What's the song of the summer?
It's that time of year - check out my Kpop summer playlist!
It’s that time of year (**in the Northern Hemisphere)! The sun is out, temperatures are going up and everyone is desperate for a holiday. We are all in desperate need of a playlist that can be our soundtrack to a summer vacay or at least makes us feel like we are at the beach or on a boat or just relaxing at a picnic in the park in the afternoon sun.
Here are the big contenders from Kpop for song of the summer. Which one is your favorite?
Kwon Eunbi “Sabotage” - of course the queen of Waterbomb festival is going to put out an absolute bop for summer! I really love Eunbi, so I’m happy for her to keep giving us excellent songs.
IVE “Summer Festa” - while we are on the subject of former IZ*ONE members, of course IVE’s summer song contribution has to go on our list. It’s kind of blatant pandering for a summer song to actually have “summer” in the title, but we love IVE so we will give it to them.
Riize “Boom Boom Bass” - it may be a stretch to call this a summer song but the timeline matches well enough that I will give it to them. Definitely a fun background song for summer activities.
Red Velvet “Cosmic” - this is my pick for song of the summer. I’m not even the world’s biggest Red Velvet fan but when they hit, they hit GOOD. The music video with Midsummer vibes makes it super clear that they were going for a summer song vibe and they achieved!
Chuu “Strawberry Rush” - I love Chuu and will support her in everything she does! This song is so cute and fun.
Sunmi “Balloon in Love” - Sunmi is the absolute queen of summer bops and last year’s Heart Burn was my 2023 song of the summer. Balloon in Love is also great but not quite as good as Heart Burn - my standards are too high for Sunmi!!
TWS “If I’m S, Can You Be My N?” - this song feels like the theme song for a youthful high school Kdrama, aka perfectly in line with TWS vibes. I really love this rookie boy group, they’re putting out great stuff.
Kiss of Life “Sticky” - KISS OF LIFE!!! Midas Touch was a bit of a miss for me, but KOL are back in a big way with this strong contender for song of the summer with a sexy music video to accompany the track.
Jimin and Loco “Smeraldo Garden Marching Band” - Maybe I’m just having BTS withdrawals but it makes me so happy to hear Jimin’s voice! The big band sounds here are super fresh and the music video is absolutely stunning. I’m getting really excited to see the creativity coming out of the BTS members’ solo projects!
Taeyeon “Heaven” - Kpop royalty Taeyeon has released has gifted us peasants a lovely little song for the summer!
(G)I-DLE “Klaxon” - Anything by (G)I-DLE is perfect summer music, and they’ve released a mini album just in time for this summer with lead single Klaxon, which has a retro vibe that seems very in trend this summer!
Blitzers “Superpower” - I feel like this list is dominated by the women of Kpop so I want to make sure I’ve included enough boy group representation and the jazzy instrumental in Superpower is addictive and a perfect summer afternoon vibe.
Otis Lim “Summer” - If we let IVE’s song with Summer in the title join the playlist, we also have to make an exception for a truly excellent song from Korean R&B artist Otis Lim.
And there you have it! You might notice I’ve excluded two big offerings for song of the summer from leading ladies of Kpop - I’m not a big fan of either Nayeon’s ABCD or Lisa’s Rockstar, but you can add them to your list if you want :)