Omona's Pick: 2021 4th Quarter Kpop Favorites

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Let's look back at our favorite Kpop releases during the fourth quarter of 2021 (October-December). Feel free to talk about your favorites including but not limited to title tracks or b-sides, MV/visual concept, live performances, choreography, etc.

Other interests have somewhat drawn me away from Kpop this quarter, but a few songs managed to slip through to my playlist:

SF9 - Memory
At this point, it's no surprise that SF9 makes it into my quarterly posts. The real surprise is I've been replaying the R&B b-side Memory more than Trauma, though I enjoy the title track too with its chair choreo.

WayV - Miracle
Another R&B-infused track, this caught my ear from the first listen. In the NCT 2021 album I also like Vroom and Good Night from two different iterations of NCT U. Honorable mentions go to NCT 127's Favorite (Vampire) and Love On The Floor from their repackage album.

Belated faves:

MSG Wannabe (M.O.M) - Foolish Love
It's like an old school Kdrama OST with vocals galore. Parc Jae Jung (far left in the thumbnail) stood out here for me.

Looking back throughout the year, which releases are in your best of the best list, Omona? Mine are:

Baekhyun - Cry For Love
Golden Child - Ra Pam Pam, That Feeling
P1Harmony - Ayaya, If You Call Me
SF9 - Tear Drop, Memory, Trauma
STAYC - ASAP
Weeekly - After School

Source: SF9, NCT, MBCkpop

Comments

[broadcities.livejournal.com]

thanks for posting this series again op!

interesting that you chose memory! i like the song (it grew on me a lot) but i've been replaying gentleman and scenario much more — and i am actually rediscovering (can you rediscover something that was released only a little while ago?) trauma as a track too lol

some other releases i enjoyed this quarter (titles and bsides): lucy — you're right, twice — doughnut, gsoul — natural, colde & apro — enough, kai — vanilla, weki meki — who am i, twice — fila

my late discoveries this quarter (some thanks to omona originals!): woodz — chaser, lucy — jogging, irrelevant answer, yukika — yesterday, cherry bullet — whatever, fromis_9 — glass shoes, weather

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Thanks for your responses to these posts <3

I'm surprised too by how much I like Memory. I had expected to like Trauma because of how Taemin-like it sounds, but Memory is just one of those songs which make me want to hit replay the moment they end.

[shittysoup.livejournal.com]

I actually really liked this NCT Dream track lol:



Kinda wish Mark wasn't involved (I'm a little sick of his voice) but the chorus is so enjoyable.

I wish I liked Miracle. I love Ten so much but the rest of the Wayv members are just not on his level. The rapping is always so cringe.

[nefertitii.livejournal.com]

im also getting exhausted from mark.

hendery is really one of the worst rappers. maybe worse than jeno and jaemin. he totally ruins the song.

[shittysoup.livejournal.com]

Yesss Hendery is the most unnecessary member of a group I've seen in a long time. He actively makes songs worse lol.

[darklitplanet.livejournal.com]

i hate hendery. i find him more annoying now that lucas and win win, the other useless wayv members, are gone lol he sticks out more whereas before he could more easily hide behind the lack of talent of those two. if i was god or lee sooman id just get rid of hendery too while i was trimming the fat off of wayv.

that said, i like being reminded that kpop is cringe and i am embarrassing when his verses hit. keeps me humble!

[nefertitii.livejournal.com]

hendery is my least favourite wayv member and neo in general...hes really annoying. and like you said, hes sticking out more now. at least winwin and lucas were easy on the eyes.

at this point ive learned to tune out the embarrassing rap parts because theyre hard to escape across kpop as a whole lol

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

lmao, tell me how you really feel, OP.

[radowan.livejournal.com]

SF9 has really been serving it!! Honestly so many of their songs are bops.

I was trying to think of what my list of the best 2021 releases would be like, and I realized how little I actually listen to kpop these days. The songs I listen to at least weekly (because they're part of my playlist) and would include in my list of bests are:
CL: Tie a Cherry
Epik High (ft. CL): Rosario
CL: Lover Like Me
CL: Let It


...I somehow did not realize that my list of 2021 would be this, uhhh *squints* I mean there's a unifying element in all of the songs lmao. Oops.

