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.
March 2023 Overall Thoughts
So… when does the good stuff start?
Seriously, we had yet another underwhelming month in K-pop. There were plenty of big names, but the vast majority of music went in one ear and out the other. Beyond what I listen to for the blog, I’ve barely played any K-pop this March. There are so few songs I have any desire to return to. I feel like I can predict how every song will sound before even hearing it, which certainly dulls excitement.
Even with a standout single here and there, K-pop albums have been quite dull this year. My “buried treasures” feature has been underutilized, with only six posts since the start of 2023. For reference, I had featured twelve buried treasures by this time in 2022 — eighteen in 2021. Without many title tracks or b-sides catching my ear, there just isn’t much reason to press play.
CRAVITY’s Master:Piece mini album was a welcome standout, though I haven’t returned to it nearly as much as I thought I would. You can blame that on a general apathy toward K-pop (a rising tide lifts all boats, after all). Beyond that, I tended to listen to albums just one time, hoping for a song or two that hits me. I desperately want something new or different — particularly when it comes to melody. I feel like I’ve heard these albums a million times before, and without melodic hooks that catch my ear I don’t find myself compelled to dig deeper.
With that said, March was a big month for K-pop’s top tier acts. Jimin and Jisoo each debuted as soloists. IVE dropped their pre-release track ahead of next month’s album. Twice, J-Hope and Kai had comebacks. NMIXX returned with new music. KQ’s next boy group Xikers debuted. I enjoyed very little of this music, but I’m sure many fans were excited by it.
On a positive note, The Bias List reached a big milestone this month as the blog notched its twenty-millionth page view. When I first launched this passion project at the start of 2016, I never expected it to get to one million — let alone twenty million!
Beyond my top song of the month, the rest of my list feels kind of inconsequential. There are a handful of songs I enjoy, but I’m not rushing back to play them on a regular basis. I’m much more enthused by my top three J-pop songs, which I’ve played often with great excitement. At this moment, J-pop is delivering the melody and musical diversity I’m missing in K-pop and has become the dominant force on my playlists. I hope it continues to be strong throughout the year.
What do you think, readers? Are you as disappointed in 2023’s K-pop slate as I am? Anything you’re looking forward to?
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.7
(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. Snow Man – W (review)
2. News – A Real Man (review)
1. Nogizaka46 – Kokoro ni mo Nai Koto
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
BamBam – Sour & Sweet (review)
Billlie – EUNOIA (review)
Bobby – Drowning (ft. Sole) (review)
CSR – Shining Bright (review)
Jimin – Like Crazy (review)
Onew – O (Circle) (review)
Trendz – New Dayz (review)
Twice – Set Me Free (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. OnlyOneOf – Seoul Drift (review)
2. TAN – Fix You (review)
1. CRAVITY – Groovy (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of February 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of December 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2022
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2022
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Compare this year’s songs to the first three months of 2013…
*sigh*
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now that’s just tragic…
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I don’t dare to! haha
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Even compared to last year…
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Considering how dull and faceless K-pop has got during the last few months, the chance of myself completely quitting it and moving on K-indie instead has increased a lot. This is the exact reason why I rarely comment on this blog.
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I quite liked March actually. Really liked the whole Cravity album and have replayed it since its release. Aespa’s tetris OST has me on my knees. NMIXX’s Love Me Like This grew on me quite a lot, and I’ve gone back to My Gosh and Just Did It a fair amount as well. Onew’s Circle is something that would be on heavy rotation for the months to come. Last but not least, I’ve been loving the debut song by VR idol group PLAVE titled Wait For You. In the western band scene, it offers nothing new, but it was really refreshing in the K-pop context. The fusion of the K-pop style vocals with the classic rock band influences along with the hazy and dreamy vocal processing, not to mention the heavy emotive vocal delivery makes it a stand out. It is probably my favorite song of the month along with Cravity’s Fly/A to Z.
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I got
1. CSR – Shining Bright (early best song of the year for me)
2. Aespa – Hold on Tight
3. Billie – Eunoia
HM: Trendz – New Dayz, Ateez – Limitless
Another pretty whatever month overall.
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So far my favorite bits of 2023 Kpop have been Key’s repack, Cravity’s mini, and Kingdom’s recent mini. Overall though I would have to agree that since discovering Kpop back in 2018 the last few months has probably been the weakest stretch of releases I’ve heard.
Even so Kpop always has it bright spots.
I am looking forward to IVE’s new album quite a bit.
But mostly I am looking forward to Shinee’s imminent return.
Taemin will be discharge from the military in two days and according to shawol twitter Onew released a bubble message today saying they have already begun recording.
I know its an overused phrase but I don’t care, I am fully ready for Shinee to swoop in and save 2023 Kpop. I have all my pearl aqua accessories securely attached to my person and am ready to celebrate their 15th anniversary, 8th album, and the official end to their enlistment era!!!
