rolling kpop 2025

I'll make this since one hasn't arrived in january.

Starting things off with brand new group NJZ - yes, it's NewJeans new name, apparently launching a comeback before the court fight continues in March.

https://i.imgur.com/RPAwbxo.png

Any music like Fx circa Pink Tape?

Hmm, well NewJeans have some of the same creative team and I think is in many ways a spiritual successor to f(x), but the music isn't all that similar.

There are traces of their spicy sound all through kpop but I don't know if I could point at a single group to deliver that vibe. I'll lean on some others to reply to that while thinking about it.

Or songs? Not necessarily an artist

Which fx songs would you use as a guide from that era, Rum Pum Pum? Album has some slower songs as well.

shadow, rum pum pum

aespa have a different image than f(x) but their SM sound can tend towards rum pum pum territory with sudden shifts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8VEhcPeSlc

red velvet are pretty directly in f(x)'s lineage (being another sm girl group there was very heavy crossover in creative personnel for the few years when both were active) and are pretty easily the best kpop group of all time

Are there any Kpop acts that have dipped into happy hardcore/charva bounce music ?

i don't think so, though idk what 'charva bounce' is

Northern English rave stuff - probably too much like 'noise music' for kpop stans -but I wondered if a version of happy hardcore had been done, kinda like how Kpop co-ops drum n bass.

someone tell Bang Chan

Thanks thread, I checked out Aespa actually doing Rum Rum Pum

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O78NzcXf2sw

not quite what you’re looking for but I feel like you (and others here) would enjoy this new track from All (H)Ours - noisy in the best way imo

“Gimme Gimme”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qW_3HCrda58

not really kpop anymore but idk where else to put it - really like Lisa’s new single even if she’s unfortunately the weakest part of it (it’s very obviously a RAYE track)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbEC-AGr9n0

It's cool that all four Blackpink girls have gone pretty hard in the paint on doing solo stuff with effort and enthusiasm (and budgets). Soon the group comeback - will they go back to the tired and safe?

don’t see how it wouldn’t be if YG insists on keeping Teddy on as producer :/

I haven’t checked if this is true but I read somewhere that Blackpink collectively have released more songs as solo members than as a group which is lol but mostly sad

'Gimme Gimme' -cheers Roz !

I'm impressed with the coordinated release schedule of all the BP members solo albums and promotions. It's a machine.

new sm group

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxUA2wwYiME

that's definitely a sm girl group single that's taking a lot of influence from the first few newjeans singles

decent but rather low key

i hadn't liked his two pre-release singles ("Home Sweet Home" grew on me eventually, helped by their very good MAMA performance) but this is fun and feels very GD, god I've missed his presence in kpop

G-Dragon - "Too Bad" (feat. Anderson Paak)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9DhvbqYzns

It's impressive how smoothly he's moved back into a central position on the scene. I think the songs are mostly 'decent' but this is alright.

I have no k-pop context but it's pretty fun huh, good Doechii verse

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

nmixx banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFrQIJ5cbRc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-xfGoabprU

There's a new song by Le Sserafim, "Come Over", that has all English lyrics, is partly credited to British songwriters, and has this as the chorus: "Come over, come over, come over, that / Come over, come over, and dance". The word "that" is just floating there at the end of the first line. I've checked, and it's definitely not "then" or "and that"--it's just "that". Is this some British thing I've never heard of?

"bebe" is pretty nice, love the synth line in the chorus

still not happy hardcore kpop by bang chan but it is a stray kids sub-unit dipping into 90s breakbeat

wish the hook was stronger but as always I enjoy their intensity and enthusiasm:

Changbin and IN - “Burnin’ Tires”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSPnf72JsCQ

have not been keeping up with kpop this year (or any new music for that matter, having a baby will do that to you) but can't ignore a new/old SHINee track written and featuring the late Jonghyun. It's decent and sounds very much like classic SHINee, but mostly it's just nice to hear his voice again, he's still very much missed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF6P6BSPDRw

That's sweet.

I like this from IU's latest covers project - the other songs are in the "good if you like IU" category (I'm on the fence) but this is just all-round very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5Z1PBJLUss

Less interested in her cover projects but this had some nice sounds and visuals. /off topic/ she just won best actress at the blue dragon awards, 'when life gives you tangerines' on netflix was really quite a moving and impressively epic show even if you don't care about k-dramas //

ifeye 'r u ok' gently one of those gently groovy jams bound to be underrated

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGMy0z1akLs

I see the Kpop Demon Hunters songs are starting to get legit huge...everywhere?

