Omona's Pick: 2020 1st Quarter Kpop Favorites

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

How are you all, Omona? I hope you and yours are safe and well. <3 In case you need to take your mind off things, here's a chance to look back at your favorite Kpop releases during the first quarter of 2020 (January-March). Feel free to talk about your favorites including but not limited to title songs or b-sides, MV/visual concept, live performances, choreography, etc.

Here are my personal favorites:

SF9 - Good Guy
Before this I've only been casually checking out their title tracks. I liked O Sole Mio, and like everybody else I jammed to Now Or Never, but it wasn't until Good Guy (and seeing them cry during their first wins) that I learned all the members' names, listened to their entire discography, watched a ton of their videos, and even went all the way back to watching the survival show which formed the group. I'm in this deep, you guys.

NCT 127 - Love Song
Their latest title track Kick It is fine as a hype song, but it's the mid-tempo R&B b-sides in the album that shine for me. This one is my favorite (the harmonies! the adlibs!). Others I enjoy include Elevator, Boom, and Pandora's Box.

Vincent Blue - LTNS (feat. Verbal Jint)
I got hooked on his smooth voice late last year and he released his first mini album just last week. Is this what they call bossa nova? I'm bad with genres.

Source: FNCEnt, NCT 127, 1theK

Comments

[vintage-boom.livejournal.com]

not SF9 outside the cut!! bless you OP.

Fave Title Songs:
SF9 - Good Guy
Itzy - Wannabe
Pentagon - Dr. Bebe

Fave B-Sides:
SF9 - Am I The Only One (literally the second best thing they've put out) & Fire (the third best)
NCT127 - Love Me Now
Pentagon - Asteroid & Without U
Sejeong - hopes for tomorrow

Fave Music Videos:
BTS - Black Swan


Honestly I'm still playing the hell out of songs from last year.

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Suave & Fabulous 9 deserves it!! Good Guy is my most played song this quarter.

[soyunatetera.livejournal.com]

I like gfriend labyrinth :3

[uledy.livejournal.com]

Hardest case of "should've been the title track" if there was ever one. The instrumental is SO GOOD. and they sound so good too 😍

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

It's so amazing ! I'm happy we saw so much of it
Another case of GFriend having a stand-out bside that everyone ends up talking about instead of the official single lol

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

BTS "On"
PENTAGON "Dr. Bebe"

I just love the live stages and the charisma of both groups. This BTS comeback, my attention was always on Suga.

[uledy.livejournal.com]

Fun post, OP!

My picks:

Dreamcatcher- Scream (still not over it)
Itzy- Wannabe (the whole album is great? Like, i haven't listened to a kpop album all the way through multiple times for a nonfave in forever??? That's a No No is stupid good?)
Eyedi- Jus.t (sounds like her other tracks but i like her sound so this is perf)
Taemin- unreleased comeback (would have changed the world)
Loona- # (wish this had been a full song)
Izone- Fiesta (was initially not impressed but now I'm really into it)
Everglow- Dun Dun (MV, dance, beat all A+)

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

I forgot Taemin was supposed to come back. Oops. Maybe he'll have it after Changmin?

[thebloomroom.livejournal.com]

GOLDEN CHILD WITHOUT YOU!! A layered masterpiece.

Ji Yeon Take A Hike was such a bop. Also liked:
Itzy Wannabe
MCND Ice Age
Oneus A Song Written Easily
Winner Hold
Pentagon Dr. Bebe
SuJu 2YA2YAO was a bop, dont @ me
Everglow Dun Dun

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

Everything Dreamcatcher, that’s it.

[avrgaesthetics.livejournal.com]

The entire Neo Zone album...another masterpiece LP from SM. But my favorites are Boom, Love Song, and Dreams Come True.
Winer by SAAY, she's so slept on.
Number 1 by Loona. R&B Loona is my favorite Loona.
Reveal by the Boyz??? excuse me, a cunty bop.
And Wannabe by Itzy is giving me everything rn.

This year has been pretty bare bones tho tbh.

[sapphiredeity.livejournal.com]

kpop has gone worst in terms of music quality since the beginning of the year.

my fav:

Made in you and Let's Love by Suho

[paige-nevaeh.livejournal.com]

I have liked NOTHING this year other than DCs album... but even that has to grow on me. 2020 is not kpops year for music

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

My 2020 favourite so far is hands down GFriend's Labyrinth.
Remember when double singles were a thing in kpop? Labyrinth feels almost like it. I'm so glad they promoted it so much. Crossroads it still a good single though, the typical, melodic GFriend song everyone expects, and that made me fall in love with them in the first place. In a sea of instrumental choruses and empty trap beats (or both lol), I feel like I can rely on them to focus on the chorus. Aside from these two tracks, Eclipse, Here We Are and Dreamcatcher are all really good bsides, it's hard to pick a favourite.

The rest of my top 5 would be:

- Dazzle Dazzle, Weki Meki.
I'm sad it's just a digital single! It's such a bright, catchy, straightforward pop song. Same feeling as Crossroads - I'm glad to get such a catchy, melodic chorus. A little surprising of Weki Meki since they coinced the "teen crush" term that everyone seems to be doing now, but I'm really enjoying it.

