The 20 Best K-Pop Songs of 2014

If you became a K-Pop fan in 2014 or already seasoned member, you may feel that you came in at the worst possible time. This year was filled with a number of scandals, tragedies and lawsuits that shook the very core of the industry. Most of the releases this year were also pretty weak compared to the genre exploring, risk-taking bops that dropped. Of course, 2014 was not a total disappointment in the K-Pop world and here are 20 songs that prove that:

Girl's Day "Darling"

The month of July is redeeming the state of the K-Pop scene in 2014. First f(x) deliver the genre bending madness that we've been yearning for with "Red Light" and now Girls Day serve some sun tinged realness with the summer single "Darling".

DROP IT! Girls Day "Something"

The new it girls of K-Pop are back for their annual wig donation. The foursome known as Girls Day handed every K-Pop act their retirement papers last year with the uber-catchy "Expecation" and the iconic suspender/butt dance. Now that the girls are kind of established, it's time for a new concept for a new year!

The Pop Critics Top 30 Songs of 2013

Maybe the album doesn't live up to your standards, but individual tunes do. Genre-mashing, funk, throwbacks, songs with interpolations of timeless rap novelties were what the public wanted. All the songs are here in a convenient Grooveshark playlist for you. Enjoy and comment!

Negelcted K-Pop Songs: July 2013

There are always those comebacks or debuts that I miss (or totally forget to blog because I have a life outside of the internet) in the K-Pop world. And as you can see, Taeyang is not pleased with my neglect. I'm sorry. I can't do them all!!!! So I decided to retread the K-blogosphere and wrap up ten (because if I tried to do all of them my eyes would bleed and render me blind from blogging ever again) and plan on doing this at the end/beginning of every month.
1.BTS-We Are Bulletproof (Part II)
After "No More Dream," BTS was one of the groups where I was like, meh. Then they went and released an MV for this Americanized urban smash and I was sold! The delivery, the clothes, the choreography, Jimin's hips... TEN! TEN! TEN!
2.Xia Junsu-Incredible
Not a big fan of the former TVXQ member's "Taratellegra" which was just a bit too "forward thinking" for me. "Incredible" however nice, the video is very colourful and diverse but the rap (shake your spaceship candy...really?) just really brings down the quality of the song, much like Flo Rida and Pitbull do whenever they feature on anything.
3.Brown Eyed Girls-Recipe
The pre-release single before the girls unleashed the beast, sounds like it should have been on Ga-In's "Talk About S." But that's not me hatin', just making an observation. Funky, smooth, perfect for mature late night drives through the city. And Miryo, how I live for your raps...
4.Brown Eyed Girls-Kill Bill
 
Their official comeback song, Brown Eyed Girls do the unexpected and tone it down instead of turning it up and making all the other K-Pop comebacks look basic as fuck.While sonically Kill Bill sounds like a basic, Western (as in westerns genre not Western)inspired song, the visuals are a comedic blend of the Taratino film it's based on and dash of "Abracadabra."  
5.Girl's Day-Please Tell Me
Like the saying goes, if you have too much of a good thing, something pleasant becomes unpleasant because you have too much of it. Girl's Day has already come back twice and on the 30th, they released a special digital single. I guess Dream Tea is still trying to push them, even though they have proven themselves as a second-tier girl group but they need to give them a rest. I probably won't be ready for another Girl's Day comeback until late November/early December at the earliest.
6.Ailee-U&I
Ailee ripped off Gloria Gaynor and Nicole Scherzinger The Pussycat Dolls for her last release, "I Will Show You" and now she serves up Beyonce doppelganger realness for "U&I," which sounds like "Crazy In Love" 2.0. Ailee gives some serious attitude with her vocals, shakes her little rump and even drops it low behind a lighted stage complete with monochrome dressed background dancers. Somewhere in the world, Beyonce is asking Ailee for her wind machine back.
7.AOA Black-Moya
AOA has finally broken up into a subunit! The band part of the group released their first single, "Moya". Moya is another throwback sounding tune, this time girl group sixties is what they aimed for, and they hit the mark. Also, whoever styled Youkyoung in the video, A+! Could someone explain the premise of the MV though and why the guy from SNL Korea looks so surprised when the girl points at the end?  
8.Dynamic Duo-BAAAM (feat. Muzie of UV)
The only thing that I had heard from Dynamic Duo was their feature on Jay Park's "I Love You" and Choiza and Gaeko featuring on other people's tracks. "BAAAM" is a funky 80s-inspired bop that is quite easy on the ears and sounds like a response track to all the bad girl concepts K-Pop has been dishing out. However, the bad girl gone badder line sounds like bad girl gone better (which actually sounds a lot better imo).
9.B2ST-Shadow
While everyone else seems to be loving the newest from B2ST, I am having mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the song does something different by deviating from the typical fun and sunny singles that plague the summer months. On the other, the disturbing imagery in the MV like with Vixx's "Hyde" make it a bit less enjoyable. Song=ok, video=not so much.  
10.B.A.P-Hurricane
B.A.P have been pumping out tunes like hell this year and I was a fan of all of them up until this point. The group has proven to be versatile in almost all the K-Pop concepts, even aegyo! But "Hurricane" just suffers from a major identity crisis, and not the good kind like Girl's Generation's "I Got a Boy". Also, the loofah's on fire thing wasn't funny the first a thousand times so...

