Kpop, Kpop, and Kpop: The Discussion Thread

This album's pretty good.

In case you missed it, newest Girls' Generation is out. Pretty fun MV. Looking forward to this week with EXID's Ah Yeah due on 13th and Joker from Dalshabet on 15th.

Both those songs I mentioned in my last post came out, here they are:

I've been enjoying this comeback quite a bit. Jinusean apparently hasn't put out an album in over 10 years, but this is one hell of a song to come back with. Some great guest vocals and a bunch of fun appearances in the video.

@y2ken: Ah Yeah is pretty great, not sure how i feel about Joker yet...B.B.B. was such a great fucking track, so my expectations were quite high

I feel like Joker from Dalshabet is the new wiggle wiggle. I also like Ah Yeah even though its not as good as up & down in terms of audible performance I like the style they are going for with it.

Continuing on from MFBTY they also released a pretty interesting and fun song called Bang Diddy Bang Bang.

Moving completely away from the stellar rap perfomances of Bucku Bucku, this song fills the void with a nice bhangra theme of music, a funner upbeat tone and (an even called out) addictive bass line.

Following the various artists from that Bucku Bucku song I noticed Rap Monster released his first solo mixtape with a few standout songs (one songs backing track uses Chase & Status Hypest hype which I thought was funny).

The one song I will highlight is called Do You which has an infectious sort of beat and some pretty good flow.

If I didn't know this was from one of the biggest Korean record labels, I would think it was just a parody of where KPOP videos are at currently. Cause damn...

A lot of good stuff in this thread :)

I'll post the other Bigbang MV too as they brought out a double header. I love Bae Bae though, the song is weirdly catchy and that video is sublime nonsense.

In more general thoughts, I'm very much in love with Ga In's Paradise Lost still as well as FM. And I continue to be besotted with Female President forever.

pls don't sleep on so yumi

for some context, yumi was a member of the group vnt which disbanded after one song, when the rapper decided to leave the group

years later, she came back as a member of the group kiss&cry... who also disbanded after pretty much one song...

BESTie are back! Really enjoying this song, pretty wonderful MV too.

@onimonkii: I liked Domino Game a lot, was a shame nothing more came from them. But I'm enjoying Shake Me Up quite a bit so far.

Girl's Day have a new teaser up too; apparently it's a promotional song, but if the likes of Abing Abing and Visual Dreams have taught me anything it's that being a promotional collaboration is no reason to write a song off in the world of K-pop. I like the teaser, and Girl's Day have put out some of my favourite songs in the past couple of years, so I'm looking forward to it.

I've been kind of obsessed with Feedback for the past week and a half. It's a bunch of different female rappers (well, artists really) collaborating on a track, each with their own verses. These verses are all over the place in terms of quality (mostly bad), but I love the chorus that pops up throughout the song; it has a great synth line and catchy lyrics. Definitely worth a listen.

@y2ken: HUGE Girl's Day fan as well, particularly with their older stuff but also greatly enjoyed the pair of Expectation/Female President from 2013. Last year's releases were a supreme disappointment, however, so here's hoping they can do something a bit more interesting this year.

This thread is pretty dead, huh? Don't really blame people--the last few weeks were a bit empty. Luckily, this week has been quite a bit better.

Shinee released a video for View, and it's pretty damn incredible. The main beat and chorus is absolutely fantastic: mellow, addictive, and catchy as all hell. I've liked some Shinee tracks in the past, but this song blows everything else they've done out of the water. In fact, it's likely one of the best tracks of the year so far.

I also wanted to post Fly High from Sweet Revenge, even though it doesn't quite gel with the typical songs posted in this thread. This track has a great trancey feel throughout, alternating from mellow verses to powerful choruses. The vocalist has a very unique vocal cadence that makes the song pop, standing out in a genre filled with similar sounding artists.

Yea sadly there is no new real kpop from my end that I can really contribute properly with. I think they are all gearing up for summer (saying that I bet the Sistar post will become live as I post this) I guess the best I can do is show a song from the Dream concert which i choose to favourite like Ah yeah:

or even more importantly my favourite collaboration at the minute MFBTY at DREAM (their two songs were off the hook at this festival/concert thing)

From my previous post (yes I will post again)

That Sistar song called Shake It I feel marks summer bangers being here if Bestie didn't already.

It also features the same actor guy from that Bestie song in there as well, I wonder if he will appear in any more this summer.

And to add a few more songs from the recent updates AOA have produced a new song called Heart Attack

And BTS have a new song called Dope, normally I dont like the boyband style but for some reason this song has really hooked me

안녕하세요!

