#50: Run For Roses by NMIXX

Operating on a percussive Latin-pop-inspired beat with a strong guitar and even a fiddle, Run For Roses does what so many of NMIXX’s tracks fail to, truly delivering on its drama and leaning into it wholeheartedly. It has drive and power, and just makes you want to change the world.

#49: Broken Melodies by NCT Dream

Broken Melodies starts like an understated, moody ballad, but begins to build after its first verse, soon spiraling into an anthemic song with an earworm of a chorus and excellent use of their voices, which sound imbued with warmth and better than ever. It’s no wonder that I became a fan after listening to this song for the first time in June of 2023, and promptly getting it stuck in my head. In my opinion, it’s songs similar to this that really exemplify what I think of when I think “k-pop”: warm, nostalgic, comforting, lovesick, and full of heart.

#48: Miracle by TXT

Miracle was originally just like any other hidden gem from my deep dives, whose driving beat and great sense of power in its guitars reminded me of another favorite, Dear Sputnik. But after seeing TXT on tour (I promise I’m going to publish that review eventually), it took on a new meaning for me and my little cousin, who I took with me. Now it reminds me of her and of one of my favorite concerts, and it’s our promise to each other that we’ll always stay close.

#47: Bye My Neverland by Kiss Of Life

Since the beginning of Haneul’s solo MV, I was wondering how the four girls’ storylines in their first EP would intersect, and Bye My Neverland is how. They pass by each other randomly, just missing the chance to meet, too wrapped up in their own lives. But Bye My Neverland takes the best of each of their solos—the smooth synths of Sugarcoat, the rebellious spirit of Countdown, the self-confidence of Kitty Cat, and the sense of fun in Play Love Games, and just as they come together, the stories do too, like the song itself is pushing them closer. The song crescendos, declaring that “Neverland” is gone and to grow up, you have to leave your old life behind, as four girls all separately spot the fireworks in the sky and decide that it’s time to start a new chapter in their lives. A chapter that, in this MV’s case, starts with Julie hitting Natty with her car, while Haneul watches out her window and Belle runs out onto the sidewalk. As one does.

#46: Forever 1 by Girls Generation

Forever 1 arrives both five years after SNSD’s last comeback and exactly fifteen after their debut with Into The New World, and arrive it does. This was the song that made me a fan of Girls Generation, and for good reason. From the “we’re not stopping!” to the utterly, delightfully sappy profession of love both to their fans and to each other to the “I will love you in my next life”, Forever 1 is a gleeful celebration of friendship and a decade and a half spent in an industry almost impossible to succeed in. Really, it’s everything I love about k-pop in one song, so how could I not love it?

#45: Devil by Super Junior

Devil has been a favorite of both mine and my mother’s since the first time we heard it. The song is great; it has the kind of no frills, sleek beat that Super Junior excels at, married with a similar R & B to This Is Love, with the bonus of funk, a percussive acoustic guitar, and what I’m at least 80% sure is a tambourine. My favorite part is probably the dance break. Not only because it’s so much fun to watch (the saga with Kyuhyun’s hat!) but because it manages to up the ante by adding to the beat while not feeling superfluous. Devil is such a good song; I just wish it had a better music video.

#44: Dead Man Runnin’ by Seulgi

Though the single, 28 Reasons, is good, nothing can beat the incredible, destined-for-the-stage villain song that is Dead Man Runnin’, which was actually written by Seulgi herself, and damn it, should’ve been the title. It’s just so strong and so haunting and so unlike anything in k-pop. Without a performer as charismatic as her, I don’t think it would work, but between the tense instrumental and the expert vocal fry, it absolutely does.

#43: Ring Ma Bell by Billlie

Ring Ma Bell is the first song I heard of Billlie’s, and it struck me immediately from the first round of drums. It pulses with a great energy, and sounds like a song a rock band would release mixed with a few classic k-pop touches. There’s an anthemic quality to it, and between the vocals and the electric guitars, I was headbanging in the first verse. It’s a song meant to be performed and I can totally see a crowd going crazy over it at a concert. I think it does a great job of standing out, as Billlie’s songs always do, and this sound works really well for them. And that bridge / lead in to the final chorus? So good! I hope they come back to another rock song sometime in the future.

#42: Guilty by Taemin

Guilty came out to much excitement from both me and other fans whose standards are high after a two-year-long hiatus for mandatory military service. But the moment we get to the creeping falsetto and the atmospheric violins of the beginning of the first verse, my worries were assuaged. Like the best of his work, that control is so evident, but here he it feels like it’s being wrestled from him just a little bit more as the song goes on. I love the creepy chanting under the pre-chorus and that explosion in the bridge and last chorus was perfection and I couldn’t have asked for a better catharsis. That choreography is both so stunning and so unsettling, the way it contorts and mimics puppetry. I can’t decide on which interpretation I agree with; there’s cases to be made for abuse (“make you addicted, you can’t tell pain from love”), military service (“walk like this, talk like this, play like this”), or queerness (“loving you’s a crime”), although I have no idea what the intention was. I tried to keep my expectations low but let’s be real, I didn’t. And he totally delivered! The more I listen to this, the more I love it, and it’s honestly one of my favorites of his.

#41: I Will Fight by KEY

In I Will Fight, Key’s voice is as sharp as ever, but now it has a distinctly melancholy, piercing quality to it that feels deeper than his other tracks, and for good reason: it’s a song about Jonghyun, first and foremost, and the grief that comes with a loved one’s death when you’re wrapped up in your guilt. This is one of my favorite k-pop b-sides, purely because of that heartbreaking honesty. The lines “I will live my life for you,” “you are my red line [red string of fate]” and “now, without a word, goodbye” never fail to touch me.