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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Goodbye
As my time at Kotaku—and as the curator of this column—comes to an end, it only seems appropriate to end with a fitting song from my favorite girl group of all time. Girls’ Generation’s B-sides are often stellar, and Goodbye is no different (some of my other favorite B-sides include Caramel Coffee from their Oh!…
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CultureKotaku Game DiaryI Found A Family In A Mario Kart Tournament
I fell off my barstool for the second time that night. My vision went blurry, my legs buckled, and the floor spun. Arms reached out to help me back up, and I leaned against the bar, sobbing incoherently. I wasn’t wasted—I was playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe I was comfortably in first place at my…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Wuthering Heights
As we slide our way into October, and the true beginnings of fall begin to coalesce, it feels only right to listen to a moody track today. Enter Wuthering Heights Lucia (real name Sim Kyu Seon) is a long-running artist who debuted in 2010 with Cat Waltz. She might be most familiar to mainstream K-Pop…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Beginning
If you asked me to pick two Korean artists who could produce a duet together, I’d be listing off names for nigh on a year before I landed on Soyou and Rain. But it’s the year 2019, the world is crazy, and here we are. Soyou, of course, is well-known for her impressive lineup of…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: How Can I Love The Heartbreak, You’re the One I Love
Akdong Musician is back, and not a moment too soon. K-Pop just hasn’t been the same without this dynamic duo. One of the unintended minor side effects of South Korea’s mandatory military service system is that idol group fans often have to swallow years-long absences while the members head off to the army. Akdong Musician…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Clown
Five years after their disbandment, I’ve yet to find a Korean hip-hop artist that pulls me in so deeply as Leessang had managed to do, so many years ago. Clown is a 2005 release under their Library Of Soul album, widely considered by their fans to be one of their best. This album is stacked:…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: 1.2.3.4
A lot of K-Pop stars’ vocals are described as “soulful,” often a product of a public relations team short on English and long on imagination. Lee Hi is one of the few artists whose voice actually lives up to that descriptor. She debuted at a relatively young age, having made her first broadcast appearance on…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Deja Vu
Dreamcatcher is back again, and once more, they’ve taken a page from the Japanese Anime Opening School Of Music. Not that I’m complaining. I say once more, because Deja Vu is just the latest in their long line of songs that come from the same pedigree. See also: Chase Me, Good Night (especially this one)…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Lipstick
Five years after Orange Caramel’s last release, the quirkiest and weirdest idol group of them all still reigns supreme, in my mind, as some of the best that K-Pop ever had to offer. This trio, an offshoot of the also-defunct girl group After School, had one mission: to push the boundaries of the K-Pop imagination.…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Workaholic
Nothing says “summer is over” more than the prospect of heading back into your dull, dreary workplace for the week. If Bolbbalgan Puberty’s latest is any indication, we’re in for a truly soul-sucking time. Workaholic is a delicious piece of R&B-tinged indie music, complemented by a playful music video that compresses the average salaried worker’s…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: The Only
With all the hullabaloo surrounding Red Velvet’s Umpah Umpah, let’s not forget that band member Irene recently featured in a solo release, too, and it’s also a banger. The Only, which credits Raiden—who debuted as a DJ in 2017 and recently signed with SM Entertainment—as the main artist, was released under the SM STATION label.…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: City Girl City Boy
A lot—a lot—of indie bands have passed through this column. I’ve never become quite so quickly enamored with any of them as I have fallen headfirst into The Night Of Seokyo. The Night Of Seokyo is a four-member band that debuted in 2016. Since then, they’ve built up a slow but steady discography of late-night,…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Peppermint Chocolate
As I freshened up my familiarity with MAMAMOO’s discography while writing the column for Yes I Am several days ago, I stumbled upon 2014’s Peppermint Chocolate, one of their pre-debut songs, sung in collaboration with K.Will. K.Will is one of the more prolific and well-known solo artists in the Korean music canon, best-known for his…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: The Ocean Of Yours
We’ve barreled through a few straight days’ worth of mainstream K-Pop idol music, which means it’s time to take things down a few notches. Back to Korean indie we go. This song is subtitled The Song Good For Nighttime Listening, which is very to the point—and also 100% true, as I can attest while finishing…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Umpah Umpah
With Umpah Umpah, Red Velvet has completely redeemed themselves, in my eyes, for the underwhelming and monotonous Zimzalabim No, more than that: Umpah Umpah deserves a spot in the highest echelons of Red Velvet’s discography, right alongside Russian Roulette, Red Flavor and Ice Cream Cake—if only for the absolutely gorgeous pre-chorus, which can be heard…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Bangkok
Oh, will you look at that: I spend the majority of a column bemoaning the loss of Sistar’s summer songs, and bam, one of its former members comes out with a bangin’ summer song. Soyou has built up quite the solo discography since—and even prior to—Sistar’s dissolution in 2017, and songs like Some, All Night…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Yes I Am
If there’s one thing I’ve learned to count on with MAMAMOO, it’s that they will always keep things interesting in K-Pop land. This four-member girl group has always marched to the beat of their own drum since their debut in 2014. A brief glance at their title tracks, from the jazzy Decalcomanie to the hip-hop…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Tiki-Taka
This year’s neverending summer seems, well, neverending. Maybe that’s why Weki Meki is releasing the season’s best warm-weather bop in the middle of August. I haven’t been very impressed with this year’s roster of summer songs thus far. To be honest, I’ve been in that mindset for a few years now, as it’s hard to…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Fantasy
Pink Fantasy’s latest song, Fantasy, gives me some serious Dreamcatcher-esque, anime-opening vibes. Which is to say: I love it. This eight-member girl group debuted in 2018 with Iriwa, which was composed and written by Super Junior’s Shindong and hews more closely to the traditional girl group K-Pop sound. I’m glad Pink Fantasy decided to experiment…
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Kotaku EastK-Pop Pick Of The Day: Cherries Jubiles
Yukika first popped up on my radar as the artist behind the lovely, city pop-esque throwback Neon. Cherries Jubiles may sound a bit more pedestrian at first, but stick around; there’s a payoff. The payoff being, of course, the song’s sudden transformation into yet another city pop homage. Yukika keeps the original melody, but layers…
By Seung Park
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