I feel like last year and 2019 my lists had more variety because Taemin blessed us with Criminal, and Refund Sisters gave us Don't Touch Me.

[bloodtaki2.livejournal.com]

For fourth quarter, special mention to Woodz's Kiss of Fire and his title track Waiting, Kai's Blue and I've's Take It.

[paige-nevaeh.livejournal.com]

This last quarter- my favourite release overall wereeee Seventeen’s Attaca, Twice’s Formula of Love and Pixy’s Temptation. I love the spooky elements of Bewitched/Addicted. I look forward to seeing Pixy continue to grow. FOL is one of my favourite twice releases to date!! Moonlight, FILA, Push & Pull — so good.

My overall top for 2021:
Tri.be — Loro & Would you Run
Chungha — Killing Me
Seventeen — Rock With You, Crush, To You
G-idle — Dahlia
WJSN — Unnatural
Everglow — don’t ask, don’t tell
Dreamcatcher- 4 Memory
Twice — moonlight, FILA, Good at Love
Purple Kiss — twinkle
Girls Planet — o.o.o
And everything Pixy has released lol.

[nacomi.livejournal.com]

Thanks op for all these beautiful posts! ;3

Songs I liked from this quarter:
Kiss of Fire by Woodz
BF‘s new ep with Adonis, Moon Night & Still With You
Billie‘s ep (everything except the tt, lol)
Killing Me by Chungha
Ha Sungwoon‘s latest ep, especially Electrified, Back To You and Fairy Tale
Snsd Oh GG — Melody
Twice — Donut
Wonho — White Miracle

Some old songs I came to like later: Mirage by Lee Eunsang & Gratata by Hot Issue.

I probably forgot some as always ^^”

But, I came prepared for my top songs of the year. I put them in a playlist (https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6QnYy0EYP9qovui9LxTPmf?si=Ev2u1YETRe6EaVg8pcYhdQ).

It’s not much. But I usually listen to these songs and get back to favourites from previous years a lot throughout the year.

Apple Music also generated my most listened (https://music.apple.com/de/playlist/replay-2021/pl.rp-755EUxyjWn8O) songs throughout 2021 as well, which include not only Kpop songs.

Special mention to:
Produced by [myself] from OnlyOneOf
2am by Purple Kiss
Chocolate Box from Yang Yoseob
Falling by Lim Kim
& a bunch of k-indie artists

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

I also loved Kwon Jin Ah's album and Hush by Sungkyu. Hope he comes out with new music soon!

Chunga's Killing Me is really catchy and one of the few songs I actually like from her. Most of her title tracks always fall short for me.

[nacomi.livejournal.com]

I hope Sungkyu will continue to release music. Has he signed with another company yet?
Killing Me suits Chungha’s vocal very much. A lot of her songs are catchy, but I can’t listen to the end of it.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Hmm I don't remember. I want to say he set up his own company for some reason??

Yeah, most of her songs are just missing something to actually be title track material. They're b-sides at best.

[gathyou.livejournal.com]

My favourite this quarter are :
- Bad Love by KEY - the whole mini-album, the MV, the concept, the choreo, the performances... everything. I'm obsessed lol
- Billlie's debut AND Christmas song, both have been on heavy replay, they're my favourite debut this year!
- Pixy's Bewitched which made me go back to their discography so far and I'm looking forward to seeing their growth!
- aespa's savage mini-album + lately their Dreams Come True cover/remix.

I also listened a lot to Zombie & Twinkle by Purple Kiss, Ghost & Night by Dreamnote, Doughnut, The Feels as well as Formula O+T=<3 as a whole EXCEPT Hello (sorry not sorry I strongly dislike this song lol) by TWICE, A Song For You by Nam Woohyun, Pirate by Everglow, and Strawberry Moon by IU.

Outside of kpop, a little random but I've been playing Genshin's OST for the Sangonomiya Shrine area before sleeping lately if I need to calm down, it's just so peaceful. Might be my most played song this month, the first half of December was really stressful.
And I snatched two old Pink Floyd vinyls from my father (he's not into rock at the moment so I was allowed to borrow them lol) so I've been listening to that as well. I know these albums by heart but it's still very nice to have them play this way!

