Kalnet’s Top 10 Korean Songs of 2022
I skipped 2021 so I could finally sit my ass down to do my supposedly yearly write-up about my Top 10 Korean Songs of 2022.
I’m not sure if it’s just me getting older or the year went by faster than waiting for a hot cup noodle. This year has been a recovering phase for all of us, especially with borders slowly opening up around the world so us fools will use up those work leaves to go on a travel spree.
2022 will be just about done by the time of this writing. Many events were had, good and bad, but that doesn’t stop me from writing up my Top 10 Korean Songs of 2022! I know I skipped last year but I was rightfully more busy than I originally should, so I thought I find the time for this year instead.
Like my previous list, I will be doing it in descending order and the songs will be carefully placed.
I do wanna mention that I included 2 songs in 10th place due to how closely deserved these 2 songs are.
Without further ado, Let’s get right into the list and I’ll have an afterword towards the end of this article!
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10a. ‘Rum Pum Pum’ by Lee Jin Ah
Lee Jin Ah returns with another magical and musical jam this year. She continues to make her music space special and fresheverytime she has a new release. I honestly can’t tell if this is Jazz or not, but this is certainly a flavour that favours her musically and it shows her strength to try something new.
Having well placed instruments around her while being placed with the piano in the middle, It’s wonderfully stagely presented in the song and each intruments gets a chance to shine throughout her song. I admit, I was a bit taken aback when I listened to it the first time but having listening to it from the 2nd time onwards, it gets more refreshing and fun to listen to.
It’s a very refreshing take of her music and I’m glad for her to come out with something very new. Aces!
10b. ‘WHEN I MOVE’ by KARA
Everyone’s anticipation was at an all time high this year, not only for Girls’ Generation but also KARA. Coming off from their 15th Anniversary earlier this year, they hinted at a comeback which everyone had been waiting since, my god, 2015 with ‘CUPID’. They promised and carefully planned for a 15th Anniversary comeback. They did and it was wonderful.
This is YoungJi’s first time to feature alongside Nicole and Jiyoung which vocal-wise was established in the group for many years before her, but YoungJi’s vocals fits just so well with the rest despite only worked with Seungyeon, Gyuri, and the late Hara.
I find “When I Move” to be a return to form for that KARA color of sound. It feels not only personally nostalgic for me, but it’s like they never left at all and just returned with a new comeback every year, not realizing it’s been almost 7 years since their previous comeback.
I’m lowkey hoping they’ll do another comeback next year cause their music is just too good.
9. ‘MAISON’ by Dreamcatcher
Dreamcatcher return this year with a slightly more rock-ish track compared to their previous releases last year. While their latest track ‘VISION’ garnered praise from all sides, I personally loved the musical direction they went with ‘MAISON’.
It has a very rebelious and almost marching sound to it that makes it quite unique overall. Knowing the meaning of the track about climate change and it was a means to go against environment destroyers.
It’s a pretty good take and it compliments alongside the track as a whole. Dreamcatcher can never go wrong by going the rebelious route for their comebacks!
8. ‘FOREVER 1’ by Girls’ Generation
The immense joy I felt when Soshi’s 15th Anniversary comeback was confirmed, SONEs around the world were rejoiced of them to finally return with a new album and music.
Coming off from their previous comeback 5 years ago with their amazing ‘Holiday Night’ album, ‘Forever 1’ just never disappoints and it’s a studio album. Meaning they really went all out on the production in their album for their 15th Anniversary.
‘Forever 1’ has a very nostalgic sounding to it if you’re a fan for so many years. It felt more of a celebration rather than just another comeback with a new sound. It makes sense since their debut song ‘Into The New World’ was also composed by the same person, Kenzie.
I’m happy that they’ve fulfilled their promises with their 15th Anniversary comeback, not to mention that they went above and beyond with their well planned album promotion schedules. #SONE4LIFE
7. ‘Glitch’ by Kwon Eun Bi
Kwon Eun Bi returns with a bang earlier this year with ‘Glitch’. She also returned with ‘Underwater’ months after that as well. While her latest release is quite a jam, I very much prefer her musical take on ‘Glitch’.
This track is such a heavy sub-bass song which is great and refreshing with Eunbi’s vocal pitch. The chorus is definitely the highlight for me with it being just making good use of the bass rumble while working alongside with her minimalistic upper-midrange vocal tone.
Another highlight of the chorus also coincide with the meaning of making use of the ‘Glitch’ theme sounding and you ended up just vibing along with the beat in a “Glitchy” way if you know what I mean.
Eun Bi’s ‘Glitch’ release is definitely one of my favs this year and her musical genre seems to match with mine, so I’ll be looking forward more to her future releases.
6. ‘INVU’ by TAEYEON
Another year, another absolute banger of a release from TAEYEON. Following her pre-release track ‘Can’t Control Myself’, she finally released her title track ‘INVU’ for her studio album…. INVU.
