pokecapn's top 30+ kpop of 2023
(the rules)
- i went through countless title tracks, album cuts, and everything in between, to bring you
- 30 kpop songs that Kick Ass per my exacting standards, "awards" for 12 songs that missed or would never make the cut, and a bonus playlist with an additional nearly 250 songs i found good or at least entertaining
- no other year-end lists tainted these judgments. it is quite hard to avoid spoilers but i must bear that burden as a consequence of getting lost in the Content Swamp
- 2023 had a crazy amount of competent songs with a lot of great sounds. "blinding lights" is now a kpop subgenre. i sidelined a ton of drum & bass and garage because it's now the norm instead of the novelty.
- in the spirit of variety, i intentionally replaced songs that rhymed too closely with ones higher on the list. i could probably build a parallel universe of this entire post
previous years: 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022
awards
The Literally Just "Take On Me" Award - Minigame Star: tripleS - New Look
The Literally Just "Take On Me" Award - Coin Star: ZeroBaseOne - In Bloom
The Pryda Snare Award: Dohwa, Elly, Yeoreum, Yeeun, Juri, Jiwoo, Hwiseo - Last Piece
The Saxophone Award: Kim Areum - Summer Love
The Saxophonest Award: Kim Areum - Summer Love (Saxophone Version)
The Moustache Mixtape Award: B.I feat. Kid Milli & Lil Cherry - Wave
The #sponsored Award - Minigame Star: aespa - Hold On Tight
The #sponsored Award - Coin Star: NewJeans - Zero
The Why Did The Lion Get Lost in The Forest Award: Hypnosis Therapy - Jongno
The Comic Sans of Music Award: NiziU - Love & Like
The Most Improved By Putting a Donk On It Award: Jisoo - Flower (KAZERR Remix)
The Most Improved By Replacing The Entire Song Award: NCT 127 - 2 Baddies (Biicla Remix)
The Dumbest Song Award: Hijvc Kid feat. Cherry Boy 17 - No More Bitch
the list
30) ILY:1 - Twinkle Twinkle
Let's kick things off with a nice little bit of dreamy synthscape. This does nothing as memorable as Oh My Girl's entries in the field, but you gotta give credit where it's due for keeping the sound alive
29) Dreamcatcher - Rising
As a thoroughly basic being I crave two things: Pumpkin Spice Lattes and the angsty DnB cheese of Pendulum. Dreamcatcher's attempt at the Pendul-esque scratches the itch but doesn't satisfy the urge. This bass wasn't really strong enough
28) Mimirose - Tipsy
A whiplash ride between stanky electro and cheery anthemic dance. When more songs sample/quote Cybotron, this list will finally be able to write itself
27) BXB - Fly Away
It feels like shit's going down right from the start. A throwback to boy group songs past where everyone was moody and felt like they had something to prove. Nice guitar bit at the end that really needed more room to breathe
26) tripleS LOVElution - Speed Love
solid snake voice LIQUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID
25) from20 - Beat It
No bullshit synthwave that makes all the right choices. The synths are juicy, the snare's great, the pace is speedy, the vocals slot right in. The only misstep is inviting the MJ comparison with the title choice; don't mess with the maestro
24) CSR - Shining Bright
Speaking of lattes you know how you can't get a normal one? It's gotta be a Crystallized Syrupy Ristretto or something. That's not what CSR stands for, but this is the audio equivalent, so let's all Chug and Charge and start vibrating at 3PM
23) Lee Chaeyeon - I Don't Wanna Know
"Drift Phonk" seems to have more in common with electro house than its bass-clipping trap namesake, but we can let the TikTokers think they've discovered a new genre. Cool sounds that'll get tired, until they add some hoovers
22) tripleS +(KR)ystal Eyes - Cherry Talk
The first entry that's a real earworm threat. Your defenses will be busy fending off all the random crap in the instrumental, you'll recover just in time for the slap bass in the bridge, and then it's all boom cherry talk ch
21) Xikers - Rockstar
A great job at evoking some kind of bizarre rap-punk aesthetic despite having pretty much none of either. Hitting with the full 172 BPM each chorus and doubling up at the end makes this a relentless energy assault
20) Yena - Wicked Love
That brief period around the year 2000 when pop got good again is eternally symbolized by red latex and NOT by referencing 3 year old movies. So taking the Oops I Did It Again formula and smoothing all the edges off is guaranteed success
19) Kwon Eunbi - The Flash
This definitely feels like the producers tried to make a friendlier Glitch for round 2. The formula's mostly there as well as a lot of the textures, but reeling in the madness makes for mere greatness rather than incredibleness
18) JYP - Changed Man
