amazing.

Matthew. Writer. Student of life. Lover of music. K-Pop & J-Pop Fanatic. This is a terrible description. Online

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Radio guy: Yo Iggy give us a freestyle!

Iggy: dibidibidis my name is minho

[kyarychan]

[mbmelodies-deactivated20160810]

I want to write like five thousand words about how wonderful this is in the context of extreme J-pop fandom, but I have a flight to catch so I’ll just go cheap and say this.

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Totally Live: Perfume in New York City

Perfume left a bagel-sized hole in my heart.

Yes, I went and fulfilled a bucket list item and saw Perfume on the final stop of their World Tour 3rd here in NYC at Hammerstein Ballroom. It was amazing. Totally amazing. But let's be honest, it's not like there was really any other option. Musically few groups in pop are as consistent as the trio of Kashiyuka, Nocchi and A-chan, and live they're simply untouchable. Above all else, Perfume emphasize the performance as the central aspect of their appeal. The music, all produced by composer/DJ Yasutaka Nakata, is intelligent and perfectly-conceived on its own, and surely a blind man could understand the mathematical precision of "Polyrhythm" by itself, but for Perfume the music is always, ultimately, in service of the performance. 

“At our concerts, you get to see every side of Perfume,” agrees Nocchi. “It’s the part of our activity in which we have the most confidence. Our wonderful staff put together amazing lighting shows and things, which really come across so much better when you’re there in person, not separated by a screen.”

-MTVK Interview (2013)

What makes Perfume's live show so interesting is that, in some other universe, Perfume could easily be little more than glorified studio singers. It's the performance that really brings the songs to life, or, more accurately, brings life to the girls of Perfume, and it's to Perfume's credit that they perform it all so well. It would be easy (and foolish) to write off the music as soulless based on the manner in which their voices are processed, but on stage, none of that matters. 

Standing alone as three - simply, powerfully - they need no backup dancers. Rather, their on-stage act is a sort of quasi-virtual reality that uses the fantasia of lights and sound to buttress the very real, very visceral presence of Perfume. There's an undeniable resonance in the image of three women standing together amid all of the computerized chaos. Perfume, perhaps more than any other pop act, truly represent what it means to be citizens of a digital world - living with it, getting lost in it, moving through it. Perfume find harmony with the technology that surrounds them - making their show possible, taking it to greater heights - while also fighting to be seen through it. The show's (beautiful) visual static analogous to a greater digital experience. Perfume have but one request: "Enter the Sphere".

Truly, there's a sense of wonder that fills you as you take in the accompaniment of lights to massive computerized beats - but also a sense of underlying menace. A headless female announcer introduces the show, fulfilling the sort of role Vic-E played on TLC's essential Fanmail album. The future, both then and now, it seems, is as mysterious and indistinct as these faceless voices. But Perfume are a reassuring presence. Just as the technology threatens to overwhelm (as it does, deliciously, in the show's grand opening sequence), the curtain drops, quite literally. Three over-sized, virtual figurines tower above the audience, and then become three very real, life-sized members of Perfume. The lines of the physical and digital worlds are blurred, the barrier between idol and fan erased. Perfume plug in to us from the digital world; ever-connected yet deeply isolating, and the audience, in turn, reaches Perfume, hands in the air, through lasers and smoke, creating something real and breathing in a space made by computers. (And so it's a bit of a shame they didn't perform "Computer City", or indeed anything from before their GAME album).

It makes sense, then, that what elevates World Tour 3rd above mere visual eye-candy is the most physical aspect of their performance: Perfume are one-of-a-kind dancers. They move with an elegance and a chicness, always hitting their marks, but with a wonderful sense of imperfectness too, giving blood to their performances. Their movements are jerky and short, and sometimes their arms and hands fold into gawky-looking shapes, but it's this exact awkwardness - and how it's contrasted with such speed and fluidity in their transitions - that really defines Perfume's performance aesthetic. It imbues the music too. What is perfectly computerized and seemingly non-human becomes full of pathos and vitality. It's enough to completely enthrall an audience, but they're one with the audience, not above them. They shrink to human form at the beginning of the show, not the other way around. 

This is why I was thrilled when they performed "Nee". While they've arguably attempted more complex choreography in recent years, the flashy footwork and intricate, interconnected body movements capture Perfume's dancing style better than anything else. And they really sell it live. It was as good as the music video, maybe better. (Admittedly I couldn't see their feet the whole time.)

There was a lot of jumping at the Perfume concert. Sometimes it was commanded ("JUMP!!" they shouted as the beat dropped on "Party Maker"), but mostly it was automatic; a surge of energy rolling over the crowd with each chorus. The height of this excitement, at least in my opinion, came during the final block of songs after their P.T.A segment. Three stone-cold classics and two future classics in the form of "Dream Fighter", "Party Maker", "GLITTER", "Chocolate Disco" and "Polyrhythm".

"Party Maker" into "GLITTER" was arguably the evening's roof, both getting huge responses from the sold-out, very packed (and very sweaty) crowd. Indifferent though I was to "Party Maker" when LEVEL3 was first released ("it's an inferior edge!"), all of my theoretical protests fell to pieces in the middle of the ballroom. The bass dragged me to my senses, and then proceeded to knock them back out of me. I was also deeply heartened that they performed the classic "Dream Fighter". My favorite Perfume song, possibly my favorite pop song ever. Those wistful, but ultimately hopeful lyrics, and that long, fleshy chorus never fail to give me chills. 

Other highlights from the evening included "Spring of Life" and "One Room Disco" in the first portion of the show. The opening bars of "One Room Disco" are basically iconic, so as soon as the first note hit every single person on the floor stuck their finger in the air. It was great. If only there was a wind machine to blow our hair like in the PV. It was fucking hot in that room. 

The crowd itself was actually incredibly diverse, as diverse as the city of New York itself. Going in I was thinking it might be a bit of a Weeaboo-fest, and while that was certainly a portion of the audience, I saw people from every conceivable background and age group in attendance, which made me a bit proud for Perfume. Their music knows no bounds or demographic restrictions. It's just good music and a great show. People from all walks of life can plainly see it. 

Then, of course, there were the girls themselves. Nocchi, cool as a cucumber. Sweet Kashiyuka. A-chan, full of pep and gusto. Nocchi seemed the most comfortable speaking in front of the audience, and there was an adorable segment where she and A-chan discussed the group's visit to Magnolia Cupcakes, and A-chan's love of New York bagels, which quickly resulted in the audience being split into "team bagel" or "team cupcake".

The show's talking portions were partially bi-lingual, or at least the one during the first MC segment was. The girls spoke some prepared bits in English, and seemingly freestyled some phrases too, which the crowd absolutely loved. The rest was translated on the spot, which was both gracious and surprising, given that so much of the rest of J-Pop is still blithely clam-shelled to outsiders. 

Indeed, the girls had a wonderful bit at the very end of the show (which I wish I recorded) where they spoke in a mix of Japanese and English about the universality of music, and how music alone can be enough to unite seemingly different, but ultimately similar people from opposite sides of the planet. It was a fitting sentiment, and they ended their encore with "MY COLOR", one of the true gems off JPN.

Our palms are the windows that connect us to the world

What kind of future can I grasp through my fingertips?

I flutter in the sky and turn into light

Will this kind of thrill reach you?

Music playing, Perfume on stage, dancing and smiling, 3,000 pairs of hands in the air, waving through the lights to the stage, it was safe to say we felt the thrill, and then some. 

All photos by Me, taken on November 15, 2014 at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. Lyrics quoted here linked to source.

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It's bizarre that I live in a town on the other side of the world, in a country where no one knows the name Ladies' Code, so far away I was sleeping while RiSe drew air to her lungs for the last time. It's bizarre that, this morning, while working out, still unaware of RiSe's passing, that "Pretty Pretty" came on shuffle, and motivated me to press harder on the elliptical pedals. It's bizarre, how after EunB's passing, I was talking to someone I know about the tragedy, and about RiSe, and one of my roommates, who was also in the room, and who doesn't follow K-Pop, asked "Wait, what?" It's bizarre that the news to him must have been little more than a tidbit, shrouded in the fog of personal distance. It's bizarre how two people in the same room can be worlds away from the same event. It's bizarre that people die all the time, and most of us don't care, don't even know. It's bizarre that thousands of people, possibly more, have perished in the intervening hours since RiSe died. It's bizarre that I'm not mourning them too. It's bizarre that there are people in this world who are still living, trying to cope with death that will never be publicized, will never be mourned by millions of people around the world. It's bizarre that having lost a close friend of mine earlier this year, who was like a sister to me growing up, also at a very young age, just 18, I had a hard time crying until the funeral. It's bizarre that, on the other hand, I'm crying easily for people I never knew. It's bizarre that I don't find anything wrong with that. It's bizarre how music has the power to close distances greater than time and space. It's bizarre that nothing more than coordinated blips of sound, vibrating in our eardrums, can lift a mood, change a life. It's bizarre that Kwon Ri-se and Go Eun-bi walked this earth for little more than two decades - a lifetime to some, a grain of time to others - and they impacted so many people. It's bizarre how hard they must have worked for their dream while I lazed, wasting time so precious that it had the audacity to stretch and linger, while EunB and RiSe would have fought for even a second longer. It's bizarre that it takes a tragedy like this to put things into perspective. It's bizarre that words are never enough, and that they've all been said before. It's bizarre that I'm going to go on about my day now, like nothing happened. It's bizarre that RiSe and EunB's families, friends, and the other members of Ladies' Code most likely can't even will the power to move, let alone continue on with their daily activities. It's bizarre that time will never make anything better, but we keep going on anyway. It's bizarre that, in a thousand, in a hundred thousand, in a million years from now this will all be long forgotten as if it had never happened, as if it had never mattered. And yet it did, and it does.  

