Pop Music

The Prime Three Ok-Pop Songs of Might 2024

indie1000.com June 1, 2024

On the finish of every month, I look again at my three favourite title tracks by Ok-pop artists. I take my very own rankings under consideration, however there’s a little bit of wiggle room as sure songs are likely to develop or fade.

Might 2024 Total Ideas

There have been plenty of big-name releases in Might, but in some way the month felt extra like a holding sample. Many of those hyped comebacks ended up fizzling for me (ZEROBASEONE, NewJeans, Stray Children, ATEEZ, aespa pt.2), eclipsed by lesser-known acts.

Talking of those acts, Might was undoubtedly the month of strong tracks from low-to-mid tier boy teams and soloists. My playlist was flush with nice singles from Fantasy Boys, YOUNITE, Simply B, DXMON, TOZ, The Wind, ONEUS, JD1 and B.I. All of those songs had been ranked within the mid or excessive 8’s on the weblog — tremendous strong and pleasing if not life-changing. Nearly all of them might have shuffled into my second and third place slots. It felt a bit random to decide on simply two.

With all this first rate music, Should still felt fairly slight. I feel it’s as a result of most of those songs had been a part of a single album or just a standalone digital single. So whereas we had good selection this month, there weren’t many precise albums to sink your tooth into. That meant only a few superior b-sides, too. The “largest” album of the month got here from aespa. Supernova stays a straightforward Might standout, however I wasn’t impressed by anything on the document. I loved tripleS’s album barely extra, however no observe stood out as an undisputed, knock-my-socks-off spotlight.

I’ve additionally been struck by the disparity between lady teams and boy teams this 12 months. I are likely to want the sounds peddled by boy teams, however I do know there are numerous Ok-pop followers who pay attention completely to lady teams. I’ve to surprise, are these followers being fed? A fast evaluation of this month reveals twenty-one boy group opinions and solely 9 lady group opinions. After all, I don’t evaluation the whole lot that’s launched however I do write about any music that rises above a (fairly low) threshold of recognition. With fewer lady group releases, there are fewer probabilities for these songs to hit. And with a lot homogeneity between these releases (ethereal, subdued Y2K affect), it appears that evidently in the event you don’t love this explicit type you’re type of out of luck. Lady group stans, what say you? Has 2024’s launch slate felt a bit meager up to now or are you proud of the extent of output?

As an alternative of music, Might felt most notable for idol-related controversy. HYBE’s mess continued to develop and the Burning Solar scandal re-emerged. Idol teams misplaced members left and proper and netizens appeared much more obsessive about charts (and alleged chart manipulation) than ever. I attempt to keep out of this as a lot as potential as a result of I don’t discover it fascinating and the gossip/conspiracy idea aspect of Ok-pop is just not what I come to this interest for. However boy did the trade appear to be on fireplace this month.

This time final 12 months, I used to be raving about a number of J-pop tracks and far most well-liked that trade’s output over Ok-pop. This 12 months, the tables have turned. There have been a couple of large J-pop highlights, however general Ok-pop has been extra constant. I truthfully don’t actually have a prime three J-pop choice this month as a result of nothing actually stood out, so the songs I picked are extra like placeholders than true highlights. That is regardless of my favourite group returning after 4 years with a brand new album. Sadly, Kis-My-Ft2’s Synopsis largely crashed and burned for me, persevering with Starto Leisure’s lackluster slate of 2024 releases.

I don’t wish to jinx it, however I’m actually enthusiastic about June on all musical fronts. We’ve obtained a few of my favourite present acts (TWS, RIIZE, Infinite, Sunmi, TRENDZ) making comebacks together with some large names (Nayeon, WayV, Kep1er, NewJeans) and wildcards (GHOST9, Everglow, AKMU, CSR, H1-KEY). And people are simply the acts which have been introduced already! Plus, international pop appears able to unleash a couple of long-dormant pop superstars (Woman Gaga, Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, and many others) for the summer time whereas subsequent month will lastly see the return of rookie group XY in Japan. I hope most of those acts meet or exceed expectations!

Month Cumulative Score: 7.8

(compiled by averaging the scores of each Ok-pop evaluation from this month)