I may have celebrated a decade of K-Pop appreciation a couple of years ago on this site, but 2024 marked a less glamorous – though no less important – milestone for me: it has now been ten years since a slate of Korean label drama that felt no less than calamitous at the time knocked the proverbial scales of fandom off my eyes and I began to listen to K-Pop without loyalty to specific groups, or without even really taking into account music videos until a song or album had already lodged itself in my brain. So basically how I approach the hobby now.
2014 also brought about enough real-life situation shifts that my curated sources of new K-Pop dried up for the majority of the year, and I had to rush my countdown; despite a few time-honoured bangers at the top, that 2014 Top 15 list is still the playlist I repeat the least in my personal listening time. Though nowhere near that dramatic, 2024 at times felt functionally similar: indefinite podcast hiatuses, changes to curated public playlists, and simple differences in the people I see regularly had me scrambling to do a lot more of my own legwork than usual to find the songs I liked.
But 2024 is not 2014; there are a lot more decent tracks around these days and an awful lot more sources to recommend them.
To make this list, a song has to either have a music video or be the clear lead release from its album or EP. To clear up increasingly blurry fringe examples, only songs containing Korean lyrics count, but you should still listen to H1-Key’s Thinkin’ About You and from20’s Demon. It’s also worth mentioning that much of this year’s playlist is defined by simple audio elements produced well, so I recommend the best set of headphones you’ve got.
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VR BEST OF 2024 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. Nobody ever agrees with me 100%. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.
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15. APT – Rosé feat. Bruno Mars
We are immediately stretching technicalities for this first inclusion, as the relentlessly catchy single-word repetition coursing through the chorus of viral worldwide hit APT seems both too basic and yet too significant to ignore with my “inclusion of Korean lyrics” eligibility rule. So here it is, in all its irrepressible ear-worminess. The song starts with a crunchy beat that doesn’t overcomplicate itself, and Melbourne’s own Rosé is having so much fun it’s infectious, but the track isn’t much to write home about until Bruno Mars appears to add those famous ad-libs and then triple the impact of the chorus with some of the most satisfying harmonies of the year. By the time the bridge arrives APT is firing on all cylinders, and it has solidified itself as one of the most successful western collabs in K-Pop history.
14. Funk Jam – n.SSign
There’s some interesting distortion echoing around the background of the verses in this one, but the core appeal of the song is simple. In fact, it’s so simple that the title – and the pivotal chorus line – pretty handily tells you everything you need to know: you’re listening to a funk jam. It’s not a world-changing funk jam, but it still slaps pretty hard. In the ongoing race to find the worst K-Pop group name of all time, n.SSign put in a strong effort when they debuted last year, but none of their early music moved the needle in quite the same elite way until the boys boiled it all down to a simple keyboard / guitar setup and started messing around with blues-y sliding notes.
13. Midas Touch – Kiss of Life
The 4:3 aspect ratio of the gaudy music video isn’t the only throwback element to Kiss of Life’s Midas Touch: the entire production is teeming with specific late-90s/early-00s sonic signifiers. The persistent percussion threatens to break into new jack swing as it approaches every 16th beat – which, let’s not forget, was basically all Taeyang and Jimin’s Vibe needed to catch fire – but that fat buzzing synth decorated by the very specific tuning of that high-pitched background drone brings to mind the entirety of the pre-9/11 millennium with pitch-perfect accuracy. I could do without that odd half-a-car-horn sound at the end of the chorus, though, especially when I’m listening to this while driving.
12. Dash – NMIXX
When JYP Entertainment essentially announced a girl group entirely built around reviving the circa-2013 trend of “Frankenstein songs” in the mould of, say, SHINee’s Why So Serious? and SNSD’s I Got a Boy, many rolled their eyes and moved on, and so did I. Pop songs are kind of supposed to be coherent, after all, and a couple of wild exceptions over the years shouldn’t be enough to doom an entire group’s identity in pursuit of such occasional magic. The thing is, JYP has kind of been the most consistent source of quality in the industry for years now, and the members of NMIXX can sing, so I should’ve expected that eventually one of these projects would hit. Well, here we are. The discordant double-voice that slams into the listener at every turn and pace-shift within Dash repeatedly anchors the production to great effect, but you also get soaring high notes, a bit of thrash guitar and even a deum-and-bass segment. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to hear or read the word dash for months now without this popping into my head.