So bizarre. 

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Ah, mid-summer. Good time for a playlist, or in this case two! Usually I stick to either Japanese or Korean tunes in the same playlist, but this time I mixed both, along with some Western faves that I think fit well. The newer stuff is pretty representative of my taste of late (although, despite an utter crush of new releases, I haven’t felt inspired to write about much of any of it). The first playlist or "Side A" is summery disco and groovy R&B; driving to the beach stuff, and some dancier fare. The second mix or "Side B" goes into slow jamz and some rockin' pop; a bit moodier and more introspective. No tracklists this time. I think for these it will be more fun not to know. 

Anyway, listen and enjoy!

Jeju Escape: Stream / Jeju Nights: Stream

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f(x) / Red Light

Last time we talked f(x) I made mention of my theory that f(x) comebacks tend to go in cycles; one year a banger, one year, er, not a banger. "Red Light", the title track off their latest studio album, is most definitely a banger, and has naturally drawn comparisons to their 2012 single "Electric Shock". What's interesting to me however is actually how "Red Light" deviates from the standard electro-pop formula that typifies SM's more uptempo fare, something that, for me, made "Electric Shock" one of the less special f(x) singles (less special f(x) singles still register an 8 or 9, mind you.)

First of all, just the bass alone, WOW, is enough to blow the speakers up, but the greatest part is the chorus, unlikely though it may seem on first listen. While f(x) have always been - if not musically, then certainly aesthetically - "quirky", forging their own unique sound in relation to other SM artists, even a song like "Rum Pum Pum Pum", with its unusual mix of instruments and layered vocal harmonies, still satisfies in a typically pop sense with its smoothness and its clean progression into the chorus. "Red Light" is interesting, for one, because it introduces an entirely new (and jarring) chord progression in the chorus, and for another because of how rough and amelodic it is, both in the verses, which are more rapped than sung, and in the chorus, which, complimenting the rapped effect, is shouty, almost chant-like, and only swells to greater heights in the final chorus, where cacophonous vocals are thrown in like bombs over (or perhaps more accurately, in to) the main melody.

Of course, being a pop fan first and foremost, all this fascinating musicality would mean little to me if I didn't think it made sense to f(x) - which I do - and it's not like SM hasn't saddled its artists with a similar variety of brain-scrambling, jumbled-up pop before. SHINee's "Sherlock" was actually an attempt at reverse engineering two songs into one, while "I Got A Boy" was, well, "I Got A Boy". 

Actually, a friend of mine has already asked me how I like "Red Light" if I didn't like "I Got A Boy", to which I answer: something that works for one artist may not work for another! (That's reasonable, no?) SM has successfully sold me f(x) as the oddball younger sisters of Girls' Generation, so "Red Light" - far from being a leap - sounds like what I'd expect from f(x). Girls' Generation have both the gift and the curse of being the more successful act, and as I explained in my post on "Mr.Mr.", I don't believe them when they attempt hip-hop posturing, or the sort of strained artfulness that endears me to f(x). In fact, I'd argue f(x) and Girls' Generation are at their greatest when they're most inverse to each other; f(x) are more boring the more typically pop they get, while Girls' Generation are best when they're peddling clean, conventionally melodic bubblegum, either of the sort they did up until around Gee, or of the more electro-tinged variation they've shifted towards in Japan. Basically the old bit about "unique charms"? Yeah, it's true. 

I also think the video helps a lot, because it's the first time an f(x) song and video make this much sense in relation to each other, and also the first time the promotional photos and teasers actually have something to do with the video! (If you want an idea of what I'm talking about look no further than the difference between the Pink Tape "Art Film" teaser and the "Rum Pum Pum Pum" MV.) The biggest news here is that SM finally took f(x) out of the box, and the result is, I think, far and away their best video. Looking like an American Horror Story-themed warehouse rave, the girls loom threateningly in a way you'd expect given lyrics like "under the rule of the jungle / the weak get devoured".

There's already been quite a bit of debate online as to whether Red Light is a better album than Pink Tape, and while there's no doubt both are great, I very much fall on the side of Red Light. Where Pink Tape had some monstrous peaks, Red Light not only equals these highs, but also throws dirt into some of the valleys as well. If "Airplane" took you all the way into the clouds with its drop, then "Dracula" takes you all the way to hell; if the jackhammer shuffle of "Step" sounded aggressive, then "Rainbow" slaps you in the face with its abrasive, Major Lazer-esque "Kongdak" rhythm. Even the weakest tracks here; the Amber-penned "Summer Lover", and the closer "Paper Heart", are much stronger than the similar "Goodbye Summer" and "Ending Page" from Pink Tape - they're just bigger, more melodic, and more importantly work with other tracks on the album. The sitar in "Paper Heart" ties in nicely with the bhangra vibe of the dreamy "MILK", before transitioning into a pop-rock stomp of a chorus that works perfectly with the beachy "Summer Lover", which in turn anchors the summery "Vacance" from earlier in the album.

Pink Tape was a collection of brilliant pop songs, but Red Light is a collection of brilliant pop songs that also speak to each other and work on a level other than simply being catchy or well-produced in their own right. The hip-hop leaning tracks in particular - "Rainbow", "Spit It Out", "Boom Bang Boom", and the title track - signal a cohesive new vista for f(x), sounding grimier, glitchier, more militantly electronic than the beats on Pink Tape. It's promising anyway that, for as excellent as Pink Tape was, f(x)'s team didn't take anything for granted, latching on to the opportunity to release another full-length album as a challenge to push f(x) even further musically. Indeed, if Pink Tape was proof that f(x) could put out a great album in addition to great singles, then Red Light is the first time they've nailed a complete pop package. 

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appears reblogged your post and added:

Great re-cap of some amazing songs from 2013.

Thank you very much! Also I should really say your piece on Kim Sori's "Dual Life" was utterly fantastic. I actually had the song on my list in the first place but took it off because I literally couldn't think of any better way to describe its charms, haha.

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noaesthetic replied to your post “Totally Amazing 2013: The Singles”

very happy to see on & on up there!

Haha, thanks. They're a group who had to grow on me a bit, but now I'm so on board the VIXX train it's ridiculous (like on the verge of having watched all 100 episodes of VIXX TV ridiculous). Might actually be my favorite boyband at the moment. Not quite sure what to write about "Eternity" yet, though I do like it. Filling the sort of void Shinhwa's "This Love" did last summer, even if it's not quite enough to top "On & On" for me. 

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Totally Amazing 2013: The Singles

Half-way through 2014 seems like a good time to publish your 2013 singles list, right? Well in any case, I've finally finished it! And like a long overdue term assignment I've put in extra effort to ensure I scrape the max amount of late points. As always, I should preface by saying that this list is simply the songs I liked enough to put on a list and talk about. These aren't all the songs I liked (or even loved) last year, and outside of the top 10/20 most of them are just in a general "range", not that one song being one slot higher necessarily means it's better than the one before it. 

A few programming notes before we begin:

All lyrics quoted here are either from colorcodedlyrics or from official translations on youtube videos. 

There are only so many thoughts in my brain, so for a few of the songs I've re-worded stuff that I've already written.

I almost entirely avoided viewing anyone else's lists before finishing my own - so I definitely plan on going back through some archives and giving everyone's a read very soon!

And now (grab a drink, it's long) the list! 

50. Gummy - Snow Flower

Starting with Gummy, because sometimes a mushy OST ballad just works (and because you watched the drama and got hooked). I don't think there's anything special or innovative about this, and that it doesn't try to be is to its credit. Gummy is a formidable, veteran singer comfortable enough with her own strengths to let her voice pull all the punches. The great pleasure of this song is listening to her patiently swell through the cold and bloom as the title suggests.

49. CHEEZE - Balloons

Indie act CHEEZE put out several great songs last year, but the honeyed R&B flirtation of "Balloons" just edges out the others for a spot on this list. Not unlike balloons caught in the wind, the chorus melody spirals out helplessly, vocals jut out like sharp stabs of air to the lungs; in one moment slightly suffocating, in the next freeing and volitant (or what a lot of people might call love). Plus, damn, how incredible a voice does DalchongE have on her? Way too good to be belting out hits that don't even chart in Gaon's top 100, that's for sure.

48. LC9 - MaMa Beat (feat. Ga-in)

Someone compressed the Transformers series into a 3 minute pop song - they came to crush things, look gaudy, cause hurt (they may also be robots in disguise, though I can neither confirm nor deny this). Ga-in's short feature is the sole voice of peace and hope in this world inhabited by alien robot sounds, perhaps representing humanity's last stand against the cybernetic overlords who wish to infect us with their brand of gasoline-charged 80's R&B.

47. BoA - Action

Beat, hi-hat, rumble - BoA sounds ready to kick some ass with another fantastic self-composed tune. Still sad this'll never get a dance routine. 

