At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade.
February 2024 Overall Thoughts
Due to its positioning in the dead of winter and the cancelling of music shows because of Lunar New Year celebrations, February tends to be a slight month for K-pop. Apart from December, it’s consistently the month with the fewest releases, and the first half of this February bore that out.
The final two weeks picked up the slack, with a few big comebacks and lots of new music from smaller groups. As has been the trend this year, much of the strongest music has emerged from these smaller groups. Boy groups in particular have been on a major roll these past two months. I’m really liking where the musical trends seem to be going in that regard.
Speaking of musical trends and the general changing of the guard, the biggest February story for me actually involved a song released back in January. The surprisingly potent chart run for TWS’s Plot Twist has got me excited that audiences may be ready for brighter pop sounds and big melodies. It helps that the song is a total bop and I now kind of regret not putting it in my top three of last month. Plot Twist definitely has legs.
February was stuffed with ups and downs. There were a few undisputed highlights alongside some of the lowest-rated songs I’ve featured on the blog in awhile. My ratings were a bit more extreme than usual, which makes things kind of spicy and also made for a lower-than-average monthly cumulative rating. February’s biggest disappointment was probably LE SSERAFIM’s Easy because both the group and their agency have the capacity to give so much more than what they’re delivering. I need some of this year’s infectious, upbeat boy group energy to rub off on girl group trends.
My top three songs of the month are all within the same range of “really good, but probably not a future classic.” I like all three songs a lot and struggled to rank them. Ultimately, I went back to that most reliable of data points: personal play count. The proof is in the pudding, and one song was definitely more of a fixture on my own playlist. Being released earlier in the month probably helped, too.
It’s with great sadness that February also marked the passing of venerated K-pop producer Shinsadong Tiger. The sound of K-pop wouldn’t be the same without him, and he’s left behind so many classic songs as an enduring legacy. TRI.BE’s Diamond became an unexpected swan song, though next month’s comeback from TAN will likely stand as the final new Shinsadong Tiger single. It’s pretty heartbreaking and such a loss.
In a reversal from last year, J-pop lags behind K-pop so far. I can’t say any of my top three songs will feature in the upper realms of my year-end countdown come December… if they make the countdown at all! I anticipate things to really get going next month when two of my favorite acts (Genic and Ryugujo) return with new music. At this point, I’m definitely listening to much more old J-pop than new stuff.
The confirmed comeback slate for March feels a little unexciting so far, with a couple of big releases scheduled for the end of the month but not too much new music currently announced. I expect this to change, and there seem to have been rumblings of many planned comebacks in the past day or so. They just need dates and details. We’ll see how it all plays out, but I continue to be pleased by the overall output 2024 has given us so far.
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.5
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week One
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Two
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Three
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Four
TOP J-POP SONGS OF THE MONTH
3. Orbit – Bull’s Eye
2. OHL – 「0」
1. Wolf Howl Harmony – Frozen Butterfly
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
Aimers – Somebody (review)
DK (iKON) – Groovin (review)
from20 – Demon (review)
ICHILLIN – Demigod (review)
IU – Shopper (review)
Moonbyul (Mamamoo) – Think About (review)
n.SSign – Happy & (review)
Ten (WayV) – Nightwalker (review)
TRI.BE – Diamond (review)
Twice – I Got You / One Spark (review / review)
TWS – BFF (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. Moonbyul (Mamamoo) – Touchin&Movin (review)
2. CRAVITY – Love Or Die (review)
1. The Wind – H! TEEN (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of December 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2023
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
YAY CRAVITY!!! i think I’d be able to agree with this one. Very glad that somebody by aimers has an honorable mention, I really loved that song☺️
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Well, I did good for one month…now I’m behind again. But out of what I’ve heard, it’s mostly been P1Harmony and Twice b-sides for me (Countdown to Love, New New, and I Got You being the most replayed).
And The Wind’s EP. I need to go shake their producer’s hand.