Wow I'm surprised to see so many kpop fans at GB! I'm going to KCON this year and also BigBang Katey in October. Anyone else going?

new nine muses, treat yourselves

@sladeakakevin KCON looks awesome, I dont think anything that size happens over here in the UK/europe.

Girls Day just posted their opening salvo into the ill fated "Battle Of Kpop Summer 2015" called Ring My Bell.

While It has a great chorus and some interesting moments, personally I feel it does not beat Sistars Shake It and it comes close to Hurt Locker by 9Muses.

@optix12: Think I might have to agree with you on Shake It; nothing I've heard (in terms of summer songs at least) comes close. Also, I am again supremely disappointed in the new Girl's Day track. They have completely lost touch with what originally made them special and simply started doing things every other B-tier KPOP group does. What a waste.

May as well post a couple songs while I'm here. Really enjoying CLC's Like lately. It's a great upbeat pop song, with a lot of adorable energy that makes it instantly hard to forget. It's a little clunky in spots, but I'm already looking forward to their next release. I also wanted to note hyukoh's Comes and Goes here, even though it isn't exactly "pop" per se. There's some fantastic instrumentation, funky and catchy, that pairs super well with the emotional voice of the main singer. It's one of my favorite recent songs for sure.

So some new Kpop came out.
NC.A has a new song called "Vanilla shake" which I like quite a bit.
Sonamoo have also released a new MV titled "Cushion" which has a great chorus.

Lots of summer songs with "shake" in the title this year, it seems. Minx's Love Shake is one of the newest, and it just might be the most adorable yet. The verses are a little bit flat, but the chorus is delightfully saccharine and catchy. Also worth listening to is the fantastic new video for Sober by Bigbang. It manages to have a great beat while also sounding quite unlike anything else popular right now. I love the way it swaps between the mellow verses and the powerful chorus. It's one of my favorite KPOP songs of the year.

@wemibelec90: minx's love shake is actually just a cover/remake of a dal shabet song of the same name, from their bang bang album

Since this thread's been so dead lately, I'm just going to throw up a bunch of things to (hopefully) get things going. My apologies if I post something that's already been posted, but I'm in a bit of a hurry.

Don't Be Shy - Primary - I love the pace of this song: lazy and enticing. The chorus is particularly great.

I'm Ill - Hello Venus - A pretty decent EDM beat but not much else.

Married to the Music - Shinee - Not quite as good as the last Shinee release, but the video gave me pleasant flashbacks to the Backstreet's Back video.

I Feel You - Wonder Girls - A fantastic 80s throwback track, with absurdly good instrumentation.

Lion Heart - Girls' Generation - Retro style as filtered through GG production style. Not a huge fan.

You Think - Girls' Generation - The beat's not half bad, but the rest is pretty par for the course at this point.

Long time, no updates from me I went on holiday and have now rechardged my Kpop battery to hopefully post some interesting songs here, sorry, this is going to be a big one.

So Crazy - T-ara - T-ara are back and they are on form again from what I thought was a dissapointing song of Sugar Free and a decent cover of a Chinese bands song. This one reminds me of very early Girls Generation.

You and Me - Kisum - Lately I cannot get enough of Kisum, I really enjoy her mix of soft fun kpop style beats with her rapping style, one of the better female rappers out there currently. She also did a song with Jace called Not Enough

Roll Deep - Hyuna - Hyuna is back doing Solo work, and with that comes a video which even surpasses Red which I thought could not be possible. The song it self is pretty meh except for the chorus.

Favorite! - Verbal Jint and Sanchez - Youtube autoplay made me stumble on this song and boy am I glad as I think this is a really superb song, great beat, vocals and theme.

Just Like U - Primary - I just got into Primary recently with his newly released material as @wemibelec90 mentioned above and I cannot get enough of his music. I strongly suggest you go through his back catalogue if you like the two songs suggested in this thread.

I love MFBTY and the members of that group and even with some of their solo work they produce some really strong tracks.

#Capture The City - Yoon Mirae and Boys Noize - I really respect Yoonmirae for being one of the strongest female rappers in the korean scene and this collaboration track for Heineken highlights this.

I Know - Tiger JK - Another memeber of MFBTY and Yoon Miraes husband Tiger JK produces a superb song with an infectious chorus.

Pour - DinDin - I have nicknamed this song Titty-pour as I swear that is basically what he is shouting in the chorus. The song it self is not that great but I will enjoy someone who sings purely about how much alcohol he has and will continue consume on a crazy night out, and then list it, and then shout titty pour a couple times.

Just because interest in this thread has died out, it doesn't mean great KPOP stopped coming out! Here's a quick selection of some fantastic stuff from the last two months.

