MY TOP TWENTY K-POP SINGLES OF 2018

It seems I might only have the time and energy to update this blog once a year but, hey-ho, were you not all waiting for my annual top twenty K-pop singles of the year? It has been a phenomenal 2018, and there's so many songs that did not make the cut and I am already wishing were in there (Seventeen's 'Thanks' tops the list, but I also loved Jimin's 'Hey', EXO-CBX's 'Blooming Day', Hyoyeon's reinvention with 'Sober' and her 3LAU collaboration 'Punk Right Now'). There have also been some unexpected surprises - Hyomin's 'Mango' is her best solo single to date, SM Station collaboration 'Wow Thing' is a joy, Key from SHINee made a solid debut with 'One of These Nights' whilst his band incorporated a sound beamed from Southern African for the chorus to 'I Want You' and super-idol team up 'Honey Bee' offered a fine 'last drinks' anthem. Disappointments came along too. Last year I gave the top spot in my list to Taeyeon's sublime 'Fine' but her 2018 comebacks with 'Something New' and Japanese debut 'Stay' were disappointing and puzzlingly played down her stomach-knotting vocal prowess. Likewise EXO, whose 'Tempo' was not a patch on flamboyant album track 'Ooh La La', which I wish they had led-off their 2018 reappearance with. Established idol bands also made some puzzling diversions, goodness knows what the AOA brain trust were thinking with 'Bingle Bangle' or GOT7's sloshy 'Miracle'. At least Seungri took his Big Bang hiatus to give us the dashing '1,2, 3' - a solo comeback to applaud - and BoA led a year of enjoyable singles beginning with the retro-disco of 'One Shot, Two Shot'. BTS continued their domination of the globe, and it was great to see their success in bringing South Korean soft power to a grander stage than ever before. With that said, the band did not offer anything in 2018 that pushed the K-pop sound into new territory (see: Holland on this list). Their best was surely 'Idol' although I think 'DNA' remains their highlight to date. It has been a fascinating 365 days, then, and I have limited myself to just singles (so no album tracks) and also only one song per artist.

So, with that established, let's get on with the rundown...


20) Oh My Girl - Remember Me

I'm starting to conclude that nothing this band does will ever come close to their gobsmackingly gorgeous trance-pop classic Closer from 2015, still one of the very best K-pop shortplays of all time. 'Closer' was always going to be a hard act to follow, and subsequent singles attempted to branch out into different experiments - albeit not always with the best results. However, the band, which has not been without its scandals since lift-off, made a 2018 comeback with a joyously unpretentious, pulse-pounding slice of synth-pop that draws a line under past sounds and seems to start from scratch all over again. It is also the perfect, and unassuming, start to this top twenty and one hopes that the group continues with such less - how could it be put? - outre experiments in the future (as anyone who has endured this year's sub-unit effort might agree).

19) Apink - I'm So Sick

Driven by an emotion-fuelled lead vocal, and an autotuned catch that introduces the song and reappears throughout, this is undemanding pop escapism but with a healthy dose of maturity in its presentations and lyrics - something the more innocent and twee bubblegum of Apink has never really managed to achieve (with a largely young teen-focused intent). Finally reimagined as women with adult problems for this 2018 comeback, the new shortplay sounds a little like late-day T-ara (2015 - 2017) - but with more verve. A good bouncy chorus and some slick vocals make this a hard release to dislike and an easy one to love.

18) IU - BBIBBI

For her tenth anniversary IU gave us this relaxed little R&B number that proves infectiously catchy. I must admit that it took some time for last year's mellow-as-it-gets 'Palette', to grow on me, although when it did, it became a repeat-listen. The same is true for the artist's contribution to 2018. It's just... lovely. Bless her.

17) Black Pink - Ddu-Du Ddu-Du Du

Black Pink strutted into 2018 as one of the biggest K-pop bands on the planet and end the year unscathed, with an Asian (world?) stadium tour to embark on in 2019. The hopes were high for the follow-up to the outstanding 'As if it's Your Last' and whilst 'Ddu-Du Ddu-Du Du' lacks the scale of the 2017 release, it shows YG's mainstay writer Teddy doing what he does best (and might even be doing in his sleep): a repetitive hip-hop beat matched with a jubilent chorus of repetitive chart-baiting pop. It is no insult to maintain that this is Black Pink's weakest single to date, because that only attests to the quality of what has come so far. It's good, if not quite great - but that first bridge at 53 seconds in is still to die for.