- Dystopia, the Tree of Language, Dreamcatcher.
I love Dreamcatcher for the rock/metal influences so Scream took a little while to grow on me, even though I loved Sleep Walking/Silent Night. The performances were good and elevated the song. As for the album, they delivered! In the Frozen, Red Sun, Black or White, Jazz Bar, Tension... so many good songs and different sounds.

- (Purpose) by Taeyeon.
Purpose was already my most played album in 2019, the repackage carried it through 2020. My Tragedy is a great addition, fits well with the darker bsides. Dear Me isn't my favourite single by her, but it arried at the right moment in my life and is really comforting. Also, I'm biased as hell lmao.
I hope Taeyeon and her family are doing as well as they could in those circumstances, and that they're well supported.
I wonder if we'll ever get Happy. I'm glad SM immediatly halted the release & hasn't mentioned it since.

- # by LOONA
Another really biased choice for me, but as expected, I really enjoyed the bsides. # is their best intro! Number 1, Oh (Yes I Am), Day&Night are easy highlights. So What eventually growed on me; the bridge is amazing and it's a nice work-out song.
Still pissed Day&Night is a hidden track. I would have put it between So What and Number 1 in the tracklist, and put 365 instead as the hidden track (fan song already released in December + sticks out musically from the rest, so it would have made more sense). Day&Night is just so LOONA.
I hope Haseul is recovering well <3

Everglow, IZ*ONE, Rocket Punch, Itzy all had songs I really enjoyed. I'll look after Cignature too. Girl groups delivered !
As for bgs, I like NCT's album and especially Elevater. I wish I liked Without You more, still looking forward to Golden Child on Road to Kingdom!

Next, I'm really looking forward to APink, Oh My Girl and (G)I-DLE.
Weren't Taemin and Twice rumored to put out new music soon-ish? And Hinapia? Everything have been turned upside down with the pandemic, I understand if they were pushed back.

Random thought : Kpop promotional schedules have always been insane and unhealthy. I'm not mad that idols promoting at the moment only have recordings from shows still on + digital contents (like vlive, special videos), and not fanmeetings/concerts on top of an already packed schedule. The industry still needs a total overhaul, with promotions being less harsh on idols/more spread out, so they're not burning themselves out four weeks at a time...

[adenar.livejournal.com]

I really only paid attention to February tbh...



A lot of people seemed confused by this since they associate WKMK with 'teen crush' but really WKMK's whole vibe is silly and fun, and this MV was plenty silly and fun (the point dance is so dumb and unique i love it!), and I love the trend they're setting of releasing songs which are about being confident and stating your desires in love (this one's basically just them going 'do better, boy')



I honestly love Dun Dun, I replay it all the time, but this is my standout track from the mini. Mia was my initial favourite in Everglow but I admit that the favouritism towards her is off-putting and the insane line distribution difference in their tracks puts me off a lot of them, even if they're good songs. This one's on the fairer side but Onda still gets paid dust. The Aisha focus in this one is supreme.



I appreciate Itzy even if I'm not their target audience - I can deal with Ryujin's cheesy raps. I love their choreography and vibe, if they spend their entire career putting out self-confidence anthems, I'm here for it.



The aesthetics for this throwback bop are so good, the mob storyline is right up their street. I really love the cocky point dance for this. Yuji shines so much more with that black bob (#dingdongthebraidsaredead). Yoorim is slowly improving her stage presence, and Haeun continues to be an incredible all-rounder.



I didn't like 'Jackpot' so I almost missed this really cool, fun B-side from the mini. They seem to have started follow-up promotions with it this week which is great!



How could I not mention the redebut of my best girls? Crazy to see Jiwon go from having the second least lines in Good Day to the most lines in this. I'm glad Seline and Semi got off to a good start with the line distributions, hopefully they won't suffer the same fate as Handong and Gahyeon did for so long. This is such a fun song with a really, really cool synth instrumental. Really excited for their follow up track this month!

[lostintheechoes.livejournal.com]

Fave MVs
BTS - On (Kinetic Peformance Video)

Fave Songs:
BTS - On
Everglow - Dun Dun
Moonbyul - Eclipse
NCT 127 - Kick It

[daynr.livejournal.com]

I need new jams, thanks OP and commentators!

[myungung.livejournal.com]

looking at my playlist, I only saved 3 songs from this quarter. it's been kinda disappointing with the title tracks put out.

Labyrinth - Gfriend
Wannabe - Itzy
Adios amor - Sunny Hill

Dazzle Dazzle by Weki Meki was great too, appreciating it the more I listen to it. hopefully this quarter will have better songs.

[edanz-castle.livejournal.com]

Kpop has been in such a drought its sad. I don't think there has been anything released this year that had me excited.

Nct127's Neozone is decent.

I don't like this group for their song but they look promising as a group...MCND, they did such a good song covering these bops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJNk8jyGGQ