Last updated: 2021

Preamble (2024): This was a presentation/document I put together for some friends a couple of years ago, to present them to the wonderful world of kpop. The original format was, I’m pretty sure, a OneNote file, which was later converted into a Markdown file, which is now served up here. There are some kinks I need to work through in this file at some point, but the skeleton (and the YouTube Playlist) is still there, which you can take a look at if it interests you.

YT playlist of songs; Stian’s Intro to Kpop

So, girl groups and especially Dreamcatcher is my speciality, but I’ll see what I can do for other groups as well

Will be posting YT videos, but here’s also my kpop spotify playlist; https://open.spotify.com/playlist/68mj0CNpfkzxJJswXwg6wS?si=qrSfZhpVRRG3e32s5PA-mg

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There’s a lot of places where it’s possible to start. You might want to go with classics, like the following;

Girls’ Generation’s “Into the New World” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k2Zzkw_-0I

BIGBANG’s “BANG BANG BANG” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ips2mM7Zqw

Shinee’s “Lucifer” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dww9UjJ4Dt8

TWICE have been the premier big (aka many members) girl group since they debuted in like 2017, and their whole discography is great. Some highlights;

TT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePpPVE-GGJw

LIKEY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2hlQkVJZhE

Fancy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOHB85vDuow

Feel special https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ymwOvzhwHs

More & More https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH0_XpSHkZo

I can’t stop me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM4CkVFmTds

Next step is A-tier (if TWICE is S tier) girl groups. I’ve skipped over Blackpink and Dreamcatcher because you said you’ve already listened to some of their stuff. There are really a couple of groups at this tier, and I’ll be highlighting a couple of songs from each

(G)I-DLE

Red Velvet

ITZY

Mamamoo

Everglow

(G)I-DLE

My probably top 5 favourite idol (and one of two in the top 5 who are not in Dreamcatcher) is in this group, their nominal leader and rapper and lyricist Soyeon. We’ll come back to Soyeon (and the top 5) later.

I mostly love the group’s earlier stuff, so here’s that;

HANN(ALONE) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKNXn2qCEws

I also love one of their non-title songs, for its electronic influence;

Maybe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8pEDdNUvzI

And here’s one of their newer things; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPQ5mqovXHo

Red Velvet

I’m really not that into their songs/listen to it that much, but here are some of their hits;

(Their earlier stuff, like Russian Roulette, is 100% a classic in the genre though)

Russian Roulette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslJYDX3o8s

Psycho https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR8Mrt1IpXg

ITZY

This 4-girl group consistently produces STRAIGHT BOPS but I haven’t been able to get into the idol side of the group like I have some others.

They also just released something new yesterday (https://open.spotify.com/album/1PKhKkeCqANY5E9RGcUWUX?si=ffKdWDG9R9ynHzyX9JuDqQ) which I’ve not had time to listen to yet.

Anyways, all of their title tracks are worth a listen;

DALLA DALLA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNfTK39k55U

ICY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zndvqTc4P9I

WANNABE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fE2h3lGlOsk

Not Shy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTowEKjDGkU

Mamamoo

This group is also 4 girls, and they’re sort of veterans? Unlike the other groups listed so far, they’re with a smaller label, so they’ve risen mostly through pure quality and not so much through massive marketing campaign. I like them, but I’m not super into them? idk, I think I just got into them too late

Most of their members also produce quality solo songs, so if you like any of it I recommend checking them out, probably in this order: Moonbyul, Hwasa, Solar, Wheein

Decalcomanie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2OFPvYxZuY

gogobebe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cp56JdkmE9s

HIP (this was my favourite song for months when it came out) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhTeiaCezwM

EVERGLOW

Also a newer girl group (6 members I think) that have ABSOLUTELY SMASHED every single title track since their debut. With every release I’ve been thinking, surely the next one can’t be better, AND THEN IT WAS.

