Top 50 Kpop Songs of 2023

Hello everyone, welcome to a very special edition of How NOT to Kpop. Sean @sepatorprod counting down their Top 50 Kpop Songs of the year!

Top 50 Playlist

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50 Twice – Set Me Free
One of the weaker songs I’ve heard from TWICE, but still good kpop

49 Zior Park – Psycho Love
Incredible beat, Zior Park’s unique voice suits the track perfectly

48 Epik High ft. Hwasa – Catch
Been loving Hwasa’s tracks this past couple years, her feature very welcome alongside the legendary epik high

47 Bryn, SINCE – Swallow
Awesome flows, super excited to see where Bryn and Since go from here

46 Chanju ft. Lee Chanhyuk – Your Love
Awesome blend of rnb and samba, criminally underrated this track

45 IVE – Baddie
Cool tune from IVE and great performance, they get better with every release

44 IM – Overdrive
Love the production and IM’s performance on this one, but trap sound slightly stale

43 KARD – Icky
Not big on KARD, but this is them at their best

42 Jungkook (BTS) – Standing Next to You
I don’t particularly care for JungKook’s Western flavour pop, but gosh darn it this track is catchy, moody and the production is top notch

41 NMIXX – Party O’Clock
Don’t really care for NMIXX but this is an absolute groove

40 Kim Sejeong – Top or Cliff
This track is dynamic and beautiful arrangement, but vocal left me wanting

39 BOYNEXTDOOR – But I Like You
Runner up for best debut of 2023, really fun pop song

38 Jinyoung – Cotton Candy
Catchy af bop from Jinyoung

37 Kim mi Jeong – choose you
Really interesting sound and performance hooked me

36 DEAN – Die 4 You
Dean is back from getting milk. Bop.

35 Jay Park ft. Zion.T – Candy
Candy giving me that cha cha beat…boy

34 Jeon Somi – Fast Forward
Awesome if not standard banger from Jeon Somi, think Charli XCX, Lady Gaga, rina sawayama vibes

33 Enhypen – Sacrifice (Eat Me Up)
Awesome mid tempo track, production is incredible, has a timeless quality to it

32 ATEEZ – We Know
I wasn’t into crazy form, but this B-side is excellent and shows why ATEEZ have a huge dedicated following

31 ZeroBaseOne – In Bloom (Best Debut 2023)
This song slaps, best debut of 2023 hands down

30 Agust D – Haegeum
It’s a great trap song with great flows, I expect nothing less from Suga/agust d

29 TripleS – Rising
Track is off to an incredible start but drags a little, definitely worth a listen

28 NCT Dream – ISTJ
An NCT DREAM song I love?! 2023 was full of surprises

27 Son Simba – Double Cross
Son simba could be the most underrated korean rapper out there

26 Dreamcatcher – OOTD
Really interesting production and pretty catchy single from Dreamcatcher, but I wanted more in the chorus

25 Beenzino ft. Cautious Clay – Travel Again
Weird, catchy rap song with that addictive Beenzino flow i love

24 SF9 – Puzzle
Very cool, kinda weird song from SF9, the strange staccato chorus shouldn’t work but it does

23 Taeyang ft. Jimin – Vibe
It’s a match made in heaven. Clever, sparse production highlighting the incredible dance and vocal talents of two of the best

22 Cherry Bullet – P.O.W! (Play on the World)
What an incredible, forward thinking kpop tune from Cherry Bullet, taking the ITZY/CLC/Loona sound to new, c atchy places

21 TXT – Chasing that feeling
Yes it sounds like the Weeknd, yes I found the key a little high. But this is still a very catchy tune from TXT.

20 Jessi – Gum
Its not my #1 favourite Jessi track but Gum is an excellent and weird pop rap song

19 Eric Nam – Don’t Leave Yet
Western style pop done right. Love eric nam

18 Cravity – Groovy
At times I find it hard to get excited about the newer boy groups coming through, but this Cravity song is stellar. Catchy as hell

17 Jihyo – Killin Me Good
It’s an excellent song for anyone who loves that JYP sound, and one of the sexier songs on this list.

16 aespa – Better Things
What a catchy, strange tune from aespa. The vocal performance is incredible and the dynamics of this track are awesome.

