digitalalterego

HEART MAID might be my K-pop album of the year, ngl. The song Sweet nightmare combines K-pop with one of my favourite genres: post-punk. When I heard this song I was seriously amazed that no other k-pop act (at least not the ones that I follow) have done something like that! I mean, post-punk is basically the poppiest subgenre of punk (and I love it for that). Trust Sunmi to bring an interesting song like this. There's also a switch-up partway through which is pretty cool.





4. LOONA/ODD EYE CIRCLE - LOONATIC



Of course I had to put LOONA somewhere, I just love them too much. LOONATIC is a brilliant song combining dream pop with k-pop, in such a faithful way that it stands out. Other groups have also done dream-pop-esque songs before (I heavily recommend TXT - Ghosting), but the heavy bass and reverbed + drowned-out vocals make this a sweet listen. A lot of k-pop groups try interesting genre combinations, but then disappointingly mix the song as if it is a regular pop song (looking at you, Heejin's new song sAvioR). This is not that!
This song was a random find of mine and God was I happy to find it. The same reason applies as for LOONATIC; there are other songs that fuse reggae and k-pop, but this one is the best, and that is down to its mixing. It makes the song feels psychedelic, you could melt away just listening to it. On top of that, the vocal and rap delivery are both creepy and calming. The video is unique as well. This haunting feeling is right up my alley~
Another 2025 release and another possible k-pop AOTY. This really has been NMIXX's year!!! High Horse mixes k-pop and trip-hop, a niche late 90s/early 2000s genre that totally needs to come back NOW. If you want more trip-hop I recommend Archive, a London collective who have a way too extensive discography for me to get stuck in but the songs I've heard have been great. High Horse is a brilliant song. Vocal performance, production, everything. And the trip-hop genre gives it a certain edge that k-pop songs are usually missing.



7. Brown Eyed Girls - Brave New World



Another of my fav groups. This song is really a grower, it's difficult to grasp the structure at first but once it falls into place you will realise... This might be one of the coolest k-pop songs ever. Brave New World combines k-pop with funk and disco to make the most "newtro" sound you will ever hear. It's addictive. And yeah, I still hope they will have a comeback one day. Their fandom name is everlasting for a reason!
Once again, lots of k-pop songs are influenced by house music, but this one is so faithful that it stands above the others. Its the kind of songs that plays in New Look just a little too loud, at a time when I've been shopping a little too long, and the lights are just a little too bright. Ok that makes it sound like it's a bad song, but I think it's a brilliant song. Blame New Look for associating house music with that poor shopping experience! This song gets me jumping.



9. tripleS - White Soul Sneakers