At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade.
November 2023 Overall Thoughts
For the purpose of this blog, November marks the end of the year for K-pop. Eligibility for my year-end best-of lists closes as soon as we hit December, so my mind has naturally moved on to a summarization of 2023 as a whole. With that in mind, did November deliver any tracks that will find their way onto my year-end lists?
Yes, it did. In the context of this (very) underwhelming year in K-pop, November was slightly above average. There was a legitimate battle for my top three, with the third place switching back and forth between artists for the past few days. The Boyz’ Watch It might still get there in the end. I’m finding it more and more addictive by the day.
I know a lot of K-pop’s energy seems focused around buzzy girl groups this year, but I continue to find 2023 very dull in that category. I guess I just don’t love where musical trends are at the moment for girl groups, while boy groups are veering towards upbeat, funk-inspired tracks that are more suited to my taste. It’s frustrating, because ideally I’d love a more diverse mix of songs on these round-ups.
November was a month of growers. Beyond my top three picks, there are a handful of songs that have been on steady rotation despite some misgivings when I first reviewed them. ZEROBASEONE’s Crush has proven addictive (I actually like the shouting, now!) and ENHYPEN’s Sweet Venom won me over in spite of its generic leanings. J.Y. Park, eite, GreatGuys and 24K+ also had strong releases I enjoyed this month.
Of course, for me November was largely about Golden Child’s long-awaited comeback. The personal bias is strong with this group, but it’s built on a bulletproof catalog of music and fantastic vocal performances. They didn’t disappoint me, making their long hiatus slightly more worth it.
My mind is also turning toward my favorite J-pop songs of the year, and there are many to choose from. I’m very excited about this year’s countdown. Much of my fandom energy in 2023 has gone toward my favorite J-pop acts. This wasn’t a super strong month for new music, but a number of my favorites released songs and it’s no surprise to see many of them taking my top three spots.
Now, all that’s left is the plethora of year-end lists staring us down as we enter December. I don’t expect much from December when it comes to new music (though the impending TVXQ cb has my full attention), but it’s bound to be a busy one on the blog. I hope you’ll all check out the year-end features and chime in with your own picks!
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.8
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week One
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Two
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Three
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Four
TOP J-POP SONGS OF THE MONTH
3. Fantastics – Starboys (review)
2. Hiromitsu Kitayama – RANSHIN (review)
1. Ryugujo – SHORYU (→↓︎＋P) (review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
The Boyz – Watch It (review)
Crush – Hmm-cheat (review)
eite – Independent Woman (review)
ENHYPEN – Sweet Venom (review)
GreatGuys – Deep In Love (review)
J.Y. Park – Changed Man (review)
Nam Woohyun – Baby Baby (review)
Omega X – Junk Food (review)
Soyeon x Winter x Liz – Nobody (review)
Viviz – Maniac (review)
Weeekly – Vroom Vroom (review)
ZEROBASEONE – Crush / Melting Point (review / review)
24K+ – Roller Coaster (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. AMPERS&ONE – On And On (review)
2. Jungkook – Standing Next To You (review)
1. Golden Child – Feel Me (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of August 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of July 2023
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of June 2023