11. Hmm BOP – Hui
It’s been too long since a K-Pop big-band sound worked for me, but leave it to a Pentagon veteran to dress up one of the most famous chord progressions in history with both incredibly infectious energy and a suite of absolutely insane vocal scats and ad-libs that flex harder than anything else on this post. Indeed once Hmm BOP has passed the halfway mark, Hui has well and truly begun to get into his work, soon outshining a song that has already lived up to its name by then. The talented performer has been involved in more complex songs to be sure, but few of them sell the idea of a good time as well as this one. The video even provides a rare example of an improvement over the audio version, thanks to that fun little credits sequence.
10. Killin’ It – P1Harmony
I’ve had a couple of P1Harmony’s songs in the honorable mentions sections over the years, but the silly energy of Killin’ It launches the lads into the top 10 in 2024. The bravado-laced hyperactivity that lifts my mood every time I hear the song makes it pretty much this year’s version of Tempest’s Vroom Vroom as far as I’m concerned, except with a less gimmicky backing track and a little more singing. The challenge the lyricists appear to have taken up with Killin’ It is “can we make a chorus almost entirely made up of standard hype-man ad-libs” and, what do you know, it turns out they could. Rarely have “da-da-da”s hit with more hype.
9. Mr Vampire – ITZY
I have to say I’m enjoying this current experimental ITZY era, not only because their sound stands apart from the rest of JYP’s crowded roster, but because every new release is genuinely a surprise; just listen to their latter-year single Imaginary Friend – Twice and NMIXX ain’t releasing anything sounding that oddly dark. Just as experimental but much more upbeat is the song that kicked off ITZY’s 2024, Mr Vampire; no other backing track is sounding like that, in K-Pop or anywhere else. Weaponising two flavours of whistle on one track is already ear-catching enough, but the harp follow-up makes for a truly novel loop that takes a long time to get old. That very harp sample then gets chopped up in the middle of the song – a trend I can’t seem to get enough of – and the bridge ties a ribbon on everything with a more traditional sound to draw the rest of the song into sharper relief.
8. NASA – Dean feat. FKJ
The Dean Cave was ever-so-slightly less occupied than usual in 2024; the K-R&B royal left its dank interior at least twice this year! Tabber collaboration Chi-Ka (or “The Toothbrush Song”) is a toe-tapper of note, but the songs where Dean’s voice are highlighted right upfront have often been his best, and NASA fits the bill on that count. Three levels of increasing complexity in the backing enhance those wonderful vocal pipes as they build up, but the delicate piano work by French musician FKJ is always at the base of the track, starring on equal footing with Dean at the beginning and filling the sound out nicely by the end. I’m not going to ask for more frequent music from the guy because I know better by now, but i mean, come on; he’s so good at this!
7. Pineapple Slice – Baekhyun
With certified head-bopper Pineapple Slice, Former EXO heartthrob Baekhyun proves once again that his already-lengthy career could outlive us all if he wanted. It’s harder to find anything interesting to say about this song’s production than any other on this list, but that is virtually only to its immense credit; this is just a good-ass pop song through-and-through. The bass is just right, the vocal delivery effortlessly smooth, the touch of 80s synth on an otherwise contemporary track just understated enough, the build-up to and execution of the chorus right on point. And it doesn’t even have a boring music video, or even a boring title. Huge for the power-of-light kid.