I can never go wrong by saying her releases have been great, refreshing, and never dull in sounding every year. ‘INVU’ continues to prevail with her musical releases.
Her vocals continues to be the highlight and it compliments with the instrumentals a lot. It is a semi-simple beat but it also has a very ethereal sounding feel to it and her vocals just goes well with it.
She continues to bring out new amazing releases year by year. A one of a kind artist.
We have arrived at the half-way point in the list! At this point, I will be presenting my ‘2022’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 have listened to before but never caught on liking it in the first place. It can either be a title song or from a B-side song.
With that said, time for me to present them below!
~2022’s Old Korean Song of The Year~
‘I’m So Hot’ by MOMOLAND
I have honestly regretted not finding this song earlier during my time in 2019. If I had found out about this song, this track would had been my Korean Song of The Year.
What else can I say, a rare dive into the Electro Swing music genre and Momoland did fantastically with it! It was composed so well and their addictive chorus goes very well with it!
It’s a shame we don’t have Electro Swing related tracks with ‘Door’ by Kwon Eun Bi being the closest and most recent dwell into the Electro Swing genre. I hope to see more of this musical genre in the K-Pop space in the future.
Runner-Ups:
- ‘I Love You’ by EXID
- ‘After School’ by Weeekly
- ‘ASAP’ by STAYC
- ‘THANKS’ by SEVENTEEN
- ‘GOT’YA’ by ICHILLIN’
*All links in the Runner-Ups section above are Youtube links.
That concludes my ‘2022’s Old Korean Song of The Year’! We can now continue down the list!
5. ‘LOVE DIVE’ by IVE
I honestly never expected that I would love this track more than I originally thought. I never even thought this ended up being one of my favourite tracks this year and this all started by a friend of mine sharing their absolute love for this group. I can see why now IVE is it.
They had a couple of releases so far even though it’s only a single. ‘ELEVEN’ being their debut track late last year, followed by ‘LOVE DIVE’ and finally ‘AFTER LIKE’ being their latest release. Out of the 3 singles, ‘LOVE DIVE’ caught my ears the most.
They have a very distinct sound with their tracks by making their vocals being presented right in front of you which made them quite unique and refreshing in today’s K-Pop world.
You could tell their vocals was aimed to be the priority in all of their releases and it shows. You find pretty cool bass beat with an amazing sub-bass rumble to go along with it and you produce an amazing sound with the member’s vocals to be the star.
‘LOVE DIVE’ has a more addictive hook to my ears, especially with their “Oooohh~” part of their chorus. It draws you in and you’re already part of the ride. Wonderful release this year and they deserve all the awards for this track.
4. ‘Event Horizon’ by YOUNHA
I found Younha’s music by chance earlier this year and I’m so glad I did. ‘Event Horizon’ gives off all of the good things about a solo female J-Pop song and makes it sound wonderful in the K-Pop space. It’s also one of the longest tracks with the total track time being 5 minutes long, which would be pretty common in a normal J-Pop song.
It has a very J-Pop sounding throughout the song but it’s never dull despite the track being 5 minutes long. The way she build up the pre-chorus is great and when it comes to chorus, it did not disappoint and what comes after, her vocals does a wonderful job to work alongside the instrumentals.
Another highlight was the “break times” in the song. It may sound like the track is taking a lil bit of a break but her vocals never waivered and she continued with that higher pitch and the pay off towards the end is amazing.
I’m very much looking forward to her future releases now as I am now a fan of her music.
3. ‘The Story of Us’ by HYNN
This is such a wonderful surprise. I only recently just discovered her music and I already fell in love with her music.
I rarely listen to ballad songs but ‘The Story of Us’ is just too good to not love. I love it even to the point I’ll just close my eyes while she belts those high notes in her vocals.
There is something grand while listening to this track. HYNN really shared her message across through her vocals with this song and I’m just in awe while listening to it. It started slow but when the chorus hits and she starts to belt those high notes, I fell in love with her vocals instantly.
Not every female artists gets to handle those vocal vibrato with such ease and HYNN made it sound so easy. She is definitely one of the other surprise this year and earned very high up in my list.
2. ‘SMILEY (Feat. BIBI)’ by YENA
I never expect to like this song as much as I originally did, but ‘SMILEY (Feat. BIBI)’ by YENA is just the epitome of “feel good” tracks.
Having released all the way back in January, this song really stuck with me the most through out the year. I can’t help but feel better after listening to this track. It just ooze you with happiness whenever you feel down.
YENA really captured the positive vibe throughout this song while being accompanied by BIBI’s whimsical vocals in her part of the song definitely elevates the fun of the entire track. The track has a very catchy bass which surprises me to no end and the chorus is just one of the best this year for me.
