2019 in K-pop: best b-sides
Plus releases from CL, LOONA, and more
Hello, and welcome to maybe if you stanned, a weekly roundup of K-pop releases, news, and takes. This week, I’m kicking off a mini “year in review” series beginning with a rundown of some of my favorite b-sides of the year. This week, we’ve also got new releases from CL, 1TEAM, and LOONA. LOONA! Can you believe?
News
Kokoro, LinLin, and Mirae leave Cherry Bullet
FNC Entertainment announced on Dec. 13 that Cherry Bullet would be promoting in the future as a seven-member group following the termination of Kokoro, LinLin, and Mirae’s contracts. The company’s statement reads as follows:
Hello, this is FNC Entertainment.
Our artists Cherry Bullet will henceforth be continuing on as a seven-member group. After speaking with Mirae, Kokoro, and LinLin, we have come to the decision to end their activities as Cherry Bullet and terminate their exclusive contracts.
It is with a heavy heart that we bring this sudden news to all fans who have cared for Cherry Bullet. The three members came to this decision after speaking with us.
We will do our best to ensure that Cherry Bullet can return with good music in the near future after reorganizing as a seven-member group. We ask for your warm encouragement and support of Cherry Bullet, Mirae, Kokoro, and LinLin.
Cherry Bullet debuted earlier this year with single “Q&A,” and most recently promoted their single, “Really Really.” The group will now continue with members Jiwon, Haeyoon, Yuju, Remi, Chaerin, May, and Bora.
Red Velvet is coming back on Dec. 23
Rounding out their ReVe Festival trilogy, Red Velvet will make a comeback on Dec. 23. The upcoming album, titled The ReVe Festival: Finale, is a repackage of the two previous albums of the trilogy and will feature four new songs: “Psycho,” “In & Out,” “Remember Forever,” and “La Rouge.”
New This Week
1TEAM — “Make This”
I know very little — and by that I mean next to nothing — about 1TEAM, but I liked this release a lot more than I thought of. While it contains a lot of the same kind of house and EDM elements prevalent in boy group releases today, there’s a kind of simmering tension in the verses that I’m definitely into. The MV is what really sold me on this single, though — the production value is more than I initially expected and there are some great set pieces throughout.
CL — In the Name of Love 2
Former 2NE1 member CL is releasing her first solo music in three years with the In the Name of Love, a six-track project album broken up presumably into three parts. Following the release of In the Name of Love 1 last week, CL released the second installment on Dec. 10. Part 2 features singles “+PARADOX171115+” and “+I QUIT180327+.”
Each track of the project was written at some point in the past three years that “couldn’t be released due to her circumstances,” a spokesperson said (via Billboard). The tracks are marked with the dates that they were written, making it a kind of time capsule.
This is notably also CL’s first release since leaving YG Entertainment.
LOONA — “365”
Do you KNOW how excited I am to have a LOONA song here??? Out of literally nowhere, LOONA put out “365,” their first musical release since [X X] in February. All of us understandably went nuts after the first teaser was released with news of a track to follow less than a week later. The group premiered the track live at a fan meeting.
A fan song and lead single, “365” is a ballad that shows off the group’s vocals. LOONA’s greatest strength as a group is the versatility of its members and the fact that they’re all excellent vocalists and unbound to specific performances within the group. Lush and sweet, “365” is definitely a song I’m going to sob to one day.
It does seem like the single is actually an indicator of more music to come. The group released a teaser (titled “#1”) for what seems to be the upcoming “Burn” comeback first hinted at in March. That being said, LOONA has a history of dropping teasers with no dates and then just… letting them sit there for months on end. From what the members have been saying and recent activities, it seems like we can actually expect new music sometime soon.
The best b-sides of 2019
As part of the year-end wrap up, I’m doing a few “best of 2019” lists to close things out. For this first one, I wanted to highlight album b-sides — anything that wasn’t a title track was fair game. I think in the K-pop industry (perhaps more than other music industries), the single is the most important unit of music. Albums or EPs can feel like accessories to a killer lead single, and I’m more than guilty of only listening to certain groups’ title tracks.
