Kingie

Oopsie Doopsie I missed quite a bit. H&Ms: Tongue is amazing, shame the rest of the album was not up to par at all. Barbie Tingz has grown on me like a rash. X was one of the songs I liked the least on Poppy's album, I think some of the other songs on the album do the metal/pop transition in a much smoother way but I also get that she was deliberately going for an abrupt thing. Sticky has a gorgeous music video, this is the first time I've heard it not really my cup of tea musically though. I hated Bloom for so long too, it's so corny and the comparisons to the (extremely overrated) Teenage Dream did it no favours in my eyes, but it really an incredibly sweet song when I put my f*g hating aside. 20-16: Quiz is AMAZING. Love that she finally picked out a great beat. 15-11: Love The Distance. Def agree re: its fusion of old&new without trend-hopping. Glad you're like...the only person I've seen who preferred No Angel to Focus, it's a lot more fun and Focus is kinda dull to me, lacks any sort of engaging melody. I thought Level Up was cute but it didn't get me to renew my stan card that I threw away at some point after Jackie. Idk if it's just from it being so overplayed over here that it's lost its shine but it always kinda amuses me when I see any non-UK song that incorporates Garage receive acclaim when there's seemingly not much that different about it from the **** they spam on the radio here (see: 4 Walls, the worldwide reception to Disclosure's stuff, even just No Tears Left to Cry from this year alone). Also shocked & hurt at you not seeing the power of her past material!! 10-6: didn't know anything from this update! Checked out Rosebud and it's not my scene, a little too dull for my tastes but I guess I can see the Kylie comparison as a Fever via easy listening sorta gig. Falling into Me was a lot better though idk how much I'll replay it with its general incoherentness. And finally, I like Geyser even though Nobody kinda outshined everything on that album for me by miles because I'm basic x Overall lovely list! Your opinions are very interesting to read, you know how to make your point without rambling on (unlike this long ass post ) and your taste is a nice mix of genres and scenes. Also give me some Prince recs at some point hihi.

Missed a few updates so I'll keep it short and sweet. Caution, Be The Cowboy and Golden Hour are all gorgeous. Same goes for the bits I've heard from Ephorize. Didn't know there was a Daphne & Celeste album this year! Or that they did anything at all since You & I Alone. Work It & the KOTO album sound interesting, will try to listen and maybe share some thoughts.

We Appreciate Power slaps....could've done with a minute or two chopping off the running length though. Kiss is the only Prince song I (semi) regularly listen to so I thought Make Me Feel was a nice rehash to take up radio airplay this year over some of the other Top 40 shite.

Luv Liberation and KTSE is cute even if I only ever really go back to WTP. Poppy was such a shock to me because I paid no attention to the pre-release singles and thought pretty much everything she did before this album was complete **** (apart from Money) so the fact that she actually dragged her overwrought persona into some decent songwriting caught me off guard. Probably my fave album of the year, I think only In A Minute falls flat for me and I guess Aristocrat is kinda corny.

I don't really care for SOPHIE but I'd say Immaterial is probably her most tolerable solo work. Drag Vroom Vroom! (When I Rule The World is EXCELLENT though)

Don't Mess Up My Tempo was v cohesive I thought for a k-pop album but I haven't gone back to it much, I think The War is their best album so it probably didn't help that it came after that. I've been meaning to finally get around to Troye's album all year but I'm v lazy when it comes to albums. Bloom was one of my fave western songs of the year though. Kim.....made a listenable soundtrack for me when I was getting ready to go the club on Halloween I guess.

I thought Black Pearl kinda put Lady to shame, I think the cruisy feel that you like is the reason Lady fell flat for me, I'm a basic ho for hooks. I think MMM was decent but it was overshadowed by Bloom for me.

CTFU had no clue Little Boots had done anything since that Afterhours single/EP thing. Sunmi's mini was def a shock considering she not only put out her first listenable song since 2014 but she came up with 4 genuinely excellent ones. Dreamcatcher are kinda consistently decent at b-sides for a K-Pop group, I thought Which A Star was a nice Chvrches rip off though. Only heard Always With You by Aseul and I found it to be pleasant, didn't know there was an EP so I'll have to give it a listen. Power Up is one of the few Red Velvet songs I actually enjoy but the album tracks...not feeling her. Just checked out UNIIQU3 because of your description, and I'm kinda LOVING Bubble Gum and Afterparty so thank you!

BTC is the first (and only) Mitski album I've heard but I liked a good handful of the songs. Nobody was very #relatable for me a couple of months this year.

Overtime and Egoist are cute. The Distance was a pleasant surprise, idk if it's recency bias talking but I'd call it one of her best songs ever. I didn't check out the full KKB EP(?) but I liked Only Acting. I feel like No Contest was the least awful song on Joyride but I didn't particularly...like it.

Eye only found out Primal Heart existed either last week or this week.....couldn't get past the first half. Only heard 3rd Eye and District Nine re: Stray Kids but I think both of those slay, unsure why kpop stans have such a hate boner for them when they're already better than their seniors Got7 and have had a far more consistent year than NCT.

