Recently, K-pop has started to break into the global music industry with their catchy music — not to mention their good-looking musicians. While K-pop has been popping up everywhere, there are also other genres of Korean music that are worth listening to, such as K-hip hop and K-R&B. As a person that loves listening to Korean music, I want to share with you my top ten K-music songs to check out if you want to add some Korean flavor into your playlist.
1. Bbibbi by IU
IU, “The Nation’s Little Sister”, claps back to all her haters in this song. It has a groovy alt-R&B vibe to it. This is a song that’s worth listening to.
BTS is a very popular K-pop boy band group that has broken into the United States’ music charts. They have also logged an impressive number of achievements, and are popular worldwide. Their song “Fake Love” is one of my favorite songs to listen to. Plus, this song was performed at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards.
3. Tempo by EXO
This is EXO’s most recent release from their album Don’t Mess Up Their Tempo. Although I’m not a big EXO fan, this is the perfect song to get you into EXO’s music.
4. Summer’s Night Dream by FTISLAND
This is actually the first song that I’ve listened to by FTISLAND, and I love it. It has a really nice, cool vibe to it and it’s perfect to listen to when you want to just chill.
Heize started to become popular after she appeared on Unpretty Rapstar, a rap competition show. This song is another chill vibe song, which I love about it. Also, the jazzy feeling to it makes it one of my favorite songs to listen to.
This song is very different from the normal K-pop dance track that’s usually produced. It has a nice pop ballad vibe to it.
7. Black Happiness by Yoon Mi Rae
Although this song was written in 2007, it’s still a song that’s worth listening to. This song talks about the struggles that Yoon Mi Rae overcame both in Korea and in the hip-hop industry as a mixed-race child — half Korean and half African-American. Plus, she’s known as one of the top female rappers in South Korea.
A popular Korean vocal pop group, Mamamoo released this song “Egotistic” that shows off their dynamic vocal abilities with a Latino vibe. This is one of my favorite songs from this group.
9. Bermuda Triangle by Zico feat. Crush, DEAN
If you’re someone that likes to listen to hip-hop and rap, this is the perfect song to get you into the Korean hip-hop scene.
10. DDU-DU DDU-DU by BlackPink
BlackPink is a popular K-pop girl group. This song is one of my favorites from them. It makes you want to dance and the choreography in their music video is amazing!
Although these songs are in Korean, most of these songs come with subtitles. I hope these songs will be able to add some flavor to your playlist — and maybe they’ll get you into Korean music!