K-pop 2018: end of year review – Momoland, mullets, misogyny and more




There was a fair bit happening in South Korea in 2018 (in case you missed it). For starters, Kim Jong-Un became the first North Korean leader to cross the southern border since 1953 as part of South Korean President Moon Jae-In's ongoing goal of ending their decades-long conflict. The winter Olympics also focused the eyes of the world on the peninsula and South Korean women took to the streets in unprecedented numbers as #MeToo started to take effect in the region. They also turned out in their thousands to protest against the widespread use of spycams.
K-pop had its own news-making moments. I discussed some of them with other K-pop freaks on the annual end-of-year Kultscene podcast. I've listed more below, along with some of my music highlights.
There are many other best of the year K-pop lists around to help discover songs you might have missed – try these: 20 best side tracks; 20 best songs and this list of albums and songs.

My Spotify playlist of the best K-pop songs of 2018 is here.

January

The aftermath of Jonghyun’s death in December 2017 cast a shadow over the K-pop world heading into the new year and for me, a Shinee fan and Blinger (Jonghyun was my ultimate bias), for most of the year.

The release of his solo album, Poet | Artist – clearly planned for sometime, as it arrived complete, with finished artwork – in January, was bittersweet. It was lovely to have more work from such a wonderful creative mind, yet gut-wrenching to know there would be no more. The refrain of the single, Shinin’, “always be with you” at times consoled, and at others seemed too cruel to contemplate.
RIP to a kind man and one of K-pop’s great talents.



Early January also brought the first and only viral bop of the year - Momoland’s utterly delightful Bboom Bboom. Annoying saxophone and accusations of plagiarism couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm with which it was embraced and a year later its infectious chorus and iconic choreography, with its finger hearts and DJ spins, still bring joy.

Later that month, Holland, an indie artist describing himself as the “first openly gay K-pop idol” debuted with the melancholy alt-R&B song Neverland. A few months later MRSHLL, an openly gay Korean-American singer signed to MFBTY’s Feelghood label, finally dropped his debut mini Breathe.

February

Shinee played their first shows without Jonghyun. It was a tough time for Shawols.

BoA released her first ever Korean mini. It was flawless, of course. One of the highlights, aside from the irresistible title One Shot, Two Shot, was Your Song, a dark hip-hop track with rising star JunoFlo.

The winter Olympics took place in PyeongChang as North and South Korea continued to negotiate their way towards an amicable relationship (by December, 11 guard posts in the DMZ had reportedly been demolished). The world watched on as indie artists, such as Bolbbalgan4 and Jambinai and K-pop artists Exo and CL performed. 


March

Heize, who I’ve been a fan of since the fantastic And July collab with Dean, released one of the songs of the year in Jenga. A stunning jazz/hip-hop composition, it surprised at every turn with its blue notes and textured instrumentation. 


NCT’s first long player arrived with a bunch of sophisticated tunes to choose from: Yestoday, Touch, Boss … The elite outfit had plenty of first-class works to showcase their abilities.

April

K-pop continued to soundtrack the thawing relations between north and south, with Red Velvet playing in PyongYang before a summit between the countries’ leaders.

April brought Pentagon’s final release with E’Dawn, though we didn’t know that yet. The group already had a good track record, but Shine was outstanding; a bluesy piano-based tune laced with strings and playful vocals, it eventually broke into the Billboard World Top 10.

EXID returned too, with the super, old school new jack swing track, Lady. In a rebuke to Hani’s sexy fancam that made them famous, they wore oversized baggy denim jeans and overalls for their stages. 


May

BTS became the first K-pop group to top the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was the first foreign language album in 12 years to hit No. 1 and just one milestone in a big year that also included a Grammy nomination for the group.

Loona subunit yyxy released love4eva featuring Grimes, a collaboration that came about after a request from the group was left on the Canadian singer-producer's Instagram.


June

Wonder Girls wrap: finally we saw Yubin’s solo comeback. It did not disappoint. Her re-invention as a retro-futuristic disco queen was the perfect concept. Both this month’s Lady and the November follow-up Thank U Sooo Much were killer tunes. Yubin showed she easily has what’s needed vocally to succeed as a solo singer. We already knew she had the charisma. D’uh. Over at Amoeba, Yeeun released some nice, more low-key tunes, one a lovely bossa that passed a lot of people by. SunMi slayed the charts; Hyelim has been at university.


