Kpop 2018

Another excellent single from Sunmi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4qfN5UeFvQ

New Suzy is good too, kind of Bad Liar-ish:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgT4CPv_CCE

Finally an NCT release that fulfills the promise of the project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0DqRstCgj4

It's young, hip, melodic, retro, current, and has an easy chorus. And for once the easy chorus/dense throwback harmonies aren't at odds with the rest of the song!

Though I do like BOSS too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJMdTzq5xEQ

Like here, they are still making unusually melodic hip hop over a decent beat, but they don't know how to incorporate the more traditional "kpop" melodic content, except by suspending the beat for a few bars.

great sunmi track
the riff reminds me of 'fight for this love'

Sober is quite good but I think I'd like it more if it had a moment of cartharsis like Bad Liar does with "oh baby let's make reality actuality" etc.

I really like all the overlapping vocals in the Baby Don't Stop chorus, definitely one of the best NCT singles.

Right??? And right before it ends, there's some straight-up jazz do-wop harmonies.

Be ba da loo bob beep bop ba

Lol this is the first time I'm watching the "BOSS" video - that is both great and hilarious.

And "Baby Don't Stop" is just great, period. Those vocal arrangements are incredible.

Bad Boy has grown on me quite a lot. Roller Coaster still great, glad to see Chungha killing the charts.

Interesting to see if Momoland can follow up BboomBboom and become a truly major group. I enjoy their Egyptian Shumba-like screams live. Seems Japanese interest is high.

@Roz that's not the official video for BOSS, it's just something MNet does. I kinda prefer it tho lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?FvuYGPS9J0Y

Is there some brand value to putting "ft Jay Park" on a Loco song? Because I'm not sure what he adds to this lmao.

whoops forgot the v=, here's the link : https://youtu.be/FvuYGPS9J0Y

OMG guys... this is the most brilliant marketing scheme of 2018...

https://0.soompi.io/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/19085054/the-boyz2.jpg

What's the 1 thing preteen girls love more than Boyz?

The spoiler sounds awesome too, I'm excited:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJPq0I0WmdQ

GIDDY UP, guys!

Also JYP on a roll with the self-produced boygroups... this one has a rock/hiphop sound as if some Korean American kids who grew up on eminem and linkin park were later given a chance to produce an idol group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJPq0I0WmdQ

GAH...

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

this one has a rock/hiphop sound as if some Korean American kids who grew up on eminem and linkin park were later given a chance to produce an idol group.

oh good, i was trying to figure out where that familiar sense of secondhand embarrassment was coming from.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkY8HvgvBJ8

middle section of the new LOONA is maybe a little too disjointed but I love the rest of it

chorus seems a bit lacking, but it's a lot better than the last one (GoWon's). The other song on her single is great too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Un3eG6AWyDI

Their sound design is incredible - i can't wait for their group debut.

I think she's a little weaker than other vocalists in LOONA, which makes the chorus sound lacking. But her emoting on the verses is good. I like the last section starting at 3:45 when they put all the echo effects on, other sections were a little predictable.

Dunno if EXID's new jack swing will bring back all their fans who drifted away but I really like it, it's chill without being boring (lots of breaks for vocalists to show off):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=Q1JiptOTxno

Could use maybe a change in tempo or volume though. I was a bigger fan of DDD.

I really like that too, it could use a more distinctive bridge or something to change things up as you said, but I prefer it to DDD

Love this track, sounds very SHINee-esque.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNH7X46gMjQ

that's pretty good, I love the bridge especially

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0p1bmr0EmE

Helpful youtube commenter:

Once * Army
6 minutes ago
Movie references in the MV:
0.31 Ghost - 1990
0.49 Pulp Fiction - 1994
1.07 Romeo and Juliet - 1996
1.14, 2.43 Love Letter - 1995
1.23 La La Land - 2016
1.42 La Boum - 1980
2.19-2.31 Leon:The Professional- 1994
2.39 The Princess Diaries - 2001

decent but it's pretty TWICE-by-numbers

TWICE-by-numbers >>>> 90% of K-pop

Plus the video really is a delight

it's a total earworm even if it's not as exciting as Likey

I'm a fan of Giddy Up, even if they didn't put the horses in the actual MV.

best horse-related choreography since Gangnam Style.

