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The Top Three K-Pop Songs of August 2023

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Monthly Round-UpAt 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.

August 2023 Overall Thoughts

For the first time this year, I could have easily filled a “top six” or even a “top eight.” There were so many great songs stuffed into August. Funny enough, the same thing happened last year during this time. Nearly half of my top ten songs of 2022 came from the month of August. Will 2023 be a repeat?

With this said, I feel like you could cut this month into two distinct parts. Most of my favorite songs came from August’s first two weeks. Then, I travelled to KCON and came back with Covid, making the second half of the month more of a blur. But boy were those first few weeks a rush. I hadn’t felt so excited about K-pop since last summer!

August delivered a string of very solid boy group albums. Minis from NINE.i, The Boyz, TAN and Vanner were all no-skip affairs, reminding us that — yes — boy groups can record entire albums without shouting and posturing toward their audience. I need this trend to continue throughout the year.

As mentioned, my top three choices were very competitive. All three songs became playlist staples, with my number one pick standing as the catchiest piece of music I’ve heard all summer. It’s simply pop euphoria. Honorable mentions with “top three” potential came from Jeon Somi, Limelight, Riize, The Wind and Xikers. And just below that tier is yet another list of highlights from Baekho, Kwon Eunbi, STAYC and Vanner. Yes, we were drowning in quality music this month.

J-pop had a slower month, though it was still very easy to pick some highlights. My number one choice proved to be a huge grower, and I can already predict some September favorites (Ryugujo, The Last Rockstars) that will be featured as soon as their respective mvs drop.

Looking forward, I expect September to be pretty busy. Chuseok doesn’t happen until the very end of the month this year, meaning release schedules should be pretty packed up until the last week. I’m looking forward to new music from Key, Riize, Tempest and Cravity, among others.

Month Cumulative Rating: 8.0

(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. DXTEEN – First Flight (review)

2. Meik – Body To Body (review)

1. IMP. – Cruisin’ (review)

K-POP

Honorable Mentions

Artbeat v – Dubi Dubi (review)

Baekho – Elevator (review)

BBGirls – One More Time (review)

H1-KEY – Seoul (Such A Beautiful City) / Time To Shine (review / review)

Jeon Somi – Fast Forward (review)

Jihyo – Killin’ Me Good (review)

Jo Yuri – Taxi (review)

Kwon Eunbi – The Flash (review)

Limelight – Madeleine (review)

Lucy – Haze (review)

NCT 2023 – Golden Age (review)

Riize – Memories (review)

STAYC – Bubble (review)

TIOT – Unbeatable (review)

tripleS Lovelution – Girls’ Capitalism (review)

U-Know – Vuja De (review)

Vanner – Performer (review)

The Wind – We Go (review)

Xikers – Do Or Die (review)

This Month’s Risers and Fallers

This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up

TOP THREE SONGS

3. TAN – Heartbeat (review)

2. The Boyz – Lip Gloss (review)

1. NINE.i – Turn It Off (review)

Top Three K-Pop Songs Of July 2023

Top Three K-Pop Songs Of June 2023

Top Three K-Pop Songs Of May 2023

Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2023

Top Three K-Pop Songs Of March 2023

Top Three K-Pop Songs Of February 2023

2010-2020 Archive Here

31 thoughts on “The Top Three K-Pop Songs of August 2023”

  2. I liked –
    NCT U – Pado, The BAT
    Tan – Heartbeat, Violet
    Vanner – Performer, TBH
    Pentagon – Pado, Billie Jean
    Aile the Shota – Pandora

    Meanwhile I pretty much have been absorbed by this track by the artist formerly known as Boyhood.

    And because I am a sap BDC – Rest

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  3. this month goes to eunbi’s the flash, but i could pick anything and find reasons why it’s the best song of august. I trace all this melodicism back to Cupid, which, though i’m not a huge fan of it, went viral and convinced every kpop company ever that the global music audience prefers a good beat+melody over “nanana im so cool” stuff. may this continue *knock on wood*

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    • It’s a flat 9, though honestly I haven’t listened to it in some time so I’d be curious if it stayed there. I was obsessed with the song when it came out and it felt like a breath of fresh air. Now that we know how pop music morphed post-2013, I doubt whether I’d have the same level of love had it been released today. But it was definitely one of the defining songs of that year for me and it’s very nostalgic.