I'm currently trying to do lists for my favourite kpop singles and bsides of the year :) I hope we get a dedicated post for it, I would love to listen to everyone's favourites :D

[babycheeses1.livejournal.com]

My favorites from the 4th quarter are:

- Key's Bad Love album. Ughh perfection from beginning to end. PERFECTION! No, this is totally unbiased I swear 😂. But seriously it's so good even if I wasn't biased I'm sure I would have loved it anyways lmao. And Helium is that girl! Also I have developed a newfound appreciation for Yellow Tape.

- Twice's Formula of Love! Honestly this was my first time listening to a twice album. Up till now I had only listened to title tracks and b-sides recommended by Omona members. Love-loved it! Highlights were Moonlight, Scientist, Cruel, and Push&Pull.

- Kai's Peaches! Peaches makes me feel butterflies lol, and yeah I love Domino, what about it? *puffs up chest and gets ready to fight for Domino*

- Aespa's mini Savage LOL, and Dreams come true! No comment. Sometimes the heart wants what it wants okay. And if you are wondering whether I unironically sing along with my naevis we love you, and that upside down mess? Yes, yes I do your honor. Also, lucid dream is so pretty.

- SF9's Trauma, that of the infamous making-the-love-to-the-chairs dance. I keep meaning to check out the rest of the album (and honestly I really wanna do a deep-dive into their entire discography. New years resolution?).

- My forever crush's solo song Heartbreak (that's Minho to the rest of you).

Also, I went through SHINee's Japanese discography this last quarter. I've now officially finished going through their entire discography 🥲💔.

[myungung.livejournal.com]

what's an Omona's Pick post without sf9! that said, I didn't like this album except For Fantasy, one of the better made fansongs imo.

my fave tracks this year in no order except chronological?:
- Cherry Bullet's Whatever
- Chungha's X
- Youha's abittipsy
- Keumjo's Light
- WJSN's Unnatural
- LUCY's I Got You
- Yugyeom's All Your Fault
- Taeyeon's Weekend
- Divin's Airport Lady
- Kwon Jin Ah's Knock
- Lee Hi's Only
- Day6 Even of Day's Home Alone
- N.Flying's Video Therapy
- T-ara's All Kill

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

I'm so predictable with these posts but SF9 keeps releasing stuff I enjoy! For Fantasy is a nice one. I remember Zuho has been teasing the demo to fans for so long and finally it made it into an album.

[darklitplanet.livejournal.com]

my faves from october - december:

twice - formula of love (yes all of it, but especially last waltz, icon, cruel, push & pull, and FILA - album of the year)

nct 127 - favorite, love on the floor, earthquake (i do like miracle a lot too, but hendery does kind of ruin it, esp the longer version of it on the album lmao, god he SUCKS, he doesn't even suck in a funny campy way like jaemin or johnny, he's just a huge bummer but like i said above, at least the man keeps me humble!)

key - bad love, helium (i love the whole mini tbh, helium is truly THAT bitch for me though, one of my top songs of the year)

aespa - savage, iconic, lucid dream (this mini was incredible, i'm obsessed with dreams come true too tbh i know they're not the best performers but these girls have a lot of vocal talent imo, they bring it on the studio tracks)

cl - tie a cherry (i need to check the whole album out, i've seen this mv so many times lmao - the fashion is so good)

nct u - ok! (this song is everything to me)

[babycheeses1.livejournal.com]

Your taste 😌

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I decided to give Favorite by NCT 127 a try. Probably one of my favorite (ha!) tracks of this year. Vocal line really shined. The chorus is SO good that it made Taeyong's rap tolerable. The build up of the song is just so perfect and then the climax at the end with that circle dance choreo? *chef's kiss* This is all coming from an objective opinion since I barely followed NCT other than giving their title tracks a listen here and there and didn't know any of the members except Mark.

[belintuchiha.livejournal.com]

ATEEZ’s turbulence and be with you are such beautiful tracks. I love soft songs/ballads and both have beautiful lyrics that have made me cry. Always so relatable.