Here’s the list;

Bon Bon Chocolat https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HvGql8HwOIM

Adios https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gX_p1VkgA4

DUN DUN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoYKBAajoyo

LA DI DA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeI992mvlEY

BOY GROUPS! My knowledge here is a lot shakier, so there’s a bit less personal opinion comments, but I think I can at least point you in the right directions

You said you’ve already listened to some Stray Kids, so let me link you here to some of their more recent live performances, (in a kpop group reality show called Road to Kingdom/Kingdom);

MIROH https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoUsDnDAnqM

Side effects + God’s Menu remix https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIeOEqGZopw

(a cover of) I’ll be your man https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kybhfbm0gU8

Outline;

EXO

Seventeen

Monsta X

TXT

BTS

EXO is like, old kpop. People who are your age and were into kpop in 2010 and earlier look back on EXO with a lot of nostalgia. I got into them in like 2016 and liked some of their then contemporary songs, and they were part of what got me into kpop. Songs to follow

CALL ME BABY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWfsla_Uh80

DANCING KING https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EiNsoTc9kk

Monster https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSH-FVVtTf0

Seventeen

Unlike what the name suggests this group actually has only 13 members

I love this specific ballad from them;

Don’t wanna cry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEkg4GBQumc

But they have good songs overall, even if I don’t listen to them that much;

HOME;RUN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB4FzllQCyc

I’m gonna skip over TXT and Monsta X, sorry. I don’t listen to them at all, but know that they exist.

Other boy groups that you also might want to check out are;

Astro

NCT

GOT7

iKON

And that brings us to BTS, the biggest kpop group and honestly it’s well deserved.

There’s probably no wrong place to start so here’s some songs;

Blood sweat & Tears https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmE9f-Teutc

Spring Day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEeFrLSkMm8

Not Today https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DwzBICPhdM

DNA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBdVXkSdhwU

FAKE LOVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C2z4GqqS5E

Boy With Luv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsX3ATc3FbA

Black Swan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lapF4DQPKQ

Life Goes On https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5q5mZbe3V8

Dynamite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdZLi9oWNZg

AND THAT BRINGS US TO PERSONAL PICKS

MY FAVOURITES

while I have highlighted some as my favourites already, I also skipped some (some on purpose and some on accident) so we’re going to do some catchup here. expect some variety, but mostly girl groups

The first one up is…gonna need some explanation. So, one of the biggest esports in the world is a game called League of Legends. The game has a global following, and takes its World Championship tournament (which happens in the autumn, usually) to different places every year. Since 2015, the developers also have released music to coincide with the tournament. The first year was, I think Warriors by Imagine Dragons, but since then most of the music have been produced within the games studio, and only like the singing has been outsourced. So when the World championship for the game as going to be held in Korea in 2018, the studio felt it was only natural that they made a kpop song to go along with it.

Witness the birth of K/DA. In 2018 they released only the one song;

POP;STARS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9oDlvOV3qs

(see here for live stadium version; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9oDlvOV3qs).

The group was half-virtual and half-real. The group formally consisted of 4 of the game’s characters, but each character was also voiced by a real artist. Specifically, they got 2 Korean idols from the group G(I)-DLE, Soyeon (MY GIRL) and Miyeon, to do the korean raps and ballad-parts, respectively. The two other artists in the group are the American pop singers Jaira Burns and Madison Beer. THIS WAS A HUGE SUCCESS. THE SONG IS A BANGER. PEOPLE LOVED IT, AND WANTED MORE.

Bring on the 2020 World Championship. The game developers have been hinting at a K/DA comeback to coincide with the release of a new game character, as well as the 2020 World Championship. IT HAPPENS, and this time we get a full album; 100% certified bops, although not all of them are strictly kpop

In the new album, each of the songs unofficially corresponds to one of the game characters/original artists.

The first one, which was released as a pre-release single, is Soyeon/AKALI (the name of the game character she represents) song;

THE BADDEST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkID8_gnTxw

It’s basically just Soyeon rapping fire for a couple of minutes straight with some vocal backings from the others.

The second one, nominally the title track, was the song corresponding to the new game character released, Seraphine, with artist Lexie Liu doing Chinese vocals for this track. Did I forget to mention? 2020’s World Championship was in Beijing, so they got some Chinese artists to work on the tracks for that year’s songs!

MORE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VTkBuxU4yk

In addition to being quite a good song, the MORE video is also a masterpiece on 3D animation.

the next 2 songs on the LP were not kpop, but were not missing in quality for that.

First is Evelynn (the game character) and Madison Beer + Kim Petras’ song;

VILLAIN https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoWxv2yZXLQ

which is AN INCREDIBLE dark synthpop song, also had it on repeat for a long time

And second is Kai’sa (the game character) and Aluna/wolftyla/Bekuh BOOM’s

DRUM GO DUM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_PbH5y70Tc

An incredible dancepop, almost drum n bass, best song-to-just-freestyle-dance-and-vibe-to that released last year

And the last song on the LP was the, again kpop,

I’LL SHOW YOU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW1BpABbzHs

a ballad from the point of view of the game character Ahri, with artists TWICE (YES THE KPOP GROUP AXAXA IT WAS SO HYPE), which again takes it down a notch. Not my favourite from the LP but still a solid song.

