My Top K-pop MVs, Album EPs and LPs of 2025 ~ Ash2theb

Hi Subbies,

It's been a cold winter brought on by recent major rain storms, so I feel a little bit behind because during my winter break, we had major winter storms that took out power in my area. I was super tired as well due to other reasons, and it was cold and even colder since my computer is next to the window. Now that Korean Music Award season is here, I figured I’d try to get everything done before my birthday/Lunar New Year/Super Bowl.

Same as last year, I can barely kept up with the new releases, so I tried to focus on albums that were highly recommended from music forums. Also, there are a lot more EPs than full-blown albums this year, and I usually don't like including singles but it can't be helped. If I didn't get through an album like usual, it will be in my Honorable Mentions. I knew Red (Michael Jackson, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Stranger Things Finale, IT, Sinners) was going to be a big theme in 2025, and Mocha Moose (Browns: Latte, Toast, Mocha Makeup) was a secondary focus point. I hope to see Jewel-toned Green (OZ/Wicked, Matrix, Alien franchise) than Pantone's 2026 color of the year, Cloud Dancer “White," be a secondary (Slavic Winter Makeup micro trend, Frozen/Ice Queen, Deep-Winter Looks). I have a bit of FOMO because the Coachella announcement so I'll be missing Big Bang and Aya Nakamura performances, and it sold out with a quickness. My friend really thought BTS was coming in 2025, and I told her to have you been paying attention with visa situations, plus they are more likely to be working on music, which takes anywhere from a year to 6 months, but it's not even that. January is the worst month to drop tickets after Christmas, and our economy isn't that great and don't be fooled by Black Friday most it was BNPL because have you all seen the concerts get canceled due to low sales and don't get me started on dynamic pricing which has to go (Ask my wallet when J-hope came), which I feel like everyone is going to be financing their tickets if that's the case. Also, my mom wants to finally visit a part of country we have never been to so I'm planning that.

Anyways, Mom and I actually watched her Tour Documentary Karol G: Tomorrow Was Beautiful on Netflix that covered her 2021 Bichota Tour. I've seen Karol G live at Coachella so I was very much interested in watching it. We also watched her MTV VMA performance of 'Si Antes Te Hubiera Conocido' and she vocally slayed but I would have loved some reverb on her vocals or backup singers because it sounded very flat in the live recording versus her recent Billboard Women in Music Performance (I’m so used to her hard-hitting songs though). I really enjoyed her personal discovery over the years and the doc was really personal and deep. She just released Tropicoquete which I've listened to on the plane during my vacation and no skips and it really captures Central-South American and Caribbean music genres that it's like a capsule of familiar songs she samples/interpolates: Be My Lover, Oye Mi Canto, Mamabo No. 5, And I Love Her, Careless Whispers that I really enjoyed. My most favorite track that has been on replay is La Reina Presenta.

Bad Bunny, I waited to listen to him because there was such a huge buzz around him that I wanted to wait and don't get me wrong I've heard his radio plays and enjoyed them. Now I can enjoy his extensive body of work, but his recent work really speaks to me. I had to put my mom on to him as well because his latest releases have been total fire. NUEVAYoL (Nueva York) was on repeat on my plane ride along with ALAMBRE PÚA, DtMF, and EoO. And as you can see, I like his more unconventional tracks on his albums because they are just a vibe, but I didn't expect Tyler, the Creator levels of Depression levels of lyrics, which is common with everything going on especially noticed this with RM's Right Place, Wrong Person, which was a great body of work, but Groin took me out.

I've talked about Jennie. The trendsetting human. Chanel dropped her full album last year, and it deserves the critical acclaim because she created well-thought-out branding workhorse through the use of the red theme, storytelling, and cultural iconography. The problem comes with live performance, which I've already talked about. She simply is not able to balance her energy/pacing, aka endurance. She goes all out but can't continue; she used up her net energy. I watched the MAMA performance, which was as bad with pacing and breath control as her 1st week Coachella performance, and a similar thing happened during this award season that the 2nd, such as the Golden Disc award, went usually better along with the fan-cams, but the one good thing is that she looked happy to be performing. My critique is that yeah, she lip syncs, which I expected because her endurance (cardiovascular) vs power balance is unstable, but if it means a better performance, then so be it, but you better serve face and body, but she needs to either do a mid-tempo song first > slow tempo (to recenter and catch her breath) > Fast tempo (go all out with choreography-wise), so for example, ZEN/Mantra > Seoul City > like Jennie, she doesn't need to repeat "like Jennie" more than once and focus just on the choreography in those parts. One great example of this is BoA’s comebacks performances in the last 10 years where she balances her singing and when to dance full out since she is the Empress of K-pop and Blueprint of modern K-pop. I know artists see what everyone writes about them, but I want to see Jennie get as close to when we first started as a key trainee at YGEnt.

