best of Red Light's Top 100 Female K-pop Songs of the Decade!

[Harranger]

Nu ABO is f(x)’s best sing til Red Light and 4 Walls

[Red Light]

I'm going to get slaughtered for this one. 

 

Spoiler

 

     Alright, hot take time, I guess: I do not understand the universal fascination and acclaim associated with this song. Yes, I love it, but the general consensus I’ve noticed is that this is one of the best K-pop songs of the decade, and I just don’t get it. The production is good, but not perfect (as far as ambient synthpop goes, there will be multiple examples in the next ten days of superior audio mixing); the chord progression is interesting and ingratiating, but nothing terribly moving to me; and while I appreciate the novelty of LOONA “Creating their own genre” with whatever tf "Soultronica" is, nothing about it screams innovation just by listening, which makes the label ring hollow.

 

    Would I most likely be singing a completely different tune if there was a prominent secondary chord somewhere in the main progression? Why yes. Yes, I would.

 

    And that’s why New is here: I actually do love the song in spite of everything I just stated (this being the key difference from other universally revered songs such as SNSD’s Genie, BLACKPINK’s Playing With Fire, and pretty much every TWICE song ever released), and that coupled with the supernatural praise for it online has led me to temporarily disregard my bias for the sake of composing a less trashy list. With other songs (and with anything in general as beloved as New), I simply “Don’t get it,” I disagree, and I move on--but with New, because I feel so close but so far from untapping what has people so mesmerized by it, my melodic preferences feel less like an orientation and more like some sort of actual cognitive disability. 

 

    So with that said, what is it that I like about New? Well, the opposite of everything I said in the first paragraph: the dense, hypnotic production; the dynamic and likable iii-vi-IV-I chord progression; and the ambition of attempting to create a new music genre, which--while I don’t think they quite succeeded at--defines what made LOONA so exciting to follow back in 2017. It’s all there and it’s all excellent, it’s just not what I would have considered top-100-excellent without such extreme outside influence. For anything further than that, I’ll have to direct you to the Kpopalypse review, which is much more thorough, and one of many examples of the intense fanfare the song receives.
 

 

[Harranger]

Don’t use Loona

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

FIESTAR didn’t have the best girl group debut of the decade--I don’t even think of them as the best girl group debut of 2012--but they’re certainly a strong candidate for the coolest and most original. 

 

Before the first note even starts, as the booming drum rolls fade in, Vista is an exercise in over-the-top theatrics: a cinematically brassy run through i-VII-v-iv-III-i-III-iv finally culminates in the long V/i chord, where the pivotal group harmony first arrives. The next sequence is when Vista really comes into its own, however--like a group of superheroes assembling for combat, the ladies descend semitonically in acapella, which the instrumental resolves in V/iv. Then, yet another hook when we still haven’t even hit the first verse; this time in a lighter-sounding i-iv⁷-VII⁷-IIIˢᵘˢ² progression. The bassline does most of the movement during the verses, which run at a surprisingly stagnant iv⁷-iˢᵘˢ⁴-icˢᵘˢ⁴-i, while the pre-choruses see the “Assembly hook” from the intro get fleshed out harmonically: the semitonic descent of the vocals finally develops into a full i-IIIc+-VII-vii°/VII-VI-V/i, and well, it’s epic.

 

As far as production, Vista is kind of a mystery. It’s plain dance-pop, of course, but there’s also the undeniable latin element, as well as something a little bit wonkier: with its ultra-dramatic melodies, cinematic brass foundation, bongo drums, and even some subtle organ stings, it’s almost as though the producer was modeling the song after 60’s-70’s “Spy jazz.” The only problem is it’s not jazz, or funk, or soul, or any of those genres from the original James Bond heyday--but to me, Vista at least sounds like a spy jazz song in spirit. 

 

If there’s any flaw to Vista, it’s the chorus, which could admittedly be more climactic after the nonstop explosive action up until that point. And the chorus is precisely why Vista is #97 instead of, at the very least, having those numbers reversed. The big, dramatic V/i conclusion to each chorus saves them from being totally mirthless, however, and the song has enough else going for it that it’s still easily a top 100 song.

 

Which brings me to the last point: the bridge. The percussion disperses to make way for the tense, somber first measure of the gorgeous VI-III-V/i-i-VII progression, where the latin flavors of the guitar are first really flaunted--and the drums come blaring back in the second measure where the progression resolves in V/i, which leads way to the even more latin-flavored rap verse, where the bongos are most audible. It’s an excellent climax, and if there were a simple key change or something to spice up the dullness inherent in the final chorus, Vista would be in a completely different league. The song isn’t a perfect product--with a little help from Sweetune, it probably could have been perfect, but that’s true for pretty much any song. And, while the choruses are lukewarm in comparison to the fire of the rest of the song, not one moment of it is unenjoyable.

