Yep, I’m back to writing about K-pop’s year-end festivals. They were some of the earliest events I covered on this blog but I over the years I lost interest in them. This year, much of my favorite music came from acts who will actually appear on these broadcasts, so I’m diving back in with renewed excitement.
First up is KBS’s special, which has re-branded as a “Global K-pop Festival” since I last wrote about it. Honestly, they can keep the “global.” K-pop puts on a gazillion global events all year long. I’d rather these year-end specials be a more intimate affair in Korea.
However, we’re global to stay, meaning KBS’s festival stretched across two nights – one in Japan and one in Korea. On the plus side, this allowed them to spotlight a ton of artists and give others the chance to perform multiple songs. On the other hand, this also meant the full broadcast was well-over seven hours long. That’s like… a full work day.
As far as staging for the first night, it’s always fun to watch shows performed/filmed at a dome. The scale is just so immense, even though much of the camerawork was incredible close. For the Korean broadcast, the venue was quite a bit smaller, offering a different mood. However, the stage felt disproportionately large to the venue for the Korean half of the broadcast.
Unrelated to the music, the plethora of dramatic audience shots during the festival’s first night was simultaneously amusing and distracting. I mean, we all know how exciting/emotional concerts can make us, but it felt like every five seconds there was a close-up shot of someone creaming themselves in the audience. After awhile it gets to be a bit much.
Overall, I thought this festival was very strong. The quality was consistently high across both nights, making this the longest ranking I’ve made for one of these end-of-year festivals. What I loved most about this year’s show was its many nods back at K-pop’s past – specifically first gen acts.
As always, this ranking represents my own thoughts, meaning it will heavily favor music I enjoyed this year as well as performances that re-arrange or remix existing songs.
24. Kiss Of Life – Get Loud / Sticky
You’ll always get me with a Michael Jackson inspired routine. I really enjoyed the recreation of Get Loud. It also turns out that Sticky works just as well in winter as summer.
23. ZEROBASEONE – Sweat / En Garde / Good So Bad
A solid set from the guys. Performing a track from Boys Planet was a cool idea, even if I’m not a big fan of En Garde. I loved that we got to hear Sweat, though. And Good So Bad is so great in this big live setting.
(this video includes a special stage at the end that was not part of this original performance so isn’t included in the ranking)
22. RIIZE – Impossible / Love 119 / Boom Boom Bass
RIIZE just barely wind up on this ranking because these are three of my favorite songs of the year. I was especially happy to see Impossible. However, the performance didn’t vary at all from their normal versions of these songs. It’s understandable given their workload, but a little disappointing from a viewer’s perspective.
(this video includes a special stage at the end that was not part of this original performance so isn’t included in the ranking)
21. ITZY – Born To Be / Imaginary Friend / Gold
I’m not a huge fan of some of these songs, but they have a scale suitable for a dome performance and I love when there’s a bunch of background dancers on the stage. Imaginary Friend felt especially majestic. I loved the added guitar.
20. (G)I-DLE – Revenge / Super Lady
I really like the styling here and the strong attitude of this performance. The heavier mix of Super Lady worked well and Revenge is a great lead-in.
19. NCT Dream – Smoothie / Skateboard / When I’m With You
Smoothie remains godawful, but I absolutely loved the extended Skateboard breakdown that tied the two songs together. Such great energy! I wish When I’m With You could have kept up the intensity.
18. tripleS – Girls Never Die
They pulled out the rock mix again for this song. I liked it last time but couldn’t recall if this one was any different. It seemed slightly less bombastic in places. Maybe it was the difference in venues. This mix still bangs, though.
17. TXT – Thursday’s Child Has Far To Go
The longer a set on these shows, the less I tend to be interested because it just feels like a normal concert. Most of TXT’s performances were as expected, but I love that they pulled out this excellent b-side and performed it in a freewheeling rock style. It feels wrong without Soobin, though.
16. Jinusean – Phone Number (with BOYNEXTDOOR) / Tell Me (with Wonyoung)
I love how this year’s festival fully embraces first-gen K-pop legends and the pairs them with new-gen artists. Jinusean still have charisma to spare and their stage with BOYNEXTDOOR was especially fun.
15. Baby V.O.X – Get Up / Coincidence / Killer (with Kiss Of Life)
The nostalgia continues with a Baby V.O.X reunion! They look and sound great and the classic tracks still work very well. I love that we even got a dance break! Their collaboration with Kiss Of Life was a smart match-up.
14. Ten – Nightwalker (Remix)
I need K-pop producers to bring the energy of these stage mixes to the main mix of their songs because this guitar-heavy version was so much better than the original. I need a full version.
