Omona Original: Best Bright Boy Group B-Sides

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

With summer around the corner and the majority of recent boy group singles favouring dark concepts let's have a look instead at some of their best bright releases! Everyone is familiar with bright classics like Seventeen's 'VERY NICE' and Pentagon's 'Shine' so let's focus on some bright b-sides you may not have heard before...



GOLDEN CHILD - SEA
FROM 1st Mini Album [Gol-Cha!] (2017)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

A.C.E - HOLIDAY
FROM UNDER COVER: THE MAD SQUAD (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋

ASTRO - 1 IN A MILLION
FROM All Light (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

WEI - DOREMIFA
FROM IDENTITY: First Sight (2020)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋

ASTRO - DREAMS COME TRUE
FROM Dream Part.01 (2017)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

SEVENTEEN - SNAP SHOOT
FROM An Ode (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

ATEEZ - DANCING LIKE BUTTERFLY WINGS
FROM TREASURE EP.3: One To All (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋

ONF - ORIGINAL
FROM ON/OFF (2017)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋

TOO (TO1) - DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT
FROM Running TOOgether (2020)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋

STRAY KIDS - ASTRONAUT
FROM Clé : LEVANTER (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋

TXT - POPPIN' STAR
FROM The Dream Chapter: MAGIC (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

THE BOYZ - COMPLETE ME
FROM DREAMLIKE (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋

PENTAGON - SING-A-SONG
FROM LOVE or TAKE (2021)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

GOLDEN CHILD - I'M FALLING
FROM Golden Child 2nd Mini Album [Miracle] (2018)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

TXT - WISHLIST
FROM minisode1: Blue Hour (2020)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

PENTAGON - FANTASYSTIC
FROM SUM(ME:R) (2019)
BRIGHTNESS RANKING: 🍋🍋🍋🍋🍋

HONORABLE MENTIONS
PENTAGON - SUMMER!, GOLDEN CHILD - I SEE U, PENTAGON - BABY I LOVE YOU, GOLDEN CHILD - OMG, THE BOYZ - WATER, PENTAGON - THUMBS UP, ASTRO - DREAM NIGHT, SEVENTEEN - HOLIDAY, ASTRO - EVERY MINUTE, ONF - ALL DAY, TOO/TO1 - STEP BY STEP, ONF - GOOD GOOD, ONEUS - DIZZY, GOLDEN CHILD - WITH ME, ASTRO - MERRY-GO-ROUND



omona, what are your favorite bright bg b-sides?

Sources: TOMORROW X TOGETHER OFFICIAL, Golden Child (1, 2), PENTAGON , Kpop Musics Short Clips (1, 2, 3), official A.C.E, ZatyFarhani, SEVENTEEN, ATEEZ, ONF OFFICIAL, TO1, JYP Entertainment, THE BOYZ, WEi

Comments

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

this is such a cute post op!! of course, astro are kings of pulling off fun and bright concepts, but i'm liking the pentagon songs you listed as well, especially fantasystic

for the rest i come to this post to learn 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ because looking at my heavy rotation kpop songs, not a lot of bright boy group concepts are represented.. (would exo's what u do or sf9's into the night count?🤔)

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

but i'm liking the pentagon songs you listed as well

if you ever want more ptg recs i am available 24/7 to provide them they have my fav bg discography

i had maybe 5 different sf9 songs i was considering putting in and then i was like these sound bright in comparison to other sf9 songs but when listening to them in comparison to the rest of the list i was like hmmm they don't actually sound that bright lol its all relative when the last song you've listened to is like astro's dream night everything sounds less bright in comparison

[giriboy.livejournal.com]

into the night def counts, imo! i've showed a ton of my friends that special video because it has ideal boy band energy, even the choreo

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

I would definitely vote What U Do as a bright song!

[cosmicdaze.livejournal.com]

this post is so cute, op! i love it 💛

as for my favorite bright bg b-sides, mine would be:

a-yo — shinee 🌟
9-teen — seventeen 🌟
heartbreaker — nct 127
summer 127 — nct 127
electric hearts — wayv
beautiful — seventeen
runaway — shinee
beautiful — shinee

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

a-yo!!!!!

