At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade.
October 2022 Overall Thoughts
First off, I want to recognize Korea’s national period of mourning and hope that posting this feature doesn’t come across as insensitive. It’s certainly not meant to be taken that way. I’m someone who finds comfort in structure and routine, which is one of the reasons The Bias List has been updated daily for seven years — through good times and bad.
With that said, I’m going to very quickly say that this month is K-pop was pretty unremarkable and leave it at that. Now is not the time to focus on the negative — especially when a ho-hum months in K-pop releases pales in comparison to real tragedy. But, it’s worth noting that October was absolutely packed with music. I think it bore more title tracks than any other month this year. At last count, I wrote 42 (!) reviews — and that doesn’t even include buried treasures and other features.
My top three of October came together very easily. A relatively non-competitive roster of tracks led to a definitive ranking — at least for me. Only one of these songs was truly spectacular in my eyes, but I suppose one is better than none!
This isn’t to say there weren’t other highlights this month. Songs by The Boyz, Kingdom, LE SSERAFIM, TAN and Acid Angel from Asia all received repeated plays from me, and one or two might even find a place in my year-end countdown.
For the second month in a row, J-pop was pretty quiet. But, I’ve been listening to a lot of Exile Tribe releases (mostly Fantastics and The Rampage) lately. And somewhat related to J-pop, I’m currently watching nine (!) different J-dramas — all currently-airing. I think that’s a record for me. There’s a lot of good stuff out there this season!
Over the next few days, I plan to post some features spotlighting some of my favorite J-pop acts. Hopefully they’ll act as a good primer for those interested. I don’t write about J-pop nearly as much as I listen to it, and this seems like a good time to give some of these acts their flowers.
Looking forward to K-pop releases, it’s hard to know how the month of November will shape up. My DRIPPIN album is still waiting on pre-order and I’m looking forward to it very much. Kara’s making their long-awaited return at the end of the month (please, Sweetune… I beg you to participate!) and there are a few other upcoming comebacks with great potential. There are only a few weeks left to qualify for my year-end lists. As of now, I think I’ve got a solid seven tracks that could feature at the top of the list. That’s way less than usual, so here’s hoping for a late-year burst of excellence!
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.7
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
Travis Japan – Just Dance! (review)
8LOOM – Be Your Flower (video)
TOP J-POP SONG OF THE MONTH
The Rampage – Tsunage Kizuna (review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
Acid Angel from Asia (tripleS) – Generation (review)
The Boyz x Raiden x T1 – Last Man Standing (review)
Dreamcatcher – Vision (review)
Jin (BTS) – The Astronaut (review)
Kihyun (Monsta X) – Youth (review)
Kingdom – Long Live The King (review)
Kwon Eunbi – Underwater (review)
LE SSERAFIM – Antifragile (review)
Lee Chaeyeon – Hush Rush (review)
Lee Chanhyuk (AKMU) – Panorama (review)
Mamamoo – 1,2,3 Eoi! (review)
Seulgi (Red Velvet) – 28 Reasons (review)
Stray Kids – Super Board (review)
TAN – Beautiful Lie (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
TOP THREE SONGS
3. Rie (OnlyOneOf) – Because (review)
2. Treasure – Hello (review)
1. Alice – Dance On (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of August 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of July 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of June 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of May 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2022
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