Top 10 rankings in Kpop, 2024.
Jan. 3rd, 2025 02:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
etrerireContinuing my tradition from last year, I'll be ranking my top 10 Kpop songs of 2024, as well as my top 5 Kpop songs that I gaslit myself into liking. This comes a bit late because I've been sick for the past week and haven't felt like typing up anything at all. Please also enjoy my lists with the caveat that I spent a bulk of the year listening exclusively to the Ace Attorney OST and Chappell Roan, so I listened to mainly title tracks and very few b-sides compared to last year.
1) TOP 10 2024 KPOP RELEASES
Again, I'm limiting this list to 1 song per artist, because if I didn't do that then Kiss of Life would dominate the list. Have I ever heard a 5th gen girl group with such an impeccable discography? I think not.
10) Bye My Monster - ONF. Okay, don't hate me, but my uncultured ass thought that ONF and OnlyOneOf were the same band until, like, a couple months ago. So, yes, I was listening to this song thinking "oh, are these the guys with the gay concepts? They make good music." This song should really be higher up. It has similar vibes to the song I have sworn eternal fealty to, 0x1=Lovesong. Melancholic, nostalgic, depressing, and slightly homoerotic, even if it was not in fact sung by OnlyOneOf. Unfortunately, because I do not stan or know anything about ONF, I kind of forgot to keep listening to this song after the first month. I wouldn't be surprised if it shot up in my 2025 Replay playlist, though.
9) Deja Vu (Anemoia Remix) - TXT. I had to specify Anemoia Remix, because it is the version that sounds closest to 0x1=Lovesong, the standard by which I hold all of TXT's other songs. I have been chasing that high for years and this feels like a 9/10 match. The vocals are great as usual, because it's TXT, and the rock vibes are great, and it's just a good song and I wish this version had been promoted as the title track instead of the more electronic pop-sounding Deja Vu. But that's just me. I am, at my core, a former emo kid turned Kpop fan, and you can definitely tell.
8) Cheers to Youth - SEVENTEEN. I am probably biased because I saw them live this year in NYC with my other Carat friends and they performed this one. But hey, I saw LMF live too, and I'm not putting LMF on my list, am I? I've always been a Vocu slut, despite the fact that most of my friends and mutuals seem to not like ballads. I adore Vocu songs, and they have always felt the most... Seventeen to me out of all the unit songs (maybe it's because of Woozi, lol). They tug at your heartstrings and make you Feel Things, and this song does just that. Even though not all of their releases this year have been standouts to me, I do think this is their best song this year.
7) APT - Rose ft. Bruno Mars. I debated on whether to include this one, seeing as the majority of the song is in English, but I feel like the intro + chorus + the Korean cultural context being so key to the song makes it eligible. And I know, I know, it's been overplayed and including it makes me seem like a basic bitch, but it's good, and I can't make a good song not good, okay? This is another one of those releases that took me by surprise with how fun it is. Rose and Bruno Mars are truly the collab no one expected but somehow we all needed. I'll admit the chorus fell a tad flat for me at first until I learned about the apateu game, and now it's solidly a fave. Also I'm a sucker for the harmonization in every chorus past the first one, and I love how it builds up into a richer and fuller sound as the song progresses. Rose is having fun and living her moment and I'm here for it.
6) HEYA - IVE. This was another one that took a few listens to grow on me, because it took that many listens to fully appreciate the production value. And, damn, this song has a lot of production value. There are so many layers to it and I just keep discovering more with each listen. I know Ive hasn't peaked yet, but this song does feel like a culmination of all their releases up till now. It somehow contains a multitude of different sounds and vibes while still sounding like a cohesive song, something that Kitsch tried to achieve but ultimately fell just short of (even though Kitsch was definitely a fave of mine in 2023). It's fun, it's interesting, it's almost otherworldly and transports me to some other dimension whenever I listen to it.
