One of the quirks of The Bias List is my hesitancy to give 10/10 scores right off the bat. I just don’t know that you can measure perfection on release day, nor do I think a perfect score is attainable without some time and experience. This approach doesn’t exactly jibe with “OMG SOTY” internet culture, but I like to think it gives this illustrious rating some weight.
With that said, it’s time for an Inauguration Ceremony! I compose this feature each spring to acknowledge songs that have grown into a perfect “10” rating. And although 2022 may be underwhelming so far, there were a number of entries from 2021!
I’m also going back a few years to include more songs that have worked themselves up the ranks. This time, I’m adding a few J-pop tracks (though I limited myself to songs that have featured on the blog since 2018). I’m sure other J-pop classics will find their way onto The Bias List in good time. There are definitely “perfect 10’s” from 2016 and 2017… some of which you’ll be reading about soon!
If a track isn’t featured on today’s post, it doesn’t mean it’s out of the running. It just means I’m not ready to vault it up to that “10” level quite yet. This includes a handful of “on the bubble” tracks from last year.
Let’s celebrate these amazing songs, and hope that more are soon on their way!
2021
Golden Child – Burn It
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
JO1 – Born To Be Wild
Original Review
Rating change: 9.25 –> 10
ONF – Beautiful Beautiful
Original Review
Rating change: 9.5 –> 10
OnlyOneOf – libidO
Original Review
Rating change: 9 –> 10
SHINee – Atlantis
Original Review
Rating change: 9.75 –> 10
On the bubble: ATEEZ – Take Me Home // Brave Girls – After We Ride // DRIPPIN – Reach Out Your Hands // Naniwa Danshi – Ubu Love // SHINee – I Really Want You // TXT – 0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You)
2020
No additional choices.
2019
The Rampage – Swag & Pride
No original review
WARPS – Rock Tonight
Original Review
Rating change: 9.5 –> 10
2018
Daichi Miura – Be Myself
Original Review
Rating change: 9.75 –> 10
2017
GFriend – Fingertip
Original Review
Rating change: 9.5 –> 10
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Wow. Love to see OnlyOneOf love and just every favorite of mine represented here. What a wonderful list!!! Truly the most legendary songs of recent memory.
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Golden Child’s I’m Falling or It’s U? Didn’t both of them get a perfect 10/10 rating in the album review?
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Haha I guess they did! Consider that their unofficial inauguration, then. This post is more for songs that haven’t yet scored that rating on the blog.
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Look, I don’t want to be that bum who calls out every single mistake…but…
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Agh!!! I’m a conundrum wrapped in riddles…
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Really sorry if I’m being annoying lol
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You know me better than I know me 😅
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Won’t blame you though, your blog is incredibly vast and it might be bit hard to remember at times.
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The important thing is:
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This is my list:
2021:
Singles
Brave Girls’ After We Ride
Golden Child’s Burn It and Breathe
Key’s Bad Love
Monsta X’s Gambler
ONF’s Popping, Beautiful Beautiful and Goosebumps
OnlyOneOf’s Libido
B-sides
ATEEZ’s Take Me Home
DRIPPIN’s Reach Out Your Hands
Golden Child’s Fanfare
ONF’s My Genesis
SHINee’s I Really Want You
14 Tracks in total!!
2020:
Singles
ATEEZ’s Answer
Dreamcatcher’s Scream
2 Tracks in total!
2019:
B-sides
ATEEZ’s Utopia
1 Track in total!
2018:
Not Really anything at all
2017:
Singles
B1A4’s Rollin
1 Track in total!
2016:
Singles
B1A4’s A Lie and Melancholy
BTS’s Save Me
3 Tracks in total!
This is a more solitary list, much more biased than my last year’s list but it is what it is.
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Whoa this is one of the few times I’m seeing love for B1A4’s Rollin, just want to say I definitely agree! I think it’s an amazing song and was just right for being (one of?) their last OT5 singles (which by the way makes me sad because I really liked the addition of Jinyoung and Baro’s voices to their songs and production, but I’m also glad the other three are still going). It isn’t even my favourite B1A4 single – What’s Happening and Tried to Walk are too good – but Rollin really fits as well.
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B1A4 is another level of top tier.
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Too bad Reach Out Your Hands didn’t make it — as much as I love 2021’s singles, ROYH was my most-played song of the year hahah
I was also honestly hoping for Golcha’s Eyes on You to show up this time
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It won’t surprise me if both of those end up making it next time 🙂
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I might have put Dreamcatcher “Scream” on the list.
And Mirae “Killa” on the bubble.
Also ACE Undercover and/or Goblin-Favorite Boys.
Possibly Golcha “Lucid Dream” too.
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Wondering if Everglow’s La Di Da will ever get there…Crossing my fingers!!!
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Certainly possible!
