Cosmic's Favourite Songs of 2013

I know I've stated multiple times on this forum how much I despised kpop's general musical direction in 2013 but as part of my New Year's resolution to be more positive I decided to make a personal best of list for what I view as one of kpop's worst years in recent memory(sorry kpop pre-2007 it's harder to find and judge you). To make it easier I picked only songs with mvs because it takes a lot of time to listen to every album every year ever.

Honorable Mentions(these songs are all pretty good(as in almost made it on the list that more people will probably nitpick) just not good enough for the top

2ne1-Falling in Love

9Muses-Glue

AOA-Confused

BTS-No

Crayon Pop-Dancing Queen 2.0

Crayon Pop-Bar Bar Bar

Crayon Pop-1234

D-Unit-Talk to my face

History-What am I to you

Infinite-Man in Love

Jewelry-Hot and Cold

LC9(feat.Gain)-Mama beat

Lee Hi-Rose

Speed-That's my Fault

Super Junior M-Breakdown

T-ara-Bunny Style

T-ara-I know the Feeling

U-Kiss-Standing Still

Vixx-Hyde

Wa$$up-Wa$$up

40. Gdragon-Crooked

See Gdragon can make really good songs when he wants to, shame that most of his solo work is trash to me, but there’s a needle in this haystack luckily and that needle is Crooked. Gdragon isn’t a trained vocalist in any sense of the word but a trained vocalist would have been horrendous to this, unable to do the call and response portion at 0.30ish. Gdragon’s voice brings charisma to the melody, a rough texture that you would normally find in classic rock music from the 70s onward. Also that introductory synth in the song is amazing.

39. Tahiti-Love Sick

A nugu group who always had good songs was Tahiti we all know that if kpop was about song quality and catchiness they would at least have had one hit. This isn’t their best song(that’s probably Oppa you are mine) but it’s an improved version of that one teenbop song production and melody wise and I can't help but love it.

38. Apink-No no no

A “cutesy” concept with a sexy beat. Heck that butt-shake dance was one of the more sexy moments of 2013 to me there’s just something so coy about women in girls-next-door concept clothes doing such a sensual dance. Anyways this song, sexiness be damned is deliciously catchy for a “healing song” that “no no no” will not escape your head.

37.Delight-Mega yak

Delight were nugus with one of the worst names anyone could ever produce. It was a pain to search for them back in the day. Mega Yak is the aggressive synth song everyone wishes the girl crush groups of nowadays could do. It even has a dubstep breakdown that fits so seamlessly into the song I’ve headbanged to it. The vocals are strong as in loud and fierce and that complements the overwhelming electronic instrumental. In a year where 2ne1 were below average it was welcoming to see nugus bringing the bops.

36. Tiny G-Miss You

Tiny G was a group whose concept was being short as weird as that sounds. However, this song’s chorus is inescapable The instrumental is one constant stream of electronic sounds mixed with disco elements an a very nice inclusion of an electric guitar at 1:36. Also that syncopated piano rift is genius.

35.Lim Kim-All right

How this song did as well as it did in 2013 SK is a mystery to me. It was number 2 on Gaon for a while. All Right is an extremely interesting song, it’s a dark piece of music that’s for sure. Lim Kim’s sultry voice works brilliantly against an intricate wall-like instrumental and a very nice addition of a masculine robot voice for a perfect song for mellow days.

34. Beast-Shadow

Dark production plus elegant melody=good Beast song. Really great to listen to when you feel angst. I love the wave-feel of the chorus and it’s always nice to have a boy group song without a loud in your face chorus that’s pleasurable to listen too. Though it must be said Yoseob looks odd in dark concepts, he’s just too cute for them, I guess. You have a group with three muscular hunks that wouldn’t look out of place in 2pm, a guy who looks like a dark elf and he’s just there with that cute face looking like he’s the male Boram(this is a complement I swear).

33. B1A4-What’s Happening

Fun concepts and songs are pretty rare nowadays as in weird ones at least. B1A4 were the king of weird cute concepts for boy groups that’s a sure. What’s Happening is a bundle of fun that’s for sure, the melodies are as lush as the production is dense, it’s a bombastic explosion of youthful energy that’s for sure.

32. Dalshabet-Be ambitious

A fun summery synthpop song with a playful chorus how can one not like this song. It sounds a lot like early Girl’s day(not their debut of course we don’t talk about that but similar to Twinkle Twinkle and Don’t Forget me). One of Dalshabet’s most underrated songs, how they didn’t make it big with this one is a mystery.