5) Good So Bad - Zerobaseone. I didn't think any comeback would ever top In Bloom, and I'm not saying this one necessarily tops In Bloom, but it definitely comes very, very close. It encapsulates Zerobaseone's signature sound and vibe while still bringing something new to the table. It's bright, youthful, and romantic all at once. There isn't a part of this song that is uninteresting or that I don't like, and it's a song I can listen to over and over again. Undoubtedly one of the staple boygroup songs in the age of girlgroups. Saranghaneundae....
4) Midas Touch - Kiss of Life. This was Kiof's year, and I don't think anyone can argue with that. What put this song over Igloo for me was, admittedly, probably my Aventurine obsession. This song finished at #9 on my Replay 2024 playlist, simply because I listened to it like ten times a day while thinking about Aventurine Honkai Star Rail. It has this 2000s vibe to it while also keeping things fresh, and showcases their vocal range very well. And Kiof can fucking sing, alright? This was a really hard choice for me, because again, I wanted half of this list to be Kiof songs, but that is one of the biggest reasons this song entered my list while Igloo didn't. Because they can fucking sing, and I always prefer a song where they sing over a song where they don't sing as much.
3) Virtual Angel - ARTMS. I am in love with this song. Like, enamored. Completely. Listening to this song feels a little like watching that seizure-inducing MV - it's so good I can't look away. It's ethereal, it's bubbly, it's everything. I don't have words to describe it. I'm so happy that ARTMS debuted and that they got a song like this to showcase what they're capable of, because unfortunately I am one of those fake fans who didn't stan Loona, and this song sounds so much better than the Loona songs I've heard.
2) plot twist - TWS. Even as a Zerose, I have to admit that this is the boygroup song in the year of girlgroups. I didn't know what to expect from a New Pledis Boygroup, and I was hoping that either Woozi or Bumzu would work on their music, but that it wouldn't sound too much like Seventeen. Needless to say, I got exactly what I was hoping for. One of their promo posts, I think, called their sound "boyhood pop," which is 100% accurate. This song sounds like boyhood condensed into a Gogurt and squeezed directly into my mouth. It is youth. It is serotonin. I feel like I am in high school chilling with my best bros and pining after a cute girl, but without all of the angsty parts where she's straight and leading me on just for the attention. There's a reason this has been the top song on Melon for like, ten months. Deserved.
1) Girls Never Die - tripleS. This song, I think, did for me at 27 what Welcome to the Black Parade did for me at 15. It's so touching and comforting and healing in a way that very, very few newer Kpop songs have managed to be. This song is the only good thing to ever have come out of NFTs (though I try to forget about tripleS's origins, really, for my own mental sanity). Also, like, a song sung by a group of 24 people? If I wanted that many girls, I'd just stan AKB48?? I really had no reason to like this song or this group, but somehow, this song smashed its way into my heart. I guess being a suicidal teen really does stay with you. I feel so vulnerable every time I listen to it, but in the best way. It's like if someone threw Ditto by Newjeans and Run by BTS into a blender and then added a few drops of crack cocaine. I will be consuming slash snorting this song for years to come.
Honourable mentions: Nemonemo - Yena (made the list, I typed out a whole paragraph but had to cut it when I realized I forgot to list another higher-ranked fave), Te Quiero - Kiss of Life (they can fucking sing, okay??? Every single one of them!!), TTYL - Loossemble (would have made the list if not for 'you baddie rizz me tonight,' which physically makes me cringe in an otherwise perfect song).
2) TOP 5 KPOP SONGS OF 2024 THAT I GASLIT MYSELF INTO ENJOYING
5) Wife - G-idle. I cook cream soup... taste is coco loco... God, I'll never stop loving G-idle's nonsensical English lyrics. I genuinely do love the artistry and the feminist message behind this song. If not for that, I probably wouldn't enjoy this song at all. Or maybe I would. Maybe I am no better than a whore for a good beat and a campy wig and lyrics I can't understand.