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yay be myself got there! 😀
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I was really hoping either “chi mat baram” or “after we ride” by brave girls would be on the list. I think GFriend’s fingertip deserves the spot. I was surprised by onlyoneof’s libido cause it seems the farthest from what Nick seems to like. Regardless, i can see why it’s a 10. I don’t hate golden child’s “burn it” but I just don’t see what Nick sees in that song. It’s always been an eight
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OnlyOneOf was my favourite of last year (and 2020) so nice to see the score bump 🙂
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that score bump for libidO amongst many other great songs… we love to see it!!!
(been a reader of the blog for a while, finally decided to drop a comment! hope to see more great reviews and the like soon!!!)
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Happy to see Fingertip make the list. I just listened to it last week and it’s such a banger. Sad that no one is covering it on Queendom 2. It would have been perfect for WJSN.
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Darn, I wish you’d do inaugurations more often, now I gotta wait another year 😦
But these songs are all great! So happy that Burn It got that 10.
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Damn surprised it took this long to see Be Myself get inaugurated. Such a good song. Glad to see Libido here as well definitely deserving.
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ALSO FINGERTIP, one of my favs. All great choices ngl.
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Squeeing at Golcha, SHINee, Rampage, and OOO making it! Yay!
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Fingertip’s dance break might be my favorite four bars in kpop history. The sick guitar dive bombs, the synths, and that incredible bass run to end it. The extended version on their 2018 Season of GFriend concert is a treat, too.
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Songs from 2016-2021 that I think are absolute perfection.
Decided to choose one song per artist per year because otherwise some artists would just flood everything lol
2021
ATEEZ – Take Me Home
Dreamcatcher – Odd Eye (tbh all of RTU is perfect even within their extremely strong discography, this was a torturous choice so I went with the track I jam on my electric guitar)
ONF – Beautiful Beautiful
2020
ATEEZ – Answer
Dreamcatcher – Break the Wall
Everglow – La Di Da (this whole mini is gorgeous, btw)
ONF – New World
2019
A.C.E – Under Cover
ATEEZ – Utopia
Dreamcatcher – Deja Vu
Red Velvet – Psycho
Stray Kids – Side Effects
TXT – Run Away
2018
Apink – I’m So Sick
Dreamcatcher – Full Moon (still the gold standard tbh, much as I adore all their material)
ONF – Complete
Sunmi – Heroine
2017
BTS – Spring Day
Dreamcatcher – Fly High
GFriend – Fingertip
LOONA (Yves) – New
N.Flying – Say Goodbye
2016
100% – Better Day
BTS – Blood, Sweat & Tears
GFriend – Rough
SNUPER – You=Heaven
I may have/definitely missed a few, but these are the ones standing out to me right now.
On another note, I think I might finally be sold on “The Star of Stars.” I used to be a little baffled by how much both Nick and Asian Junkie liked this song, as I initially ranked it in the lower half of their discography. But my god is it catchy. Nothing is dethroning “You=Heaven” though.
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Do you have a playlist with all the legendary songs on it?
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Oooo Love that Txt’s Lovesong (I know I love you) is on the bubble! It’s a 10 for me 🙂
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A little surprised to see Siren by Sunmi and Tonight by UP10TION fail to make the list, but glad to see Be Yourself get a little bit more acclaim. It took the song nearly four years to gain a quarter of a point, but now it is the 10 it deserves.
(Not sure if it appeared in an inauguration post, but pretty sure Eternal Live is a 10/10 too)
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Ooh, that UP10TION song is an oversight on my part. For some reason, I thought I’d already inducted it so I didn’t go back to 2016 this year. 😩
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La di da (Everglow) and Miroh (Stray kids) deserve to be here 🙂
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Miroh definitely does!
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Honestly very happy to see whenever I go to TBL that Nick is a Born To Be Wild enthusiast like me! There’s something in that song I can’t quite explain but it unfolds its greatness everytime.
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Burn It being the first Golcha song of last year when I was still not that into them was probably why it didn’t have much of an impact on me 😂 Also… at that time I hadn’t developed my custom style for listening to a Golcha song – which is basically watch the og MV etc for namesake as most of the times I find it really distracts from the song unless you know it already… but the real good stuff lies in the live performances ❤ Breathe was my instant 10/10 from them last year – especially given it was the only one where I thought the MV and song complemented each other the best!
Definitely agree with Atlantis! It gives me the same feels even now! There’s something both chill and intense about that song for me lol. That rap part alone with the “Athu-lan-tissss” never fails to hype me up!
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Very satisfied to see Fingertip on this list. What a gem!
Atlantis was only natural. Burn It surprised me – I haven’t listened to it at all since it came out.
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SHINee’s CØDE!
SHINee’s CØDE!
SHINee’s CØDE!
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