Since the start of The Bias List in January 2016, I’ve always looked back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists each month. Now, it’s time to look even further into the past, one month at a time. And, yes, the top three rankings count toward The Bias List’s personal artist scorecard!
Which month do you want to see next?
August 2014 Overall Thoughts
Something was definitely in the water during the summer of 2014. July was stacked with incredibly strong releases, and August was no different. The embarrassment of riches here is just staggering, from exciting up-and-comers to established veterans.
A month has got to be insanely strong for classics like I Swear, Happiness, Danger, I Need You and Empty to be relegated to honorable mention status. I mean, I just raved about Winner’s Empty in a review a few days ago. In our current K-pop landscape, it’d likely snatch the top spot in any month. Back in August 2014, it was only one of many excellent comebacks.
This was a month where both the girls and guys attacked with equal ferocity, delivering a diverse palette of sounds. It saw the debut of Red Velvet, Winner and Laboum, along with a solo debut for SHINee’s Taemin. It unveiled a reinvention of long-running act Kara and ushered in a surge of popularity for the soon-to-be-ubiquitous BTS. And though we didn’t know it at the time, August gave us the song that would catapult girl group EXID into superstardom.
Unfortunately, these were also halcyon days, with tragedy lurking just around the corner. K-pop would soon be rocked with the fatal Ladies’ Code car accident. Significant changes were also on the horizon for popular groups Girls’ Generation and EXO, but for four-and-a-half weeks in mid-2014, K-pop was operating at an undeniable peak. Here’s hoping we’ll ever see this kind of consistent quality again.
Honorable Mentions
Bestie – I Need You (video)
HIGH4 – Headache (video)
Jay Park – So Good (video)
Laboum – Pit A Pat (video)
Ladies’ Code – Kiss Kiss (video)
Orange Caramel – My Copycat (video)
Red Velvet – Happiness (video)
Secret – I’m In Love (video)
Sistar – I Swear (video)
Super Junior – Mamacita (video)
Taemin – Danger (video)
Winner – Empty / Color Ring (review / review)
TOP THREE SONGS
3. BTS – Danger
2. EXID – Up & Down
1. Kara – Mamma Mia
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I really love this segment you’re doing! Keep up the good work! Your top 3 is valid. Each song is really good! I have to review most of the honorable mentions, but empty, happiness, and mamacita are deserving of honorable mentions! Hopefully next month can be the same as recent Kpop songs have been underperforming a bit. The new Day6 and kNK singles were actually good (need to review again to confirm lol), so it’s a relief we at least get a couple of excitements.
Danger is an underrated gem of BTS, I believe. Not a lot of people talk about this song a lot when it comes to BTS’s singles, so I do hope Danger gets more exposure. I also really love Up & Down, as it was one of the first Kpop songs I listened to and fell in love with. have to see where I stand with Mamma Mia, as I listened to a few times to confirm it’s a good song. Just have to give my opinionated expression of how I feel about Mamma Mia lol.
I love to see more of this segment you’re doing. It’s fun to see how the past was in terms of Kpop music by your viewpoint.
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Glad to hear it!
I wasn’t sure how this particular feature would be received, but it’s really fun to write and hopefully just as fun to read.
Honestly, I’m just so disillusioned with this month in K-pop that I have to go backward to better days for the sake of my sanity! Constantly writing negative/critical reviews gets mentally exhausting. I hope the industry can turn itself back around quickly.
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For a second I was almost offended you put Danger by BTS over Danger by Taemin (jkjk) but I remember jamming to both equally hard, so. Both songs are still among my very favorite releases by either artist, and not much they’ve done in all the years since has rivaled that quality for me.
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I waffled between the two, and considered placing them both at that third spot as a tie. They’re kind of inextricably linked for me anyway.
Honestly, my opinion on which song I enjoy more would probably change based on the day. They’re both excellent.
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I am very happy you did Aug 2014 as well, because when you did July 2014 I did notice that Red Velvet Happiness was 4th August, and was going to add to my July list but held off.
Strong month, I didn’t even have to look at my iTunes for my list:
Red Velvet Happiness!
Orange Caramel My Copycat
SuJu Hey Mamamcita nega ay ya ya ya yai
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