2022 Kpop Awards: Anything But 2022 Kpop
So, we’re starting this year’s awards off really weirdly with our anything but 2022 kpop. For this category we nominated only songs that did not qualify in any of the main categories, so it gets a little quirky. As a note, a year for us is December of the previous year to November of the current ranking year. That said, 2022 is the exception because December 2021 was part of the 2021 ranking period, so 2022 for us was just 11 months. That said, let’s jump into this random fun category.
12. V6- Super Powers
This song was a favorite One Piece opening of Chelsea’s. In terms of a kpop equivalent, maybe Bar Bar Bar by Crayon Pop feels the most similar. If you like quirky, bouncy songs, this one's for you.
10. Takanashi Kiara- Do U
This Austrian vtuber went full retro-vogue-dance pop on her latest original track, and it clicked big time for Celina. If you haven’t seen much 3d vtuber content and want to see what that looks like, this song is a good starting point.
10. PinkPantheress feat Willow- Where You Are
PinkPantheress was a big discovery for me, I don’t often find artists that I like outside of kpop anymore, so I’m excited when I do. This track also features Willow Smith, who the last time I heard her sing was whipping her hair back and forth, her vocals have really developed since then.
9. Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting- All For Love
“D'ARTAGNAN!!!!!!!!!!!” -The Three Musketeers, 1993. If you know, you know.
8. Hololive Myth- Journey Like A Thousand Years.
Kiara sneaks in ahead of herself in this collaboration with the rest of her hololive generation. If you like optimistic collaborations with some varied vocals, you’ll find that here, and Kiara shows a different tonality than in Do U.
7. Apocalyptica feat Adam Gontier- I Don’t Care
As somebody who came from post-hardcore and screamo and has some experience on cello, I think Apocalyptica is dope. Now throw in Adam Gontier of Three Days Grace, an absolute legend, and you get a banger. If you aren’t sold, try it anyways, this wasn’t even my nominee despite me being the hard rock guy of the team, that’s how good it is.
6. Girl’s Day- Don’t Forget Me
I had a phase of remembering just how much I love Girl’s Day, the greatest kpop girl group of all time. Every time I listen to them my favorite song shifts because they have so many hits. This time around, Don’t Forget Me clicked, and it’s my current top song from them still.
5. Nanashi Mumei- A New Start
This was the song of the day today on the website, an optimistic and pleasant journey to new beginnings, it really fits that new year energy. As somebody who still feels very lost in regards to what I want to do with my life, it resonated with me a lot the more I listened to it, great pick from one of the other panelists. “Nothing strange about straying if you’re true to who you are.”
4. Mrs. Green Apple- Inferno
We have another anime intro, this time for Fireforce. I’ve never seen this anime and hadn’t heard the song prior to voting, but oh boy, it is so incredibly fun. I love the attack and the energy it has, it’s relentless positivity and it’s fantastic. Still haven’t seen the show though.
3. Juice Wrld- In My Head
I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on ManelyKpop, but in the last 10 years, I think the best musical artist outside of Korea is Juice Wrld. He manages to have fun and depth, real lyrical meaning, and a good message about the dangers of the lifestyle he led. That’s not this song though, this song is an echo of how everybody with anxiety feels all the time. Also, using “umm” very intentionally to convey real emotion is honestly pretty genius. RIP Juice.
2. Pealeaf- What Is Yours
I discovered Pealeaf for Twitch’s front page recommendations, something I usually keep muted and promptly ignore, but on this occasion, sound was on, and I was impressed. Now I have more months subscribed to Pealeaf than any other streamer. This song is beautiful, it’s powerful and it’s hopeful, all things that a lot of us need to hear in the last few years. It was a huge part of my listening this year and my wife’s as well, since she’s actually the one who nominated it! Thanks for all the great streams this year Pealeaf!
1. Irys- Caesura of Despair
What do you get when you take a talented singer and give her a rock-instrumental backed song that flips between feeling Disney and anime? You get Caesura of Despair, which I personally think is nothing short of a masterpiece of music achieving that perfect pop blend that hits in all the right ways across its runtime. If you’re skeptical of vtubers and their music, I implore you to at least try this song, it’ll change your mind.
And with that, we have opened the door to our year end rankings. I know they’re late this year and will probably stretch out through the whole month, sorry about that, work got nuts and unfortunately left me with little time to write, someday I’ll get it all sorted out! Look forward to the next article which will come out in the next two days. We're getting closer to kpop as it will be our Foreign Language Song of the Year category! Which is, of course, songs released by kpop artists in 2022 that are entirely, or almost entirely, in languages other than Korean.
