Kpop: Top 20 third quarter of 2016

A great quarter where the best songs more often than not had a more soulful or western sound than usual.

20. Crayon Pop - Doo Doom Chit. The most cute kpop girls are back with another catchy track with a saxophone and refrain that slays all opposition.

19. San E & Raina - Sugar & Me. I really, really don't have a soft spot for all these duets in kpop, but this is an exception. It got that dynamic and creativity that is often missing.

18. Zhoumi - What's Your Number? The track sounds familiar - in a good way. Soft and retroesque, Zhoumi invites us for some reality escape.

17. Two X - Over. Actually, the video is the strong point here to be honest. I find the girls and the story super charming. ;-)

16. Hitchhiker - 10$. Some will hate this track, call it a failed 90s fallback techno track, but love the trashy samples and video. Hypnotic like in the good 'ol MTV days.

15. Jaeney - Tell Me Why. Great ballad, and the only thing I disagree with is why they don't use the real singer in an otherwise atmospheric video.

14. Beatwin - Your Girl. Classical romantic kpop boy band song with a sweet melody.

13. Mino - Body. Yo, Mino, damn are you one cool guy. Love the way you sing and all.

12. Sweet Sorrow - No Dae-bak. The veteran boys gives us attitude - and it is super Dae-bak!

11. Cosmic Girls - Secret. A relatively new group, this video is their best so far, a fantasy that is combined with a well delivered and sweet track.

10. Spica - Secret Time. If there was a top list for competent and charming kpop girl groups that never quite gets a break, Spica must be in the top.

9. Clazziquai Project - #Curious. The rhythm. The soulfulness. Aaah.

8. Eric Nam ft Loco - Can't Help Myself. His voice is just to die for, again.

7. Red Velvet - Russian Roulette. Kpop quality A, again the girls of RV delivers a world of rhythm and distinction that is all familiar and still their own.

6.Taewan - Problem. The passion is very much tangible in the song and the video.

5. Stellarjet - Just Before A Storm. SUng in english, it may seem like a 90s throwback, but it is rather a timeless indie song.

4. Jero ft Giriboy - Airplane. I just love the swing in this track, it's just perfect.

3. Fei - Fantasy. It's a dreamy song that is light a sensual fantasy, a great solo debut for Fei.

2. Kiha & The Faces - The Smell's Gone. That refrain just sticks there, with all the guys presenting a tight and well delivered track.

1. ELO - Rose. Nostalgic and very beautiful song with a cool ELO performing.

Mandopop: Top 10 for the first quarter of 2016

As usual for mandopop, the top songs is an odd mixture of foreign influences, humoristic videos and local KTV songs. And some songs that actually would work outside China. ;-)

10. Wang Rong - Mr High Heels. For Wang Rong, this is an understated video made in connection to the transsexual comedy Mr Highheels, but it is still rather humorous.

9. Da Zhang Wei - Shout Shout (咻一咻). One of the catchier songs released around the Chinese New Year this february, Da Zhang Wei has done several fun videos before.

8. Sophia Wang - Versailles Tears (凡爾賽之淚). The new song from Sophia Wang sounded just like a modern fairy tale, you can just imagine it being the theme song for a romance.

7. One Two Free - Kiang. These two guys are really cool and funny at the same time, and the song named after the worlds larges wild ass is just that,

6. Zhengyue Shiwu - Little Grape (小葡萄). Released at the time of this year's Lunar Festival, the group with the same name made precisely the kind of KTV (Chinese karaoke) song that is a kind of guilty pleasure for me - catchy, charming and quite cheesy.

5. Jeannie Hsieh - Boom Boom Par (蹦X趴). Jeannie have done videos best described as saucy and fun, and this one may be her best so far, tha cat theme and the bad engrish (Foremost of course "Come some of the music") just made this video being replayed quite often.

4. Mao Ze Shao - Shake your ass & Naked. This woman haven't gotten that much attention but oh does she have songs with rhythm and swing! Albeit simple videos, the songs are both great.

3. Leah Dou - Brother (兄弟). Being a daughter of a HK star (Faye Wong), she may have an easier way towards getting attention, but she very much stands on her own feet as an artist.

2. No Party For Cao Dong - Mountain and Sea (山海). This band definitely delivered the most fresh sound of the top 10 songs, and I really hope they will continue do so.

1. Milk@Coffee - We're missing just a little (我們只差一點點). This song sounds what I would call "Old School", but the reminiscing melancholy being done to perfection with this sound is just what makes them my number one this spring.

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.