15 Stray Kids – The Sound
Stray Kids blend of rock and pop is at it’s best right here. Love the dynamic vocal performance and soaring chorus

14 The Rose – Alive
The best pop rock band in korea right now. This song rules.

13 Crush ft. Dynamicduo – No Break
What a groove from Crush, still coming up with fresh sounds after all these years in the game

12 Odd Eye Circle – Je Ne Sais Quoi
Was really sad to see Loona fall apart, but this incredible Odd Eye Circle release makes it less painful

11 Apink – DND
The sheer consistency of Apink across their career is a marvel in itself. DND is yet another catchy kpop tune for any mood, any time of day.

10 The Boyz – Roar
Been loving the Boyz last couple releases. The vocal performances are top notch, the whistling mixed well and used tastefully, booming beat, soaring, epic bridge.. Excited to see more from them in 2024.

9 YUNHWAY – Mistakes (Never Looking Back)
Dark, moody, aggressive. Yunhways album this year was perfectly suited to my tastes, and is the best korean hip hop release this year

8 XG – Shooting Star
I still think XG are inconsistent, but when they are on they are absolutely OOOOON. Production on this one brilliant, huge bass with great space in the higher elements. Excellent.

7 Seventeen – Super
This is such an energetic kpop anthem, impossible to ignore. Huge wall of sound chorus, aggressive, fun tune. Respect to Seventeen for being daring enough to title the album FML

6 NCT U – Baggy Jeans
NCT producing the most forward thinking kpop out there. Despite strange keys and arrangement, they never forget the hook. Although Baggy Jeans comes off as 2 Baddies 2.0, NCT continue to sound like nothing else in kpop.

5 FIFTY FIFTY – Cupid
What a perfect, soulful, cute kpop song. Its simplicity is key, everything gels together in perfect harmony. The timbre of the vocals, the deep warm bass, the beat. File under tracks to snuggle to.

4 V – Rainy Days
Thought we would never hear V’s songs it took so long to come out. It was worth the wait, meticulously crafted tracks with heaps of elements amid V’s incredible, deep crooning. Rainy Days gets my pick for the lo-fi leaning but the whole EP is great

3 StayC – Teddy Bear
Few songs have lived in my head rent free like Teddy Bear has. Imitations came after this sound, but none could walk the line between saccarine sweet and catchy like StayC can. Current #1 Group doing this sound, teddy bear is a bop.

2 DPR Ian – Don’t Go Insane
Dear Insanity… is my album of the year. DPR Ian’s blending of cinematic atmospheres with rnb, disco, rock, soul is so well put together and catchy. The concept and narrative of the album is logically sequenced and the mixes are spacious and groove. Listening to this album is a treat as I find myself wondering how the hell did you do that?

1 NewJeans – Super Shy
NewJeans are unstoppable. To be as popular and consistent as they’ve been right out of the gate is exceptional, regardless of their HYBE backing. Not overstaying its welcome, Western influence but not overly western, catchy, reserved, accessible. Perfect.

Honourable Mentions
Yena ft. BE’O – Love War
ITZY – Cake
Jaeha – Summer Night
n.SSign – Higher or Wormhole: new Track
(G)I-DLE – I Want That
Le Sserafim – Perfect Night
Craxy – Nugudom
Ash Island ft. Paul Blanco – Goodbye
Soojin – Agassy
Jooyoung – Be
Peppermint – Like a habit
YUJU – Without U
Iris, MINT – Prove
Whee In – in the moodThe Boyz – Watch It
Park Ji hoon – Blank Effect
TOIL, Gist – When We First Met

Weeekly – Vroom Vroom Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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Weeeekly – vroom vroom

Lushhhhh

These synths are stunning, a bit of a japanese city pop flair to them with a slightly glassy but thick sound, not overly compressed, panned wide and layered well

The vocals are a bit disappointing on this one, they lack energy, especially the chorus hook. Theres this awesome build up where the instruments fall away leaving just synth and vocal, it builds and builds then we get a relatively quiet chorus hook of vroom vroom. 

I wonder if using different words may have been able to get a more soaring melody, vroom vroom is kinda hard to enunciate and pronounce. 

A disco tune, that classic nile rodger guitar and 70s drums

This track is so catchy but its let down by the vocals and an underwhelming chorus.

