're probably listening _for_ different things, but 2013 and 2014 were the first years i listened to every single song the k-pop industry released at least once. going back in time to do that for all the other years, too

I don't agree with yr ranking soyrev, cause I recently re-listened to some 2013 songs that didn't seem impressive at the time (like Tiny-G's "Miss You") and in retrospect they're zanier and produced at a higher level of quality than I remembered. I think there was a lot more money sloshing around in 2013 - people were taking more risks. The 2014 singles seem like something I could hear on US radio, especially with Arianna Grande taking a page from Kpop taking a page from Motown.

SM did have a good singles year this year though - Something, Red Light, Danger were all great.

Latest update on GLAM - Dahee and her friend Jiyeon were just sentenced to three years in prison :'(

Infinite rocking out in Japan, they totally suit the all-melody-all-the-time Jpop ethos: http://youtu.be/dvx0GIdR9bY

Gallup asked people about their favorite artists in 2014

1. IU (12.9%)
2. Girls' Generation (12.4%)
3. SISTAR (10.8%)
4. EXO (9.4%)
5. Lee Sun Hee (8.4%)
6. Girl's Day (7.9%)
7. Lee Seung Chul (7.8%)
8. Cho Yong Pil (7.2%)
9. B2ST (5.5%)
10. Jang Yoon Jung (5.2%)
11. Ailee (5.1%)
12. A Pink (4.1%)
13. Big Bang (3.8%)
14. Kim Dong Ryul (3.6%)
15. Seo Taiji (3.1%)
16. Kim Bum Soo (3.0%), Sung Si Kyung (3.0%)
18. g.o.d (2.9%)
19. Tae Jin Ah (2.9%)
20. Hong Jin Young (2.6%)

Woah lookit Girl's Day all the way up there with the juggernauts!

And SISTAR realize their dream of joining Girls Generation in the top tier of girl groups (with 2NE1 nowhere to be found).

hahaha oh my gosh at 2NE1 being nowhere on the list

Yeah... and they were *everywhere* earlier this year when their album came out, the public is harsh

On the plus side "CL's American debut" has been slowly but surely morphing into "2NE1's American debut"

BTW there's been a bunch of idol rappers taking shots at each, most not good, but I gotta pass on this one from SIMS (M.I.B.): https://soundcloud.com/shownproove/you

(Trans)

Not exactly sure how I'd compare 2014 and 2013 in K-Pop... I definitely tried to listen to at least every major single that came out (definitely don't have the time to listen to every b side/mini album/full-length) but I remember thinking 2013 was pretty poor in comparison to 2012 at the end of the year. Thinking about it, there were so many artists this year that released music that I liked but not as much as songs they had in 2013... f(x), SNSD, Exo, Girl's Day, A Pink, 4minute, T-ara, 2PM, MBLAQ, Sunmi, Kara, G.NA, IU, Zion.T, VIXX, After School, Crayon Pop (to be fair the only song I love from them is Bing Bing), and probably a few more I'm forgetting. Definitely a good chunk if we compare stuff from 2012 too. And then there were zero releases from established artists I like (Big Bang, Brown Eyed Girls, Miss A, Nine Muses) along with zero releases releases from newer/not-as-popular groups I was hoping to see (GLAM, TWO X, Rania, EvoL, GI) and I was kind of let down. Still a good year though.

I was always really big on Tiny-G's Miss You and they haven't topped it yet. And that picture of them with Nine Muses is still a hoot.

Can you clarify/expand on it turning from CL to 2NE1's debut? Must've missed something.

and that diss track is entertaining, thanks for sharing ha

re: CL/2NE1 "I am the Best" was re-released this week - it's been gaining popularity after being used in a Microsoft Surface Pro ad. It hit number one on Billboard's world digital chart a couple of months ago and has been getting spins on a few US radio stations. At this point, 2NE1 definitely has a bigger chance of crossing over than CL alone.

anyway hello again, ILX K-pop thread. What are people nominating for the EOY poll? Can we all just vote for "Catallena" and be done with it? :D

I think "My Copycat" just barely edges it out for me, but that's mostly because of a) the MV and b) the fact I got in on a Soompi Shop Special and have a signed copy of the mini

"At this point, 2NE1 definitely has a bigger chance of crossing over than CL alone." not the case at all. unless "this point" is 2011.