In K-pop, mainstream female artists are met with the misfortune of having only three paths to choose from at the start of their careers: nauseatingly cute, eye-rollingly aggressive, or shamelessly sexual. (I suppose there is the fourth, less traveled singer-songwriter-type route, but--oh? What’s that? You’re not IU? LMAO GOOD LUCK!) So it’s always a breath of fresh air whenever a newcomer finds an alternative to these pre-drawn paths without immediately getting eaten by bears. FIESTAR, as they brag about in the lyrics, apparently accomplish this by flying.
 

 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

Oh My Girl has one of the strangest niches of any girl group out there right now, specializing in strangely mystical-sounding synthpop tracks. Songs like Closer (which I will go ahead and spoil will be very high in the countdown) and Secret Garden take directions that sound like the bleak underbellies of dreamland, while songs like Love O’Clock (which placed way too low in my 2018 countdown, but will soon receive justice) and The Fifth Season are more upbeat in their mysteriousness.

 

According to this song, there is a fifth season we didn’t know about: love. Hence, the abbreviation in the title, standing for Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Love. It’s dumb. But who are we to doubt or contradict the wise sages Oh My Girl? The music is good enough that they could convince me of anything.

 

The Fifth Season progresses through multiple stages with all the smooth, gradual grace of the changing seasons, opening with Oh My Girl’s typical twinkly synths in a vanilla VI-VII-v⁷ᵃᵈᵈ¹³-Vˢᵘˢ⁴/iv-V/iv progression, before those majestic strings come in and finish the intro with a mysterious VI-VII-V/iv progression that reminded me a lot of Zedd’s Spectrum when I first heard it. As soon as I heard that V/iv bar, I knew that Oh My Girl was about to deliver yet another home run--and I still had no idea what wonders awaited in the chorus.

 

The verses are appropriately gentle, with nothing but a very small bass kick and some background synth accents in iv⁷-VII-v-i-V/iv. (It’s ridiculous how much the one V/iv can spice things up.) The pre-choruses do an excellent job building up to the whirlwind choruses, adding marching band snare rolls and reincorporating the rich strings as it shifts to VI⁷-VII-v⁷-i-iv-V⁷/i, with that last chord injecting the perfect extra shot in the arm to get the song moving. And from there, The Fifth Season really takes off, filling in its soundscape with heavenly synth leads and shrieking orchestral strings for its standard VI-VII-v⁷-i⁷ˢᵘˢ²-i-iv⁷-v⁷-V/iv progression on top of a rapidly syncopated beat.

 

But it isn’t done--in the second half of the chorus, the song “Changes seasons,” ramping up to a more urgent four-on-the-floor rhythm, adding in a subtle but weighty electronic bassline, and making the big leap towards that steroid-infused hook. With the help of that new spanking bassline, the rate of chords per measure more than doubles, covering VI-VII-v⁷-V/iv-V/III, iv-v⁷-i-V/III-vii°/VII within the same amount of time that the first half would have only covered four chords. It’s exhilarating, to say the least, and such a brilliant way to give the song fluidity without making it sound disjointed. The fact that the earwormiest hook is sequestered to this section makes it even more delectable. The bridge, which maintains the frantic four-on-the-floor pulse while modulating to Dm is the perfect cherry on top, making for yet another gorgeous, cosmic synthpop masterpiece to Oh My Girl’s collection.
 

 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

This is probably the most random, off-the-wall choice of the top 100--not because there’s necessarily anything unusual about the song, but because it’s been pretty much forgotten over time. 

 

Girls’ Generation’s 1st Japanese Album is in the same boat as records like Pink Tape and Reboot in terms of being almost universally beloved--Girls’ Generation were one of the most, if not the most successful girl groups on the scene at the time, but they were not “Albums Artists.” In short: there’s a difference between albums with good songs, and good albums.

 

Girls’ Generation’s self-titled debut album was not only their most unexpectedly mature work yet, but it was a good album. There had never before been an album from Girls’ Generation with such a clear, cohesive sonic direction, which (not including the Japanese covers of past Korean hits like Gee) was sharp, icy electropop. New tracks ranged from the cool, sleek single Mr. Taxi, to the manic bassline-driven You-Aholic, to moody Bad Girl, to the plain sinister Beautiful Stranger, and, of course, the fan-favorite Great Escape.

 

Mostly overlooked, however, was the enigmatic seventh track, I’m In Love With the Hero. One of the more atmospheric turns on the album, I’m In Love With the Hero tones down the sharp basslines and opts for cloudbursts of dense synth accents. With angelic grace and alien-like mystique, I’m In Love With the Hero smoothly lifts the listener through a celestial dream ride of marching band snare rhythms, exotic flutes, scratchy chip tune-ish basslines, airy synth strings, binaural hissing sounds, and--the song’s best quality--cold, robotic vocal harmonies.