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

A-Yo and Beautiful, yeeeeee

[babyjenkski.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this OP! Going away first to listen to these songs 😊

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

This song came to mind seeing this post! I found it as an outro to a line distribution video lol but I really liked it. so I discovered this song years after its release. It’s really bright and cheerful, very refreshing compared to what I hear from boy groups

If I have any other b-sides...I can’t remember lol as my boy group knowledge is extremely limited. So I’ll go through these recs and see if I found some new songs to add! Thanks for the post!!

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

two of the astro songs i picked are from the same album as you smile! it's probably my favourite astro album it's a real comfort album for me but they have tons of b-sides from their 2016/17 discography you might like if you enjoy you smile. their sound has gotten progressively less bright since overall from 2018 onwards but they do still have some good melodic/brighter b-sides more recently too.

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Some of my favorite bright/happy/light songs:

Golden Child: I Love You Crazy!, YTMOB (You Turn Me On Baby)
NCT 127: Love Song (+ most of the Neo Zone album, it's filled with bright/fun melodic songs tbh), Good Thing, Angel, 0 Mile
NCT Dream: Walk You Home
SF9: Hide and Seek, Round and Round, Beautiful Light, Heartbeat

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Might as well add a few songs

NCT 127: Elevator (127F), Boom, Pandora's Box, Dreams Come True, Once Again, City 127, Welcome to My Playground
SHINee: Colorful, Love Sick
VERIVERY: Beautiful-x

[dantethetaco.livejournal.com]

ASTRO, Pentagon, Seventeen and ONF are definetly the best boygroups at doing fresh concepts. Most of these I already knew, but I'm adding some of these that I didn't know of to my playlist like TOO Dancing in the Moonlight.

Some songs that I'm missing from the list:




astro just has so many bright songs, I'm still baffled at them going in a more dark theme for their titles when brigth/fresh/fun is what they excel at














NCT127 and ATEEZ are not the freshest groups out there, but I love these songs:

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

spring snow is one of my favourite songs ever but i associate it as a soft song maybe rather than bright which is why it didnt make the list lol. i love your other choices though, get cool was originally on the much larger list that i had to really narrow down and i honestly could have included half of astro's discography.

[tsubaki874.livejournal.com]

I LOVE THIS!!!! I could really use some pick-me-up songs, so this post was perfectly timed! And here are my personal older gen (titles and B-sides) recommendations:

(Probably the only new gen song I know lmao)
AB6IX, BDC, Lee Eun Sang - Chandelier

ok back to old gen (Some might be Japanese I'll add a *)
B1A4 - O.K (obviously), Hey Girl, What's Happening?, A Glass of Water, You Are My Baby
B.A.P - Feel So Good
BEAST - Beautiful
Block B - HER, Yesterday
The Boss/DGNA - Love Bingo!*, Love Power*,
Dalmatian/DMTN - That Man Opposed, Lover Cop, Home Run
INFINITE - Tell Me, Nothing's Over, Man In Love
MBLAQ - Baby U!
NU'EST - Beautiful Solo!!!, Storybook, Sleep Talking, Let's Go Crazy*, Best Summer
Phantom - ICE
SHINee - A-Yo, Married to The Music, Ready or Not
Super Junior - Devil
TVXQ - Balloons of course, Junsu's Incredible

Man In Love and Beautiful Solo are criminally underrated and are some of Infinite's and NU'EST's best releases.

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

ever since the news with himchan i haven't listened to b.a.p since but feel so good and that's my jam i used to be absolutely obsessed with they're so fun

[timetobegin.livejournal.com]

Thank you OP and everyone in the comments for these suggestions! I was in denial about my boy group love for a few years + the trend of aggresive noise music so I missed out on so many bright, cute songs. I might put all of these into an actual playlist.

Adding a few from older SM groups:
- Super Junior — Shining Star (Rearranged ver) (I generally act like this group doesn't exist but there are a few really REALLY good gems in their earliest discography and this is one of those. This gives me so many fuzzy warm feelings aaaaah)
- SHINee — Senorita/Romeo+Juliette/Lucky Star/Girlsx3/Colorful
- EXO — Unfair (not just appropriate for december imo, @OPmaybe we can do a follow up to this post in winter?)/Lucky/Love Me Right

Also: Jinu + Mino — Call Anytime!!!

