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.
February 2025 Overall Thoughts
K-pop continued to limp along this month, though the second half of February started to kick things into gear. Multiple highlights from boy groups old and new make up my top three choices in a pleasant volley of funk-pop interpretations that felt both nostalgic and fresh. While I’m very clear about these being my favorite three songs of the month, I’m less clear how to rank them. They switch places day by day, almost to the point where I want to consider this a three way tie.
Commercially, February was dominated by the return of K-pop legend G-Dragon and the multiple solo efforts from BLACKPINK members. There were no less than four new singles from Jennie, Lisa and Jisoo. For me, it was a mixed bag overall but averaged out in a pretty positive place.
February also saw the emergence of two buzzy new girl groups. SM Entertainment’s Hearts2Hearts made their debut and Starship Entertainment’s KiiiKiii dropped two pre-release tracks. Unfortunately, none of these songs connected with me and one was downright (intentionally) awful. I can’t say I’m overly excited about either act, but I hope they both prove me wrong in the near future.
Boy groups definitely won the month for me, with songs by ALL(H)OURS, One Pact and RE:WIND standing out from the pack of honorable mentions. We finally got some great b-sides this month as well, with NouerA, ZEROBASEONE and ONF delivering the goods on their albums. In a year that’s felt increasingly singles-oriented, it’s nice to have some consistently strong bodies of work to listen to.
Honestly, I’ve got nothing for this month’s J-pop singles. The only songs I liked were b-sides or not promoted as singles. I’m choosing three songs by default (including one from the final day of January), but I can’t say any of them would end up on any year-end countdown. Fortunately, new albums from Genic and One Love One Heart were solid and I’m looking forward to Queen Bee’s new project next week.
March has a history of delivering the goods, so we’ll see what happens this year. Personal favorites Infinite are coming back next week, though I’m refusing to get my hopes up after 2023’s disappointing return. Beyond that, there’s nothing I’m looking forward to in particular so I’ll just keep an open mind and hope for the best.
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. Ryokuoushoku Shakai – Player 1
2. ICEx – Utopia
1. Rainy. – But No Love
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
ALL(H)OURS – Gimme Gimme (review)
Chungha – Stress (review)
EVNNE – Hot Mess (review)
G-Dragon – Drama / Too Bad (ft. Anderson .Paak) (review / review)
IVE – Attitude (review)
Jennie – ExtraL (ft. Doechii) (review)
Lisa – Born Again (with Doja Cat & Raye) (review)
One Pact – 100! (review)
RE:WIND – RE:SET (review)
Wooyoung (ATEEZ) – Sagittarius (reviews)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. ZEROBASEONE – Blue (review)
2. ONF – The Stranger (review)
1. NouerA – N.I.N (New Is Now) (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of December 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2024
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2024