 

The almost hauntingly ethereal choruses possess one of the coolest chord progressions in the countdown. The harmonic layers are utterly hypnotic, as the ascending bassline melody clashes with the descending synth strings, which clash with the exotic flute melodies, which clash with the static vocal melody, which clash with the totally monotone synth pad droning in the background, which somehow all-together ends up not clashing for a dynamic V/iv-IIIᵃᵈᵈ⁶-IV⁷/i-VI¹³-VII¹¹ chord progression. It’s, for me anyway, one of the most entrancing choruses of the decade. Lastly, I’m In Love With the Hero goes out with a bang, wrapping up its bridge in a lengthy build before rising to new heights in its final chorus through the simple act of altering the syncopated rhythm to a more energetic four-on-the-floor pulse.

 

Yes, there’s probably a song more deserving of a top 100 placement than I’m In Love With the Hero, but this is a primarily subjective list, I’ve been in love with this song since I first heard it back in 2012, and I feel it’s been wrongfully overlooked, so I’m thrilled to finally have the opportunity to recognize it.
 

 

[The Destiny Hope]

I came in to check because I like your taste but.

 

Holy ****. This is the highest quality rate I've ever seen   You should be proud, this looks so fun!!! I was planning on doing a decade rate too but just for me aklmdcklasmclkadsc. This puts me to shame

 

If When I'm Alone, Airplane, and/or Milk don't make the ranking though this is lowkey cancelled ngl 

 

Nu Abo is SOOOO good  Can't believe she got punched out so early. I got into K-pop in late 2010/early 2011 and even then I'm not too much into 4minute's old sound. They sound the most dated out of all the 2nd generation girl groups IMO. But cute! I don't use Loona and wow Fiestar! Vista was so amazing, I really thought they were gonna get bigger. One More was the last song of theirs I really liked before they turned into a reductive sexy girl group IMO

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

Most of the songs I’ve selected for the top 100 will be due to a combination of each song’s respective melodies and production. A few of the selections will be almost entirely due to a song’s melodies. An even fewer number of selections will be almost entirely due to a song’s production. The lush piece of dark ear candy that Rainbow released in February of 2015 falls into that rare second category.

 

Melodically, Black Swan doesn’t have very much to work with. The chords included in the verses and pre-choruses are i and VI. That’s it. And the chorus isn’t much more dynamic, running a very similar i-iv progression with a brief VII tacked on at the end. The lack of chords doesn’t exactly hold the song back any, however--Black Swan, above all else, is mysterious. It has a cloak-and-dagger stealthiness about it, as though it has more chords to dispense, but it won’t show them to you. And, in fact, there is more going on than meets the eye: to make up for the lack of variety in the progression, Black Swan has a surprising level of variety in the chords themselves, with 7th’s, 9th’s, 11’s, and sus4th’s giving the track its needed motion. And, in spite of its refusal to yield into more conventionally gratifying pop catchiness, you’re still spellbound by it. Why? Because the instrumental is absolutely mesmerizing.

 

One of the most deliciously tense songs of the decade, Black Swan has one of the best slow burns you can encounter in K-pop: the synth and bass pluck pattern is drenched in gloomy suspense; the vocals are coy and understated; the subtle bass kick incorporation that finally breaks into the full-fledged beat after twenty agonizing seconds is all ingenious. Likewise, the explosive choruses and their sonic barrage of squiggly synth leads and flowing basslines are ear candy in its purest form.

 

That said, the pinnacle of Black Swan is in its multi-staged bridge: A random dubstep wobble leads into a more distressed, vocally-impressive segment before abruptly shedding back down to its lone synth plucks and--the part that’s most responsible for landing Rainbow in the top 100--reprising that hair-raising first verse, only this time with the immediate help of its strong, syncopated beat. It’s a moment that’s just plain epic and has to be heard to fully comprehend.
 

 

[The Destiny Hope]

OMG I'M IN LOVE WITH THE HERO. Was not expecting any Shoujo Jidai appearances. I guess I'm just used to most K-pop stans now being so young and not knowing SNSD, let alone their Japanese tracks.  I ****ing love this song and album. Album is literally pop perfection. SNSD will forever be one of my favorite artists. 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

2016 was packed to the brim with dreamy, ambient synthpop potions, but few were quite as wonderful as the enigmatic I Wish. This song is the direction I feel f(x) should have taken for their final album, 4 Walls. As a matter of fact, I was more impressed with Luna’s Free Somebody EP as a cohesive product than I ever was with 4 Walls (although 4 Walls had that one song that salvaged the entire record, which hasn’t been eliminated yet). 