31. Kara-Damaged Lady

Sweetune will appear a ton on the list so if you dislike his productions you probably won’t enjoy this list. Damaged Lady is pretty much Kara 2.0(they had a different lineup for the debut song we will never discuss) at their most metal as the usaul anthemic Kara chorus is blessed for once not with just synths doing metal rifts but with actual rock guitars heavily playing. The tempo changes are also a joy to hear in pop music in general. Let’s remember this as the final song of Kara 2.0 and not those horrendous Japanese singles released in the same year shall we?

30. Sunmi-24 Hours

One of the main reasons I consider 2013 such a bad year for kpop is that when the songs were bad they were deliberately bad to listen to, not just the usual bland stuff SK likes but songs that were designed as total messes with multiple songs shoved into one another in a way that didn’t work the majority of the time(IGAB, Countryside Life, Missing You as some examples). Believe me if this song had a dubstep breakdown it would be horrendous in how jarring it would sound I never thought I would say this but thank goodness for JYP’s tango breakdown it complements the breathy electro-pop of the rest of the song and actually elevates it into something unique in the pop music world.

29. T-ara-Do you Know me

Do you know me is T-ara of the retro fun songs not the sensual club goddess songs(we’ll get to one of those later). This may not be T-ara’s best but if you don’t jam out to that synth driven hook reminiscent of Wae ironi I seriously do not want to be you

28. Im Chang Jung-Open the Door

Apparently, the guy who sings this song is a balladeer so whatever changed in his mind to release this gem of a fun song will forever remain a mystery to me. Open the door is a cover of the Wonderboyz song which came out in the previous year and was quickly forgotten as it just seemed average at best in the gasp of the golden era that was 2012 probably because everyone found the raps in the song pretty cringey. Im Chang Jung improves the song by having lovely trot melodies over the incredibly danceable backing track.

27. Hong Jin young-Boogie Man

Hong Jin young is the hottest trot singer it seems in modern times for two reasons, one she’s gorgeous and entertaining on variety, two her songs are brilliant combinations of modern pop music and trot that are deliciously catchy. Sure it’s no Love Battery but this song makes me want to boogie all night long.

26. Henry feat Kyuhyun and Taemin-Trap

That piano loop is heavenly that honestly SM could’ve put anything over it and it would’ve sounded good. Thank goodness someone was like, “you know this is great now let’s give it a killer of a chorus”. It reminds me of a Rick Astley song somehow and I mean that as a complement.

25. Troublemaker-Now

Troublemaker was amazing for two reasons, one of them being that the songs were fantastic the other being that as a kid it was impossible not to ship cutie sexy Hyuna with an elven looking guy like Hyunseung their visuals contrast nicely and that was an immature thing I was into at the time. Now is the greatest track Troublemaker ever had beating out their legendary debut by being more moody thanks to the inclusion of strings

24. F-ve Dolls-Can you Love me

This was one of the more surprising choices on my list given that it’s a mid-tempo song that’s not by T-ara yet managed to beat the mid-tempo T-ara ballad this year, which was I know the feeling. This is the song Apink wishes they had when they aimed for the breezy cute concepts, Dani’s pitched singing over the groove is my favourite part and in classic MBK/CCM fashion the idols are stunning. Love the hats

23. Heo Young Sang-The Art of Seduction

The singer is a member of ss501 so the music video is an interesting commentary on saesang fans. This provides a dark contrast to a song that is jubilant funky fun with a disco hook that is inescapable. It’s classic sweetune what more does one need most of the time anyways.

22. Girl's Day-Expect/Expectation

Girl’s Day are best when delivering synthpop. Expectations may not be their best of this genre(for me that’s Don’t forget me) but to deny how fantastic this song is in probably the worst year for kpop is to be deaf(I mean no offensive to the deaf I swear). People may have went crazy for hot girls doing that flirtatious suspenders dance but the star of this song was the synths though that guitar rift was welcome and made my heart go doki doki. Also gg song writers in general need to look back and relearn how to write decent hooks in the chorus this year so this song will provide an example of how to do it.

