Kalnet’s Top 10 Korean Songs of 2020
Not even one of the worst years of everybody’s life is able to stop me from presenting my Top 10 Korean Songs of… *sigh* 2020.
Wow. It really has been quite a year all of us. It was honestly unknown and scary for the most part, but at least we managed to survive through the pandemic. It’s wonderful to know that my friends and family are safe from the pandemic. As for me, I have lost a few that are dear to me and certain events happened that were more down than up. Personal matters bringing up stressful times but I’m relieved to survive through all of that this year. But hey, there are one of the things that helped got through the day for all of us for the most part and that is music. Let’s lighten up, look back on the good things that happened to us, and what manage to make us smile as our days and months go by when 2020 comes to a close later this month.
Previously, I have always done my Top 10 list in either video form or through a simple list post. This time though, I have decided to try to write it out and explain why each of these songs are in my list. I’m not sure how detailed I’m gonna go in, but I can never know until I try. First time for everything!
Before I go through my Top 10 list, I will explain how I usually chose the songs that goes into my list throughout the years. The songs that I choose must be a title song from either an album or a lead single. It must also be one song per group or singer. That way, It’ll be easier for me to narrow down on songs to choose from and put them in my list. Songs that are in the B-sides or title songs that barely missed the list will always be in my honourable mentions. My Top 10 list will be going down in order.
Now we’re finally ready to go through my list. Let’s get to it!
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10. ‘NAN CHUN’ by SE SO NEON
I knew nothing about this song nor the singer until I watched a Loona Vlive where Yves recommended this song to fans. There is something strangely soothing about this song that makes me wanna go listen on repeat whenever I feel down or the sorts. Her wave-y vocals flows really well with the tunes that was presented in the song. A wonderful song to listen to while you’re driving. It could be better even when you’re listening to this at the beach during the sunset. Give it a listen and I hope it doesn’t disappoint from your end.
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9. ‘Dreamy Alarm’ by Lee Jin Ah
I love Jazz. I listen to jazz whenever I’m in the mood for it. When Lee Jin Ah announced she’s coming up with an album after 2 years, I jumped with excitement and was just looking forward to it. Boy, does her latest album ‘Candy Pianist’ delivered for me, specifically ‘Dreamy Alarm’. This song leans towards more of a pop-y jazz tune and I’m not even complaining. It’s an easy song to get into and you may end up humming along to her piano notes like I do. Go listen to it in the morning or during the day and you will feel a slight refresh from her songs.
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8. ‘Happy’ by TAEYEON
This was honestly an unexpected release timing from Taeyeon. We would expect a summer or a fall release, but we got a nice single from her earlier this year.
This song is what you expect from Taeyeon. A literal happy song. It gives out a happy tune with her wonderful vocal tones as always. It’s a great song to cheer you up and it’s nice to say the word “Happy” sometimes. Do try singing it out if you can. It helps to soothe your mood.
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7. ‘Bless You (feat. Sam Kim, WOODZ, and pH-1)’ by Primary
I love Primary’s music so much, dating back to one of his earlier releases ‘Mannequin (feat. Beenzino and Suran)’. His latest song ‘Bless You’ with all his well chosen artists hits the ball park for me as always. He doesn’t stray away much from his usual “Primary" sound but still manages to keeps it fresh with new(or old) featuring artists for returning listeners. The vocals are just so naturally relaxing with smooth bass & drum notes in the background. The rap parts fits pretty well in it too and it just flows nicely.
This song comes with two different music videos. I would recommend the sign language one but the lyrics one is pretty cool as well. If you feel like you wanna space out for moment and just have a nice listen, this song is for you.
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6. ‘That’s Ok’ by CHEEZE
CHEEZE caught my eye when she released ‘How Do You Think’ back in 2016 and I’ve been loving her music ever since. Her new song ‘That’s Ok’ from her latest album ‘I can’t tell you everything’ really struck all the right notes. It’s relaxing and pretty vibing too.
The bass is pretty groovy and the music video is such a mood. You feel like you wanna cool off for a hot second? Go give this song a listen.
