AKF's Top Korean Songs (#25-1)

Same criteria as before.

25. Taru - Love Today



I'm a huge fucking Taru fan, and the height of her career musically was when she was with Pastel Music doing light pop music. It fits her voice much better than acoustic music does.

24. Epik High - Pieces of You



Epik High's "Pieces of You" was the first Korean album I bought and the titular track off the album is one of my favorite Epik High songs of all time. I was mesmerized the first time I listened to the song and couldn't listen to anything else but this track for the rest of the day. It was one of the first songs I could understand just by listening to the song instead of having to search the lyrics on Naver.

23. Fana - Rhymonic Storm



Fana's "Rhymonic Storm" is one of those songs that gets me pumped up with the loud bass and the rapid fire rapping at the end. If there ever was an apocalyptic theme, this is it.

22. Dynamic Duo - In The Line of Fire



One of the most addicting Dynamic Duo songs for me. I love the electronic beat, Jinsil's vocals, and the rapping is on point in this song.

21. Younha - Hero



Younha's second album "Someday" is her best one, and "Hero" is my favorite track off of the album. It's uncommon for her to do a fast-tempo, strong rock song, and it's a shame she has almost exclusively done ballads these past few years.

20. Beautiful Days - 소년소녀 만나다



This is my favorite song by Beautiful Days. The buildup in the song is worth it. I just wish it was easier to follow Korean indie music, because it takes too much effort for someone with limited time to find new songs to listen to.

19. Supreme Team - Shinobi



Remember Supreme Team? The group that had Simon D and E-Sens. This group should have become big, but E-Sens love for the weed eventually destroyed the group and now Simon D has partnered up with fucking Jay Park. "Shinobi" is one of those bumpers that never get old to listen to.

18. Kara - Mister



The song that shot Kara to fame and millions of bucket loads of sperm. Nicole, please twerk in my face.

17. Nell - Run



Nell's "Run" was the main theme song for the drama "Two Weeks" and it was the perfect song that encompassed the show. The ranking for this song is most likely biased because of how much I like the drama "Two Weeks".

16. Eluphant - Kidult



Eluphant quickly became one of my favorite hip hop groups with the release of their second album, in which "Kidult" is the title track. The song is a lot of fun to listen to and the MV is great. It's a spoof of "I'm A Singer," using rappers from Soul Company to make "I'm A Rapper".

15. Outsider - Alone/Loner



Violins and speed rapping, who knew that would be a winning combo? This song shot Outsider to fame in Korea in 2009, and was one of the few non-idol songs to win #1 on music shows in 2009. This is easily my most listened-to Korean song. Fun fact: When I first started learning Korean in 2009, due to Korean being one of the faster spoken languages, the language sounded like "asdhjkabdkjas imnida" to me for a few months. I listened to this song over and over and Korean started sounding like it was at normal speed.

14. Glen Check - Racket



Glen Check is one of the more known indie bands in Korea and for good reason. I don't think these guys have yet to release a bad song. This is by far my favorite song from them.

13. SNSD - Trick



It's hard to believe this song is on the same album as that piece of shit "The Boys". I still don't understand how this song wasn't chosen as the title track. SNSD probably wouldn't receive half the shit from me if they had this song as their title track back in 2011. However, "The Boys" was the start of SNSD's sad, sad downfall in Korea.

12. Jisun - Goodbye My Heart



This was one of the first "contemporary" songs I listened to in 2009. When I first got into Korean music in 2008, I was mainly listening to older music, with the exception of Epik High, who had just released their "Pieces of You" album before I got into Korean music. Jisun had featured on a few of Epik High's song, so I had already known who she was, so I was excited to hear her solo debut album (which is pretty fucking good). However, after leaving the rock band Loveholic, Jisun hasn't really done shit aside from releasing this album.

11. BoA - Implode



In 2010, I was excited for BoA's return to Korea, as I had always like her Korean music more than her Japanese music. (I feel like I'm a minority there for some reason. Her Japanese releases haven't been that great for years.) I was even more excited knowing Nell's Kim Jong Wan composed and wrote this song. This is easily the most played Korean song from BoA for me.

10. T-ara - Sexy Love



Shinsadong Tiger has created a fuckton of great songs for T-ara, but the main reason why I probably like this song as much as I do is because it's the first post-Hwadog title track. It still has one of Hwadog's shitty raps in heavy autotune, but her rap didn't ruin the song.

9. Baechigi - No. 3



I fucking love this song so much. The fast tempo of the song makes it really easy to listen to and always gets me hyped up. Baechigi is one of my favorite hiphop groups in Korea all thanks to this song. They have a lot of other great songs, but this is easily their best one.

8. T-ara - Sugar Free



By this point I just fucking worship Shinsadong Tiger. This song is a step above the rest due to a lack of a rap break. BPBP doesn't have a rap break either, but this song has a better instrumental. It's a shame the MV sucks so much cock. Also kudos for Shinsadong Tiger not having Soyeon singing out of her normal range.

7. f(x) - Red Light



What else is there left for me to say about this song? Since its release last summer, I haven't enjoyed a song as much as "Red Light". I was surprised to see so many people hating on the song. I knew Zaku would dislike it, I mean, come on, the dude fingers his butthole to the Korean Spock. But everyone else? It shocked me. Everyone was defending SNSD's "I Got A Boy" for being experimental, but "I Got A Boy" was pure garbage and "Red Light" perfected what IGAB and other songs in 2013 couldn't achieve. "Red Light" doesn't sound like five unrelated songs smashed together. It effortlessly transitions without it being jarring. Plus, there's a reason why Kpopalypse and I wrote a three-part fanfic about "Red Light" shading anyone who didn't like it.

6. Taru - Kasio



Before this song, I never knew I was a sucker for light pop music sung by females with airy voices. When the song first appeared in one of the early episodes of "My Princess," I couldn't stop listening to the song. This song made me a huge Taru fan.

5. Epik High - Top Gun



This song goes hard. Great rapping backed by a bumping beat. Plus, the song references Kim Tae Hee, so it gets extra points just for that. This is one of those songs to listen to when you want to feel like a badass.

4. BoA - Green Light



This song only reaches this high because of recency bias. I have listened to this song a shitload over the past few weeks while I have been studying. This is a style of music that really matches BoA's voice, which has kept me listening to the song over and over and over.

3. f(x) - Airplane



There aren't many K-pop albums that I would call masterpieces, but f(x)'s "Pink Tape" is one of them, and "Airplane" is the best track on the album. Up until this point, I mainly liked f(x) because they had some good songs and because I think Victoria is the hottest idol in the game, but this album, and specifically this song, changed my whole opinion on f(x). The synth beat in this song is really fucking addicting.

2. Kara - Step



This is the song I dub "My favorite modern K-pop song". This is Sweetune at their best, and it's a shame they really suck now. The song is not without its flaws (the unnecessary rap break and the jarring transition to the bridge right after), but the strong points in this song (mainly the fucking instrumental during the chorus, which is fucking amazing) easily negates anything I find wrong with the song.

1. Dynamic Duo - Go Back



I love the laid back beat of the song, but what really makes the song my favorite is the lyricism. This song is about being in your 20s and looking back to your younger years. Now being in my mid 20s, this song hits home. It makes me feel old. However, I still remember high school like it was yesterday. A lot of good with a lot of bad, but it's hard to forget the good times, like toilet papering this one kid's house every Tuesday night, or playing football with all of your friends just about every day after school.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these lists and you may find some new songs/artists to listen to.