46. HISTORY - Dreamer

The most elegant sum of America's current pseudo-folk radio trend, minus the tweeness, the awful fusion of "EDM", or the feeling of wanting to claw your own eyes out. Truly though, this is stunner, another Kim Eana masterpiece ("Good Day", "Abracadabra" anyone?), and the best boyband debut of 2013, and probably of 2012 too. 

45. After School - Heaven

Possibly confirms that After School work better with Japanese composers - or at least good Japanese composers. The last time they released a song this great was when Daishi Dance produced them their magnum opus "Shampoo" back in 2011, and indeed, it's been just about that long since After School have sounded this elegant, fully embracing their roles as lux disco singers, dance dance dance-ing all over Shinichi Osawa's spotless, smoke-flavored production; slowly unfurling, but ultimately rewarding.

44. Jinbo - BE MY FRIEND

Like the above mentioned CHEEZE, another case where the artist put out so many good songs they almost cancelled each other out. But "Be My Friend" is an obvious choice from Jinbo's Fantasy album: silky disco R&B, sexy, understated vocals, and production that gives a nod to the sort dreamy 80's city pop that is currently having a bit of a revival? All my boxes are checked, this is a no-brainer.

43. WINNER - Go Up

A good BIG BANG song, doesn't tell us much about WINNER, but "Go Up" clicks along nicely, and is certainly one of the best attempts at fusing rock sounds with rap to come out of YGE, succeeding in achieving both the altitude of a stadium anthem and some of hip-hop's emotional grittiness. They also composed this themselves, so keep a look out for the debut mini, whenever that drops.

42. C-LUV & Dok2 - Believe Me

The guy behind quite a bit of D-UNIT's stuff, one of the great surprises that went unnoticed last year was singer/producer C-LUV's own solo career, a series of three great singles that inevitably sound like great D-UNIT singles by extension. "Believe Me" showcases C-LUV's chops - equally capable, even if not entirely distinct, behind the glass of the recording booth than in front of it pressing buttons - but more so the impressive flows of Dok2, an artist who steadily and stealthily has been building himself one of the best resumes in all of Korean hip-hop. I'd be lying a bit if I didn't say I wasn't slightly jealous C-LUV didn't pass this one off onto D-UNIT ("My EVERY-THING, EVERY-THING" would be flat out bodied by them), but this is so blazing you can't blame him for keeping it to himself.

41. SHINee - Dream Girl

Big and making impeccable use of SHINee's expansive voices, "Dream Girl" as a musical piece is as chic and stylized as the group itself, sounding like the pop equivalent of a fashion magazine (complete with idolized "dream girl" cover model and everything). It's not SHINee's best single, and it works better in the context of the (very good) album than it does as a stand-alone track, but it's got that certain propulsive vocal quality that made "Lucifer" my #1 single back in 2010 - just listen to the way the harmony explodes into the chorus. It gets that SHINee sound better when they're flying high off the ground, singing with no restraints, rather than being tied too heavily to the beat.

40. 2NE1 - Do You Love Me

Approximates the electro-shuffle of “SCREAM”, maybe with a touch of “I’m Busy”; “Do You Love Me” is classic 2NE1/Teddy in all the best ways. It crackles and pops, slides and glides, but never fully commits to exploding, something Teddy is getting particularly good at (spoiler: Lee Hi is a lot further down this list). This sort of musical balancing act is especially seductive when all that crackling and popping has as much sex as this does. Dara coos the verses to the point of sounding out of character - where did this sex kitten come from? - and CL sounds almost schoolgirlish with giddy as she spells out “D-O-Y-O-U-L-O-V-E-M-E”, the drums in the back pounding like the sort of butterflies in the stomach preceding horniness. It is this tension, and the constant movement of the track, which gives it such an edge. This song isn’t the answer, it’s the question. It’s the moment leading up to the confession, the rejection, the kiss. It isn’t supposed to explode, not yet anyway. “I Love You” was the heartbreak, “Falling In Love” the romance, perhaps two alternate outcomes to the same proposal. "Do You Love Me”, which really should have a question mark on it, captures the moments before in all their thrilling, nauseating agony.

39. KOYOTE - Hollywood (feat. Jeong Jun-ha)

Of all the immediate disco bops K-Pop produced last year, this one gets to the point (and the party) the quickest.

38. Wonder Boyz - TARZAN

Sort of like K-Pop's Crazy Town moment. The ultimate summer song frozen forever in time, perfectly cheesy yet somehow also beautiful? (That middle 8). Will Wonder Boyz ever top it? Were they even a real group to begin with? Or perhaps a figment of our imaginations, simply a result of the humidity-inducing production. They haven't released anything since, so that might very well be the case? Or maybe they're just waiting, out there somewhere in the jungle, ready to drag us back in with those wild, slightly unnerving animal calls again.

37. Nieah - Belief (feat. KittiB)

On her debut single Nieah's big, wide-open vocals are a real treat, especially on a genuine, pull-no-punches R&B tune like this, one which she wrote, composed and produced entirely by herself. In R&B's current cooled-down state, where these sorts of lackadaisical melodies favor light-as-air, barely-there vocalists, Nieah's warm, soulful voice stands in rapturous contrast. 

36. Electroboyz - Ma Boy 3 (feat. Nana)

Electroboyz' first take on SISTAR19's now-classic "Ma Boy" was a fairly straightforward homage to the original, the sequel, now featuring After School's Nana doing the chorus work, is a worthy song in and of itself, which at this point is a tribute in name only. The musical equivalent of a fruity wine cooler, the beatz on "Ma Boy 3" are syrupy yet refreshing, its disposition unapologetically cheap and easy, Nana's cherry vocals only adding more sweetness. It does a rare thing for a summer sequel; it's actually better the second time around.

35. PSY - GENTLEMAN

The bass smacks smacks smacks, PSY's singing more drone than rap, a little worn for the wear with a glimmer of arrogance under the surface. If there's any relief that he can just go back to having fun - sweet, thoughtless fun - after this, it's not found here, but I think the pain sort of adds to the appeal. It's like the hangover after the big, glittering party of Gangnam, and the decision to let PSY get mean and hang loose was perhaps the only natural right next step. I don't care if they're both EDM bangers, they're not the same song - not in intent and certainly not in execution. 

34. Dynamic Duo - BAAAM (feat. Muzie)

Biggest party joint of the summer, greatly boosted by the decidedly romantic mood and befitting of the funky disco production (complete with a talk box that would make Roger Troutman proud.) Gaeko and Choiza are completely in their element - are they riding the beat or just flirting? - the delivery is so joyful, the back and forth dynamic so playful, their mature confidence so inherent, it would be easy to confuse the two.

33. TINY-G - Miss You

Concise, effervescent take on trends. Producer Red Rocket approximates Shinsadong Tiger’s goopy funk-pop sound and throws it over a modern-day take on a trot melody, the sort which might not sound uncomfortable sitting on an Orange Caramel record. The verses and choruses seep into one another - it’s like a good T-ara song belted out with the spunk of a Little Mix, and perhaps filtered through Jewelry with a snarl, but with each part stripped of any fat to ensure the finished product is lean and more efficient than the individual pieces were on their own. TINY-G chortle through, they might claim to miss him, but their assuredness says otherwise, and they know enough to know he’s only pretending not to notice (“pretend to be pretty, pretend to be upset, pretend to be cute / but you pretend not to notice, making me fizz out.”) And anyway, the delivery makes it clear they won’t be crying without him. Their sass borders on arrogance, like they might be suppressing a giggle or two, suggesting a level of charisma that makes TINY-G well worth looking out for. 

32. Jaurim - Twenty Five, Twenty One

Masterful rock ballad, Jaurim's steady simplicity proving to be far more moving than the melodrama of many OST slowies, all of which comes down to singer Kim Yoon Ah and some smart choices in the arrangement. The instruments are largely subdued for one thing, no large peaks or valleys, even the guitar solo is more sad than anything, befitting the nostalgic melancholy of the lyrics. I love the violins too; spare but effective. Used conventionally they heighten drama by way of sharpness, but here they are almost dulled, the end result having a tide-like effect that is both graceful and immensely powerful just as the song reaches its full splendor. Similarly, Kim Yoon Ah’s voice, hearty and raw and majestic, undulates but doesn't fully crack or break into hysterics, her performance tight and patient but moving nonetheless. That she does hold back - the feeling that there still might be things left unsaid - makes it all the more haunting.

31. Lee Hyori - Miss Korea

Grabs you with the glamour, but it's the slight smirk, the suggestion of something dark hidden under the pageant mask, that keeps you coming back for more. "Will a designer bag make me shine? / Will I be able to do anything I want if I become pretty?" she coos, almost as if into a magic mirror. Will it grant her wish? Will she be okay? ("It'll be okay, you're Miss Korea" she tells herself). Glinting, mysterious, and intoxicating, with one eye always on the camera, Lee Hyori's first self-composed single is an emphatic success of a true showgirl.

