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.
December 2023 Overall Thoughts
This December round-up always feels more like a courtesy than a need. There’s never much new music released in December, and the bulk of the month is spent with year-end lists on this blog. The past few weeks felt even more barren than normal. I didn’t write many new song reviews and there aren’t many standouts to choose from when picking my top three.
Of course, I did pick a top three because that’s what I do here. I don’t see any of these songs appearing on next year’s countdown, but they’re all solid enough.
One thing I didn’t do this month was write about K-pop’s year-end festivals. I still watched (most of) them, but over the past couple of years I’ve struggled to find performances that stood out enough to warrant a countdown. 2023 was no different, though there were a few highlights. I loved IVE’s remixes on last night’s MBC Gayo. I was also impressed with The Boyz’ rock version of Watch It. Overall, I found RIIZE’s year-end performances to be the most consistently enjoyable, but that’s probably just because the songs are so good.
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. Nogizaka46 – Omoide ga Tomaranakunaru
2. Sekai No Owari – The Peak
1. Sexy Zone – Jinsei Yuugi
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
Lucy – Boogie Man (review)
TVXQ – Down (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers (none this month)
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up (none this month)
TOP THREE SONGS
3. WOODZ – Amnesia (review)
2. Narsha – Game (ft. Verbal Jint) (review)
1. TVXQ – Rebel (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2023
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