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Before we continue down the list, I would like to present a category called ‘2020’s Old Korean Song of The Year’. It is a category where I can pick out any song from previous years that I haven’t listened to before or a song that I listened before but never caught on liking it in the first place. It can be a Title song or a B-side song. I have one song that’s been on constant repeat this year and it will be presented below!
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- 2020’s Old Korean Song of The Year -
‘July 7th’ by Dreamcatcher (2018)
This song sounds something so special to me. There was a song that I used to listen to a lot back when I was a kid. The song was called ‘Lemon Tree’ by Fool’s Garden. It had almost a similar tune and instrumentals like how ‘July 7th’ was, but of course it’s played different in a way.
It has such a nostalgic tune for me personally so I just kept on repeating this track almost everyday. ‘July 7th’ is now one of my favourite songs to listen to in my lifetime.
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5. ‘Why Not?’ by LOONA
I will be honest, I wasn’t really a fan of this song when it first came out and it got me confused to my ears. As days and weeks go by though, when this song randomly plays on shuffle, I just listen to it more and more unconsciously and it just sound immensely better over time.
The chorus just hooks in and I’ll be humming to it randomly any given time and day. Listening to it on the bluetooth speaker in the background while working is such a vibe.
The music video is masterclass as always, by using the same video production team for the past 4 years now dating back to Hyunjin’s ‘Around You’. The members know how they work and the video production team know the member’s strengths.
While their previous release ‘So What’ was amazing and brought a new sound to the Loona lore, ‘Why Not’ just evolves that sound and it aged like fine wine as time goes by. “Why Not” both? Unfortunately ‘Why Not’ goes on the list in the end. So what!
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4. ‘FIESTA’ by IZ*ONE
Coming in hot from their recent releases ‘Panorama’ just a few weeks ago and ‘Secret Story of The Swan’ 6 months prior, ‘FIESTA’ still gets me the most. From it’s amazingly well-rounded tune and their amazing vocals, this is my personal favourite IZ*ONE title song that they have released so far. Accompanying with the amazing music video which just ooze aesthetics after amazing aesthetics and wonderful transitions between each scenes. This is one of the most beautiful music video I’ve watched this year, so huge props to the members and the video production team for pulling this off so wonderfully.
The song doesn’t get too loud for my taste and it really hits the sweet spot for me. The bridge before the 2nd verse? Totally the best part in the song for me and it just goes up from there. This is one song that I will continue to listen to for many years to come.
Before we move on, I would like to thank you for bringing IZ*ONE into this world. It’s a wonderful gift and I really wish each of the individual members the very best. When they’re together, they’re unstoppable and it completely shows.
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3. ‘LA DI DA’ by EVERGLOW
When the intro of this song kicked in, I wasn’t ready as to what’s gonna happen during the next 3 minutes or so and boy what a trip it was.
In a year where 80s synthwave pop songs are on the rise for korean song releases, EVERGLOW ‘LA DI DA’ is one of them and it just hits all the best notes of this music genre for me.
Being accompanied by a fantastic music video, it showcases all the greatest parts of each members. The 80s drum and synthwave beats fits so well with their vocals. The chorus? Whoa god, what a drop. Every time the chorus kicks in, you just wanna clap your hands and vibe so much to it.
This is the best synthwave kpop song I’ve listened this year and most likely gonna be one of my favourite kpop songs of all time. E👏VER👏GLOW👏 FOR👏E👏VER👏 LET’S 👏GO👏HEY👏.
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2. ‘BOCA’ by Dreamcatcher
Wow Dreamcatcher, you have achieved so much this year with two amazing releases. From ‘Scream’ to ‘BOCA’, both are such amazing tracks. Both title tracks are so good, deciding which of the two song I should put on my Number 2 list was the hardest.
‘Scream’ is a crazy epic metal rock EDM track accompanied with an amazing music video that has probably my favourite dance choreography this year. ‘BOCA’ is something else. It still kept the Dreamcatcher sound but it also feels so entirely new at the same time. A rock-ish song with a Moombahton genre flavour to it and it just fits so nicely!