30. LADIES' CODE - Pretty Pretty

LADIES CODE' impressed me this year as one of the most fully realized groups we've seen in K-Pop upon debut. Clear musical direction, vibrant MV's with a lighthearted sense of fun, and how great is the name LADIES' CODE for a girl group anyway? Where their debut played it perhaps too close to the K-Pop formula, "Pretty Pretty" isn't afraid to blow things up to flamboyant proportions. The brass is big and brash, there's a cowbell for heaven's sake, and of course the seminal line - "YEPPEO! YEPPEO!" - is the sort of stuff fanchant dreams are made of. It's saucy and unabashed, and LADIES' CODE have a pop-minded sensibility that feels particularly timely and necessary given the dissolution of the Wonder Girls.

29. Zion.T - Miss Kim

The one-two-one-two squawk of the production, even at a hair over two and a half minutes, would get tiring if not for the vocal presence of Zion.T, who opens up the track with some beautiful legato, stretching his sadness to every corner of this dreary little tune of longing and restlessness. It's so effortless. It almost sounds like a sketch, like he just hummed together this tune in five minutes and recorded it. It's certainly scant enough, but still somehow fully-realized, both musically and emotionally, blending together Zion.T's hip-hop sensibilities with time-honored trot to create something that, not unlike his voice, doesn't quite sound like anything else. If his Red Light album marked Zion.T as one to watch, "Miss Kim" confirmed we were right to trust in him. I can't wait to see what he does next.

28. 2PM - A.D.T.O.Y

Not apologizing for the gif use. The first great - and I mean truly great - 2PM single since... ever? (Alright, Again & Again is sort of a classic). "ADTOY" gets it right in keeping things airy and jaunty, not demanding too much of 2PM's thin voices or lingering in any one motif too long; the harmonic sections flow from one to another with ease, even joy. Smartly, the production, athletic and sleek, is left to do most of the work, driving the song to develop in surprising ways, like intermixing rolling violins, R&B finger snaps, and some wubs that hint at dubstep, all shoe-laced between 2PM's playful vocal performance. It fits 2PM's manly, jock-ish persona like a glove, and in a strong year for JYP "ADTOY" was an invigorating revelation that easily stands among his best works. 

27. Lim Kim - All Right

To sound this bored and not end up with a boring song is a tough task, but Lim Kim manages it. Maybe it's the repetition of the "all right" against the doldrums production, like someone snapping back to themselves after dozing off into dreams. Maybe it's that she'd really rather not be bothered ("Don’t assume, don’t worry, don’t ask about me"), and someone keeps checking in on her. A faceless male voice calls out from the background. "Are you all right?", "I'm gonna call you tomorrow". A concerned friend? A lustful onlooker? The details are fuzzy. Pop, almost by default, tends to focus on the immediate, about what is shown and what can be seen. "All Right" is a master work in how to blur the colors on a canvas, and while I'd agree that the best pop tends to leave the listener in a space beyond words, Lim Kim succeeds in the rare opposite; a pop mystery that forces the listener to ask questions. 

26. A Pink - NoNoNo

All about Eunji here, who provides some real meat to the vocals on a song that's otherwise light as air aegyo, the contrast between the two being what makes "NoNoNo" such a resounding delight. Simple, clean-cut, wide-eyed pop that doesn’t pull any of K-Pop’s usual tricks that end up over-egging the pudding.

25. 2NE1 - Missing You

More creepy, in a sort of Tim Burton-ish manner, than outright sad, but it's the chilling absence of tears that works here. The war is over, the pain and the memories still close to the surface, yes, but "Missing You" ultimately ends in the dull, anti-dramatic acceptance of their predicament, rather than the fight against it, which for 2NE1, who have always fought fought fought, is shocking (I mean CL even utters the line "I’m just a little tired, I'm alright." ...CL? Tired?!) And if there's no showiness, no hysterical displays of sorrow, then "Missing You" can even induce tears through prettiness either - it's just grey. It's hollow numbness more disturbing, but more real, and thus perhaps more resounding, than if they had attacked it any other way. 

Gone is the giddy excitement and youthful bliss of “Falling In Love” and “Do You Love Me”, replaced by a hollow "pop", each bubble a little implosion, a memory perhaps, that gradually fades away, all of Teddy's space age production flourishes eventually erased, leaving room for only the sad plod of the piano. While K-Pop is so often about making what was old new again, this is an example of the opposite progression. Even the way the wavering "ooh”’s cut across the melody in the verses almost sound like fragments from a broken old tape recorder. If love has failed here, so too has their technology.

A logical conclusion to the “loves” trilogy of songs, it's 2NE1’s most bleak single, but it's also the one that shows the greatest amount of growth from the group. While on “It Hurts" (their last attempt at outright balladry) they were still stuck on the relationship being over, the things they could do to change it, and begging the other person to come back, here they’re more self-reflective. The hope of youth is gone ("the love of my youth is ending like this"), and even the pain present in “I Love You” is mellowed over, and indeed, there is a certain maturity in just letting things be, and even more so to wish to the other person, despite it all, "please be happy”. Why have the “calculative love of adults", as CL puts it, when the past could just be beautiful as it was. When Bom sings "we both had each other back then" at song's end, it feels like there's resolution, and that maybe peace, however bitter, has been achieved. 

24. Daram - Daydreaming

The closest I've heard something out of Korea's ample supply of dream pop come to trip-hop, though even still I can't say it sounds quite like anything I've heard. Daram's sleepy drawl falls somewhere closer to rapping than singing, fitting the slowed-down, almost acid jazz vibe. I actually know embarrassingly little about Daram, which isn't for a lack of trying - there's almost nothing written about her in English, and this song has been like my little secret all year. Daram, whoever she is, wherever she may be, is a voice we deserve and need to hear more of.

23. Z.I.N - Don't Want You To Enlist

Lots of honest feeling in between the sweet lick of the guitar, good singing too, and finally songwriting on a subject we rarely hear about in K-Pop, which is surprising, given that the idea “two years is too long to wait for a long distance relationship” must be the heartache of military couples up and down the country. K-Pop ought to try hitting a little closer to home every once in a while, or at least more often than it does now. 

22. Shinhwa - This Love

Proof that some gems still glimmer seductively in dance-pop's current twilight, if SHINee or Super Junior are still active a decade from now, this is about as good a result as anyone could hope for. I just love that this old (in pop years) boyband is defying all the conventions. Forget coming back "credible", or trying to dust off the old dance moves, Shinhwa return fresh with a song that could easily be confused as an Ibiza anthem, with a hurricane of a chorus, voguing (voguing!) and gyrating their crotches in a way their younger counterparts couldn't think to get away with. Kooky, luminous, code-breaking, fun.

21. GI - Don't Lie (feat. Dok2)

"Geumdokkiga nidokkinya eundokkiga nidokkinya / Soedokkiga nidokkinya geumdokkiga naedok-KI" *biggest air horn you could possibly buy*

20. D-UNIT - It's You

A late in the year surprise that dropped without a sound (there isn't even a video for this as far as I'm aware), which is a shame, because it's a worthy addition to the D-UNIT cannon of singles and one of the year's biggest potential smashes that got away. Trading the bratty wink of "Talk To My Face" for a bit of R&B smoothness and romance, "It's You" is the group's best attempt at straight-down-the-line pop to date. The verses plod a bit, but there's a flutter of nervousness in their tone that suits it, and all the better to contrast that massive shift into the gleaming chorus. From there the work is off their shoulders (the chorus literally being variations of "It's You" repeated several times), the production takes over, understanding that love so often means one is out of control. The beat shimmers wildly, their voices ascending, hearts pounding, united as one.

19. GLAM - I Like That

Burns itself out within the first 90 seconds, but golly, if those first 90 seconds aren't among the most glorious, party bouncing, most brain-scrambling 90 seconds I've ever heard. 

18. Hoody - My Ride

Words just aren't enough here, for they can't even begin to describe how sensual a production, how smoothly flowing, how intimately sung Hoody's debut single is. It blows my mind every time. Simply unfuckwithable. Hoody is a member of AMRT, an all-female crew of singer/songwriters that the aforementioned Nieah is also a part of - writing, composing, producing, even helping to mix this record herself. Let's be very clear here, these women taking over Korea - no, the world - is the dream

17. GI - Beatles

My choice for rookie of the year; GI exploded onto the scene with a sound that was all their own. More shrill than early 4minute (in the best way possible), more guttural than early 2NE1 (in the best way possible), GI’s neon-coated variety of tomboy hip-hop occupies just enough space in the intersection of its influences to constitute a niche. The girls go hard, shredding the track, riding the beat through the jumbled arrangement of the verses to the smooth coo of the chorus; though the pre-chorus key change and finger-snap inclusion is for me what sets it over the top. People have complained about the auto-tune, but I think it really serves the beat. The production is already grimy - the auto-tune only compliments that roughness. Plus, when they make that humming sound it’s like the wings of a beetle buzzing, even if they meant to imitate another sort of "beatle".

To be honest, I’m sort of pissed after googling in every way I could think of that I still don’t know who their producer is, because whoever they are has cobbled together across GI’s first mini-album a sound that K-Pop hasn't done in a while / in this exact configuration before. While other groups long before GI have worn the whole “bratty girl” or “tough girl” persona, songs like the aforementioned “Don’t Lie”, or “G" really stop you in your tracks in a way no K-Pop girl group has managed before. K-Pop needs a group like this, even if they’re currently walking a path that will lead them anywhere but the top of the charts.

