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!
August 2012 Overall Thoughts
There were quite a lot of under-the-radar debuts this month, none of which ended up blossoming into lasting careers, unfortunately. August 2012 saw the first material from girl groups Two X, EvoL and D-Unit, boy group E7 and Woollim’s short-lived rap duo Tasty. Fiestar also made their debut this month, and went on to have a longer – though still frustratingly underappreciated – career.
Though my top three picks all come from big name acts, much of the month’s most delightful material came from groups that many current K-pop fans have probably never heard of. I’m talking about Phantom’s Burning, E7’s Don’t Let You Go, Two X’s Double Up, F.Cuz’s Dreaming I, Tasty’s You Know Me, and Choshinsei’s utter bop She’s Gone, which was released in both Korean and Japanese. I happen to prefer the Japanese version, mostly because I’ve heard it more often and happen to own the elusive music video in decent quality.
Elsewhere, we have strong follow-up singles from 2012 debuts Nu’est, VIXX and EXID, a fun but inessential repackage track from Super Junior, and a lovely EDM anthem from Seo In Young. B.A.P also released the uncharacteristically bright (and very good) repackage Crash, but it didn’t have a music video to go along with it.
My top three August picks are all incredible, high energy dance tracks from fantastic acts. And of course, Sweetune reigns supreme. I mean, who could ask for more?
Honorable Mentions
E7 – Don’t Let You Go / U (video / video)
EXID – I Feel Good (video)
F.Cuz – Dreaming I (video)
F.I.X – Don’t Say Goodbye (video)
Fiestar – Vista (review)
G-Dragon – That XX (video)
Nu’est – Not Over You (video)
Phantom – Burning (video)
Seo In Young – Anymore (video)
Super Junior – Spy (video)
Supernova (Choshinsei) – She’s Gone (video)
Tasty – You Know Me (video)
Two X – Double Up (video)
VIXX – Rock Ur Body (video)
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
.
ZE:A Phoenix for me! It has a great sing along melody with cheestastic theme. We’re gonna getcha getcha getcha with the fire bird, fire fire fuh fuh fuh fuh firebird!
I also have Super Junior “Spy” on the list. SuJu themselves hate this song for reasons no one has been able to discern. It is an oddball, but not that bad. A weird 0007 homage. According to legend, the original video got censored, so they went back in a hurry and re-filmed more of the dance to cut in. Siwon was busy doing something that day so he doesn’t appear in the dance at all. But that has never seemed to enough to prompt the strong reactions SuJu have when “Spy” plays on the variety show.
LikeLike
The amount of classics in the honorable mentions… We really had Double Up, I Feel Good and Vista in the same month. Rock Ur Body remains my favorite VIXX song ever.
LikeLike
I was just listening to Pandora and thought what a solid comeback for Kara who already had at that time such a solid discography in terms of singles.
Only a few groups from the new generation of kpop can parallel such consistency. Makes me miss second gen Kpop with how consistent they were.
LikeLike
Wowwww Phantom’s Burning, one of my favorite songs of 2012. Supernova, it’s been ages since I heard about them. I miss 2012, was the year I finally started to pay attention to Kpop seriously.
LikeLike
You didn’t like “We are a bit different”? I felt like you would’ve loved that
LikeLike