1. All Out – K/DA

I’ve been wanting to give this unlikely crossover of talent its proper due for two years (Pop/Stars grew on me after I listed it perhaps more than any K-Pop song ever), so it’s quite fortunate that Riot Games’ first attempt at a full EP release is this ridiculously good. Like the two major MV-toting song releases from K/DA to date, All Out is maybe only half (ish) Korean, but that’s never stopped me from celebrating a K-Pop album in the past – and this one sure is worth celebrating. Pre-release single The Baddest improves out of sight when stripped of the pressure of following up Pop/Stars without a proper music video, transforming into an artillery salvo opening track that slams the brakes right into the beginning of headliner More.

Then Riot’s extensive team of collaborators truly starts to flex, bringing in Kim Petras and a dark snaking beat for the incredible headphone-spreading, teen-journal-entry-on-a-pedestal Villain. Drum Go Dum is the weakest track on the album, but its post-chorus is silky-smooth and the double-time 30 second finale really takes off. All this kinda feels like a lead-in to the final track, however: a make-good on the threat posed by combining top-tier western production with a top-tier K-Pop group. I’ll Show You is near-perfection in three minutes and nineteen seconds; a 1980s aerobic-stage beat that knocks speakers down, subtle supporting synth with meaningful pitch and a chorus that explodes with euphoric, inspirational glee. Twice’s Jihyo demolishes the point role with ample support from four of her fellow members plus Bekuh Boom and Annika Wells, leaving little room to think about what wonders the next K/DA project might hold.

5. Super One – SuperM

SuperM leaps over the corpses of past SM Entertainment project groups and into legitimate stayer territory with Super One, a titanic full-lengther that revisits an eight-year-old SM trick last seen on SHINee’s Sherlock – combining two tracks with the same BPM to create a third, then lining them up to kick off an album. The shocking thing is that this in no way overshadows the rest of the piece; the tail on this thing wags for an hour, splicing MV tracks further down the track list than you might think and firing off B-sides with serious production effort. The veteran trio of Taemin, Kai and Baekhyun have plenty of time to show off their vocal chops while their busy NCT colleagues keep the energy relentless – amusingly even on the cheesy ballads. Tracks like Together At Home, Big Chance, Line ‘Em Up and Step Up keep the production variety coming in a way not often seen in the output of SM male artists, and Wish You Were Here is an all-time great B-side from the label. I still can’t believe this album is a real thing, let alone one this well-made.

3. Neo Zone: The Final Round – NCT 127

When NCT 127’s Neo Zone hit in early 2020, it was already a powerful record smuggling a surprising set of smooth tunes underneath one of the group’s shoutiest singles, soon-to-be Just Dance headliner Kick It. Jams like Pandora’s Box, Not Alone, Day Dream and Dreams Come True are all incredibly smooth not only vocally but production-wise, expanding into every corner of listeners’ headphones and surprising people like me who believed this group was just all about the noise. And don’t get me wrong – I’ve got a lot of time for their particular brand of noise, which is still here in the form of Mad Dog and Sit Down! But moments like those are outnumbered.

Then came nothing less than the most fascinating album repackage I’ve ever heard in K-Pop. The label with the most famous itch to add one or two songs to the top of an existing album and call it a new release – occasionally destroying the flow and/or tone of said album in the process – here looked to touch up a pre-existing release with actual care and ambition. Neo Zone: The Final Round brings a new, even noisier lead track (that critically goes loud from the very first beat) in the form of Punch, but that doesn’t just shuffle Kick It down a space at the top of the album; it sends former opener Elevator (127F) all the way to the final track slot (where it somehow works even better), adds another mid-tempo winner with NonStop, then gives Kick-It a fresh lead-in track for good measure. Then Make Your Day – one of the best boy group piano ballads I’ve ever heard – enters just before the already-established pre-Mad Dog interlude, thus pushing that interlude to the midpoint of the whole piece and turning it into a neat two-halved odyssey with much better balance between loud and soft. As you can see I could geek out about this album structure for a long time yet, but suffice to say I really like this one.

2. Eyes Wide Open – Twice

Five years after JYP’s last great full girl group album – the Wonder Girls’ legendary 1980s concept record Reboot – a worthy challenger to the in-house crown has arrived. With alarmingly dependable quality throughout its runtime to go with its classy album cover (which evokes SNSD’s phenomenal Japanese debut almost a whole decade ago), Twice’s Eyes Wide Open is a must-listen for anyone who’s ever enjoyed a Twice song. Each consecutive track is like a new gift with layers to unwrap over multiple plays, and that oh-so-crucial stream of variety within the Twice pop wheelhouse is on show around every corner. When the vocal production is a bit light on a song, the (often retro-tinged) backing track comes to the rescue – and vice versa. More often than not they are both on point, of course, but this is a collection of songs utterly free of duds. I’m particularly a fan of the high-energy midsection – Bring it Back, Believer, Queen, Go Hard and Shot Clock – but this thing winds down gradually like a champion; Say Something is a city pop classic waiting to happen.

Because of the way the K-Pop studio system seems to throw around producers and distribute tracks, we may never see Twice firing on all cylinders like this again, so if this kind of straightforward pop is your bag, I’m sure you don’t need any encouragement to enjoy the tunes to the fullest. This is largely a one-mood record, to be fair – it works best when you’re already up and moving – but if you ask me, Eyes Wide Open is without question the second truly great K-Pop album of the new decade.

1. Dystopia: The Tree of Language – Dreamcatcher

We didn’t have to wait all that long for the first. February 18th, 2020 at long last turned the steadily-improving Dreamcatcher into the very best versions of themselves for one glorious, all-killer LP with very little interest in brakes or even genre labels. The unique star-aligning combination of well-practiced rock-fuelled concepts, DC’s oft-forgotten lighter history as more traditional girl group MINX, and a confident producing duo at the peak of their EDM-loving powers; Dystopia: The Tree of Language is a stone-cold triumph that simultaneously sounds like nothing else within the K-Pop industry and does a bunch of things better than said industry.

The Tree of Language begins and ends (if you ignore its stunning Siyeon solo bonus track – which you shouldn’t) with the kind of guitar-thrashing rock intensity for which Dreamcatcher has been most famous since their debut. But the album’s X-factor comes from the decision to deviate into stripped-down horror (Red Sun), jaunty pseudo-jazz/new jack swing (Jazz Bar, Daybreak) and lashings of funk (Black or White). The quiet genius from producers Leez and Ollounder lies in the way each song ties into the same identity: at several points throughout its whirlwind sub-40-minute runtime, The Tree of Language checks in with a ripping guitar, flaring bass line or orchestral flourish to remind you of its DNA, and there’s an otherworldly coherence to the album as a result that allows it to defy the often-monotone trappings of similar power-pop/rock records. Every second rock-led track hides a head-banging EDM hook to boot – because why not, really – and everything comes together to create one incredible package. I’ve always wanted to like Dreamcatcher’s rare genre-hybrid approach to K-Pop, and Dystopia: The Tree of Language has finally given me reason to.

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