To follow up my article on what kpop biases look like, today I’m talking about my group biases, and tomorrow my individual member biases. So this is a raw top 20 of my group biases, but I’ll add a little paragraph talking about why I bias the group, and what that looks like for me. That’s it for my shortest preamble to date, so let’s get rolling.
Notes: When I say that I tune into Vlives, it is on the caveat that I am awake for them, which has become less common in the last few months sadly. This article is LONG, so strap in. And as always, I’m strongly girl group biased, so that’s the perspective you have to expect.
1. WJSN
This should come as no surprise assuming you’ve read any article I’ve talked about kpop in, I just love WJSN. This group for me is the whole package, good music that has a very distinct style, while still being diverse. There are 13 amazing members, visuals, talent, and fantastic personalities in spades, and variety skills to boot. What biasing looks like for me is watching every piece of English subbed content I can, buying all their albums, every version, I’ve got a signed album, I’m buying their photo books that are coming up, I’m going to join the official fanclub when sign-ups start, and whenever the next light stick comes up I’ll buy that too, and I have the last season’s greeting and will buy every one until they disband. I also will tune into any streams they have on Vlive and like every post any member makes on Instagram, this is the group that I go all-in on, and they were just a middle group for me until January of this year, where they rapidly rose to number 1.
2. Rocket Punch
Loona was my top group before WJSN, and had been lowered to second, but as I started this article I realized something, while I still love Loona, they are not as high for me as they used to be, and I’ll get into that more later. Rocket Punch are my favorite rookies in a long time, probably since Twice, they just drew me in with their light and charming personalities and genuinely fun music. I have bought all their albums thus far, I watch all their videos, and will tune into Vlives when they pop up as well. This is a group that I look forward to offering more things for me to consume, and whenever they have a content break I’m eager for the next set.
3. Dreamcatcher
This was another realization I had while writing the article, Dreamcatcher just keeps climbing for me, partly due to them being exposed to me a lot since they are my wife’s favorite girl group, but also because seeing them live just really drew me in. We own all the albums that have been released since my wife and I started buying albums, I tune into Vlives and just generally enjoy anything they put out. A big reason I put them so high is for the fantastic and diverse music, and all the fun special clip music videos that the group puts out.
4. Iz*one
I did not watch Produce 48, I don’t really do survival shows as a rule, although I will sometimes watch the first episode evaluations, which are pretty fun. Iz*one has floated in my top 10 since debut though, and although their impending disbandment next year, my favorite members, Eunbi and Yena, will be likely joining Rocket Punch and Everglow respectively, which has me super hyped. Their music is generally pretty good, although I like the mature song subunits more than the cutesy ones. We buy their albums and photo books without fail, and I watch their variety shows, but I do not admittedly consume their Vlives with much regularity, as I am strongly biased towards a few members and fairly indifferent to others, although they’re all great, I just don’t want to overinvest in a group with a timer.
5. Itzy
Itzy are already taking the Kpop scene by storm, incredible sales, a instant rise in popularity, and all while bringing a really unique style by the current market standards. These kids are likely to become the top girl group as Twice, Red Velvet, and Blackpink wind down, and I’m not convinced any of the current groups that are rising up such as Everglow and (G)I-dle, will be able to compete long term given how well JYP grew their older sister group, Twice. I like consuming their content and buying their albums, and actually saw their showcase tour as well, which was a blast. I also really enjoy Lia’s Vlives, because I can connect better with her English-heavy streams. Their light ring though, not sold on that product as of yet.
6. Loona
Loona were my top group for over a year, but one major thing really started to reduce my interest in them a little, which is sadly their group music. Don’t get me wrong, they have some decent songs, but nothing that I wanted to listen to long term, and nothing at the quality of their solo and sub-unit level for me, and So What was the exclamation point to this, as I really don’t like that song at all, although I’m really happy it got them their first win. That said, I love Loona’s personalities still, LoonaTV, their vlogs, and Loona The Tam are fun content, but I feel more disconnected due to the lack of musical interest, which matters a lot for my perception of a group, it’s personality of the members and music quality, and Loona for me is at this point carried by the personalities. I am still trying to fill in their album collection though.
7. Gfriend
I love Gfriend, I love their musical direction, their talents, and the members as people. I really enjoy most of their songs, ignoring Fingertip which I see as a huge blunder, with Love Whisper and the recently released Apple really rising to the top. I also really enjoy their variety and the Glogs, with a particularly strong bias towards one member that I’ll talk about more tomorrow. I’m also working on collecting more of their albums that I missed, including versions, and enjoy playing Superstar Gfriend as well.
8. Everglow
This group has slowly grown on me, only hitting top 10 after their last album. I’ve realized I like a lot of their bsides and every title but Adios. I also really enjoy their personalities, the Everglow Subs Youtube channel has provided me with hours of entertainment, and I always look forward to new uploads from them. I also will tune into Vlives depending on who is in it. We have kept up on their albums too, since my wife really loves them.
9. GWSN
With Loona I mentioned that they are carried by personality for me and their musical legacy, well, for GWSN, they are carried by the music. I love their music and own all their albums, but I really don’t consume too much of their content outside of the music, just their group Instagram and the occasional Vlive or video.