Yup!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7EMEwHPpQY

Really nice jazzy b-side from CLC. They have good voices for this style, it really makes me wish April's "The Blue Bird" was their song instead. (See also: CLC "Distance" for a song that mines the same emotional territory as April's "The Blue Bird" but less jazzy/Jpop-y with a more straightforward drum machine beat and throwback fast-sad rap.)

The whole CLC album is good, I like "Like That" a lot too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qnbzT5jmNs

For all you LOONA fans of chopped and screwed stuff.

Can I just say, because it just missed my 11-favourite-songs-of-the-moment-fuck list, how much I like LOOΠΔ’s “Rosy”, even if it’s sort of the B-side?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbeQ4zn-buI&list=PLhHsVaKji0ug6X8rp5o2KYmTt-ajUfR-X

My favorite nasal-voiced, whiplash-loving boy group back at it again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hv8UhEjL2yA

Nasal rap, nasal rock, nasal crazed breakdown, nasal pop chorus, it's all there <3

Also, auto-post for VIXX, who reward but don't demand your attention:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MctZLEYlU4s

It's a very layered song, and interesting to hear everyone but Leo singing low and keeping the vocal runs short. It goes with their new, restraint is sexy vibe.

"Eux de VIXX" is a very coherent album, rise producer Ravi.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rb5ISGbAbU

Sounds good

I know it's meant to be like "heartfelt", but Ha:Tfelt always just makes me think of fedoras.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Z9-kr504w

Some Sweetune for spring

i'm late on this but "egoist" is wonderful

https://i.imgur.com/uHSbI7t.jpg

would love it if something came of this (grimes is a known fan of them too)

omg yes please. "Loonatic" is the best grimes song not by grimes.

#이달의소녀 #yyxy / LOOΠΔ yyxy [beauty&thebeat]

tracklist
2. love4eva (Feat. Grimes)#LOONA #이브 #츄 #고원 #OliviaHye #Yves #Chuu #GoWon #올리비아혜 #beautyandthebeat #love4eva pic.twitter.com/WsV3HwvITC

— 이달의 소녀(LOOΠΔ) (@loonatheworld) May 19, 2018

it's happening, she's appearing on a track on the LOONA mini-album that's out at the end of the month. no idea how she'll fit among k-pop idol vocals but i'm excited

Nice!!

BTS album is out, not much to say about it overall except that I really like the jazz flute on PLUTO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBYVkn7phA

They have two rappers with naturally deep voices, it works well for something spoken-word-esque like this, Suga in particular sounds great.

Most of the rest of the tracks are thoughtful takes on the subject of fame/the pressures of, which IMO is smart writing for a band whose main selling point is their connection with fans.

The songwriters speak, LOL @ them getting the writer on "Havana" to do their Latin song.

I could support GIdle, maybe Sunmi, BTS, well, they've had a year anyway. Will probably add IU, though still disappointed we didn't get her top 77 last year. I'll be voting for BoA's Woman in the album poll.

'power up' for me

Merry and happy 2018 from Twice
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfUGjK6gGgs

That's a great list, ufo... I'm down to vote for everything on it up to Siren.

I'll add:
Momoland - Bboom Bboom
Pentagon - Shine
Seventeen - Oh My
Chungha - Roller Coaster
GFriend - Time for the Moon Night
Dean - Instagram
Lee Jin Ah - Run (with Gray)**
NCT 127 - Boss
NCT 127 - Simon Says
Minseo - Zero
The Boyz - Giddy Up
April - Oh My Mistake
SHINEE - Countless

Other songs I'm thinking about but don't feel strongly about:
ONF - Complete
Got7 - Lullaby

And the ones no one else will vote for:
Brand New Boys (MXM) - Ya Ya Ya
Soyou - All Night (with SIK-K)
Day6 - Shoot Me**
UNB - Black Heart
SHINEE - Lock You Down

**Mostly as a stand in for the songs from these artists I wish I'd nominated last year lmao, but both songs are pretty hooky.

