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!
March 2012 Overall Thoughts
March 2012 kicked off a stretch of months that were nothing short of legendary. From here on, 2012 turned into a renaissance year for K-pop, with hardly a moment to breathe between back-to-back classics.
After taking February off, SM Entertainment came roaring back with two of their all-time best songs (both of which were co-written by pop genius Thomas Troelsen). Imagine a world where tracks like Sherlock and History arrive within fourteen days of each other. It’s like K-pop whiplash, in the best way possible.
Following two pre-release singles in February, Bigbang unleashed their biggest and best track yet with modern classic Fantastic Baby, which gained huge international attention for the industry as a whole.
But, that’s not all! March saw the outstanding debut of Nu’est, the continuing perfection of Nine Muse + Sweetune, and the return of K-pop royalty Shinhwa after a four-year break. Each week unveiled its own treasure, in a constant relay of excellence.
Honestly, 2020 has been a rough year for me and K-pop, with the music spurring frustration far more often than it does excitement. Looking back at a month like this helps remind me what K-pop can be, and why I first fell in love with it. Will we ever be able to return to this level of quality?
Honorable Mentions
B1A4 – Baby I’m Sorry (video)
CNBlue – Hey You (video)
LEDApple – Sadness (video)
Nine Muses – Ticket (video)
Nu’est – Face (video)
Shinhwa – Venus (video)
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
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What a month! Both “Lucifer” and “History” were THE soundtracks of my middle school years. Thanks Mr. Troelsen!
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I think you mean Sherlock? But Lucifer is an immortal jam, too — just two years earlier.
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Holy crap this month was stacked… News might be my favorite Nine Muses song, and Baby I’m Sorry is definitely a permanent mainstay on my playlists.
Also when History came out I listened to it on repeat for months on end – Exo had some of the strongest debut work in all of kpop in my opinion
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=But wait there is more=
SPICA “Painkiller”
Busker Busker “Cherry Blossom Ending” which is the number one selling single in Korea ever.
And March 2012 was also the finale of the TV show The Moon Embracing the Sun, featuring hot honeys Kim Soo Hyun and Jung Il Woo. The latter’s previous hit was Iljimae which is my avatar. The former celebrated the run away success of The Moon by releasing a solo album showing off his smoky tenor vocals. The Moon streamed on Netlfix later, and that is what got me into kpop.
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Busker Busker’s going to count for April, since even though the album was released at the end of March, the mv wasn’t unveiled until April 1st (at least to my knowledge). Technicalities and minutiae… I know. Still a classic song either way.
As for Spica, I don’t really care for Painkiller. But, they’ve got some killer pop singles coming up within the next year or so.
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Dude, news was released in January, I think you mean Ticket
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You are 100% correct. Why is it that whenever I make a mistake on this site, it somehow has to do with Nine Muses? They’re cursed.
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Ah…….fantastic baby. I was there when it drops, it was deep after all the previous controversy the members got and with everyone wondering if they could comeback from it and all.
Now? This is pretty much a must listen for first-timers. It’s a good plunge into how high-concept kpop is, and the song itself used to gets played literally everywhere.
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Oh Yeah! I got this one right!! I think I could predict’s April to but I don’t wanna spoil it for others or myself. This is my list but since I like Fantastic Baby better than History then there’s that
3: EXO – History
2: Bigbang – Fantastic Baby
1: SHINee – Sherlock
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I cant believe its been 8 years since Fantasticbaby was released…!
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