21. 9Muses-Gun

9Muses had a great year in 2013 it was their best year for sure musically and looking back it’s truly a mystery how they didn’t break out this year. Gun is amazing as being the only song with Ennio Morricone inspired instrumentals worth listening to in 2013(looking at you Kill Bill one of the many letdowns), it’s also unusual for kpop to have a guitar carry some of the melody so this song stood out due to that as well as being a girl group song that utilizes brass without it being shouted in your face.

20. Boyfriend-I-Yah

Boyfriend were by far one of the boy group with the cringest names like yes Starship I get it you want girls to imagine them as their boyfriends. Yes the music video is cringey to me(even with the cute girl actress going by this mv she's pretty good at acting) and the guys give me uncanny valley vibes with the weird head gestures but the song is amazing especially considering it comes from a group with such a cursed name(and I’m saying this as a fan of the group Gfriend who also suffered from cringe naming). The song is powerful piece of 80s style dance pop, with the chorus being the most aggressive Boyfriend ever had and that rhythm guitar is perfectly mized not to loud not to soft such a gliding rift throughout the song every time it repeats adding more to the purposive sense of the song that personally made me feel nostalgic for high school before I was in high school.

19. Stellar-Study

Everyone knows stellar for their sexy concepts but this should’ve been a hit for having the legendary place of being the first listenable Stellar song. Thankfully it broke into the Gaon top 100 at least(huzzah!). Study please seems like a mixture of a 60s Motown girl group doowop song but faster plus 80s synth which proved to be an oddly genius idea in execution.

18. Lee Jung Hyun-V

I’ve never known much about Lee Jung Hyun except that for that her songs rock. This song was made for dancing, sure one could say some genres are mashed together(I’m no musical expert but from what I can gather this is an interesting mix of ragtime piano and electro-swing). It’s a frantic bombshell of a track and that’s why I love it.

17. B.A.P.-One Shot

Is it as good as Warrior? The answer is no. It is still amazing and better than the majority of boy group songs this year? The answer is yes. The music rocks hard with intense orchestral backing, an anthemic melodic chorus and charismatic raps from Zelo and Youngguk that not only flow well but actually accentuate the song through variation without writing a different song halfway through.

16. History ft. IU-Dreamer

I got a Boy was called kpop’s Bohemian Rhapsody a ton back in 2013, however it seems like Loen’s boy group History’s debut song exists purely to prove this title wrong by having the most Queen-esque song of 2013 with amazing harmonies that are impossible to do live and a grandiose instrumental that takes my breath away every single time this song plays on my ipod

15. Glam-In front of the mirror

Bighit had a girl group once their name was Glam they were amazing dancers(see I like that sure the song is meh but the dance moves are amazing) though they may be more known for Dahee’s extortion scandal it is undeniable that this trot-pop hybrid stood the test of time with it’s clever production. It’s truly a mystery to me how Pdogg managed to get the rap sections to fit so well in this song but when I consider how good the beat is due to the synth and drum machines even Sehun saying Yehet nonstop would sound beautiful on this track

14. Bestie-Love Options

Brave brothers goes retro and the song is perfect hi-nrg fun. Before you nag me for not writing much about it, sometimes perfection lies in minimalism and simplicity and this is a perfect simple pop song that will forever make us wonder, “why doesn’t Brave Brothers rip off this formula more often”?

13. Seungri-Gotta Talk to you

It must be said that Seungri’s scandal didn’t surprise me as much as it should because if there was one thing to be gained from his solos it is that this man is incredibly horny so engaging in the prostitution business seemed likely especially since he was already in the entertainment industry but that’s a discussion for another day. Anyways on to the song. Gotta Talk to you is a sensual, smooth club song with a dynamism that’s impossible to resist. Seungri’s lack of singing ability similar to Gdragon is Crooked is one of the best parts of the song emphasizing what was the most forgotten rule of kpop music in 2013, that sometimes having less vocalizing instrumental changes, and such in a song is better. Also this song deserves this placement alone for having no rap and no dubstep on top of the lack of vocalizing which made it stand out due to this alone.

12. Rania-Just Go

Rania are one of those groups with a horrible, horrible company that somehow, someway gets them amazing songs like this. Where on earthdoes DR Music get their money from for all these high budget productions musically, probably some criminal activity as usual for kpop companies. Speaking of crime, it’s a crime that this song doesn’t get more appreciation, it has everything one needs in a pop song, anthemic chorus check, slick electronic beats check.