What made ‘BOCA’ got the extra points was Dami’s putting an amazing halt of the song in the 1st verse, the amazing chorus drop and Siyeon’s amazing high note towards the end of the song. The chills on her high notes still gets me.
‘BOCA’ is also unique but welcoming song to listeners and other kpop groups (‘KARD’ and ‘Eric Nam’ to name a few.) which took interest in Dreamcatcher this year. So many reasons to love about this song. If I am able to put a number 2A in the list, ‘Scream’ would be it!
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Before we move on to my Number 1, I will be presenting my ‘Korean Album of The Year’. This one is fairly simple to get into. Just decide an album that you have enjoyed immensely from start to finish without skipping a track. It can either be a full album or a mini album. Here we go!
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- Korean Album of The Year -
‘Dystopia: Tree of Language’ by Dreamcatcher
This is the only album that got me to listen the entire album on repeat without skipping a track this year. From their title song ‘Scream’ to their wonderful B-side jazz track ‘Jazz Bar’. My personal favourite song in this album? ‘In The Frozen’. Do give it a listen! If you’re curious if Dreamcatcher’s other album covers looks similar as the one above, you’re definitely right and they are beautiful! Google image it up! It’s definitely a wonderful set of albums to have it set up on your display shelves.
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1. ‘Villain’ by Stella Jang
Almost every year, there would always be a Stella Jang music track in my Top 10 list somehow but this year, with the release of her first full length album ‘Stella I’, ‘Villain’ raise up to my Number 1 this year and it shows.
The song is actually fairly simple to listen to. It’s a jazz-y track, but it’s the French Jazz style in the song that really got me the most. I love french jazz out of all the Jazz genres out there, so listening to ‘Villain’ feels right at home for me.
Her pronunciation in the lyrics are very fluent and if I were to make it a tad complicated in my explanation. It’s like she’s singing with french-like vocals in a french jazz influenced track, but it’s a korean song and she’s singing it in korean. I do want to note that she speaks fluent french and english so you can hear her vocals really shined through out the song.
She knew what she was doing while writing and composing this song and also the album. It’s one of the most relaxing album to listen to and I’ll gladly listen to it any given time of day.
Having the knowledge that Stella Jang studied in Paris for years and eventually graduated from there as well, really brought the french musical taste from Paris to S.Korea that are rarely heard nowadays in the S.Korean music space. I have been following her since ‘It’s Raining’ and I’m so happy to see where she is now. She deserves all the success and all the best to her!
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Kalnet’s 15 Honourable Mentions:
- ‘Spit it out’ by SOLAR
- ‘Maria’ by HWASA
- ‘Scream’ by Dreamcatcher
- ‘Today’s Mood’ by CHEEZE
- ‘Sukhumvit Swimming’ by ONF
- ‘Night Drive’ by GFriend
- ‘Shame’ by Yoon Jiyoung
- ‘Three of Cups’ by GFriend
- ‘Playlist’ by TAEYEON
- ‘Good Night’ by MAMAMOO
- ‘Somebody to love’ by fromis_9
- ‘Sequence’ by IZ*ONE
- ‘SHADE’ by Yukika
- ‘All That Jazz’ by BoA
- ‘Reality Blue’ by Stella Jang
*All links in the Honourable section above are Spotify links.
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And there we have it! That concludes my Top 10 Korean Songs of 2020! It sure is hard to write out the Top 10 list but it’s also good practice for me on writing. I have also managed to put out a few categories that I’ve always wanted to do, so If I have more time next year, I will try to put in more categories.
I have pretty much said on what I wanna say earlier in my article. If I am able to write up another one next year, then I’ll see you guys next year end! As for thinking of any closing words right this moment…
I do hope all of you are doing ok and being healthy right now. Things may not go the way we all have wanted this year, but I still wish nothing but the best for all of you in the coming days, weeks, and years. Our 2020s have been harsh to us, so let’s hope our 2021s will be kinder.
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Here is a parting song for those who has read through the end! I do hope you enjoy! Have a wonderful Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
- 'Cloud (feat. ChoA)' by Primary
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