 

I have to say, when I began analyzing the track, I was surprised that it wasn’t composed by MonoTree--which should tell you everything you need to know about its merits. Luna’s haunting lullaby not only has an enchanting supply of suspended, augmented, and seventh chords, but it oozes them out in a slow 6/8 time signature. It takes advantage of these oddities to trip the listener out, and the soundscape finishes the job: It opens with hazy synth pads behind an audio sample of what sounds like bustling city life--men talking over each other, car doors shutting, etc.--and it’s effective in giving you the feeling that you’re totally detached from the world and bumbling around in a fog.

 

Unexpectedly, I Wish transforms into a slow future bass track once the first verse drops. Among the many woozy sound stems in its arsenal are deep, excellently mixed sub-bass; wobbly basslines; atmospheric raindrop samples; sedating music box tones; and even a subtle harp sample, in case it wasn’t heavenly enough. Then there’s the trippy choruses, comprised of all the aforementioned stems as well as the most orgasmic stem of all, as the soundscape erupts into a wash of warm, entrancing synth squelches. Also worth praising are the prominent snare rolls that wax and wane between each ear and--the perfect final touch--a climactic shift to a persistent four-on-the-floor beat in the final chorus.

 

As any K-pop fan knows, having “Biases” is almost a requirement--aka, a member of the group that you like the most. But for me personally, the groups themselves are so secondary to the music they release, that I never get invested enough to ever have a favorite. Luna is one of the very rare exceptions to that. She was the most impressive vocalist in f(x), usually snagging all the high notes the group was tasked with, which culminated in this career highlight at their one and only concert series. Unfortunately, SM fed Luna agonizingly boring R&B ballads for 90% of her solo career, with the Free Somebody era being the one and only fluke. The Free Somebody EP was practically a cruel prank at this point, showing everybody how much potential she had and forcing fans to watch as they did absolutely nothing with it. So, while we’re on the subject of wishes: Luna, I wish things had gone differently for you, and I wish you better treatment at your new agency in the decade to come.

 

 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

Lee Hyori’s 2017 album was one of the best of the year--or would have been, if it weren’t for all the damn male rapper features, which is why the awesome, glitchy, dark ambient track White Snake isn’t included in the countdown. 

 

The title track is a beaconing example of the kind of edgy, adventurous weirdness that only K-pop would consider churning out for a lead single, layering blues guitars over a muffled, grungey beat. With the song’s gloomy mixture of dark soundscapes and twangy steel guitars, it finds itself somewhere between EDM and a southern gothic blues rock track, which is a mixture so off-the-wall that I probably would have included it for that reason alone.

 

Black has a rather boring, droning quality to it that makes it less of a pop song and more of a gloomy rock-ish track that slowly grows on you. Melodically, it’s practically monotonous until the i-iv-VII-i choruses, and even those are far from being an earworm (this is one of the few songs that was so melodically dull that I just didn't bother making any further chord analysis for). The beat doesn’t do anything to help, employing an agonizingly slow, syncopated rhythm at only 66 BPM. The densely-reverberated, cinematic bass kicks and rusty, muffled snares do nothing but sludge up the audio and make the song even more unpleasant. 

 

...And every one of those flaws I just listed is why I love the song so much.

 

All of these weird, unpoppy qualities that Black has in its artillery serve to make it more intriguing, like a confusing, borderline-nightmarish dream that for some reason you don’t want to wake out of. The track teases you multiple times, seeming to gain momentum, only to fall back and start building tension all over again. There are, however, a few important payoffs: The oppressive, electronic post-chorus drop with a brutally heavy beat and dark, soupy synths; the brooding, festering i-III-VII-vii°/VII-i-III-V/i bridge; and a decently climactic final chorus, with an additional distorted electric guitar. Besides that, Black almost diabolically stays just out of reach of giving the listener a high, making the torment from a lack of true climax annoyingly addictive.

 

Black isn’t a song that screams top 100 material just by listening to it, nor is it a song worthy of being in the top 100 based on its surface qualities. It earned a spot partially due to just how ****ing weird it is, but it’s mostly here because it’s so subtle and understated that it never ages. I can honestly say I feel the exact same way about it now that I did when I first heard it, which I can't say about any other song in the countdown. I didn’t discover it until the very end of 2017, and thus wasn’t able to give it an accurate placement in my year-end list, so I’m thrilled that I’m finally able to give the song its due.

 

 

[Red Light]

And the final elimination of the night is...

 

Spoiler

 

I actually held off on including this until pretty recently, and for most of the year had my mind made up that I wouldn’t be including it in the top 100. There are a number of reasons for this, the first of which being that--while I appreciate and encourage any acclaim for f(x)--I’ve always found the 4 Walls acclaim to be slightly overdone, especially by The Gaysᵀᴹ who can’t help but climax whenever they hear the distinct unce-unce of a house beat. Secondly, while it isn’t quite tropical house (it’s in that weird ambiguous deep house/trop house/UK garage/EDM category they created a whole new sub-genre for), it’s essentially the mother of the godawful trop trend that’s still plaguing the charts to this day. Lastly, it’s just not original, which you could usually count on with f(x)--SHINee beat them to the punch by a few months, not just with the same genre, but with almost the same damn song. To sum it all up, there was a reddit comment the day 4 Walls came out that really stuck with me, and colored my perception of it forever: “It doesn’t sound like f(x), it sounds like SM, and that’s a problem.”