13. Xikers – Bittersweet
The instrumental was amped up a bit here and I liked that. The production is fabulous to start with and adding more guitar just makes it better.
12. TWS – Last Festival (Seo Taiji cover)
This is so fun! A cover of the original song that inspired TWS’s single of the same name. This is how you do a cover stage. Pick something a little more obscure (at least to global audiences) and put your own spin on it.
11. DJ Koo, UNIS, tripleS and Kep1er – First Love (Clon cover)
I love this Clon song but never expected to see it covered on a show in 2024! It’s so cool to see so many performers on the stage at once. The vocal arrangement felt a bit karaoke, but the dancing was fun.
10. Miyeon, Jungwon, Jay, Liz & Sungho – Road (g.o.d cover)
What a classic song! I love hearing contemporary idols make it their own and I especially love a mixed-gender vocal performance. This was beautiful.
9. ENHYPEN – No Doubt / Brought The Heat Back / Daydream
Brought The Heat Back was great but honestly it was the dance breaks here that were stellar. I need them to release music as energetic and compelling as these dance breaks!
8. Girl Group Special Cover Stages Medley: NMIXX – Electric Shock / ILLIT – Atlantis Princess / STAYC – Mister
I’m going to combine these three stages into one ranking because they were all of similar quality and felt like a natural sonic trilogy.
Electric Shock fit NMIXX like a glove, making me realize they really need to become a modern f(x). They would pull the sound off so well.
Meanwhile, Atlantis Princess is one of the best K-pop songs ever so I’m always happy to hear it. Again, if ILLIT were releasing music like this I’d be so interested in them. They can certainly perform it well!
Then, STAYC quenched my appetite for Sweetune with a classic Kara track. My god, whoever decided on these three songs certainly knows their stuff. It’s so nice to hear these classics performed by the new generation.
7. EVNNE – Ugly (Rock version)
Honestly, I’m an easy mark. Just throw some rock guitar on an existing song and I’m sold. I wish Ugly was stronger as an actual song, but I liked the intensity of this performance.
6. NCT 127 – Kick It / Walk
I really don’t particularly like Kick It anymore, but even I have to admit this heavy metal mix was cool. I love that the energy carried through to the dance break and then into Walk. Electric guitar seems to be in this year.
5. ONEUS – Now
What a cool, theatrical performance! There’s so much going on here in the staging and I like the slightly beefed-up mix of the song, too. This feels like the definitive version of their cover of this classic.
4. Hanbin x Hanjun x Shinyu – Perfume (NCT Dojeajung cover)
Of all the covers of recent songs, this was my favorite. It’s just so slick! This is a great trio. I actually think I might enjoy this version more than the original, which hardly ever happens when it comes to cover stages.
3. n.SSign – Lucifer (SHINee cover)
n.SSign knows where it’s at, picking a SHINee classic! I really loved their mix of Lucifer, giving it a huge EDM makeover. This made it feel more like a reinterpretation than a straight-up copy. This was excellent – probably the best cover of both nights.
2. Bada – Mad (with CRAVITY) / Next Level / Dreams Come True
A true K-pop legend! I’m so glad she was part of this festival. She brings such a different energy than most of the acts – and real vocal character. The performance of Mad was suitably unhinged. In fact, her whole set was unhinged in a very surreal way. She and CRAVITY made such an awkward pairing but that was part of the fun.
And what a fun move to cover Next Level, given the fact that aespa covered one of her group’s most famous songs. And speaking of that song, I will never not love hearing her bust out Dreams Come True. After this, I think we need a big Bada comeback in 2025.
1. TWS – hey! hey! / Last Festival
I’m sorry that this blog has basically become a TWS fan page this month but they’re really giving me everything I want. Honestly, I could kiss their creative directors. I mean… my favorite song of the year rearranged as an orchestral version? Dozens of dancers flanking them? Flags?! They’ve certainly got my number. This was stunning.
I also appreciate the focus on Jihoon in both the intro and transition between songs. You heard it here first: he will become one of this K-pop generation’s defining dancers. He’s so, so good and the solo choreo was so dramatic. The intro gave me serious Infinite vibes. If this is the bar TWS are setting for themselves, I can’t wait to see what they have in store for the other networks’ festivals.
(Unfortunately, for some reason KBS hasn’t yet uploaded the full set of this performance, which means the excellent transitional dance solo is not captured in these videos. I’ll update when it becomes available. For now, I’d recommend seeking out the full show if you can. It’s worth it!)