[Bonus] 2017 Kpop Awards

Welcome to the 2017 Kpop Awards post...in 2018. Unfortunately I've been sick for more days this new year than healthy, and thus the delayed release. This is a consolidated form of the awards, which will have eight prestigious awards and their magnificent recipients. Some of these might be obvious, and some others might surprise you. Let's see who the champions are this year.

Best Girl Group: Red Velvet

Two girl groups clearly dominated the competition in 2017. So why Red Velvet over Twice? For starters, even though Twice had better numbers on the charts, Red Velvet wasn't unrealistically far behind. More importantly, while both groups had a rigorous promotion schedule, Red Velvet simply had better music on the whole. I consider their worst release this year ("Rookie") stronger than Twice's best release ("Heart Shaker"). Then you have "Red Flavor" and "Peek-A-Boo," which were both stellar dance tracks that succeeded their previous flagship title of "Ice Cream Cake." They also brought back a little of their velvet side with Station releases, but hopefully their next comeback will be something along the lines of "One Of These Nights."

Best Boy Group: BTS

Surprise surprise, BTS is the boy group to beat. They had yet another efficient showing: four more solid tracks to add to their library. "DNA," "Spring Day," and "Not Today" were all different flavors of the BTS recipe: the refreshing pseudo-R&B track, the slower sentimental piece, and the tough dance juggernaut. Then you had the "Mic Drop" remix with hilarious English yet it was a damn good remix. Well done Steve Aoki. Perhaps most important out of BTS' 2017 is their early adventures in the American market. Appearances on shows like Jimmy Fallon and Ellen are no joke. I'm not saying they'll crush it in the U.S. should they embark on such a journey, but it's definitely a good starting point.

Best Soloist: IU

This was an extremely strong year for those flying solo, as evidenced by my Best Of 2017. IU was understandably the leader of the soloist pack because she had the busiest and arguably most successful year. Her "Palette" album has a wonderful range of selections and her handiwork in said album isn't something to be overlooked. On the flipside IU also gave us a sequel to "A Flower Bookmark," with many more gems redone. I'm kinda hoping "A Flower Bookmark" will become a series of its own. Imagine if we get to the point where IU is covering Kpop from the 2000's. How much more legendary could you get?

Best Rookie Group: KARD

While many advocated for Dreamcatcher being the best new group, they simply aren't. Rebranding does not mean the group debuted. That's not how debuts work. Besides, even if that was legitimate, B2ST became Highlight in early 2017 so they would've been the main competition there. Anyways, all this simply means KARD is the best new artist from 2017. Their talent is incredible and all the predebut material - which honestly almost makes me look like a hypocrite here - laid a strong foundation for a strong debut. "Hola Hola" and "You In Me" were steady releases built up by the likes of "Rumor" and "Don't Recall." Something I'd like to see KARD do is tinker with their formula in 2018.

Most Surprising Song: Twice - Heart Shaker

Rather than talk about "Palette" as the best song, I'm going to pick a song that surprised me this year. Originally this was a sarcastic (almost negative) take but I've managed to stop myself and spin it in a more friendly way. Twice's "Heart Shaker" is very surprising for two reasons. First and foremost, it's frankly shocking to hear a good song from them after the disasters that were "Signal" and "Knock Knock." This song proves that simple can still be effective. Without doing too much, Twice do enough with "Heart Shaker." The other surprising thing from this song is the casual cloned members of Twice. I mean hello? JYP is holding onto these secrets that would be of so much benefit to the human race. Or would lead us to our downfall. I dunno choose one.

Best Album: Epik High - We've Done Something Wonderful

Not sure if that links to just the video or the playlist containing the whole album, but whatever. Once you dive in you'll see that the entire list of songs is difficult to resist. Epik High pull no punches in "We've Done Something Wonderful." They bring in all the talent from their own name to friends across the industry, each with their own distinct skillsets. From the dreary "Here Come The Regrets" to the soothing "Love Story," the beautiful "Home Is Far Away" to the "Born Hater" sequel "No Thanxxx," there's a little magic in every track for you to discover. The supreme star power of this album was enough for me to choose this over IU and Taeyeon's masterful "Palette" and "My Voice" albums, respectively.

Best Music Video: Psy - I Luv It

Psy does it again. He earned this award in 2015 with "Daddy" and now "I Luv It" grabs his 2nd in three years. There are few certainties in Kpop but one thing  you can always count on is for Psy to give a music video full of laughs. Genuine laughter or cringe laughter, it doesn't matter. All the tackiness and wackiness is worth it. The cameo game is once again strong - Psy honestly has the best MV collaborations, with Lee Byunghyun and Daimaou Kosaka (PPAP guy!) making appearances. The rest of the song, styling, and video are definitely quality Psy material and you really do just love it. 1:54 ad 2:42 are my favorite parts of the video. Thanks Lee Byunghun, you sexy beast.

Best Choreography: Taemin - Move

Is there anyone in Kpop that has matured better over the years than Lee Taemin? Is there anyone in Kpop that is as revered a dancer as Taemin? I firmly believe the answer to both those questions is no, and with good reason. Taemin's evolution in all departments is amazing and just going from his solo debut "Danger" to "Move" is a journey on its own. There's so much going on in the choreography of "Move" I implore you to simply watch the video rather than read my random thoughts that make no sense since I'm not a dancer. Shoutouts to BTS's "Not Today," Sunmi's "Gashina" and Seventeen's "Don't Wanna Cry." Those had really sweet dances, too.

That's all for the 2017 Kpop Awards. Next I'll fix up a little Best Of 20XX Timeline special before maybe another miscellaneous type post. Soon the Kpop world will bear witness to both Sunmi and Chungha's comebacks, so 2018 is gonna off to a damn good start.