 

So needless to say, I’ve had a pretty complicated relationship with 4 Walls over the years. I went through the phase of pretty much forcing myself to like it when it first came out, then giving up and hating it, then suddenly finding myself totally addicted to it in late 2016, then deciding I hated it again some time last year, and just now coming back around to it. This is probably because the peripheral aspects I associate with the song leave a bad taste in my mouth, but there’s still a lot to like about the song itself. The production, of course, is spotless, with some highlights being the addictively strong bass kick, the music box synths, and the wobbly bassline in the pre-chorus, just to name a few. The soundscape is about as expertly mixed as a wall-of-noise (“Brick-walling”) can get, and even helps aid in the track’s mystique. Just for comparison, there’s good brickwalling and bad brickwalling production: Bad brickwalling is something like Ah by Afterschool, where there may be very few sounds stems, but they’re all mixed to the same volume and you feel like you’re wading through a fog to accomplish something simple, like punching in a dream. Good brickwalling production is 4 Walls, where there’s a whole synthesizer’s worth of bells and whistles added in very subtly, to the degree that you can be listening to the song in 2019 and still notice new sounds. 

 

More importantly, the harmonies are surprisingly dense and unusual for such a generic pop song, so much so that you wonder if they’re accidental: add9’s and 7th’s are all over the place, and there are even some occasional add13’s as well. Most astounding is how generically catchy 4 Walls manages to sound in spite of all this. The simple hook is killer and pretty hard to resist, but the real magic that definitively lands it in my top 100 is the percussion-barren, lullaby-ish bridge, in a sweet, wistful IV⁷/v-Vd/iv-IV⁷/i-ii°⁷-III-Vd/VI-VIb-vi⁷ progression where the quirky charms of f(x) can’t help but briefly shine through and once again elevate their material.
 

 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

(The orange bars at 50% are artists that only had 1 entry to begin with.)

 

[Red Light]

43 minutes ago, The Destiny Hope said:

I came in to check because I like your taste but.

 

Holy ****. This is the highest quality rate I've ever seen   You should be proud, this looks so fun!!! I was planning on doing a decade rate too but just for me aklmdcklasmclkadsc. This puts me to shame

 

If When I'm Alone, Airplane, and/or Milk don't make the ranking though this is lowkey cancelled ngl 

 

Nu Abo is SOOOO good  Can't believe she got punched out so early. I got into K-pop in late 2010/early 2011 and even then I'm not too much into 4minute's old sound. They sound the most dated out of all the 2nd generation girl groups IMO. But cute! I don't use Loona and wow Fiestar! Vista was so amazing, I really thought they were gonna get bigger. One More was the last song of theirs I really liked before they turned into a reductive sexy girl group IMO

Omg thank you so much  It doesn't put anyone to shame but me sis, I've been working on it since the end of last year. 

And stay tuned because f(x) lost two songs tonight but they still have the most songs of any artist in the rate (check the survivors graphic above), and I have a feeling you'll be happy with the outcome. 

 

ffff tbh I stan slutty Fiestar too but I can definitely understand why you don't 

 

40 minutes ago, The Destiny Hope said:

OMG I'M IN LOVE WITH THE HERO. Was not expecting any Shoujo Jidai appearances. I guess I'm just used to most K-pop stans now being so young and not knowing SNSD, let alone their Japanese tracks.  I ****ing love this song and album. Album is literally pop perfection. SNSD will forever be one of my favorite artists. 

OMG you actually know the song fkhdkjfhkakfha  SNSD's Japanese discography was so much better than their Korean it's not even funny!

 

1 hour ago, Harranger said:

Don’t use Loona

Mess I just realized this post meant YOU don't use Loona and it wasn't actually telling me not to use Loona in my countdown nnnnnn 

[Red Light]

1 hour ago, Me & My Hits said:

omg of course LOONA had to get an elimination right after one of their stans posted.  

 

Thanks everyone for the support!

 

TOMORROW NIGHT: The last f(x) eliminations for awhile, a bad night for songs with "Love" in the title, a certain group with very high determination levels (), and two songs with "Lips" in the title get eliminated back-to-back!

