Short but sweet comes the December Late Report. Can't wait to still be pissed off about how Blogger fucks with my formatting. It's been months now and it still won't play nice with when I try to insert images or Youtube videos. I also may or may not have consumed a copious amount of alcohol while writing this. But as the young kids these days say, poggers or whatever.
This DLC Fucks
I don't care what the people say: CLC + Dreamcatcher = DLC. There's no better nickname for that combination. Anyway watch this choreography. It's not like I could comment on it in any way, shape, or form but like... They do be slayin' though. It's a damn shame CLC is fucking finished thanks to Cube's incompetence because who knows that the future holds for Seungyeon. She deserves better. The whole of CLC likely deserves better, but man. Seungyeon hopefully won't flame out because she's a goddamn star.
What, you wanted some sort of introduction to the 2020 Kpop Awards? C'mon now have you been reading anything I've posted this year? I stopped paying real attention to the scene back in late February and have been barely coasting by since then. So we have seven total awards of...exciting caliber. Who will take home the most lackluster titles to date, let's find out.
Best Girl Group: TWICE
The carousel of this award continues to spin round and round. Twice are back to winning this award after doing so in 2016. Coronavirus did not slow them down because they continued with another huge slate of releases both in Korea and Japan. While I wouldn't say that every single title was spectacular - especially because I don't give a shit about Japanese releases - their track record simply outperforms the competition. "More & More" was alright (though hella repetitive) but it was "I Can't Stop Me" that bolsters their position. Ultimately their production and falloff from their rivals leads them into a second Best Girl Group award.
Best Boy Group: BTS
Imagine thinking anybody besides BTS would be here. Imagine also thinking I'd really evaluate the landscape of boy groups this year. Fun fact: the first time I heard this song was in some random Samsung commercial and I didn't even realize that it was a BTS song. And no, it wasn't because of the English. Like this is the BTS award by now, with this being their sixth win in the category. I'd have loved to give another group a chance but the trio of "Black Swan," "Life Goes On," and "Dynamite" shut down many arguments. The numbers don't lie, and BTS are writing the books themselves.
Since I didn't follow Kpop much at all throughout the year, I originally only had 12 tracks on the ballot which wasn't enough to justify a separate post for honorable mentions. Thus, two songs ended up getting cut from the final version which is unfortunate but hey that's the theme of 2020. Also I am once again bitching about the formatting because it won't every align everything properly or the way I want. I will continue to be tilted about this shit as long as Blogger keeps it up. Or I eventually stop writing here...
#10. K/DA - More
Damn if K/DA doesn't release powerful music consistently. Last month I talked about the 1million cover, but this month it's time to talk about the song. And yeah, I'm never getting to that album review... Anyway, Soyeon continues to put in work. Her verse is incredible at setting the tone and pace for the rest of the track. Lexie Liu's Mandarin bridge was also delightful. K/DA have shown their talent at mixing multiple languages seamlessly. What can I say, I'm a sucker for multilingual music, and "More" uses all three extremely well.
#9. Suhyun - Alien
Kinda wild to think that Akdong has been active since 2012, yet we only got a true Suhyun solo release this year. "Alien" is distinct from the usual AKMU sound yet Suhyun utilizes her talent to still give it a typical feel. Her voice glides through the song and is a nice compliment to the more harder-hitting instrumental. Also I didn't know this but their channel literally posts the lyrics in the video description. Suhyun edges out Chungha for representation here. Retro groove drives "Alien" forward, something it shares with the next song coming up.
#8. Seulrene - Naughty
It's a good thing these lists are for music only, otherwise there'd be an Irene-sized can of worms to discuss. Anyway, "Naughty" has that right combination of groovy powerful instrumental, electric choreography, and soothing vocals. Tutting has always been rare in the dances of Kpop so seeing it as the center of "Naughty" is really cool. Of course that's because of the execution by Seulgi and Irene. The chorus is pretty bland, but overall the pieces fit together very well. This track surpasses their other release "Monster" because of its polish.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas despite the absolute insanity that 2020 has been. Enjoy time with family and friends, but not too many of those I hope. Have an IU video because she's one of the best for the holiday spirit.
Fuck it. Let's rank all the members of Super Junior. Here we go!
#15. Kibum Was there anyone else suitable for last place? Kibum has the shortest tenure out of all the members and even when compared to the Super Junior-M exclusive members had the least amount of contributions. He was definitely one of the more popular members in their very early years, but having disappeared since 2009 it's hard to put him anywhere but dead last.
#14. Shindong Kibum and Shindong are unfortunately the easiest two members that come to mind when discussing Super Junior afterthoughts. Yeah the meme was that he was the fat one, but outside of some dance moments Shindong didn't have much. He sings here and there, raps here and there, but has been utterly mediocre in all of his exploits. Hell, he's probably the weakest of the whole squad in everything but dance.
#13. Zhou Mi Splicing in some of the Super Junior-M members will feel odd but does give me a rounded 15 members to rank. Zhou Mi was an unknown (more than Henry) when he debuted but it's safe to say that he contributed. His voice was flexible and utilized in all sorts of their music, and even had his own solo debut in 2014. Having actual Chinese members for a subunit aimed specifically for Chinese audiences was an obvious move, and Zhou Mi was a great pickup.
#12. Ryeowook Oh man, back in the earliest discovery days I used to dislike this dude. More specifically, I thought his voice was mad annoying. But of course as time went on, I realized that Ryeowook just has a gift. His range is his range, and he excels at hitting those glorious high notes. Super Junior was kinda limited in the higher ranges outside of him and maybe Sungmin, so having that coverage was important.
#11. Eunhyuk If I was doing this ranking back in like 2015, I may have given Eunhyuk the #15 spot. That's because he basically did nothing but dance and have shitty rap moments. And back then I did not give a shit about choreography points. He's one of the legends in the industry when it comes to dancing and as my interest in Kpop matured I realized that visual performance is equally as important as the audio performance, and Eunhyuk do be a danciung machine.
2NE1 in 2020? Yessir. For the nostalgic selection of a song I haven't reviewed I decided to journey back a decade ago to one of the earliest hits in my Kpop journey. How has 2NE1's legacy held up after a whopping ten years? Let's take a time machine and find out.
Well, even though this was only their second year in the business, 2NE1 had zero shame in announcing who they were and what they're all about. This was the type of brash, in-your-face type of music that this group would become renowned for, and for good reason. They are pretty good at being loud, crazy, and aggressive. The heavy autotune cements the "I don't give a fuck" attitude that CL even echoes later in her second verse.
Man, the RNG really do be blessing me with revisits while also making me nostalgic and sad as hell. 4minute's "Hate" is up for the December rerun and that title accurately describes how I'm feeling about 2020. Should we be glad it's almost over, or terrified of what is to come? Anyway let's see how wrong (or right) I was about "Hate."
This title track was spearheaded by the news that the girls would be working with Skrillex. Considering the success of "Crazy." perhaps they wanted to keep pursuing the heavy dance rhythm. 4minute have been stuck in obscurity for a long time prior to "Crazy," so maybe "Hate" can be another good start to putting this group on the rise.
Man, Skrillex is a name I haven't heard in a long time. Granted I listen to exactly zero dubstep so that isn't surprising in any way. Regardless, collabs like this were pretty rare so it was at least some form of cool news. Now I wouldn't have called 4minute "obscure," but they definitely weren't in the highest tier of girl groups prior to the release of "Crazy," and despite some bangers in "I My Me Mine" and "Volume Up," they were never consistent enough to reach the next echelon.