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I’m right there with you, fellow Shawol. Cannot wait to see what they have up their sleeve for 2023.
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Haha, contrary to this I felt March has been my favorite month so far this year! 🙃
Honorable mentions : Billlie Eunoia, Nmixx Love Me Like This, Twice Set Me Free, Ive Kitsch, Aespa Tetris song (this is GREAT), Ateez Limitless
Top 5 kinda in order but 1 and 2 are interchangeable and so is 3 and 4 lol
1. Kingdom Dystopia
I guess what Golcha is to you is what Kingdom is to me now. It’s a connection that started over ‘my kinda music’ and now the bias runs quite deep lol. I only compare them to themselves and their earlier songs and this is like Ascension delivered in the sleeker smoother manner of Long Live the King. As long as they don’t pull a complete switcheroo and go for something I would totally dislike, Kingdom are safe in my top lists! 🙃
2. Superkind Moody
Honestly… this was surprisingly the strongest competition for Dystopia for me this time. This is the exact opposite vibe – dark and modern – the song struck a real chord with me and I have watched that MV a dozen times already (mostly because they don’t perform anywhere lol but also because I liked it so much). The pre-chorus, chorus and the choreo are the biggest standouts for me.
3. Trendz New Dayz
I have been watching them with interest for a while and this song is everything! I listened to it once and a few days later I just hummed it out of nowhere and that’s when I realized how great it is! The Leez sound is so strong here and honestly the boys put up a great performance!
4. Cravity Groovy
They did it again. And I hope they keep doing it again and again in the future. ❤ Cravity was probably the first group I had grievances about when I got back into kpop and I felt so strongly against their music (don’t ask what grievances 😭 I was in my delusional phase then lmao) And now they’re literally one of my favorite groups for upbeat kpop songs and I would even say as much as I want them to keep going the same way, if they decide to break the cycle and go do a racecar theme song or two I wouldn’t mind because they’ve kinda earned it for me lol.
5. Tan Fix You
The old vibes are strong in this one and I especially love the chorus! Louder was honestly one of my faves from last year and seeing them doing a completely different style so well is definitely cool!
And that’s it… an all boy-group top 5💀 I keep trying to tell myself that I’m an equal fan of bg and gg but I guess the stats don’t lie because one way or the other, boy groups fill up more of my list.
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I think March was the strongest month yet, with a lot of tunes I’m enjoying, such as IVE’s Kitsch, aespa’s Hold On Tight, Yeeun (CLC)’s Strange Way To Love, ONEW’s O, Sunmi’s Lights Out, So!YoON!’s Smoke Sprite, Kai’s Rover. Good b-sides I’m enjoying as well include OnlyOneOf’s nabi, TWICE’s Got the Thrills.
A few earlier releases are starting to seem like classic to me, like Henry’s Moonlight, Purple Kiss’s Sweet Juice & Autopilot, Fifty Fifty’s Cupid, and Nine (OnlyOneOf)’s beyOnd.
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March has been by far the strongest month of the year so far and it served up some solid K-Pop compared to the rest of 2023. I think March would be the first month that would feel unfair to call quiet, sure not everything that was anticipated stood up to the hype, but there were finally some tracks that stood out.
Top 3 (March 2023):
1. So!YoON! (ft. RM) – Smoke Spirit
2. OnlyOneOf – SeOul Drift
3. Billlie – EUNOIA
Honorable Mentions:
4. ONEW – O (Circle)
5. TWICE – Set Me Free
Both songs grew on me and ONEW’s album has been one of the best releases of the year so far. Overall, I’m worried that K-Pop is heading in a direction I’m not liking, but March had me looking up.
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It’s no secret that I’ve been disappointed with 4th gen k-pop. Although not horrible/terrible 4th gen promoters need to up their game to stay relevant and leaders in the pop industry.
For the above reason I’ve been leaning into j-pop a lot. It’s fun to explore back catalogues of newly (new to me) discovered j-pop. As an old metalhead it’s interesting to be able to pick out the cultural differences btw j & k-pop MV’s.
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1. Aespa- hold on tight
2. Billie- eunoia
3. Csr- shining bright
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Kep1er, Onew, and Twice have my whole heart. I loved their comebacks especially Kep1er. Onew and Twice just have to exist and I love them. I really really like CSR. They’re so much fun. I had the most disappointing week ever and their fun and upbeat music has helped a lot. Cravity and Kingdom did really well too. Aside from them though not much has caught my attention like I wish it did. I wish I liked Kai, Jimin, or Jisoo’s projects more but I just don’t honestly. Hopefully April is when things get more interesting.