[K$Ellie]

omg the After School songs are cute lemme check out their discography sometime soon

U & Me as well, I need to get into her bsides   Crush is nice but I mostly use Picky Picky and Tiki Taka from them

Nu Abu is a biT annoying tbh  You are absolutely cancelled for trashing New AND Genie though  I'm fine with the PWF drag tho

I didn't love New at first but it's deff one of my favorite songs of the decade  I wasn't a fan of The Fifth Season  it's decent

I've had Luna's mini save on AM for ages but I never listened in full  I Wish is really good, I need to finally get around to it

ksjdksjd I've BEEN saying that View and 4 Walls are the same song  except View is a lot better but 4 Walls is nice

 

16 hours ago, Red Light said:

Oh I thought by early songs you meant pre-third generation (around 2015).

 

There are some songs that will be in my top 100 that I like specifically because they're dated, similar to Lucifer. 

 

And I said that about Loona cuz I was not into Broke4Eva and High Balance at all.  I thought their EP's were a step down too. 

Lucifer, Sherlock and Everybody are the only ones I use before Misconceptions

I don't stan love4eva that much, it's quite overrated and the mini was mediocre, their releases since have been perfect for me tho

[Red Light]

1 hour ago, K$Ellie said:

omg the After School songs are cute lemme check out their discography sometime soon

U & Me as well, I need to get into her bsides   Crush is nice but I mostly use Picky Picky and Tiki Taka from them

Nu Abu is a biT annoying tbh  You are absolutely cancelled for trashing New AND Genie though  I'm fine with the PWF drag tho

I didn't love New at first but it's deff one of my favorite songs of the decade  I wasn't a fan of The Fifth Season  it's decent

I've had Luna's mini save on AM for ages but I never listened in full  I Wish is really good, I need to finally get around to it

ksjdksjd I've BEEN saying that View and 4 Walls are the same song  except View is a lot better but 4 Walls is nice

 

Lucifer, Sherlock and Everybody are the only ones I use before Misconceptions

I don't stan love4eva that much, it's quite overrated and the mini was mediocre, their releases since have been perfect for me tho

The Dress to Kill album is epic.  Dress to Kill serves dark, hypnotic, Blackout-ish bop; Ms. Independent is a production and lyrical mess but I know a lot of people stan and the bridge is epic; and Shh predated the deep house trend by over a year! Tbh even though I know Heaven is probably objectively better, I think I prefer In the Moonlight. I love the way it progresses and evolves.

 

Picky Picky was cute! I don't even remember if I ever listened to Tiki Taka. They really slayed me last year, though. I bet you would like Metronome.

 

Thank you for trashing Nu Abo; was starting to feel like maybe I should have placed it higher after everyone came in and said they loved it. 

[Red Light]

Okay I'm thinking all the rounds will be starting some time after 8 at this point. 

 

Round 2 getting started with two back-to-back f(x) eliminations before they get a long break! #90 coming in a few minutes. 

 

[The Destiny Hope]

WAIT 4 WALL GOT ELIMINATED??????? WOW. It's one of my favorite f(x) songs/titles but I agree. It was very much "SM's sound." I mean, we had BoA, SHINee, Luna, f(x), EXO, and iirc TVXQ all release that type of sound within the span of 2 years

 

I'm glad that phase in SM is over. But I'm not exaggerating when I had only this song on repeat for one month straight lol.

 

Can't wait for round 2!

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

At the end of the year, when I still had two slots left that I have no idea what to do with, I really, really didn’t want to include ANOTHER f(x) song in my top 100. Ideally, the list would have much more variety, and would appear much less biased. I exercised all my options, scouring obscure discographies to find hidden gems, but by that point, I couldn’t trust the longevity of anything that I found. I went back to songs I’d intensely loved in other years, but they just didn’t hit me right anymore. Then I brainstormed for really acclaimed songs that I may not necessarily be totally in love with, like I did with New. I toyed with dropping in Roly-Poly, for instance, just by virtue of how iconic and beloved it is, but then I remembered the bridge. Basically, I did everything in my power to avoid it coming to this. 

 

But the list was always ****ed. There isn’t even any TWICE or BLACKPINK--two of the biggest girl groups of the decade. Of course it’s biased, whether I like it or not. And, in perfect honesty, I’m not biased towards these songs because I love f(x). I’m biased towards f(x) because I love these songs.

 

So, with that, I give up and offer Butterfly the recognition it deserves. The Red Light album was marked by intense contrasts, from the variety of songs, to within the songs themselves. The album was packaged in "Wild Cat" and "Sleepy Cat" versions, and in my mind, the opening of the record followed that Wild Cats vs. Sleepy Cats concept, with Red Light being a Wild Cat and the followup track Milk being the Sleepy Cat. Butterfly, however, pretty much combines the two into being some sort of narcoleptic tiger. The verses are one of the darkest, most intense moments of f(x)’s career, harkening back to Nu Abo with its slow, stomping, heavily reverberated beat. The chords, like Red Light, are possessed and demented, alternating between i-VI-V/i and i-V/#vii°-V/i, and driven by a fuzzy, gothic, glissando bassline.