Youngjae (GOT7) – Do It Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

https://open.spotify.com/track/7wqqCArjMYTtXRhw0uYLmc?si=b11e803a205442fa

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Youngjae – Do it

This is youngjae doing a jay park song

Catchy hook with a plucky guitar and wurli-ish synth 

The guitar felt a bit too compressed, or perhaps needed some more eq to control the sharpness, sits in the mix slightly buried so maybe the beat needed to be turned down or sidechained less aggressively

The beat is very cool, snare/clap is scratchy and kick is present, tastefully popping out in the mix

Its a well balanced, cohesive mix with tasteful rnb production, the bottom end is controlled especially well in the chorus

This tracks sound is very jay park, think yacht, drive or all i wanna do, but youngjaes vocal… Not quite jay park level. Its very good and mixed natural which i respect, but jay park is the goat and i think i would have preferred this as a jay park tune

I enjoyed this track, youngjae went a bit quiet once he moved to higher so im glad hes back

TXT – Chasing That Feeling Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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The Weeknd vibes, a bit played out.

The production is excellent, the drums punchy and dance, the synths shiny with plenty of punch, bass big but not overwhelming.

The arrangement is very stock standard for anyone trying to go for the Weeknd kind of sound, boring

The vocals are a little overly affected for my liking with autotune, I understand it serves the song, but not my flavour especially considering how great TXTs vocals are.

I like how the chorus soars, the high note handled well but the autotune and distortion gives it a little too much sizzle it’s a touch harsh on my ears.

This track bops, it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome which I liked.

Overall though this is a weak effort from TXT, especially considering they’re backed by the global super mega hit machine that is Big Hit/HYBE, Chasing That Feeling and Do it Like That with the Jonas Brothers has felt like a copy of US Pop without much flair or creativity to make it their own, which is especially disappointing considering their earlier work like Cat & Dog and Loser = Lover.

BABYMONSTER – Batter Up Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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BABYMONSTER – Batter Up

Raps are awesome

Batter Up hook not quite there for me, it’s ok but standard YG feels like a Blackpink B-Side

The pitch effected vocals on the chorus remind me of WAP.

The horns are pretty standard, boring.

Ditto the beat, pretty standard stuff.

The vocal production is great, but the vocals, not sure if it’s the key or the performance but a bit too airy. I did like how this contrasted with the sharp powerful raps.

YG have debuted BABYMONSTER with a very safe bet of a track, they aren’t breaking new ground at all so it comes off as another Blackpink, I’m hearing a lot of talent especially from the raps so I’m looking forward to where Babymonster go from here, my hope is experimentation and some new sounds in 2024

ONF – Love Effect Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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ONF – Love Effect

Interesting, this track kind of sounds like a girl group track performed by a boy group, I could see woo-ah or weekly, or purple kiss performing this one.

The first verse has this awesome buzzy low bass and piano playing, loved that element but it contrasted maybe a little too much with the vocal, made it sound squeaky

The horns are really fun on this one, but the key of this track is hiiiigh, makes the mix a bit high mid heavy, the chorus hurt my ears honestly.

The vocals get a little buried in the chorus cause those horns come in looouuud. I liked the distorted, punchy bassline, a real groove. The performance is slightly lacklustre, couldn’t feel the sincerity, felt a bit manufactured.

The rap is kind of goofy I really loved it, its delivered whimsically which definitely put a smile on my face.

It’s a fun one, the hook is legit and the verses are fun, this track doesn’t really stand out though.

Yesung (Super Junior) – Scented Things Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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Urban Zakapa kind of sound on this one.

Arrangement a little standard, piano, guitar, bass and drums, strings. The mix is balanced and natural sounding.

Although they aren’t the centrepiece, in fact they are played with restraint, the drums are incredible on this track, lending a warm brush to the track, and keeping it moving.

The track was losing me in the first verse and chorus as it was delivered with a soft, airy vocal and little dynamics. But then the second verse and chorus come in and Yesung’s vocal soars beautifully.

Bridge was boring, this track lacks dynamics, really plods along despite some incredible vocal moments from Yesung

Nothing overly special about this track from Yesung. His voice is stunning so I recommend if you love ballads.

Tempest – Vroom Vroom Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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TEMPEST – Vroom Vroom

Rookie group TEMPEST are back with Vroom Vroom.

NCT vibes on this one. There’s a trap piano lick that is mixed loouud, occasionally drowning the vocal. Vocals are mixed a touch low, especially in pre-chorus, kinda surprising considering this is a pop track. The bass sounds great, distorted and heavy, but the other drum elements (hats, snare) sound a bit buried, might’ve helped with a little more compression on those elements. Everything else in the mix is definitely compressed enough, I didn’t mind it suits the strong flavour of the track. It’s mixed loud which can make it sound a bit busy at times but i didn’t mind that, gave the song power and oomph.

The bridge is incredible, distorted, thunderous crash, cool vocal fx and foley effects creating space.

