Kpopular's Top 20 K-pop Songs Of 2015

And so, as 2015 comes to a close, I decide to get up off my arse and write a bloody article for a change. As it's the new year, why not just copy everyone else and chuck out a list of my favourite K-pop songs from 2015? A smashing idea.

Notes:
- This list only counts K-pop singles, as whilst I hate using a "one song per group" rule 70% of positions would otherwise be taken up by f(x) and Wonder Girls.
- Japanese and English songs are not present though that's more because nothing particularly notable was released in those two languages.

With that here they are, prepare to fume when you see none of your faves are here (spoilers: if they're from YG they most certainly won't be) and a song you can't fucking bear is standing tall and proud in the top 10:

KARA's "Cupid" placed at #21. Gyuri's not too pleased.

20) "Ring My Bell" [Girl's Day]

Ah yes, I can already hear the groans of people reading this. A lot of people thought this single was a massive disappointment, mainly because it's so cluttered: a drum machine that hurtles at SANIC speed, tons of instruments playing simultaneously, vocals that have been soaked in reverb and layered about 20 times, and a ton of warbling ad-libs from Minah all smush together to make one big mess of a song. And what a glorious mess it is. People were really annoyed that "Macaron", "With Me", and "Top Girl" were all relegated to B-sides instead of being made title tracks, and whilst they're probably all better I love the manic energy of "Ring My Bell".

19) "Like OOH-AHH" [TWICE]

Another song that's way too busy for its own good, and another song that I love and play constantly. "Like OOH-AHH" just slips past "Ring My Bell" thanks to its killer chorus and the chants throughout, which make the song really fun to sing along to. What can I say? I'm secretly a 12 year old girl who adores punchy girl-power songs written by adult men. JYP's made me completely fall for TWICE and now I love all the members - especially mega cutie Sana, bless her heart.

18) "Sleepless Night" [9MUSES]

Brave Brothers may be known for his disco-tinged dance tunes, but he tends to shine more as a producer for moody, piano-driven tracks, and "Sleepless Night" is no exception. "Sleepless Night" lacks the buildup one would expect from most K-pop songs but any kind of climax would completely ruin the dreamy atmosphere of this song so thank god for that. Given her husky, breathy tone, I wish Hyuna was used a little more in this song, though Hyemi stands out much more than usual, which is a pleasant change. It's very different to 9MUSES' usual dance-focused songs, but might just be one of their best.

17) "Ice Cream Cake" [Red Velvet]

With nonsensical lyrics even by K-pop standards, music-box melodies, and lightning-speed synths, "Ice Cream Cake" sounds like an early f(x) on a sugar rush, and also shows the true potential of Red Velvet that we didn't quite see enough of last year. So tasty, indeed.

16) "D.O.A (Dead Or Alive)" [HIGH4]

Everyone absolutely loved HIGH4's debut song with IU, the rather pedestrian "Not Spring, Love, or Cherry Blossoms", and many said that the group showed lots of potential. They were right, HIGH4 routinely shit on 95% of other boy groups but it's as if K-pop fans forgot they existed. Maybe they're not actually too good, and I've just convinced myself that they are because Myunghan and Sunggu are fairly attractive? Nah, it's much more likely for everyone else to have awful taste, especially since the synths on this track are fantastic and it's completely free of trap breakdowns, which automatically makes this of the best boy group releases this year.

15) "Ah-Choo" [Lovelyz]

Forget G-Friend, TWICE, iKON, or SEVENTEEN, because Lovelyz thrash them and every other K-pop rookie group going at the moment musically - their songs are sparkling, breezy, and refreshingly different to the output most rookie girl groups churn out. A lot of people say their sound is very similar to J-pop though personally I always thought it was more reminiscent of 80s pop; listening to Lovelyz always reminds me of the group New Order (who my dad is quite the fan of) as well as a few other electronic musicians from that era. Regardless of wherever producer OnePiece draws inspiration from, "Ah-Choo" is a delight (also Babysoul is best Lovely fite me irl).

14) "If You Do" [GOT7]

This song frustrated me so much when I first heard it: when I first heard I was really put off because I felt that something was missing from this song, something that it desperately needs. As with all of Black Eyed Pilseung's tracks this feeling has never gone away, even after I warmed up to it so much and it became one of my most-played songs this year. Oh well, Youngjae is here so all is forgiven.

