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.
June 2019 Overall Thoughts
Well… June happened.
The K-pop gods giveth and they taketh away, and after a strong May, this month seemed like a real buzzkill. That’s not to say there weren’t a few great songs. I love my top three, with my top pick growing into a nice little dark horse as the month went on. But, June also delivered some of my least favorite comebacks of the year. And with notable releases relatively hard to find, the unending stream of “meh” made for a pretty unexciting prospect. It also resulted in my lowest rated month since December 2017. Oof.
Of course, there were a few bright spots beyond my top three songs. After an almost nonexistent start to the year, SM Entertainment finally kicked things into gear with a steady stream of releases. I liked Red Velvet’s comeback a lot more than most seemed to, and Yunho’s mini album was great. Twice released decent Japanese singles (which was a shocker) and no one musical trend seemed to dominate the month.
As we head into summer, I’m a little worried about what July might bring. Without many concrete comeback announcements so far, it’s hard to predict where we’ll be this time next month. Summer is usually a time for heavy hitters in K-pop, with July especially jam-packed. I’m gonna need to see some key comeback teasers in the next few days (I’m looking at you Golden Child, TXT, Itzy, ONF, Sunmi, Seventeen, Astro and NCT Dream…). So far, the next few weeks seem relatively dry.
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.4
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Worth Your Time
King & Prince – Naughty Girl
News – Top Gun
Twice – Breakthrough (review)
Honorable Mentions
(G)I-DLE – Uh-Oh (review)
ATEEZ – Illusion (review)
Ong Seungwu – Heart Sign (review)
NCT Dream x HRVY – Don’t Need Your Love (review)
Red Velvet – Zimzalabim (review)
U-Know – Follow (review)
Yesung – Pink Magic (review)
TOP THREE SONGS
3. Cosmic Girls (WJSN) – Boogie Up (review)
2. Stray Kids – Side Effects (review)
1. ATEEZ – Wave (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of May 2019
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2019
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of March 2019
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of February 2019
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2019
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
100% with you on Wave being #1 this month– i’ve literally been waking up with it playing in my head these days!
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For me it’s:
3. WJSN – Boogie Up – summer fun, good song!
2. Stray Kids – Side Effects – definitely the most interesting song of June and may usurp others with its listening power in the coming months, so stay tuned for my 2019 faves.
1. HAPPY HAPPY (HAPPY YOU YOU YOU) – I no less than teared up listening to this for the first time. The harmony! The melody! I never expect much of J-pop Twice, but this song was composed by the same people behind some of their best Korean singles and it shows.
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It appears I’ve replied to someone instead of making an original thread. Oops!
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I thought Follow was gonna make it to your top 3…
I knew Wave and Boogie Up were obviously gonna be there but I’m surprised you included Side Effects, I guess the song hasn’t grown into me as much as most people.
My list would be:
3. “Zimzalabim” (Red Velvet) – I know, a controversial pick
2. “Follow” (U-know)
1. “Wave” (ATEEZ)
On a sidenote: Snapping has proven to be a big grower for me, the chorus keeps getting more addictive the more I listen to it.
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Follow was a very, very close 4th place. I just haven’t returned to it as often as the three songs above it.
And, you’re not alone when it comes to Zimzalabim. That song’s had surprising staying power for me.
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For me:
Stray Kids Side Effects
Yunho with Boa – Swing
Zimzalabim – I’ll probably come around to it in a couple months, as usually happens with Red Velvet with me.
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i soooo agree with Swing– like i even wish that Boa came back with Swing instead of literally…. Feedback. it would’ve been so cool to see what kind of choreography would’ve come up to match the incredible stomp of that song!!
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this was supposed to be a reply to MYMAGOOGLE above…. oh well 😦
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I love Swing not just because of an imagined performance in my minds eye of two strong performers, but also that chunky bass sound. It reminds me of Madonna Lucky Star – Material Girl era.
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For me, top 5 are:
Sf9 – See U Tomorrow
Yunho – Follow
Yunho feat Boa – Swing
Chungha – Snapping
Stray Kids – Side Effects
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Did not think I would see the day when a trop-house song would be your number 1 for the month!
I’m genuinely shocked! Wave was just retreading on territory that’s been done to death (I feel now how you felt last year I think). To me they didn’t bring anything truly new to the sound, I was becoming an ATEEZ fan (Say my name and HALA HALA are already two of my most played songs this year) and this comeback just didn’t do it for me.
I too didn’t love this month a lot so I guess I have to go with
3 Fun! – Fromis_9 (not my fave from them but its upbeat dancy and “fun”)
2 Snapping – Chungha (On vibe alone this nearly made it to 1, I love a mid tempo sexy song, granted its not super dynamic but the instrumental alone is spectacular to me)
1 Zimzalabim – RV (which I was initially flabbergasted by but have since grown to love due to the brilliant structure of the song and how it plays with expectations and brings in and out melodic and instrumental moments to great effect, also its hype for the gym)
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Fun! is a guilty pleasure for me, as is, (yes) Jeon Somi Birthday (yeesh) (flees).
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1 Side Effects -Stray Kids (It has grown on me A LOT)
2 Wave – Ateez (especially the last chorus)
3 Uh-Oh – (G)I-dle (I just love style)
4 Swing – Yunho,Boa (that bass line)
5 See U Tomorrow – SF9 (the chorus is just beautiful and the album in general is one of their better ones)
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Yays ! Another ‘RPM – mini album’ lover ! See U Tomorrow, in my opinion, IS one of the best Kpop songs of the year 😀 The whole arrangement, both vocal and instrumental. It has been quite some time since I last heard orchestral elements in a Kpop song. The lyrics are beautiful too.
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SF9 “See U Tomorrow” – oh, thank you for recommending this, it is quite good. I would not have found it otherwise. A lot going on in the song, but it holds together very well.
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