First, check out the hub page for all the previous Manely awards, because… THE BIGGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT MANELY IS HERE! What is the song of the year, let’s find out!
10. Got 7- Not By The Moon (Scores: 9,4,9 | Average: 7.3)
Not By The Moon was the kickoff to a pretty great year for Got7. It isn’t their most complicated choreo, but it tells a story through their movements, which is an approach that they also pull off really well. Musically this song is paced incredibly well, calm but interesting verses building up into an epic sounding chorus, really rising to the occasion. The biggest disappointment for me on this one is the fact that the opening beat isn’t actually used in the song, because it is incredibly cool.
9. Seventeen- Home;Run (Scores: 10,10,1 | Average: 7)
Seventeen is, for me, hit or miss, I love their fun stuff and don’t care much for their cool stuff, which I think this leans more towards, especially compared to the fantastic Left & Right from earlier in the year. That said, for Celina, our resident Carat, Home;Run was just that, and she loves every second of it. I will say that this concept works really well for Seventeen as a group, and I think the larger size of the group is a huge benefit to it, as it allows them to story tell a lot more in the video. My wife will also tell you that any concept involving suits is already a winner, because everybody looks better in a well fitting suit.
8. Oneus- Come Back Home (Scores: 8,2,10 | Average: 6.7)
Honestly, it’s crazy to me that the video for this song is at such a low view count. Oneus isn’t the most popular group in the world, not by a long shot, but this video is one of the best all year. The way they blend the choreography with the storytelling is top notch, the way it depicts the struggle of a battle, especially in the duo dancing sections of the verses, it’s clear the choreographer knew exactly how they wanted it to work with the video concept. The song is also really good, the best song called Come Back Home in all of kpop for certain, the rising energy of the chorus, dramatic and epic, really brings you straight into the feeling of battle just as the video and choreo do. You can listen to this song over almost any boss battle in a video game, and it would make it feel incredibly exciting.
7. NCT 127- Kick It (Scores: 6,9,5 | Average: 6.7)
There was a debate over which NCT song should make the list, I was a proponent of Birthday Wish, but Celina and Chelsea both favored Kick It in the end. That said, you can’t go wrong with Kick It, the song is interesting, the pacing is a little wild, a fairly soft first verse that builds into the chanting chorus in a way that really doesn’t feel like it should work, but it does. The second verse feels more in pace with everything else going on though, although it sticks with the same softer bridge into the chorus that the first verse had, which again, feels weird. But the chorus, that is a huge pop off moment, and the grooving hands over the head dance move became one of the most iconic of the year, probably the most iconic of all of boy groups, and that’s a pretty good title to have.
6. Itzy- Wannabe (Scores: 7,6,4 | Average: 5.7)
Speaking of iconic dance moves, Ryujin’s shoulder move in Wannabe is probably the most iconic dance move in all of kpop this year, with so many other idols, and many fans, falling in love with it, and learning how to pop their shoulders out of their sockets along the way. I will also say that this is a landmark song for Itzy because it’s their most normal sounding output so far, much more immediately palatable and poppy than their previous works, which took a lot of people time to grow into. That said, maybe we’re just used to Itzy’s brand of pop now and that just makes this seem more normal due to becoming the norm for us as fans, it’s hard to say. I will note that as with Kick It, this was a case of being outnumbered, I was voting for Not Shy as Itzy’s song this year, but when the two options are Itzy quality, you really can’t go wrong.
5. Nature- Girls (Scores: 1,8,8 | Average: 5.7)
Girls is an incredible song from a group that I literally hadn’t cared about at all, in fact, I only watched the video because they had to edit out scenes of intensity and I wanted to know what was up with it. The video is a riff on the movie “A Tale of Two Sisters” one of the most famous Korean horror movies of all time, so of course the more intense, uncensored version of the video is much much better than the other. And while the video might be the best one of the entire year, the song rises right on up to the same heights, with maybe the best use of one of my least favorite music trends, group chanting, using it to really fuel the mood of the song and immerse the listener in its world. Saebom’s opening solo floor work section also grabbed a lot of attention as well, being maybe the choreography highlight of the whole dance.