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Another recent favorite of mine this month. I saw someone recommended this song on Nick’s Twitter, and I’ve been listening to it ever since. Really does have Sweetune vibes. Watching the MV just now, I did a double-take and realized one of the singers is a staple on many K-dramas I’ve seen, including It’s Okay to Not Be Okay and others. I had no idea she’s a singer too!
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Here are 5 or so, including b-sides and whatever I like.
Onew – Circle
Kai – Sinner
Ateez Muppet Babies – Tricky House
Awesome City Club – Talkin Talkin
Kingdom – Love is Pain
Yukno, Rahel – Schwerkraft
Aespa – Tetris
Xodiac – Calling
Eight Bit Arcade – Sweet Juice
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Oh, and TAN’s Fix You
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personally i would switch tan and cravity’s positions, cravity is the perfect pastiche of a bright boy group song but… it feels empty for some reason. i dont find myself returning to it often. tbh cravity dont put their own name on the song it sounds kinda generic
meanwhile fix you by tan is the best boy group song i’ve heard in months
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My March was filled with:
Cravity’s new album
Eric Nam
FIFTY FIFTY’s ‘Cupid’
Jimin’s ‘Like Crazy’
Kep1er’s ‘tOgether fOrever’
Infinite’s ‘Man in love’
A heck of a lot of TWICE title tracks
Top 3 for me would be:
Cravity – Baddie
Kep1er – tOgether fOrever
Cravity – A to Z
Honorable Mention: TWICE – Set me free
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btw nick what do u think of the boys planet original songs……compared to past survival shows some of these r honestly fantastic (specifically en garde and supercharger)
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Even with some big names this month, March definitely felt pretty quiet! I’m hoping the slate of April-May comebacks will really get things started in a massive way.
My favourites this month were Without U by Yuju, Ready To Be by Twice (especially the b-sides! Liked Set Me Free well enough but Got The Thrills was incredible) Love Me Like This by NMIXX, GGBB and Chico Malo by Mamamoo+, Like Crazy by Jimin, Hold on Tight by Aespa, and Number Boy by Holland!
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There’s more songs in March that’s made it to my playlist compared to the previous two months actually! Onlyoneof’s seoul drift, jhope’s on the street, twice’s ready to be album, aespa’s Tetris, Billie’s eunoia, and jimin’s like crazy. I just hope the music quality keeps trending upwards for the rest of the year cause this month has been kinda promising tbh.
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Honestly so far im tempted to say i like 2023 kpop more than i did 2022 (atleast in terms of how much we have for the year so far). In march i liked both cupid fifty fifty and the new aespa tetris song a lot, maybe nothing boundary breaking but theyre fun and cute songs and ill probably listen to them a lot the rest of the year
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I’ve just about had it with this negativity!
Onew had an incredible release!
We got another OnlyOneOf release, and the Korean version of Chrome Hearts is even better (and lewder) than the Japanese one!
Nmixx, Billlie, Ive, CSR, Pixy, Craxy, and Trendz, I love them all!
And I’m running out exclamation marks, but the average for this month was quite high in my opinion! Granted, we’re still missing the absolute legendary hits of the past, but please, hang in there.
HIS RETURN IS NIGHT
1 MORE DAY
AND HE IS RISEEEEEEN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhtvsSo_Ba8&ab_channel=TaemLover
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and the fact ditto havent budged a bit from the #1 spot and now its the highest ranking song on the charts
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meant to say longest #1 ranking song lol
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March was good for me thanks to:
1. Trendz’ New Dayz
2. TAN’s Fix You
3. JunHyung’s Post It
Honorable mentions:
4. Bobby’s Cherry Blossom/Drowning
5. BamBam’s Sweet & Sour
6. Kai’s Rover
Favorite B-side:
OnlyOneOf’s BlueblueseOul
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I forgot to include a very pleasant song:
SungJong’s The One
Also, I discovered EXID’s Stargazing and I’ve been obsessed. It is a December b-side(I think). I probably missed their debut or comeback because The Bias List didn’t review it😂
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XEED…not EXID🤷🏻♀️
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My month was ruled by the b-sides off of Onew’s album, to be honest (so super nice for spring, both the rainy and sunshine-y parts). So my month would go:
1. Cough
2. Walk With You
3. Expectations
But following behind a couple more of Onew’s b-sides (hello, Paradise and Anywhere), we would have a couple honorable mentions from Twice, Kyuhyun, TAN, and aespa.
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I don’t know if you’ll see this, Nick, but I’ve been SO curious what you thought of the B-side to ATEEZ’s 3/22/23 Japanese “Limitless” EP: “Diamond.” The title track was instantly forgettable, but I thought “Diamond” was a bop: a perfect spring/summer song that had me hosting an impromptu dance party in my kitchen for my dogs. It was a pretty straightforward composition, nothing special; but as Shakira always says, the hips don’t lie. So wondered what you thought….
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