Kpopular's Top 40 K-pop Songs of 2016 (Part 1: Best Singles)

Happy New Year everyone! 2016 is over, and that means it's time for me to do what every other K-pop blogger and their mum (well, okay, not their mum—she probably hates K-pop and wishes her child would just accept that they will never marry that "Jikook" guy) did three weeks ago: list their favourite songs of the year in numerical order, because K-pop fans love ranking things just for the sake of it. This was a pretty awful year for K-pop, with many groups disbanding and others simply absent from the promotional circuit, but there was still a small number of great songs which were a cut above the rest. Note that this post only lists favourite singles; a similar post for album tracks will come soon. (Also this is a fairly long listicle with many embedded videos and as such it may be slow to load for some readers)

Album Review: BTS Grow "Wings", But Struggle To Fly

BTS are one of those groups I've never been able to fully enjoy — from the horrendous "Boy In Luv" to the passable but mostly unremarkable "Save Me", to me their songs have rarely warranted multiple listens (with only one real exception). Ever the masochist saint I am though, I give them a chance with each release, and let's just say that seven doesn't seem to be so lucky a number after all.

Album Review: Lovelyz Take The Helm With 'A New Trilogy'

I made it pretty clear in my review of The Velvet last month that I think Red Velvet are the best rookie group in K-pop, but Lovelyz definitely aren't far behind: cute but not cloying, breezy but not shallow, bright but with a melancholic twist — the group have established a charming sound that lets them stand out from other girl groups musically, and despite its title suggesting otherwise A New Trilogy continues with the sound that Lovelyz have built-up so far.

The 100% Flawless 2016 K-pop Girl Group Tier List

It's spring, and every spring since 2013 Sports Chosun has released a ranking of K-pop girl groups based on overall popularity, composed by industry insiders. They're fun, they're interesting, and they get people talking, but there are always parts of it that make you question whether these "industry insiders" are just kids that joined OneHallyu three months ago: groups appear in the list one year and then disappear the next, some are placed far too high or far too low, and often little or no reasoning is given for each group's placement (if there is any it's usually vague and seemingly unsourced). Despite the amount of clicks it probably gets them they've yet to make a list year, and so I've taken it upon myself to make my own list and shove my worthless opinion in people's faces.

Album Review: Red Velvet's "The Velvet" Shows Consistency Despite Its Flaws

I absolutely adore Red Velvet: "Happiness" was a fun debut song, Ice Cream Cake showed a lot of potential for the group's future, and The Red is probably the strongest first studio album by any K-pop group so far. And this all made me slightly anxious for their next release: would they be able to live up to potential they've shown so far? Will the high benchmarks they've set so early in their career prove impossible to surpass?

GOT7's Latest Single "Fly" Is SHAMELESS Plagiarism #BoycottGOT7

Enjoying GOT7's new music video? Well you shouldn't be, because I've discovered that "Fly" actually SHAMELESSLY ripped off the song "Rocketeer" by Far East Movement featuring Ryan Tedder:

EXACTLY the same, right?? What's that, you're not hearing it? Listen closer:

• The word "fly" is repeated in the hooks of both songs
• The verses consist of raps whilst shaky falsettos are used for the chorus
• Both songs belong to the electronic genre
• Both Far East Movement and GOT7 have Asian-American members

The above is iron-clad evidence that earattack, the producer of the song, has obviously committed the unforgivable crime of plagiarism, and for this they should be sued. Admittedly I'm not sure who produced "Rocketeer" so it might actually have been the same person but that takes effort and that's also not the point here!! The point is this shouldn't be buried by obnoxious iGOT7s 

All I can say is I'm so, so disappointed in GOT7; I know that they didn't write or produce the song but just like SlyU they should be held accountable anyway. And no, I'm not accepting any excuses this time — none of this "parody" shit like with MAMAMOO!! My oppars have betrayed me and I'm disgusted; to think that Youngjae was one of my favourite idols! Not anymore, I'm never supporting that sly bastard again...

I hope, dear readers, you all recognise the injustice present here and join in boycotting everything GOT7: any and all products related to the group and their members, not just their FLIGHT LOG EP. This may seem harsh but these arrogant thugs need to learn a lesson, and it's up to us to teach them it. #BoycottGOT7 #FlopLog

Dal Shabet Save K-Pop With "Someone Like U"

K-pop's been in a sorry state recently: after a December stuffed with horrid winter-themed songs and snoozefest ballads, Dal Shabet, clearly horrified by the absolute slop that's sitting atop of Melon currently, have dropped the best song of 2016 five days into the year. Bless their hearts.

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:

Red Velvet Show Us Something New With "Dumb Dumb"

We're almost halfway through the decade and we've seen hundreds of K-pop girl groups come and go, though arguably none have managed to make the same impact as the main stars of the second generation. However it's more obvious than ever that the veterans will very soon be stepping down, with even giants like Girls' Generation, Wonder Girls, and 2NE1 having to rely on their previous successes to stay at the very top, and it's time for someone else to take the throne.