Cha Eunwoo Stay & Where Am I. He was a pleasant little surprise for me.
Billlie’s Domino. That was this month, right?
Aimers Somebody is also in the running.
Other discoveries:
🔹About a third of Dolly Parton’s 39 song rock album. Her collab with Pitbull also made me smile.
🔹Ihmisen muotoinen – Jannika B
🔹Can I Call You Rose? – Thee Sacred Souls
🔹Horizon – WayV
🔹Rakkautta ja piikkilankaa – Juhlaversio by *deep breath* Uniklubi, Vesku Jokinen, Sani, Susanna Laine, LULUA, Emppu, Jenni Mustajärvi, Anni Lötjönen, DJ Oku Luukkainen, Luukas Oja, Merta, Eetu Riikonen, Eva Louhivuori, Rosi, Capri, JP Leppäluoto
🔹You Deserve Better (Beautiful Enough) – Verbal Jint, Sanchez
🔹The Spectre – Alan Walker
🔹Lose Control – Teddy Swims
🔹Stick Season – Noah Kahan
🔹Comfortable – Victor Ray
🔹Broken Fantasy – MIYAVI
🔹In My Life – Son Tae Jin, Shin Seong, Enoch
🔹Monologue – Jeong Dong Won (I have a thing for Monologue songs apparently. I’ve got one from Taemin, n.SSign, Lim Ji Soo, and now this guy)
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Only two title tracks stood out to me this month:
Love or Die by Cravity (the performance really elevates the song and the entire album is great, especially Mr.)
Groovin by DK (I don’t know why this appeals so much to me as I’m not a iKON fan but it’s just so chill and laidback.)
Also loved P1Harmony’s album although not the title track.
Looking ahead to March, I’m most excited about THE BOYZ Phantasy Pt. 3 (I thought it was supposed to be released in February?).
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Twice took over my top 3 for the month:
Big honorable mention goes to Somebody by Aimers. I actually just went back and listened to all four songs to make sure that one hadn’t ended up in the top three yet. I think it will eventually overtake I Got You at the very least, it has such an addictive groove.
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March is gonna be awesome! Miya from GWSN is finally having a solo and Chungha and HJ are collabing for her comeback title track! Exciting stuff!!
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My top 3 of the month would look like this:
And a couple of honorable mentions:
The downside to finally going through almost all of the releases in k-pop is having to rank the songs; which I had a hard time. Some of the honorable mentions would’ve been in the top 3 if they were released earlier.
Glad to see boy group debuts with brighter concepts like TWS make headlines nowadays!
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February really was a sleepy month release-wise for me. H! Teen has a lovely melody and beat, the lyrics could have elevated it, instead of what happened here. That’s kinda it for what is left as memorable from the month, and maybe Eunwoo’s Stay and a bit of P1Harmony. Looking forward to what March brings since it has some promising stuff.
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february was a pretty above average month for me, my top 3 would go like this:
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i got you would be my #1, dunno why wordpress didnt put the numbers for the list
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My number one for February would be Ten’s “Nightwalker”.
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The Wind, 10, Piwon, and from20 were all highlights. Obsessed with EVNNE’s Festa from last month.
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Congratz to KPop Kings A.C.E with their MY GIRL Comeback!!! A.C.E are amazing singers, dancers, performers and actors! They are so very multitalented! A.C.E Live Vocals and harmonizing are the best in the music industry!!!💯
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Pretty much agree with all your sentinments here.
Somebody and Nightcrawler are growing on me though, they might overtake the other three.
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I thought I commented but had issues with WordPress asking me a non existent password, so I guess my comment was left in a black hole somewhere🥲. Anyway, February made me happy with the following:
Aimers – Somebody
n.Ssign – Happy&
Cravity – Love or Die
Honorables:
DK- Groovy/LTNS
Ten – Nightwalker
Taeyong – Tap🫣
From20 – Demon
Tribe – Diamond
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