Underrated KPop Songs of Q1 2024
Here are ten amazing songs you might have missed in Kpop over the last three months
As we reach the end of March (!!!) I want to take the opportunity to highlight some amazing songs I haven’t been able to discuss on the blog yet this year. Some of the things these songs have in common are experimentation with tempo, instrumentation, and harmonization and the sampling of traditional music sounds. There’s no avoiding the “Kpop songs are getting so short” allegations - this playlist of these ten songs is less than 30 minutes!
Slow Motion by Matt Champion featuring Jennie from BlackPink
It’s absolutely insane to me that a new song from Jennie isn’t making huge news, especially when it is this good. If this is the kind of music she’s going to be putting out via her new label Odd Atelier, I am ready for it!
Romantic Revolution by LeeBaDa (My Sibling’s Romance OST)
Did I ever think I’d be losing my mind over the theme song for a Korean dating show? Nope but here we are. Key note here - Lee Bada the OST singer is different from Lee Bada the famous choreographer! When I first heard this song and saw the artist I was like are you kidding me she sings too???? But no. The singer Lee Bada has an incredible voice, and the use of traditional instrumentation that is kind of trasnmuted into a video game soundtrack sound is so cool.
ULT by Lim Kim
Lim Kim has kind of a wild backstory. She was attending high school in New Jersey in 2011 when, on a whim, she signed up for a Korean music reality show with another Korean classmate. They actually ended up in third place and were signed to a label, but their group kind of fell apart and her solo career never really took off until her 2019 album Generasian became an indie success. Then, last year, on Street Woman Fighter 2, renowned dance group 1Million danced to two of her songs off of Generasian. The music video for ULT, which is apparently a lead single off an upcoming EP, also features 1Million. This is girl power goodness.
Worm In The Apple by youra
In Worm In The Apple, youra uses a similar whispery vocal technique to Lim Kim but the production on this song is all trap and frenetic electronic energy rather than funky traditional instrumentation on ULT. Somehow this song has gotten almost no attention (only 10k views on YouTube??) which is wild to me because it is truly excellent.
Lovers or Enemies by CIX
If you haven’t been paying attention to CIX then I feel sorry for you because they do not miss!!! This song is a certified Kpop bop!! Last year’s Save Me, Kill Me was one of my favorite songs of the year and I think this song is even better. CIX has been around since 2019 and it’s a pity they don’t get more attention.
HEYDAY by Xodiac
Xodiac debuted last year in a small agency and haven’t made waves, but this song is something different! The chorus is something I haven’t ever heard in Kpop before - genuinely my first thought when the chorus dropped was that it was giving hints of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, which I then looked up and I think the harmony style I’m hearing is a genre of South African music called isicathamiya. Let me know what you think! In any case, this is definitely a group I’ll be keeping an eye on this year, and this is another interesting sign of the growing influence of South African music on Kpop.
Groovin by DK
This is the lead single of DK from iKon’s new album, which was his solo debut and is, spoiler alert, is one of the best albums of the quarter. I’m not sure this song is really giving us anything particularly new or innovative, but it is delivering a classic trap R&B Kpop sound perfectly.
Deeper by H1-KEY
If you’ve been following this blog, I think I’ve made it extremely clear that in the last two years, Kpop has become extremely saturated with girl groups, making it really hard for a group to stand out, especially if they are from a small agency. That being said, I want to draw your attention to H1-KEY if you are looking for a new girl group to fill the Mamamoo shaped hole in your heart. This four piece girl group can SING.
Bam Yang Gang by BIBI
No conversation about unapologetic women in Kpop is complete without mentioning BIBI, whose massive talent sees her crossing genres from the brutal Vengeance to Our Beloved Summer OST Maybe If. Here she’s back with a completely new genre, which is….a waltz? Released on Valentine’s Day, this is a sweet and silly love song that is apparently driving sales of a classic Korean dessert. It’s a bit unfair of me to include it as an “underrated” song of the quarter because it’s actually won at least one music show!
It’s not beautiful and it doesn’t hurt by Wonstein
Wonstein is a producer and artist who I first became familiar with when he collaborated with Taeyong on Love Theory in 2022. He’s very talented, and this song is a perfect soundtrack for the dark early months of the year.
There you have my list! What songs have you been listening to this quarter that I haven’t mentioned yet?