That being said, this list in particular is a bit more skewed to my personal tastes and I didn’t spend too long deliberating the ranking, son’t don’t consider it to be particularly superlative. Please feel free to drop recs in the comments! Here’s a playlist of the list.
20. “Bloom (True Light)” — GWSN (The Park in the Night Part 2)
19. “Baby You Are” — EXO (Obsession)
18. “Lie Again” — Seventeen (An Ode)
17. “All Night” — BTS feat. Juice WRLD (BTS World Original Soundtrack)
16. “Put It Straight” — (G)I-DLE (I Made)
15. “2 Fast” — SuperM (SuperM)
14. “Hot” — Twice (Fancy You)
13. “Chica” — Chung Ha (Flourishing)
12. “Moon” — Everglow (Arrival of Everglow)
11. “Luckitty-cat” — WJSN (As You Wish)
10. “Rollercoaster” — Tomorrow X Together (The Dream Chapter: Magic)
This jazzy pop track was an album standout on TXT’s latest album.
9. “Highlight” — IZ*ONE (HEART*IZ)
This sultry track shows off IZ*ONE’s more mature side with understated choreography and a smooth dance beat.
8. “Show” — CLC (No. 1)
This track gave Yeeun better rap lines than this album’s title track, “No,” and falls into CLC’s long tradition of filling their albums with total bangers.
7. “Win” — ATEEZ (Treausre Ep.Fin: All to Action)
ATEEZ’s discography is frankly rock solid, but mid-album track “Win” ties together All to Action perfectly. In the driving style of ATEEZ’s title tracks, it keeps the energy up.
6. “My dear” — Chen (Dear My Dear)
Chen has one of the best voices in K-pop, and profoundly melancholic track off of his latest album has him soaring over a gradually building acoustic background.
5. “Don’t Know What To Do” — Blackpink (Kill This Love)
Blackpink is known for their trap and hip-hop focused tracks like “Kill This Love,” but I think the group shines just as brightly on pop tracks like this one. “Don’t Know What To Do” was a highlight from the group’s latest comeback.
4. “Milkshake” — Red Velvet (The ReVe Festival Day 1)
Red Velvet are one of the rare groups that reliably deliver solid albums on top of solid albums on top of rock solid albums. It’s my personal opinion that every song on The ReVe Festival Day 1 was better than title track “Zimzalabim,” and “Milkshake” is the catchiest of the bunch with a punchy vocal bass line and the group’s layered vocals. Its eccentricities are what make it feel like a quintessential Red Velvet track.
3. “Love Foolish” — Twice (Feel Special)
2019 saw Twice undergo a total style shift, arguably epitomized with “Love Foolish.” One of the group’s more experimental tracks, it’s fully divorced from the cuter concepts that the group used to favor, leaning into a more sultry, electronic style. Chaeyoung’s “I hate you, love you, hate, foolish” on the chorus is perfectly pitched.
2. “Satellite” — LOONA ([X X])
“Satellite” gave us some of LOONA’s best rap lines since solo releases like Jinsoul’s “Singing in the Rain” or Olivia Hye’s “Egoist,” but its catchy chorus and innovative production (that vocal sample during the dance break!) are what set it apart. Furthermore, it’s one of LOONA’s best-choreographed tracks after “Butterfly.”
1. “Jamais Vu” — BTS (Map of the Soul: Persona)
Persona was a great album overall, but “Jamais Vu” broke apart from the standard pop fare in order to deliver one of BTS’ best ballads. J-hope’s gradually building rap verses complement a soaring chorus that shows off Jungkook and Jin’s incredibly stable voices. While it’s a combination of members that wouldn’t leap out at you when considering BTS’ full line-up, it’s a powerful subunit that allows both vocalists to lean into their strengths and J-hope to dig into some more nuanced verses.
Thanks, and until next time,
Palmer