13) "Crazy" [4Minute]

4Minute take a trip to Swagworld and miraculously manage to make a decent song out of it. Not just decent, but pretty damn great. "Crazy" is jam-packed has all sorts going on yet despite its name the chaos feels tightly controlled the whole time, and whilst it means this song doesn't "go hard doe" as much as it could this is probably for the best, as it stand this is 4Minute's best song since "Volume Up". Let's enjoy this return to form whilst we can though, because their Skrillex-produced track could well be a disaster. #PrayFor4Minute

12) "Bad" [INFINITE]

INFINITE are at their best when at their most melodramatic, and "Bad" turns up the theatrics with violins that build up tension in all the right places. Woohyun's naturally bold voice is particularly effective in the pre-chorus, whilst Sunggyu's sharp voice jabs right through the tension like a knife. (Also as a bonus Hoya looks really hot in this MV I 100% approve). 

11) "Vibrato" [STELLAR]

I'm not sure how anyone finds the time to argue about over-sexualisation in K-pop and whether Stellar are being oppressed and the male gaze or whatever, I'm always too busy loving their songs. Songs such as "Study", "Marionette", and "Mask" were all great but "Vibrato" rockets up to new levels of amazing: the violin motifs and keyboard stabs throughout are fantastic and the bridge is jarring but works brilliantly, building up to an incredible crescendo as the final chorus explodes. There's fantastic production on display here and in a genre full of braindead, half-hearted drivel that's endlessly spoon-fed and rehashed again and again, "Vibrato" seems much more sophsticated than it has any right to be.

10) "Heart Attack" [AOA]

Sophistication is nice, but ultimately K-pop is best when it's pure fun, and I had much more fun with AOA's "Heart Attack" than I did with any other song this year. Brave Brothers may have just whipped up a Miniskirt 4.0 and then made everything louder for that authentic "trashy summer banger" feel, but my god does it work wonders; of course everyone pretended they were above Brave Brothers' predictable antics and said they didn't like it, and yet "Heart Attack" ended up being both AOA's best-selling single and mini album by a considerable amount. We also got another legendary intro from the muddafrickin' tap madam Jimin (ANITGOESALILSUM'NLIKDIS), what more could you ask for?

9) "4 Walls" [f(x)]

With Red Velvet releasing wacky bubblegum pop halfway between "Oh!"-era SNSD and "Danger" era f(x), the latter are now free to complete their transformation into faux-artsy hipster queens with "4 Walls". It may lack the glorious experimentation of "Red Light", but here we see f(x) embracing a listless, meandering sound that suits their decidedly passive image pretty well. Sleek, inertia-filled house beats make it all too easy to become lost in this song, wallowing in the warmth of f(x)'s vocals. I wouldn't mind if f(x) explore this sound further in the future.

8) "You're Pitiful" [FIESTAR]

I'm all too happy to gobble up melancholy mood-pop like there's no tomorrow, so it's of no surprise that I loved this song. Another nice example of simplicity being a song's strongest point, "You're Pitiful" presents itself as understated, sensitive, and sophisticated. No wonder it completely flopped -  K-pop fans don't have time for anything that doesn't end in an explosion of screeching synths and warbling ad-libs which drown out the actual chorus.

7) "Kiss My Lips" [BoA]

Slinky, groovy synths and sensual singing make "Kiss My Lips" truly captivating: it slithers and glides its way into your ears before ensnaring you in its hypnotic spell. Sexy concepts are all well in good, but it's rare that we get music in K-pop that actually sounds sexy, and the enchanting "Kiss My Lips" is as seductive as they come.

6) "You Think" [Girls' Generation]

YAAAAS SLAY MY QUEENS SLAY just LISTEN to those ad libs oh my gOD SLAY MY ASS. Where is my wig???? STOLEn by these HUNTIES!!!! I'm DYING over here oh my goOOOOoodddd. #scALPeD

5) "Dumb Dumb" [Red Velvet]

Washing machiiiiine. Washing machiiiiine. Slooshly sloshy slooshy sloshy, get that dirty shirty cleeean. "Dumb Dumb" sounds like all of its components where just chucked straight into the washer, mushed together, and then instead of being left out to dry the song was grabbed by the cuff, shaken violently, and then shoved out for release. The result is a brilliantly bonkers earworm that unlike "Kiss My Lips" simply barges into your brain with brute force of a sledgehammer, and almost immediately you'll be chanting "dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb" along with the Red Velvet girls. It's only a matter of time before SM manage to turn us all into the androids seen in this video; soon the world will be Red Velvet and nothing else. All hail.

