Best New Music: September 2024

A ranking and review of the 20 best new releases from Korean, Japanese, and Chinese artists!

#20: YEONJUN, “GGUM”

When it comes to playing a character who thinks he is above all rules and can charm his way out of trouble, YEONJUN aces the assignment! With an earworm of a piano instrumental, a fast-paced dance routine that incorporates the splits, and a computerized voice letting YEONJUN phone in parts of the song, he exudes casual coolness. He knows he can “Blow and spit out a banger,” help “Refresh your stale vibe,” and overall leave an impression that “sticks” without trying hard! In the music video, he shows off natural swagger while acting assumptive about his antics being forgivable, if not welcome! From crashing a meeting to interrupting a talk show taping, he sees his presence as a gift - and this catchy song proves that, to the music world, he is one! 

 #19: Seiya Matsumuro, LABORATORY

There is a lovable earnestness to this lively and full J-pop album. Joviality is the norm and takes on many forms, from brass instruments and synths in “Lovely Scene” to a harmonica in “It’s Alright Mama.” The songs appear primed for special-occasion playlists, with some songs having a sway-worthy pace (like “French Bulldog”), some being clap-along-worthy (like the brassy “Rewrite”), and others great for all kinds of dancing! There are a few slower songs (like “Breathing” and “Hoshikuzubako”), but they are minor interruptions. The party atmosphere remains strong, and a particularly feel-good one is the fiddle-starring duet with Masayoshi Yamazaki, “Futarino Compliance.”

#18: JINHO, CHO:RD

While CHO:RD has some bitter moments, its best songs cater to JINHO’s sweet side! Before the vindictive songs, “OVER” and “Bad Criminal,” JINHO sings a gentle breakup song, “Goodbye With You,” which emphasizes gratitude and respect for the memories a relationship has given him (“Thank you for letting me like you / I’ll hang the memories beautifully in one corner of my mind”). This leads into the main track, “Teddy Bear,” which is even sweeter and has an adorable music video! JINHO and his crush have literal dreams that take on the form of Cinderella-inspired cartoons. 2D details slip into their waking world, like 2D butterflies that seem to nudge them closer to hand-holding! In other scenes, JINHO’s crush relies on the giant teddy bear he gifted her as her emotional support when JINHO himself cannot be physically present. From being her audience while playing an instrument to being her protector against nightmares, she relies on the teddy bear day in and day out - to the point that JINHO seems worried that once he can be physically present again, she will realize she prefers the company of the teddy bear! This proves not to be the case, but that concern is one of the many endearing “chords” JINHO strikes with this release!

 #17: Loossemble, TTYL

TTYL is the perfect sequel to Loossemble’s “Girls’ Night” era! It brings to mind the same atmosphere, one of girls spilling secrets at a slumber party. The “Sisters Before Misters” motto is apparent, as the members gossip together in the “Confessions” video and dramatically run and reach toward each other in the “TTYL” video. The title track is just one of the songs that questions the sincerity of those who claim to have crushes on them, and they describe those people as needing to work for their affection: “Better move for what I like / If you wanna win the prize.” In “Secret Diary,” they only have time for transparency: “Just tell me;” “Stop hiding.” There are some moments when they allow for ambiguity, like when they compare a relationship to a magical potion that needs more time to simmer in “Hocus Pocus,” but their disdain for poker faces remains apparent (“I like the way you turned red,” they admit). Overall, TTYL is about not giving any potential romantic partners time and attention if they choose to play games, drag out the process of admitting their feelings, or take reciprocation of Loossemble’s affection for granted. Loossemble would rather spend that valuable time enjoying girl talk!