"Hang on though, if no other girl groups have even come close to the top spot, who could take it?". And that's where, in a flurry of confetti and glitter, Red Velvet appear to claim their rightful place at the girl group throne with "Dumb Dumb".

Album Teaser Uploaded for "REBOOT", Wonder Girls Are on to a Winner

An album teaser for Wonder Girls' third full-length album "REBOOT" has been uploaded onto JYP's YouTube channel, and it sounds like it could be the best album this year.

MV Review- Brave Brothers Pretends to Put Some Effort Into HELLOVENUS' "I'm Ill"

Perhaps the "oh-eh-oh-eh-oh" should be switched round to "A-O-A-O-A".

NC.A Has a New Image for "Vanilla Shake" Teaser

You'd think NC.A's cute and innocent image would gain her quite a bit of popularity in the current K-pop climate, full of slut-shaming and pathetic attempts to justify double standards. After two years of going pretty much nowhere with any of her songs, NC.A's "Vanilla Shake" looks like it will very literally shake things up; both her styling and the instrumental are wildly different to what we're used to seeing from her.

"Vanilla Shake" is set to be released on the 20th of July, and with all of the big groups currently promoting she'll most likely find it very difficult to stand out, but maybe this switch up is just what she needed to drastically boost her popularity (here's hoping it also drastically boosts the quality of her music too, "Cinderella Time" was unbearably insipid).

MV Review- Got7 Get Positive in "Just Right"

K-pop's focus on visuals can be both a blessing and a curse to fans: on the one hand the flawless idols mean there's an endless amount of eye-candy, on the other it can be a little intimidating to be bombarded by such good-looking people, and it's all too easy to compare yourself to them. Enter Got7 with their new single "Just Right".

MV Review- Apink's "Remember" Is an Absolute Disaster

I could cry right now.

S.O.S (Save Our Singers)! #1- Tahiti

"Phone Number"

K-pop is an incredibly competitive music market, with most K-pop fans devoting all their time to only one group and only casually following or outright ignoring all others. This means that as groups all battle it out to gain popularity and money, inevitably a small percentage of groups get all the love whilst others are left to wallow at the bottom, seemingly incapable of gaining traction and a steady fan base. Tahiti is one such group, and after their recent appearance on "Mom Is Watching" I thought they would be the perfect first group to feature on the new series "S.O.S", which will highlight groups who are struggling to make or maintain presence in the industry.

Netizens Feel Sorry for Tahiti for All of 5 Seconds Before Forgetting They Exist

K-pop flops Tahiti appeared on today's episode of JTBC's show "엄마가 보고있다" ("Mom Is Watching"), where they revealed that the group have made a grand total of 0 won in profits since debut. Is it surprising? No, not really, in fact not in the slightest.

AOA Reveal Teaser for Third Mini Album "Heart Attack"

Be still, my beating heart.

MV Review- KARA Shoot Straight Through My Heart With "Cupid"

It's clear that, even after being somewhat saved by Youngji, KARA cannot return to the lofty heights of their 2010-2012 days. Whilst "Mamma Mia" showed a much more energetic side to the group, this time they've done a slight shift towards a more sophisticated route whilst keeping that signature KARA sound with the excellent "Cupid".

KARA Perform Cupid at Dream Concert, KBS Upload MV Clip Early

Yesterday at Dream Concert 2015, KARA performed their comeback single "Cupid", and thankfully the song's just as brilliant as you'd expect from the group. Hara said the group would be "transformed" with this comeback, but fortunately the song doesn't stray too far from KARA's usual sound. Youngji did look a lot less relaxed here than the other members but I'm sure she'll find her comfort zone soon (and in the future I'm guessing she'll become the resident rapper in the group).

Meanwhile, KBS uploaded the first half of the MV as its latest K-Pop Hot Clip, a good day or two earlier than they probably should have but I'm certainly not complaining:

Of note is the complete lack of choreography or story shots, perhaps hinting that this isn't the final, "official" version of the MV (a similar thing happened with AOA's Like A Cat, where KBS played a clip of the MV that didn't feature the narrative of the 7 girls trying to break into a bank). Fortunately we'll only have to wait two just over a day for the full thing now, and even less if it's getting released at midnight!

Dal Shabet are Coming Back to Save K-pop

FLAWLESS

Today Dal Shabet have uploaded both the second teaser for "Joker", which gives us a much better idea as to what the song sounds like than the first, as well as the highlight medley for their eighth mini album "Joker Is Alive". The mini consists of five tracks (possibly six, if an instrumental of "Joker" is included at the end): "To Darling", "홀여", "Joker", "I'm Not", and "OK Boy". It's already revealed that Subin got involved in production for all songs on the mini, and by the sound of the teasers we've been, "Joker" is set to be a fantastic follow-up to the fantastic "B.B.B".