#your style always brings the right amount of beautiful chaotic energy and sweet sweet sincerity

[miannedomusings]

K-pop favourites from 2018

 ALBUMS (in no particular order):

Hope World - j-hope

mono. - RM

Love Yourself ‘Answer’ - BTS

Sun and Moon - SAM KIM

Don’t Mess Up My Tempo - EXO

honourable mentions

Blooming Days - EXO-CBX

Present : You - GOT7

Wish & Wind - HEIZE

SINGLES:

SoulMate - ZICO ft. IU

Young - Baekhyun & Loco

Getting Closer - SEVENTEEN

Ddaeng - BTS rap line

Is Who - MINSEO (not technically a single... but very good)

CHOREOGRAPHY: 

THANKS - SEVENTEEN

honourable mentions

FAKE LOVE - BTS

No Air - THE BOYZ

Getting Closer - SEVENTEEN

MUSIC VIDEO: 

Singularity - BTS

If you want to read my thoughts on my choices, they’re below the break.

If you want to, share your faves! I’m curious!

ALBUMS

Hope World : This beauty is amazing. One of the the things that makes for a good album is the story it guides it you through. The order of the tracks is almost as important as the songs themselves. Musically speaking, this album totally does that for me. The way the energy changes over the course of the album always surprises me -- the mood the first song puts me in is so different from the feeling this album leaves me with. The upbeat fun of the first few tracks are exactly the flavour I hoped for from a j-hope album even if didn’t quite know it beforehand. They just felt right, they feel like Hobi. The transition that starts with Baseline totally surprised me, and did such a great job of showing his other hip-hop flavours as it takes us into Hangsang and Airplane pt 1. Blue Side is quite possibly my favourite on this album. For me, it’s such a visual song, and I’m completely transported every time. This album blew me away. I didn’t know what I expected but this surpassed anything I had in mind. And I love that I feel like I know Hobi more from having experienced this -- and isn’t that what a mixtape should do? Now when I listen to other and older BTS songs I feel like I’m better able to hear j-hope’s j-hope-ness in his verses. 

mono. : I know I said “in no particular order”, but this album, this is probably the best of the year. This album feels like meditation to me. The whole album is so spacious, and the use of repetition makes this album feels like a series of mantras to help you engage with the sadder sides of yourself. I take a lot of deep breaths listening to this album. A lot like Hope World, I love the order of this album. Each song carries a slightly different mood, a different shade of grey, and it pulls you down to different levels of sadness and quietude. I love the brief relief you get in everythingoes -- it’s able to bring you up again and see the sun through the clouds. When I listen to this album I often feel like each song relates to a different time of day -- part of the journey of this album is through the course of a day. I always struggle to put my feelings for this album into sentences -- it so much a collection of feelings that it seems to defy description (at least by me). Cathartic, Melancholic, Meditative, Introspective. 

Love Yourself ‘Answer’ : Answer beat out Tear for a few reasons -- and not because it’s longer. Though I adore many of the B-sides on Tear, I think the weak points are weaker than those in Answer, and I think Answer is more successful as an album -- it told its story better than Tear did and I’m a sucker for a good story. The movement through the 4 phases of the album was pulled off so well! All the Trivia’s were spectacular, and these versions of the vocalists’ songs were all better that any versions that came before. This album is a joy to listen to, and when I start listening I’m committed to seeing it through. I hate being pulled away from it part way. It really does succeed in being cohesive (which can be a rarity in k-pop) and whole.

Sun and Moon : Sam Kim showed up out of no where and smacked me over the head with this album. He is a fabulous song-writer and a welcome breath of instrumentation in the largely electronic k-pop scene. His voice is soulful, perfectly suited for his style, and I’m in love with the way he lets it get rough when the songs needs it. This album is so romantic -- I shouldn’t like it as much as I do. But I actually feel the romance and love it. He brings an contagious amount of sincerity to his songs. Even if this album was full of duds, I think it may still have made it on this list thanks to The One, Make Up, and It’s You -- some of my favourite songs of the year!