Let's Make Love - Sweet Sorrow : Mellow, sultry, and smooth are the best words to describe this song. A superbly dreamy track with gorgeous harmonizing.

Solo - Jay Park : Jay Park's back with one of his KPOP/R&B tracks--expect to find a catchy beat and some fun lyrics.

Beautiful - Amber : Another track from Amber's first solo album, a treat for her fans after her birthday. Extremely pretty and a great showcase of her vocal talents.

4 Walls - f(x) : f(x) is back again, down to four members (Sulli quit the group earlier this year). The change in members doesn't hurt this release, featuring a creative beat and video.

Twenty-three - IU : IU also returns this year with a poppier track than her last few releases. It doesn't show off her world-class pipes as well as I'd like, but it's still an enjoyable catchy track.

Sorry for ignoring this thread for so long but I did continue to listen to k pop during this period but have just been busy/forgot.

Kisum with Hwa Sa from Mamamoo - Love talk was released which I like a lot, but then again I like almost anything from Kisum.

AOA - Oh Boy: Not only did AOA release a new great track and an album but they also moved to a new channel called AOA Vevo which I think is blocked in the US (sorry) but there are other means to get to this song quite easily

EXID - Hot Pink: EXID are back! and they release a song which while looks great, im not sure it works well as a song even with the classic 90s hip hop samples that they used in the song

San E & Mad Clown - Sour Grapes: Another new song as of posting and while I have liked Mad Clown for quite a while San E is now really growing on me and I feel like I should look at his back catalogue as he has been great on a lot of songs I have seen him in.

Il try to keep more on top of this thread even though I feel that winter is usually ballad season and is somewhat slower than the summer.

Surprised no one mentioned this little gem by new group Twice.

@edgekasey Wow you are totally right. At first I totally wrote that song off when I first listened to it but wow its one of my main stays for the down season.

Also boy what a down season. Personally I have not found much new stuff ot get into but I will post some recent stuff from January and stuff that may have been missed previously. I figure its time to rejuvenate this thread what with potentially the next DREAM concert slowly upcoming.

Dalshabet - Someone Like U - Another pretty solid song from Dalshabet, personally not my favourite group but in this downtime they do the job of producing decent music.

Stellar - Sting - Stellar are back with another song which features the band members as promiscously dressed as possible. And while the music video may be a looker I always find that the songs that are produced are just not to my tastes.

CocoSori - DarkCircle - I completely missed this song when it came out until now and while it almost looks more of a Jpop themed group the humorous video is something to behold.

Lets hope February and onwards produces some fun hits to share with everyone

Apologies if this has been posted, but it's my favorite kpop video:

By Kris Anka (Captain Marvel)

New Kpop is coming out!
I have taken somewhat of a break honestly with the Kpop and have not followed it much the last two or so months but figured I would update as two of my favourite (kinda) groups posted new songs.

AOA Cream - I’m Jelly BABY - not quite AOA but a sub unit of the main group which does not feature Choa or Jimin, but still creates a fun cute style in itself.

Mamamoo - 1cm - Mamamoo are back again with another style of song that has a real great minimalist breakbeat backing to it and a fun style in the MV it self. I really like this song and have thought Mamamoo have created a lot of great songs within the last year or so

This thread has stagnated again, but this time, I can't really blame it. This year has been a bit slow thus far for good KPOP. However, that doesn't mean there aren't a few great songs to check out!

Galaxy - Ladies' Code

It's nice to see that Ladies' Code has recovered from the tragedy of a few years ago and come back with a truly memorable song. I, like many others, was a bit worried the group would become entirely melancholic and ballad-focused after losing two of its members, but Galaxy does something new for the group. It's a mellow, trance-inducing groove that packs a pretty darn catchy chorus.

Borders - Amber

f(x)'s Amber had a fantastic solo album last year, but she wasn't content to stop there. Her new song, Borders, technically isn't a KPOP song; the whole thing is sung entirely in English. Unsurprisingly, she's just as talented in English as she is in Korean. It's a remarkably powerful song which shows off her vocal range beautifully.

High Heels - CLC

This song has been my obsession for the last few weeks. While it came off a bit poorly the first time I heard it, it grew on me to the point of now being my favorite KPOP song of the year so far. It's entirely adorable and so catchy that I find myself humming it constantly. I really like its atypical structure and composition too, standing out in an often too same-y genre.

I had no idea this thread existed, which makes sense as I read the last page and see how old the posts are. I tried to give k-pop a real shot last year after becoming slightly familiar with it a few years back due to a university assignment I did about use of English in k-pop. I'd paid a little attention to the pretty ladies and caught some of the music by osmosis, but I wanted to try and go in real deep. I didn't quite get there, but I listened to some stuff that people seem to like a fair bit.