4) Crazy - Le Sserafim. Every time a Lssf title track comes out I'm always like "ugh, why do they keep releasing songs like this and not more songs like No Celestial or Flash Forward," and every time I listen to said title track 3-5 times and become obsessed. Like, are you kidding me. "I'm an otaku bestie"? Like, what, but also hell yeah I am. This song is so bad it's good. Why do I literally stan a girl group where 3/5 of them lowkey can't sing and I don't even like most of their title tracks but I'm in love with their performances and also them as people. Why. God I wish I knew.
3) GGUM - Yeonjun. Perhaps it helped that the first initial reactions I saw online were extreme hatred, which immediately made me want to jump to Yeonjun's defense (he's my bias wrecker, after all). So I listened with an open mind and went "yeah, this kind of sucks but is also extremely camp and actually quite sick" and then I became obsessed. The choreo is cool! The visuals are neat! Yeonjun is cool and I want to support his solo debut, okay, come on guys, it's really not that bad of a song.
2) Supernova - Aespa. I've gone back and forth on this one so much that it's given me whiplash (ha). Look, I like most of the song, it's very Aespa-coded in a good way, but the 'wa ah oh eh' part just pisses me off. And also I heard it every goddamn day walking from my hotel to Ikebukuro station while I was vacationing in Japan for two straight weeks. So, yeah, I've gone from loving the song to being sick of it to loving it more times than I can count. It's still iconic as fuck, though.
1) Strategy - Twice. This is going to be so controversial, I just know it. But I genuinely think that Twice peaked in 2019 and they'll never be the same. And I wanted - I want - to love this song. Megan is on it! I fucking love Megan! But I don't know. It didn't grab me like it did for everyone else. I think maybe the fact that everyone immediately loved the song made me feel like I had to love it, and then the algorithm kept making me listen to it until I eventually gave in and started liking it, but now I feel like I've been Stockholm Syndrome'd because everyone is saying it's better than 2019 Twice and it's just not, okay? It's really not! ...But it's still a great song, it's upbeat and it's fun and it made Kpop fun again in the later part of 2024, which I appreciate. And also Megan if you're reading this I am free on Thursday night and I am single and I am free please call me.
1) TOP 10 2024 KPOP RELEASES
Again, I'm limiting this list to 1 song per artist, because if I didn't do that then Kiss of Life would dominate the list. Have I ever heard a 5th gen girl group with such an impeccable discography? I think not.
10) Bye My Monster - ONF. Okay, don't hate me, but my uncultured ass thought that ONF and OnlyOneOf were the same band until, like, a couple months ago. So, yes, I was listening to this song thinking "oh, are these the guys with the gay concepts? They make good music." This song should really be higher up. It has similar vibes to the song I have sworn eternal fealty to, 0x1=Lovesong. Melancholic, nostalgic, depressing, and slightly homoerotic, even if it was not in fact sung by OnlyOneOf. Unfortunately, because I do not stan or know anything about ONF, I kind of forgot to keep listening to this song after the first month. I wouldn't be surprised if it shot up in my 2025 Replay playlist, though.
9) Deja Vu (Anemoia Remix) - TXT. I had to specify Anemoia Remix, because it is the version that sounds closest to 0x1=Lovesong, the standard by which I hold all of TXT's other songs. I have been chasing that high for years and this feels like a 9/10 match. The vocals are great as usual, because it's TXT, and the rock vibes are great, and it's just a good song and I wish this version had been promoted as the title track instead of the more electronic pop-sounding Deja Vu. But that's just me. I am, at my core, a former emo kid turned Kpop fan, and you can definitely tell.
