On the finish of every month, I look again at my three favourite title tracks by Okay-pop artists. I take my very own scores under consideration, however there’s a little bit of wiggle room as sure songs are likely to develop or fade.
April 2025 Total Ideas
Oof. What a month. Okay-pop in 2025 hasn’t been overwhelmingly superior up to now, however we have been on an upward trajectory via March. Usually, April ushers within the trade’s spring season and we begin getting comebacks positioned for summer time ubiquity. As a substitute, this April was properly beneath common, delivering one clunker after one other.
We reverted again to a number of the trade’s worst traits: drained-of-its-color “beigepop” for the ladies, shout-chant posturing for the boys. An enormous swath of April’s releases may comfortably slot into these two sonic archetypes, and as somebody who listens to each new launch intimately it’s each exhausting and uninspiring to listen to slight variations of the identical template over and over. I do know the Okay-pop trade loves following (and following… and following…) traits, however I swear it was once extra musically adventurous than this.
Due to this sense of sameness, songs that stood out or delivered a punchier vitality immediately discovered a spot on my playlist. I do know the feedback have been blended on this weblog, however I completely adore TWS’s most up-to-date tackle their signature melodies with Countdown. It’s simply my most performed tune of the month and supplied the form of bombastic, singalong hooks I are likely to covet. I additionally wish to highlight the newly-debuted Shut Your Eyes, who took a equally melodic strategy however in a very totally different approach. By drawing upon a mid-to-late-2000’s r&b sound, they immediately set themselves other than the gang. I’d like to see extra of this from Okay-pop. The style itself doesn’t even matter so long as the songwriting is robust and the sound isn’t only a regurgitation of what each different Okay-pop act is peddling.
For the primary time this 12 months, there have been truly extra J-pop highlights than Okay-pop. Whereas I couldn’t even cobble collectively a prime three for J-pop in March, I had greater than sufficient decisions this month. It’s been a sluggish begin for J-pop in 2025, so I’m hoping this represents the start of a wanted shift.
Looing ahead to Might, I’m hopeful that Okay-pop’s prospects will even strengthen. We’ve received massive comebacks on the way in which from RIIZE, BOYNEXTDOOR, Seventeen, Jin and lots of others. A minimum of a few of these are sure to hit, proper? Proper?!?
Month Cumulative Ranking: 7.5
(compiled by averaging the scores of each Okay-pop evaluate from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week One
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Two
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Three
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week 4
TOP J-POP SONGS OF THE MONTH
3. Kep1er – Yum (evaluate)
2. Wild Blue – Pop
1. Kis-My-Ft2 – Glory Days (evaluate)
Honorable Mentions
Apink – Faucet Clap (evaluate)
Chuu – Solely Cry In The Rain (evaluate)
Daesung – Universe (evaluate)
Epic Travels – Tab Tab (evaluate)
from20 – Eye Sweet (evaluate)
Good Day 2025 – Telepathy + By the Moonlight Window (evaluate)
HyunA – Mrs. Nail (evaluate)
NiziU – What If (evaluate)
UNIS – Swicy (evaluate)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Month’s International Pop Spherical-Up
TOP THREE SONGS
3. YOUNITE – Rock Regular (evaluate)
2. Shut Your Eyes – All My Poetry (evaluate)
1. TWS – Countdown! (evaluate)
High Three Okay-Pop Songs Of March 2025
High Three Okay-Pop Songs Of February 2025
High Three Okay-Pop Songs Of January 2025
High Three Okay-Pop Songs Of December 2024
High Three Okay-Pop Songs Of November 2024
High Three Okay-Pop Songs Of October 2024
2010-2024 Archive Right here