 

It sedates itself with the pre-chorus, which ends in a dramatic, brooding VIIsus4-V/i build, and segues seamlessly into the chorus. Songs that start off as strongly as Butterfly have one of two choices if they want to achieve an appropriately climactic chorus: Either give the chorus a completely different sound from the rest of the track, or invert the structure so that the chorus is intentionally a slower and softer reprieve. Butterfly is the gold standard for the latter, breaching its moody electropop restraints and releasing a flood of atmospheric synth pads. In contrast to Red Light, the rhythm is never disrupted, and yet the hypnotic, euphoric choruses manage to sound as if they’re being played in slow-motion. That’s thanks to the swooning vocals, registered almost entirely in slow falsettos. Still, the choruses are haunted, in a way, by the darkness of the verses, leaving the V/iv-v-VII-V/VII tranquility to feel less like a sunny day in the park, and more like an acid trip that’s teetering on the edge of going very wrong. By the time the bridge hits you, implementing a variation of my beloved 25 or 6 to 4 progression, Butterfly is the third track in a row on the Red Light album that can stand among the greatest of f(x)’s discography.
 

 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

Of all the girl groups that debuted during the big boom in 2009, f(x) probably had the rockiest start. Their debut single La ChA TA in September of 2009 was met with moderate success, but failed to make waves that were half the size labelmates Girls’ Generation were making; and their follow-up single in November, Chu~<3, didn’t fare any better. They didn’t actually strike a hit until the following year, with what should have been their debut single all along, Nu Abo. Still, they were doing rather poorly in comparison to pretty much every other girl group on the scene, and 2011 continued at the same rate--undeniably successful, but drowning amongst the competition. In the K-pop world, charting #1’s and selling millions is impressive, but not quite enough to indicate that a group has truly made any sort of impact. What every group dreams for is that one signature hit that’s instantly recognizable to nearly everybody in the nation--Girls’ Generation had it with Gee, 2ne1 had it with I Am the Best, T-ara had it with Roly-Poly, etc. 

 

2012 was when f(x) finally struck that gold, and it came in the form of an intense, manic EDM banger known as Electric Shock. And it makes sense why this became their breakthrough hit: It’s simple, well-produced, maddeningly catchy, and it was just fresh and edgy enough at the time to make people stop and pay attention. 

 

2012 was when I really started sinking into the K-pop quicksand, and Electric Shock is one of the first--if not the first--instances that I remember hearing that distinct, EDM-ish, “Calm before the storm” pre-chorus formula, which of course became ubiquitous as time wore on. The massive bass kick bludgeons out the pounding 125 BPM like a deadly weapon; the frenetic unleashment of squealing synths in the drops make for perfect companions to the fat, distorted bassline surges; making every bar feel as joltingly energetic as an electric shock. Most notably, the demented-sounding, descending chromatic “Nanananananana” hook is one of the most hilariously simple and instantly memorable earworms of the decade. Finally, Electric Shock actually somehow manages to top itself in the final chorus: the bassline shifts from its stagnant F minor repetition (which composed a good 95% of the instrumental) to a more dynamic i-III-iv-i climax.

 

f(x) always had a reputation for being on SM’s backburner, so when Electric Shock was released in July of 2012, it overperformed, to say the least. Selling over a million within the first month alone, becoming their first MV to surpass 100 million views, collecting nine music show trophies, and earning them both the Mnet Asian Music Award for Best Girl Group Dance Performance, and the Korean Music Award for Best Electronic Dance Song. Most importantly, it’s almost universally agreed that the Electric Shock era is when f(x) finally came into their own, jumpstarting four consecutive years of some of the most acclaimed K-pop music of the decade.
 

 

That's it for f(x) until almost 30 places from now!

 

My other favorite girl group gets their first cut next. 

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

^Holy **** that graphic looks so good 

 

Around the corner of December, when I still had two slots left and no obvious contenders to fill them, I was hesitant for many reasons to include f(x)’s Butterfly: too much bias, not enough variety, and in all honesty, I know deep down that there are better songs out there that I probably have just never heard. For all those same reasons, I should have been hesitant to go with the Brown Eyed Girls for the final position. But Brave New World? Nah, I was more than happy to have given the sacred final spot to Brave New World.

 

In the fall of 2015, f(x) and the Brown Eyed Girls had comebacks within very close quarters of each other. From the way f(x)’s comeback was being promoted, I was fairly optimistic: the teasers were trippy, mature, and weirder than they’d ever been. A dreamy, psychedelic era would have been the perfect and logical follow-up to the manic energy of Red Light. I wanted the kind of song that was so fresh that I couldn’t even identify the genre; so strange that I didn’t even know what the hell I was listening to. Well, that’s exactly what I got. But it wasn’t delivered by f(x). When Brave New World came out, Brown Eyed Girls totally stole the show, and my heart.