16) Suzy- Sober

Model, actress and general megastar, Suzy Bae probably never needs to do anything for the rest of her life given her unshakable status as one of Korea's biggest exported faces and all-round icon. Yet her mini-album, released in February, gained almost unanimously positive reviews and showed a solo force par excellence. The sexy strut of 'Sober' was one of the year's highlights, matched by a confident and colourful music video that announced Suzy as K-pop's latest standalone chart force. With a sound as great as this, don't count on that Miss A reunion ever taking place.

15) iKon Kiling Me

YG tried hard to recover from a departing Psy, a collapse in efforts to break CL in America and a defunct Big Bang in 2018, not only with Black Pink but with their relaunch of iKon. Thankfully, 'Killing Me' is a truly bombastic experiment - kicking-off as a routine bout of ballad-pop before going full blast into a pounding EDM chorus followed by a ferocious rap and then an interlude for some hip-hop grooves. There are too many 'catches' to keep up with in this single, and it has a brilliant ability to come-and-go with its build-up to the explosive chorus, but this is undoubtedly an audacious mix of sounds for one of K-pop's less exploited big label-names and an exciting primer for things to come.

14) Amber and Luna - Lower

Hopefully this early year anthem will not miss out on many lists due to its release date (January, 5th - an eternity ago in K-pop, meaning it might have slipped from a few minds). End of the night trance, mixed with sophisticated EDM beats and even a spot of nineties rave, this is a gorgeous satisfier as we all patiently hope that F(X) can eventually make that well deserved return to the spotlight. Luna, it bears noting, still has one of K-pop's most underrated and seductive voices.

13) Jonghyun - Shinin

It is difficult to listen to Jonghyun's final album, 'Poet | Artist', knowing that this was the singer's final statement before departing this planet. Standout track 'Take a Dive' was probably the LP's emotional peak but likely too intense for a posthumous single release from an artist whose suicide hit the international news. 'Shinin', however, was the sort of feel good single that was needed. Although it lacks the impact of 'She Is', his audacious 2016 single that features a falsetto which will surely go down in the ages, this was a bittersweet reminder of what a magnificent talent the world lost last December.

12) Yuri - Into You

Girls' Generation member Yuri has been kept away from the solo spotlight since the band debuted in 2007 (and at this point only Sunny has yet to get a chance to shine on her lonesome) but this hip-shaking effort was well worth the wait. A single inspired by the music of the Mediterrean was probably not what anyone expected from the SNSD icon and the result is effectively exotic and inevitably provocative.

11) (G)I-DLE - Latata

Fast becoming one of the year's 'sounds of the summer', this is so absolutely perfectly put together, and so slickly produced, that it boggles the mind how any mere mortal concocted something that becomes so instantaneously jammed in your skull. It is perhaps a bit too rich in sound (small complaint, I know) - it feels like pop beamed from another planet, with every voice auto-tuned and dusted to perfection, matching the delightfully unpredictable switch-and-stop-start tempo of the backing grooves, not to mention the sudden veer into a surreal Indian-inspired dance and sound, but... wow. Just wow. Only in Brexit Britain could a population be excited about The Spice Girls reforming when pop of this quality exists.

10) EXID - I Love You

Back as a fivesome for the first time in years, Exid's latest outing, there best since 'Lie' a whole 18 months ago, throws back to an 80s power-synth sound, complete with some dazzling vocals, whilst maintaining the band's usual 'big' dancefloor style. Worth noting that the single was part-penned by LE, whose rap here is a standout. Her contributions to the EXID story are often pushed into the background thanks to the superstar presence of Hani (who has less to do, vocally, here thanks to the return of Solji and her distinctive howl), but she gets some of the best moments in 'I Love You'. Also worth noting that this might be the most South Korean of all videos released this year. I've had nights like this in Seoul too (as has anyone who has tried to 'drink like a Korean').

9) Taemin - Under my Skin

Taemin's Japanese comebacks have been better than his homegrown ones, and it was no different with the ertshile SHINee member's 2018 opus. 'Under my Skin' is Taemin realising another deliciously widescreen project - like the crescendo to the end credits of a tragic film epic. It's outstanding and arguably his finest single to date. Still a top league player in K-pop, it will be curious to see how SHINee continues to move beyond Jonghyun's passing whilst still providing a platform, and the freedom, for its solo stars to excercise their demons. Currently, this feels like the most obvious attempt from any SHINee star to vocally address Jonghyun's passing - although, understandably, the lyrics are wide open for interpretation. Either way, this is the feel bad K-pop song of the year, and an essential listen.