11. Ladies Code-Hate you

This song is like Lee hi’s Rose but better. Now Rose is nevertheless a great song there’s a reason it crawled its way onto my honorable mentions after all but Hate you is simply better for me. A dark melancholic song that knows to keep to the powerful melody written subtly over the instrumentals instead of having the singers warble all over it which is what usually happens in kpop.

10. Speed-It's Over

Everyone knows Again and Again by 2pm right, that’s a kpop classic isn’t it. Well, It’s Over by the truly forgotten group Speed is an improved version of Again and Again as in the instrumental is punchier and the rhythms more propulsive.

9.T-ara-Number Nine

This song is designed for maximum addiction you have the vocals of a T-ara mid tempo ballad layered over a complex enthralling instrumental courtesy of Shinsadong Tiger. The chorus is stunning as is Jiyeon’s longing pre-chorus and Hyomin’s “I’m addict” will not escape your head.Plus they look great here but T-ara generally always looks stunning. Love Jiyeon's striped outfit and Eunjung's "oooooooo" at the beginning .

8. 2Pm-A.D.T.O.Y.

2pm was a group specifically tailored for the female gaze, sexy muscular men singing catchy tunes, JYP isn’t a business genius for nothing after all. A.D.T.O.Y is easily their best song which is how it managed to be one of the few boy group songs able to top a T-ara song in any year which is a feat to be proud of. It’s just so mesmerizing in its combination of r&b vocals with a strong beat and passionate strings.

7. After School-Heaven

After School’s Korean comeback First Love was a huge letdown for me even if the ladies of After School truly gave the pole dancing their all, but the group evened their score this year with the fantastic track that is Heaven for their Japanese comeback. Heaven is for lack of a better word a heavenly song with it’s holy matrimony of funk, disco, and sensual vocals.

6. Evol-get Up

Proof that all you need for a good song is a punchy rift and simple melodies once again proving that sometimes simple is best if done well. Not every song needs to be filled with 10 bazillion ideas 2013.

5.Tren-d-Candy Boy

Nugus Tren-d truly did the impossible and out T-araed T-ara and out Crayon Popped Crayon Pop by creating the greatest fun song of the year. As thankful as I am that a song such as Bar Bar Bar went viral I can’t help but think of a universe where this song became bigger in South Korea. At least it seems decently loved in Russia by the youtube comments and will always remain a classic in my heart.

4. Infinite-Destiny

Man with Love, the Sweetune comeback of Infinite became an honorable mention as despite it’s amazing instrumental it lacked a certain intensity I had came to associate with the Infinite brand. This song however is more than just plain old intense with Rphabet utilizing strings, wub wub dubstep noises, and hard hitting drums to crate a cinematic backdrop to an ingenious staccato delivery of the melody where the vocals complement not scream over the epic musical background.

3. IU-The Red Shoes

Love of B may be the better track on Modern Times, but the chosen title track is certainly not lazy in the music department. This song is great for chart watchers as it took out Buskers Buskers boring song off of number 1(see South Koreans have good taste sometimes a song like The Red Shoes hasn’t charted high in America since when again) The Red Shoes is IU going big band swing which given this gorgeous instrumental(that saxophone those horns those percussion all there and mixed so well as in they don’t overcome IU’s voice yet still sound interesting melody and rhythm wise ) combined with IU’s husky voice which I love to death(if one can love a voice) creates a cinematic show-tune that I’ll probably be reminiscing with my children about. Did I mention that IU looks great in this video I love the clothes she wears, wish she returned to the elegant fantasy/historical(magical realism would probably be the best term I think) concepts but hey at least she has some artistic control and chose to sing a song like this.

2. 9Muses-Wild

Sweetune went hard on the production for this song. Honestly it has everything one loves about his productions, layered vocal chorus, unflagging beats, and 80s melodies polished with modern production technology. If it wasn’t for one song this song would’ve been number one.It's one of those songs I love so much I struggle to articulate my thoughts about it like when you have a crush on someone and just word fart "halbagala".

1.f(x)-Rum Pum Pum Pum

Rum Pum Pum Pum is f(x)’s 2nd best track for me right after Hot Summer with a girl group with as good as discography as f(x) I consider that high praise. The song benefits from the almost hushed vocals over it’s bizarre(by pop standards) instrumental which utilizes modal melodic rifts which seem to be more popular in metal music. Visually I would say this is the concept where all members of f(x) look stunning which is rarer than you think for a company like SM’s high fashion girl group.