The Best Albums of 2022 So Far (Part 1)
A ranking of the best K-pop and J-pop albums released in the first half of this year!
Note: In order to be considered an album for this list, the release has to have at least three tracks on it.
#50: Misako Uno, All AppreciAte
“All AppreciAte has all the staples of a good pop album: some ballads, some bubblegum songs, and a tracklist that is overall more danceable than not, and always feel-good. Standouts include the catchy ‘Lan-dadi’ and the beachy, breezy ‘Shall we?’... At times incredibly quirky and at times standard pop (in a good way!), this album has much to AppreciAte!”
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#49: VICTON, Chaos
“While their rebellious streak is ceaseless in ‘Stupid O’clock,’ VICTON show off their softer side on the album’s B-sides. ‘In Love’ is a love song that doubles as a fan song, and ‘Dear. young’ is a ballad with lovely harmonies. On the other hand, songs like ‘INK’ and ‘Stay’ bring the energy back. The album starts off strong, with ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ maintaining the bassline focus of the track that precedes it… but the rest of Chaos changes things up, letting new sounds take over and new sides to VICTON present themselves. The songs on Chaos are at times cinematic and at times just plain sweet, but they are always entertaining.”
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#48: Nissy, HOCUS POCUS 3
“Nissy experiments with combinations of piano-focused, guitar-focused, and percussion-focused instrumentals while telling emotional stories in a carefree way… Nissy’s new music tells a multifaceted story in a way that comes across as effortless.”
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#47: Cherry Bullet, Cherry Wish
“The group dabbles a bit in a new-to-them style… delivering the ‘Love In Space’ verses in a rap-like fashion. The group further tries new things on the album’s B-sides. From the retro flair of ‘Hiccups’ to the chipper ‘KKa KKa’ to ‘My Boo,’ with its funky synth breakdown and playful chanting, the group reminds fans why they have waited so long for their return and prove they have taken the past year to grow and prepare some fun surprises!”
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#46: JEONG SEWOON, Where is my Garden!
“‘I enjoy this unpredictable rhythm,’ SEWOON says about life throwing him for loops. His roller coaster analogy fittingly summarizes his sunny outlook, as he makes the most out of life’s ups and down, twists and turns. ‘Fear, that’s another name for thrill,’ he decides, and his embrace of the unknown future allows him to live carefree in the present moment too. This endearing attitude permeates the whole album, which SEWOON has called a ‘musical garden.’ It successfully soundtracks feelings of recharging and relaxing on a summer day, learning to always look on the bright side.”
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#45: Apink, HORN
“This comeback is a wonderful way to celebrate Apink’s eleven years as a group, continuing a signature Apink look and sound while mixing things up just enough to not make this release seem repetitive. With the subunit songs ‘Nothing’ and ‘Red Carpet,’ the lively ‘Free & Love,’ and the R&B ‘Just Like This,’ just to name a few, Apink try out new things without straying too far from the classic Apink path.”
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#44: ASTRO, Drive to the Starry Road
“In addition to the music video, another highlight of this release is its solos. From mellow to playful to mature, the individual members’ songs allow them to show their versatility and express their individuality without compromising the album’s overall light, cheerful feel. Their different tastes musically are explored enough to keep things interesting but not enough to distract from this release’s dominant flavor: carefree, danceable fun!”
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#43: VERIVERY, SERIES 'O' [ROUND 3 : WHOLE]
“There is clearly much more to come from VERIVERY sonically… the songs on SERIES 'O' [ROUND 3 : WHOLE] range from Latin hip-hop to R&B to EDM. There are moments of cuteness and sentimentality that follow commanding anthems, and these multitudes make VERIVERY a group in which it is worth getting invested.”
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#42: Ciipher, THE CODE
“THE CODE includes the ‘future-pop’ song ‘Fame,’ the nostalgic ‘You,’ the sing-along-ready ‘Stay,’ the rock-tilted ‘Slam The Door,’ and the genre hybrid ‘On A Highway.’ Add in the fact the members are heavily involved in the making of their music, and their skills and storytelling are a surefire formula for their career’s longevity and uniqueness.”
