25* great K-pop songs of 2017
Pristin: Wee Woo
This power pop jam was one of the first songs of the year that hooked me in. It’s just about the perfect pop song: a slicing guitar riff backs a catchy melody and a great lyrical hook: “My heart’s beating so fast! Call an ambulance! Wee woo wee woo!” It’s to die for.
Produce 101 - 35 Boys, 5 Concepts: Open Up
The 101 contestants (99 really, after illnesses and scandals) were whittled down to 11 to make Wanna One, a group so talented and charismatic it was hard to fault. So then why were they given such ordinary songs? Daniel Kang, Minhyun and co drove Energetic to the top of the charts, and the CD to sell more than half a million copies (apparently the biggest-selling debut since HOT), but the title cut was a bland by-numbers upbeat electronic dance track with a half-assed melody. And yes I played it. I did. But honestly if anyone else had released it I would have slagged it from here to Sunday.
The best track from the show (apart from the title cut Pick Me [Nayana] which I was completely addicted to) came out under the Produce 101 35 Boys name. Called Open Up and written by Devine Channel, who have written for a bunch of top names including Taeyeon, BTS and Vixx, it’s a ripping drum and bass track with dramatic tempo changes and sweet harmonies tempering the hard electronics and skittering percussion.
Nu'Est W: Where You At
Finally. Justice for Nu’est. I was worried they might fuck up the attention earned from their appearance on Produce 101 by releasing a ballad, but Pledis inhouse producer BumZu gives them a big moody electronic number. This is still a good showcase for Baekho’s range but casts it against a more interesting backdrop of textures - big sounds that build and fall away; squeaks and whorls - than the standard K-ballad. Not as good as last year’s brilliant, tragically overlooked Overcome, but I still gave it a proper work out.Hotshot: Jelly
These 2014 rookies have struggled to make a big impact. They’ve flickered on my radar but never to a big extent until now. Two of them, Taehyun and Sungwoon, participated in Produce 101, with the latter now promoting with Wanna One. Jelly is produced by Devine Channel, and it’s a loose, minimal dance number, with booming bass, scratchy percussion and an insanely catchy chorus.
T-ara: What's My Name
In the twilight of their career, the pairing of the iconic girl group with Brave Brothers has proven inspired. Last year’s So Crazy reworked Whatcha Doin' Today, which Brave did for 4Minute, and What’s My Name takes a chunk from Crying, their lovely melancholy Europop track for Stellar. It’s a waste to be honest; it’s the least captivating part of the tune, but the song is so great, that’s a minor quibble. The hilarious low-rent MV looks like it cost about $5 - I guess the money all went towards Brave’s fee: worth it.
From a $5 MV to $2 rookies. Petulant aegyo vocal in a menlacholy vocal and a soft industrial backing of white noise, whirring sounds and ascending and descending chimes like a malfunctioning computer from Plan 9 in Outer Space. There’s the rat-a-tat of the prerequisite dancehall breaks and god help them a trap breakdown. I still love it though. All of it. The MV cost less than T-ara’s. Probably. I think they went to the same park. Probably on the same day. T-ara probably pulled rank.
NCT 127 - Limitless
SM Entertainment old hands Kenzie and the Underdogs created this minimalist, low-key hip-hop track for NCT 127. It’s the kind of number that seems like nothing but then you wake up in the morning with it lodged in your brain. An air of menace is diffused with sweet harmonies and underscored with low-key aggression. 0 Mile, a breezy b-side from the Cherry Bomb EP, is also a standout.
Hyuna: Babe
When art reaches a broad audience, it’s usually because people are relating to it for different reasons (a smart writer could potentially craft ambiguous lyrics just for that reason). People saw different meanings in the lyrics to Hyuna’s Babe: some saw a love song; others a comment on the infantilisation of women in the K-pop industry.
Shinsadong Tiger, who did Hyuna's Bubble Pop and most of 4Minute’s early hits, created a fresh sound for Hyuna, while leaving space for her trademark vocals. The soft tones of the vibraphone-sound provide a motif for the song’s many rhythmic layers, including Hyuna’s phrasing on the refrain “Ba-be, ba-be, ba-be, ba-be” and the hypnotic countdown as she reverts from adult to infant.
Primary/Car the Garden - Night Flower
This soulful electronic track featuring singer-songwriter Car the Garden was just one beauty from Shininryu, a great EP by indie producer Primary. The EP also had great collabs with rapper Samuel Seo, vocalist EsNa and more.
MASC: Do It
This Billie Jean throwback had old school choreo with moonwalking and the waving arms of the “Bernie”. The song had an unforgettable nagging rhythm and “heehee”s and the group performed it with total commitment each time. Bonus points for the stage recorded in two sections and edited together with them performing as Superman and Clark Kent. I also want to give a nod to Tina, their melancholy rock track from earlier in the year.
Twice: Signal/Likey
A hit when it was released earlier this year, at some point it became fashionable to hate on the genius of Signal. Well, if you all want to go and listen to something generic like Heartshaker, be my guest. One of the great things about 2017 was that Twice recorded something for everyone. But honestly if you can’t get behind a drum and bass track from a cutesy girl group making heart signs I just don’t know what to say. Likey - terrible title; but the song! All the trademark twists on familiar pop tropes. And finally, Dahyun’s time to shine.
