As we head into the home stretch and say goodbye to 2023, we have a good chance to look at the output of some of the bigger names in K-Pop that skipped this year’s singles list; a few of them land here with unexpectedly stellar longer-form work.

Right after a year where all five LP entries came from soloists, the groups are back in full force after an unusually strong year, but it’s business as usual for the mini albums: 2023 brought a bloodbath of quality EPs and most of them came from girl groups.

Though all-English songs on albums are no big deal here, all-English song collections aren’t eligible, but I’ll give a quick shout-out to ex-SNSD vocalist Jessica’s unexpectedly great solo EP Beep Beep.

1-3 tracks = N/A

4-7 tracks = mini album

8+ tracks = full album

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VR BEST OF 2023 DISCLAIMER

This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. If you agree with me 100%, go buy a lottery ticket. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.

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MINI-ALBUMS
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5. ASSEMBLE – TripleS

The whole song and dance around how TripleS functions mechanically is enough to give anyone a migraine, but their first album effort as a “full group” is a doozy; you just have to love the bravado that had to power the decision to do both the classy standalone tone-setting opening song AND the trendy nonsense-syllable salad designed to build up the title track. Rising thus sits comfortably in the Track 3 nook, where its inherent choppiness is improved by the warm, wide sound of Beam and the even choppier Before the Rise in almost equal measure.

Though the success of that little trick is the most standout characteristic of the EP, there is certainly more to enjoy here, as Colorful and New Look both push accomplished synth flourishes through the listener’s headphones in different flavours – the former buzzy and brash, the latter covered in gloriously city-leaning 1980s confidence. The Baddest serves as the palette cleanser between them, and the quality of the production ensures it comes out better than that threatening title – and some misplaced sing-talking – might suggest. Short-and-speedy closer Chowall lends the kind of symmetry I will probably always over-reward to the mini, and TripleS are off to the races.

4. OO-LI – Woodz

The man who can’t seem to leave this mini-album list alone brought more of the goods in 2023, although the way OO-LI shakes out is a bit different from Cho Seungyoun’ prior best. Rock influences continue to creep into his work – this 7-tracker feels fully half electric guitar-powered – but the more interesting characteristic on show here is that rather than a tracklist comprised of just hard songs and soft songs, OO-LI positions almost every track as a ‘builder’.

Only straight-roller Who Knows stays at one level the whole way through; the rest make sure to ramp up on their own individual terms. Smooth tunes like opener Deep Deep Sleep and closer ABYSS start with minimal instrumentation and add layers until they reach a fuller sound, while the choir vehicle Journey, saloon jam Ready to Fight and Nirvana-inspired Drowning go much harder with the marked goal of reaching a vocal tornado on the chorus and an absolute hurricane at the crescendo. No track goes bigger than the centrepiece, however: Busted is a stone-cold platinum star for Woodz’ career highlight reel, almost stopping itself dead in the final minute just to maximise the impact of a shred-and-growl finale.

3. W.A.Y. – TRI.BE

Amidst another year of crazy competition within the girl group EP world, huge decimal point fans TRI.BE sent out a real contender by following a simple plan: line up five upbeat and fabulous tracks in a row and call it a day. That strategy starts with the song that gave listeners the best Korean key change of the year: Stay Together is a euphoric choral chant opener with a killer hook and a seemingly never-ending array of subtle change-ups that freshen up a melody that hardly needs the attention, but is all the better for it.

Title track We Are Young keeps the positive vibes rolling with stadium cymbals and big kicks in all the right places, right before Witch immediately proves the mood can darken without a hint of lost fun: spooky strings and a magnificent piano bridge jell with beautiful high-register vocals to leave behind a nighttime treat. Wonderland is a dose of more typical girl group B-side fare, but it’s a quality example with catchy na-na-na refrains and boopity-boops in the backing track. The mini album closes out with an almost unrecognisable re-imagination of the group’s 2021 title Would You Run, and this stripped-back summer-dance take is not only much more palatable but just a better showcase overall for what was always a neat hook idea with a bilingual bonus. The final 30 seconds with the extra vocal layering are magical.

2. Kill My Doubt – Itzy

We can’t have this countdown without a JYP entry, so luckily Itzy’s Kill My Doubt is good enough to kill all chances of a break in the tradition. A meaty six-track serving of spicy pot-pourri that resets the group’s trajectory after a few years in the generic wilderness, KMD kicks off with a track that actually name-checks the album title (a weird rarity in K-Pop when the lead single doesn’t share its album’s name): Bet On Me lays a relentless melody atop a curious howling wind effect with an appearance or two from that unmistakable Twice blare to tie things up. Main promoted track Cake hurtles in next, but before it can derail momentum with its misplaced carnage, that melodic chorus arrives to save the day. It tries to be multiple songs in one, but on an album this varied that kinda works for it.

