Each week, the Korean music scene delivers excellent songs throughout numerous genres and types, and the previous week was no exception, with a heavy-hitting number of hits with world and crossover potential, satisfyingly nostalgic duets and a few of 2024’s most promising new artists.
Lately, beloved teams like NewJeans, ONEUS, MCND and JUST B dropped new songs to fulfill their ravenous fanbases whereas additionally demonstrating spectacular progress. In the meantime, Okay-pop followers have been additionally handled to particular collaborations like EXO’s Suho enlisting Wendy of Crimson Velvet for his new single “Cheese” and JinJin of ASTRO bringing indie singer MRCH for his particular music mission.
Indicative of the worldwide Okay-pop scene, there additionally boasted an enormous quantity of crossover potential for the trade’s newest batch of releases. AleXa dropped probably the greatest vocal performances and singles of her profession with the all-too-relatable “i’m okay” that would simply hop onto Prime 40 and rock radio. B.I linked up with hitmaking producers, together with Malibu Babie, for his newest hip-hop hit “Tasty.” GSoul delivered a silky R&B single simply as his North American tour kicks off on Could 30. Plus, JUST B dropped their surprisingly punk-rock English single “Daddy’s Lady,” which might actually earn them new followers.
Because the Okay-pop trade strikes at a fast tempo, it’s essential to pause and respect the innovation and variety it affords throughout its completely different acts. Final week, Billboard readers selected ENHYPEN’s “Deadly Love” as their prime Okay-pop decide of the week however followers of aespa, ZEROBASONE, MARK, and Lovelyz’s Ryu Sujeong and Yein all confirmed love.
Whereas music followers already voted that RM’s Proper Particular person, Mistaken Place as their favourite new music launch of the previous week, take a second to discover these 11 gems that embody the spirit of the scene and deserve a everlasting spot in your playlist. Then forged your vote in our ballot for the highest of Okay-pop for the previous week.
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AleXa, “i am okay”
Helmed by AleXa and Okay-indie veteran Annie Ko, “i’m okay” is the American Tune Contest finest crossover single but by bringing AleXa’s penchant for edgy, emo rock for a playful pop pallette. Alongside a number of the finest vocals of her profession, “i’m okay” looks like a real expression from AleXa with lyrics like “Frontal lobotomy, there’s part of lacking/ It began once I came upon the voice weren’t my buddies” certain to resonate (and go viral) together with her 1.5 million TikTok followers.
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B.I, “Tasty”
Crafted alongside collaborators Nicki Minaj, Megan Thee Stallion, Fred once more.. and Anitta collaborators like Malibu Babie, Tobias Wincorn, Kaine and Vaughn Oliver, “Tasty” sees B.I as soon as once more flex his worldwide enchantment with this fast, two-minute hip-hop crossover hit.
Longtime B.I followers will respect what seems to be thinly veield reference to his previous boy band iKON with strains like, “Right here’s one other hit, coming off the bat/ Have a look at that icon how we reside proper right here/ Say my identify once they ask, ‘What’s the massive concept?’” when iKON’s official lightstick merchandise was formed like a baseball bat.
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GSoul, “Window Pane (Fairly Lil Factor)”
Simply as his new tour kicks off, Korean vocal prodigy GSoul handled followers to new single “Window Pane (Fairly Lil Factor)” to indicate that the unbiased star is diving headfirst into silky easy R&B waters.
GSoul’s 19-date Fairly Lil Factor North America Tour kicks off immediately, Could 30, in Los Angeles.
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JinJin, “for me” (feat. MRCH)
JinJin, chief and most important rapper for boy band ASTRO, is sharing his vary of musicality and abilities along with his “JIN LAB” mission collection. The second tune for the mission spotlights the fragile vocals of indie singer MRCH that juxtapose fantastically with JinJin’s impassioned supply.
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MCND, “X10”
MCND debuted in 2020 as some of the spectacular new artists in a aggressive 12 months that included arrivals of ENHYPEN, aespa, TREASURE, P1Harmony, STAYC, CRAVITY and extra. Greater than 4 years later, the group remains to be proving their shining promise with new single “X10” bringing their playful hip-hop sound delivered with an intense, famous person charisma.
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NEXZ, “Journey the Vibe”
Becoming a member of the label household that features TWICE, Stray Youngsters, DAY6, ITZY and extra, the subsequent technology of JYP Leisure kicked off with the just-debuted male group NEXZ. Regardless of being created on the Japanese singing competitors Nizi Mission Season 2, NEXZ is framed as a “world boy band” making their official debut with a bubbly hip-hop-inspired Okay-pop single “Journey the Vibe” with what looks like an almost equal division of Korean and English lyrics.
Get to know NEXZ’s Tomoya, Yu, Haru, So Geon, Hyui, Seita and Yuki under.
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NewJeans, “How Candy”
A tune that really will get sweeter the extra you hear, NewJeans’ newest single mixes Miami bass into their soundscape to proceed the band’s pristine monitor file of delectable pop treats and can probably make an enormous bow on the charts subsequent week.
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ONEUS, “Now”
A deal with for each longtime and new Okay-pop followers, boy group ONEUS lined the 2000 award-winning single “Now” by pioneering Korean woman group Fin.Okay.L. Carried out with a remarkably rougher edge than the unique, ONEUS follows the pattern of pop music’s fixation on all issues Y2K.
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Suho, “Cheese” feat. Wendy
An SM Leisure label mate duet between the EXO chief and Crimson Velvet powerhouse, Suho and Wendy’s feel-good “Cheese” is the proper breezy anthem for the springtime. The monitor additionally features a guitar solo to make sure there’s a satisfying sprint of rock music to signify Suho’s longtime favourite style.
“Cheese” previews Suho’s upcoming solo file, 1 to three, dropping on Could 31.
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Soojin, “Mona Lisa”
Regardless of an sudden exit from (G)I-DLE in 2021, Soojin returned to the Okay-pop trade in 2023 together with her solo album Agassy impressively promoting greater than 100,000 copies worldwide. New single “Mona Lisa” marks the singer-dancer’s first official comeback as a solo star with a welcomed dramatic and cinematic aptitude all through the rhythmic minimize.
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JUST B, “Daddy’s Lady”
In what could be a straightforward radio hit for alt or rock radio for any band, “Daddy’s Lady” positions JUST B as stunning successors to pop-punk stalwarts like Fall Out Boy or 5 Seconds of Summer time. In the event that they take this lane severely, we might see them occupying an area that teams like PrettyMuch and Why Don’t We experimented in, however we’d additionally like to see what would occur in the event that they linked up with different stars within the scene like State Champs or The Story So Far.