The Top 10 Kpop Songs From September 2022

10. Ravi- Dumb Dumb Dumb

Honestly, this song is Dumb Dumb Dumb fun, and that’s good enough for me, 10th place for Ravi, I also have Kiss You at 11th. Ravi has had a lot of music this year, and although it isn’t quite in my wheelhouse, I like all of it well enough.

9. Choi Yoojung- Sunflower (P.E.L)

I don’t know why, but I keep assuming certain songs are going to be lower energy than they are, but I had that expectation here, but Weki Meki even in a solo gives us something fun to listen to. There’s a little too much repetition here for me, but I still like it for an occasional listen.

8. The Rose- Childhood

Under our criteria for what qualifies as a kpop and an English song this is probably going to count as an English song for our year end awards, but I’m going to talk about it here anyways. The Rose has moved increasingly into the soft, slow, and sentimental side of rock music and they are great at it, and have a very different flavor than the other group that does this a lot, Lucy. Woosung has such a unique vocal color too, that everything the band does try has a really interesting flavor to it that doesn’t really match anybody else. While this is a fantastic song, it doesn’t quite hit the emotional nostalgia level that suits me personally, which keeps it a little lower.

7. EXiD- Fire

Don’t listen to this song on an empty stomach, there are a whopping 8 lines that reference food! It’s so nice to have a new Korean comeback from EXiD, and they are still at it with their high energy banger formula. What I love is, like all their title tracks, this has a familiarity when compared to the rest, but a uniqueness too. It’s not quite in my usual wheelhouse, but it’s undeniably a blast to bop out to.

6. Limelight- Starlight

I missed this debut, I saw that it was happening but was busy and never looked into it, which was apparently a mistake, because they have some great music to start. Starlight is a little vague in terms of personality, but is very enjoyable to listen to. I think if they can start building more of a unique sound out of this that there is a lot of potential here. I honestly will probably do a quick album review for them next week, even though it's late, because this group has too much good going on musically to ignore.

5. EXiD- Leggo

I love this, it’s a ton of fun, has a little pinch of disco energy in the chorus, and a very bright and colorful feeling for an EXiD song, which is pretty unique compared to most of their discography. I love the rap section after the second verse too, it just pops off and gets me feeling hyped up.

4. Bibi- Animal Farm

The dramatics of this song are fantastic, it almost feels like it should be performed on stage in a musical more than on a kpop album. I also love that she went full Kill Bill or something in the music video, not that it affects my feelings on the song, but it’s pretty rad.

3. EXiD- IDK (I Don’t Know)

An absolutely high energy, yet still chill jam out of EXiD, I feel that they flourish at this exact pacing, as a lot of their best b-sides live in this zone. This song has a bouncy feeling that makes you want to bounce around a little too, as I sit and type my head is bobbing and leg is jumping, it’s just those good vibes, I’ve even got a nice little sway going on. 

2. Chanmina- Don’t Go (feat. Ash Island)

This gives me the kind of gratification I want from hype songs, it keeps building and building into a huge pop-off, and that works really well. My biggest critique here is that I wanted even more, another verse and chorus, and the end should have boomed more aggressively. But this is a great listen, and probably a really good exercise song.

1. Limelight- Eye To Eye

This appeals to me strongly, I love the soft vocals, minimalist beat with just a little drum and bounding electro rhythm in the chorus. And when the song takes off, it doesn’t lose that magic that draws me in, it just evolves it to something a little louder and slightly more intricate. I would love to get more production and composition like this in kpop. To say that there’s kind of a Hellogoodbye- Here (In Your Arms) energy is maybe the best summation of this track I can give, and I love that song, it’s an all time favorite.