16. CL - The Baddest Female

Clangs and clatters, wubs and bubbles, and barely holds itself together, but CL is enough of a force to carry it home, driving through the discordant mess of sounds like a speeding Mack truck in an exercise of sheer force and charisma. It's ugly, but then who the hell said it had to be pretty? Certainly a superstar like CL deserves better than "pretty", and "The Baddest Female" captures the impish excitement of a solo debut in a way no song has since Gwen Stefani came stamping her foot down on "What You Waiting For" a decade ago. A broad-appealing pop hit this is not, but CL leaves not even a whisper of a doubt that she has arrived. 

15. D-UNIT - Stay Alive (feat. Vasco)

It was tough choosing D-UNIT singles for this list because their singles run last year was immaculate, but I put "Stay Alive" this high because it feels like the group's anthem, in less than 3 minutes laying out D-UNIT's goals and aspirations, repping their scene (“I’ll newly write the K-Pop swag / It’ll rise to the top, the D-Unit flag”), and throwing down one gauntlet of a hands-in-the-air chorus that might be the closest thing to a feminist party anthem K-Pop has done to date. Also the fact that its unapologetically hip-hop while, at the same time, not apologizing for being K-Pop, and that it does this better than most male attempts, feels like a milestone. 

14. EXO - Growl

I was watching K.Will's cover of "Growl" in concert when I realized it - "Growl" is the song a million male popstars would kill for. Hard and exuding masculinity, but also stylish and velvety smooth. If "Alone" in 2012 was the closest K-Pop had come to approximating Dr. Dre's slinky piano lines, then "Growl" is the closest it's come to capturing his cool. While the question of EXO's ambiguous pop identity still lingers, with "Growl" the group has an undeniable hit. 

13. 2NE1 - Falling In Love

Visceral, forward, and completely bypassing any intellectual mumbo jumbo, 2NE1's big summer tune goes right for the kahunas and doesn't let go - yep, it's love (and probably sex). 2NE1 have been cocky plenty of times before, but rarely have they been this bold about their desires. Here they are voluminous and overflowing with giddy emotion - they've never sounded more alive, the reggae-fusion production resulting in one of their catchiest tunes to date, and that bass just knocks like an absolute motherfucker. If “I Love You” gave the impression that they might turn to stone if you touched them, “Falling In Love” is calling for all hands on deck (and other places). Maybe that’s what makes this, against all odds, their most inviting single. It’s not the border-defying dance of “I Am The Best”, or the so-catchy-even-an-alien-would-get-into-this appeal of “Fire”, but the love-as-empowerment motif is universal, and here they use it as their fuel (“Tonight I drop it low / I’m feeling electrified”). While “I Love You” had the weathered outlook of a young person beyond their years, “Falling In Love” just sounds young, with its slap-happy kazoo and silly movie star references, and anytime 2NE1's cheeky, endearing personalities are allowed to come to the fore, pulled off with a confidence, and yes, a swagger, that is uniquely 2NE1, it's guaranteed to be gratifying for everyone. Their cup runneth over, take a sip.

12. MFBTY - Sweet Dream

Effervescent and electro-charged, “Sweet Dream” is what so much K-Pop (hell, so much hip-hop in general, these days) is probably trying for: a happy marriage between rap and the computerized noises of EDM. While that can so often sound like a battle (*insert any YG banger ever here*), the rapping on “Sweet Dream” only adds to heighten - even make more beautiful - the ecstatic qualities of the production. Of course, if anyone could pull this off it would be pioneering rappers (and real-life married couple - hmm, maybe that’s it) Tiger JK and Yoon Mirae, who achieve the euphoric blast of the best dance music without sacrificing hip-hop’s hard-hitting edge. The dreamy house piano melody sounds even more dreamy because Bizzy is on top of it; the build-and-release that defines the "bass drop" - the whooshing final chorus can take the place of the "drop" here - is even more gratifying because Tasha’s “I wanna go go”’s are there vamping up the head rush. A complete celebration, "Sweet Dream" is the sound of some vets taking a well-deserved victory lap. 

11. SPICA - Tonight

An off year for SPICA - literally - they only released one single in 2013, but one was all they needed. Penned by labelmate Hyori, the melody is a bit clunky, maybe too jarring on the first couple of listens, but therein lies its charm. Admittedly, it takes lead vocalist Kim Boa to really drive it home, punching the throttle on that grand "TONIIIIIIIGHT" note after the chorus, a performance she alone in K-Pop's current landscape could pull off with so much heart and soul. It's a love song, but with a wistful edge; the vocals burn, leaving marks. You get the impression tears are welling up, the kind usually paired with that uncomfortable hard feeling in the throat, but there's happiness too. It sounds like catharsis - the kind of healing that can only be unlocked through hands touching, through secrets long held now confessed. "Tonight as I’m with you / Dazzling and beautiful, tonight is the night." Released in late August, "Tonight" was a perfect end-of-summer anthem, capturing the spirit of some mythic summer love, jarring but beautiful. 

10. G-Dragon - Niliria (feat. Missy Elliott)

In an era when K-Pop's entanglement with hip-hop is still contentious at best (and problematic at worst; G-Dragon included), "Niliria" is beautiful. It's a border-smashing banger that breaks down walls and socially constructed divisions. It's a celebration of hip-hop and an honest exchange of culture without any of the exploitative bullshit. It's a reminder that Missy Elliott is still sharp as a diamond all these years later (as if there was any doubt). It's joyous and electrifying and overflowing with personality, and hey, there's some pretty progressive ideas buried between the booty-shaking beats too: "In my proud country of Korea... A creation of a new generation... This is international diplomacy by rap, baby". It's the sort of thing K-Pop-oriented hip-hop needs more of, and certainly the sort of song I wish G-Dragon would make all the time. 

9. Bangtan Boys - N.O

Yep, this is one of those songs where the lyrics illuminate (sorry!) It's not that Bangtan are the first K-Pop idols to include social commentary into their music, it's that they do it so loudly that it can't be ignored. While K-Pop's music videos occasionally allude to some real life political issues (think something like Brown Eyed Girl's "Sixth Sense"), rarely is the music so critical, and almost never do you hear an idol group singing (or in this case, rapping) so explicitly about things that are less than seemly. “A good house, a good car, will these things bring happiness? / In Seoul to the SKY, will parents really be happy?... Who is the one who made us into studying machines? / They classify us to either being number one or dropping out / They trap us in borders, the adults / There’s no choice but to consent”.

While other groups, most recently B.A.P, have attempted to incorporate themes of social strife or rebellion into their music, the finished result of a song like “Badman" seems almost too ambitious, too abstract, to really get the message across clearly. Bangtan, by sticking to something they know and that so many can relate to, work from the bottom up, rather than starting sky high, which means the song can then be applied to lofty societal contexts if the listener so chooses. In that sense, the reason why “N.O” works so well is the same reason a song like “School’s Out" still resonates today. It’s a rejection of rigid school culture that young people can take on to mean rebellion in their own way, either on a personal level or on a larger scale. Bangtan have "torn away" their school uniforms, but there’s also very clear rejections of consumer culture, of the ideals of their parents, and perhaps tangentially of a large part of K-Pop itself, arguably the pinnacle of shiny and new consumerism ("Life like a puppet / Who takes care of me?" they ask provocatively).

Of course, none of this would really matter if the music didn't work, but the dizzying string production, in tandem with the vigor in which they throw down the lyrics, is downright arresting. It's the closest thing K-Pop has come to a riot song, not only in sound but in content too. Bangtan may be young, they may not have much clout in the industry, but they understand the power of two simple little letters. Resist, stand up, say "NO".

8. 15& - Somebody

Here’s how you take promising talent, springboard from a solid debut, and land feet first into the shoes of a popstar. That "Somebody" didn't turn into one of the year's biggest hits is a true pop injustice. 15& are easily the most fun to come out of JYPE since the Wonder Girls, and "Somebody" is certainly just as catchy and well-produced as any of their classics - the play on "some-body-body" is twisted and toyed with in a gorgeously harmonic middle 8, and there's almost two choruses, the first half working to build the tension, and the other half working to relieve it. Park Jimin and Baek Yerin are joyous and flirty in their singing; their exuberance in the chorus might seem too earnest, but that's smartly punctuated by the tremble of nervousness in the verses, and there's a certain sadness too. They don't HAVE somebody, they WANT somebody ("Those typical first love stories / are other people’s stories / Those sad puppy love stories / can stop now"). The yearning is what keeps the listener guessing, that they won't settle for any less than they deserve ("The same old pick-up lines / The boring humor / The presents you gave me / I’m not impressed by any of it") is what makes it such a refreshing, sweetly sour delight. 

7. CRAYON POP - Bar Bar Bar

The year's "Gee" or "Tell Me", and much like those, a deceptively brilliant song in its simplicity. Its repetition mimics the production; sleepy, uncharged, marching ahead in lock step. It would be boring if not for the injection of the call-and-response, which not only serves the song, but also (more importantly) the performance: pre-packaged fanchants, where one by one the girls get their chance to shine, mixing in their personality at every step (and please believe those fanchants were epic even through the TV). But from there it only builds on its own catchy raucousness, transitioning from the simple plod of the "pa pa pa" to the stratospheric, unifying, "Jumping! Yeah! Jumping! Yeah! Everybody!" They pump their arms up and down as if to launch into the sky, to escape this earth and all of its limiting confinements. "Jump and scream / As much as you want / Hey, you guys / Escape your daily life / All together, let’s say ready go!" In a world where K-Pop is becoming increasingly serious, and perhaps a bit too cool for its own good, Crayon Pop remind us that true cool is imagining your own fun with no rules. 