[adenar.livejournal.com]

oh man, how to pick! I don't know that I've paid _that_ much attention to kpop over the last quarter just due to general life stuff but there's definitely stuff I've enjoyed. The things that I want to catch up on are CL's release, Ailee's release, and tri.be's album (i only ever heard the title)



This is my pick from Return of the Girl; it reminds me of Gxxd Boy from their La Di Da EP which was a really good song and lowkey underrated. I know they like to co-promote with a more upbeat/fun song but I wish they'd do their songs like this instead.


Who Am I is obviously the standout from I Am Me so I thought I'd shout out One Day, because Suyeon has done it again. I love her synthy style, it suits Weki Meki so well.


This is such a fun song and the performance/choreography is great. I'm glad this was their additional track for promotions. It's so good with 7 members.



This is a great song, I don't care. It's so over the top, the styling is so great. I should never have pretended I hated noise music when 2ne1's i am the best got me into kpop


It's hard to pick between Dahlia and Moon but most people pick Dahlia so I'll pick Moon.


I love this song! It's so chill, it suits Hyo's voice really well. I love how she was able to basically sleep through the choreography learning sessions, it's so easy for her. Bibi was a great feature for this too.


You're going to give Dajeong that high note and then call her a subvocal? I'm coming over to Korea personally to correct this


This is a good goddamn track, and the choreo is also great.


This is such a great B-side. I honestly think this could have been the title.

[frequency.livejournal.com]

i'm glad someone else loves nighty night, lol. all the songs on your list are 💯💯💯

[frequency.livejournal.com]

i'll be back to this post later with an unnecessarily long list of songs i liked this quarter/year lmao

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the post as always! I hope more people revisit this as I almost missed it too, I’d love to see more answers.

Favorite Singles

*My categories aren’t perfect sorry! Mostly based on how well known they are

💖Girl Group/BG/Mainstream or Idol Solo Artist💖
Twice: The Feels (English Version), Doughnut 🍩, Wonderful Day
Jo Yuri: Glassy, Express Moon.
- LOVE her debut!
Hoody: When The Rain Stops
IU: Strawberry Moon
Bol4: Butterfly, Space
Everglow: Pirate
IVE: Eleven, Take It
- Another great debut!
Billlie: Snowy Night
aespa: Iconic
- super catchy, thanks tiktok!
K.Will: The Day In December
Weki Meki: Who Am I
- lovely mini! But don’t replay it much, but this b-side is great

💖Indie/Lesser Mainstream💖
Oui Oui: Same or Different
oceanfromtheblue: say yes
-(came out Sept 29th but I’m counting it for this quarter lol)
Kim Feel: Like the first time I met you.
- GORGEOUS ballad!
Space Cowboy & Kim Areum: Guardian
So Se Neon: joke!
Kim Areum: Love you
Sumin: Infinity
U Sun Eun: Like Tonight
- 🌃 city pop bop!!!!




Favorite Albums

TWICE: Forumla of Love
Standouts: Cruel, FILA, Last Waltz, Push & Pull, Espresso, Icon, Cactus, Rewind, Moonlight, Hello. Really the whole album delivers, no skips….even though I still stand by Scientist being the weakest title track they’ve had. Still enjoy it though!
- Album of the year for me easily. I’m biased as I love Twice but I love the variety and upgrade in b-side quality over the years, and it’s their best yet. I thought Eyes Wide Open couldn’t be surpassed but I was wrong and super excited I was proven wrong.

Billlie: the billage of perception
Standouts: Ring x Ring, everybody’s got a $ecret, the rumor, eleventh day
- What a debut! I had not much thought into their debut tbh but it shows the groups you least expect to appear and really wow you. ring x Ring is such an interesting debut and the b-sides have something special too. Can’t wait to see their career develop!

Pixy: Fairyforest: Temptation
Standouts: Addiction, Bewitched, Moonlight, Stay With Me so basically the whole thing lol
- I’ve talked about that while Pixy’s music doesn’t have strong replay value, their music has a special charm that makes me intrigued and appreciate it as more songs I listen from time to time rather than on constant replay. Their b-sides were ok before but this is their best yet. They’re really carving a niche for themselves!

Younha: End Theory
Standouts: Here, Oort Cloud, Truly, How U Doing
- I still need to listen to this album fully, I know there’s more I’d probably love. So I’m assuming I’d love it but overall what I’ve heard is great, so I’ll go with that assumption haha. She’s really talented, definitely on my radar now!!!



