Korean music roundup for Autumn 2022
Korea definitely didn’t disappoint on the music front this Autumn season. Here’s your essential seasonal exploration of K-Pop, Korean Hip-Hop, and RnB from September through to November.
LE SSERAFIM. From left to right: KAZUHA, Sakura Miyawaki, Hong Eunchae, HUH YUNJIN, CHAEWON. Image: LE SSERAFIM Official Twitter.
Girl groups:
HYBE’s LE SSERAFIM have continued to show prowess since their debut with “FEARLESS.” Their first comeback, “ANTIFRAGILE”, has a distinct reggaeton sound, penned by a team including Mexican-American singer/songwriter Paulina Cerrilla.
Whilst a step away from the subtleties and RnB elements of their debut, LE SSERAFIM were able to highlight versatility by channelling artists like Rosalía. The Afro-Latin sound complements both the lyrical strength and the intense choreography of this powerful girl group, embellished with bicep-flex movements.
Global icons BLACKPINK also came back with a bang this season, releasing their first official comeback tracks since The Album’s “Lovesick Girls” in 2020. “Pink Venom” came as a pre-release single whilst “Shut Down” acted as the BORN PINK album’s title track.
Although “Pink Venom” caused division between fans and critics thanks to its controversial anti-drop chorus and “mind numbingly repetitive” nature, the earworm song proved a statistical hit, reaching over 299 million Spotify streams (at the time of writing) since its initial August release. “Shut Down” also saw success thanks to its brassy, confident sound. This showcased the girls in their perfected girl-crush style as they sampled Niccolò Paganini’s classical ‘La Campanella’ composition.
Other notable girl group comebacks from autumn:
(G)I-DLE — “Nxde”
Dreamcatcher — “VISION”
ITZY — “Boys Like You” (English track)
NMIXX — “DICE”
CRAXY — “Poison Rose”
NATURE — “LIMBO!”
VIVIZ — “Rum Pum Pum”
CLASS:y — “Tick Tick Boom”
Kep1er — “We Fresh”
Mamamoo — “ILLELLA”
EXID — “FIRE”
woo!ah! — “Rollercoaster”
Lapillus — “GRATATA”
ALICE — “DANCE ON”
Boy groups
Large scale boy group releases have been more of a rarity this season. NCT 127 have, however, been back to stir up their usual musical controversy with their title track “2 Baddies”. Released back in September, the experimental track is quintessential 127 ‘noise music’, described by reviewers as everything from “unapologetic”, “exuberant”, and “addictive”, to “silly” and even “like a dentist drill to the skull”.
In contrast to the seniors, rookie group KINGDOM released the powerful “Long Live The King” which seems to demonstrate them as a future force to be reckoned with after some tweaking and production cleaning. Channelling tracks such as ONEUS’s “To Be Or Not To Be”, with some gorgeously dramatic string sections, grand cinematic moments, and a strong EDM background, KINGDOM deliver a track worthy of an accompanying performance.
The boys from KINGDOM bolster their cinematic track with a music video that fits their concept. Image: GF Entertainment via HELIX PUBLICITY.
Oher big boy group and boy band releases:
The Rose — “Childhood”
Stray Kids — “CASE 143”
Xdinary Heroes — “Hair Cut”
TREASURE — “HELLO”
VERIVERY — “Tap Tap”
AB6IX — “Sugarcoat”
ONEWE — “Still Here”
CRAVITY — “PARTY ROCK”
ONEUS — “Same Scent”
VICTON — “Virus”
TO1 — “얼음 땡”
Debuts
The girls have also seemingly dominated the debuting field this autumn; Red Velvet’s SEULGI made an incredible solo move with her debut track “28 Reasons”. The hypnotising, exhilarating song showcases a power and eeriness often associated with (arguably) her male counterpart TAEMIN, and is made stronger by her EP’s other five tracks. These have been deemed to be “dark”, “delicious”, and drawing from both RnB and EDM to explore the “opposing forces of light and dark”.
Each b-side has been streamed around 2 million times whilst the “28 Reasons” music video (in which SEULGI emulates the MCU’s Scarlet Witch in her choreography) hits close to 20 million views. SEULGI is clearly securing her place as one of the strongest idols that SM Entertainment has to offer.
Other debuts between September and November include:
JIN (of BTS) - “The Astronaut”
Jiae (formerly of WA$$UP) — “Love is Love”
tripleS (Acid Angel from Asia sub-unit) — “Generation”
Lee Chaeyeon (formerly of IZ*ONE) — “Hush Rush”
Choi Yoojung (of Weki Meki) — “Sunflower (P.E.L)”
Solos
Early 3rd generation-inspired solo tracks seem to be ever growing in popularity, with SEVENTEEN’s JUN releasing his digital single and music video for “LIMBO” in late September.