6. Lee Hyori - Bad Girls

Hyori has always been good at stirring things up, and "Bad Girls" is the sort of larger-than-life, persona-centered tune that she does best, following in the fine tradition of past singles like "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and "U-Go-Girl" in sounding like a big, Proper Pop Event, like the sort you have to order on pay-per-view, and you buy snacks and sit around with all your friends to watch it. In the hands of anyone else it wouldn't work. It’s Hyori’s panache that really sells this - that she’s an industry vet, that she’s been both loved and derided as a “bad girl” herself, that she can take herself both seriously and not at the same time, demanding social change with little more than a wink. Her confidence comes from the fact that, to be honest, she really has nothing left to prove, or anything to be afraid of, the video even poking fun at the idea that her bad girl ways will make her a “wanted woman”, the clip ending with her posing for a mug shot, sneer firmly on face. It’s that same shrewd silliness that sells the song - her voice unchained, “ooh”-ing and “yeah yeah”-ing with a seasoned confidence that too many popstars are sadly never allowed to mature to. The massive "woooah-ohhh" fanchants build from behind, sounding like an army of bad girls calling back to her, and everything crashing down around them as the surf guitars smash in during the final moments of the song feels properly "bad", not to mention just fun as all hell. Hyori, yet again, made it an absolute pleasure to be a pop fan, and "Bad Girls", in combination with the Monochrome album, cements her place as a titan among popstars. 

5. f(x) - First Wisdom Tooth (Rum Pum Pum Pum)

The greatest f(x) single (so far), which is saying something, because they've yet to put out a bad one that wasn't named Chu. “Rum Pum Pum Pum” encapsulates everything amazing about the group, all their quirkiness, all their catchiness, while still sounding utterly fresh and new. Funky Latin guitar rhythms (a first for the group) make odd bed fellows with the little drummer boy percussion, but the result is tight and the beats are crisp. The f(x) girls are smart to keep the vocals clean (Luna isn't doing runs to the moon and back, at least not this time), letting the production roll and swell around their surprisingly sweet melodies. Still, it isn't all bubblegum, like the best of f(x) it’s never just one thing all the time, or even at any given time. The girlish “oh-oh"’s are matched blow-for-blow by the drama of the verses, where each girl sounds isolated, stranded amid the menacing guitar licks, tension broken bit by bit until it all cracks apart into the sweet frothy relief of the chorus. It’s the musical equivalent of an elaborate sugar sculpture. Above all else, what this single understands is that the harder f(x) push into the bizarre, away from the by-the-numbers bangers SM still occasionally thrusts upon them, the more they come out on top. 

4. VIXX - On & On

In retrospect, the first two VIXX singles are a lot of fun. That said, "On & On" is a herculean leap to greatness. It does the best thing a boyband can do (the one, single thing boybands do better as a whole than girl groups); it creates pandemonium. In fact I have no qualms calling this the best boyband single since SHINee's "Lucifer", another brooding, propulsive slice of pop-induced hysteria. "On & On" gets it right by mixing in some of the band's own trademark goofiness with the drama, whether it's the wonky moon vampire (?) themed video, or rapper Ravi's playful middle 8, his off-the-wall style and deep rasp of a voice reminiscent of T.O.P, and I love how on every song he announces his presence with a Jason Derulo-esque name-drop. 

To that end, the steely polish of the production is deceptively (and brilliantly) contrasted not only with this sense of silliness, but also a real sense of vulnerability. The Korean title of the song translates to "I'm ready to get hurt". To be vulnerable is to be open, susceptible to whatever outside forces act upon you. Here they sing as "toy dolls" in the hands of woman who will probably "transfer to some other guy", but for whom they have fallen for anyway. Love, then, is the capacity to accept the possibility of hurt, but to be courageous despite the risk of heartbreak. For VIXX this is both emotional ("Once again, you leave room, you leave strange words / And I look at you as you take off / And I cry"), and sensual ("From my head to my toes, take all of me / Roughly play with me, then throw me away – I’m all done getting ready to get hurt"). There's almost this sort of S&M undertone to the whole thing which is only enhanced by the chain and blindfold imagery of the video, where, again, they are at the mercy of the women who shoot them "to the moon".

Vulnerability, then, is not simply weakness, but rather our most powerful state of being. When one is open to being hurt, one is also throwing away fear. It is only from this space - fearlessness - where the most potent forms of pandemonium are born. It's why they can still be goofy in the midst of the darkness. Why when they sing "I need therapy" it's surrounded by "lalala"’s that sound happy and free. They're "ready to be hurt", and the music rolls on and on and on.

3. Lee Hi - Rose

Caught somewhere between a ballad and a midtempo, and the tension suits it, "Rose" is producer Teddy's best attempt at build-and-release to date, not to mention the best recorded use of Lee Hi's unusual instrument. "Rose" works so well because it takes a fairly basic motif - a rose with thorns - and transforms it into the aural manifestation of the plant itself. Peeling back the petals one at a time, different things peek out; snares snap back mean and then retreat, a sad guitar plays a thorny little chorus that almost amounts to nothing, the arrangement armoring the listener for a war that doesn't come. Lee Hi is luring and coquettish in a way we haven't heard before, her dark husk of a voice looms, personifying the insidious rose of the lyrics; "My love is like a red rose / It may be beautiful now / But my sharp thorns will hurt you." Then comes the rap break, which is par for the course with K-Pop, but here it acts as the point when that aforementioned tension finally turns into something - cool (in both temperature and aesthetic) relief from the repetitious drive of the rest of the track. Otherwise, there’s not a climax in a traditional sense, but that’s the best thing about it. Listening to the first 30 seconds, you wouldn't be wrong to expect this to break into an “I Will Show You" style disco anthem, but it doesn't, and in that sense it’s a proper follow-up to Lee's debut "1,2,3,4”, another stubborn song which refused to explode. I think that might be her thing, and I think I might like it.

2. Park Jin-young - Had Enough Parties

First of all, the idea of this song is sort of just absurd, or at least the way its executed is. I don't know if its him in the MV throwing down with a full on choreographed routine - backup dancers and all - but CEO JYP in the club dancing like he's still 22, singing his heart out, just gives me life, and hope. He's comfortable just being himself, and that sort of confidence is infectious. 

As a song, “Had Enough Parties” works as the sort of brief, spatial R&B JYP is known for, avoiding the undercooked feeling his pop productions can sometimes have. The beats are minimal and the signing is kept sprightly, but with a tinge of the world-weariness of an experienced crooner like R.Kelly, and with some of the ridiculousness too (just watch the video where he plays older versions of himself). It’s a finger-snapping club jam that’s both informed by the sounds of the club and bored by what actually happens there. In that sense, this isn’t just a club jam, it’s also a jam about the club, or least the superficiality which fills them, be it “pretty money” or “pretty girls”, neither of which are enough to fill him. So what’s the remedy to enough partying? Love, apparently. A theme which wrestles with the innate loneliness of the icy production - he’s fighting through the cold (or better yet singing) for something more.

After the last few years of electro-pop maximalism, of house revival, of dubstep and “popstep” and “brostep” and just about every other sort of pseudo-club music imaginable (because let’s be honest, no one can dance to dubstep), it’s enticing to hear someone declare the end of certain sort of "partying", and maybe about time too.

1. SISTAR19 - Gone Not Around Any Longer

I feel like my top pick each year is the most predictable choice, and so here we are once again. This time I end up choosing SISTAR19 for much of the same reason I picked Lee Hyori's Monochrome as my #1 album - that, for all of the change and madness that 2013 represented, it was just comforting to have a no-frills pop song produced by Brave Brothers to fall back on; like a good armchair. While other songs may have been more innovative, their lyrics telling better stories, "Gone", from the instant those luxurious "ooh ooh”’s hit in the opening seconds, made nothing else matter. The buttery harmonies envelop like a warm cocoon, Hyorin's vocal performance mesmerizing, all-consuming; the sad saxophone and almost non-hook of a hook working to compliment their feelings of longing and emptiness in the void of a relationship where only small details remain ("In my bathroom your toothbrush was here then gone / Your strong scent was here then gone")

While K-Pop is excellent at curating the sort of innovation that moves pop forward, a neat song with all of the edges trimmed is harder work than making a mess. This is something SISTAR excel at, rarely setting the trend (although K-Pop has pumped the well of "Alone" to dust), but instead finding success with a series of good old fashioned tunes. "Gone" represents Brave Brothers at his most assured and relaxed, and Hyorin at her leading-lady best. It feels like it captures a moment in time in K-Pop, one which may be "gone not around any longer" before we know it. It's the sort of insta-nostalgia feeling that, in a few years, perhaps when SISTAR are past their peak, will make us say with longing reverence, "damn, I wish they'd release another song like that again."

[totallyamazing-blog]

INFINITE / Last Romeo

The thing with INFINITE is I don't think they've ever put out a truly awful single ("Man In Love" could, at worst, be described as predictable, but even so, still pretty). That said, trying to explain why "Last Romeo" is one of their great singles is a bit tough, because they have the formula down so well it almost gets hard to compare them. It's a bit like trying to explain to someone why, say, one AKB48 summer single is slightly more grand and epic than another one of their summer singles when they're sort of almost the same song, written by the same writers, but both really good (yes, I'm listening to a lot of AKB48 lately). A matter of greatness by degrees, which to be fair, is probably one of the better pop conundrums a band could possibly hope for.