4. Gfriend- Apple (Scores: 3,5,7 | Average: 5)
The evolution of Gfriend into this sensual style that had been missing for a few years in kpop has been discussed in a few articles across the Manelies now, so I’m not going to focus on that too particularly much here, even though it is absolutely incredible. Instead I want to actually take a look at the song, it brings something I’ve highlighted with other songs already, a sense of drama, which this chorus brings in spades, and yet, the true highlight feels like it’s the post chorus vocal section that I can’t actually type because it’s sounds and not words. The whole song has this floaty fantastical sense, like you’ve been pulled into this forbidden dream world that you aren’t supposed to be able to get into, and that you’ve been wrapped around Gfriend’s finger within it. Everything is so cohesive in that regard, the styling, the music, the choreo, and the video, it is all evocative of this feeling when put together, but it’s all just as potent separated. Every part of this production is at the top of it’s game, it’s no wonder that it’s one of our top songs of the year. Gfriend was also notably another group who left us making a decision on which song to conclude, we all also love Mago, and either way I think the placement would have stayed the same to be honest, but Celina and I brought the majority to Apple ultimately.
3. Dreamcatcher- Boca (Scores: 4,7,3 | Average: 4.7)
Dramatic and epic, I keep using these adjectives because, it’s clearly where the best songs lie this year, and Dreamcatcher in particular loves to bounce between these two ideas musically. This was actually another split opinion on a song, with Celina being the outlier this time, voting for Scream instead, which probably would have wound up in the same spot or losing a tie to Gfriend, so either way, Dreamcatcher was going to be top 5 with either of their title tracks. Boca has the best pre-chorus in all of kpop in my opinion, just that soft voice before the storm that is the chorus, it’s perfect and quite beautifully sung by both Jiu and Sua. This also had one of my favorite lines in kpop this year, with Dami announcing that she is in fact a geek, and that that is, apparently, the great paradox. I have no idea what she’s on about, but it makes me laugh.
2. Everglow- La Di Da (Scores: 2,3,6 | Average: 3.7)
We had debate on what song to pick from almost every group, but our second place song was unanimous in that we all knew that for Everglow, La Di Da was the only option. I usually write my sections for each song or group while listening to the song, but I find that extremely hard with this song, because I want to focus on it entirely. La Di Da takes the retro and disco trends of the year and advances them into synthwave, and I’m willing to bet anybody else who tries this concept will likely not do as well as Everglow have, the quality is just that high. The use of the vocal ranges across the members is some of the group’s best, utilizing the unique voices of Onda and Aisha in a way that really advances the music, and E:U’s rap sections are some of the best she’s ever had. Also, as I mentioned in their girl group of the year blurb, they invented leather this year, so that’s pretty impressive as a technological achievement.
1. Ateez- Answer (Scores: 5,1,2 | Average: 2.7)
AND THE 2020 KPOP SONG OF THE YEAR, THE WINNER OF THE BIGGEST AWARD IN THE MANELIES IS NONE OTHER THAN ATEEZ WITH ANSWER! We bounced around a few different Ateez songs, but Answer is certainly the one we could all agree on the most. This song has everything, it makes hip-thrusting funny, it’s dramatic, it’s epic, it shows that San has no table manners by dancing on the table, although that may have already been clear from the way he holds his utensils. The rappers are both fire, not being fast or loud, but just sitting right in the grove of the song, the singers are on point front to back, and the choreography is so well executed, with awesome choppy pauses that look so smooth and cool that you watch it and realize that you can’t execute like they can. Congrats Ateez for being the first ever winner of the Manelies biggest award, let’s see if you can do it again next year!