It's been nearly a year since the first Best Of B-Sides. There's really no excuse that this shouldn't be a more recurring series. In fact, I'm going to aim for a new installment of these every month. On top of that, I'm going to make any artist that shows up be ineligible for future posts. This will ensure that everything stays fresh in terms of the groups (or soloists!) and their music. After all the purpose of these posts is to highlight some music that might be overlooked or less popular. Diversity in representation is something I strive for here and that applies to both the groups and their music.
FIESTAR - Turn Off The Light
At this point, "remember when ___" has got to be the most typed phrase on my blog. FIESTAR have been out of the spotlight for so long that I almost forgot about the other songs on their "Black Label" EP. "Turn Off The Light" is a great track that mixes dance and R&B elements together. The high tempo means a good choreography could've been coupled with it. Then top it all off with a fierce Yezi rap and it's no surprise this song is splendid on the ears. If not for the masterpiece that was "You're Pitiful" this could very well have been the title track.
Red Velvet - Zoo
If there's (only) one thing to rely on Red Velvet for, it is their constant string of sweet instrumentals. The "Red Summer" mini album was no different, and "Zoo" has one of many more exciting instrumentals. The animal noise mimicry is abundant and fitting, then there's Seulgi's gorilla scream which is certainly...something. All of the songs on this EP play to Seulgi and Wendy's vocal strengths, and also lets the rest of the crew play support rather well. Irene's starting to get a little better in the rap department, so we'll see how that develops in their newest album.
Gary - Halyang Dream (feat. John Park)
Thankfully the title of this song got updated since its release in 2015. It used to be called "Ddook Bang's Dream." Can you believe that Kang Gary is a married man, and now a father? Time sure flies - still feels as if he was on Running Man. Anyway, he has always had good music under his name, but this collaboration with John Park is very underrated. Maybe because John Park himself is underrated, but he's got a rich baritone voice and should no way be excluded from the male soloist conversation. The song is smooth and has rapping and singing delights for everyone.
Epik High - Bleed
"We've Done Something Wonderful" is the album of the year because Epik High always delivers. There are too many damn good tracks so you can imagine my anguish when trying to pick just one for this piece. "Bleed" was almost randomly chosen because you can't go wrong with anything on this album. The beat is the usual Epik High standard (Tukutz is a god) and I love some of the English lyrics. Particularly "what doesn't kill me only makes me bloody" and "you are here with me through the rises and falls, here's my heart here's my blood Imma give you my all."
Hyuna - Peace
I thought I had written about this song somewhere before? But my searches don't show anything so apparently I'm good. If any song exemplified Hyuna's versatility, this would be it. I guarantee if you had someone listen to this for the first time, they'd never believe it was Hyuna (until the rap break anyway). "Peace" is a perfect title for this soothing track and Hyuna's voice glides through everything comfortably. It's by far her best release and I hope she'll have more material like this in the future.
G-Dragon - Without You (feat. Rose)
Was this song "Without You (feat. Chaeyoung)" when it was released? Since Rose was only a trainee then and probably didn't have a decided stage name yet. This is probably my favorite song from the "One Of A Kind" comeback. Not only does this song show all of G-Dragon's strengths with solid singing and rapping, but also lets Rose be incredible too. She sounds extremely comfortable in the ranges of "Without You" and I really wish / hope that future Black Pink songs will give her opportunities to sing in that lower range. It would be sweet to see a modern performance of this song now that Rose is happily debuted and all.
Sistar - My Sad Lullaby
To wrap this one up we have a classic Sistar pop track. "My Sad Lullaby" might not be an extremely sad song, but it sure is a lullaby. What stands out about this song is that Hyorin reigns herself in and keeps pace with everyone else. Don't get me wrong she sounds hella good as she always does, but Dasom and Soyu are right on the same level-ish with her and that's awesome. Bora adds a solid rap break in the middle and all the bases have been covered. Besides "Lonely," this song will keep me nostalgic about Sistar for a long time.
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