"Last Romeo" gets it right by amping up everything Sweetune already does well. It doesn't hit quite the same heights as "The Chaser" (or at least not yet), but it runs at almost the same stride, and speed is what any good INFINITE single does best. EDM flirtations are gone, 80's motifs are in (again), and Sweetune's back, grabbing every instrument in sight. The result is a slightly richer, beefier production; the piano accents are jankier, they're strumming a bit harder on the guitar strings, the rolling percussion at the end of each verse serves as a smooth springboard into the chorus. Here the trumpets are smartly brought to the forefront (something which really made "The Chaser" all the more grand), helping to add even more shine to the heroic narratives ("I don’t care if it’s poison, I will gladly take it!" they sing in the opening line), and harmony-driven choruses that INFINITE excel at, the strings in the last minute adding even more urgency to their emotional plea. (Spoiler alert: they're pleading with a girl again).

INFINITE continue to be one of the world's most consistent pop acts, lobbing out hit after hit without ever compromising the elegant qualities that make their output so distinct. I dare say they've even surpassed KARA as Sweetune's all-time best act. Perhaps INFINITE's peaks aren't as high, but they've really yet to falter, which can only be admired. Not only that, but their new album, while not earth-shattering, is perhaps their most consistent effort yet, leaving behind much of the bland mush that weighed down 2011's Over The Top. Propulsive uptempos take cues from their singles, and some decent midtempos, like the new INFINITE H "Alone", are a lot better than they should be, even if they still haven't quite nailed a convincing ballad yet. Still, INFINITE only thrive where other boybands have stumbled, leaving behind fly-by-night "concepts" and finding something that truly works for them. "Last Romeo" captures a group in their prime, smoothly moving forward with a stylish two step.

[totallyamazing-blog]

15& / Sugar

Man, I can't even begin tell you how happy 15& makes me as a K-Pop fan, though I'll give it my best try anyway. The duo's debut album just dropped this week and it's already a strong contender for K-Pop AOTY. Its title track, "Sugar", is possibly their best single yet, or at least a fierce match for last year's "Somebody" and this year's luscious "Can't Hide It", itself one of JYP's strongest productions. I've really enjoyed watching 15&'s slow but steady rise to the top. There was a hint of potential in their debut ballad "I Dream" (enough for me to place it on my 2012 singles list) - big, crisp vocals, and sincere singing, that, given some more interesting arrangements, could really be something special.

Everything they've released since has only built upon that potential, utilizing their fantastic voices to deliver some crazy harmonies, like on "Sugar" - as close as K-Pop has come yet to having its own sort of Janelle Monae moment. Its playful, soulful swing rhythms and groovy bass, maybe with a slightly jazzier edge, are one big party. The voices are a pure delight; sheer ecstasy and gorgeously melded, something which should only serve to embarrass K-Pop groups with three or four times the amount of members belting out vocals with three or four times less the body of Jimin and Yerin.

The MV is great stuff too. Aside from the black/white looking sharp as anything, I love the idea of a fly, Beyonce-esque band of ladies playing the instruments (even if I don't see where the instruments themselves are plugged in... or are they? I did say the idea). Similarly, it's also always refreshing when the boys are told to "shake it" rather than the other way around, though this is pretty much going to get everyone moving one way or another, it's just too infectious. 

The album likewise is loaded with hooks, warm, rich production, coated generously in honeyed vocals. It's a tight collection of 10 tracks that showcases their vibrant range while clearly defining a sound, moving effortlessly between more funky stuff like "Sugar" and "Shy Ma Boy" (you gotta check out that middle 8 - diabolically good) to the beefy R&B of "Can't Hide It", "Oh My God" or "Rain & Cry", with soulful pop like "Silly Boy" and "Star" filling in the gaps. 

It's been a long time coming, but with 15& I think K-Pop finally has a truly great duo act. If there's anything Korea's talent show boom has been good for, it's that these shows have largely avoided throwing yet more faceless fodder into the already over-saturated idol group market, favoring instead soloists and duos (Lee Hi and Akdong Musician similarly come from the school of K-Pop Star, while Roy Kim and Seo In Guk are products of competing Superstar K). 

"Sugar" is in part so great because it's the sound of raw talent polished and exceeding expectations. Better yet, it's the sound of the exact moment when a pair of talent show contestants become artists - proper artists - in their own right, breaking out and forever leaving behind the mold of reality TV. If that's not a happy ending worthy of confetti and a sappy montage then I don't know what is. 

[totallyamazing-blog]

Jun Hyosung / Good-night Kiss

Up there with Dal Shabet's striking gold with "B.B.B" the biggest upset of 2014 is just how good Hyosung's solo debut is. What an absolute triumph for something that has absolutely no business being as good as it is, and moreover, what perfect timing. This is just what K-Pop needed after a month-long break; something big and pop to get things back into gear, something that feels special and a bit like an event. And to be clear, it's not that I want to underestimate anyone, but Secret as a group have been so wildly inconsistent over the years that a hit like "Good-night Kiss" completely takes me off my guard, though maybe it shouldn't. Bandmate Song Ji Eun put out another rather lovely solo single last year, so perhaps it's just that the Secret girls work better on their own. Listening to "Good-night Kiss" it would certainly seem so.

While K-Pop is occasionally accused of sounding puerile or nursery rhyme-ish (mostly by people who don't know what they're talking about), here's an example of a song that actually does utilize a nursery rhyme, and is all the better for it. The chorus is an adaptation of the melody to "Hush, Little Baby", while the pre-chorus interpolates the "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" playground song of many a 3rd grader's nightmares. To this end, I think what "Good-night Kiss" does particularly well is that is cashes in on our nostalgia while putting something back into the well from which it takes; the sort of cross of new and old that K-Pop really excels at.

In this case we're transported back to point in the early aughts when R&B and bubblegum pop were still kissing cousins and UK Garage was in vogue. It reminds me a lot of the sort of sound Liz is going for at the moment (right down to the guitar strum), but while Liz's music, which I enjoy, generally settles for adding a fresh coat of paint, here producers Duble Sidekick (most famous for their work with SISTAR, among others) make the natural leap from the kick-drums of Garage to the droopy beat-laden percussion of trap in a perfectly placed post-chorus break. Not to say that this in and of itself constitutes an innovation, but certainly the smoothness with which its executed is to be commended, and within the context of K-Pop I think these are sounds that have been under-explored, let alone in combination (though I think come a year from now we'll being hearing a lot more of this).

Aside from any genre-melding though, it's just a really top notch tune. I like the quivering whispered vocals in the verses, the utter exuberance of the chorus punctuated by the orchestra hits, the certain weightless quality it all seems to possess. It's the sort of frothy bubblegum that made "Bubble Pop" such a summer anthem, and with "Good-night Kiss" Hyosung deserves to be flung to the top of many of this year's summer playlists.  

[totallyamazing-blog]

STREAM

Hey there! Yeah I know, it's been a while since I last wrote. I find that year after year my posting habits, without fail, really seem to trail off during the spring semester in a way they don't during the fall, it's weird, but anyway, I'm back! And to make up for lost time I've put together a mix of some of my favorite tunes from roughly the first half of this year, which actually sort of works out perfectly now that K-Pop is just coming out of its own month-long freeze.

The theme this time is love in spring, and from sexy acoustic R&B to groovy disco bass and balmy 90's-flavored pop, this mix has something for all your romantic moods, whether your love is new or old, unrequited and unknown, or purely parasocial. Stream above and as usual I had to gab a bit about some of my favorite tracks, which you can find under the cut.

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Tracks 1 - 5 help set the mood. Romantic, airy R&B, a bit treacly, but with a vibe that's decidedly set for party time, sans the Soyu & JunggiGo track which perhaps represents the couple who interrupt the party with their bickering, but which sonically worked really well so I threw it in. I think for the first time in memory I might actually agree with what the Korean year-end sales charts have to say, at least so far as my love affairs with "Some" and "200%" are concerned. "Some" is the sort of frothy quasi-R&B K-Pop pumps out all the time, but the song became ubiquitous when it stayed topping online charts for well over a month, even ahead of comebacks from 2NE1 and Girls' Generation. After a while I think I just gave into the hype, and to be fair, the chorus does have a nice knock to it, and a melody you can really rock your shoulders to. 

Continuing the trend of songs I really wouldn't have imagined myself being into this time last year, K-pop Star winners and YG darlings Akdong Musician delivered a pretty solid debut set in PLAY, and while secondary single "Melted" is for me the clear gem off the album, "200%" draws upon just the right amount breezy 90's hip-hop while incorporating their folksy background. It's got a nice funky groove to it and the result is odd yet surprisingly casual considering all the influences it's trying to balance. 

