Best New Music: March 2024
A ranking and review of the best new releases from K-pop, J-pop, C-pop, and P-pop artists!
#20: SUPER★DRAGON, New Rise
This short but intoxicatingly sweet EP is like one long, shape-shifting EDM banger! Raps, singing, and instruments all share a relentlessly high energy level. Each song further flexes title-track potential with the perfect finishing touches: a tambourine shake here, some flute notes there… instrumental add-ons are generously, albeit unnecessarily, used, rising to the challenge of sustaining such high momentum. New Rise presents a key side of SUPER★DRAGON’s musical image in three inventive, eccentric formats.
#19: UVERworld, Eye’s Sentry
Filled with twists and turns that defy genre labels, Eye’s Sentry is emblematic of UVERworld’s unique sound. Fast drumming and a saxophone make for unlikely but delightful partners in the title track, and the saxophone returns with new counterparts in “High Light!” The stomp-along-ready EP’s climax blends EDM and rock influences and lasts the perfect length; “High Light!” ends after enough sonic exploration to feel worthwhile but before the loop-de-loops can get too dizzying! Listeners ought to feel similar satisfaction when listening to “uber cozy universe,” which quickly goes from subdued to anything but. Eye’s Sentry is a chameleonic musical blitz that does not overextend its welcome.
#18: UNIS, WE UNIS
In a surprising detour from the cryptic debut teaser videos, UNIS’s “SUPERWOMAN” video exists in an adorable, uber-pink realm! The fake-out previews indicate that despite opting for a tried-and-true K-pop girl group concept, this group has many tricks up their sleeves! In other words, “SUPERWOMAN” avoids seeming like a generic K-pop debut release thanks to the element of surprise, and switching things up remains the name of the game throughout WE UNIS. The mini-album includes an empowering Afrobeats single (“SUPERWOMAN”), a second confident anthem (“Whatchu Need”), songs with cute lyrics that use butterfly and rainbow analogies (“Butterfly’s Dream” and “Dopamine(UNIS Ver.)”), and a ballad about lingering doubts and fears (“Dream of girls(UNIS Ver.)”). Softness, sweetness, and strength coexist and allow UNIS to uniquely shine.
#17: xikers, HOUSE OF TRICKY : Trial And Error
xikers maintain a commanding presence and continue to unravel peculiar narrative threads. Their ongoing story about traveling across the galaxy, disrupting the space-time continuum, and dealing with the “Tricky House” stays top of mind, through everything from the kooky and spooky album intro to the rapid background and lighting changes in this era’s corresponding videos. While their narrative hallmarks remain, one change they do make for the better is detouring a bit more from the sound and style of labelmates ATEEZ. While ATEEZ’s heavy influence on their previous eras has not been unwelcome, it is rewarding to watch ATEEZ’s industry juniors further come into their own. With an increased focus on nineties-inspired hip-hop and fashion and a hands-on role in writing most of their new tracks, HOUSE OF TRICKY : Trial And Error is xikers’ most distinguishable release yet. The guaranteed large number of remaining chapters in xikers’ story further earns them their own global acclaim.
#16: Seori, Fake Happy
Fake Happy lets Seori unleash her inner rockstar! She has both the voice and the earnest angst needed for rock music. She never apologizes for how she feels, wallowing in a lack of motivation, a sense of despair, loneliness, and insecurities. This isn’t some generic down-in-the-dumps EP, however. Seori’s distinct way with words keeps her songs compelling for music enthusiasts in all kinds of moods. In the title track, as she sighs over losing the sense of childlike wonder she used to write about having in her diary, she compares her grown-up state of mind to mere crumpled paper. In “and Me,” she complains about being a wallflower and wanting to go home while comparing herself to the water at a party: present but ignored and unmemorable. Seori sincerely addresses a state of languishing in ways that are cathartic for people in the same boat but are also just artistically commendable.