[em-cavey.livejournal.com]

I feel you on SJ
I genuinely do not like them or their overall discog but 🎵life couldn’t get better🎵 is such an irresistable blast of bubblegum nostalgia for me lol

[giriboy.livejournal.com]

dancing in the moonlight was one of my absolute favorite kpop songs last year! 💚 not to mention too's best, i wish they used it for follow up promos or would be keeping their better, brighter concept as to1 but i don't think it's happening

VAV – “GORGEOUS”
ofc i have to include vav, their ceo + regular producer is ryan s. jhun (his credits are stacked) and i love the songs he's done for them! this is the only b-side adjacent song i could think of for them but also check out: “dance with me (venus),” (https://youtu.be/bvnN1_-m91I) “spotlight” (https://youtu.be/KDiuHqslR2Y) + “she's mine.” (https://youtu.be/5H341LBApyM)


TRCNG – “DON'T STOP THE DANCING”
i didn't ever get really into trcng—thanks to ts, i was burned before!—but their first (and only) mini was really strong and i like their vocals. i don't listen to the full mini anymore, really, but i could listen to don't stop the dancing on repeat for days and not get sick of it, it's soooo good. also try: “i'm the one” (https://youtu.be/V6s0eS5CR-U) (which is boy band pop at its best, it reminds me of an *nsync song or two, especially with the instrumental breakdown that's heavily featured).


SNUPER – “내 여자의 여우짓 (MY GIRL'S FOX)”
this song is from their last mini working with sweetune and they do have credits on this song, as well! it's probably my singular favorite snuper b-side and i think it works well as a companion song to f(x)'s “no more” (https://youtu.be/xB56-6CdU84) lol. their discography is just too good but for other b-sides (and one title track): “angel,” (https://youtu.be/aF-JE3cFQvI) ”yes or no,” (https://youtu.be/JxKwQzUKL3o) “hyde, jekyll (80's remix version),” (https://youtu.be/yHB7Jkhk8cU) + ”the star of stars” (https://youtu.be/-dpYFo860wA)!


MONSTA X – “PARTY TIME”
this is so totally different from all the other songs but i think it's an answer to a bright song in mx's more recent discography and so i'm counting it. the la-la-la vocalizations make it a bright song, that's my new rule. see also: if you're looking for brighter b-sides, monsta x is not the group for you. (for their earlier discography, try “amen,” (https://youtu.be/-1hLEHSg5wM) “roller coaster,” (https://youtu.be/l-dcqyMlNnU) + ”all i do!” (https://youtu.be/vY8bZF2PVN8))


and now that i'm sick of editorializing here are some probably more known faves!
+ ASTRO – “SOMEBODY LIKE” (https://youtu.be/tuFpv4rPq1U)
+ HA SUNG WOON – “CURIOU’S” (https://youtu.be/TBYKyo-a4ds)
+ ONF – “TRIP ADVISOR” (https://youtu.be/BLCCLi282Ts)
+ THE BOYZ – “WHIPLASH” (https://youtu.be/a0v4G6jclKE)
+ NCT 127 – “0 MILE” (https://youtu.be/KYnd_xqP6vk)

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

to1's concept previews have been tragically bad so far but their first group concept pic had me at least hopeful that it will be more fun than magnolia even if their new concept wont be as bright as count 1, 2 but i dont know how i feel in general about the racing/mechanic-y vibe


for mx the only bright one i could think of was newton but that was technically a single

[lostintheechoes.livejournal.com]

BAP - Feel So Good

not a bside, but still a fun song.

BAP - Be Happy


BAP - Carnival


that's all i can think of off the top of my head.

[shineexo.livejournal.com]

here to promote my got7 agenda

[myungung.livejournal.com]

Thursday is a good consideration! would also like to add on these few songs for Got7, since they're probably one of the few bgs I follow. they have bright singles like Just Right and A, but people probably know about it and they don't qualify here.







do promoted songs count? I guess Home Run and Teenager were more like follow-up singles?