Results were mixed. f(x) are easily my favourite and the pink tape is an incredible album marred only by the fairly abysmal "goodbye summer". 9muses are decent, I really like their one ep I'm forgetting the name of right now. I don't care for girls generation at all. 2ne1 are alright, same goes for t-ara (who just seem like the most identity-less group that managed to eke out some bangers). IU is obviously very talented and I love her, but that first album? Nigh-unlistenable. Last fantasy is great though and modern times is pretty good (sometimes it kinda misses but the hits are on-point). I also really like Lim Kim and awoo was one of the best songs last year, k-pop or not. And in terms of less "poppy" stuff, neon bunny is amazing.

I tried some of the male k-pop stuff too and it wasn't really doing it for me, but the albums seemed more consistent on the whole. I gave bigbang and their solo stuff a big go and it didn't leave much of an impression on me. Shinee were better, but even then I was left kinda cold.

Now let me take a moment to have a small aside about rapping here. I listen to a lot of music, rap and hip-hop especially so. A lot of the rapping in k-pop really turns me off. 4 walls was not as enjoyable an album for me as it should have been just because I found amber's rapping on it especially grating. Jay Park do got him some flow though.

Expectation is the best k-pop single and I cannot be convinced otherwise.

I guess I'm into Kpop now?

Stumbled across this song and thought it would be a shame not to highlight it.

K-Tigers - 손날치기 (not sure what that means) - So this is not really a good song, its mostly dancey breaks with not much in the way of lyrics, the ladies seem like they're fresh and you can tell some of their choreography is not synched as you would expect from a top group. What they do do well is making a superb comedic video which I thought was dumb and good.

Either way im still waiting for the summer bangers to start rolling in... Please... anytime now?

ITS HAPPENING
I am going to call it, the summer season is here and with it, so come all the more upbeat summery songs. Since my last post a bunch of new songs have come out (and some that i missed):

BTS - Fire - BTS are back and bringing their usual highly choreographed boyband material and they don't disappoint with this one as it has a really catchy beat underneath a middling vocal track.

CocoSori - Exquisite! - Their first song titled Dark circle was very fun and somewhat catchy but honestly this song doesn't do it as well as the last time and personally i'm not the biggest fan. I think its the very weird out of place breakdown and no general story of sucking the life out of a broccoli man to make him all old.

I.O.I - Dream Girls - IOI are back and bringing out a pretty good song. Not much to say honestly as i'm not really a fan but they must have spent a bunch of money on shooting this video. speaking of...

TWICE - Cheer Up - TWICE the super popular almost out of nowhere group are back with another polished well made song which highlights each ladys "persona" in the band better. Its a nicely sung song with a decent backing track but my god don't teach dumb mind games like this to girls/teenagers, dudes don't appreciate shitty mind games.

AOA - Give Me The Love - AOA released a new full song after their side group released an EP and Jimin did some solo work they team up and draft in Takanori Nishikawa to produce some great supporting vocals. I really dislike that AOA moved to AOAVEVO as I rarely check that channel for updates (which is why i missed this song all this time) and also Vevo stuff almost always is blocked in the US, not to mention no subtitles on the songs (so enjoy this alternate source).

Thats it for now but I have a feeling more songs will be on their way

@optix12: CocoSori is definitely going for a JPOP/KPOP hybrid style; as a fan of both styles, I absolutely love it! I can understand why it wouldn't appeal to someone who appreciates KPOP more though.

I have a handful of songs to add to the thread again, after a few weeks of not much action.

Angel - BerryGood : A beautiful track that alternates between sections of mellow reflection and intense energy.

Tinker Bell - April : Very cute and an incredibly catchy chorus. Not a huge fan of the blown-out look of the video though.

Fight Day - BolBBalgan4 (no idea how to translate this name) : Incredibly solid acoustic guitar pop track with some breathtakingly lovely vocals.

Re-Bye - AKMU : New Akdong Musician! This is my less favorite of the two new headlining tracks, a slower-paced but powerful song with a gorgeous video.

How People Move - AKMU : This track is much more to my liking: a lot more fun and upbeat, while still being impressive both vocally and visually.

I found my people here. It's really interesting to see more people who enjoy video games actively and communicate that and also share the same excitement for k-pop.

f(x) is easily my favorite group and the solid releases of the past 4 years have made me a proud fan. There is something that is super pop yet done in an oddly appealing nature (f(x) is very "tumblr aesthetic" and I won't blame someone for getting mad at me about that description) about the group that I think their company does right-- also all the European producers they use in general help.