#15: BINI, Talaarawan
These P-pop bops have the perfect messengers in this likable girl group! Their mix of crush-focused and self-empowerment-themed songs are natural crowd-pleasers. They are spread out optimally in the tracklist: “Karera” starts things off with a reminder to live in the moment, “Pantropiko” offers a mid-album reminder to chill out, and the other songs take turns thematically. Whether singing about an ideal summer romance (“Pantropiko”) or desiring more clarity in a relationship (“Salamin, Salamin”), BINI share advice with a persistent bounce both in their step and to their sound. Each song has title-track potential, although they save the best for last with “Na Na Nandito Lang” and “Diyan Ka Lang.”
#14: DAY6, Fourever
Fourever is a strong representation of a rebirth. The songs stand apart from the DAY6 songs of the past, covering an expanded soundscape that includes grunge-rock, pop-punk, synth-pop, and more. However, the album is not too in-your-face about marking a new beginning. They do not rely on shock value to show they have grown up; a natural maturity from life experiences is apparent. Just to name a few ways the lyrics show this: “The Power of Love” marvels at how wholly transformative love can be on one’s worldview, and “didn’t know” includes a realization that love is often taken for granted until it is gone. Not all of the songs reflect on deeper emotions, but those that do prove how life experiences have changed DAY6’s perspectives. Life lessons and the power of hindsight add meaning and a new tone to their music, and the strengthened sense of self that comes from growing up has enabled an evident expansion of their musical horizons. Both substantively and presentation-wise, Fourever leaves no doubt as to DAY6’s organic maturity.
#13: MAZZEL, Parade
Some songs on Parade are instantly catchy, like “CAME TO DANCE” and the funky “Ain’t no fun,” while others are acquired tastes and better off for it, like the rambunctious “Parade” and the song with the most unexpected layering, “Love Letter.” Bouncy beats and bass are plentiful, but so are digital sound effects, volleys between rappers and singers, and unexpected dramatic touches in songs like “Fire.” MAZZEL enjoy experimentation that avoids sounding try-hard, since songs like the re-recording of “MISSION” prove they have vocal chops; they make some out-there choices sonically because they want to, not out of necessity. The “Parade” music video further explains their popularity: MAZZEL’s colorful and chaotic-in-a-good-way soundscape is paired with the classic visual appeal of a boy band at its most confident, surrounded by cars and motorcycles!
#12: ExWHYZ, Dress to Kill
With a zero-to-100 intro (“Dresscode”) leading perfectly into the EDM “Unknown Sense,” Dress to Kill wastes no time instigating an adrenaline boost! The corresponding mood boost lingers across new songs and remixes alike. One high-energy track after another finds different ways to deliver fun, from the jaunty guitars in “Secret Secret” to the racing percussion in “Obsession.” Other enthusiastic elements involve a deep bass, rousing chants, electrifying synths, and often a combination of the three. There are some slower songs, but they are outnumbered, and they are faster and more textured than some artists’ fastest songs! Also, times when they slow things down exude a free-spiritedness and contentment, as opposed to gloom. This makes songs like “Our Song” and “D.Y.D,” which bring to mind sunny-day car rides, feel like mere party intermissions! Overall, Dress to Kill is a layered and engaging listen, and since it can appeal to a variety of pop enthusiasts and gives makeovers to some of ExWHYZ’s older songs, it can and deserves to attract scores of new fans.
#11: yanaginagi, White Cube
White Cube is what the best anime albums are made of: instrumentals with an ear for detail and music that easily prompts visualizations. Also worth appreciating is the way the highlight from song to song changes. The most shoutout-worthy element of “Yukuharuame,” for example, is its post-chorus, while “Shirushibi” impresses the most for its high notes. The lullaby quality to “Art Lounge,” the echoing that compounds the message of longing in “Partie de ton monde,” the rapid synths that match the fast speed of her voice in “Inochibi”... yanaginai demonstrates dexterous musicality. Put simply, White Cube is musical storytelling done right.
