Previously: January to March. It’s been a good three months!
15. SNSD-TTS, “Twinkle”. Too big (and honestly, too fun) to ignore.
14. Sunny Hill, “백마는 오고 있는가” (Is The White Horse Coming?). “The thinking man’s X” is a silly game to play; fortunately, Sunny Hill are so smart that they understand this and keep their sense of humour accordingly.
13. Boyfriend, “Love Style”. I’m in the throes of a Sweetune obsession, and this song epitomizes why: catchy melodies, sparkly synths, hooks everywhere. That said, it also epitomizes Sweetune’s weaknesses - it does the same “let’s stop the song to change the key” thing that KARA’s “Step” does, but without being brave enough to really go for it.
12. Park Jin-young, ” 다른 사람 품에 안겨서 (ft. Gain)” (Someone Else). Smooth, sexy throwback R&B. Gain’s smoky alto is such a perfect balance for JYP’s distinctive tenor that their uncomfortable physical chemistry hardly matters.
11. EXO-K, “Mama”. From the beginning, everything about the EXO project has been ambitious, extravagant, oversized, and coordinated down to the last detail. It’s only natural that their debut single is all of those things too.
10. B.A.P, “Power”. In which power is the sum of confidence, control, and total commitment.
9. Dalmatian, “E.R”. Dalmatian’s previous singles were fluffy and fun, so it’s a pleasant surprise that they can do angsty melodrama just as well. (They’re like Sistar in this regard.) Big Bang and Beast have been here before, of course, but neither quite as mournful nor as willfully optimistic.
8. f(x), “Electric Shock”. This is where I confess that I don’t love f(x) nearly as much as I’m supposed to, because to me their singles (yes, even the great “NU ABO”) always have that one tangent too many, the same thing Super Junior’s been plagued by post-“Bonamana”. But “Electric Shock” is the opposite: it’s so unified, so self-contained, as if everything was carved from the same block of marble right down to the syllables.
7. Hello Venus, “Venus”. “Venus” thumbs its nose at the millenia-old dichotomy of cute girl group/fierce girl group (which is only code for another millenia-old dichotomy imposed on women, anyway). Instead, it brings a stompy minor-key cheerleader chant into a sisterly bond with a resolutely sunny chorus. V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!
6. Teen Top, “To You”. Breezy but not insubstantial, youthful but not immature, catchy as hell.
5. Wonder Girls, “Like This”. One of the only songs that can make me forget myself and dance while walking down the street. (Please don’t use this against me.)
4. Infinite, “추격자” (The Chaser). Because it’s the right single for the right group; because it gets better with every listen, as if the dramatic stakes only increase every time; and because it’s a reminder that K-pop has more cultural referents than just post-90’s North American pop (which shouldn’t be necessary, but often is).
3. Xia, “Tarantallegra (ft. Flowsik)”. Driven, unexpected, restless, amorphous, adventurous.
2. 4minute, “Volume Up”. Because K-pop is having a “music for grownups” moment and 4minute totally called it.
1. Sistar, “Alone”. There’s not really much I can say about this song other than that it is perfect sad summer disco. So since this blog is also about my ongoing personal development, it’s an important milestone that I could understand about 10% of the lyrics right away without looking up the translation (mostly the chorus - “I eat alone, I sing alone, I watch TV alone, today I’m alone”). If you squint, this could say something about its universal appeal, but that’s apparent from the sound itself.
12:00 pm • 2 July 2012 • 11 notes
#2012 #snsd tts #taetiseo #sunny hill #boyfriend #jyp #exo k #b.a.p #dalmatian #f(x) #hello venus #teen top #wonder girls #infinite #xiah junsu #4minute #sistar #kpop