Special shout out to William Bennett of Whitehouse (the power electronics band) for putting K-Pop on his year end list. I also remember him posting BABYMETAL's line on his fb and calling it genius (which it is imo). Moon Wiring Club also mentioned the CL solo song :3

Oh I guess I should say William Bennett of Cut Hands now, since that's what people will be more familiar with.

wow what an awesome list. this is super surreal: remember Elite Gymnastics' mix All We Fucking Care About Is K-pop, Whitehouse, and Our Cats? did that hip Bennett to this stuff or was he a k-pop fan from the start? what the fuck is going on?????

Yea I don't know, I kind of wanna ask him... I'll just fb message him I guess. That EG mix was kind of a while ago so it's up in the air as if that had a direct influence on it. Like, if you look at the lists he made for Boomkat in 2012 and 2013, it's clear that this year's is the first that's pop-oriented. He also wrote a huge thing about the new LDR album for Electronic Beats earlier this year.

He replied, he said he had heard the mix and liked it but "actually loved it from long before as for (him) it represented the true spiritual successor to Italo and 70s disco".

cool

'Tis the season for silly costumes, ft. SISTAR, BTOB and 2am.

Also the season for year-end shows! Here's SBS Gayo Daejun

Xposted comment:

Really liked the remixes for "Something" and "Sugar Free", maybe even more than the original songs! Also really like 4minute's "remix" that was actually a completely different song.

AOA's intro with the moving sidewalk was cool, also Orange Caramel's Xmas tree outfits, though I with they'd changed the songs up a little more.

Taeyang was off his game but GD was back on. Can there only be one???

They gave the "Award" to EXO but Seo Taiji performed last, says it all really... pretty canny of him to put a Xmas/Halloween song on it so he could be seasonally appropriate twice.

hey james, do you still listen to k-pop?

STJ's "Christmalo" was the one stage that night that wasn't a complete waste of time. korea still needs him.

No love for the Xmas tree dresses, soyrev?

KBS Gayo Daejun: boring overall, but VIXX were good for a laff and Block B's cross-dressed HER was legitimately great.

Was also pleasantly surprised by Dongwoo's singing (on a song in his range) and Hyungseung's rapping (on "Loyal"), but my expectations were very low.

i have a new project called the K-Pendium, wherein i attempt to trace the entire history of korean popular music from 1926 through the present, via a series of individual song essays.

here is the first post, about "Gee" by SNSD: http://www.k-pendium.com/001/
here is some context re: my motivations etc: http://www.k-pendium.com/info/

please spread it around if you like it!

Ask a Korean was doing a similar project, though his was very rockist. Have you seen it?

http://askakorean.blogspot.com/1998/02/50-most-influential-k-pop-artists.html

Music Core's year-end show is a nice collection of groups with strong live performances... add Orange Caramel, 4minute, EXID, f(x) and TOPP DOGG and it comes pretty close to matching the list of idol music show performances I personally enjoyed the most this year.

Infinite's Back remix and Teen Top's Missing remix were highlights I think, alongside Block B (as always).

yes, have read some of his stuff and will definitely continue to now that i'm in korea and actually have a chance of getting my hands on a lot of this music. his will be a crucial resource for my own project.

i think we differ a bit in audience and intent, not to mention format – but AAK's knowledge and expertise re: korean pop history is definitely an aspiration of mine!

That's a weird list.

speaking of, here's my top 20 k-pop songs of 2014, for vice/noisey:

http://noisey.vice.com/blog/the-20-best-k-pop-songs-of-2014

Which one's weird, mine or AAK's?

switch it up: K-pop (2015)

Looks like I can retire - soyrev's on it!

BTW I thought MBCGayo picked up a little steam toward the end - or at least TVVQ "Something" was the perfect song to end on. 2012 is still the Gayo year to beat though.

Somewhat of interest: SISTAR and Ailee and Taemin turned in good performances, Zion.T was blowing everyone else on his stage away, EXO sang both Thunder and Overdose LIVE and sounded good, the Zico/CNBlue collaboration stage was a hilarious mess, SNSD's MR MR remix was decent.

More seriously of interest: I wish B1A4 would stop messing with Lonely because that song doesn't need a remix. The swelling-orchestral-strings version of "Solo Day" was actually good though, in a Brian Wilson masterwork kind of way.

http://youtu.be/WrSgz63g-Ko

Skip to the end for B1A4 "Solo Day" (orchestra ver).

And to round out 2014:

Boy Group Debuts http://youtu.be/0ZBsXkbSp0Q

Girl Group Debuts http://youtu.be/u7Lsxskse_Y