2025 in K-Pop, Part II

Mea culpa, I am so late on this. In my defense, I just finished my second doctorate. Also in my defense, I was on vacation for the first time since approximately 2008. But I have been keeping up my promise to stay current on k-pop, so here it is, just in time for the fall semester: my favorite k-pop tracks from April-June 2025.

April

Solar - “Want”

I had to keep checking to make sure this was actually released in April, because honestly it doesn’t really make sense. Everything about the promotion of this single screamed Valentine’s Day/White Day, but who knows what the marketing geniuses at RBW are up to (well, besides disbanding their only active girl group, who are critically beloved and popular overseas). What’s important though is that “Want” reminds us that Solar is k-pop’s premier belter — and she can do it while dancing and in heels. And as a bonus, her “Want” promo tour took her to the singing-focused talk show Begin Again, where she gave a bravura performance of “Blue” from her 2024 EP Colors. There are very few voices like hers in k-pop, and it’s always so satisfying to hear her show off every side of it. 

Chuu - “Only Cry in the Rain”

I guess April was the month of female soloists for me (though as we’ll get to later, there was a very impressive boy group debut too). Chuu, formerly of 12-member girl group LOONA, has had an impressively consistent solo career since LOONA’s implosion in 2023. It’s sparkly pop with a progressive and propulsive edge. This aesthetic suits Chuu’s public persona perfectly —  in one of her most viral non-musical moments, for example, she approaches a pair of young men in a park and starts dancing and singing “congratulations on your date!” Here’s the full video if you’re curious, though honestly there’s not much more context to be had there either. Anyway. Chuu is a huge personality who is extraordinarily lovable, but she backs it up with genuine skill. Her voice has clarity and flexibility reminiscent of a golden age Disney princess, and her stage presence is just as magnetic as her personality. All of this combined, plus an instantly hummable tune, turns “Only Cry in the Rain” into a certifiable bop despite its gloomy title. Because this song highlights her singing, and because the guitar/piano arrangement here is lovely, I’m going to embed a live performance she gave on Begin Again below.

May

BOYNEXTDOOR - “Is That True?”

Look, I’m going to be transparent here: I’m a huge fan of BOYNEXTDOOR (often shortened as “Bonedo”). To me they have everything that makes a great k-pop group: chemistry both on and off stage, members who are embedded in the creative process by writing/producing/composing/choreographing, and the ability to execute demanding choreography with ease while singing live. Basically, they are impeccable LIVE performers — and the live performance element is what drew me to k-pop in the first place. It helps that their musical aesthetic is squarely in my wheelhouse as someone who grew up on (and still loves) James Taylor, Carole King, and early aughts crossover hip-hop, too. You’re also more likely to hear session musicians playing bass, guitar, and keys on a Bonedo track than most anywhere else in current k-pop, which gives even their relatively simple, very listenable music depth and interest. Written by members Taesan and Woonhak in collaboration with their usual production team (Kako, Daily, and Likey), “Is That True” is strongly reminiscent of aughts indie pop. It has bitter-sad lyrics from the perspective of a frustrated young man who feels too much; it has a cheerful, bouncy rock instrumental purposefully at odds with the lyrics. I could almost believe it was Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin or Rilo Kiley at their poppiest, except for, y’know, the song being mostly in Korean.

UAU - “Good Luck”

Dreamcatcher — yeah, I know, not a good name — is such an interesting group. Originally called MINX, they debuted in 2014 with a bubbly, girlish image. Their first EP did poorly, but rather than quickly disband the group and cut their losses, their label decided to go in a very different direction. In 2017 they redebuted as Dreamcatcher, now with a goth-inspired look and sound. Their title tracks ever since have been pretty much the girl group version of Evanescence — big vocals, big fuzzy guitars, lots of drama. Earlier this year the 7-year contracts common in k-pop came due for most of the group, and Korean media reported three of the seven members elected not to renew with their label. It used to be that this automatically meant disbandment, but in recent years several groups have been able to balance group and solo work even with members signed to different companies — see Shinee, Apink, Mamamoo (to some extent, anyway, but that’s a different topic). In Dreamcatcher’s case, three of the four members who did re-sign have opted to debut as a trio called UAU. They haven’t completely abandoned the dark aesthetic, but the music is a lot more funk and house than grunge and punk. “Good Luck,” the final track on UAU’s first EP, is a deliciously cinematic confection that starts, as all great pop songs should, with a sample of a sultry saxophone. 