 #16: VK Blanka, Knightclub

Knightclub has an interesting back-and-forth between fiction and nonfiction storytelling. Some songs emphasize the human behind the mask, like the ballad about growing stronger through pain called “Fortress” and the regret-filled “Never Run” (which has some of the EP’s most vulnerable lyrics, like “I’d rather paint my face and lie / Than stare in the mirror and dare to try”). Other songs have lyrics with more dramatization, like the ominous “Daddy (Dying in NY)” and the rowdy remake “Old Rivals.” The two best songs on Knightclub, though, have equal narrative and musical strengths. “Yomigaeri” pairs pronounced piano-playing with lyrics about one’s inner flame. The other standout is “Snake,” which undergoes sonic shifts while questioning what is “Real or fake,” “whose story” is being told, and how much ignorance would be bliss (“All I wanna do is play”). Knightclub has some of the storybook implications that one would expect from the title, but it implements them in ways that do not detract from VK Blanka’s grounded and deeply-felt messages. 

#15: xikers, HOUSE OF TRICKY : WATCH OUT

HOUSE OF TRICKY : WATCH OUT is wonderfully unserious but proof of xikers’ serious stage presence and staying power! The intro, “WATCH OUT,” sets the scene with sinister laughs, a distant choir, a static-like synth line, and hushed crosstalk. “WITCH” also sounds ominous and spooky, with an industrial tilt that aligns with xikers’ forceful vocals. The rest of the songs take on lives of their own, sometimes through lyrics (especially “Bittersweet”) and sometimes through sound effects (especially “Hang Around”). The “WITCH” video bombards the audience with sights as much as the songs bombard them with sounds. The kooky and chaotic video is full of flashing lights, camera spins, bursts of smoke and fire, tall shadows, and mysterious forces. This era has lots of twists and turns and proves that xikers are at their best when at their zaniest!

#14: KANGDANIEL, ACT

KANGDANIEL’s latest “ACT” is a respectful and grateful send-off to the KANGDANIEL of the past and a wholehearted welcome of the KANGDANIEL of the future. Instrumental and internal chaos are the themes of the opening track, “Losing Myself.” After taking some time to “Get Loose” and reconnect with a more free-spirited version of himself, KANGDANIEL is struck by emotions with the intensity of an “Electric Shock.” The next song, the danceable “Come Back to Me,” is his optimistic, approachable way of talking to himself. The reconnection and rebirth - which are things he proves are not mutually exclusive - come full circle in “9 Lives,” when he confidently declares, “I’m leveling up… It’s time to show.”

The “Electric Shock” music video has a similar sentiment. KANGDANIEL plays two characters: an amateur crew member and a movie’s lead actor. The crew member has the antithesis of a Midas Touch, and he keeps causing electrical problems wherever he goes! But even after electrocuting himself and requiring resuscitation, his unearned confidence is unflappable! This firm confidence is something the clumsy crew member and polished main actor have in common, one of the ways KANGDANIEL shows that traits of the old him (like strong ambition and audacity) are still welcome in the new him (someone more mature and in-control).

Through songs and a music video, KANGDANIEL shares his story of losing and refinding himself in a touching and amusing way. 

#13: Sakurazaka46, “I want tomorrow to come”

This song is full, genre-averse, and disarming in ways that suit its dark theme. The first minute of “I want tomorrow to come” and its music video are quiet and unassuming, but restlessness ensues after that. The group sings as if they need to spill out all of their fears in the form of a run-on sentence, and their pent-up emotions are apparent in their dancing too. A particularly momentous bridge marks an even farther distance from the fatigued intro; this song moves fast, like the thoughts they sing about turning over in their minds. 

The song frames the fear of death and time’s passage in bleak terms, but with a kernel of a silver lining: “I’m afraid of the dark… Even now as an adult / I’m actually scared of something I can’t see.” They worry that tomorrow will “come for” them, but they realize they would rather that than the alternative: “Yes, I want tomorrow to come… Then I can close my eyes / There’s no monster here.” Essentially, they are saying, “Isn’t it silly to waste so much time worrying about something inescapable and out of our control? Something we can’t even see? That’s what we did as little kids, fearing monsters in our bedrooms!” They decide to switch their mentality: “To be unhappy is to curse yourself / Imagination creates the monsters / Close your eyes and you won’t see anything coming / You will wake up to a dazzling tomorrow.” “I want tomorrow to come” addresses a deep fear of the unknown in unforgettable ways.

