And here’s our top 10 K-pop singles of 2022! I got to write about IVE, CSR, NewJeans, and Le Sserafim in this batch – what a good year for girl groups!
IVE – Love Dive
I have done literally every single part of this song in the shower at some point in 2022, including the “OH PERFECT SACRIFICE~ (dislocates neck) YEAH,” and if that’s not a glowing endorsement of a song’s cultural impact, I don’t know what is. Was there a single K-pop moment this year as impeccably bitchy as Wonyoung smirking “Narcisstic / My god, I love it”?
CSR – Pop? Pop!
“Pop? Pop!” made it on my ballot just by virtue of being a really fucking good pop (pop!) song. It takes everything that worked about early-era Lovelyz—the sparkly, wistful production, the earnest vocals, the soaring melodic progressions—and updates it for seven years later. Every single measure propels the song forward; even its unexpected detours, like the neat little chromatic progressions in the post-chorus, the stabs of string and brass in the second verse, and the merry-go-round rush of the bridge, add texture and personality to what could have otherwise felt like a pastiche. “So this is what love is,” member Sua sings: “Pop? Pop!” captures that euphoria so well that it transcends these simple words.
Le Sserafim – Antifragile
걸어봐 위엄 like a lion 🦁 눈빛엔 👀 거대한 desire 🙋 (nan-na-na-eh) 더 부어 gasoline on fire ⛽ 🔥 불길 속에 다시 날아 rising ✈️ 🐦 (nan-na-na-eh) 잊지 마 📝 내가 두고 온 toe shoes 🩰🦢 무슨 말이 더 필요해? 😤💬❌ 무시 마 🙅 내가 걸어온 🚶🚶♀️🚶♂️ 커리어 💼👷👨⚕️ I go to ride 🚗 ’til I die, die 🪦⚰️
But seriously, this song has gotten me through so many sets of pistol squats at the gym.
NewJeans – Attention
Understanding “Attention” means understanding TikTok dance challenges. It means checking how you look in the Insta story before you send it out, running a fashion show in the thrift shop basement, breaking out the routine you practiced with your besties live on FaceTime. After all, this isn’t just some teenage dance craze: it’s the intricate choreography we all perform for each other when we want to feel seen, whether by an audience of strangers or the boy in the white T-shirt from last night’s show. NewJeans’ debut single understands its titular desire as something timeless, even if we presently live in an attention (hah) economy where apps run by men in turtlenecks want to commodify all of our waking anxieties and insecurities for ad revenue. More importantly, it argues that there is still joy to be found in these experiences, just as there was in the Y2K-era whose aesthetics and sound it draws from. The girls play up this excitement, insisting that we “Drop the question / drop the drop the question” and chirping that they “Don’t wanna wake up from this dream.” Even when they operate in the types of circular dialogue that anybody who has ever had a crush will recognize (“I’ll run into you like it was serendipity” says Haerin; “No, I’ll pass like it was nothing” refutes Minji), the chemistry is playful, a Greek chorus of classmates rallying around their girl as they share their hot takes and makeup tips. “Attention” is a song infatuated with infatuation, nostalgic for romances that have yet to start—and through its earnest, witty portrayal of these feelings, it reminds us that even the most jaded among us were high schoolers once.
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