Favorites of 2021: January

Back when I started this blog, I used to post about my K-pop favorites every month. I’m bringing that back, but I’m also changing it up a bit. This time, I really want to see how my preferences change throughout the whole year. Since we just started 2021, this post will only cover January. But in future months, I’ll also add charts to keep track of all of my favorite releases so far. I’m really interested to see how my feelings and favorites evolve over the course of this year!

*Please remember that all of the following is my own personal opinion!*

This Month’s Favorites

	Favorite Song	Favorite Dance	Favorite Music Video
#1	(G)I-DLE, “HWAA”	Victon, “What I Said”	Golden Child, “Burn It”
#2	Victon, “What I Said”	(G)I-DLE, “HWAA”	(G)I-DLE, “HWAA”
#3	Cherry Bullet, “Love So Sweet”	TREASURE, “My Treasure”	Dreamcatcher, “Odd Eye”
#4	Dreamcatcher, “Odd Eye”	Cherry Bullet, “Love So Sweet”	ONEUS, “No Diggity”

Favorite Overall Comebacks

#1: (G)I-DLE, “HWAA”

Just when I thought I couldn’t be more into (G)I-DLE, they released this spellbinding stunner. I love everything about it, and it’s my first official K-pop obsession of the year. (Read my post about it here.)

#2: Victon, “What I Said”

I was always more of a casual listener of Victon, but their latest latin pop inspired track really caught my attention. It’s been a few weeks, and the tune still has yet to leave my head – but I don’t mind one bit. (Read my post about it here.)

#3: Dreamcatcher, “Odd Eye”

“Odd Eye” is truly Dreamcatcher at their best, embracing their personas as visual storytellers. While I initially wasn’t as wowed by the song itself, it’s really grown on me in a few short days. And I’m STILL thinking about the symbolism of that gorgeous music video. (Read my post about it here.)

#4: Cherry Bullet, “Love So Sweet”

Cherry Bullet’s take on the synthpop retro trend is just as sweet as the title suggests. It’s just so bubbly, effervescent, and SO DARN CATCHY. I know Cherry Bullet is still a little underrated (sadly), so I sincerely hope people will take notice of this comeback. (Read my post about it here.)

Albums and B-Sides I Like

As a K-pop listener, it’s fairly uncommon for me to listen to a whole album consistently. I’ll check one out a few times to see if there’s anything I like; but since I listen to lots of different groups, I spend most of my time rotating through different title tracks. I don’t know why, but it’s just how I’ve always operated. That being said, I think it’s important to acknowledge the work that groups and artists put into their albums. So, I want to point out a few albums and B-sides that piqued my interest.

My Top 3 Albums of January

(You can click on the album’s picture to go to a playlist on YouTube.)

#1: (G)I-DLE, I Burn

#2: Victon, VOICE: The Future is Now

#3: HyunA, I’m Not Cool

B-Sides

(You can click the song title to go to the video on YouTube.)

Artist	Album	Favorite B-Side(s)
Cherry Bullet	Cherry Rush (1st mini album)	“Keep Your Head Up”
CRAVITY	Hideout: Be our Voice Season 3 (3rd mini album)	“Bad Habits” “Dangerous”
Dreamcatcher	Dystopia: Road to Utopia (6th mini album)	“Poison Love”
(G)I-DLE	I Burn (4th mini album)	“HANN (Alone in Winter)” “Moon”
HyunA	I’m Not Cool (7th mini album)	“Party, Feel, Love” feat. DAWN
Victon	Voice: The Future is Now (1st full album)	“Chess” “Flip a Coin”

Special Mentions

This section is kind of a catch-all for different things I want to bring attention to: artists that I don’t normally listen to, songs that I like but don’t have enough material to write a whole post on, songs that I find interesting but aren’t official comebacks, etc.

Epik High feat. CL and Zico, “Rosario”

I really don’t know much about Epik High, but I was seriously impressed by everything about this song. They all killed it! More importantly, it has such an essential message – and the lyrics really got to me. I’m going to listen to this and sing CL’s chorus whenever I need a serious confidence booster.

Yunho (TVXQ), “Eeny Meeny”

I’m pretty open about being SM-biased, but I know surprisingly little about TVXQ. (I genuinely don’t know why and I’m working on fixing it.) That being said, I thoroughly enjoy “Eeny Meeny.” It’s just such a clean and polished song with a super addictive beat and melody. And I love the MV cameo from Seulgi! I also wanted to take a moment to mention the EXCELLENT action movie style music video for “Thank U,” but since it’s age-restricted I’ll just link it here.

IU, “Celebrity”

I like most of IU’s songs, but I don’t have a habit of seeking out her music; she’s so popular in South Korea that I end up hearing her songs everywhere anyway. But “Celebrity” will definitely be put on repeat, because it really touched me. Not only does it have a sweet melody, it’s an important reminder that you’re a star to someone – no matter how different and alone you feel. This is actually something I have a lot of anxiety about, so this song really hit me in the feels.

IZ*ONE, “D-D-Dance”

This song is classic IZ*ONE: bright and bubbly with a beat that makes you want to get up and groove. Unfortunately, you can only watch the whole music video on Universe (since it was made for the platform)… but at least we can listen to the full version!

SOURCES: YouTube, Cube Entertainment ((G)I-DLE), 1theK/EDAM Entertainment (IU), FNC Entertainment (Cherry Bullet), Happy Face Entertainment (Dreamcatcher), Off the Record Entertainment (IZ*ONE), OURS Co. (Epik High), P Nation (HyunA), Play M Entertainment (Victon), SM Entertainment (Yunho), Starship Entertainment (CRAVITY)

Cover Image Idols (L-R): Yuju (Cherry Bullet), Seungwoo (Victon), Yuqi (G)I-DLE, Dami (Dreamcatcher)