Nice to see little concise reviews. I hope to be somewhat active around here.

I am also very happy about summer releases because winter ballads tire me out.

KPP is playing San Francisco and New York in July. (Plus other places outside of the US I don't care about.)

JONGHYUN of SHINee just released his solo album called 좋아 (She is) and here's the title track

also on the album is a song called White T-Shirt.

I prefer white tshirt > she is.

Also AoA released a new song called Good Luck

I don't have a lot to post this week, but I NEED to post this Tiffany song so I'm just going with what I have.

I Just Wanna Dance - Tiffany : Holy crap, this song is fantastic. A fantastically atypical chill pop track with some gorgeous vocals, particularly the vocal breakdown after the second chorus. The rest of the album is pretty great too, if a bit more 90s-throwback.

Oh Ma Mind - MIXX : An interesting debut from a new group. Very much doesn't follow the blueprints for a debut, which I can appreciate. I find it slightly off in a way I can't explain, but it's still pretty fun/catchy.

Wait Up - Noday : I mostly just really dig the main beat/synth line in this song: it's pleasingly bassy and memorable. The vocal work is maybe a bit plain, but it works well with the production.

A few new songs have come out very recently so il cover them in this post...

Heize ft. DEAN - Shut Up & Groove: A very recent song as of posting and brand new names to me but not a bad song overall, more of a relaxing song over a summer song that I would be looking for at this time in the year.

Luna - Free Somebody: I like this song but it also instantly puts me off and I think that's because it sounds like the most generic club music you could find nowadays (missing the backing dudes going "Hey"). I do like the music video for this though with the animated segments.

Fiestar - Apple Pie: Fiestar are back with their opening salvo into the summer wars. I like this song as it is somewhat catchy, has a good chorus and has a fun music video to go with it.

EXID - L.I.E: EXID are back with their first song since hot pink and I honestly don't know. I really like EXID but since hot pink I have taken a turn against them. Don't get me wrong this is a pretty fun upbeat song and a whole lot better than hot pink but im just not into it yet. I bet you the next time I post I will update my stance and say i have played this song a whole lot and love it now though.

Kisum - 2 Beer: KISUM IS BACK! I cannot get enough of Kisum so my views will be biased but she kills it on another track here. I wonder who produces her music as they always create a good track for her to do her thing over. Also apparently a summer album/EP coming from her later on so I look forward to more songs from her. This song is easily my highlight of this post (why not beers though?)

I told you guys in the previous post I would grow to like the new EXID song, and I did, I think it is pretty great, but there are one or two that have come out since which I think are slightly better.

It has been a little while since there has been an update so I will post some new songs:

BADA - Amazing: A new name to me but she has released two songs very recently, this and "Flower". Personally I like this one as it is a little more upbeat and fun. I can only assume she is going to release an EP or mini album.

BoA X Beenzino - No Matter What: A fun song with more cartoon/animated themed visuals for the video. On first listen it has a catchy beat that I feel would feel right in place at Coachella or the like and great vocals from BoA as always.

EXO - Monster: I am not that big an EXO fan but this is likely to get many plays and views because its EXO. I don't really like this song to be honest but im sure that is partly due to me looking for more upbeat songs lately. some EXO fans here might enjoy it.

Sistar - I Like That: Sistar threatened and finally delivered their first song of 2016. It has some funky horns similar to Bestie - Excuse Me from last year but it doesn't capture quite that super fun feel of summer and seems to be going for more an upbeat relationship based song instead.

021 - Show Me: Brand new name to me who have just released their MV and seem to have a slight 4minute - Crazy feel to their song. It is a decent song and I feel if i give it a few more listens it could easily sneak onto my most played list.

San E & Raina - Sugar and Me: San E and Raina team up again to create another sweet song together. I like this song quite a lot from its fun video, its casual beat and Raina. Everything about this song is cute and fun to listen to on a summer day. I need more Orange Caramel in my life.

Kisum - No Jam: Kisum released a new song, and what a song! It has instantly jumped to my number 1 Summer banger of 2016 so far. Part of that is due to my fandom for Kisum but I also think it has the most playful, catchy, upbeat sound to it and having Kisum do her thing over it always works perfectly for me.

There are more songs which came out in this time period but these are the main ones that stood out to me.

Heize's new song with Dean is pretty great.

I'm super glad this thread has some activity again.

Kisum has been wonderful of late but as it's been a while I'll note that I've also been on a real Stellar, 9Muses, and AOA kick recently.

Also I'm super sad that 4minute are disbanding but thankful that we've had 7 years of fantastic stuff out of them. Both Crazy and Act 7 were great EPs to go out on.