LE SSERAFIM – Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard’s Wife ( review) (tie) ReLit – “Challenger” Theme ( review) (tie) Kis-My-Ft2 – Sweet Melody ( review)Ģ. (tie) Bullet Train (Chotokkyu) – Call My NameĢ. (compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month) I’m desperately hoping for some 9+ rated songs to re-ignite my excitement because at the moment it seems like every song I write about is in the 7’s or low 8’s. Well… sorry for the rant! These monthly round-ups are meant to be celebratory, but I have to be honest about how I’m feeling. Most of the coolest music is happened over there. I highly recommend keeping up with my weekly J-pop Round-up posts. The past couple of days have seen great new material from Sakurazaka46 and Hey! Say! JUMP that could also break into the top rankings over time. There was a four-way tie for second place, though I’m only taking into account songs I’ve already written about in a round-up or review. J-pop has officially supplanted K-pop on my own playlists, so I’m going to cheat and post five songs instead of three this month. I would rather feel excited about a vast swath of K-pop acts.īecause K-pop has been so disappointing for me, the majority of my May highlights come from Japan.
But, it’s also dangerous to place all your hopes on one or two releases. And with veteran groups like SHINee and (maybe) Infinite poised to make long-awaited comebacks, I could see 2023 making a much-needed shift in quality. After all, most of my favorite songs of 2022 were released during the summer months. My hope is that this summer delivers a few K-pop classics. My second and third place choices are also songs I enjoy, but neither is “top ten of the year” (or even top twenty) material. Even so, this track is a shadow of the great classics it emulates. It sticks out like a sore thumb amidst May’s other releases, and its accompanying album is the only one I’ve had any lasting interest in this month. Everything’s become so vibey and feels focus-grouped to within an inch of its life.īecause of this, my song of the month heavily favors melody. Fair play to those who love this approach. It’s rare to hear an honest-to-goodness vocal hook these days, and if one pops up it’s usually just a small piece of an otherwise underwhelming song. The industry has become obsessed with chanting and posturing. The main culprit here is a lack of dynamic melody. Despite a number of high-profile releases, I only found a small handful of songs I had any interest in replaying. It breaks my heart to say that!Īfter a promising April, the month of May plunged right back into the doldrums. K-pop has been shifting directions for years now, and I’m just not thrilled where we’ve ended up. Apart from one or two songs, everything feels dull and short-lived and predictable.
And honestly, I’ve found this year in K-pop to be awful so far. But going by my eligibility period for year-end lists, 2023 is already half over. We’re not quite to the halfway point of the calendar year, so I’ll post my mid-year round-ups at the end of June as usual. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade. At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists.
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