I think I've said this before, but JYP perfectly understands the inherent shittiness of the sound of the 80s and can channel that vibe without a hint of irony. Everything sucks just a little bit more than it should and it rules
17) fromis_9 - Attitude
Here's some smooth housey stuff that feels like it's constantly building up pressure in your brain. You hit the final chorus and that's enough to push the valve out of the way and steam starts pouring out. that's just fromis_9 cooking
16) Young Posse - Macaroni Cheese
By all logic this song is straight garbage, but having a bunch of kids rap about macaroni and cheese over an insanely competent instrumental is actually brilliant and I can't stop listening to it. Kpop is coming for your groceries
15) NMIXX - Party O'Clock
It turns out NMIXX's only problem was being given dumpster-tier songs. The mixing's a little wack but it doesn't get in the way of extremely catchy pop-glossy garage
14) Cignature - Parade
Cignature's producers are always dancing on a knife's edge when it comes to making something awesome versus barely listenable swill. You could argue they failed here, and you're not wrong, but I love how bonkers the second half of the chorus is
13) Heejin - Algorithm
Most tripleS/ARTMS title tracks in 2023 had a decent instrumental and a bunch of "la la la" instead of real catchy melodies. Algorithm has that, but beat the system by making everything else way better, especially the vocal syncopation in the chorus
12) NewJeans - ETA
I don't think other producers really "get" the effectiveness of this effortless effort, Rhodesy East-Coast Clubby sound when they try to copy NewJeans. It turns out you still can innovate with the Think break, and yes, ETA was the better single than Super Shy
11) DreamNote - Lemonade
Musically more like a Cold Brew Shandy, where you wonder if this recipe blog is some kind of psyop as you pour the coffee and lemonade into a glass. You take a sip and you're pretty sure nothing came together right. But you're making a second glass
10) Weeekly - Sweet Dream
An already oddly sinister sound that takes Love Cherry Motion-style trips to Hell. If this followed through on the absolutely incredible threat it made of going completely off the rails right before the third chorus, it would be a masterpiece
9) NMIXX - Roller Coaster
More like... Roland Coaster lmao!!! An absolute feast of Synthesizer, and I think the relative "simplicity" lets NMIXX show off their vocals in a way that doesn't distract from the main job as the top line melody
8) LE SSERAFIM - Eve, Psyche & The Bluebeard's wife
As soon as club sound entered kpop, tons of songs tried to squeeze it in whatever they were originally making. But here it all makes sense, the manic energy fits the theme, and there's tons of instantly catchy hooks
7) Chuu - Aliens
Of all the Blinding Lightses, of which there were dozens, if not more, Chuu's was the best. You need someone with strong enough vocals to command attention away from the energy. And I can just drink the more melancholy vibe compared to its contemporaries
6) STAYC - Bubble
Mercilessly cheery and uplifting. You will get addicted to the synths. You will get addicted to the bubble bubble bubble. The only reason this isn't higher is because we all know 808s kick
5) aespa - Spicy
Goes way harder than it has any right to. Monster bass and the main synth is what Megatron's doing to the toilet after drinking too many Crystal Sugar Ristrettos. Little bit of acid lurking around. Countless goodies in here
4) Viviz - Untie
A straight up house banger that stays an unsettlingly long time in vocal fry range. What I liked the most was all the Big Room House synth tropes running at the wrong speed in the pre-chorus and bridge. Just kidding what I liked the most was Eunha
3) Apoki - Space
This is the italo synthwave perfection you ordered. All the instrumentation is spot on and everything has room to breathe. The singer behind Apoki delivers a whirlwind of emotion and you can just sit back and melt into the track
2) Ive - Classic
Making this list took a while because I HAD to hear Classic all the way through each time. The bass is absolutely cracked, the vocal mix is haunting, there's an unreal mood throughout. Most importantly, I racked up my biggest Balatro scores with this on loop
1) Ive - I Am
The ultimate feel-good anthem. There's constant propulsion from the swung triplet time. The instrumental cuts back to force the vocals to be as confident as the lyrics imply. It feels bigger than the sum of its parts. YOU feel bigger than the sum of your parts
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BONUS PLAYLIST
here is a playlist with everything on the list, along with 250 other songs, for over 15 hours of kpop beats to relax/study to