A sassy duo of unflinching mid-tempo tracks forms the central core of the EP: None of My Business employs rollicking trap snare under louder backing elements to reach a unique sound beneath a repeating hook with an audible tinge of envy to it, before Bratty brings the stubborn treble tones and stuttering percussion from the very middle of the western R&B 2000s (a la Beyonce’s Check On It) roaring right back in fine fashion. A stroke of pop-punk adorns the high-energy Psychic Lover before Kill My Doubt sticks its landing with the massive factory synth of Kill Shot: the kind of track that would have launched a thousand edgy AMVs 20 years ago.

1. Strawberry – Epik High

It just seems so easy by now: when Epik High mixes up their normal LP output habits by throwing in a shorter song collection, it invariably ends up an outstanding creation. And Strawberry certainly is short, seemingly uninterested in fooling around with filler, remixes or the like. But if this five-track, twelve-minute slice of chilled hip-hop dessert isn’t pure indulgent bliss, I’m not here.

The eponymous instrumental intro attaches wings to a solitary piano loop and launches it skyward, sending the listener straight into the best head space for what’s to come: a salient sigh of a song that gets across a restless rap message with the able assistance of ex-GOT7 star Jackson Wang’s frisky falsetto; the song cuts to the heart of everyday life even faster than Epik High normally does, which gets us to Hwa Sa’s airy guitar platform – and a rare extending singing stanza from Tablo – in no time flat. The penultimate stop on the express shuttle is Down Bad Freestyle, a toe-tapping excuse for the very same veteran to get some quick current-event venting out in cheesy style (“I never met a verse / that I didn’t slay / what? / bars.”) The EP leaves the best for last: God’s Latte is an instant lo-fi classic to add to the Epik pile, melding recognisable DJ Tukutz rhythmic style with blooming piano to knockout results.

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Honorable Mentions

–I feel – (G)I-DLE

It’s just such a shame that Queencard not only whiffs but does not fit in with the rest of this mini album, because the rest of its tracks are good fun; Paradise is probably their best B-side since Put It Straight hit four years ago. But after I burn showed the world how well Soyeon and her producing team can do album cohesion, that opening track properly sticks out and the EP just misses out on the main list.

–Cabin Fever – Purple Kiss

It’s exceedingly rare that a K-Pop act can boast one of the year’s best title tracks and one of its best B-sides, but Purple Kiss’ Cabin Fever gives us both Sweet Juice and Autopilot, so it has to get a mention here. Introductory track Save Me even makes the former banger sound even better, which is no small task. T4ke, the song that bridges the two, is also rock-solid, but unfortunately agit‘s grating hook chaser and So Far So Good‘s overly safe composition fail to tie up the EP in a way befitting the earlier quality.

–My World – æspa

It’s weird feeling like I have to point out the weaknesses of these extra mentions in 2023, but it was just that kind of crazy year; My World‘s main stumbles are the unsettling similarity between back-to-back tracks Spicy and Salty & Sweet and the whiplash of its K-Drama-flavoured closing ballad. But everything else on æspa’s May EP is so much better than their train smash of a November follow-up: I’m Unhappy is both catchy and hauntingly relatable; Thirsty is cheeky æspa at their best; Spicy itself goes hard without going off the deep end; and Welcome To MY World is an all-time Track 1 worthy of standing alongside SM Entertainment’s very best openers.

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FULL ALBUMS
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5. Unlock My World – fromis_9

The first girl group to make this list in two years (and the first not named Dreamcatcher or Twice to make it since 2017!), the painfully-named fromis_9 have bypassed the barren desert of girl group LPs – and overcome my general disinterest in their catalogue – through the sheer power of pristine production quality and cloud-surfing cohesion. Unlock My World is a ride that refuses to abandon the dance-forward stylings that won the group their fans, but is also unafraid to darken that sound just enough to make things interesting.

That starts from the very beginning, as Attitude hurtles in from the heavily distorted void packing processing tricks aplenty on top of a punchy melody to set the standard. The factory synth that powers In the Mirror keeps that touch of grime at a lower BPM, while Don’t Care is more classic dance-y fromis_9 but with extra care given to the lower bass frequencies. My Night Routine and Wishlist are far slower, but the latter’s English lyrics present a refreshingly practical theme you don’t get to hear a lot in this genre.