6. Orange Clouds – Moon Sujin feat. JUNNY
No official MV for this one, so here’s a semi-live lyric video that plays around a little with the studio recording. Of all the Automatic Remix alumni, few have been more prolific in terms of individual releases than Moon Sujin, and she seems more interested in spicing up the backing tracks of her stuff than the average vocal-priming K-R&B artist. Orange Clouds hits the jackpot with her most sensational composition yet: that delectable guitar lick in the back is propped up fabulously by co-producer DAEHEE, and when Junny jumps into frame to croon restlessly around the melody, he proves a fine match for Moon’s vocal chops. If anything, the echoing chorus is the weakest point of the song, but it’s also the catchiest part? Fair play to the trio behind this slick jam.
5. Earth is Flat – Stella Jang
Whenever huge acoustic music proponent, fan of simplistically relatable lyrics and trilingual all-around talent Stella Jang releases a new song it is usually a treat, but it’s not often in Korean, and it’s almost never this funky. Apparently Jang’s frustrations at the recent gullibility of the internet was enough motivation to get her to put together one of the crispiest beats of the year, then sing, chant and faux-rap over it until that beat is lodged into the brains of every listener. The customary raw guitar underneath certain stanzas add to the best-executed single-syllable harmonies of the year to enrich the texture of an otherwise shrewdly simplistic production that doesn’t stick around for long, but does get me head-bopping every time I hear it. Which is often. Because I hit repeat on this one so much.
4. SPOT! – Zico feat. Jennie
Speaking of minimalist production- wait, two Blackpink soloists on one Vagrant Rant list? What on earth is going on! It’s almost like actually mixing up the producing credits once in a while gives talented performers the opportunity to strike gold. You know, or something. In this case, decade-plus K-Pop veteran Jennie teams up with one of my favourite beat-arrangers in the industry – the very same man heavily involved in my 2023 song of the year – to unfurl a simple but crunchy tune that stayed in and around my life for most of 2024. Much of Zico’s recent success as a producer comes from his tendency to cook with very few ingredients, and from the very first growing keyboard stepladder to the one second Jennie actually sounds like a Blackpink member to the silly zipper sound at the end, I am fully in. Much like the previous song, no welcomes are overstayed here. And it has yet another fun music video! After many years of generic slop, 2024 seems to be trending the right way there.
3. Work – ATEEZ
This may be the only time in my life I’ve found a clarinet cool; it’s definitely the only time a clarinet has made me want to get up off my chair and dance. ATEEZ had a banner 2024 for releases even by their vintage standards, and that output produced in my opinion the best bravado banger of 2024; Work brings everything that makes the best of NCT or Stray Kids tick and kind of eats their lunch. The beat is heavy and relentless without the compulsion to be too fast, making it an equally good workout song as it is a move-buster. That ludicrous clarinet matches up with it so well the whole way through, and both back-to-back breakdowns bring fresh backing tracks that could have powered entire songs on their own. The Jongho high note that divides them is also so well-timed it’s almost worthy of the B.A.P glory days. Almost.
2. F****** World – Layone feat. Bewhy
Probably not a good idea to watch this plot-heavy music video if you’re sensitive to gritty violence – click here instead to see what the fuss is actually about, distraction-free.
One of the perks of listening to a ton of songs in a language you don’t understand is that you can really focus on every other aspect of a track’s production; this has become a huge perk for me over the years, as K-Pop songs often have pretty asinine lyrics and a lot of K-R&B is a bit thirsty for my tastes. Occasionally, however, the language barrier can cause you to miss a darkly funny juxtaposition like in Layone and Bewhy’s F****** World, which is lyrically frustrated and even a little despairing despite an impeccable sonic setup laced with major-key optimism and faux-tropical flourishes. In a listening playlist the song soars, landing falsetto pirouettes over and around that famously rapid-fire Bewhy flow as small background touches elevate the mix. With that added lyrical irony, it simply reaches another level.
1. Cosmic – Red Velvet
Fresh off a roaring return to form with a killer album in 2023, Red Velvet make their return to this list for the first time in five years without messing around; Cosmic is multi-level nostalgic dynamite. The central drivers of the song are that fascinatingly loose, speaker-shaking percussion choice and the string staircase behind the chorus, the latter of which viscerally hits me down at least three separate memory lanes (second-hand BeeGees tunes, watching James Bond films as a kid, and weirdly this level from Space Station Silicon Valley). But then the post-chorus arrives, loading up that classic full-team harmonic RV sound with a very Steps/Spice Girls low hum to apply another blow where my core memories live.
