Alright, you know the drill by now, and if you don’t check out the hub page to see how it all breaks down using our earlier awards, onto the show.
10. Taeyeon- Dear Me (Scores: 10,10,3 | Average: 7.7)
We all have a lot of respect for Taeyeon’s talents, but obviously we were a little more shy on her song when it came to the nitty gritty of song-to-song rankings. Dear Me is a really nice song, good message with it too, which is pretty needed around these times, so it’s worth giving the time to. I also have the vague feeling of the Yoshi’s Story theme from the chorus and I don’t know why, I also don’t know if that’s a positive or a negative in this context.
9. Yezi- Mimew (Scores: 3,9,10 | Average: 7.3)
I initially put this on our nominee list as a joke having not heard the song outside of Kville lists, that said, clearly it grew on me quickly. When I start my playlist which is quite long and randomized, I almost always start with this song, it just has such fire in the raps. The chorus… well, it could be better, but can be forgiven considering how good the rest is.
8. Hyolyn- Say My Name (Scores: 8,2,8 | Average: 6)
All three panelists have a top 3 song in the bottom 3, we were clearly very polarized in this category, when you see the average score of the winner, you’ll see just how true this statement is compared to other categories. Personally, I like when an artist really seems to be having fun with their music, and with Hyolyn you get that a lot here. In general, Hyolyn is, I think, very passionate about everything she puts out, so you’ll always get her fully in the vibe of whatever she’s working on, so that really shouldn’t be a surprise.
7. Chungha- Play (Scores: 9,3,5 | Average: 5.7)
Despite Chungha having a lot of different styles and comebacks and videos this year, we were fairly unanimous in picking Play for her song on this list, although if we had full English songs, Dream of You might have made it. Play is extremely high energy, even frantic at times, and it’s pretty easy to miss everything happening in it if you aren’t paying attention, but it’s a really fun song. Highlights among the panelists include her rising note section in the chorus which feels very Chungha, and the dancing, which Chelsea actually highlighted in more detail in her article.
6. Ryu Su Jeong- Tiger Eyes (Scores: 5,8,4 | Average: 5.7)
Not only did Sujeong’s debut mark another solo Lovelyz debut, but we liked it so much that it ended up winning out in a tie with Chungha of all people. Tiger Eyes is an odd song, while it doesn’t really do anything unusual or unexpected, it feels distinct and unique. I feel like if it had caught the right attention it could have been Billie Eilish popular in that “pop music that claims its alt music but who are we kidding, it’s just pop music” kind of way.
5. Siyeon- Paradise (Scores: 7,6,2 | Average: 5.0)
Despite the music video being extremely unsettling, due to Siyeon mostly just staring through your soul through a screen, this song is incredible. Of every song on the list, this is the one I would most like to see live, because watching it on Dreamcatcher’s virtual concert wasn’t enough. Siyeon doesn’t even do anything too particularly crazy, she just absolutely destroys this song, it’s so well suited to her, I’d be surprised if other singers of similar or higher level could actually execute this as well as she does.
4. YooA- Abracadabra (Scores: 2,4,9 | Average: 5.0)
We have been incredibly impressed with YooA’s solo debut this year, clearly, Chelsea put two of her songs on her favorite choreos, we placed her as the 3rd best soloist this year, and now she’s in fourth for best song (through a tiebreak), with a b-side nonetheless. I think had we done duplicates for individual artists that Bon Voyage would have made the cut too. Abracadabra is a really the perfect song to just kind of bob your head to and lose yourself in the music. The dance practice linked is also super good, YooA is a fantastic dancer, and as previously laid out, the dance is good too.
3. Woodz- Love Me Harder (Scores: 6,1,7 | Average: 4.7)
The panel is a little girl-group biased between Celina and I, but Chelsea does primarily like male artists. I introduce this to you so you can understand that all three of us agree girl groups had a substantially better year in general, despite any previous biasing, which is why Woodz is the only male artist to be on this list, he’s just the one male artist we really feel was pulling his weight in the solo category. Love Me Harder is so good, the whistle beat in particular is one of the best beats in kpop across this whole year, and that’s a fact, not an opinion. The chorus is hype but doesn’t lose the rest of the song, it has a balance throughout, even in the quietest moments that brings everything together fantastically.
2. IU- Eight (Scores: 4,7,1 | Average: 4.0)
I’m remiss to write much about this song when one word really sums it all up so cleanly, beautiful. What’s beautiful about this song? Everything, IU, her voice, the lyrics, the video, the production, what and who it all stands for, the heart and soul poured into this one piece of music, everything.
1. Sunmi- Pporappipam (Scores: 1,5,6 | Average: 4.0)
I’ve actually discussed my feelings on this song in a decent amount of detail when discussing Sunmi as an artist in the female soloist category. This is the best execution of a modern-disco style song this year, it hits all the nostalgic disco vibes that you could want, while still having the modern production value and sensibilities that allow it to not feel lost in the past. Sunmi does it again and wins a second category for the 2020 Manely of Solo Song of the Year! Congrats Sunmi!