January-February 2008 Overall Thoughts
I’ve decided to revive a popular weekly feature, but with a twist!
In addition to my monthly K-pop round-up, I’ve taken a look at my favorite three singles from each month since 2009 and factored them into my ultimate Bias List scorecard, which can be found here.
The problem is, prior to 2009 it becomes harder to find reliable sources for K-pop release dates. I’m going to do the best I can with the information I have, but occasionally I may place a song a month early or late (it becomes even more confusing when you factor in separate release dates for mv and album!). And because K-pop releases were far less prolific fifteen years ago than they are today, I’ve decided to feature two months each week. That gives me more music to choose from and ensures I’m not spotlighting songs I dislike simply because there’s nothing else that came out during that period!
So, this week we’re kicking off 2008 with the months of January and February. 2008 is considered by many to be a big breakthrough year for the industry with several very notable debuts and a slew of classic tracks. The year kicked off with holdovers from 2007 (Bigbang and SNSD, mainly) lodged in the charts. The latter released a follow-up mv for their song Kissing You, which is an easy standout of this period.
In fact, these two months were very strong for girl group releases. In addition to SNSD, Brown Eyed Girls and Jewelry released songs we now consider classics. They were both big hits, as well as songs I personally enjoy.
This period also saw debuts from soloists Ajoo and Peter Hyun. I’m fond of both upbeat tracks, but Ajoo’s First Kiss sounds like Sweetune-meets-B1A4 so you know I’m eating that up! There’s even a key change.
But, my number one slot easily goes to TVXQ’s Purple Line — a song that was released both in Japanese and Korean during this period. It’s actually one of my favorite TVXQ singles, though the group would go on to release more iconic material later in the year.
Honorable Mentions
Ajoo – First Kiss (video)
Brown Eyed Girls – L.O.V.E (video)
Peter Hyun – Showman (video)
Notable J-Pop Releases from K-Pop Acts
Bigbang – How Gee (video)
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Jewelry’s One More Time is such a classic. I was living in China back then, so I was listening to K-pop before I even knew what it was. This song was big at the time.
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I always wondered whether “One More Time” was supposed to be an ode to Trot or Eastern European music. I think we will soon see a Trot inspired song from one of the big groups. I think Soyeon has hinted something like that. Don’t ask me for a link to that, I’ve slept since then.
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Yasss, TVXQ “Triangle” for the win. A Classic of 1st gen kpop.
Even more classic than “Triangle” the song is “Triangle” the HAIR!
Let’s see if this picture link works …
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Kissing You!! One of my favorite songs, it still holds up really well IMO.
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I noticed Donghae from Super Junior was in that video.
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Long time lurker, first time poster. I’m glad your are doing these looking back features, Nick. I became a k-pop in 2019 with BTS, but I found myself gravitating to older k-pop and wasn’t sure where to start (aside from the popular groups). At least these posts make it easier to find some artists I may want to check out or songs that I may have overlooked.
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I’m so happy to hear this! Much of K-pop’s older history is pretty inaccessible for non-Korean fans, but there are so many gems to be uncovered 🙂
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