My Favourite Songs of 2013...Thus Far

With half of the year over and another half to go, the music has been just coming and coming and coming and...well you get the idea! Some of it good, some bad, some meh and some very exceptional. While a lot of American artists seem to be giving us the run-around with their music (a certain artist whose name begins a B and ends with a Eyonce?), other countries have been keeping their music flowing (sometimes overflowing) that I can't keep up with releases. I usually do a best of list, but since it's only the middle of year, I decided to go with some of my favourites rather than the ones that I think are the best, which can wait until December.

Girl's Day-Expectation

Girl's Day shed their quirky, side-splitting antics for a more mature concept and did not disappoint with this highly infectious dance-pop slice of heaven. It's already my most played song of the year and second most played of all time (damn you BoA for releasing "Only One.")

     Nine Muses-Dolls

The classy nine get paired with Sweetune for this equally classy, jazz-inspired record. If you aren't tapping your toes to the beat, you seem to be missing a soul (or just don't like K-Pop).

              Ellie Goulding-You,My Everything 

This song is everything that is right with Ellie Goulding. "You, My Everything" is just  Ellie's husky yet dreamy vocals over Jim Eliot's drum and bass inspired production. Just how I like her.

Girl's Generation-I Got a Boy 

The hate for this song was warranted. I commend SM for breaking the Americanized cookie-cutter mold for K-Pop songs by mixing and mashing five or so songs together and transforming the divine nine into aegeyo hip-hop queens. #bowdown.

2AM Club-Black Liquor 

The band laments their late night escapades over a minimalist beat fit for a The Weeknd record. If I told you that I have never cried listening to this record, I would be telling you a lie.

Rudimental-Hell Could Freeze (feat. Angel Haze) 

Rudimental is a extremely versatile and "Hell Could Freeze" has to be one of their best. New York raptress Angel Haze talks about a failed relationship that she is willing to try again

Jessie Ware-Imagine It Was Us 

Her solo foray into the 90s house trend that has become so popular within the past year, Jessie blesses us with her consistently sultry vocals while serving some "Queen of The Night" realness in the music video.

Supercell-The Bravery 

J-Pop as I remember it from when I used to watch Anime as an awkward pre-adolesent/teen. Full of energy, heavy on the rock and a soaring inspiring chorus with so whoas and yeahs added for good measure. The five minute length is a turn off though.

Kate Nash-OHMYGOD! 

Kate Nash starts this punk-pop tune languid then hits us with a stir-crazy chorus that was made for the summer and for pop radio. Too bad she's independent now.

Kanye West-Bound 2

The Kanye West that everybody was waiting for to come back. Though the lyrics are a bit iffy, it still captures perfectly who Kanye was before his "808"days.

T-ARA N4-Countryside Life

THE BEST K-POP OF 2013 SO FAR!!! Only T-ARA would have the balls to have their sub-unit come out with a netizen diss song, incorporate the real Harlem shake in the video and update Richard Simmons's ridiculous exercises. Why U Hatin'?

Graded Song: Girl's Day "Female President"

GIRL'S DAY COMEBACK!!! SO EXCITED!!! Yura, Sojin, Minah and Hyeri are back with their second comeback of 2013!!! They smashed back in March with "Expect" "Expectation" whatever-the-song was called and because of that success (I attribute the smexy suspenders dance) they decided to re-package the album with a new title track. From the teaser, "Female President" seems a lot more risque than their last comeback. Hmmm...catchy. A grower to be honest. We have Minah hitting dem high notes that only Minah knows how. The girls really allowed their vocals to shine on this track. Sojin's rap was pretty weak, even weaker than usual (Sorry Sojin I still love you!) While it isn't as catchy as their previous title track, I appreciate the fact that they decided to go for a different style of music (pop/rock with dance elements) rather playing it safe with another dance-pop tune.
Final Grade:B-
The girls are getting a lot of flack about the overt-sexual nature of the video, which shows A LOT (and I do me A LOT) more skin than "Expect" "Expectation" whatever the song was called. There was also the scene where Hyeri fed Minah that cupcake and they almost kissed (definte tease to gain interest people!) However, I feel like people shouldn't judge the song based upon that factor. I liked it, but I wouldn't want to be in a public place when I am watching it, you know to avoid people thinking I'm watching softcore porn or something.

Girls Day "Expectation" Music Video

Girls Day come back with a majorly sexy comeback for their first full-length album, "Expectation". The album includes their past singles, including their breakout hit "Don't Forget Me" and the title track. They leave the cutesy behind this time and serve up some next level appeal with a suggestive suspender dance and darker clothing. Live shows be prepared...