This track is extremely low-mid heavy, overwhelmingly so. I could barely hear any other element over the bass.

An ok effort from Tempest, but lacking in production compared to other acts such as Xikers or NCT, not quite #1 material but definitely ones to watch.

IVE – Either Way Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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IVE – Either Way

I love the dubstep influenced production, but the claps with the hats are a bit too compressed and loud in the mix. The synths are epic, sizzling and beefy in the chorus, a little more clean in the verses giving it dynamics.

This a vocal-centric track, and the vocals shine. This is IVE’s best vocal performance by far. Not overly affected, a little overly compressed along with the rest of the mix, but they all sound beautiful, the natural timbre of their voices is my style, a little deeper.

The bridge is tasteful if not predictable, at this point in the track I was already hooked, this one sticks to pop verse-chorus-bridge structure, not game changing.

The chorus hook sounding like an owl hoot is not grating I liked it, it fit the mood of the track and the note sung isn’t too high

Either Way is subdued, in a great way.

V (BTS) – Layover EP Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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V – Layover EP

Years in the making, V’s solo ep is finally out.

Lo-fi this one, reminded me of Joji. The production is incredible, however there are moments where the vocal sounds slightly too clean considering the lofi aesthetic of these tracks.

Rainy Days is one of my favourite tracks this year, a lofi chilled out lazy day number. I really respect V going all in on the lofi aesthetic, this track doesn’t muddy the water with a pop production, it ends up sounding like Tajima Hal or Idealism, it stands amongst the lofi greats. V’s performances on this EP are incredible, particularly on rainy days and slow dancing.

Blue is incredible, Rainy Days is such a hard act to follow but listened to in isolation this song is incredible, it keeps the mood flowing on the EP too, V’s vocal performance is beautiful, subdued and emotive, the track has a bit more space than the other songs on the EP I loved it. The guitar is a little standard, think paul blanco, jeebanoff and hundreds of other artists. The textures created through different filter fx and distortion throughout the track is stunning, giving the track a cosy yet melancholy, lonely atmosphere, the production on the drums is probably my favourite on the EP, not too clean not too dirty, deep and present.

Love Me Again is a good pop song, great for marketing the ep, beautiful harmonie son this track, the vocal production teeters on too much reverb and delay, the lofi whumpy drums kind of work but I wanted a touch more presence, especially on the second chorus with more elements it gets buried in the mix. Upping the volume on the back half is a nice touch, made it crescendo. This is one of the only songs that follows a pop structure on the EP, which I liked, you get a break from the jazzy compositions to something more palettable.

Slow Dancing is wonderfully dynamic. V’s performance especially dynamic and perfect as expected. I loved the bass, produced beautifully with a warm but not muddy tone and mixed perfectly, it has swing and dances around the key with a funk inflection. The flute solo was unexpected but cool, perhaps didn’t take my breath away as was intended. I don’t want to say this too loudly…I prefer the piano version

For Us is a strange, messy closer (not counting the piano version of Slow Dancing) I kind of understand the attempt at storytelling through cinematic effects and foley, but the mix has no focus everything is swimming around there’s nothing I can latch on to, I would’ve liked more structure and space for this one.

Here’s the thing, all the songs on this EP sound the same, which ties them together thematically but I was hoping to hear V express his versatility more, he’s an incredible singer and he loves rapping, this EP comes off feeling like a 17 minute introduction to a body of work.

This may have been V’s intent, introducing us to his musical world.

Queendom Puzzle Songs Ranked Notes – How NOT to Kpop Review

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Ranking every Queendom Puzzle Song

Hello everyone, I watched the third season of popular variety girl group competition extravaganza Queendom, which this season was titled Queendom Puzzle. It featured one of the most confusing voting and points systems I’ve ever come across, something about voting your own top 7 but also there’s 30000 points to the best team that week aksjdfha I don’t know. Criticism aside it was an entertaining ride, my favourite aspect was without doubt the songs. I ranked every song that Queendom Puzzle has on Spotify, which means a couple have been omitted Overall they were decent this season, but which one was the best. I’m going to rank em all and give a couple thoughts on each one, starting with the track I cared for the least,

#17 I Do

This track is similar vibe to Puzzlin’, but it doesn’t work. The vocal delivery, you know when someone ends every sentence as if it’s a question? They somehow thought that was a good idea for the verses. The mix is good, the arrangement is fun with the synths and guitar soaring in the chorus, but that random wedding march interpolation and the super high key…urgh this song is not it

#16 Rise Up

Sentimental to a fault, I didn’t mind the lower key it’s sung in, but a pretty standard uplifting pop ballad.