The 4:3 music video brings more nostalgia – I refuse to watch Midsommar after my sleep was ruined by Hereditary, but that sure looks a lot like the set for SHINee’s Sherlock – and then there’s the sixth level: Cosmic is essentially Red Velvet’s tenth-anniversary song, and they have now featured on half of the twelve annual K-Pop Singles countdowns I’ve published. Though I haven’t followed specific groups with any level of expectation for a long time, the sheer level of quality this quintet has provided over such a long time seriously rivals Big Bang or Super Junior at this point. And that astonishingly beautiful Wendy-powered bridge proves they are still capable of outdoing themselves.
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This entire countdown is available as an Apple Music playlist HERE, and it’s my first one ever to come in at under 45 minutes total length. Have a listen to that if you feel like it, or use it to cherry-pick some tunes if that’s your preference.
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Honorable Mentions
–Mamacita – Hello Gloom
Listen: HERE
A stadium-filler and everyone-in club banger released in the wrong decade, the liberally-utilised chorus of this one evokes the 2002 version of Hey! Baby like nothing I’ve heard since. I hope Hello Gloom makes a habit of this kind of anthem going forward.
–Extra – DALsooobin
Listen: HERE
If I made a list of Korean soloists most likely to turn into compelling EDM DJs, the one behind oddball indie-vibe tune Circle’s Dream wouldn’t even get close to featuring. And yet not since AKMU’s Dinosaur has the transition worked so well: the gorgeous vocals are just as quirky and the wide drop does not hold back.
–Deja Vu – TXT
Listen: HERE
K-Pop’s love affair with this specific song title continued in 2024. Does TXT’s Deja Vu sound alarmingly similar to labelmate BTS’ I Need You? Sure does! Do I care? Not really; that was a really good tune and so is this.
–Without U – Seola
Listen: HERE
WJSN talent going solo has been a surprisingly rare phenomenon, but Seola’s Without U suggests it should probably happen more often. The MV uses yet another 4:3 aspect ratio, but for artistic purposes rather than nostalgic ones, and the song builds fantastically.
–Legend – KAVE
Listen: HERE
Kings Always have Veiled Egos, apparently; whoever named this new K-rock group sure thinks so anyway, and the punchy circular rhythm of this self-produced debut effort suggests they might be one to watch. “Why you so mad?” Is a crazy lyric in 2024.
–Persona – J2Woo feat. Kim Sori
Listen: HERE
A criminally underexposed tune from a clearly talented producer brought to life by a pretty handy singer with nowhere to hide – you love to hear it. That raindrop/snapping-trap sound on the backing is delicious.
–My Girl – A.C.E
Listen: HERE
Falsetto fans and general chill-boy-band enjoyers rejoice: this ever-so-slightly-city-pop-tinged tune is for you. Actually, it’s probably for you even if you just like well-made pop songs.
–Bam Yang Gang – BIBI
Listen: HERE
The least edgy lead song released by BiBi in a very long time – maybe ever – still has a strange music video where the intrusive thoughts have clearly won, but the pleasantly wistful tone fills out her discography nicely.
–30 – Kisum
Listen: HERE
No female artist does casual K-Hip-Hop better, even almost a decade after Kisum debuted; a go-with-the-flow reflection on ageing fits her vibe perfectly. It doesn’t hurt that it has one of the best music videos of the year, infectiously optimistic despite that trademark grounded mood.
–Lovers or Enemies – CIX
Listen: HERE
CIX are in the habit of delivering virtually one song I like every year they try, and even though that creepy vocal layering at the start of the chorus does most of the heavy lifting for this one, it’s executed so punchily that it more than makes up for the generic bits.
Vagrant Rant 