8) Red Velvet - Bad Boy

'Bad Boy' came early in the year, just before Red Velvet seduced Kim Jong-un and scaled their highest heights of commercial success yet. It is flawless, obviously, from start to finish - and that is about all I have to say about Red Velvet's greatest contribution to 2018, but world domination is surely forthcoming.

7) Stray Kids - Voices

Stray Kids gained friction and fan favouritism this year, only their second on the scene, but obviously fell behind the fan conquering BTS. Both, to some extent, attempt a sound that oozes 'authenticity' (after criticising BTS on Twitter, I got a wealth of 'what other K-pop bands write their music?' tweets, although clearly some fan definitions of 'write' are, how should we say, loose to say the least) whilst a slick pop machine pulls the strings behind-the-scenes. Not that this is something to criticise in itself, obviously, and B.A.P probably set the stage for South Korean mass-manufactured bands that make an attempt to sound indier-than-thou (right down to epic 'edgy' videos and a 'straight-from-the-parent's-garage' succession of early singles) and fair play to BTS for making an international stage of it. Stray Kids are part stadium-rock and part this tradition, at least so far, and 'Voices' is a massive single. If this all pays off on a BTS scale is anyone's guess, but Stray Kids have a better chance than anyone of breaking in a big way outside of the Far East.

6) NCT U - Boss

Damn, this is suave. A handsome and assertive dance growl, NCT U stomped back into the public eye to reclaim their place as the best of the NCT units. And if you are losing count of which is which and with what member at this stage of SM's mind-melting NCT experiment then join the club. What is for sure is that 'Boss' continues a surge of upward quality for the entire shebang - and it is delicious to consider where the future might go...

5) Sunmi - Heroine

From a purely personal standpoint, this song was just a vital feel good much-needed early year anthem. It should also be noted that Sunmi's follow-up single this year is also well worth a spin (it might even be better, but 'Heroine' has more emotional relevance to your writer). Does this plagiarise Cheryl Cole? Quite probably. But don't let that make you hate on it too much.

4) Jennie - Solo

Even outdoing her mother band, Black Pink's Jennie Kim, who has long been one of YG's MVPs albeit as a background player before her 2016 breakthrough, gave listeners one of the annual best with this standalone effort. Longtime fans will be well-aware that she has a voice which holds up to some of the best, but applause to YG for giving her such a killer tune to get her tonsils around. One of the indiest-sounding efforts of 2018 - this is a defining moment for a band poised to be as big as BTS on a global scale (lets just hope they don't rise and fall as quick as former labelmates 2NE1, whom YG pushed into America at the eventual cost of the foursome's own stability).

3) Girls' Generation - Lil Touch

Down to five, and missing key vocalists Seohyun and Tiffany (who attempted a breakout with her lacklustre American debut in 2018, revealing the limitations of no longer having the SM machine at full force), Girls' Generation nevertheless came back with their best shortplay since Catch me if you Can in 2015. A remarkable reinvention, and a lovably aggressive pop tune with a breathless pace, the future for SNSD, now tipping into their thirties (only indicating their unique longevity) is evidently as vast as the remaining five members want it to be.

2) Mamamoo - Wind flower

Mamamoo had a delightfully diva-ish reinvention in 2018, kicking-off with the beauty of piano ballad 'Paint Me', a notable statement that this annum was going to take a very different direction for the foursome, who vocally remain one of the top tier bands in K-popdom (and in 2018 their management appears to have done everything to emphasise this, as a cursorary click on any of these links will indicate). Follow-ups such as the whispy ballad 'Starry Night' and the Spanish guitars of 'Egotistic' gave the group a lavish and mature sound that nevertheless retained aspects of their earlier pop experimentalism. It led to late-year entry 'Wind flower', which is far more subdued than the previous three singles but points to a band that is just as comfortable with an indie-guitar number as they are an epic pop production or piano-led bombast. There are some brilliant use of backing vocals and harmonies in 'Wind flower', and given K-pop's general consensus that when one member of a band drops out, the show goes on - it seems uncertain how Mamamoo can ever be anything without all four members (of which leader Solar has arguably the best set of lungs). Hats off to the music video as well, which captures some of the silent urban beauty of late night Hong Kong.

1) Holland - I'm So Afraid

Korea's first openly gay K-pop idol burst out with this epic soundscape that captures the sublime calm-before-the-storm, then the heightened apprehension and panic, of 'coming out'. A short dance-opera, that scales ambitious heights of expression in the shortplay format, this is absolutely spellblinding in design and execution. A testament to the evolving nature of South Korean pop music, even as the 'genre' (term used insanely loosely) reaches a decade since 'Gee', 'I'm So Afraid' came out of nowhere to be my most beloved moment in music this year.