#12: Ian Chan, “Sculp”

The ultimate theme of “Sculp” is the agony of letting go, and Ian Chan covers this theme with an incisive sculpture analogy. The sculptor is at times described as a nuisance, “knocking on the door” and “hammering mindlessly.” Other times, Ian Chan portrays himself as a sculptor, seeking solace in both the act of making art and the ability to create a tangible, frozen-in-time version of a lover. The process of trying to preserve memories of a relationship, much like the process of sculpting, is described as risking changes to the “memories [that] are being axed” and being something that “exhausts and oppresses” him. The most aching lyrics: “Love is sharper than knives and saws… I can’t lose you, so I miserably lose.” The music video shows Ian Chan giving up his fight to keep a relationship alive. He stops trying to keep a literal spark alive in his hands and sets a stack of letters (presumably love letters) on fire. 

“Sculp” is also outstanding because of its structure and evolution. The first verse sounds more fragile and emptier than the rest of the song. The drama ramps up over time and leads up to a crescendo of strings, cymbals, and anguished cries. “Sculp” does an excellent job offering musical, lyrical, and visual equivalents to the desperation and ultimate futility of a lovestruck person’s attempts to freeze a moment in time.  

#11: TZUYU, abouTZU

abouTZU’s appeal comes from the little details: knowing glances, self-aware comments, and plot-related blanks left unfilled. The text on the screen in the “Opening Trailer” is in the second person, describing what “you” experience and ending with a question: “So, are you ready?” TZUYU asks this in the chorus of “Run Away,” a song that urges “you” to run away before it’s too late and “you” get trapped under her spell! The music video continues the centering of “you,” with TZUYU smiling right at the camera often, grabbing “your” hand, and interacting with a love interest who tends to only appear in glimpses. One of those glimpses makes  “you” look like the one who bolts upright in bed mid-video, as if waking up from a nightmare. Reiterating the “You have fallen under her spell” premise are implied uses of literal magic, like when TZUYU’s knowing smile seems to cause the lights to flicker on and off (in “Run Away”) and when brushing a table with her hand appears to generate flames (in the “Opening Trailer”). Other means through which TZUYU centers and captivates the audience include lyrics (for example, uses of “you” and “let’s” in “Fly,” like “If you can dream it, then you can be it” and “Let’s find the missing puzzle piece”) and a highlight medley video with the theme of walking through an art museum. 

TZUYU’s elusive and engaging role in the corresponding videos makes abouTZU much more than a typical pop release.

#10: YENA, NEMONEMO

In YENA’s signature kids-TV-show-like style, she puts a creative spin on a basic topic: shapes! “NEMONEMO” derives from the Korean word for “square,” and YENA describes relationships as having a confusing mix of smooth sides and sharp corners. She would rather romances be like simple “round balloons,” hence her irritation in the music video at not being sure whether she wants to run from her crush or towards him! YENA also shows a preference for heart shapes, brainstorming how to handle her crush while using a writing utensil with a heart-shaped topper, singing about wanting the universe to give her a sign while dancing under heart-shaped fireworks, and witnessing Earth go from a cube shape to a heart shape! YENA lets out her frustration by punting a cube at the head of her crush, one of the many people wearing a cardboard box over his head! Squares also represent YENA’s sources of annoyance in smaller ways, like the ice cubes she angrily chews while preparing to confront her box-for-a-head crush! 

YENA’s quirky, fictional music video realm continues to expand with this shape-themed chapter. Additionally, she balances old and new styles well with NEMONEMO’s tracklist, pivoting to electro-pop for the main track but returning to pop-punk instincts and a serious tone on the B-sides.

#9: FUMON, When you suffer, you are blessed.