8) Cheers to Youth - SEVENTEEN. I am probably biased because I saw them live this year in NYC with my other Carat friends and they performed this one. But hey, I saw LMF live too, and I'm not putting LMF on my list, am I? I've always been a Vocu slut, despite the fact that most of my friends and mutuals seem to not like ballads. I adore Vocu songs, and they have always felt the most... Seventeen to me out of all the unit songs (maybe it's because of Woozi, lol). They tug at your heartstrings and make you Feel Things, and this song does just that. Even though not all of their releases this year have been standouts to me, I do think this is their best song this year.
7) APT - Rose ft. Bruno Mars. I debated on whether to include this one, seeing as the majority of the song is in English, but I feel like the intro + chorus + the Korean cultural context being so key to the song makes it eligible. And I know, I know, it's been overplayed and including it makes me seem like a basic bitch, but it's good, and I can't make a good song not good, okay? This is another one of those releases that took me by surprise with how fun it is. Rose and Bruno Mars are truly the collab no one expected but somehow we all needed. I'll admit the chorus fell a tad flat for me at first until I learned about the apateu game, and now it's solidly a fave. Also I'm a sucker for the harmonization in every chorus past the first one, and I love how it builds up into a richer and fuller sound as the song progresses. Rose is having fun and living her moment and I'm here for it.
6) HEYA - IVE. This was another one that took a few listens to grow on me, because it took that many listens to fully appreciate the production value. And, damn, this song has a lot of production value. There are so many layers to it and I just keep discovering more with each listen. I know Ive hasn't peaked yet, but this song does feel like a culmination of all their releases up till now. It somehow contains a multitude of different sounds and vibes while still sounding like a cohesive song, something that Kitsch tried to achieve but ultimately fell just short of (even though Kitsch was definitely a fave of mine in 2023). It's fun, it's interesting, it's almost otherworldly and transports me to some other dimension whenever I listen to it.
5) Good So Bad - Zerobaseone. I didn't think any comeback would ever top In Bloom, and I'm not saying this one necessarily tops In Bloom, but it definitely comes very, very close. It encapsulates Zerobaseone's signature sound and vibe while still bringing something new to the table. It's bright, youthful, and romantic all at once. There isn't a part of this song that is uninteresting or that I don't like, and it's a song I can listen to over and over again. Undoubtedly one of the staple boygroup songs in the age of girlgroups. Saranghaneundae....
4) Midas Touch - Kiss of Life. This was Kiof's year, and I don't think anyone can argue with that. What put this song over Igloo for me was, admittedly, probably my Aventurine obsession. This song finished at #9 on my Replay 2024 playlist, simply because I listened to it like ten times a day while thinking about Aventurine Honkai Star Rail. It has this 2000s vibe to it while also keeping things fresh, and showcases their vocal range very well. And Kiof can fucking sing, alright? This was a really hard choice for me, because again, I wanted half of this list to be Kiof songs, but that is one of the biggest reasons this song entered my list while Igloo didn't. Because they can fucking sing, and I always prefer a song where they sing over a song where they don't sing as much.
3) Virtual Angel - ARTMS. I am in love with this song. Like, enamored. Completely. Listening to this song feels a little like watching that seizure-inducing MV - it's so good I can't look away. It's ethereal, it's bubbly, it's everything. I don't have words to describe it. I'm so happy that ARTMS debuted and that they got a song like this to showcase what they're capable of, because unfortunately I am one of those fake fans who didn't stan Loona, and this song sounds so much better than the Loona songs I've heard.
2) plot twist - TWS. Even as a Zerose, I have to admit that this is the boygroup song in the year of girlgroups. I didn't know what to expect from a New Pledis Boygroup, and I was hoping that either Woozi or Bumzu would work on their music, but that it wouldn't sound too much like Seventeen. Needless to say, I got exactly what I was hoping for. One of their promo posts, I think, called their sound "boyhood pop," which is 100% accurate. This song sounds like boyhood condensed into a Gogurt and squeezed directly into my mouth. It is youth. It is serotonin. I feel like I am in high school chilling with my best bros and pining after a cute girl, but without all of the angsty parts where she's straight and leading me on just for the attention. There's a reason this has been the top song on Melon for like, ten months. Deserved.
