Kpop: Top 20 of 2015

If my yearly top 20 of jpop is about variation and oddness, the kpop top lists is more about perfection and honing that hit recipe a bit more, adding that extra spice or trying a little new. This may sound boring but it is what has made kpop tha shing beacon of musical success outside the local asian community, instead nowadays almost everyone knows someting about kpop.

The five outside top 20, which deserves some mention of course, were:

25. Jimin & J.Don - God. She may not be a 'real' rapper but that attitude just gets to me every time.
24. Girl's Generation - Catch Me If You Can. A masterpiece choregraphy-vise hides a rather average EDM song. But that dance oh it is perfect.
23. Red Velvet - Dumb. Visually a top 10 video, a must see, but the song was just a tad too much.
22. Primary ft Lena Park - Hello. Stylish and intelligent kpop again from Primary.
21. Crayon Pop - FM. My favorite nerds with their celebration of otaku culture.

Moving on to my absolute favorites:

20. Kara - Cupid. Yet another trademark Kara song, polished and shining kpop that I never tire of hearing.

19. Hong Jin Young - Love Wifi. My number one trot track this year.

18. 9Muses - Drama. A bit of a step down for the girls compared to last year song-wise, but Drama was quite good.

17. Rainbow - Black Swan. A dark theme and a well crafted song (though a bit repetitive) from the experienced girls brought them into my favorite list.

16. Twice - Like OOH-AAH. Even for kpop, twice seemed like a very artificially constructed group, but in the end I found it hard to defend myself from the song's inherently catchy sound and refrain.

15. Jun Hyo Seong - Into you. She really got something going for her in her solo career with already several nice videos under her belt, this being the best.

14. Tahiti - Skip. The strength and weakness of this song is its accessibility bordering on tediousness depending on persective.

13. PSY - Daddy & Napal Baji. The lightning never strikes twice and all that...this placing is honestly somewhat unfair to PSY, but I still after 3 years find myself comparing him to his historical hit Gangnam Style. This is his best try so far, but it still stands in the shadow of that landmark.

12. AoA - Heart Attack. This song really grew on me after a while, and the eye-contact version really did it for me.

11. Girl's Day - Ring My Bell. A burlesque and at times but ugly video that is (because of this also) very fascinating and addictive. And as usual their charm is unresistable.

10. Jonghyun ft Zion T - Deja Boo. Super smoth and soulful but still with passion.

9. Jay Park ft Genius Nochang & B-Free - Want It . So. Cool. The Man in kpop 2015.

8. Melody Day - Speed Up. A surprisingly everyday kpop melody for a top 10 song, but it delivers on the points that matters in the long run, not just in impressive visuals or gimmicks.

7. Fiestar - You're pitiful. A melancholic uptempo track that didn't have any weak spots really.

6. Stellar - Vibrato. Stellar managed to make the theme so openly sexual that it almost took the step into sex ed instead, in a video that actually had again a really nice song too.

5. Got7 - If You Do. The popular boy band got to me with this well tuned ballad where both refrain and all the other parts works so well.

4. Stephanie - Black Out. The almost embarrasingly explicit video aside, I just dig this track so badly, its a killer.

3. Tey - Dangerous. Even though I'm more into girls, I must say Tey is sexy in this video, with a dramatic song to match.

2. IU - Twenty-three. Gloriously well written and intelligent lyrics sung with a new-found mature charm that really makes the Alice-in-Wonderland-styled video shine.

1. miss A - Only You. So what makes this the number one kpop song this year? Well, the girls really pull off a superbly choreographed feat with a music score that has such an enjoyable combination of instrumental and singing fun that it is hard not to love this track every time I hear it.