Don’t Mess Up My Tempo : Unlike most of the others on this list, I don’t think this album is really telling me a story. That being said, I do still like the sometimes surprising transition from track to track. There isn’t a bad song in the batch. This album has some of the best production I have heard this year (I expect nothing less from SM -- the company is in love with weird samples and unexpected sounds). All of the songs are crazy catchy and enjoyable to listen to. And they’re interesting! The vocals are phenomenal, and most importantly, I am happy when I listen to this album! This album feels out of place on this list when I compare it to the others, but I don’t care because I love it!

SINGLES

SoulMate : I’m sure if ZICO had released an album this year it would have made it onto this list. I adore the way he plays with what Korean sounds like, and him and IU complemented each other surprisingly well. “Delightful” is the first word that comes to mind when I think of this track. Right off the bat you get the jingly percussion that I think must have been coins bouncing around in a glass jar and it makes this song feel so bright. ZICO’s rapping brings an awesome contrast after the first verse and chorus, and the instrumental solos give me wings. Love it. 

Young : Baekhyun and Loco play off of each other so well in this song. Hearing Baekhyun out of the context of EXO is a treat, his voice is able to deliver more of an edge than I thought it could. Loco has such a unique voice. It isn’t “pretty” and I never want it to be because it’s roughness makes something gorgeous! Each phase of the song sounds so different from the last, but in very small ways. The way that vocals and rapping mix together, and how the backing vocals vary make this song so interesting to listen to. The cyclical musical elements of the song do an amazing job of communicating the lyrics and the laid back vibes of the song suit the two voices and make it so easy to listen to and enjoy. 

Getting Closer: Fierce. Seventeen finally tried a dark concept and pulled it off! I really like this song and I hope that there is an album with a similar tone soon to follow. This song really continues with Seventeen’s minimal style. The song uses monotones vocals and synths to create its dark vibe and make the softer moments so much sweeter. One of the highlights in this song is when they use of layering high vocals on low raps -- still keeping everything very bare, but adding just a touch of interest. And also, the choreography. It’s so powerful. It’s gruff. And it will bite your ear off if you get in a scuffle with its dance break. It almost made it into the choreo section of this post.  

Ddaeng : I almost forgot to include this song on this list. This song that I had on repeat for weeks. Shame on me! This song is so BTS, I love it deeply. Besides being infectious and a wicked display of rap skills, any translation worth anything has about a page and a half of footnotes to go along with it. Our bulletproof wordsmiths seriously pulled out all the stops on this one, just to throw some shade. And then Suga mixed it with that gorgeous instrumentation and bitchin’ beat. Solid.

Is Who : This is a bit of an oddball on this list, and it isn’t even technically a single, but this song is a hoot and half. If someone with a voice as lovely as Minseo’s is going to serve me up some pop-jazz-swing with fiddle and ragtime piano and SCATTING, I’m going to eat. it. up. This song is fun! It is bright! And it isn’t what I often hear in K-pop. 

CHOREO

THANKS : Seventeen, seventeen, seventeen. Sometimes there music is a little too sweet for me, but their dancing melts my brain every time. They use their numbers so well and their dedication to precision when dancing prevents from their complicated dancing from ever looking chaotic or messy. This song in particular - OOF. Wow. If you haven’t watched the performance video for this song, you should. They manage to have so many moving parts, and it reads as intricate, but always clear. They also do a great job of matching the sad vibes of the song. There are so many dances that could have made this list, but Thanks is so far beyond any of them in my books that I couldn’t have it sharing the title. 

MUSIC VIDEO

Singularity : Is anyone on this blog surprised by this? I don’t shut up about this m/v. And for good reason -- it is freakin’ amazing! Aesthetically gorgeous, kills it with the visual metaphors, the choreography is beautiful and surprising given the music, and it’s minimal without lacking anything. Lots of K-pop m/vs are either very visually loud, or “minimally aesthetic” at the cost of substance. Singularity manages to find a balance. Taehyung does a stellar job with his acting and I am sucked into this world every time. 

#kpop #review 2018 #bts #exo #svt #sam kim #minseo #zico #iu #loco #rm #jhope #ramblings #song ramblings #music rec