[Bonus] Best Of 2013 (#4-#1)

4, Girl’s Day - Expectation

Girl’s Day made a sexy splash this year with leading titles “Expectation” and “Female President”, and “Expectation” is certainly the better of many. The “overalls” choreography turned heads and the vocal work out of Minah and especially Sojin really caught my attention. Minah had been praised for her voice but I was really attracted to Sojin’s lines throughout the song. The support vocals from Hyeri and Yura were also rather impressive, again, considering that all I had heard out of Girl’s Day’s vocals prior to this was how Minah was the “star singer”. The vocals certainly make this song, giving “Expectation” that “sexy but classy” theme that’s becoming ever more popular. The rather atrocious rap bridge however, should be nothing more than a bad memory. If Yura had a more solid rap, I’d have been more considerate in possibly placing Girl’s Day in the top 3. This song definitely exceeded expectations for Girl’s Day, and helped catapault them forward into the upper echelons of girl groups.

3. Ailee - U&I

While I classify the list by fours for aesthetics, the final 3 songs are in a tier of their own on this setlist. Ever since the earliest drafts, I had these 3 standing together at the very top and for good reason. Ailee will start us off with powerful vocals and a main focus in choreography, the latter of which is something we just don’t usually see out of Ailee, but excellent nonetheless. Regarding the vocals, what more is there to say about this girl? Ailee has already established herself as one of the most powerful and versatile voices in Kpop, and “U&I” certainly brought her absolute strongest points into the light. As a supplement, the music video is full of colour and bling, but what makes the MV is Ailee’s acting and charisma coupled with her sassy use of English. “U&I” helped lead off a very successful “A’s Doll House” album.

2. SPICA - Tonight

There are few groups who can boast having a talented vocal roster all around, and SPICA is one of them. Not many other than SPICA could pull off “Tonight” into the extremely impressive track like they did. No other song (or group, for that matter) can take the opening and build up into the explosive chorus quite like how “Tonight” and SPICA did. That alone is incredibly impressive but the hype doesn’t stop there, as each member takes part in keeping the energy and momentum to the very last line. The surprise rapping is used as a good transition between more high energy vocals and has a solid rhyme scheme / addicting aura around it (mysteriously akin to the rapping in EXO’s “Baby Don’t Cry”). The execution in “Tonight” is perfect bar none, and even the muffled “Hey hey hey” during the chorus doesn’t make me cringe or put this song away.

1. 9MUSES - Wild

You’ll notice a recurring theme in the final 3 songs on this list. And that theme revolves around the power, energy, and execution of the vocals. 9MUSES were extremely busy this year, and the catalyst for their success and growth in popularity was the mid-year release of “Wild”, There are plethora of reasons why I believe this song is the best this year. “Wild” has extremely exciting vocals from start to finish, from the high energy singing all around to the tricky bridge that jumps into the final chorus. The instrumental for this track is one of the best, with aggression and a sound which compliments and augments the high level vocals and fast-paced rapping. Speaking of, Erin easily takes the title of “Best Rapper 2013” with the break in “Wild”, and teammate Eunji doesn’t disappoint with her part, either. Lastly, the fanservice is off the charts. The lip shots were extremely odd, but everything else got “Wild” banned by MOGEF faster than haters could even say anything about. With the best long-range energetic vocals, incredible execution, beast rap breaks, aggressive instrumentals, and uncontrollable fanservice, “Wild” pushes 9MUSES into the #1 song of 2013.
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The list this year, in my opinion, isn’t as impressive at the set from 2012, but the finesse of the upper half or upper third really steps up and way above. Unlike last year’s ballad overflow, this year’s music has much more power and energy while still being vocal-centric. 2014 is gonna be quite the exciting year, since groups like Girls’ Generation and Dal Shabet are making comebacks, and with the departure of the contemporary KARA and Wonder Girls, rising groups like 9MUSES, Girl’s Day, and Sistar are really going to grow and establish themselves. Next month (in less than a week, actually), I’ll be going to Hong Kong for school, so there may be a lull in some early January reviews pending on if I can get some bonus writings out and pre-publish them on Tumblr.

Above all, Merry Christmas, and keep on Kpoppin’.