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.
December 2021 Overall Thoughts
After spending the past few weeks counting down everything under the sun (best K-pop album font, anyone??), it’s time to turn attention back to the actual releases of this month.
The second half of December was pretty barren (as expected), but the first half was kind of stacked. In fact, I think its first two weeks were more exciting than all of November. Things kicked off with a flurry of great songs, most of which found their way into my top three. Releases became more hit-and-miss from there on, but it seems we’re ramping up for a very busy January.
My cumulative rating for December is always somewhat unreliable because there just aren’t that many releases to average. But, the fact that it hit “8” still feels notable after a string of underwhelming months. December also saw some big debuts. One was great (IVE) and another was… not (Xdinary Heroes). But, I’m still excited to see where these groups go in 2022.
Speaking of 2022, I’ll have my resolutions ready to post tomorrow. Mostly, I’m just hoping to hear great music and new ideas. K-pop has felt a little stagnant the past couple of months and I’m eager for some surprising twists. The first half of 2021 was so strong. Will 2022 follow suit??
Month Cumulative Rating: 8.0
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
Capsule – Virtual Freedom (video)
Exile x Sandaime J Soul Brothers – Virtual Love (video)
Official HIGE DANdism – Pending Machine (video)
Snow Man – Be My Girlfriend (video)
TOP J-POP SONG OF THE MONTH
Snow Man – Secret Touch (review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
ATEEZ – Turbulence (review)
BamBam – Who Are You (ft. Seulgi) (review)
Gaho – Part Time Lover (review)
Lucy – Rolling Rolling (review)
Minho – Heartbreak (review)
Moonbyul – G999 (ft. Mirani) (review)
NCT – Beautiful (review)
NCT U – Universe (Let’s Play Ball) (review)
Yongjun x Sungkyu – When It Snows (review)
TOP THREE SONGS
3. IVE – Eleven (review)
2. Everglow – Pirate (review)
1. ONF – Goosebumps (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2021
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2021
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2021
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of August 2021
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of July 2021
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
It was very easy to list down thi month’s top five.
1. ONF – Goosebumps
2. NCT 2021 – Beautiful
3. NCT U – Universe (Let’s Play Ball)
4. Everglow – Pirate
5. IVE – Eleven
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#2 and #3 being released on the same day! ELEVEN continues to grow on me despite me already liking the song on first listen. excellent top 3.
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Great top 3! ❤️ It was certainly a quiet month. Besides these, my faves include Ateez The Real, NCT Universe and NCT Beautiful. And the Christmas songs were all really nice! Purple Kiss, Billlie and Skyle’s were my favorites!
Also Xdinary Heroes Happy Death Day came across as strange and numbing the first time…. but it’s very unapolegitically loud and the lyrics are strangely cathartic 😂 It’s so different from other kpop bands and even most kpop really! I mean, I get a lot of happiness from screaming Happy Death Day! Happy worst day!” and “I’m so sick of the fakes!” 🤣🤣
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I just got caught up on the most recent new releases covered here today and agreed that the front half of the month was pretty great. BG and solo releases have felt a bit stagnant to me as well, but I really feel like there’s been a shift in quality and diversity of girl group releases over the last 2-3 months, especially among the rookies, but also with Everglow’s “Pirate”, so I’m pretty excited about that going into 2022.
My top three (excluding “The Real” because it doesn’t feel right to count it, but if I did it would be number one with a cherry on top), in some order, are “Pirate”, “Goosebumps”, and FTISLAND’s “Unthinkable”, with HMs for MINHO’s “Heartbreak”, ATEEZ “Turbulence” (it grew on me a good bit), and BamBam “Who Are You”.
For my fellow R&B fans, I would recommend WONHO’s “White Miracle”, GSoul’s “NATURAL” EP, and MONSTA X’s “One Day”. I’ve probably missed some smaller releases because I haven’t caught up on my new release lists for the month, but those came across my radar anyhow.
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Oh, HM for “Eleven” as well, although I can’t say I love it as much as most people seem to. It just feels a little sparse for a good dance track, especially compared to “Pirate”.
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i feel exactly the same way
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G.Soul’s “Natural” is indeed very good.
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I’ve recently discovered gsouls’s circles and I absolutely love that song. Any similar recommendations?
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My top 3 would be identical. Goosebumps was a TREAT, one of my yearly favs. Pirate was a delightful surprise. And Eleven was stupidely catchy. From the slow-down chorus to the “1,2,3,4,5,6,7” just a straight earworm. But I’m ready for January…Mirae, Blitzers, Fromis_9, P1HARMONY, Drippin, Onewe, Enhypen, Woozi, Wooah, WJSN Chocome, Momoland, Pentagon, Golcha, Kep1er, AND (last but not least) Girls On Top. I’m ready to feast
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im just begging for wa da da to be good, the highlight medley doesn’t make it sound like it will
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Ngl after the new MV teaser that just dropped, I’m just gonna wait for the b-sides
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“Pirate” unexpectedly ended up as one of my absolute favourite releases of the year – and definitely this year’s biggest earworm.
I will chant “cause I’m a PIRATE…a PIRATE…a PIRATE…so let me introduce myself” at the slightest provocation. It’s had a devastating impact on my professional career.
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I feel like I’m the only one who gave Eleven multiple chances but never found it catchy or anything special at all.
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Unfortunately, my honorable mentions also contains oh my girls’ shark. That stupid song just keeps growing on me.
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to me, the verses and the instrumental of that song are pretty decent, but then a killer clown on crack comes and murders the chorus
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aww where’s christmas evel 😦
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…it is a november song. please forgive me nick-san
ok jokes aside i can totally see this top 3 being in the top 50 for next year :DDD
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