1) Girls Never Die - tripleS. This song, I think, did for me at 27 what Welcome to the Black Parade did for me at 15. It's so touching and comforting and healing in a way that very, very few newer Kpop songs have managed to be. This song is the only good thing to ever have come out of NFTs (though I try to forget about tripleS's origins, really, for my own mental sanity). Also, like, a song sung by a group of 24 people? If I wanted that many girls, I'd just stan AKB48?? I really had no reason to like this song or this group, but somehow, this song smashed its way into my heart. I guess being a suicidal teen really does stay with you. I feel so vulnerable every time I listen to it, but in the best way. It's like if someone threw Ditto by Newjeans and Run by BTS into a blender and then added a few drops of crack cocaine. I will be consuming slash snorting this song for years to come.
Honourable mentions: Nemonemo - Yena (made the list, I typed out a whole paragraph but had to cut it when I realized I forgot to list another higher-ranked fave), Te Quiero - Kiss of Life (they can fucking sing, okay??? Every single one of them!!), TTYL - Loossemble (would have made the list if not for 'you baddie rizz me tonight,' which physically makes me cringe in an otherwise perfect song).
2) TOP 5 KPOP SONGS OF 2024 THAT I GASLIT MYSELF INTO ENJOYING
5) Wife - G-idle. I cook cream soup... taste is coco loco... God, I'll never stop loving G-idle's nonsensical English lyrics. I genuinely do love the artistry and the feminist message behind this song. If not for that, I probably wouldn't enjoy this song at all. Or maybe I would. Maybe I am no better than a whore for a good beat and a campy wig and lyrics I can't understand.
4) Crazy - Le Sserafim. Every time a Lssf title track comes out I'm always like "ugh, why do they keep releasing songs like this and not more songs like No Celestial or Flash Forward," and every time I listen to said title track 3-5 times and become obsessed. Like, are you kidding me. "I'm an otaku bestie"? Like, what, but also hell yeah I am. This song is so bad it's good. Why do I literally stan a girl group where 3/5 of them lowkey can't sing and I don't even like most of their title tracks but I'm in love with their performances and also them as people. Why. God I wish I knew.
3) GGUM - Yeonjun. Perhaps it helped that the first initial reactions I saw online were extreme hatred, which immediately made me want to jump to Yeonjun's defense (he's my bias wrecker, after all). So I listened with an open mind and went "yeah, this kind of sucks but is also extremely camp and actually quite sick" and then I became obsessed. The choreo is cool! The visuals are neat! Yeonjun is cool and I want to support his solo debut, okay, come on guys, it's really not that bad of a song.
2) Supernova - Aespa. I've gone back and forth on this one so much that it's given me whiplash (ha). Look, I like most of the song, it's very Aespa-coded in a good way, but the 'wa ah oh eh' part just pisses me off. And also I heard it every goddamn day walking from my hotel to Ikebukuro station while I was vacationing in Japan for two straight weeks. So, yeah, I've gone from loving the song to being sick of it to loving it more times than I can count. It's still iconic as fuck, though.
1) Strategy - Twice. This is going to be so controversial, I just know it. But I genuinely think that Twice peaked in 2019 and they'll never be the same. And I wanted - I want - to love this song. Megan is on it! I fucking love Megan! But I don't know. It didn't grab me like it did for everyone else. I think maybe the fact that everyone immediately loved the song made me feel like I had to love it, and then the algorithm kept making me listen to it until I eventually gave in and started liking it, but now I feel like I've been Stockholm Syndrome'd because everyone is saying it's better than 2019 Twice and it's just not, okay? It's really not! ...But it's still a great song, it's upbeat and it's fun and it made Kpop fun again in the later part of 2024, which I appreciate. And also Megan if you're reading this I am free on Thursday night and I am single and I am free please call me.
