The last post became so long I decided to split them and talk about music here. There’s so much to say, so this is still a huge read, but I hope you enjoy the playlist!
As usual, the songs are all on this playlist embed below.
Twice – Love Foolish
In the inevitable Feel Special VS Fancy debate, I take the side of Feel Special. With the far superior music video, vocal mixing that doesn’t make Nayeon and Jeongyeon’s voices grate on my ears, plus a sentimental feel to the melody and blingy, so-cool styling, it was the clear personal winner.
I always liked Twice’s title tracks, but the highlight medleys usually showed me that their b-sides weren’t to my personal taste. This changed with Feel Special – Get Loud and Trick it are great party tracks, and Love Foolish‘s synths take me right back to 2009 pop and is my personal pick of the bunch. All of these songs could have been title tracks for other groups, or for Twice themselves in another timeline. The overall quality absolutely just jumps out here and I can’t wait to bop to more of their songs in 2020.
SuperM – 2 Fast
2 Fast is an odd one. It’s right in the lane of music I like, and then the bridge has me sitting up and paying attention because it sounds like it’s from an entirely different song. Then, re-entering the chorus, the vocals are kind of innocent-sexy and kind of melt me.
Tiffany Young – Run For Your Life
Tiffany fully channels peak Lady Gaga here, and I can’t be mad about it. The production is still quite minimal and combined with the vocal mixing, it fits right in with her earlier solo work and sounds like ‘Gaga, but Tiffany.’
Melanie Martinez – Lunchbox Friends
Having been years since Cry Baby, K-12 was definitely going to present a different and more mature sound. Her aesthetic is still there, as well as her lyrical style, but I think the sound is maybe, calmer? More streamlined in the variety? I feel this album is on the slower side compared to Cry Baby too, but the lyrics are still distinct. They kind of spell out their messages, but sometimes we just need to be told these things straight up to our faces anyway.
Sunny Hill – Midnight Circus
Yes, it’s a song from 2011, but I completely missed this song back in the day. I’d heard OF the song, but not the actual song if that makes sense? It took a trip to the Olive Young store in Hongdae with Adoredee for me to randomly catch this song and then have it stuck in my head for actual weeks!
Perfume – Saisei
I ADORE the music video for this song. Perfume’s discography is so extensive that they managed to cut out syllable clips from previous songs to form the chorus for this song! It makes me emotional and super proud to have followed the group for most of their career. I would really like to go to a Perfume concert one day – I hope they visit the UK again!
HyunA – Flower Shower
Kang Daniel – Touchin
I hope that, in the next decade, that Kpop couples can be more open about dating without repercussions. The irony of having a ton of teenagers sing about love they can’t experience is not lost on me, and seeing HyunA and Edawn so happy together gives me hope that things will change in the industry for the better.
CL – +Rewind170205+
CL is back with a bang, and she started off by releasing a bunch of songs that should have been released literally years ago. They make us wonder what could have been, which ones could have been her household hits and more. As a result of releasing them now, of course, they sound a little dated, but we don’t mind that at all and only care that she’s free to make music again. As I type Adidas has just released an ad featuring her as part of a collab with Adidas and Beyonce! I’m so excited to see what she does. 2NE1 reunion in 2021, anyone?
Dominic Fike- 3 Nights
An odd addition, but this song came up in an ad and I loved it so much I actually did check out the song. It’s fun to play in the car at night when the boyf is driving. Makes a nice change from the K-pop, I suppose.
Min – Vi Yeu Cu Dem Dau
I KNOW. We have Vietnamese songs on the edit??? I’ve never wanted to look at Vietnamese music until recently, because it never really interested me. For me, Vietnamese Pop music was just cringey EDM and Vietnamese rapping is a whole different kettle of fish due to the tonal language. That said, I’ve come across some great tracks that I should share.
It’s probably not a stretch to say that V-Pop has been influenced a lot by K-Pop, which I don’t mind as I always felt it needed a bit of sparkle. But maybe I can’t be the judge of that if I don’t really listen to it. Anyway, Min is probably one of the first forays into this K-pop inspired V-Pop, having been part of the dance group St.319 who I remember from some YG Ent Fan Dance competitions back in the day. I love the aesthetic in the music video for this song, which is delicate and gentle.
Hoang Thuy Linh – De Mi Noi Cho Ma Nghe
The MAMA Asian Artist Vietnam winner of 2019, Hoang Thuy Linh fuses traditional sound with modern and it sounds great!
Suboi – Cong
The ONE Vietnamese rapper who has convinced me that Vietnamese can sound good in rap. I’ve been bopping to this and could probably blast through this in a karaoke room with attitude I never knew I had.
Lastly, I’m ending the playlist with two songs from Meg and Dia, ‘American Spirit’ and ‘Koala‘. I initially started listening to them due to the first song, but lately the latter has been my favourite. Koala talks about experiencing anxiety (and possibly depression too) but it’s also about having support through those tough moments, and that makes me really appreciate this song – a song for those people who make things better again.
Here’s to another decade of fantastic music discoveries!
Twenty Swans 