Okay, things were pretty busy this year, but October was when things went crazy. Strap in!
aespa – SYNK: PARALLEL LINE. As an interesting swerveball, aespa put out four solo singles. MAMAMOO might have done something similar years back, but this is certainly not standard procedure. No videos for any of these. Karina’s UP and Giselle’s Dopemine are particularly noteworthy.
aespa – Whiplash. In addition, the full aespa group released another EP at least as kinetic as the Armageddon EP earlier in the year.
Billlie – Trampoline and 기억사탕. Appendix: Of All We Have Lost is a welcome return to the seven member Billlie we all love. Jazzy grooves and weird group energy and further trails and switchbacks through the Billlie mythos.
ITZY – Gold. We thought they were untouchable in January, and here later in the year they struck gold again. Jesus Christ, sometimes it’s hard to avoid that journalistic shit. But yeah, Gold goes legit hard as a proper ITZY banger.
Visionary Vision (tripleS) – Hit the Floor. Yeah, the subunit’s name is kinda tone deaf, but Jaden Jeong continues to excel with apparently endless variety of formations of tripleS. Couldn’t be brattier or more fun.
Epik High – Michelin Cypher. We were already enjoying Epik High’s Pump mixtape when they put out an extended edition, and fucking hell is the ambassador spoiling us with Michelin Cypher, in which the boys reimagine themselves as gangster chefs with a mission. Transcendent stuff.
JENNIE – Mantra. Second BLACKPINK solo outing of the year. Could have been a perfect summer banger if it had been released earlier. Perfect earworm energy and total poise. “This that pretty-girl mantra, she that stunna, make you wanna swing both ways.”
ROSE x Bruno Mars – APT. But both LISA and JENNIE reckoned without their bandmate ROSE bringing the absolute track of the year. That she allies with Bruno Mars’ charismatic energy to take this up several levels… well, who knew, eh? Also, just The Most Fun thing ever.
BABYMONSTER – CLICK CLACK. The Baemons had already nailed the signature YG girl group sound in the mould of 2NE1 and BLACKPINK, but for my money CLICK CLACK is where they really take off and melt everyone’s face off.
G-DRAGON – POWER. He had been teasing a comeback for the last three years, but BIGBANG’s legendary G-DRAGON had always held back, either due to ongoing legal controversies or the process of extracting himself from the YG label, and then late October there were rumours of a release date, quickly contradicted by GD’s people, and then hints on Instagram. And then boom, out of nowhere the king is back! In a normal year this would be the event of 2024, the biggest thing ever, but GD had another three aces up his sleeve.
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