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#41: P1Harmony, DISHARMONY : FIND OUT
“P1Harmony pair important commentary with music that is just plain fun. Just to name a few: ‘Before The Dawn’ is about the value of courage, ‘Bop’ reminds listeners to not take life too seriously, ‘Follow Me’ stresses the need to live in the moment, and the bonus track ‘+World’ encourages people to re-label their quirks as their personal superpowers. P1Harmony deliver inspiring messages with the opposite of a patronizing tone, and their likability is made even more obvious with the dance party that is the ‘Do It Like This’ music video.”
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#40: OH MY GIRL, Real Love
“They compare the feeling [of falling in love] to being exposed to fresh scents and new sounds, as if a whole new world is unfolding before them. They bottle this excitement and save some for the album’s B-sides, which are classically OH MY GIRL in their cuteness and playfulness. However, songs like ‘Kiss & Fix’ show off a matured, more controlled vocal delivery. Real Love is a testament to OH MY GIRL as they are and to their very organic growth.”
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#39: MOONBIN&SANHA, REFUGE
"‘WHO’ is the right call for a title track and reinforces this duo’s star power… Interestingly, they assert their dominance on ‘WHO’ to an extreme extent, yet they expose their vulnerability on ‘Ghost Town,’ another single off of REFUGE. ‘WHO’ is about clinging onto someone or something, while ‘Ghost Town’ is about letting go. REFUGE covers a broad spectrum of emotions in ways that are effectively exaggerated for cinematic appeal.”
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#38: Eric Nam, There And Back Again
“First of all, the album does show the world who Eric Nam is: a honey-voiced artist who distills a myriad of complex, messy emotions into conversational, simplified, broadly relatable stories. His songs carry the weight of an intense relationship while sounding light as a feather… Eric Nam’s style is the same style fans know and love, but it has certainly matured and expanded. Most impressively, Eric has given this independently-released music an intimate feel, recording it all from a living room instead of the typical professional studio, without sacrificing its quality. There And Back Again contains specificity in its sources of inspiration but universality in its messages; it balances out specific, personal feelings with broader themes to show the world who Eric Nam is today, how his musicianship has grown, and how well his stories can connect to one’s own experiences.”
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#37: LE SSERAFIM, FEARLESS
“FEARLESS is, naturally, a collection of unbothered, confident anthems… The album’s B-sides carry on the same tone, a seemingly permanent sense of sureness in who they are, and an alternative, surprising soundscape. The best B-side is ‘The Great Mermaid,’ which puts the ‘breaking out of one’s bubble’ metaphor in the context of the literal bubbles in which a mermaid could get trapped!”
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#36: TVXQ!, Epitaph
“‘Epitaph -for the future-’ is both an excellent song on its own and an excellent choice for TVXQ! specifically. With the sounds of a marching band colliding with operatic rock and a host of other instrumental styles, the song demands nothing less than a massive stage presence. TVXQ! deliver, with powerhouse vocals and an attention-holding music video… They treat the album’s B-sides with a similar degree of intensity and personality, making this release an instant TVXQ! Classic.”
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#35: eill, Palette
“Palette is aptly titled, as it shows off eill’s many musical colors. The album pairs a handful of pre-release singles with some brand new songs, and some of the first songs on the tracklist are the pre-release songs. This is a smart move; after listeners settle into a listening experience with comforting familiarity, they are introduced to the new material. The standout new track is ‘Tada no Gyaru,’ a surprise for its hip-hop style. Elsewhere, eill alternates between songs with a doo-wop flair and rock-adjacent tunes.”
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#34: MIYEON, MY
“MY effectively shows the world who MIYEON is on her own… Her delicate, distinct voice carries songs like ‘Rose’ and ‘Softly.’ Her vocals show their more powerful, passionate colors on ‘TE AMO,’ and she further shows her range on the rock-based ‘Drive’... MY has a style all MIYEON’s own, ‘style’ referring to every meaning of the word.”
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#33: Kumi Koda, heart
“Kumi Koda lives up to her title as a prolific and versatile artist once again. Each song is distinct from the others, in terms of its substance, style, or both. She has ensured a handful of these songs stand out even more through a series of pre-release music videos… As for heart’s B-sides, standouts include the Latin-inspired ‘RED,’ the summer-ready jam ‘GOOD TIME,’ and the hip-hop/R&B-inspired ‘Bow Wow.’”