This album is split into several chapters but makes sure to keep them all part of the same book. The tone gradually changes from rage-fueled rock to a more pop-rock approach. Electronic additions in both parts prevent the songs from feeling too detached, as do intermissions that work off of each other. The intro, “-suffering-,” sounds like someone is playing a song on a personal radio in reverse. The “-overload-” interlude features the sound of static, and that static layer remains but has a piano layer added on top in the second interlude, “-sigh-.” The album peels back layer after layer of emotions; it is a relationship recollection that takes its time. The emotional stakes are further sharpened with well-done transitions into different tempos and volumes. When you suffer, you are blessed. has admirable roughness, realness, and richness to it.

#8: P1Harmony, SAD SONG

Read a separate write-up about this album here! 

#7: HWASA, O

HWASA showing unshakeable confidence is nothing new, but her ways of doing so have gotten more entertaining! Whether singing with an acoustic guitar in songs like “Road” or over a clubby beat in songs like “OK NEXT,” she sings about always betting on herself, deserving better, and shaking off critiques with ease. “Everyone says, ‘You’re really crazy’ / Thank you for worrying,” she says in “just want to have some fun,” which also has lyrics like “Dance even if your steps get tangled… Middle fingers up.” In “NA,” she says she deserves nothing less than straightforwardness: “Those lines, you can keep them;” “Better talk to me nice.” Her most humorous and suggestive wordplay is in “EGO.” She urges the person who falls for her to “feed [her] ego” and show off their “good taste” by “Stripping away the packaging”! HWASA’s message of confidence also avoids getting redundant thanks to a subtle admission of coexisting insecurity. She works through self-doubt with a “fake it ‘til you make it” approach, only acting confident before actually feeling confident, as evidenced by admitting “I’m scared that I’ll get scared” early in the album (in “HWASA”), and then ending the album saying “I have no more fear” (in “O”). This HWASA era has more to it than what meets the eye but stays as fun, flirty, and fierce as ever! 

#6: anti-talent, Beast to Human

Beast to Human is an inspired meditation on the nostalgic power of music and the grip that music has on how time’s passage is experienced. The group talks about music in the context of memories. In “Love,” they tell a story: “Boy at girl’s door every night / Reporting for duty / The new album to borrow / An excuse, obviously / But girl is also tired of being trapped in reality / They really did end up together / Still listening to those songs of yesteryear when they’re older / Putting love into rhyme…” Later, on “Here and Now,” they admit to struggling to live in the moment due to music making their memories so clear: “Playing every melody I’ve hummed / I realize I still live in the past.” They compare musical bars to prison cell bars and worry that they will never fully live in the present moment: “If it starts pouring outside, I’m afraid into melancholy I’ll slide / Tears start falling at the sight of a note / Trapped in the bars we are both.” Ironically, as anti-talent sing about an under-acknowledged downside of music - it can be an all-consuming nostalgia trap - they also prove its ultimate upside. Music is what ties people to the past, but it is also what makes the present meaningful. After all, every recollection that is stronger because of a song was once a present moment! anti-talent make music about the limitations of music, presenting a counter-argument in the process. In fact, a song is the mechanism through which they realize how beautiful the world is, something they admit in “Here and Now”: “I [felt] like an astronaut… Always waiting for the moon’s rising… Until I saw the planet blue / And stopped looking around;” “Never had I thought all the wounds would be healed by the beauty / That has always been right in front of me.” 

anti-talent make sense of the power of music in insightful ways, and contrasting vocal registers and genre-blending instincts further ensure these alternative/pop songs have the depth and thoughtfulness they greatly deserve.

