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.
July 2024 Overall Thoughts
After a stellar June, July was always going to have a hard time keeping up. Add the Paris Olympics essentially cancelling most releases for the last week or two and we end up with a month that was pretty sparse and underwhelming. Thankfully, July ended with KCON LA (check out my recap here!), which definitely kept my K-pop enthusiasm going despite a middling selection of new comebacks.
This doesn’t mean the month was completely devoid of new releases from big names. In fact, July saw the return of Stray Kids, BTS’s Jimin, (G)I-DLE, BABYMONSTER, Taeyeon, ENHYPEN and NCT 127. When you put it like that, the month actually feels quite stuffed. I only enjoyed about half of these releases, but that’s still a notable list. July also saw the continued rise of rookies Kiss Of Life, who scored a big summer hit with Sticky.
My top three picks are a big surprise, as the top two are both groups who have never come even close to my list before. This just proves that a good song is a good song and acts always have a chance to reinvent themselves. Songs that nearly made the cut were ENHYPEN’s Brought The Heat Back and ALL(H)OURS’s Shock.
When it comes to J-pop, July was yet another month of solid but unspectacular music. I hope the industry turns things around in the second half of the year because right now my 9+ rated highlights are few and far between. There were none this month, sadly.
As we work our way through this Olympics-driven lull, I’m curious how K-pop’s August will shape up. The month has developed an incredible reputation over the past few years, with a whopping seven songs placed in the top ten of my year-end countdowns over the past two years. 2024 has already been so strong that replicating this feat will be quite difficult, but I can certainly root for August keeping its crown. So far, the month’s announced comebacks aren’t filling me with a ton of optimism though…
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.9
(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. Psychic Fever vs. Wolf Howl Harmony – Yin Yang
2. RIIZE – Lucky (full review)
1. &TEAM – Koegawari (full review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
ALL(H)OURS – Shock (review)
Celest1a – Panda (review)
Dignity – Cool Down (review)
Dreamcatcher – Justice (review)
ENHYPEN – Brought The Heat Back / XO (Only If You Say Yes) (review / review)
from20 x Hello Gloom – Your Love (review)
Kara – I Do I Do (review)
KAVE – Legend (review)
Kiss Of Life – Sticky (review)
Lee Seung Yoon – Waterfall (review)
n.SSign – Tiger (New Flavour) (review)
NCT 127 – Walk (review)
STAYC – Cheeky Icy Thang (review)
Stray Kids – Mountains (review)
Waker – Vanilla Choco Shake (review)
Weeekly – Lights On (review)
90TAN – Tang Tang Tang (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. TWS – Double Take (review)
2. BABYMONSTER – Forever (review)
1. DKB – Flirting X (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of June 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of May 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of March 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of February 2024