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Looking Back: The Top Three K-Pop Songs of June 2013

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Monthly Round-UpSince 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!

June 2013 Overall Thoughts

After the epic volley of comebacks in May, June 2013 was a quirkier month. It certainly didn’t bear as many a-list releases, though in hindsight there was one debut that would set the stage for incredibly successful things to come in the latter half of the decade. Yes, this was the month when BTS made their debut. I’ve never considered No More Dream to be a total classic, but rest assured it still made it into my honorable mentions.

It’s funny, though… if you would have asked me back in June of 2013 which debuting group would have had the longest, most successful career, I probably would have said Boys Republic. I loved (and still love) their debut track Party Rock.

Elsewhere, June saw big releases from girl groups After School, Dal Shabet, Girl’s Day, Rainbow and Sistar – one of which made my top three. But, it was another girl group track that would go on to become 2013’s biggest novelty hit. Crayon Pop’s Bar Bar Bar made its quirky self known this month.

Things were quieter on the boy group front, with many of June’s releases relegated to the kind of low-budget, quasi music videos that skirt the line between proper comeback and bonus “for the fans” efforts. One exception is MBLAQ’s excellent, underrated Smoky Girl, which nearly made it into my top three picks.

Honorable Mentions

A-Prince – My Lady (video)

After School – First Love (video)

Beast – I’m Sorry (video)

Boys Republic – Party Rock (video)

BTS – No More Dream (video)

Chocolat – Black Tinkerbell (video)

Dal Shabet – Be Ambitious (video)

MBLAQ – Smoky Girl (video)

Rainbow – Sunshine (video)

Roy Kim – Love Love Love (video)

Sistar – Give It To Me (video)

100% – Only U (video)

2Eyes – Don’t Mess With Me (video)

4minute – Is It Poppin’? (video)

TOP THREE SONGS

3. Crayon Pop – Bar Bar Bar

2. Henry – Trap (ft. Kyuhyun & Taemin)

1. Girl’s Day – Female President

22 thoughts on “Looking Back: The Top Three K-Pop Songs of June 2013”

  1. More than the song itself initially what drew me to ‘no more dream’ was the lyrical content.

    I had grown weary of boy groups – and truly hadn’t let myself trust a single other one since DBSK split into its divisions (two groups now that just haven’t done it for me like the 5 of them together did) – but I appreciated that their music was about something and seemed to be purposeful. Then ‘we are bulletproof’ came out as a video & I liked it and because of that I listened to ‘No’ – which, again, had meaningful lyrics – and the rest is history LOL

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  3. Oh boy, 2013 was a good year.

    As I pointed out in your top 50 2013 song comments, I do not really like female president (I am in the minority, IK), it seems closer to noise for me, but boy do I love Trap. After One Shot and Miracles in December, probably my favorite song of 2013.

    To me, I seemed to have enjoyed the boy groups more this month, besides Bar Bar Bar, I think I only added boy group songs during this month into my playlist. The songs that I downloaded from June 2013 are:

    No More Dream – BTS (A lyrical and Hip-Hop classic, probably overrated by some Armys but I still like it quite a bit)

    Party Rock – Boys Republic (Like you, I was sure these guys would break out soon TT)

    Only U – 100% (What can I say, I am a big fan of 100% [RIP Minwoo])

    Bar Bar Bar – Crayon Pop (Control, Control, focus, stay-

    JUMPING JUMPING YA [insert fake Korean])

    Trap – Henry Lau (I love piano in pop, though Fantastic’s violin riffs are amazing, I am partial to this song due to Taemin and Kyunhyun’s performance)

    My top 3:

    3. Party Rock – Boys Republic/ Bar Bar Bar – Crayon Pop
    2. No More Dream – BTS
    1. Trap – Henry Lau Ft. Taemin and Kyunhyun

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  7. This just propels my moment of 2012/2013 kpop nostalgia even further. I remember loving all three of these songs. Boys Republic’ s Party Rock is also still on my playlist, it’s just great.

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  8. I always thought it was interesting that Henry’s solo song had to feature both Taemin and Kyuhyun, and then even still is just above average. Depending on your bias it is either T or K who saves it. I bought it anyway, being a K bias.

    The BTS song always sounded like a Block B alt-Nalina version to me.

    I never cared for the “Female President” song either. If I want to go girl power, I usually go Pink with Stupid Girls or something else from her catalog. The Girl’s Day video is also firmly in the era of teasing the censors in SK. (was it banned? idk. It looks like it have been. By US standards its tame, but, for SK, what are those butt cheeks doing?!)

    I have made up many many lyrics to Bar Bar Bar. There really is no song like this in kpop, even the rest of the Crayon pop ouevre doesn’t reach this height. Its like an afternoon kid show song, but way way way better. Maybe it’s just the video. As far as I know, Pororo has never covered this one.

    My top for this month is Roy Kim “Love Love Love”, because it is one fiddle away from being what we call “Back porch” music in my part of the world. I also appreciate that for kpop, he really writes his songs, all by himself, and this is a fine A1 example of his skills. The melody just lays right into it, nice and gentle and smooth, eases into the break, and then the song actually “comes home”.

    Finally, where oh where is XENO! Xeno, look, Rainbow! I hope you and yours are OK, Xeno!.

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  9. Ok, I know I have been posting too many reviews on your blog Nick, but I honestly find this one quite interesting so I will post it. You should create a feature like this (no pressure though, I know we actually listen to music because it is good not bad, I just really wanted to right this review)

    Anyway, everyone enjoy this review and give your thoughts on it!

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