So-hee: Sobok Sobok
It took a while, but Produce 101 graduate Kim So-Hee finally turned up with a solo offering. Sobok Sobok, written by HotSauce from JYP productions, is in the well-known genre of bossa nova Christmas songs. Brazilian rhythms and sleigh bells? Why the fork not. It’s an absolute winner.
Se-woon placed 12th in Produce 101, just missing out on a place in Wanna One. Like the winning group and JBJ, the people’s choice group, he made a pretty successful run at the charts with this light acoustic soul-jazz bop. I wouldn’t normally go for something like this, but the sweet melody and repetitive chorus hooked me over successive performances on the live shows. It’s the work of GroovyRoom, who have a resume that includes Heize’s 2017 hit Don’t Know You and the lesser known Dicks Out for Harambe by Hi-Rez.
Loonatic selection
Blockberry Creative’s Loona project has hardly put a foot wrong thanks to smart songwriter/producer choices such as Monotree (Ladies Code, Stellar), Sweden-based Australian Hayley Aitken (Red Velvet) and Daniel Obi Klein (Red Velvet, Taemin, Exo, etc). The girl group has not even officially debuted but they have already released so many great songs it’s hard to choose a favourite. The freestyle vibe on Kim Lip’s Eclipse made it sound like it wouldn’t be out of place on Wonder Girls’ Reboot, aka one of the greatest albums of all time. The orchestral swirls that leaned into tango had me coming back for more on Sonatine and when Yves debuted in November with New, the washy synths and Pet Shop Boys throwbacks were just right. The B-side was pretty good too. But there is plenty more from the group to like. There is a playlist of all the solos and subunits here.
Taemin’s love of contemporary dance has always been obvious and it came to the fore this year with this sinuous dance track that allowed him to create a choreography that he could really commit to in the comeback stages. Taemin told Billboard he wanted to “break the idea of what male performers are supposed to show, what performances girl groups are supposed to show. I really wanted to break those labels, showing that dance is a form of art.” The song sounded good without the visuals, but the choreography he created with Koharu Sugawara made it sing.
Girls Next Door: Deep Blue Eyes
My favourite track from an idol show - though not a survival show - was this amazing track co-written by B1A4’s Jin Young from Idol Drama Operation Team. The group featured Mamamoo’s Moonbyul, Sonamoo’s D.ana, Oh My Girl’s YooA, Red Velvet’s Seulgi, Lovelyz’ Sujeong, Sohee and IOI’s Somi. I discovered it under inauspicious circumstances when they performed the song on Music Bank and Sohee blew her part. But the epic song which has beautiful melodies and ranges through different rhythms, builds to crescendos before crashing back down, and it dominated my playlist for sometime.
Nine Muses: Remember/Love City
The most under-rated established girl group is suffering death by 1000 cuts as members decline to renew their contracts. But they’re still releasing top quality music - title tracks and EPs - and doing killer comeback stages. Remember was produced by Nuplay, aka Ecobridge, who has an eclectic résumé that includes the provincial European-style track from BEG’s last long player, a smattering of ballads for the likes of Kyuhyun and some indie electronica. That explains Remember’s prog, electronica vibe. It’s an ambitious, unconventional track: “love me, love me, love me, love me!” they sing over a subdued intro before the grinding synths crank and build then fall away again, leaving nothing but Sojin's** whisper rap. Something she used to great effect again on Love City, which was co-produced by Maria Marcus, who worked on the Oh My Girl classic Windy Day. This one is a more straight ahead bop, although hints of prog remain on the operatic “la-la-las” of the chorus.
Sonamoo grew up with this flamenco-infused track co-written by K-pop veteran e.one who has written a bunch of my favourite BEG tracks. The song gave them a chance to stretch themselves vocally and the dramatic choreography provided some of the best comeback stages of the year.
EXID: DDD
Two great songs in one year, with Night Rather than Day, but I’m giving it to DDD. Both were produced by Shinsadong Tiger, who has worked with EXID for some time. DDD takes the trademark EXID sound - Le’s tough, slightly petulant rapping style, a pre-chorus of big vocal notes - but puts enough twists on it to freshen it up. The harmonies on the chorus - “your lips”; “your eyes” - backed by the monotone “D-D-D” - are especially great. Great comeback stages too.
A debutante from New Plan Entertainment (the only one?), Yuseol offers a breezy deep house track with tropical touches and a sweet seductive melody. The perfect track for the Southern hemisphere summer.
This is a cheat, as it was released as a digital single in 2015. But he included it on Story Op. 2 in 2017 and it’s a beautiful song in the style of his chamber pop masterpiece Skeleton Flower, so it deserves a place. RIP, star-child.
Yes, one’s J-pop, whatevs. Both were amazing and everything about these releases was flawless: the songs, the MVs, the MAMA performance of Camo. Jazzclub’s modern take on 20s-style jazz, complete with the queen doing a bit of scatting doo-boo-be-doo-be-doo - not even farting sax could mess it up. It’s catchy af and was a great way to see 2017 out (or 2018 in).
* So it's 25-ish, because I couldn't choose a Twice song. Or a Nine Muses song. And there were so many others. I could have added Samuel’s throwback 90s boy band bop Candy; Red Velvet’s Peek a Boo, any DIA title track; Victon’s Ulta and Eyez Eyez, IU’s Jam Jam, Dean’s collab with Syd, Gugudan’s A Girl Like Me, On/f’s Original, BP Rania’s Breathe Heavy … and many others. There's a playlist below.
** An earlier version of this post confused Sojin with Kyungri.
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