4) "I Feel You" [Wonder Girls]

K-pop has always had an affinity for '80s music, though "retro" songs in the genre rarely go further than throwing down some disco-influenced instrumental and dressing up the idols in old-school clothing. Trust Wonder Girls though to go all-in on a concept: "I Feel You" gives us the perfect combination of warm synths, sensual vocals, and signature cheese to create a near-perfect '80s tribute, right down to the MTV parody logo at the beginning of the video. If there was a big power chorus it would have been flawless, but let's give them credit for a phenomenal effort.

3) "Lion Heart" [Girls' Generation]

Girls' Generation are no strangers to retro-tinged throwback tracks either, combining vintage grooves with contemporary bubblegum to create a timeless feel. "Lion Heart" is a great example of this, as an addictive bassline combined with a frilly, floaty chorus makes for one of the finest additions to their discography since 2011's "Mr. Taxi". The confident drive the members display in "Mr. Mr." and "You Think" is great, but "Lion Heart" is the most Girls' Generation song there is.

2) "View" [SHINee]

After taking a year off from Korea to release an "eh, it's pretty decent I guess" album in Japan, SHINee returned and dropped the best track they've done since the phenomenal Lucifer back in 2010, as well as the strongest album they've ever released. Welcome fucking back. Free of any yolos, wub-wubs, or dibidibidises, "View" was the true K-pop summer jam despite being released a month early - it has a great energy to it that's propelled further by SHINee's excellent vocals but doesn't ever overwhelm like a lot of SHINee's songs tend to do, indeed "View" shows they've moved forward from the flashy but ultimately hollow sound they showed on The Misconceptions Of Us to something fuller and with a lot more bite.

1) "Black Swan" [Rainbow]

"I want something different!". It's something that K-pop fans demand constantly nowadays, and recently it's cropped up even more after the amount of sexy/cute concepts done by girl groups and swagyolo/innocent concepts by boy groups. It's about time fans were given something different, something that has never quite been done before, something unique.

But when will we get this, this track which will take everyone by surprise and truly stand out from the crowd? Well, two years ago SNSD released the hectic, frenzied "I Got A Boy", and by SNSD's standards it did pretty poorly. So back to the SWAGSWAG WUBWUBWUB and ottokhae oppa nan nega pillyohae!!! songs it was. 2013 came and went and IGAB was the only notable song that tried to push the boundaries of K-pop in any way. 

One year later f(x) released "Red Light", a song which, like IGAB, was fresh and new with the chorus that punched K-pop fans right in the face and screamed "HI THERE I'M THAT UNIQUE SONG YOU KEEP ASKING FOR". It was much more refined and much better than SNSD's effort, maybe K-pop fans would receive this more positively? "Red Light" didn't even reach 500,000 downloads, a pitiful result for a top-tier group such as f(x).

Later that year Yeeun debuted as HA:TFELT with "Ain't Nobody", a song that features a dramatic contrast between soft, ballad-styled verses and a dramatic, booming dubstep chorus. The song charted at number 15 and HA:TFELT was deemed a flop, especially when compared to Sunmi's "Full Moon" earlier that year. So back to the SWAGSWAG WUBWUBWUB and ottokhae oppa nan nega pillyohae!!! songs it was. 

"I want something different!" Oh, won't someone answer their call? Will fans ever get the unique track they keep asking for? "Black Swan" is as far removed from the standard K-pop formula as K-pop songs allow: a seemingly barren instrumental contains lots of subtle layers which can easily pass by unnoticed, the song structure is very different to the regular frame seen in K-pop, and the chorus is predominantly a single note wailed again and again with keyboard riffs and stabbing synths providing the hook. Would this finally be the "something new" that fans wanted? "Black Swan" entered the Gaon digital chart at number 43, before plummeting down the next week. Promotions for Innocent were pulled after just two weeks because reception was so poor. So back to the SWAGSWAG WUBWUBWUB and ottokhae oppa nan nega pillyohae!!! songs it was.

It's now 2016. It's about time fans were given something different, something that has never quite been done before, something unique. They sit and listen to "Shake It", "Dope", and "Bang Bang Bang", waiting for a song that will stray from the beaten path and bravely stand out. Maybe someday...