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#32: DeVita, American Gothic
“In both of DeVita’s new music videos… duality in meaning plays a central role… prompting questions about how much the messy process of finding meaning is unnecessarily complicated further by oneself. DeVita puts her own twist on cinematic commentary, and she further impresses with vocals that could make the phone book sound gripping.”
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#31: Kep1er, FIRST IMPACT
“Consisting of six songs, three new ones and three from the reality show Girls Planet 999, the album dabbles in house music, EDM, and more down-the-middle-pop sounds (not to mention the lovely ballad, ‘Another Dream’)... The anticipation surrounding this new group’s future is contagious, as this is a time of clear experimentation visually and sonically.”
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#30: HIRAIDAI, HOPE / WISH
“HOPE / WISH makes the case for reviving the popularity of albums with long tracklists. It includes songs for plenty of preferences and avoids growing dull with quirky details sprinkled throughout them. An animated voice accompanies HIRAIDAI’s on ‘takara-mono,’ starting the album in a celebratory mood that is present in the concluding song, ‘WISH,’ too. Alongside high-energy pop songs are pop ballads and a folk-rock-inspired song (‘subarashikijinsei’). All the while, HIRAIDAI sings in a carefree way about looking on the bright side, living in the moment, and appreciating loved ones. HOPE / WISH is the soundtrack for a healing summer afternoon, and it has pleasant twists and turns that make a full listening session worthwhile.”
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#29: HAN SEUNG YUN, Lovender
“This underrated release contains stellar vocals and a road-trip-worthy, pop and rock soundtrack. The album intro is a short but powerful rock ballad of sorts, leading into the title track that is in the same vein. There is a slight synth pivot in ‘Moon Driver,’ but it also remains mainly guitar-driven, a smooth synth-acoustic blend. ‘Problem,’ which will delight fans of ‘Love Cut’ by CNBLUE, is the perfect transition piece between ‘Moon Driver’ and the stripped-back tracks that conclude the album, ‘Whatever You Want’ and ‘How Nice Would It Be.’ Overall, the album is a brief but thoroughly enjoyable and cohesive release.”
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#28: KANGDANIEL, The Story
“As KANGDANIEL’s ‘Color Trilogy,’ progressed, the albums’ content grew darker and more mature. Post-Yellow, The Story’s relative lightness makes sense. Yellow contains the message that it is always the darkest before dawn, and The Story is that dawn… He has emerged from Yellow with a newfound confidence that he can take on the world and a sense of responsibility to hold listeners’ hands as they now try to follow in his footsteps. While KANGDANIEL does not sing about having everything figured out, he now sings about having the courage and trust in himself to try, and he uses lessons from his journey inwards to show how replicable his path is. Overall, The Story is aptly titled, encapsulating universally relatable themes in a way that is an interesting pivot from his past releases.”
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#27: YOSHIKI EZAKI, I Love Me
“I Love Me is an adrenaline jolt in album form. It is a fun and fast-paced fusion of rap, hip-hop, electronic, and pop sounds. One song transitions into the next one seamlessly and at a rapid pace. Pounding beats, unexpected starts and stops, a deep bass, and electronified vocals make for a compelling, dizzying, exhilarating listening experience.”
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#26: YERIN, ARIA
“Following a piano introduction fit for a Pixar film (‘Intro : Bloom’), ARIA tells stories of self-love and becoming the main character of one’s own life story… [S]he sings about finding her own true colors and letting them shine in ‘ARIA.’ ‘Believer’ cutely describes turning nerves into excitement about taking a risk and no longer hiding any side of oneself. ‘Lalala’ is about falling in love and likens the sensation to flowers blooming. Lastly, on the ballad, ‘Time,’ she sifts through memories of a past relationship and puzzles over which ones to discard and which ones to remember fondly… Regardless of who is being loved, the songs relate to one another by always conveying a sense of wonder and joy at feeling love in the first place. An embrace of love and life is at the core of ARIA. ARIA, both visually and metaphorically, illustrates how bright and full life can feel if one is not afraid to show one’s true colors to the world and to fall in love without fear.”
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Check out part 2 below!