2022 Kpop Awards: Foreign Language Song of the Year

Let’s get the ball finally rolling on these awards! Sorry for the delays, my occupation is a busy one during end of year and new year time, so it’s tough, but I think everything is starting to stabilize. Remember that our 2022 period was January-November, December will count towards the next year starting this next ranking period. Ties are marked with the higher number, so all duplicate numbers are intentional.

12. Rocket Punch- Fiore

A solid and fun Japanese song entry. I think the big standout for me here is the break, it’s fairly unique for what is happening in kpop right now and gives this song a unique flavor.

11. Itzy- Voltage

Another Japanese promotion on the list! Itzy has a pretty strong energy on this one, which keeps it engaging from front to back.

10. The Rose- Sour

This song really resonates with the rock ballads that I would occasionally enjoy growing up. That nostalgia factor still only was able to raise it up to 10th as it did not resonate as well with the other voters.

8. Jamie- Pity Party

Chelsea’s favorite song of all this year’s foreign language entries this year, unfortunately not the strongest resonance with the other voters.

8. Monsta X- Whispers in the Dark

We have another English entry with a bit of a rock ballad feeling. This time, it’s a little more energetic and electric, which raised it up a bit more.

7. Itzy- Boys Like You

I really like this song, it’s very 2000s pop, which as a trend, has been working really well for me.

5. XG- Tippy Toes

Now, we’ve had discussions about whether XG really counts as kpop considering it is a fully Japanese group that sings exclusively in English. But for now, we’re counting them for this category. Chelsea points out that it is in fact fun to watch their feet in the choreo, so the song is telling you exactly what to pay attention to.

5. Alexa- Wonderland

Alexa won a contest on the back of this absolute banger over some very real legends like Jewel, Macy Gray, and Michael Bolton. This also means she’s won more competitions for Oklahoma than the Thunder have.

4. Aespa- Life’s Too Short

An English release, and probably Aespa’s best release for the whole year in all honesty. They went much more with the grain and softer here, and it works for them, maybe they don’t have to be cool and disinterested looking all time SM.

2. Jackson Wang- Blow

Jackson has put out a ton of music since Got7 left JYP, and Blow finally hit a good mark for me, and apparently the voters as a whole. He has all the energy of Panic! At The Disco’s early music, and all the theatrics in the music video too. I would love to see more of this out of Jackson, but sadly he’s still trying a ton of sounds out and I have no idea when he’ll do another song that clicks for me.

2. Stayc- Poppy

I didn’t nominate this song, but I put it at first, it’s just an incredibly addicting earworm. You listen to it once and it’s in your head forever, it’s got all the catchy StayC magic that their earlier music had, especially ASAP.

1. Alexa- Tattoo

While Poppy ranked high for two of the voters, it couldn’t achieve what Alexa did with Tattoo, consistency across the entire voting field. This category was tumultuous across all voters, but Tattoo was in the top half of everybody’s rankings. I think this song just resonates well with everybody. I'd be shocked to see a single person on the planet who said they didn’t like it.