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  5. This August, NINE.i has been my great discovery and H1-KEY and Limelight stay on my playlist like every time they release music. I also had nostalgia for the CLC members’ releases and Yeeun’s future debut in EL7Z-Up.
    I tried in vain to choose a Top 5 so these are simply my favorite songs of the month.
    TOP Title tracks:
    1. NINE.i – Turn it off
    2. TAN – Heartbeat
    3. ARTBEAT v – DUBI DUBI
    4. STAYC – Bubble
    5. H1-KEY – Time To Shine
    6. BBGirls – One more time
    7. LIMELIGHT – Madeleine

    TOP B-sides:
    1. Kwon Eun Bi – Beautiful Night
    2. Mamamoo+ – Starry Sea
    3. TAN – New Days
    4. STAYC – I Wanna Do (No matter how unlikely, I hear the daughters of Brown Eyes Girls here!)
    5. JIHYO ft. Heize – Don’t Wanna Go Back
    6. EVERGLOW – Make Me Feel

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    • As a bonus, my favorite song out of all the original songs released by Queendom Puzzle. Even though I enjoyed those with girl crush concepts this is the one that stuck with me.

      And on the other hand, Nick, if you don’t mind, I’d like to read what you think about Sorn and Seungyeon’s song ‘Rowdy’, I’ve always liked that Sorn is experiencing different things but there is something in the vocal delivery of this song that i dislike.

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  6. Shout out to Seowon of Nine.i: Boys’ Planet MVP. Goodness, he was entertaining 😀

    I’m so happy for him and all of Nine.i that they are getting some love and attention.

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  7. Honestly not been too obsessed with the same songs as you for quite some time now, but Nine.i’s EP is one of my favorites from K-Pop since… maybe YooA’s Bon Voyage? But damn, Turn It Off, Power Up, Hurt, and Highschool Love are all playlisted for quite a while, and stuck in my home.

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  8. Is it safe to say that I disliked a majority of the releases this month?

    Anyways these are my favorites
    The Flash – Kwon Eunbi
    Do Or Die – xikers
    Planet – BXB
    One More Time – BBGirls (Brave Girls)
    Lip Gloss – The Boyz
    Fast Foward – Jeon Somi
    Heartbeat – TAN
    Bubble – StayC
    Killing Me Good – Jihyo (TWICE)
    Slay – EVERGLOW
    Homeboy – xikers
    Golden Age – NCT 2023

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  9. Nine.i – Turn it Off
    The Boyz – Lip Gloss
    Riize – Memories

    HM:
    BxB – Planet
    XEED – Blue
    Ikon – Panorama
    The Rose – You’re Beautiful
    TAN – Heartbeat
    DKB – Told You
    And….this little jewel no one talked about😂

    TFN – Ice Cream

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  10. Judging by the number of times darling daughter said “who is this” from the back of the car, I am going to say all things NINE.i for the win in August.

    The new Kim Sejeong pre-release “항해”. I just love her voice, high flutey sounds unfiltered. This song sounds like a hybrid of classic IU with Younha “Event Horizon” and other Younha (like the one with the tap dance break).
    ‘https://youtu.be/YicdhLdRcmo

    Finally, I am still crushing on all things n.SSign especially “Higher” which was released 31July so it counts for me for August. For me, it sounds like the BTS greek series redux with a soaring melody that just breathes and sighs. If you like “Euphoria”, you will like this.

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  11. I just want to ask, for you a song on honorable mention is rated atleast 8? Because I was really surprised that Killin me good is in honorable mentions

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      • Then again, NCT’s “Golden Age” was initially rated in the 7’s but it surprisingly made honorable mentions. On the other hand, aespa’s “Better Things” didn’t make it despite it getting an 8 and it wasn’t listed as one of the fallers of August 2023.

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  12. I just want to ask, for you a song on honorable mention is rated atleast 8? Because I was really surprised that Killin me good is in honorable mentions

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  13. Out of the blue enjoy the winner, but the 2nd and 3rd places are not my cup of tea. I cannot stand the whole song Heartbeat. I would put Eunbi – The Flash in the 2nd place and place Xikers – Do Or Die right after that.
    I think The Boyz has turned to the right spot after a long time of not being okay but their newest song doesn’t turn me on so strongly.

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  14. My top 3 for August:

    3. Lemonade-BBGirls
    2. Alley Oop-NCT U
    1. Violet-TAN

    Honorable mention:
    Elevator-Baekho
    FF-Somi
    Pluto-Sarah Kang, Trade L
    Better Things-Aespa
    Girls Capitalism-Lovelution (SSS)

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