Y'all must've forgot.
Due to foreseen circumstances my list took forever. Better very very very very late than never, though, amirite.
I listened to a very small amount of kpop during the year, and I honestly thought this'd be easy once I just went through all the stuff. Boy was I wrong, there was so much good stuff released that I either overlooked or didn't even notice during the year. No boy groups this time, nothing grabbed me hard enough, and can't be arsed to do more research at this point. Been twiddling this stuff and reordering endlessly. And maybe I forgot something but at this point... fuck it.
Alright, that's enough excuses.
-- Stryfe's Top 10 --01. (G)I-dle - Latata02. (G)I-dle - HannAfter Jeon Soyeon, the standout chipmunk rapper of Produce 101 and flawless underdog of Unpretty Rapstar 3, embarked on a solo career and released solid if unremarkable tunes, I figured that was it, that was her little niche in the music world. And boy was I wrong. Sometime later she resurfaces as the leader, rapper and songwriter(!) of a new girl group, completely revitalized. I admit my fanboy status of Soyeon has blinded me so that I've barely noticed the rest of the girls. I'm working on it.
I struggled with ranking these two, because they're both really great tracks in their own unique way, I ended up going with LTT at #1 because it just gets me going right the fuck away and also features one of the greatest rhymes ever written in "La Ta Ta, Da Da Da, Mwah Mwah Mwah"
03. IZ*ONE - La Vie En RoseAt this point I've heard LVER about a thousand times lmao.... so maybe I'm juuust a little tired of it. But it's an incredibly well crafted and stylish song, and a perfect debut song for IZ*ONE, a group I've been into since before their debut.
04. fromis_9 - Love BombA near-perfect crackhead kpop song. Amazing MV.
05. Amber & Luna - LowerThis was one of those surprise tracks to me, a really chill Station tune, and it also got me missing f(x), bastards.
06. 015B & Youra - My Hair Is GreenJust a really solid song, grrreat voice, barely kpop really.
07. Yubin - LadyYubin's sound continues on the path WG's Reboot set aeons ago. Song and MV straight out of the 80's, Yubin and her voice both seductive as fuck, what's not to like.
08. Blackpink - Ddu-du Ddu-duBlackpink always release solid anthems. I think the outro, the last minute of the song, is probably my favorite of the year, but the rest of the song is kinda level below that. Still, great stuff from the Queens of Barely Releasing Anything.
09. Taeyeon - Something NewTaeyeon's music generally bores me to tears so this was a happy surprise, what a superb intro, killer bassline, great song, amazing mv from my original kpop love.
10. Sunmi - SirenWonder Girls, truly the queens of retro. Sunmi's effort isn't quite as out there as Yubin's, tho the beat and melody are decidedly 80's. Lovely stuff.
-- Closest contenders --EXID - I Love You - I hated this song when I first heard it... and it eventually really, really grew on me.
(G)I-dle - $$$ - My fave (G)i-dle album cut, love the rapping here, Soyeon spitting fire.
IU - Bbibbi - Fantastic song, but I could never get into it super much for some weird reason, and every time I hear it I wonder why.
Khan - I'm Your Girl? - I'm just happy this exists... beautiful song, MV, The Ark 4eva.
Olivia Hye feat. JinSoul - Egoist - Loona solo releases keep impressing me more than the group efforts (although that might change this year).
Red Velvet - Bad Boy - Hot stuff, in more ways than one.
Sunmi - Heroine - A+ chorus, was kinda going back and forth with this and Siren, but only one fit in the top 10.
-- Rest of the Best --CLC - Black Dress - Hot shit, pretty cool song, dat dance break, suits, yeeun step on me (seungyeon too).
Dreamcatcher - What - Another cool track from the queens of kpop animu theme song metal.
EXID - Lady - new jack swing, fucking love this sound, song's pretty good too.
Eyedi - Caffeine - Caffeine is pretty great, and so is this chill tune.
Gugudan - Not That Type - Gugudan's songs are always technically super sound, this is cool, love the beat & chorus.
Jennie - Solo - solololololol is actually a pretty good tune, if not quite top tier... the MV, tho... hooboy.
Loona - Favorite / Hi High - Was fucking stoked for Loona's group debut, and none of the stuff really disappoints, even if I like the earlier solo stuff more.
Red Velvet - Power Up - a fun crackhead kpop song from the queens of crackhead kpop.
Rothy - Burning - Never heard of her before, but great voice, fun song.
Seulgi, SinB, Chungha & Soyeon - Seulgi and Soyeon in the same MV, that's quite enough for me... ok ok, the song is nice too.
Sunmi - Black Pearl - Smooth as fuck album cut from Sunmi's Warning.
Yuri & Raiden - Always Find You - Ok, Yuri is hot as fuck but I really dug this song too, even if it's a little repetitive.
Yubin - Thank U Sooooo Much - More of that good ole WG retro, tho this ain't quite up to par with Lady.
--
Here's a
youtube playlist for all the songs mentioned.
Voting results coming within the next couple of days, just asking a couple people real quick if they still want to vote. Thanks for your patience.