June

Doyoung - “쏟아져오는 바람처럼 눈부시게 너란 빛이 비추더라 (Be My Light)”

NCT, SM Entertainment’s megagroup of male idols who rotate through various units and subunits, is emphatically not my thing. Honestly, SM groups are generally not my thing. Which is why I was extremely pleasantly surprised to thoroughly enjoy NCT member Doyoung’s solo album, Soar. This is pure j-rock, all the way down. That is very much my jam, and I loved the whole album, but there’s a 3-track stretch in the middle that is what my friend Ruby would call “Emma catnip.” It kicks off with “쏟아져오는 바람처럼 눈부시게 너란 빛이 비추더라 (Be My Light),” a song that sounds like it came directly from one of my favorite albums of all time, Maaya Sakamoto and Yoko Kanno’s 2001 masterpiece Lucy. Swirling strings and jazzy changes set off Doyoung’s round, breathy tenor, and personally I feel like I could run a mile (look, I have a bad ankle and I’m working back up to running). The next two tracks, “자전거 (First Step)” and “편한 사람 (Just Friends)” mellow out significantly — “자전거 (First Step)” is a bossa nova groove, and “편한 사람 (Just Friends)” a mid-tempo acoustic ballad. Like I said, Emma catnip. 

H1-KEY - “Good For You”

This quartet is one of the most slept-on in all of k-pop. Fortunately, they seem to have a steady fanbase and their releases are usually quite successful in South Korea, but if anyone deserves international success it’s these young women. Their high-energy stage presence and girl power pop-rock is infectious, and they are not afraid of a live microphone either. Is their singing the most technically perfect? Not really. But they always go for it, with their full voices, which is a rarity in pop in general. “Good For You” has all of it — the energy, the power, and the big vocals. The only unfortunate thing is that they usually only release one EP per year (most fully active k-pop groups release 2-3), so we’ll have to wait a long time for more music.

honorable mentions

There are at least two people reading this who are mad at me right now for a glaring omission, so let’s correct that first:

XLOV - I ONE

Formed and masterminded by multitalented multihyphenate survival show veteran Wumuti — k-pop’s first Uyghur idol, by the way — this group is, quite literally, four queens brought together to maximize their joint slay. Due to persistent homophobia in the South Korean entertainment industry, the XLOV members are not exactly “out” explicitly; instead, they’ve turned the k-pop notion of a group “concept” (usually stuff like “girlcrush” or “vampires” or “schoolboys”) into a space to express queerness freely. They debuted with the single “Imma Be” in January of this year with what they call a “genderless concept,” meaning that their styling and performance aesthetic is often explicitly feminine. In their follow-up “single” (actually three new tracks), XLOV continues to push gender boundaries, especially in the mesmerizing skirt choreography on b-side “Bizness.”

Close Your Eyes - Eternalt

This is one of the most artistically cohesive and consist debut EPs I’ve encountered in k-pop. Close Your Eyes are a survival show group, so I was expecting these boys to be consummate performers, but the quality of the music surprised me. I’m embedding two selections below; the first is “To the Woods,” which is certainly the darkest track on the EP but to me the most interesting. To give a sense of the group’s general vibe I’m also including “How to Dance,” which showcases their signature (they already have a signature! that’s consistency!) bouncy, wistful sound and most importantly A GROUP CHORUS! Save us, CYE, and bring back group choruses.