Finally we may have reached a stage in the month where we can talk about December in K-pop, without being surprised by further swerveballs. So let’s get this year finished!
HaSeul – Fragile Eyes. Last surprise ARTMS release of the year is a solo single by HaSeul. The video isn’t much more than a scrapbook of cosy model shots, but musically we have more of the excellent City Pop that this incarnation of LOONA seems to be spoiling us with.
MARK – 프락치 (Fraktsiya) (Feat. LEE YOUNG JI). Leader of the original NCT unit, MARK is coming on hard and fast, and only made even brutally diamond harder by LEE YOUNG JI’s rap. This boy’s got form, but we still didn’t see this one coming.
비비 (BIBI) – Burn it (feat.DEAN) Vertical. Those of you who have been paying attention will remember that we had definitive Gay BIBI earlier in the year, and that it was definitively gay. Well, she’s finished up the year with Bi-BIBI, and she brings in a crew of androgynous terpsichoreans for a truly gorgeous video cut. Thanks, Bi-BIBI!
Balming Tiger – Cunning City. Shit shit shit! FUCK! WHAT IS THIS? That was pretty much how we reacted to this discovery. Like nothing else coming out of South Korea, Balming Tiger refer to themselves as an International Alternative K-pop Collective. A group of producers, rappers, musicians, dancers, visual and video artists under the guiding light of creative director San Yawn. This is truly groundbreaking stuff. Sure, K-pop likes its mix eclectic, but Balming Tiger are paradigm shifting like the roof is on fire.
Which of course led us right down the rabbit hole of their backcatalogue, going back to 2018, and this has really changed everything. Not least, it drew out attention to San Yawn’s work on RM from BTS’s solo album, Right Place Wrong Person, which has totally changed our view of this year in K-pop.
Not ‘arf, pop-pickers!
#zkpop2024