#10: CHUNG HA, EENIE MEENIE
Talk about a triumphant return! CHUNG HA exceeds the high expectations placed on her long-awaited comeback and appears more sure of her creative vision than ever. She dazzles through a dance routine set to the invigorating “I’m Ready.” The imagery captivates for much more than just the choreography, with blink-of-an-eye background and lighting changes and out-of-this-world makeup. Her other new song, “EENIE MEENIE,” has an equally exciting but very different music video. She oozes coolness as she shows off her street style and gives the throwback “Waacking” dance trend a whirl. After well over a year without releasing new music, the pressure was surely high on CHUNG HA, but she can rest assured that she has given fans the comeback they deserve! The only downside is ATEEZ member Hongjoong’s “EENIE MEENIE” feature not being longer, but with every other element of this comeback knocking it out of the park, demand is surely there for the two to team up again soon!
#9: j-hope, HOPE ON THE STREET VOL.1
HOPE ON THE STREET VOL.1 speaks to j-hope’s effectiveness as a springboard off of which other artists can thrive, and his mix of newer and more established collaborators proves his flexibility in seamlessly pairing music of the past with the present. j-hope teams up with both artists fans have heard him work with previously, like BTS bandmate Jung Kook, and ones he is officially teaming up with for the first time, like LE SSERAFIM’s HUH YUNJIN. Some of his messages are delivered in nostalgic ways, like the boom-bap style of the early aughts in “NEURON,” while others show his openness to communicating in new ways, like the trilingual “i don’t know.” While underwhelming at times, this release is a welcome homage to j-hope’s past that offers updates along the way. The EP can best be summarized as “j-hope through the years” and shows j-hope can be counted on to stay true to his roots while uplifting the messages of others.
#8: Diana Wang, BAD
BAD is neither overly simplistic nor needlessly complex. These are easy-listening songs yet have many moving parts, allowing listeners to follow a single storyline without growing tired of it. The story begins with the title track and Diana Wang’s admission that she knows her relationship ought to end. She decides that “Maybe somebody else will give [her former lover] the world;” all she wants to do now is find herself again, enjoying her own company in her “Bedroom” and then in the “Deep Forest.” As she sings about her desire to start anew, a relatively fuller sound is replaced with a relatively stripped-back one. The instruments perfectly capture her increasing contentment with starting over, and as straightforward as her emotional evolution is, the lyrics include plenty of details that are vague enough for listeners to fill in their own blanks. Diana Wang presents easily relatable thoughts and feelings in vivid ways without needless dramatization. The images her words conjure up, like going into a forest, can easily bring to mind a fairy tale, but she instead stays rooted in realism. BAD has an admirable sureness in what it wants to say and clearly guides listeners through its message without being overbearing.
#7: YooA, Borderline
While there is always something to admire in releases that show both an artist’s more confident and vulnerable sides, there is nothing wrong with a release solely focused on the former! YooA shows relentless confidence throughout Borderline. She exudes fierceness in the “Rooftop” music video, showing off her most challenging solo choreography yet, interacting with the camera like a pro, and putting her own spin on a little black dress and other stylish pieces. She adds a personal twist to downright-cliche bird symbolism, singing about spreading her wings and flying but not needing to go very far to feel free. She is happy staying “a little bird in the cage,” as long as she can leave whenever she pleases to go to the rooftop! Her sudden disappearance from her mundane office job, leaving nothing but black feathers in her wake, is a nice finishing touch to the music video! The B-sides reiterate a message of faith in herself. “So what if not everyone loves it? / The uniqueness I possess / I love it,” she sings in “Love Myself.” And in “Shooting Star,” she sings about lighting up the world: “The black night becomes silent / But I’m shining bright.” YooA celebrates being a confident “little bird” in likable and unexpected ways!
