So the first four awards of the Manelies this year, split between this and the next article, are probably the most fun and lighthearted, there wasn’t much debate for us in any of them, and we all just tossed in picks we thought were good and proceeded to rank them, quick and easy, so without further ado, here is the final ranking for our five finalists for Cover of the Year. If you want to see the other articles covering the various Manelies, here’s a link to our hub article.
Scores are listed in the following order, myself, Chelsea, Celina. It’s reverse alphabetical because I’m taking them going through the alphabetized spreadsheets we made backwards.
5. Ateez Hongjoong- Cover #4 (Scores: 3,5,5 | Average: 4.3)
Hongjoong did a series of covers this year, including some pretty iconic songs, from Major Tom to Black or White, but ultimately the one that had the most impact to me was this fourth cover, the only Korean song of the series. It shows off more than just his ability to rap and remix songs, but his singing talents, which are pretty fantastic. Unfortunately, all three of us generally tend towards more upbeat and fun songs, so this was in last for everybody but me.
4. Ateez- Black Cat Nero (Scores: 5,2,3 | Average: 3.3)
So this actually has a tied average with our 3rd place song, the tie is broken by how many people have one song over the other, in the case, Ateez’s cover was only ahead of the third place song on Chelsea’s ranking. This cover is a lot of fun, and getting Kim Jong-kook from Turbo to actually cameo on the track was absolutely incredible. I think we all liked this song well, we just also all had songs that we preferred more.
3. Purple Kiss Sujin- Dance Monkey (Scores: 4,4,3 | Average: 3.3)
This was our tiebreak winner, and boy, is it fantastic. The joker makeup and moody lighting really brings that extra taste of darkness to the song, and creates an awesome dynamic to a cover that would probably feel almost too similar to the original otherwise, at least for me. The vocals are impressive however, and it’s a great sign for Purple Kiss’s impending debut.
2. N. Flying- On My Way (Scores: 2,1,4 | Average: 2.3)
N. Flying is awesome when it comes to covers, probably the best in the business currently, the vocalists and instrumentalists are great at matching the original music but still maintaining their own flair. The drummer also wears a helmet in the video, which is true dedication to the artistry, and I respect that a lot. Jokes aside, if you’re looking for covers to listen to, check this out and realize that N. Flying is the way to go for all your cover needs.
1. N. Flying- Gurenge (Scores: 1,3,1 | Average: 1.7)
Speaking of N. Flying being great at covers, we have a rule to not repeat groups in any category, and we made an exception for this category (and the next for Dreamcatcher, but that’s it) to have a second N. Flying song, because it just needed to happen. Lisa’s music is fantastic, every anime fan probably knows her song Crossing Fields which is the opening to the original arc of Sword Art Online. This song is fun and energetic, and I really feel that it lets the instrumentalists get into the energy and feeling. The vocals also carry that high energy, but this song feels extra balanced to me across the whole band. And with that the first Manely winner in Cover of the Year is locked in as N. Flying with their cover of Gurenge by Lisa!
Foreign Language Song of the Year
8. Hyolyn- 9 Lives (Scores: 7,4,5 | Average: 5.3)
So this category has 8 songs in it and the last place song has an average of 5.3, which I’m pointing out to emphasize that this category was extremely close (with the exception of the winner, who had a decent lead). This song is fantastic, Hyloyn is an incredible talent as a singer, and has been for years. What I think really stands out to me is the dance in the video, she goes much more contemporary than she usually does, and it’s beautiful, I’d love to see more of this from her, the softer and subtle side, because she hasn’t been exploring it as much in the last few years.
7. Dreamcatcher- Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind (Scores: 8,5,2 | Average: 5.0)
I’m typically a pretty big fan of Dreamcatcher, and I don’t really think they have many bad songs, and I don’t think this is one of them, but, for me, it just doesn’t hit in the same way. Obviously, Celina feels differently, and Chelsea somewhere in the middle, which is just a great display of why I didn’t want to do these lists alone, the collaboration brings a great new perspective. This song has an almost relaxed electro-pop vibe to it, and it’s really easy to turn on and just have play, a great song to help extend a playlist, but for me personally, it’s not the song to build a playlist entirely around.