Many fans quickly made the connection between the release and ‘concept kings’ VIXX, known for their power and seductive tracks. The sultriness, the rock influences, and the androgyny, are perfectly suited to many in the early days of 3rd generation K-Pop, generally accepted as “an era from early 2012 to late 2015”. With this, JUN starkly contrasts his previous acoustic ballads, highlighting his skill as a powerful performer, both as part of SEVENTEEN’s 4-member Performance Unit and as a versatile solo artist (in Korean and Chinese).
More autumn solo tracks include:
AleXa — “Back In Vogue”
TEN (of NCT) - “Birthday”
WONHO - “Don’t Regret”
KIHYUN (of MONSTA X) — “Youth”
Kwon Eunbi - “Underwater”
Suzy (of SNSD) - “Cape”
Wheein (of Mamamoo) — “Sunny Shower (feat. Colde)”
J.Y. Park — “Groove Back (feat. Gaeko)”
YooA (of OHMYGIRL) — “Selfish”
CHEN — “Last Scene”
BoA — “Forgive Me”
Kang Daniel — “Nirvana (feat. pH-1, WDBZ)”
Hip-Hop & RnB
The Korean Hip-Hop and RnB industry has been saturated with strong releases this autumn, and since the Sik-K Europe tour is on its way (with Leellamarz, Haon, and DJ SMMT), we can be sure to see more incoming.
H1ghr Music’s pH-1 has also announced his ABOUT DAMN TIME World Tour, following the release of his impeccable BUT FOR NOW LEAVE ME ALONE album. The impossible-to-skip 13 songs bounce between clear-cut Hip-Hop and even Craig David-esque UK garage.
After his summer single “Mr Bad (feat. Woo)”, pH-1 released the album with a music video combining two songs, “ZOMBIES” and “TIPSY”. Sound-tracked by his bouncy beats, his melodic tones, and some seemingly effortless flows, the music video delivers some stylish visuals, but is clearly outshone by the songs themselves.
RnB queen BIBI offers a much more cohesive experience of her storytelling releases thanks to the music videos for multiple of her latest tracks: “Animal Farm”, “BIBI Vengeance”, “Sweet Sorrow of Mother” and “Motospeed 24”. Part of her Lowlife Princess: Noir album from just a few days gone, the former of the tracks showcases a string-heavy, classical soundscape decorated gloriously with BIBI’s iconic nasally vocal tone. A heavy bass-line drives the track onward towards its strikingly powerful climax.
The “Animal Farm” music video has been the talk of the town thanks to its Kill Bill and George Orwell imagery, combined with a song dripping with metaphorical, sociological lyricism. BIBI addresses the way the gluttonous elites of society prey on people whilst she creates a blood-soaked movie masterpiece, which you can only view if confirmed as over 18. The album as a whole is a conceptual one, creating the story of Oh Geum-ji as she traverses the world in 2044. This is explored in full in the NME review:
“As pollution and scarcity ravage Seoul and people fight for control of an underground society à la Sin City, Oh Geum-ji rises from the depths of despair to become the queen of this lawless land… she reckons with her vulnerabilities and loneliness towards songs that showcase a woman more ruthless, agile, deadly, and arrogant.”
BIBI creates a bloodbath in ‘Animal Farm’. Image: BIBI Official YouTube.
Notable Hip-Hop and RnB tracks:
B.I — “Keep me up”
GRAY, Loco & CODE KUNST — “Be Ready”
JUSTHIS — “THIS Is My Life”
SAAY — “Talk 2 Me Nice”
JAMIE — “3D Woman”
BE’O — “Complex (feat. ZICO)”
Crush — “Rush Hour (feat. j-hope of BTS)”
JAY B — “go UP”
Def. — “my abandoned love”
Balming Tiger, Omega Sapien & RM of BTS — “SEXY NUKIM”
ASH ISLAND — “Everything”
BIG Naughty & 10CM — “Just 10 centimeters”
TRADE L — “NG (feat. pH-1 & Jay Park)”
Groovyroom, GEMINI & Mirani — “Rollin’’
Winter comebacks
Winter is quickly approaching, meaning we’ll soon be entering the Korean music awards season and the time for Christmas releases. Fans are hoping to see comebacks from artists such as Everglow, GWSN, NCT 127, aespa, STAYC, WOODZ, and PENTAGON to name a few.
Confirmed and strongly rumoured comebacks include BTS’s RM (25th November), Red Velvet (28th November), KARA (29th November), ITZY (30th November), P1Harmony (30th December), WAYV (9th December), SHINee’s Minho (December), NCT Dream (December), MONSTA X (December or January), NewJeans (January), TXT (January), GOT7’s Jinyoung (January), SHINee (2023) and fromis_9 (2023).
What was your favourite autumn release? Let us know in the comments below.
Edited by Chelsea Cheetham.