Favorites of 2021: April

(This was supposed to come out this past weekend, but… I made six consecutive posts on Sunday and was totally drained ^^”’) I honestly can’t believe that we’re done with April and already several days into May. This year is moving by so fast, and I can’t deal. While there was an abundance of new music in April, I haven’t had a ton of time to consume a lot of K-pop lately – sadly, teaching at two schools has significantly changed my lifestyle. So although I checked out almost everything, most of the little free time I had for K-pop was divided between several releases.

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

As I mentioned last month, Baekhyun and Cosmic Girls have been included here because they made their comebacks on the last couple days of March. Similarly, I’m saving ITZY for May’s favorites – while their new release is totally my latest obsession, it was technically only around for six hours of April. (And I usually need at least two or three days to form a definitive opinion about a release.)

This Month’s Favorites

	Favorite Song	Favorite Dance	Favorite Music Video
#1	ASTRO, “ONE”	ASTRO, “ONE”	SHINee, “Atlantis”
#2	SHINee, “Atlantis”	SHINee, “Atlantis”	Baekhyun, “Bambi”
#3	Cosmic Girls, “Unnatural”	ONF, “Ugly Dance”	NU’EST, “Inside Out”
#4	Baekhyun, “Bambi”	Cosmic Girls, “Unnatural”	ASTRO, “ONE”

Favorite Overall Comebacks

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 April

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

B-Sides

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

Artist	Album	B-Sides I Like
AB6IX	MO’COMPLETE: HAVE A DREAM (4th mini album)	“Headline”
ASTRO	All Yours (2nd full album)	“Someone Else”
Baekhyun	Bambi (3rd mini album)	“All I Got”
Cosmic Girls	Unnatural (9th mini album)	“Super Moon” “New Me”
ENHYPEN	BORDER: CARNAVAL (2nd mini album)	“FEVER” “Mixed Up”
HOT ISSUE	Issue Maker (1st mini album)	“Dungga Dungga”
ONF	City of ONF (ONF: My Name repackage)	“The Dreamer”
NU’EST	Romanticize (2nd full album)	“Black” “Doom Doom” (JR solo)
SHINee	Atlantis (Don’t Call Me repackage)	“Days and Years”
Wendy (Red Velvet)	Like Water (1st mini album)	“Best Friend” feat. Seulgi

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.

This Year’s Favorites (So Far)

One of the reasons I created this column was that so I could keep track of my favorites in “real time” as I progressed through 2021. This year, I hope to release several new end of year favorites posts in addition to my regular Top 50 (if I can get my act together). So, I hope that writing these down every month will help me better remember exactly how I felt about everything later on.

This month, I’ve added a new feature to better show how my rankings shift from month to month. So now, there are different colors to indicate any changes in the table:

• (NEW) means something has appeared in the Top 10 for the first time.
• (+#) means that it’s has gone up in my rankings.
• (-#) means that it’s has gone down in my rankings.
• No mark means that there’s no change from last month.

Right now, my habit is paying attention to a comeback for a certain amount of time and then taking a break from it. It’s usually only in the second half of the year that I start revisiting music and re-evaluate my opinions. Also, I haven’t had as much time to listen to or watch K-pop in general this past month. So, there aren’t many songs moving up my lists at this point – it’s mostly just me adding in my new favorites of the month and shifting the chart accordingly. The significant changes are more likely to come later in the year.

	Favorite Song	Favorite Dance	Favorite Music Video
#1	SHINee, “Don’t Call Me”	SHINee, “Don’t Call Me”	SHINee, “Atlantis” (NEW)
#2	ASTRO, “ONE” (NEW)	ASTRO, “ONE” (NEW)	Baekhyun, “Bambi” (NEW)
#3	Rosé, “On the Ground” (-1)	SHINee, “Atlantis” (NEW)	Golden Child, “Burn It” (-2)
#4	Super Junior, “House Party” (-1)	Sunmi, “Tail” (-2)	Sunmi, “Tail” (-2)
#5	Baekhyun, “Bambi” (NEW)	Super Junior, “House Party” (-2)	PURPLE KISS, “Ponzoña” (-2)
#6	(G)I-DLE, “HWAA” (-2)	PURPLE KISS, “Ponzoña” (-2)	Super Junior, “House Party” (-2)
#7	Sunmi, “Tail” (-2)	WayV, “Kick Back” (-2)	(G)I-DLE, “HWAA” (-2)
#8	WayV, “Kick Back” (-2)	ONF, “Ugly Dance” (NEW)	ONF, “Beautiful Beautiful” (-2)
#9	PURPLE KISS, “Ponzoña” (-2)	Chungha, “Bicycle” (-3)	Dreamcatcher, “Odd Eye” (-2)
#10	Cosmic Girls, “Unnatural” (NEW)	Cosmic Girls, “Unnatural” (NEW)	NU’EST, “Inside Out” (NEW)

My Listening Stats for K-pop in 2021 (as of April)

NOTE: These are primarily based on my Apple Music Replay stats.