Prom Night is one of many 2023 K-Pop tracks with 2-step UK garage influences in the percussion, but it’s one of the best of the bunch, as confident when listened to alone as when its used to keep the Unlock My World party going. What I Want gets close to matching its energy with some bleeps and bloops of its own, and Eye Contact rounds off the LP with a distinct return to airy group fare, about as far from Attitude as possible – and yet it loops back into the start of the album astonishingly well.

4. ISTJ – NCT Dream

Despite a reasonably weak title track and a matching name packing multiple levels of cynical irrelevance, NCT Dream’s ISTJ is a bit of a bounce-back for the lads’ LP discography after a couple of years trying once again to be exactly like noisy big brothers NCT 127. The secret to making a decent album in the end will surprise no fan of the SM Entertainment mega-group: mix up a handful of songs and stanzas that keep you recognisably in the NCT wheelhouse with fun moments that scream Dream.

The balance works to great effect on the likes of Broken Melodies, a fantastic first-change choral builder that reaches its crescendos via top-end vocals screeching “and I hate singing” with just enough of a gap before the remainder of that line to bring a chuckle out of me on most listens. More smooth vocal work can be found on Poison and Starry Night, while Skateboard and the wonderfully-titled Pretzel (♡) provide doses of that NCT pseudo-aggression – though they manage to stay on the cheesy-fun side of the equation without toppling into full noise-boys territory. Yoghurt Shake is pure addictive silliness, acoustic guitar/strings combo Like We Just Met is one of the best closing ballads on a K-Pop group album for several years, and track midpoint Blue Wave is a magical jaunt inexplicably bathed in Super Mario Sunshine sound font and lighter-than-air woodwind that I can’t help but adore. There isn’t a dud B-side on the thing.

3. WOOOF! – Thama

A year after celebrating his labelmate and longtime song partner SOLE’s incredibly smooth R&B odyssey Imagine Club, it’s time to dive into an almost equally fabulous wonder LP from Thama. And that’s remarkably easy to do, because the quirkily-named WOOOF! is a rainy day stunner just as good for wash-over background listening as it is for attentive toe-tapping – or indeed for writing.

After a mood-setting talk piece to open – complete with apt rain sounds – Baby I Know takes a simple guitar chord staircase and pushes it to its limit thanks to Thama’s smooth pipes and a bit of flute garnish. Won’t You brings in Ciscero for a western-facing callout rap verse that sinks magnetically into the beat under Thama’s falsetto. Cutty Sark is all delicious bass strums and light-touch sing-talking. Then the real fun begins: Bump It Up is one of the jazziest songs in Thama’s catalogue, and surely ranks among his best songs ever. Each verse is a silky precursor to an ascending welcome that breaks out into full big band bravado.

Breeze is the perfect catch-your-breath follow-up, essentially built around just one or two electric guitars taking things slow. There’s a touch of John Mayer on hand as Coffee To Go ushers in the album’s second half, which continues with the brisk-yet-contemplative piano ballad You and the darker, sultrier Kaffe – the latter starring neat ’90s-style vocals from Suzanne. The production on both Shower and Passion reverberates through headphones for a cushiony sound that contrasts well with Thama’s slightly sharper lines, before the classic R&B finisher I Feel Love seals WOOOF! as a career high point for the other half of the Google Map team.

2. Chill Kill – Red Velvet

Oh look, another girl group!

A surprisingly mature middle ground between the manic what-next experimentation of album 1 and the comparatively cohesive lower-energy album 2, Red Velvet’s third full-lengther is well worth the inexplicable six-year wait. Chill Kill rises above an ocean of coal-and-diamond RV EPs and overcomes a couple of years of recent mediocrity from the group in its full form to bring the Red Velvet name one step closer to the legendary album quality status of predecessors f(x) – an incredible nine years in.

The LP achieves this despite a title track that is far from the group’s best, but its sound is still undeniably Red Velvet. Knock Knock then uses the all-important second track spot to match the opener’s tempo while swapping out the gimmick reliance for a cinematic horror feel. That clears the way for Underwater to slide in and make the first real statement of the piece: all cavernous bass, restrained ad-libs and high-register vocals. Will I Ever See You Again is utterly dominated by its sticky electronic backing track, placing it fittingly next to RV’s own Cool World and You Better Know – no small praise. Nightmare is great because it takes the opposite approach, with trademark vocal layering front and centre and another generous sprinkling of campground horror flavouring.