#6: Kim Sawol, Default
Kim Sawol is not a household name, but not due to a lack of talent; her relative anonymity is by design. Taking her stage name from the Korean word for “April,” her birth month, and playing peculiar roles in her music videos, the real Kim Sawol is elusive. Her genre is also hard to pin down; Default starts out as a rock album before turning into a folk one. However, the audience gets a sense of who she is through the understated yet powerful ruminations of which Default consists. Her songs do all the talking for her, with a purposeful and impactful “less is more” approach. This does not mean Sawol waters down her experiences; her careful word choices maintain her feelings’ multitudes. For example, “Love Me (Or Else)” sums up the coexisting fear of falling in love and the compulsion to still do so. And in the song “Default,” she acknowledges that a realistic love story is good only “70” or “80” percent of the time, yet she seeks “that 100 percent” romance anyway. “Signals Across the Night” offers another great example of how to keep a story both compelling and concise: “I’ll fold a flower with the tissue I cried for you.” Kim Sawol shows how a single sentence can speak volumes.
#5: ILLIT, SUPER REAL ME
On the surface, the NewJeans and ILLIT comparisons are very warranted. They both have understated, soft vocals; fresh-faced, girl-next-door looks; genre-blending, youthful tunes; and videos that incorporate 2D imagery. However, beneath the surface are both overt and subtle distinctions. First of all, NewJeans’s and ILLIT’s video storylines are very different. The former’s centers on questions of what is real, with indicators of an alternate reality incorporated into “the real world” (for example, NewJeans have a guardian-angel-like presence during the “real world” plots of “Get Up” and “Cool With You.” Also, their characters in “OMG” question how much of their visions are real versus all in their heads). ILLIT, on the other hand, keep the supernatural and “real” worlds separate. They stay in a surreal school setting in their “SUPER REAL ME” teaser videos, and they each have a different superpower in the “Magnetic” music video. There are more nuanced distinctions between NewJeans and ILLIT in their presentations, like the ways NewJeans’s choreography is looser and their lyrics have a flirtier tone. ILLIT carry themselves differently when dancing, and their lyrics are more diaristic and inward-looking. All comparisons aside, ILLIT’s songs have their own earworm qualities and likable lyrics that speak to the members’ rich interior worlds.
#4: SCANDAL, LUMINOUS
This J-rock group continues to impress with diverse sounds and one-of-a-kind lyricism. One of the many creative metaphors they use is in “Gunjyo pleats,” in which they sing about the relative nature of inner peace. They speak to how contentment can shift with one’s perspective and decide to focus on the nice pleats in their pants more than any of the stains or wrinkles! They move their attention and see what they focus on - what brings them satisfaction - expand, which makes “Fanfare” the perfect follow-up track. “Plum” and “CANDY” have a similar continuity: “Plum” acknowledges the rawness of post-breakup pain, and then “CANDY” offers reassurance that it’s okay to cry (especially because they promise to give the one in pain candy post-crying!). The tracklist order is perfect for the songs to communicate with each other in ways that emphasize the most distinguishable lyrical moments. The titles offer further assistance, like the smart placement of “Vision” and “Line of sight” before and after “LOOP,” respectively. The message with those three songs put together is about keeping eyes on the prize, despite a period of feeling trapped in an endless loop. The instrumentals also align with the story shifts; they know just when to ramp the energy back up after periods of mellowing out. Overall, LUMINOUS shines a light on the smart and ever-shifting storytelling of SCANDAL.