	Most Played Songs	Most Played Artists	Most Played Albums
#1	Super Junior, “House Party” (+2)	Super Junior	Super Junior, The Renaissance
#2	(G)I-DLE, “HWAA” (-1)	SHINee	SHINee, Don’t Call Me
#3	Yunho (TVXQ), “Eeny Meeny” (-1)	(G)I-DLE	(G)I-DLE, I Burn
#4	SHINee, “Don’t Call Me” (+1)	Chungha	Chungha, Querencia
#5	Rosé, “On the Ground” (-1)	WayV	Cosmic Girls, Unnatural (NEW)
#6	WayV, “Kick Back” (+1)	Victon	Victon, Voice: The Future Is Now (-1)
#7	Cherry Bullet, “Love So Sweet” (-1)	Cosmic Girls (NEW)	ASTRO, All Yours (NEW)
#8	Victon, “What I Said”	Red Velvet (+2)	NU’EST, Romanticize (NEW)
#9	Dreamcatcher, “Odd Eye”	Dreamcatcher (-2)	Baekhyun, Bambi (NEW)
#10	ASTRO, “ONE” (NEW)	ASTRO (NEW)	CRAVITY Hideout: Be Our Voice – Season 3 (-4)

It’s really interesting that ASTRO is higher than NU’EST and Baekhyun on the “Most Played Albums” list, because I prefer Romanticize and Bambi as whole albums. (Meaning there are more B-sides that I enjoyed, and/or I’m more inclined to listen to it all the way through.) I did listen to All Yours in its entirety once or twice, but I mostly just played “ONE.” I think Apple Music ranks “Most Played Albums” by adding up how many times you play each song from the album – rather than how many times you listen to it from beginning to end – so that definitely indicates to me just how much I played “ONE” this month.

Favorite Releases of the Year

This category isn’t just about how much I like a comeback and its separate elements. Those definitely play a factor, but I also consider how invested I am in it – how much time I spend listening to music, watching videos, tracking promotions, etc. So I’m still not *quite* up to a Top 10 because I just don’t have as much time to spend on K-pop as I did last year… but we’re getting there!

1. SHINee, “Don’t Call Me”
2. ASTRO, “ONE” (NEW)
3. Super Junior, “House Party” (-1)
4. (G)I-DLE, “HWAA” (-1)
5. SHINee, “Atlantis” (NEW)
6. Rosé, “On the Ground” (-1)
7. PURPLE KISS, “Ponzoña” (-1)

Favorite Albums and B-Sides of the Year

	Favorite Albums	Favorite B-Sides
#1	Super Junior, The Renaissance	Baekhyun, “All I’ve Got” (NEW)
#2	SHINee, Don’t Call Me	Super Junior, “Burn the Floor” (-1)
#3	Cosmic Girls, Unnatural (NEW)	Super Junior, “Tell Me Baby” (-1)
#4	(G)I-DLE, I Burn (-1)	SHINee, “Body Rhythm” (-1)
#5	PURPLE KISS, Into Violet (-1)	Cosmic Girls, “Super Moon” (NEW)
#6	NU’EST, Romanticize (NEW)	NU’EST, “Black” (NEW)
#7	Baekhyun, Bambi (NEW)	Dreamcatcher, “Poison Love” (-2)
#8	Chungha, Querencia (-3)	(G)I-DLE, “Moon” (-3)
#9	Victon, Voice: The Future Is Now*	PURPLE KISS, “Skip Skip”*
#10	WayV, Kick Back*	ASTRO, “Someone Else” (NEW)

*These aren’t exactly new entries – it’s just that this is the first time I’ve include a full Top 10, and they weren’t in my Top 5 (which is what I was showing previously).

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SOURCES: YouTube, BE:LIFT LAB/HYBE (ENHYPEN), Brand New Entertainment (AB6IX), Fantagio Entertainment (ASTRO), S2 Entertainment (HOT ISSUE), SM Entertainment (SHINee, Baekhyun, Wendy, and SuperM), Starship Entertainment (Cosmic Girls), WM Entertainment (ONF)

Featured Image: ASTRO (Fantagio Entertainment)