For me, 2023 was a great year for K-pop. From all the super iconic debuts to the spectacular comebacks from industry veterans, here are some of my favorite tracks that were released this year!
The minute I heard the conversation in the introduction, I knew that this song was going to be one of my favorites from this year. I love how it sonically captures a “bittersweet dream” perfectly, and when I listen to this song I feel like I am one of the partners in the couple, whose conversation is constantly sampled throughout the song. If somehow you still haven’t listened to this song, I even recommend you to stop reading this article entirely and put the song on right now.
Kiss of Life is a new girl group on the scene, and I truly believe they have already made a strong mark already. Though the girls released a lot of good songs this year as both a group and as individual soloists (one of the member’s solo, Natty’s, Sugarcoat, went viral on TikTok for it’s addictive dance), my favorite of their releases this year has to be “Nobody Knows” from their Born to be XX album. What I love about this song is how it really highlights the members’ vocals; right off the bat you know immediately that these are singers who sing! I also love how catchy the chorus is. it’s one that I believe is going to stay stuck in my head for a very long time.
IVE is one of those groups I have come to rely on for always putting out a hit, and “Either Way” was no exception to this rule. However, “Either Way” is quite different from the rest of the group’s discography. Rather than an upbeat track to dance to, it is a mellow song that reminds me of 2010s indie pop songs like Echosmith’s ‘Cool Kids” (this by the way, is a compliment— “Cool Kids” was a childhood favorite of mine). However, the real reason why I love this song so much is because of its message, which roughly translates as, even with your flaws you are still good! In fact, I would loop this song whenever I was working on something that made me feel hopeless such as law school applications; it just had that much of a motivating effect on me, and I love it so much for that.
If you have read my article on the Boys Planet Finale, you would know that I was one of the many people anticipating ZEROBASEONE’s debut. And, I was not disappointed AT ALL. I loved how the group chose to go for a fresh and bright sound, as many of the boy groups in K-pop tend to go for a darker theme right off the bat. I also love just how much of an energy boost this song is; it immediately brightens my day whenever I put it on and I used it often to cheer me up this year. In fact, this was my most repeated song on my 2023 Spotify wrapped; I really believe that this is one of the best debuts to come out not only 2023 but out of K-pop, ever.
Now I don’t know a lot about music, but I can confidently say that this song is a listening experience— the instrumentals and the vocal harmonies together are truly otherworldly. And the lyrics are from the heart; the song is about the unrequited love experienced by a member when he was in college, and you can really feel that pain when you are listening along. If you love sad songs, I definitely recommend throwing this one into your playlist at some point. it’s perfect if you ever want to just have a good cry (which I have done… far too many times to admit).
And those are just a couple of some of my personal favorites from this year in K-pop. This is by no means comprehensive of all the great music that came out this year; if I was allowed, this article could very well be the length of a Spotify wrapped playlist. But regardless, if you do want to put on some very good K-pop from this year, here are some that I highly suggest you listen to.