#5: BAEKHYUN, Hello, World

There are two main lyrical through-lines in Hello, World, and references to dreams are one of them. These are sometimes positive but other times referring to circumstances BAEKHYUN hopes to find out were just in his head. The second main lyrical theme is how empty life feels without love in it, something BAEKHYUN conveys a firm belief in through his words and tone in songs like “Cold Heart” and “Truth Be Told;” one mourns how cold someone’s words are to hear, while the other mourns the opposite: how loud the silence feels in that person’s absence. The sense that BAEKHYUN can’t win either way explains his downcast delivery at unexpected times, like when he responds to “Is it okay?” in “Rendez-Vous” with a blunt “No.” Electro-pop and R&B songs alike are permeated with an air of dissatisfaction. 

Hello, World is a moodier-than-anticipated release, especially considering the album title and main track title, “Pineapple Slice”! But most surprising of all is the abnormal vampire character BAEKHYUN plays in the “Pineapple Slice” music video! Like the album’s theme of struggling to differentiate among dreams, nightmares, and reality, his character leaves his origin story and motives unclear. His vampire self can see his reflection and can stand in the sunlight, but the mirror breaks when he smiles into it, and he still cannot inhabit humans’ normal daytime world inconspicuously because of his preference for hanging upside-down on the subway (not to mention the flock of bats that follows him)! “Does this vampire want to assimilate or not?” remains unclear, as is how much it is considered his nightmare or his dream come true when his love interest becomes immortal like him and as possessed as the other partygoers in the process.

Hello, World asks the audience to suspend disbelief and decide for themselves how much BAEKHYUN is playing an antagonist or a protagonist. The line between imagined and real circumstances appears as slippery as BAEKHYUN’s moods, giving surprising emotional heft to a release that at first sounded like it would be a breezy pop era!

#4: KEY, Pleasure Shop 

KEY offers a vivid demonstration of the ways pleasure and happiness are not the same thing. The “Pleasure Shop” depicted in the music video casts KEY in the role of a cyborg who sells humans contact lenses that offer a rose-colored way to see the world. The title track repeats the phrase “You’re welcome” a lot, which is also a line in the album’s final song, “Novacaine;” KEY’s character assumes that all of his customers are profoundly grateful to him for selling them happiness, without those customers realizing that KEY has only sold them sources of short-term pleasure. The same deception is at play in a teaser video. KEY’s cyborg character plays a bartender and gives a hallucination-inducing drink to someone. The drink is quickly replaced on the shelf behind the cyborg, and the bar’s lights go out as promptly as they turned on when the customer arrived. A person’s bizarre mental trip being shown between scenes that appear routine and devoid of feeling speaks to the normalization of conflating pleasure with happiness. The bartender who supposedly sells happiness indicates “My work here is done” and just goes about his routine emotionally unaffected once the transaction is complete. Whether contact lenses or drinks, the bottom line is that finding sources of pleasure is much more systematic, straightforward, and devoid of introspection than finding sources of happiness is.

KEY stays in character throughout the Pleasure Shop videos and songs alike. The dance-pop, house-music-inspired songs and the head-spinning amount of details in the main music video compound the feeling of being overwhelmed, in an impulsive headspace as a result, and acting as if under a hypnotic spell. He reminds his audience of their captive state in songs like “I Know” (“I know the truth, always locked away… can’t escape”) and hints at his control over them and his systematizing of their emotions in “Overthink” (“Input error / Output loss”).

Slowing down and thinking more deeply about KEY’s character would lift the wool over customers’ eyes. First of all, why should they trust a “seller of happiness” who is a robot and therefore cannot fully understand what happiness feels like?! Second of all, the rose-colored lenses and hallucinatory drinks he offers just change how things look, not how they really are; they do not tangibly improve their lives. Third of all, the use of holograms and other futuristic technology gives away the game: KEY’s character is capitalizing on age-old human instincts while repackaging artificial snake oils as trendy new solutions. Pleasure Shop is indeed a “pleasure” to listen to, but its social commentary provokes the kind of thoughts that can lead to long-lasting happiness!