Also, this is separate from my year-end list, but here's my JAZZ WATCH 2018 list for those who are interested:

Lee Jin Ah (with Gray) - Run
Dean - Instagram
Soyou (with SIK-K) - All Night
Minseo - Is Who?
Brand New Boys - Ya Ya Ya
UNB - Black Heart
April - The Blue Bird
Fromis_9 - Dancing Queen
SHINEE - Retro
BTS - Pluto
Heize - First Sight

Fully expecting this trend to jump over from Korea to the US at some point, or maybe that's just my wishful thinking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhXDFl6tmVY

To let you guys know how serious this is, we have two local very good jazz stations these days they are the only thing I listen to on the radio.

Basically last year would have been a great time to nominate some jazzy Kpop

(example:
Heize - Jenga
Lee Jin Ah - Random
Day6 - What Should I Do)

and these songs have grown on me a bunch, so this year is my chance to make amends.

Also add CLC - Seventh to that JAZZ WATCH 2018 list, I think I might nominate all the tracks on it just for laffs.

i could definitely get behind 'Run' and 'oh! My Mistake'. i'd forgotten about 'Run' but it's excellent

Since I feel so strongly about this, I went ahead and made an 8tracks playlist for ya'll. Some of the songs on it are from 2017 tho:

https://8tracks.com/subdee/jazz-watch-2018.

I love oh! my mistake, have you seen the video of April doing it live acapella after the audio cuts out at some college festival? They aren't power vocalistss by any means but much stronger than I'd thought.

Not sure if there's a consensus pick yet but I *still* haven't gotten over the vocal arrangements on NCT U's "Baby Don't Stop" so that's probably going to be my highest-placing K-pop pick.

Other faves, mostly the same as what everyone else has posted:
Red Velvet - "Bad Boy" (a real slow-burner for me but it's now kind of my favourite RV song? Weird.)
SHINee - "Good Evening"
Hyolyn - "SEESEA"
TWICE - "What is Love?"
Pentagon - "Shine"
G)I-DLE - "HANN (Alone)"
SF9 - "Now or Never"
April - "Oh! My Mistake"

Also was this ever posted here? TSJ reviewed this a couple of weeks ago, and it's incredible.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KR5CtMLuiqQ

ooh that's great

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

this is pretty nice

Year-end BANGER from BoA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1XOFi42xZM

#BoAforilxoryearend

WINNER track is really fun! Seungyoon sounds good in that range and Mino's rap is really fun at that speed.

I like the BoA a lot too, SM stays on point with the Latin fusion tracks.

@Roz

SF9 - Now or Never is nice, and I think we forgot Super Junior - Lo Siento too! https://youtu.be/odl7J8Ms6MQ

Though how legitimate a list that doesn't include NCT U - Baby Don't Stop is, I don't know.

oh i'm glad that reminded me of SEVENTEEN - Thanks, i really love that one but keep forgetting to add it to my 2018 playlist

also See Sea is just the ideal tropical house track, so effortless and i love the vocal layering in the chorus so much

Happy holiday whatevers K-Pop people. Here's a playlist with all the songs discussed on the thread this year.

ILM's 2018 Rolling K-Pop Spotify Playlist

Thx!

This is on just now

[Live] 2018 KBS Song Festival I KBS 가요대축제 !! [2018.12.28]
- www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5k9K5iJWuE

*not available in Japan for some reason

Videos from last night: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=KBS+Song+2018.12.28

kpop 2019

here's a new thread

Holy crap guys, I got sick and didn't nominate anything for the 2018 year end list :(

I'm just about to check if it's on there, but the best kpop song of 2018 is Heize's Jenga. For some reason, I'd been thinking all this time that it came out last year. Hopefully someone else nominated it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw_HR9jIJww

thanks ufo!

Not there, dang :( I'll just continue to talk about it up in this thread then, maybe one day I'll be able to forgive myself for not nominating this and First Sight.

my vote were for Red Velvet 'Power Up' and IU 'BBIBBBI'
this Heize track is pretty great tho!