So Likewise

Almost from the first week of 2018 it was clear that we were experiencing “peak Kpop,” at least on the girl group side of things. Simply put, there were way more great songs from way more top groups than ever before, and, perhaps because of the unprecedented level of quality competition, all aspects of comeback productions, from vocal arrangements to song production to wardrobe to choreography to cinematography to idol branding all noticeably advanced across the board, not to mention the truly outstanding performances of the idols themselves. Stunning debuts from 4 non-big-3 groups (fromis_9, (G)I-DLE, IZ*ONE, LOONA) rivaled or surpassed strong comebacks from established groups, and in general we saw further erosion of the big 3 hegemony, as demand for more was continually met by high quality comebacks from a wide range of labels. So even with what I consider to be a very off year from TWICE (nothing came anywhere near the majesty and sheer inventiveness of their first 5 singles), no full Pristin comeback, no f(x) comeback, and no girl group debuts from SM Ent or JYP as had been rumored, I think we’ll still be looking back on 2018 as the year when girl group Kpop took the new wave it had been growing since 2015 and made it explode onto an entirely grander level.

1. fromis_9: “Love Bomb”

2. Pristin V: “Get It”

3. Blackpink: “Ddu-du Ddu-du”

4. Oh!GG: “Lil’ Touch”

5. Red Velvet: “Bad Boy”

6. (G)I-DLE: “Hann(Alone)”

7. LOONA: “favOriTe”

8. Momoland: “Bboom Bboom”

9. Red Velvet: “RBB (Really Bad Boy)”

10. IZ*ONE: “La Vie en Rose”

11. Oh My Girl: “Secret Garden”

12. (G)I-DLE: “Latata”

13. LOONA/yyxy: “love4eva”

14. WJSN: “Dreams Come True”

15. Dreamcatcher: “You And I”

16. Mamamoo: “Egotistic”

17. Gugudan: “Not That Type”

18. EXID: “I Love You”