Duck Duck Goose/Quiz slay. Glad she polished her beats up this year.

sdhdhfdf so completely forgot about this!! but it's nearly over so we're just going info dump. Sorry for sporadic tiny/nowrite-ups even though you think they'd be more important for top 20! i'm lazy!! 20. Gugudan - A Girl Like Me 19. Got7 - My Swagger their best song! 18. Snuper - Back:Hug 2017 was the year Snuper became a PSB concept group and I lived for it! 17. IU - Jam Jam 16. EXID - DDD good mix of accidentally-out-there-sound-via-trend-hopping and their dedication to old fashioned pop choruses 15. Hwang Insun - Hwang Ya 14. Nada - Trippin' 13. T-ARA - What's My Name Trendy bull**** is mitigated by constant beat and nice melodic pathos 12. Snuper - The Star of Stars told you I lived for it! 11. Will You Go Out With Me? their (second) best song! 10. Twice - KNOCK KNOCK 9. Laboum - Only U those background "doobadoos" push it over the edge from Hwi Hwi 8. April - Take My Hand 7. 9Muses - Remember 6. ACE - Cactus 5. Teen Top - Call Me 4. Sonamoo - I (Knew It) never thought i'd like a Sonamoo song at all, let alone this much 3. Junho (2PM) - Instant Love 2. Wa$$up - Color TV 1. BP Rania - Beep Beep Beep Absolute First Album style excellence! Further notes: - Worst K-pop song of the year was Red Flavour by Red Velvet. Garbage of the highest degree. - Best Western Song of the year shockingly managed to be Anywhere by Rita Ora. Other songs worth mentioning: Camila Cabello - Havana, Carly Rae Jepsen - Cut to The Feeling, Charli XCX - Babygirl, Hannah Jane Lewis - Raincheck, Kelela - LMK & Mollie King - Hair Down Thank you for the small audience who checked this out, sorry for the mess, and who knows if I'll ever do this again LMAO.

Being more organised than last year kinda went right down the drain but oh well 30. Twice - Signal Kinda weird how polarising Twice became with all their releases this year, considering they were actually pretty committed to straightforward catchy pop tunes rather than their previous noisy cluster-**** sound. Rap break in this **** but the retro synths on the rest of it are GORGEOUS. 29. Top Secret - Mind Control Tried super hard to resist this for a while because I thought the tropical house refrain was godawful, and to be honest it still kinda is but that chorus is EVERYTHING. So sunny, buoyant, and the call and response and mindless "mindmindmindmindmindmind CONTROL" chants are super fun. 28. T-ARA - My Love This random OST just another great surprise and part of their revival this year. Sounds like a b-side from early in their career, but like almost Absolute First Album good, not Temptastic. Qri comes through the vocals too as usual. 27. Hyoyeon ft San E i guess - Wannabe I was literally the only person to like this this year but I don't care. When the teasers dropped I was anxious and on first listen was honestly kinda disappointed, but when it dwelled on me this was ABSOLUTELY what I wanted from a Hyoyeon release, especially compared to last year's (still great but not this great) early 00s Britney rip off. Hyoyeon's attempts to be real hep hap may be corny, but I really really love her raspy husky voice and it's a lot more fun than hearing her melodyne'd vocals. I love the production too; the electronic clicks and beeps just sound awesome, and that blues chorus that comes out of nowhere probably wouldn't interest me had anyone else been at the helm, but Hyoyeon has the perfect lack of vocal talent that keeps it rocking without descending into dull showboat madness. 26. Blah Blah - Good Job And this gets the award for this year's best debut from a nugu girlgroup that we'll probably never hear from again! Honestly I was so caught off guard when I heard this as I expected it to be another slinky sexy disposable song that these kinda groups throw out, but it's so much more. This song is so well written, it just keeps building and building throughout, until that bridge when everything stops and then we return for that final chorus. The whispered vocals, the heavy breathing and screams buried underneath those ominous alarmy synths, this song is SO sinister and I love it. 25. Miso - KKPP An upgraded retool of the admittedly quite dull in retrospect Canvas by 4Minute shows if there was any doubt about it, H Bros are determined to make Miso the second coming of Hyuna, to the extent that they didn't even wait 7 years this time before dropping the backup dancers. 24. Odd Eye Circle (LOONA) - Loonatic Despite all my abuse and shade thrown at the worst LOONA sub-unit thus far, they somehow veered off track for this release and created something surprisingly left field, ending up with the best overall LOONA track so far. All the complaints about the mixing on this being **** or whatever were dumb, that's part of the intentional dream-pop/shoegaze thing that they're going for! Grimes kinda wishes she had this on her last album. 23. Shannon Williams - HELLO Shannon Williams continues to be the most entertaining mess as a person but I thought Why Why would remain a fluke as her only good musical contribution to K-pop. MBK proved me wrong however by yet again making the best use of her extra-ass vocals: slapping them onto a lighter-waving chorus without sacrificing the beat, and creating some awesome twinkling pretty verses. 22. Weki Meki - Fantastic Basically a Crayon Pop song. Confusing how the same person who commissioned this at Fantagio was responsible for the trend-chasing and musically confused "I Don't Like Your Girlfriend". 21. Twice - Likey I hated this on first listen. Begrudgingly bopped on second listen. After having the song repeating in my head enough times over the following week to warrant a THIRD listen, I had to accept that I did in fact likey likey.

Love it but I'd be lying if I didn't say that a lot of songs high up my list (both this year and last year) fare better just because they were released more recently. Glad someone else likes Yes Sir! Mayday was kinda not only my least fave song by April this year though, but their song I like the least out of everything they've released sdhdsds imo it has nothing to do with vocals, it's just a poorly written/produced song. trashy dance can be fun sometimes but it didn't work this time I don't think my top songs are exactly controversial...but I don't expect them to be ranking too high on anybody's else's list either Yeah I def agree with KOTL, I honestly hadn't listened to it for months until I revisited this year's releases to make this list. I think it suffered from being such a summery song being released so early in the year. RIGHT there with you on both the Loona (though Vivid just lost the edge) and April (though JAWA just lost the edge too) opinions though! I see what you mean with Hobgoblin, though I view it as a refined example of that type of song - it's never too headache inducing, knows exactly when to quiet things down and create a build, and it's just a cool dance song.