10. Oh My Girl
This group has one of the greatest kpop songs ever in my opinion, and some great music otherwise on top of that, I have started to pick up their albums consistently. I have been a fan of this group almost from the start, and don’t regret it, on top of the music they are great at variety, and Mimi puts out a lot of Youtube content as well, so there’s always something Oh My Girl related to keep you engaged.
11. Ateez
Ateez is the best boy group in kpop to me by a mile, they have tons of fantastic music, they seem like genuinely good guys, and put out a massive amount of content as a group and individually showing a variety of different content styles. If I was told to point a new fan to one boy group I would say Ateez in a second, as they can appeal to almost anybody, and their fast and consistent rise in the kpop world gives the impression that we have a lot of great years with them to come.
12. Red Velvet
I really like a lot of their music, although some title tracks have been misses for me, and the b-sides are weaker for me generally as well. Another top group for my wife though,so we own most of their albums, and I do enjoy watching their variety and Vlive content as well.
13. Kard
I have followed Kard since the beginning of their absurdly long pre-debut period, and they are a pretty fantastic and unique group. Co-ed groups don’t typically last long in Korea, at least in the modern era, and Kard seems to be the exception, continuing to go strong for 5 years now. The group has a unique musical approach to kpop, with a strong leaning towards western styles without losing the kpop charm, something that other groups like BTS and Blackpink have failed to achieve in my opinion. But, in spite of great music, their best point is the member’s personalities, all four are great, and BM is one of the best people in kpop, he brings fun, positivity, and drive in a way that no other idol does, the closest Western equivalent I can think of is Dwayne Johnson, the Rock. What I’m saying is, follow BM’s instagram even if you don’t follow the group, he deserves all the love. Somin also has a pretty good Youtube channel as well, with a ton of different video ideas and content to keep things constantly mixed up.
14. Nature
This is a super recent group for me, but I love both the Nature World albums, and I’ve started watching their variety with the Girls comeback and have really enjoyed the group. I’m listening to the music regularly, watching their variety, and have started buying their albums too, so this group absolutely has potential to move up with more music at the current quality. I will say that I really like the current 6 person lineup though, and wouldn’t mind if the company stuck with it.
15. Fanatics
I really liked Sunday, it’s a great song, but I didn’t like Vavi Girl as much, and am neutral on their B-sides, so Fanatics obviously isn’t my favorite of all time. That said, when they have a Vlive with Doi, I always watch, and I’ll typically watch any with Sica as well. I really don’t know if this group will even get another comeback given that they really haven’t done very well, but I buy the albums personally, and hope that they get another shot with a little more mainstream style, or at least another chill jam like Sunday.
16. Lovelyz
The rankings in this area shift a lot based on who is currently active, just being honest about that. Lovelyz is a group with music I like consistently, but never super love, but have a couple really great personalities that are fun on variety shows and have recently gotten Instagrams, many of which I follow.
17. Saturday
Their last two songs have been fantastic, Wifi and Bbyong, and they have a new song coming that I am eagerly anticipating. That said, I can’t even name any of the members beyond Haneul, so clearly I am here for Saturday’s recent music, but have not chosen to invest further.
18. ANS
They have literally two songs, but both are absolutely top tier, so if they keep that up, I will absolutely be ready to invest more in them. This is a group that I really have my eyes on to see what comes next.
19. Twice
Once upon a time, this would have been a top 3 group for me, if not number 1 for a short period of time. Honestly, I still love Twice, their recent musical direction has been great, and I really enjoy them on variety, I suppose I’ve just reached this comfortable point with them as a fan, where I enjoy the music, the group and the content, but I don’t get super excited for it either, outside of their Running Man appearances, which are always incredible.
20. (G)I-dle
I struggled on which group to put here, only settling on (G)I-dle at the last minute, but consider them more or less a tie with the following honorable mentions. They have some great personalities and talents, and are pretty fun on variety shows. But they have completely lost me musically, I loved Hann and Senorita, and thought that Latata was pretty good, but didn’t care for Uh-Oh and didn’t like Lion or Oh My God at all, the only musical output I’ve like from them in almost a year and a half has been their b-side Maybe, which is one of my top 20 songs so far this year. I also don’t go out of my way to consume much of their content outside of their Weekly Idol appearances, and the recent video series that Yuqi did with Yeoreum and Exy of WJSN.
Honorable Mentions
Fromis_9- Some really good music, and I really like that they have a good Youtube presence, especially Jisun’s ASMR, even though I don’t really like ASMR typically. Also, Love Bomb is maybe the greatest kpop song of all time, truly encapsulating the whole genre is a fun and colorful experience that is insanely catchy and visually appealing.
Purplebeck- Yeowool is fun in the few variety instances I’ve seen from them, and Valenti is one of the best songs this year, with Dreamline also being a favorite of mine.
Cignature- I really enjoyed their Nu Nu Nan Nan debut and non-music content, but they lost me a bit with Assa and I’ve fallen off their content with it. If they come back with music I like a bit more, I’m prepared to start re-investing.
Astro- Good music and they seem like fun people. If you haven’t watched their Ssireum at the Idol Star Athletic Championships, do yourself a favor and Youtube it, they are so strong compared to other idols it’s funny.