Even with her recent release ‘SMARTPHONE’ , she still manages to keep the positivity and uplifting vibes going. She may have found her musical theme going forward and we needed more tracks like this. ‘SMILEY’ just happens to stuck with me more in the long run and it’s been a good stress reliever kind of song for me.
This has been another definite surprise of a track and I can’t help but kinda dance along to the chorus sometimes while lip syncing with it. She’s gonna make you smile smile smile away!
1. ‘Feel My Rhythm’ by Red Velvet
Red Velvet returns with another banger and with an Orchestral-Pop sound at that! My expectations was skepticalwhen I first read the sound they were going for. An orchestral pop sound? I love me some Orchestra music but mixing with K-Pop can easily make the sound go down south. Boy, how entirely wrong I was and I’m glad it sounded just perfect from start to finish.
I could tell how well articulated the composers did for ‘Feel my Rhythm’. It’s like they chose ‘Air on G String’ by Bach as their starting ground and they just built up the sound from there. I have no idea how they did but each verse and section of this track was so well placed for each of the members to shine, given they already have great vocals to begin with.
A great highlight was during Irene’s rap break. I thought it won’t jive nicely with the overall sound but she and instrumentals just fits so well with it.
The cherry on top was the build up to the final chorus. Everytime the final chorus kicks in, my mind will always go “Bring it home girls!” signalling the ending of such an amazing track.
This track definitely earns the Number 1 spot in my list. It’s difficult to implement an orchestral piece, let alone a popular one into a K-Pop track. I doubt we’ll ever hear another track this unique in a very long while and they deserve all the praise with this wonderful release.
That concludes for my Top Ten Korean Songs of 2022! Before I go into my afterword, I will be presenting some honourable mentions and a short list of my favourite B-Sides from various korean artists this year!
Honourable Mentions:
- ‘Ditto’ by NewJeans
- ‘TOMBOY’ by (G)I-DLE
- ‘28 Reasons’ by SEULGI
- ‘HONEY’ by Solar
- ‘ANTIFRAGILE’ by LE SSERAFIM
- ‘Malibu Orange’ by Park Soeun
- ‘FIRE’ by EXID
- ‘BOP BOP!’ by VIVIZ
- ‘WA DA DA’ by Kep1er
- ‘Talk that Talk’ by TWICE
- ‘DM’ by fromis_9
- ‘Underwater’ by KWON EUN BI
- ‘Somebody’ by Loco & Hwa Sa
*All links in the Honourable section above are Youtube links.
Favourite B-Sides:
- ‘Rhythm of Hope’ by Lee Jin Ah
- ‘Fairytale’ by Dreamcatcher
- ‘Big Booty’ by Solar
- ‘Starlight’ by Dreamcatcher
- ‘Even if Time Passes’ by CHEEZE
- ‘Lucky Like That’ by Girls’ Generation
- ‘Pale Blue Dot’ by LOONA
*All links in the B-Sides section above are Youtube links.
That pretty much concludes all of my lists this year! It’s been especially tough to filter out to just ten, I even had to split Number 10 to 2 parts due to how close both tracks that I felt deserved to be in the list. There are just too many wonderful track releases this year.
With that said, it’s time to get on with my afterword!
Afterword
First of all, I wanna say Thank you so much for reading this article even if you are just a casual K-Pop fan, my friends, or someone who happens to find my article. This year has been quite a ride for most of us, with borders opening around the world.
K-Pop wise, it’s been full of ups and downs. Dreamcatcher finally got their first ever win, Girls’ Generation and KARA’s 15th Anniversary comebacks, LOONA having a wonderful 1st half of the year with them appearing in QUEENDOM 2 and unfortunately came to a potential downfall of the group in the 2nd half with Chuu getting kicked out. That still hurts a lot but I hope things will get better for the members and Chuu next year.
I know there have been a lot of downs more than ups for most these past 2 years and a half. Whether it be a very personal thing, mental health related, Covid or just overall.
I wanna say to you all congratulations for surviving what could possibly be one of the worst times of your lives the past 2 and a half years. You did well and I hope you were able to find love, solace, and joy during those troubling times. May the new year be kinder to all of you.
Lastly, a word to my future self. The next year is going to be something special and I hope it will go the way we are expecting it to be. Don’t forget what we had been through in the past. Use that to push forward. There will potentially be rough times ahead and you know that, so I hope you’ll be able to take a step back, think it through, and power through it.
Hang in there, your goals are now in within sight compared to before.
Presenting a track for everyone to listen to, which is ‘Let’s Go Home’ by Stella Jang. Even after going through a hard day, you deserve some rest and sense of joy.
To highlight some of the lyrics:
“Since I’ve worked hard all day
I’m gonna go rest
How about you?
You must be tired too
You should go rest too
Let’s give myself a hug for the trouble
Let’s go home”
This truly concludes my article for this year!
Once again, thank you so much for reading! See you all next year! Do take care, stay healthy, achieve what you always plan on wanna do, and all the best to all of you!
