Hi there!

My name is Cortney! I have been listening and silently critiquing K-pop for over 14 years now! I think I relate to many, as K-pop has brought me so much joy and excitement over the years. Although K-pop can be looked at as a strong visual medium, with high budget music videos, polished choreography, and unique fashion; at the heart of it I fell in love with K-pop for the music!

Something I think many of us love to talk about, is our introduction into the K-pop world! For me, it was a slow burn to truly get into the genre. It first started with me hearing the Japanese version of “Mister”, by the girl group Kara, around the year 2008. I somehow came across the song while browsing iTunes. The song (although I had no idea what they were saying) was stuck in my head like I contracted a disease. I cant even tell you how many times I listened to that song. That then turned into me coming across groups like wonder girls, 2NE1, Girls’ Generation, Miss A, Brown Eyed Girls, and Big Bang. I like to brag a bit, as I felt like I truly grew up in the “golden era” of K-pop.

What I loved most about K-pop music, is that it still sounded familiar to western pop, but felt like it pushed the boundaries more in terms of experimentation, as well as putting more of a focus on catchy hooks and melodies. I also loved the group aspect of k-pop, as most songs would incorporate nice harmonies and made the songs more interesting, with having different unique voices throughout. Not to mention, that K-pop has a strong “concept” aspect, which allows groups to have a unique or particular sound to them. Although K-pop can certainly have its “repetitive” or “formulaic” issues, I still think K-pop offers more unique and interesting music than todays modern western pop artists. However, that does not mean all k-pop music is great! In fact, great K-pop seems to only come on a blue moon these days, as to why I engage in critical analysis of K-pop releases!

This brings me to how I listen and review music!

When analyzing a song I look for a few things, this being

• Quality of the production (mixing, audio quality, vocal layering, etc)
• instrumentation/composition
• Progression of the song
• quality of the top lining/catchiness (essentially the melody of the song)
• creativity
• vocal quality

After taking all of these factors into consideration, I rate the given song out of 10.

Ranking Breakdown:

10/10: Essentially a perfect song. A track that is both unforgettable and timeless. Not an easy ranking to get!

8 or 9/10: A very strong track, that incorporates the majority of the quality elements I look for in a song.

6 or 7/10: A good/decent song, either might not be to my personal taste, or lacking in terms of the elements I mentioned above.

4 or 5/10: A below average song, severely lacking in the above elements.

1-3/10: Ill just say you have to really mess up to land in this category 😦

A Note on how I review Albums

I review albums under the same elements I review a song. However, I additionally look at the overall cohesiveness of the project. I generally will take an average of the ratings of each song, and come to my final rating of the album. Additionally, on album reviews I will give my favorite track of the album as well as my least!