#3: PURPLE KISS, BXX
More so than showing new strengths, BXX highlights PURPLE KISS’s dependable ones. They do not continue to one-up themselves so much as firmly stay at their peak! In both this new album and their previous ones, the members walk many tightropes while making it look effortless. First of all, their group synergy is remarkable; their voices go off of one another’s with perfect timing. They each have spotlight-worthy vocals but never hog that spotlight; they each get solo chances to shine that come about organically. Second of all, they sing powerfully and passionately without going overboard, allowing the fullness of the instrumentals to be appreciated while still proving their vocal confidence is earned. Third of all, they make the most pointed lyrics sound just as mellifluous as the plain fun ones, like the “Ah, yeah, yeah, yeah”s and “Ooh, ooh, ooh”s in “Toy Boy”! Although there is less clever wordplay in BXX than in previous releases, their words still have a bite to them. Their sweet comments always come with sassy reminders of their upper hand, like in “Toy Boy” (“I’ll shine so you don’t lose your way”) and “Heart Attack” (“I’m yours / You don’t need to give me an answer”). It is fitting that “[T]he wind tosses me” is BXX’s final line; it sums up how PURPLE KISS’s musicianship might go wherever the wind takes it, but it will always be there naturally!
#2: NCT DREAM, DREAM()SCAPE
As detailed in an episode of 17 Carat K-Pop, this group leaves no detail unnoticed! Song lyrics, music video plots, teaser image symbolism, and more all tie into a central storyline, one that is a cross between Inception, The Matrix, and something new and undefinable. DREAM()SCAPE is doubly engaging to listen to and to watch the corresponding videos for, because beneath every hip-hop and pop bop that is simply fun and high-quality, and within every video scene that is simply entertaining, lie potential puzzle pieces related to NCT’s lore! Songs have plenty of silly and punny moments (like when they reference buying a crush “a whole jewelry store” in “Carat Cake”) alongside ones that can be read into more (like their comments about memories being erased in “icantfeelanything”). Likewise, each short film is interesting on its face but can also be seen as rife with deeper meaning. The cherry on top is the group’s youthful, innocent charm. They say their song “Smoothie” is simply about mixing up the good and bad ingredients that life throws at them, a way of taking “making lemonade out of lemons” to the extreme! And they resume one of their go-to analogies in “UNKNOWN,” framing an endless sea as something to be excited by instead of something to fear. Pairing world-building with upbeat tunes remains NCT DREAM’s winning strategy for thoroughly entertaining hardcore and casual audiences alike.
#1: WENDY, Wish You Hell
Wish You Hell is proof that you can take the girl out of Red Velvet but cannot take the Red Velvet out of the girl! The space made for both songs with orchestral flourishes and with R&B beats, the gothic ballerina aesthetics, the Wonderland-esque plot twists… WENDY’s mix of spooky and sweet concepts definitely brings Red Velvet to mind! However, these songs show clear contrasts to both Red Velvet’s and WENDY’s past solo material, especially when it comes to her approach to lyrics. The songs take unexpected detours from what the titles might lead people to assume. “Wish You Hell” is not actually about taking vengeance out on an ex; the music video shows the one WENDY wants to never see again is her old self, for whom she attends the funeral! “His Car Isn’t Yours” is not about telling off an ex’s new love interest; it’s actually about the sadness she feels as a new date pulls up to her house and she momentarily forgets this is not the same person who has pulled up hundreds of times before. “Queen Of The Party” is not about feeling like the ultimate “It Girl,” but about WENDY celebrating time alone in her room, where she’s the “Queen” by default! Wish You Hell is like a diary that avoids getting too serious thanks to quirky and playful packaging. This packaging draws in an audience who then sticks around for the stories that make them feel understood. However, beneath the surface, the songs prove to be specific to WENDY’s story. Her songs appear made for an audience of one but also have the appearance - leading to the genuine effect - of being for everyone to appreciate. She simultaneously makes people feel like her friends while winking and nodding to her “Villain Era” and her more carefree and spontaneous side!
WENDY takes full advantage of this album’s potential to show the world who she is as a solo musical act, what color she individually adds to Red Velvet, and just how wide the range of stories is that she can tell.
To learn more about these picks and find out who got Honorable Mentions, check out the corresponding episode of 17 Carat K-Pop!
Stream the episode on Spotify here!