Iced Coffee is the breezy rest stop before the home stretch hot-streak commences: One Kiss, Bulldozer and Wings are restless Red Velvet through-and-through, emphasis on the Red. The former would fit right in on the group’s fate-changing 2015 piece, spring-loaded vocal payoffs and all; the latter is a beautiful choral track with toe-tapping bounce; and as for the middle one, well, it’s got everything a long-term RV fan could want. There’s even a cheeky Stray Kids homage at the end. Scenery is the kind of victory-lap ballad Red Velvet has deployed on many occasions throughout their discography, and while it’s no Rose Scent Breeze – because nothing is – it’s still well and truly earned, and a pleasant, appropriately *chill* wind-down that prepares you for the repeat button. Where on earth did this incredibly welcome return to form even come from?

1. oceanfromtheblue – oceanfromtheblue

One of the fastest rising stars in the K-R&B world came out all-guns-blazing very early on in 2023 with a full-length treat that had plenty of time to take root in the minds of listeners by year’s end, and despite a strong volley of late competition in his wheelhouse oceanfromtheblue stands tall as one of the best examples of a groovy “wash album” you can find out there. And I genuinely can’t remember the last time I saw a self-titled album in the Korean music world, let alone one I liked, so that’s novel too.

It ends with an interlude that isn’t an interlude, but it starts in fine fashion with a bang-on two-minute statement complete with bell-keyboard solo and cinematic wave of strings, which certainly sets a ballsy tone – but Past Life does not shed any of its considerable momentum thanks to a seamless orchestra-to-guitar-and-back-again structure and a drum kick on every third beat that hits way harder than most producers would dare try. If this epic closer-worthy track does not sweep you off your feet, this album is not for you, but if it does, the landing you get is groovy babymaking stunner Close to You, where oceanfromtheblue gets to show off his famous falsetto chops with matching soprano tones from sunwoojunga. The grooves don’t take a break after that, either, as Come Back Home insists on keeping the groovy energy up with production depth worthy of a title track.

The BPM finally slows down enough to lower the heart rate on Open Your Mind, but the thirsty lyrics and funky backing tune do their best to counter that. The waltz pattern returns next to mark the album’s midpoint on breezy actual-interlude Scent, and from there the real wash begins, as pseudo duet Marriage, extra-filtered vocal experiment Treasure, and contemplative pop-styled 30 blend pleasingly into one another to tee up the LP’s double-feature climax: Peter Pan is the funk-laced jam that could almost be titled Come Back Home Part II, and Brother is the sample-powered, off-beat vocal showcase with the unexpectedly catchy hook that shows off every corner of ocean’s voice, from honeyed track-riding to rapid falsetto to biting sing-talking to actual dialogue over a faded beat. Then there’s that weirdly long aforementioned non-interlude to close things out, but as artsy as it sounds it does eventually build to a swelling crescendo that loops almost perfectly back to Track 1. What an album.

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Honorable Mentions

–BOMM – jerd

A two-parter released throughout 2023’s first half, jerd’s sophomore LP doesn’t pack the lo-fi cohesion of 2021’s A.M.P., but shows exciting signs of an artist who is looking to deliver much more as her career continues to progress. Opener Aria uses the stereotypical sound of royalty and a mixed approach to vocal filtering to state this very intention, and the pleasing vocal highs of Blondie, the pointed exasperation of Like Rain, Like Music, the over-the-top layering of VANS, and the standout bass-down / harmonies-up combo of Closed put jerd’s money where her mouth is. You do also still get plenty of that unmistakable A.M.P. sound on the likes of Revolve, Messed Up! and My Bad, however – and it’s as uniquely mellowing as ever.

–wonderego – Crush

At 58 minutes and nineteen tracks, Crush’s latest is one of the longest Korean albums I’ve ever actually enjoyed, but from snappy acid jazz intro New Day to wonderful shuffle-percussion closer Remember Me, the album earns its length with an all-fronts R&B assault that might be a little uneven in places, but delivers in plenty of others. There are fun features like Lee Hi on the 3/4-time home run Bad Habits, Dynamicduo on the keyboard-powered No Break and Penomeco on the JT-esque Satisfied. There are solo experiments like discount drum-&-bass on EZPZ, MJ stylings on A Man Like Me, orchestral ballad backing on Harness, and even more obvious JT inspiration on Hmm-cheat. There’s classic Crush crooning on SHE and Monday Blues. It’s a lot, but it’s good stuff.

If you feel like a relaxed listening session featuring some of the year’s best K-Pop album B-sides curated by yours truly – many of which are mentioned on this page – check out the K-Sides Collection 2023 on Apple Music.