#3: BAND-MAID, Epic Narratives

Epic Narratives is an inversion of BAND-MAID’s “sweet on the outside, sour on the inside” musical image; it is an unapologetic rock album but has sweetness at its core for those who give it a closer look. Stories about straightforward topics like carefree hangouts and missing their friends are told with guitar solos galore, rapid escalations, and other attention-grabbing additions. The importance that BAND-MAID place on friendship in Epic Narratives speaks to one of the best ironies of life: Its most cherishable, buzz-worthy components are actually some of the simplest ones. 

The 2023 single “Shambles” remains a standout and a foundational core of BAND-MAID’s premise. It has a disarming sense of urgency and tough-love approach towards telling listeners to seize the day before it’s too late. Epic Narratives shares that sentiment, but it is expressed in ways that emphasize camaraderie. The “now or never” message of “Shambles” is circled back to throughout the album, but in a gentler way, essentially saying not “Hurry up and take that leap!” without adding “Don’t worry; I’ll take your hand and leap with you!”

Without abandoning their core rock sound, BAND-MAID soften and simplify their storytelling, treating friendship-focused “narratives” with the same “epic” and dramatic treatment that they give songs about other subjects.

#2: YOUNHA, GROWTH THEORY

GROWTH THEORY is sonically and substantively beyond satisfying. The songs do justice to their subject matter by matching their depth and breadth. They include electric guitars, an Irish whistle, an accordion, traditional Korean instruments (most prominently the janggu and kkwaenggwari), and so much more. The best featured instrument, though, is YOUNHA’s versatile voice! While narrating her metaphorical sailing trip, YOUNHA fittingly incorporates a world of musical influences into the picture.

GROWTH THEORY is full of literal and metaphorical questions related to a search for meaning in life and debating the role of fate versus personal choices. “If the beginning and the end are connected / Is the life of all things predetermined?” she asks in “Mangrove tree.” In the same song, she rhetorically asks, “All paths have led us here, haven’t they?” “Where am I? Who am I?” she asks in “Antmill.” “When we reach the end of the distant sea / What will happen if we’re the first to find out?” she wonders in “Silvering.” In “Curse for the rocket formula,” she mixes genuine and rhetorical questions: “Do you know? / What’s the difference between a dream and an ideal? / I think about it a dozen times a day / I want to be someone special / Doesn’t everyone?”

YOUNHA wonders how much of her future is in her control, and she compares that wondering to an iceberg, a thought process with much depth that goes unseen. This iceberg-like thought process is something she learns to see as a gift instead of a burden, as she learns to appreciate the mysteries of nature. “I was born as myself by chance,” she decides in “Attention!” “Maybe it’s a miracle / Just to exist as is,” she concludes in “Sunfish.” In that same song, she shows contentment keeping her goal as simply moving forward: “Am I still growing? / Well, it is better than / Just stopping at one place.” Once she recognizes that meaning comes from the journey, not the destination, she moves her focus to finding that meaning within her journey. “This agony… Is the stillness at the center / What makes me spin?,” she asks herself. She refers to a “spiral of death” in “Antmill,” another way of stressing that the main thing to fear is not making the wrong decision, but making no decision at all.

“Life review” further takes stock of what YOUNHA has learned, which she thinks is significant in quality but not quantity: “I know a little more / About the natural order of the world.” She makes peace with still not knowing many of life’s mysteries, opting to focus on just experiencing moments instead of wasting them on trying to articulate them: “Why try so hard to organize what you want to say?... It’s okay, we are here” (“Part of cloud”).

The last song, “East wind,” completes YOUNHA’s journey but not her story: “When I realized that leaving was just to come back to me in the end / It was an epiphany;” “Time that had stopped begins to move.” The song, and therefore the whole album, ends with the line “We will never break.” 

The main lesson YOUNHA’s journey involves is that life may always be a mystery, but all one really needs to know is how to ride and appreciate its waves. 

#1: BOYNEXTDOOR, 19.99

Stay tuned for an upcoming essay about this group’s new album and discography overall!

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