July

Nine Muses’ Kyungri (or Gyeong Ree) made her solo debut with the gorgeous Blue Moon – essentially a house track with the odd percussive twist – and a lovely melody. The concept was bold: vogueing and waacking LGBTIQ dancers in heels for the live shows and a lovingly crafted MV featuring bondage and voyeurism.


It was a good month for solo singers from girl groups: Hyolyn’s See Sea was a breezy delight. Where Kyungri was queen of the night; Hyolyn owned the day with this sensual summer song.


August

K-pop Twitter lit up when Hyuna and Pentagon’s E’Dawn announced they were dating. Outside South Korea, opinion was supportive; inside, shit was hitting the fan. Cube Entertainment promptly fired them. The company’s stock tanked, and they took them back. But by October and November, the couple had decided to split from Cube, and who could blame them. The prettiest duo in the world is instagramming their romance from Japan to France, and hinting at new music, but so far has no label.




After 18 months and about 158 releases, Blockberry Creative finally released Loona’s debut album [++]. The pre-release, Favourite, was a great woozy electronic track and the promo song, Hi High, was a bouncy, upbeat number that the group promoted live for two months. It was the highest selling debut girl group release of the year after Produce 48’s IZ One’s release.

September

One of the best tracks of the year came from one half of rookie duo CocoSori. Both Coco and Sori released solo songs, and the former’s wasn’t bad, but Sori’s was a corker. Layers of gossamer-thin sounds: clickety-clack percussion, breathy vocals, echoing synths - woven together to make something indelible. Then there was Sori, gossamer thin herself, and often in latex. Also indelible.


October

BoA walked upside down in the choreography for her song Woman. Queen.




IU celebrated 10 years since her debut with the release of BbiBbi, which gave her an all-kill on the Korean charts.

HyoSung released photos for her new agency Tommy & Partners, even as she battles in court to extricate herself from TS Entertainment, who she says haven't paid her for three years. The court has sided with the singer but in November, TS launched an appeal.


November

Mullets and misogynists.

Rapper Iron, who had been found guilty of multiple counts of assaulting his girlfriend in 2016, had his sentence of eight months’ jail time suspended for two years upheld after his (now ex-) girlfriend challenged it; while fellow rapper San.E released the diss track Feminist, in response to the historic women’s marches. Earlier in the year, former Kara member Goo Hara got into an altercation with her boyfriend who she said had filmed video of them having sex without her consent and threatened to blackmail her with it. He is claiming Hara, approximately 40kg soaking wet, assaulted him. Both cases are being forwarded to prosecutors.  This horrible incident overshadowed the fact that Hara released a pretty great track this year. 



And in institutional abuse, it was tragically revealed that the young members of the group East Light allegedly have been physically abused by a producer at their agency Media Line for four years. The producer is facing charges.

Got7 had come back earlier with the lovely Lullaby, their return marred only by putting a mullet on sexy JB, rendering him not sexy at all. This perplexing trend continued when Exo returned in November with the dazzling Tempo, a kind of R&B Bohemian Rhapsody, with exquisite harmonies and myriad musical styles seamlessly combined. Sadly both Kai and Baekhyun were sporting the notorious “party at the front; business in the back” haircut. Maybe this is what BlackPink’s Jennie found so irresistible?



Key released the best Shinee album of the year - the promo tracks weren’t much, but hidden on the album were sparkling numbers like Honest, Easy to Love and Imagine. His gift to Jonghyun.

December

Onew released an album of mostly ballads and went into the military. Shinee is now a trio for two years (unless one of the others takes early enlistment). Nu’Est W released their last mini before Minhyun returns from his stint in Wanna One. After their respective successes on Produce 101, Ren had become a little square so it was a joy to see him with lavender hair and a cape for Help Me, a bombastic number that has Baekho over-emoting as only he can and drums like the hooves of galloping stallions. Classic K-pop.



Last minute rookie: the under-rated Eyedi released Caffeine, a slamming Minneapolis-style funk number in the second last week of the year.

Say goodbye: K-pop disbandments


Stellar • Tahiti • Triple H • Fiestar • Secret • Rainz • Melody Day • The East Light


Comments