Other general personal picks;

4Minute’s Hate https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_F9HUTYnl0

and Crazy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nCLBTmjJBY

Loona - this group I generally like a lot of their stuff, but here’s a recent title track;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-snXdhDs1w

MOMOLAND’S BAAM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txWmd7QKFe8

Apink’s Eung Eung https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=499YUeNoYVE

and Moment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvyQEsqRbAQ

R.Tee x Anda’s What You Waiting For https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1xr0L1heHI

Lee Suhyun’s Alien https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GywDFkY3z-c

AKMU (of which one half is the aforementioned Lee Suhyun, and the other half is her brother) and their:

Melted (my top 3 duet) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUCIzn0mRHc

and ‘How can I love the heartbreak, you’re the one I love’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3DZsBw5bnE

and returning now to my top 5 idols, another one on that list is CL (lee chaein) formerly of the group 2NE1

and while the work of that group is good, CL elevates everything to the next level. Some of it is still tangentially related to what she did with the group (which disbanded through disagreement and I think at least some shady business practice on the part of the owners - read; not treating their idols well), but which she subsequently went on to do solo versions of;

CL SOLO/Mental Boom https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ6xU7SSEn4

CL performing 2NE1 song “I AM THE BEST” at the closing ceremony of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itd9Ebx9LTw

CL also went on to release a solo project in 2019, called ‘in the name of love’ which has later been described as a sort of journal of her years in the group 2NE1, and their treatment at the hands of YG, the label. The track titles contain numbers, meaning the dates they refer to. This is one of my biggest comfort albums, it always makes me feel a certain way, and if I ever need something to listen to and I’m not sure what, this whole album is my go-to. Posting the individual songs here with a short description. As far as I know, all of the songs are also edited by CL, and a lot of them contain her personal photos/videos/memories

+DONE161201+ https://youtu.be/_DQXWaIcwGc

This song talks about breaking contact with the record label, and it’s a straight-up good song about cutting toxic people out of your life, whether they’re romantic partners, friends, or, as in this case, business relationships.

“Matter of fact, that’s the last word I’m ever gonna sing about you”

Talking about wanting to start over, after the 2NE1 project went so wrong on the business side, but so good on the actual music output and friends and so on they made.

This song talks a lot about self-doubt, wondering if she can really find what she’s looking for in what she’s currently doing. To me, this speaks to the title speaks to how she loves doing what she’s doing, but that the YG (business) side of things really wasn’t that good, and that the you know, managers and shit probably were negging the girls, talking them down, and shit like that.

+ONE AND ONLY180228+ https://youtu.be/outk3lqsFHc

This song outlines her realising her worth, and leads well into the next one.

“I don’t expect anything from you, I hope you enjoy your life

But there is no one like me, even if you circle the globe”

Where she finally quite the toxic work place she was in, leaves YG and goes solo. 2NE1 was disbanded in 2016, but CL personally was not released from contract with YG until December 2019. You’ll note from the release dates on all these music videos that SHE HAD CREATIVE PROJECTS GOING, YG just weren’t allowing her to release them

One final song on this EP, to look back, reflect, now that she’s come out the other side of an awful situation, on the good things that were there. Which is mostly the fans, imo, and who the title is directed towards., but it can also read as a bitter “thanks, you made me into who I am, now watch my success”

and the last piece of CL propaganda for now;

SHE’S RELEASING A NEW ALBUM SOOOOOON TM

The pre-release hype track has been released already, and it’s FIRREEEEEE.

HWA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6_DE4SIq44

Talks about her return to the centre of the music industry stage, coming to reclaim her throne, with lines such as (translated);

“This is my seat, got it?

I’m alone, you’re in a pack, keep it very cherry

Come again copy copy

Go ahead and try to follow me again, quickly quickly

All eyes on me, follow me

Right now, go all in or not

Don’t sell your soul so easily

You know you that can’t kill me”

“C to the L, the godmother of Korean culture

You’re just a shadow I can’t see at all”

THEN

ONE LAST TANGENT

WE’RE NOT DONE YET

for last, not actually kpop, but a Taiwanese artist I think you’ll like a lot, Rachel, namely Jolin Tsai.

Ending on this one because she keeps a spot sort of mirrored to CL’s in my head?

Unlike CL, she has had A LOT of creative control for a long time now, creating a music label empire.

She’s in her early 40s by now, I think, but still creating bangers and setting pop trends.