#15 Wannabe

Not crazy about this one, I think it’s unfortunately a victim of the original being that good, honestly Wannabe is all time. This groups performance is a bit…flat? The energy isn’t quite there, it feels a little too clinical there’s no edge. The rock arrangement is cool if not a little standard, it’s generally what we get when we see a kpop group live.

#14 Bad Blood

This song is forgettable, I kind of like it’s subdued flavour but there’s nothing interesting going on, the hook is a little annoying, the arrangement a bit…it kind of sounds like something someone threw together this track on garageband, roughly mixed it then called it a day. The vocal performance is great, one of the better performances of the competition, props nana, sangha, suyun, yeeun, wooyeon and kei

#13 Hopeless Romantic

I have no idea what dohwa is doing on this track, but it kinda works? This track is pretty good, reminiscent of Bigbang ballads or insert KDrama OST here. I like the weird sharp flow of the verses, it works well. This track is a bit standard, performed well but it’s not mindblowing, I didn’t care for the doubling of parts, a touch too repetitious on the vocal refrain

#12 Snap (Athena ver)

This performance is less clinical, there’s more attitude which elevates the track. Athena captured the energy better despite their performance technically being worse. The track feels more epic and grandiose rather than busy with this team’s vocal

#11 SNAP (Pick-cat ver)

Vocal wise Pick team’s performance of SNAP is awesome, powerful, dynamic, smooth, great rap vocals and the vocals in the bridge are incredible. This song is too busy, great beat and the bridge beat switch is awesome but it’s a lot

#10 Billionaire

I think I needed more harmonies on this track, I get why that didn’t happen to highlight each member, but I was missing them. The vocal performance is a bit too staccato and abrupt, didn’t quite crescendo how i wanted it to. I liked the reggae influence but the team that performed this didn’t quite match, especially compared to Last Piece team

#9 Last Piece

This track, I would’ve preferred as an instrumental EDM banger. That being said, the vocal performance is awesome, although I didn’t care for the whoa-ohs, this track has that epic final boss feel. Savage, monster is a bit cringe. The abrasive synths after the horns are great, the horns are a bit cliche, but overall a pretty good edm banger.

#8 Time of Our Life

This track sounds very Jpop I can see why Shiroma Miru shined on this one. Not discounting the other members though, their performances were great. I think this one needed more dynamics, it kind of felt a million miles a minute, well executed but not number 1 material.

#7 Glow-up

The chewing gum! These kinds of tracks, somewhat reminiscent of G-Idle, aren’t my thing. I loved the bass synth playing the hook through the track, so catchy. The tempo of this track really elevated it, something I don’t usually notice, but the pace really carried it through, kept my attention. The vocal performance, so strong on this one, really awesome, not all time but a strong track

#6 Charismatic (drop the beat ver)

I like the youthful vibe drop team brings to this track, but the performance is less smooth than picks, a little more dynamic but in a bad way some vocal parts kinda run off course. This track though, its a banger, props to the producers

#5 Web

This track was really interesting in it’s dark, somewhat minimal fantasy sound, I generally don’t care for onomateopeia (looking at you YG) and this was no exception. The flows were cool, dynamic and well performed, I thought the style switch in the bridge was cool and tasteful. But there wasn’t really a wow moment on this one.

#4 IDGA (I don’t give a)

My goodness this track slaps. I think the vocal performance wasn’t stellar besides some highlights from fye and yeoreum. Bobby’s track screams YG so if you love YG check this one out.

#3 Overwater

The mermaid song! This tracks arrangement is so cool, deep sub bass, wet synths. Like bad blood a somewhat subdued vibe, but this time that comes across in the vocal performance which maybe let this song down in the ratings. I personally really like the track, its a complete package, the members gel well and it’s performed solidly, those falsettos are perfect.

#2 Puzzlin’

I don’t know if I’m just a sucker for this flavour, but I loved this track. The vocal performance from Riina, Shiroma Miru, SUYUN, lee soo jin, wooyeon, Jiwon and Kei was on point, they’re voices played off each other well, no one stuck out too badly. The arrangement is sweet, warm and well mixed, that hook is fun, a real highlight of the series.

#1 Charismatic (Pick on the top ver)

I loved this groups performance, nana’s its my vibe is all time. Production wise this track rules, fun bouncy bass line and horns, a not intrusive horn section, awesome track, I would absolutely bop to this as an official release from a group such as aespa, XG,