 

While most obviously a disco song at heart, bringing us a more modernized version of their 2011 hit Sixth Sense, there’s so many oddities going on in Brave New World that I’m still not sure what to make of it. Past the disco strings and bassline, the instrumental is like a scrapbook of every bell and whistle the producer could find on his synthesizer. It’s comprised of persistent vocal samples; random, out of place synth stabs; reverbs and echoes; and many other transient production quirks, sprinkled throughout the track like genuine instruments.

    

Bar none, the #1 highlight of the song is the pre-chorus, with a shift in key, disorienting tremolo effects, vocals that fade in and out like they’re being abducted by aliens, and--the instrumental’s best feature--a brief, squiggly synth stab that sounds like something out of some freaky, intergalactic retro cartoon. That sound stem is also present in the chorus, which, as many of my favorite songs go, sounds nothing else like the rest of the track.

    

Oddly enough, while Brave New World doesn’t necessarily have a reputation for being disjointed, I can honestly say it’s the only song I can think of in K-pop that I actually had a bit of trouble getting used to. Coming from somebody who was completely unfazed by I Got a Boy and Red Light, that’s quite an accomplishment. It’s not so much that the song is incohesive, than it is simply unpredictable. Getting totally immersed in it is tough, because it’s more like a compilation of different sound effects than a real song. I hadn’t even begun to memorize what any part of it sounded like until at least the fifth listen. This, of course, has helped it in having more longevity as the years wore on. 

So, the greatest thing about Brave New World is that listening to it is like a challenge. It’s unpredictable, unconventional, unhinged, and unbeatable in terms of balls-out weirdness. The incredible video, which touches on the themes of the Aldous Huxley novel of the same name, is just yet another example of the Brown Eyed Girls being in a completely different league.
 

 

[The Destiny Hope]

"with Red Light being a Wild Cat and the followup track Milk being the Sleepy Cat. Butterfly, however, pretty much combines the two into being some sort of narcoleptic tiger" 

 

Omg I NEVER thought of it like this!! This makes so much sense. Especially since they promoted Milk as the B-side

 

Electric Shock is so catchy and still sounds so FRESH!  They really found their sound with that, Hot Summer, and Rum Pum Pum. And they still were able to pull off such different concepts with Red Light and 4 walls whew. Legends

[Red Light]

Spoiler

 

STELLAR’s Marionette era was the closest that the ill-fated girl group ever came to success--and I can assure that the title song Marionette has a very long way to go before the possibility of elimination--but more or less just as good as STELLAR’s biggest hit was Marionette’s even darker cousin, the bleak and neurotic followup track, Guilty.

 

Right away, from the funereal, lamentable iˢᵘˢ²-VI-V/i-i-Vᵃᵈᵈ⁹/VII-iiø⁷-V/i violin intro, Guilty is one of the most unapologetically gothic tracks that I’ve heard in K-pop, without so much as a trace of positivity in any of its melodic makeup. The tense iv⁷-V+/i-i-VII, VI-vii°/VII-V/i-V+/i verses are basically just extended, anxiety-riddled waits for the big, sweeping choruses, which change key to G minor (I think. Probably. I don’t know, I suck at finding keys). The first chorus is especially satisfying, with a short i-V/VII-VI-V/i, i-V/VII-VI-VII instrumental interlude leading up to it that spotlights the track’s dingy, electronic glissando bassline. If the iˢᵘˢ²-III-V⁷/i choruses weren’t sinister enough, they finish off with dramatic, stop-timey pauses between the vocals and the V/VII-V/i instrumental blasts.

 

The soundscape doesn’t do much to brighten it, mainly poisoned with slow, mournful strings; the aforementioned dreary bassline; and electric guitar accents. The only relatively bright synth sample--a cool, high-pitched arpeggio lead that sounds like thousands of ice crystals crashing into the listener’s ears and shattering upon impact--is employed during the song’s greatest and most intense moment: The psychotically urgent and despondent bridge, which ties loose ends by incorporating both keys--leading off with i-IIIᵃᵈᵈ⁶-VI-Vˢᵘˢ⁴/i, i-III-VI-VII in E minor, and finishing off with i-iv-VI-V⁷/i, i-V⁷/VII-VI-V/i in G minor as it rabidly escalates to the distressed ad-libs of the lengthened final chorus.

 

STELLAR were one of the most underappreciated girl groups of the decade; all of their nominations in the top 100 saw them teaming up with who I consider the most talented production units in the business, Sweetune and/or MonoTree. Sweetune/MonoTree were responsible for many, many entries in the countdown, always coming through with whistle-clean sound engineering and complex, dense chord progressions. Guilty is just the first of many such songs, and STELLAR alone still have three songs left in the running.