Rounding out this trio of duos, our first track achieves the greatest result, which coincidentally may or may not be because the second singer is not a man. If 2014's trend in K-Pop is "year of the duet", then chief among them is undoubtedly 15&, the big-voiced pair who sung about "Some-body-body" on one of the catchiest songs from last year, and who this year delivered JYP his first #1 hit in over two years with "Can't Hide It". And man, what a complete joy of a song; so simple yet so powerful, due to little else but the fiery honeyed tones in their voices. I pretty much dare you not to find yourself clapping your hands as the verses roll in earnest, or at least shouting along with that rapturous chorus. Park Jimin and Baek Yerin could blow a hole through a wall with their voices (and yes, they bodied this live), which is why I'm so glad JYP had the sense to keep them in the R&B mold that suited them so well previously.

Tracks 6 - 9 go deeper into R&B territory, getting into some real baby-making stuff with LOCO's staggering debut single "Hold Me Tight", as well as one of the best album cuts of the year in "Heaven's Day" by TVXQ. The hot and heavy tones of the former and the trap leanings of the latter nicely buttress the real star: Neon Bunny's "It's You", a song which sets the indie singer's soft pipes in glorious contrast with some crunchy snares and a deep, driving synth line. It's at once both sumptuously dreamy and starkly physical; capturing every flutter of the chest, every nervous pang of the stomach, singing all the way home in euphoric acquiescence: "It’s you, it’s you, it’s you / It has to be you."

The night rolls on as we get into tracks 10 - 13, which move us from R&B into disco with natural ease. JunggiGo appears three times on this playlist, and in my defense, he is having quite the year, having announced late last year he was joining a subsidiary of Starship Ent. (home to none other than SISTAR). Dude has been putting out quality stuff left and right. Aside from the aforementioned "Some", the b-side on that single features an ace remix of his 2011 track "Blind", picking up on the dancey hues present in the original arrangement and bringing them forth even more.

His latest single, "Want U", featuring rapper Beenzino, just dropped last week and is yet another solid cut. The strummed guitar melody present here could have been utterly ruined and turned twee by a less capable vocalist, but JunggiGo never pushes too hard, never over-adlibs, keeping things sweet and spare. The guitar melody also transitions quite perfectly into Humming Urban Stereo's "Scully Doesn't Know", another song of wistful longing and "secret love" that saves G.NA from her new creepy pantie-sniffing single by placing her in a far sexier context. The funky bassline in "Scully" bops along at a nice pace, but it's only when we hit After School's "Heaven" that the disco mood gets into swing, and by the time we arrive at Baechigi's "Dduraeyo" the strings are swooping and the party is on full stop.

Tracks 14 - 16 close out the night and our playlist, ending things perhaps naturally on a slightly sadder or at least more introspective note. The Twilight Mix of "Blind" keeps it funky and light but slows the tempo a bit so JunggiGo can "cry, cry, cry". LYn, meanwhile, is sadly waiting for her man to hug her from behind (aren't we all?) on her provocatively titled "Back Hug", which is actually a lot more sentimental than that otherwise might suggest. LYn's latest album, her 8th, Le Grand Bleu, is a real treat, and is one of my favorites from the first half of this year. While the delicate balladry and pastel-colored mid-tempos will likely be lost on many western K-Pop fans, LYn easily overcomes any genre tropes with singing that is emotionally hard-hitting and full of expression; a reminder of why she's still scoring hits and competing on the charts well over a decade into her career.

Finally there is Nell, one of those acts who seem to always end up on my mixes, usually somewhere near the end. I love their emotional brand of rock that's both explosive and delicate, often at the same time. "Newton's Apple", the title track off their most recent LP, is firmly in the delicate camp, its utilizing of autotune effects and industrial sounds provide some contrast to the lovey-dovey froth up near the top of the playlist. While "Can't Hide It" or "Some" are quite traditional takes on a love song, Nell create something that sounds thoroughly 21st century, simple yet slightly eerie in a robotic sort of way, as if coming to you in packets on a broken modem. Just the right bitter dose of reality needed to end this flowery mix. 

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You're not ugly, you're just Pre-debut.

[totallyamazing-blog]

2NE1: Crush

The brash all-female Korean pop supergroup 2NE1's new album, Crush, bottles up contemporary trends as well as their usual EDM/reggae/hip-hop/R&B stylemash. But it represents a sleeker, more refined vision for the group.

As far as K-Pop reviews from western outlets goes this one knows its stuff better than most (admittedly not a very high bar), and is surprisingly fair, I think. Though can we stop with this false assertion that Coup D'etat was somehow a "crossover attempt"? I've seen it written a few places and it's just wrong. Simply having western artists on your album does not a crossover attempt make!

(Also: What's with the weird fan-made album artwork?)

[totallyamazing-blog]

E-girls / RYDEEN ~Dance All Night~

Meanwhile, on the J-Pop front, the E-girls have just gone and released the best single by a girl group this year? I put a question mark because it's almost hard to believe. I've always seen the E-girls as a fairly awful pop group, really more a cash-in by avex to create a "female EXILE" (that's what the "E" in their name stands for) than a proper act. Interestingly, the E-girls are actually a sort of supergroup, comprised of three smaller girl groups: Dream, Flower and Happiness. Dream has been an established act for well over a decade now (though all of the original members have since "graduated" and left), while Flower and Happiness were established in just the last few years, though their popularity hasn't really flourished until the formation of the E-girls, which has been a huge success (their latest album, released last week, is #1 on this week's Oricon). 

So all of that is well and good, and I'd really have no beef with the E-girls if not for the fact that two of those groups I mentioned - Flower and Happiness - have actually released some really solid stuff. Happiness in particular dropped a stonking good debut album back in 2012, including this masterpiece by producer Shinichi Osawa, and more typical but not at all unenjoyable pop fare like the Rich Harrison-esque "Alive", or the wistful pop-rock belter "We Can Fly". Flower's output has been less consistent, but songs like "SAKURA Regret" and "forget-me-not" have a certain simple R&B elegance to them that appeals to me nonetheless.  

Now hopefully you can understand my frustration waiting for a follow-up to all that rather good pop music while their management chucks out crap like this for the E-girls, and when Happiness finally does get another single of their own, it's just as bland. Of course, I realize these groups are only as good as whoever is producing them, which is why "Dance All Night" is such a treat, but Happiness and Flower had clean, cohesive aesthetics both musically and visually before their involvement in the E-girls, and so it's annoying to watch all that chucked to the side in favor of this rather poor "super group", albeit I'm sure avex's shareholders are very pleased. 

"Dance All Night" is in large part great because it borrows the melody in its entirety from Yellow Magic Orchestra's 1980 classic "Rydeen". The synthpop production of the original is re-imagined, I have to say quite ingeniously, into a dreamy new Latin rhythm, which falls somewhere closer to trance with a romantic Ibiza vibe. The E-girls version also adds a vocal melody which isn't present in the original instrumental piece, transforming the chiptune classic into a fully-fledged pop song (I also just love the utter glamorousness of the line "you can feed me diamonds all night"). Better yet, the music video, while hardly a work of cutting-edge cinematography, fully utilizes the potential of a group with so many members who can sing and dance, and it should be said that the E-girls, for all their faults, are actually quite excellent dancers (as demonstrated hilariously in this clip where the beginning and the end couldn't be any more disappointingly disjointed).

It's one of those accidental pop moments that just works. Somehow the E-girls lucked into a total jam, and while I'm sure it'll be back to business as usual within the time it takes their label to crank out another single, if they can produce something this good once every year I'll be a little more happy about the E-girls continued existence. 

[totallyamazing-blog]

Girls' Generation / Mr.Mr.

The Girls' Generation comeback is good because it's just a simple, straight-down-the line pop song without any frills or pretension. It is not the Bohemian Rhapsody of the modern age, it is not going to change the world, thank goodness! The tough girl act of "The Boys" was never believable, while "I Got A Boy", at best, did justice to maybe two of the hundred different melodies it tried to cram into that shit-show of a song, an embarrassing attempt at cool paired with a video that made them unrecognizable from the group we formerly knew. 

While Girls' Generation lend themselves well to a variety of concepts, I don't buy into the idea peddled by some that they're a total blank canvas. They're not "urban", they will never be "cool" (and that's ok!), and most importantly Soshi rap will never, ever be a thing. (But seriously though - it will always be cringe-inducing and lame). The appeal of Girls' Generation, rather, lies in the inherent simplicity and power of nine charismatic, talented women singing catchy, tuneful music, based in and bolstered by the intricate and clean choreography only they can pull off, and uncomplicated by artfulness or the urge to appeal to certain demographics. 

It's a shame, then, that "Mr.Mr." still feels like a bit of a non-event. The biggest tragedy is the video, which is the most shockingly amateur-looking production I've ever seen from a major Korean label, especially SM! For all the (deserved) criticism they get about repetitive box videos, their output at least always has a professional sheen to it. Here again SM falls into the trap of over-complicating what should really be a very simple concept, throwing on filters and special effects which just weren't needed and actually cheapen the finished product. Worst yet is the choreography which... there's no other way to say it, is just boring. Girls' Generation are capable of SO much yet they're given a routine which is at 2NE1-levels of basic? It's just baffling. 

That said, I think musically this is the way Girls' Generation needs to go. It touches a bit on the more mature, electronic-based sound of their fabulous first Japanese album, and is probably their best Korean release since at least "Run Devil Run" or "Hoot". I still sort of wish it went somewhere, because it's a bit flat sounding, but at least it sounds like one thing, which is about as good as we can hope for at this point in their road back to good-sounding music.