2018 in K-pop: “It’s good to be a–Woman.”

The advent of December marks the onslaught of all sorts of lists detailing the best of whatever-you-fancy and K-pop is no different. I’ve done best of Asian music (K-pop or otherwise) in the past here, with one list embarrassingly half-finished because of sheer exhaustion. Woe is me. Life gets in the way.  Choose the excuse that makes me look the least lazy.

This too is a list of that persuasion, sure, but it’s a reflection of a goal I made this year to widen the scope of music I listened to in K-pop. In particular, I set out to listen to more female acts than I have in the past. It wasn’t very hard to, actually, because 2018 was the year of female K-pop acts releasing remarkable music. The collection here is my attempt to both share my favorite songs with everyone, and bolster attention to music that many people may of missed. So instead of a real countdown, I’ll be taking a leaf out of Emily Nussbaum’s book, and give you my “not-top-[insert number here]-list” of the best of K-pop-things which will invariably be biased, include lots of female acts, and have me not understand the word “brevity.” I’ll probably also have an amnesty list snuck in for the guys, supposedly because they need me to throw them a bone or something like that.

The Master List:

1. EDM Until You Drop (Part 1)
2. That Cake Group, Queen of B-Sides
3. EDM Until You Drop (Part 2)
4. Chill Beats
5. Parts of the Whole (Part 1)
6. Parts of the Whole (Part 2)
7. Press Play on B-Sides
8. EDM Until You Drop (Part 3)
9. “빛이 나는 Solo”
10. Is that a Reference?
11. Everybody Talks
12. The Miscellaneous (Part 1)
13. The Miscellaneous (Part 2)
14. [Bonus] Remix, Reload, Revive

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