6. Seventeen- Fallin Flower (Scores: 6,8,1 | Average: 5.0)
This won the tiebreaker with Dreamcatcher for sixth, being ahead on both my and Celina’s lists. I think this song has a great flow and pacing from the vocals to the rap, it manages to cycle through the verses starting slower and ramping up and up until the chorus gets to the driving bounce of repetition, which is a good thing in this case. Repetition is easy to be critical of, but it can also serve as a stabilizer in a song, and a way to reset and keep your brain from getting tangled up in the song, especially a song like this one with a few moving parts to keep track of, this is an example of the strong writing across Seventeen’s music, which uses repetition like this regularly to great effect.
5. Monsta X- You Can’t Hold My Heart (Scores: 5,1,8 | Average: 4.7)
This song is sorta like Gotye’s Somebody That I Used to Know, but fun. A more fun version of an already good song seems like a logical mix for a good song, and in this case, that holds true. I was really able to fall into this song on first listen and it feels like it’s short runtime, but not in a way that leaves you hanging, but it resolves cleanly and feels complete. This is an exact counter to a lot of today’s music which is made short intentionally for the sake of a rapidly decreased attention span and social media based marketing. Also, as somebody who wants to root for Starship groups as WJSN is my personal favorite, but has never been able to get into Monsta X’s music, this is probably my favorite release from them.
4. Dreamcatcher- No More (Scores: 2,6,6 | Average: 4.7)
Our second tiebreak winner in this category, and the second and last exception to the rule of not repeating groups in a single list, Dreamcatcher picks up a comfortable fourth. I, before falling almost entirely into kpop, was leaning towards metal with screamo being my favorite genre, and clearly I still have that love in me. This is the most metal feeling of Dreamcatcher’s releases, with a darker tonality that I don’t completely love in general, which is what kept it from first, but the driving guitar and drums across the intense vocals in the chorus just click for me, the other panelists weren’t quite as high on this song, but they also don’t lean as heavy as me musically, so that’s pretty understandable.
3. N. Flying- Amnesia (Scores: 4,2,7 | Average: 4.3)
I could have called these two awards the N. Flying categories with how well they did, picking up a trio of medals across the two. That said, this medal is just a bronze, but don’t let that lead you to believe it isn’t good, anything on any of our lists is considered by at least 1 panelist to be among the best this year, and as such, third is even better. Amnesia is bouncy and fun, not a sentence that sounds correct outside of music, but true nonetheless in this case. There is so much optimism and fun in the music, it makes the listener feel good and happy, the horns in the chorus lead to this feeling of being victorious too, which amplifies this feeling further.
2. Loona- Star (Scores: 1,7,4 | Average: 4.0)
I am working on collecting at least one version of every Loona album, they were my favorite girl group until this January when I realized that WJSN had passed them for me. As the year went on I’ve struggled even more with Loona, as I haven’t liked any of their music very much, the new title track was okay, but Star was the shining light for me. This song has a Korean version but if you listen to both back-to-back I think it seems clear that this English version was the way the song was originally written. This feels like a classic Loona song, which is surprising given the variations we’ve seen from them throughout the year, but a welcome one.
1. Chungha- Dream of You (Scores: 3,3,3 | Average: 3)
This is the only entrant in any category that we all ranked exactly the same, and in this tight category, 3s were enough for Chungha to win the Manely for Foriegn Language Song of the Year with Dream of You. This song is fantastic, it’s definitely one of the most mature songs on the list in terms of lyrics, but it definitely works as an English song without losing the traditional Chungha vibe, and the kpop roots. This is actually my favorite Chungha release of the year, and considering how much content she’s managed to put out in spite of all the Covid related issues plaguing other soloists and groups, is saying a lot. Congrats Chungha on the win!