Let's do a speed run, but a quick remark: of course, newer K-pop stans think their faves are untouchable, but most of us, including myself, who have been listening to K-pop since 2-gen, have some more critical expectations than others, but don't be cruel because you know companies will build a close and shut case on you. ARTMS - I wish I could have gone to their concert because this album was so good, and I hope their solos get released on a deluxe version of their album. Check out the "album video" because it is so fire and did peep the crowing references to their hoobae's TripleS connection forming. Jayden projects sometimes makes me worry about the quality of music and storytelling. aespa - Y'all know how I feel about these girlies. Whiplash was like the white room/training in the Matrix, but most people were like, “Oh, they abandoned their storyline, which was really Dirty Work and Rich Man, which was an attempt to claw back the elements they had building up that gave us visual masterpieces of Supernova and Armageddon.” Now, SM is having them work on another studio album. LE SSERAFIM - A toned-down promo HOT of Chasing Lighting and their follow-up 60’s-inspired single Come Over leading to bombastic Spaghetti makes me think HYBE is in their Food era, but they had a great year, and I love the collaborations between artists. Almost forgot to mention I did attend their concert, which I got to see their label mates KATSEYE, which is my mom's favs. YEJI - I've already talked about Air and K-pop girlies influences, but I really enjoyed the album as a whole. NMIXX - The visual storytelling has changed between the two albums but is amazing works that got me through trails and tribulations, but I'm just sure about the visuals of Blue Valentines. SEULGI - I love Baby, Not Baby and the M/V, but sometimes I feel like I can't play it in certain places because I feel like it has a deeper message and metaphors. Irene & Seulgi - TILT is peak queer baiting but on SM lower budget but still has ties to SMCU because of setting/ butterfly effect storyline and probably the red focus in aespa's DRAMA. J-Hope - As soon as he announced his tour, I bought tickers for two separate days because scalpers are so annoying, but prices for VIP, which was a set price vs. GA, were affected by the dynamic pricing, which should be illegal, and I'm over it. Jisoo - I like the production, but one of the songs’ lyrics was oddly executed, which I think was Hugs&Kisses. Other than that, Earthquake was on repeat, and I love her vocals on the track. There were a lot of great visuals this year, but I will say I stuck to listening to longer albums, and if the visuals were great, I would tune in.

Every time Amaarae drops music, it goes viral and it's fires every time, so that's why she was my ranking, especially towards the end of the year. I saw her at Coachella, where she shaved her hair, which my internet friends were side-eyeing hard, but it was a totally different vibe being there vs watching it from the comfort of your home. Anyways, she had a similar situation to Doja Cat was feeling about her hair, but cutting usually signals a change or a wanted change, and in Africa, relaxers are still being used heavily, on top of Queerness being taboo.

Top 5 Predictions

Prime Year of Influence: 1986 & 2006
Artist Influence: Phil Collin's, Whitney Houston, Dire Straits, Tina Turner, Green Day, John Legend, and Mariah Carey.
Genre focus: Pop, R&B, and Rock
Fashion Inspo: McBling: Skinny Jeans, True Low Rise, Trucker hats, Uggs. (Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Super Model Kimora Lee.
Pop Culture: Simple Life, Back in Fab Lane, Pan's Labyrinth, Crash (2006), Alien (1986), and Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Bonus: LG Razor, , Ford Taurus/ Scorpio/ Granada. Canon T90, Nikon D80.

My 2025 Top Western Taste

My Top Ranking Artists of 2025

Jennie

ARTMS

aespa

LE SSERAFIM

YEJI

NMIXX

SEULGI

Red Velvet - Irene & Seulgi

j-hope

Jisoo

NCT DREAM

STAYC

FIFFTY FIFFTY

YVES

TEN

G-DRAGON

Chung Ha

ONEW