The biggest of those songs co-written (and sung) by Ejae, former SM ent trainee and writer of such classics as aespa's 'Drama'.

Movie is only OK of course (it's no Turning Red) but as the possibly first semi-western production centered around kpop that isn't cringe, don't mind seeing the songs blow up.

I don’t think the songs are great necessarily but they’re major earworms. A few of my friends with kids also report that their toddlers are all into it, seems the songs are getting played a lot at daycare

it's the big thing currently among 9-year-olds in montreal

And now:

https://www.billboard.com/lists/huntrx-golden-kpop-demon-hunters-number-1-hot-100/

Some people seem pissed that these animated avatars are stealing the #1. Maybe I'm naive but I feel it just kinda contributes to the general interest for kpop that's being built.

From Washington Post :

Sung by seasoned K-pop songwriter Kim Eun-jae (better known by the stage name Ejae), Korean American singer Audrey Nuna and songwriter-rapper Rei Ami, the song’s popularity can be measured not just in its streaming numbers but also in the scores of covers (dance, vocal and instrumental) and passionate lip-synching videos that it has inspired on TikTok and Instagram. Even real-life K-pop idols are fans, sharing their own interpretations of the dances and songs.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2025/08/13/kpop-demon-hunters-golden-billboard-one/

enjoying disco CHUU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwSeVU6ix78

xp song is horrible. maybe you have to have seen the movie? idg the appeal

Netflix's all time number one movie now:

https://deadline.com/2025/08/kpop-demon-hunters-netflix-most-popular-film-ever-1236498083/

Think I'll start an ILE thread at this rate...

something like fx's pink tape of fx's so into u?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlHD4ndO-z0

Still steamrolling!

https://variety.com/2025/music/news/kpop-demon-hunters-soundtrack-number-one-golden-charts-1236519478/

This is very good

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cEdndsuzSE

also a banger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur7aK4FvK-U

yeah that rules

After months, the song to take down Golden on Korean charts comes from.. NMIXX, who have never had a song reach the top before. Which is kind of interesting in itself in a chart nerd kind of way - they're from one of the big labels, which some suppose leads to automatic (digital) chart success, but it doesn't. It's quite easy to see which songs manage to become truly, broadly mainstream. And hard to get there. NMIXX I'm sure have done fine through a passionate fanbase, physical sales and so on - but this is a different kind of popularity.

They have for a long time had an image of 'talent' - all members better than usual singers, supported by showcase appearances likethis on Tiny Desk Korea

Here's the #1 song, Blue Valentine

In my opinion real NMIXX heads will recognise a song like Know About Me, posted above, as superior, but Blue Valentine has a chorus that goes down easy and some tempo change stuff to add texure.

just catching up on the year and wanted to say that I love "Blue Valentine" above - the tempo change stuff can sound gimmicky and bleh in the wrong hands but it's very well done here, helped by that lovely chorus.

rolling kpop 2026

I did not really keep up with kpop last year, but belatedly, here's some stuff from 2025 I liked from various EOY lists:

Breezy summer track from Red Velvet's Joy - "Love Splash":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2fAmkQS854

Very good synthpop debut single from Itzy's Yeji - "Air":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TamDOXponnM

Blackpink - "Jump" - surprised myself by not hating this. needs a better climax, it's pretty relentless for a few minutes and then just stops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgCVZdcKcqY

AHOF - "Rendezvous" - I really only like this cause it sounds like 2011 Big Bang.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2-G60fuW_4

Yves - "White Cat" - i love watching her continuing to carve out her own interesting little space in kpop. This is great, clearly inspired by Charli XCX/PC Music/Sophie but also very much Yves' own thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuBE8ns_Ato

Also liked "Soap (feat. PinkPantheress") from the same EP, built around a Rebecca Black sample (listened to the original and it was pretty great as well, thanks Yves)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_KZTNYGsCQ

buncha fun 2025 songs I missed on this list: https://popexcellence.wordpress.com/category/music-writing/best-of-2025/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfoIQZf9Hqs

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