Jolin has been producing music for about 20 years, but her Western breakthrough came mostly with the 2014 single PLAY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86t8hoVw8E

Looking at her previous works, especially 说爱你 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBQgUZnceg (roughly translated, “Saying I love you), she was doing standard pop in 2009, but with The Great Artist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWx-vtCSg0w, and Fantasy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhHfi7jYZa4, you can start to see her carving out her niche. 2015’s I’m not Yours https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7wRb9adQUc with Japanese artist Namie Amuro is also good.

PLAY is a spectacle of a different genre though, taking it one step higher than the sort of one-level commentary of The Great Artist, in addition to massively ramping up the musical quality itself. An example of the former is how Play (2014) is in many ways a better commentary than Dua Lipa’s (2019) Physical video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvVonQ7LUJ0 , because it’s not just harping again and again on the same exact thing, and Physical is more falling into the sexuality tropes than actually playing on or rejecting them. Play is almost prescient (again, it’s from 2014) in the way it depicts social media, traditional media, attention cycles, and the sexualisation of those media

Next, my introduction to Jolin Tsai and what I see as her magnum opus

I was first introduced to Jolin through her 2018/9 album Ugly Beauty. I don’t remember what I heard/saw first, but I was hooked on the first music video and watched them all within the day.

Ugly Beauty’s tracklist is as follows;

Necessary Evil (惡之必要)

Womxnly (玫瑰少年)

Ugly Beauty (怪美的)

Karma (你也有今天)

Lady in Red (紅衣女孩)

甜秘密 (Sweet Guilty Pleasure)

Romance (愛的羅曼死)

Vulnerability (如果我沒有傷口)

Hubby (腦公)

Life Sucks (消極掰)

Shadow Self (你睡醒再看)

If there are any I don’t talk about, that’s mostly because they don’t have a dedicated music video. The whole album is definitely worth a listen. However, I will spend more time on some songs than others.

Womxnly (玫瑰少年) https://youtu.be/feOq6MWeUXA

The Chinese title means “Rose Boy” as far as I could find out. The song was was inspired by a true story that involves fifteen-year-old Yeh Yung-chih who was bullied by classmates for his effeminate-like behaviour and was found lying dead in the school bathroom, drenched in a pool of blood. The song overall expresses allyship with LGBT. I’ve also heard in some places that, part of Chinese women’s LGBT culture is a hypersexualisation focus as a vehicle for empowerment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Wu should have relevant links), which is a tool that Jolin uses in a lot of her songs.

Ugly Beauty (怪美的) https://youtu.be/-wIHmPAvMBo

Talks about female beauty standards/ideals. Sort of a refinement on PLAY in some ways, but from a sort of different angle. The title track, and ITS A BOP. Does really well because of how it swaps locales/environments and doesn’t just show one instance, but that it can occur in many ways (is how I see it). Also talks about the ways in which we present ourselves, “choosing a self” for the day.

Karma (你也有今天) https://youtu.be/jhR1d6Cssic

Don’t have much to say about the MV on this one, but I really like the song. has a really upbeat tone that doesn’t fit with a lot of the lyrics.

Lady in Red (紅衣女孩)

https://youtu.be/OtDmefdf6es

Maybe my favourite of the music videos? The cinematography is exquisite. Talks about jealousy, revenge, but honestly is just a great empowering song, will make you feel like you can take on anything. Not in a “I am big and powerful” type of way but more of “You will fall to my schemes for I am a revenant from beyond the veil here to exact my plans”. Incredible undertones

.

Romance (愛的羅曼死) https://youtu.be/WlL0DsoqmEM

One of the more straight up ballads on the track? Good watch but doesn’t stick to me the way some of the others do

Hubby (腦公) https://youtu.be/UYWUAQhhR_g

A very nice, “bouncier” song. The music video hasn’t stuck, but I love the song itself. Reminds me of Carly Rae Jepsen in some ways haha.

Life Sucks (消極掰) https://youtu.be/w_JBF4CJ-9M

I think the best I can do for this song is to quote its lyrics;

“There is no greater sorrow than apathy”

“Well said. You fall down, you lie down

Be negative. Negativity helps. Life has its ups and downs”

“Be negative. Shake hands with your negativity and then throw it out”

“Be negative. Embrace your negativity and then cut it out”

“Enough rest. Time to gear up

Enough lethargy. Get up and stretch

Enough negativity. Say goodbye to negative thoughts

While there’s life there’s hope. Negativity is the way to healing”

(none of these are going in the playlist cause theyre not kpop btw)

this has been kpop 101 with me