2 b-sides that I really like (I think they're kinda bright, but perhaps not summery).

[onechuxpunch.livejournal.com]

this is such a fun post and amazing layout OP! The ranking with the little lemons and the limes is so cute and fresh <3
I was listening to these while doing some laundry folding/cleaning and bright songs really help make the job more fun lol
I'm not too familiar with Golden Child's discography and I really liked both 'Sea' and 'I'm falling', the way the songs just builds itself up before the beat/instrumental drops is fun and a pattern that I tend really like.

TXT 'wishlist' is definitely going on my roadtrip playlist, I love the background guitar and something about it feels liberating and kinda gives me the same feelings of when I listened to Spica's tonight. Also always glad to see Pentagon, Ateez and Seventeen too.

A personal favorite "bright' b-side of mine would be 'Shooting Stars' by Nu'est. Whenever I hear it it just makes me wanna clap along when it gets to the pre-chorus and listening to it on full blast puts me in a good mood.

[kyungwons.livejournal.com]

if you enjoyed sea and im falling you should check out the rest of their discography, especially their earlier stuff and their recent single pump it up they have some really great bright songs!

and it's a completely different vibe and not bright at all but if you like the instrumental on wishlist you should check out ghosting from the same txt album it's more of a melancholy song but the instrumental is great, the songs are on the opposite spectrum of each other feeling-wise but i find them oddly similar in a way too.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

OP this post is so lovely!!! Thank you!!! I'm just gonna add a few~

BDC - Go Get Her (feat. Lee Eun Sang)
Album: The Intersection: Belief (2020)
Not sure if this really counts since it was their Produce X 101 audition song but I love it! It's easily one of my most played BDC songs and I always have to sing along.




SHINee - Romance
Album: Odd (2015)
This is one of my favorite songs from Odd! It really puts me in the mood for a sunny day outside or a drive to the beach.




UP10TION - Skyway
Album: The Moment of Illusion (2019)
I will never shut up about this song. If I am quiet about this song, my account has been hacked.

[sra-interesante.livejournal.com]

For me (beside shinee) b1a4 has some of the brightest bsides, like when jinyoung started writing one step two step like a happy song for b1a4 and it became bside but for ohmygirl pink ocean


thats pretty much sums up group range to have and performe bright tunes










i think this is way they end up singing WGM signature song lolz

[nacomi.livejournal.com]

Look at the cute stylization of this post!
My mind goes blank atm, tho, lol. (I usually don't categorize much when I listen to music.)
I might recall some songs, but I don't think they are b-sides.

I'm here for the appreciation towards Astro, Onf and TO1 and the former generations, especially Mblaq, Infinite, B1A4, B2st and Nu'est.

I might be back after I did some brain callisthenics, lol.

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

Definitely ATEEZ's Time of Love and Celebrate.
Especially because of the messages in each song.

[em-cavey.livejournal.com]

As usual I’m way late but ahhh this post is so cute, OP did such a great job!! Definitely giving all of these a listen

I think most of my recs are on the mellower/breezier side of bright, maybe more ‘iced tea in a summer meadow at golden hour’ than ‘lemonade at midday on the beach’ lol

B1A4 - You (ft. Sunmi)
Seventeen - 20, When I Grow Up, Our Dawn is Hotter than Day
Monsta X - 널하다 Neol hada (sry idk the English title and the Korean transliterates to I Do You so I’m not using that lmao), From Zero, Beautiful Night
Got7 / JJ Project - On & On
Got7 / Jus2 - Take (not technically a b-side, OST for one of Jinyoung’s dramas)
Vixx - Is it Love? (also an OST but I don’t think it’s well known)
Hyuk (Vixx) - If Only ft. An Daeun (This one is straight up acoustic lol but a very pretty, light duet)

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

Coming up long after the post has been posted lmao but thank you OP for all the recs! I love Golden Child because of their bright songs, and I always want more bright boy group songs but am too lazy to search through edgy concepts lol. Between your selection and everyone in the comments... I'm going to have a lot of songs to check out o__o
Also your post layout is BEAUTIFUL