Older Songs But Discovered or Revisited This Quarter

Miss A: Breathe *revisit
- The grip this song has on me!!
S.E.S: Dreams Come True *revisit
- aespa’s remake me realize I love this song lol. I liked it before but now I appreciate it much more.
S.E.S: Show Me Your Love *discovery
- wow I love this, need to check out more of their songs
Youra: Homework *revisit
- So cool, great in the background
Oui Oui: You Know
Ji Jin Seok: I’m Fine
Cheese: How Do You Think *discovery
- New love ahhh it’s so charming her vocals
Soyou, Ovan: Rain Drop *discovery
Brown Eyed Girls: Come Closer & Cleansing Cream *revisits, especially since Come Closer is now on Spotify omg!!!
Wildberry: Night Sea *discovery
CLC: Breakdown *revisit
Kassy: Your Memory *revisit, LOVE this song gotta play it more
Pink Fantasy: Poison *discovery
Kyung Dasom: Your Time *revisit
Minah: 11 *revisit
- I miss her singing regularly :((((( But I hope she’s happy as an actress
Elris: You & I *discovery
Leebada: Red Rose *revisit
- I love her I need to revisit her discography
GOT7: Lullaby *revisit
- like one of the two songs I like by them lol. I replayed a lot in the past, stopped after awhile, but I was reminded why I loved it so much when it released. One of the few times I acknowledged them tbh lol

[dior-chic.livejournal.com]

The word count cut me off lol. And it’s supposed to say Formula of Love 😅

TWICE’s releases are a big deal for me so I do check out less stuff when they come out, as I prioritize listening to the comeback. But I still found plenty of new songs! I’d say this quarter was me revisiting old favorites or songs I missed from the past. Since I missed releases this quarter, maybe they’ll appear in my older discovery section in the future.

I’ll put together my top faves for the Omona 2021 post coming in January since I’ve talked too much here haha! But my overall thoughts on 2021 was it was an ok year for kpop leaning towards rather weak. 2020 was better overall FOR MUSIC JUST MUSIC😬

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Younha's album is really such a quality album. I would recommend that you check out her older stuff too.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

My favorites from this quarter are:





Because it's amazing, no other explanation is needed





This song is so cute and hits me in the feelings.





Loved this song! Unexpectedly I ended up listening to it a lot.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

Favorite is honestly so good. I mentioned it above already, but probably one of my favorite tracks of 2021. Super glad I decided to give it a try. The rest of the album is pretty solid too. I started to slowly check out some of their older stuff, and stumbled upon the song "No Longer." Found a live version where Jaehyun covers Haechan's parts and I'm like can I please get a studio version?? T.T I was going to rip the mp3 from video, but the person who uploaded it cut out a part from the beginning so it's not the whole song. WOMP.

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

The whole album is really good! Unfortunately I think a lot of people listened to Sticker, didn't like it and then didn't listen to the rest of the album, so I'm glad you did.

No Longer is great, Regular-Irregular has really good ballads overall.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

I vaguely listening to Sticker when it first came out and was like "OK this is typical NCT noise" and forgot about it. Don't think I even gave it a full listen. After revisiting it recently because of Favorite, it started getting stuck in my head and now I actually like it and it's so fun to jam to. Along with Lemonade. When it comes on I'm like yessssssssss.

I will check out the Regular-Irregular album. I'd welcome any other music or even video recs! I started watching some of their "Finding the best ________" videos and those have been a hoot to watch.

Oh yeah, thanks again for your recs last time! I really like The Rainy Night and Sun and Moon. :)

[carmine-pink.livejournal.com]

Have you listened to Back 2 U from the Limitless album? Great vocals with R&B goodness.

The Neo Zone album has a lot of good mid-tempo/slower songs as well. My most favorite is Love Song (the vocal harmonies!), followed by Elevator, Boom, Pandora's Box.

[sweetestbliss1.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have! I'm still working my way through their albums. I'll give those a listen! Thanks!! :)

[lightframes.livejournal.com]

I support everything carmine_pink said and I would also recommend Love Me Now and Dreams Come True from Neo Zone!

From Regular-Irregular, you should try Replay (PM 01:27) and Fly Away With Me if you haven't already.