On Tuesday, Dec. 22, Refinery29 released their "Music Saved 2020: The 29 Best Songs of the Year" list. Among the Western artists who made it to the ranking, several K-pop acts were given a shoutout for their amazing songs. See who made it to the list below!
Refinery29 noted how this year was a hard year for everyone; everyone was practically locked indoors during the pandemic and on top of that, the United States was going through a Presidential election, and the world experienced economic anxiety. As we could not travel this year, many people used songs to transport them to other places instead.
This year, many artists chose to take risks with their sound, exploring new genres and beats. Many people also discovered new music, with the rise of K-pop in the West being proof of that. Due to the variety and the number of songs people released this year, Refinery29 noted that it was difficult to bring the list to just 29 songs. They still managed to do it, and many K-pop artists made their top picks.
The first K-pop song that was mentioned in Taemin's "Criminal". Though he is known as SHINee's maknae (youngest member), Taemin has fully bloomed into a grown man. "Criminal" is a sultry track that shows off Taemin's dark and mature side, embracing the grown version of him to the fullest.
Next is technically a C-Pop song, but as they are under the NCT umbrella and all the members are active in Korea, it felt appropriate to include them in the list. WayV's "Bad Alive" was praised for being "so good that it hurts", leaning into a more sexual side that is not often seen in K-pop. The publication opted for the English version of a song. The original is in Mandarin Chinese.
TWICE's Nov. release, "I CAN'T STOP ME", was also praised. The song was praised for still having TWICE's signature flair but still being different from their other comebacks. "I CAN'T STOP ME" is more weight and fierce, oozing girl power and determination that fans loved.
MONSTA X's "Love Killa" was praised for the song's impactful verses. The song shows how much MONSTA X has matured throughout their career. Another plus point? The boy's body rolls and effortless falsettos. According to Refiner29, "nobody does sexy like MONSTA X does."
The BTS song that was included is surprisingly not "ON", "Black Swan", "Dynamite", or "Life Goes On"! It is actually "Dis-ease", a B-side track from their Nov. album, "Be". "Dis-ease" was praised for tackling the feeling of being burnout and for its clever wordplay in Korean. The song perfectly tells the feeling of using up all your energy and the feeling of being spent.
The list was put in no particular order, with the publication saying it is difficult to rank which song is best due to the number of songs that were released this year. These K-pop artists made the list alongside big names such as Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, 5 Seconds of Summer, Lady Gaga, Billie Eilish, and more.
What was your favorite K-pop song that was released this year?
ALSO READ: DAZED Releases Their '40 Best K-Pop Songs of 2020' List
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Written by Alexa Lewis
